"Aieeeee!" cried out a frantic girl as she sat straight up in bed and glanced at her alarm clock, "Oh my gosh, I’m totally late for school!"

She leapt out of bed and raced into the bathroom. After a few moments, she returned to her room fully dressed in her school uniform, with one hand vigorously brushing her teeth with her pink toothbrush, and the other pulling her blonde hair up in a bizarre ‘meatball’ style. She had already done one side, when she asked a lump of fur on the bottom of her bed a question,

"Hey, Luna, how come you let me oversleep? You always wake me up so I can get to school on time! Now I’m so so late that Miss H will probably make me stand in the hall again!"

The cat opened on eye and yawned.

"Really Luna, you aren’t being very sympathetic!"

The cat raised her head slowly and watched as Serena hurridly dumped all her papers into her book-bag and headed for the door.

Luna casually stretched, and announced, "Serena, it’s Saturday."

Opening Song (Moonlight Legend)

Series Title, Sailor Moon Knights of the Cosmos

Episode Title (1) Old Friends and New

The ‘light’ filtered over the cloudy white landscape, casting shimmers and shadows on the already intangible scene. A silvery robed figure sat in an intricately carved chair that seemed to be suspended from infinity. Uncontested queen of her realm, the Sorceress desperately sought a means of reviving her world, so the Knights had been called. She looked at the four entities before her and tilted her head back thoughtfully.

The first figure was the most clear. She was sharply outlined, so sharply outlined, in fact, that she seemed to stand off the surrounding backgrounds. Her smooth black hair and seamless solid dark green dress contrasted violently with the cloudy landscape. She was very definite, yet she did not move. She was absolutely still, her chest did not even rise and fall with her breath. It unnerved the throned woman and she quickly turned her attention to the next figure in the marshaled line.

The second was not as clear as the first. She shimmered around the edges, and the closer one got to her, the more inconsistent she appeared. This woman, in contrast to the first, had sand colored hair down to her calves and was clothed in a white dress that seemed to blend into the surroundings. Except for the shimmering, at times it was difficult to discern where the ground started and she receded.

The third character appeared to be neither male or female, and did not appear to be a tangible form at all. It was a smoky apparition that held a vaguely humanoid form, the Sorceress knew it was for her benefit only, and as soon as the entity was out of her field of vision, it would dissipate into a nebulous cloud shape and cease it’s charade.

The fourth was a slender, tall man clothed entirely in black robes. He looked very out of place in the airy throne room and seemed as if he were going to seep back into the darkness. However, as much as he seemed akin to the dark, the sun brought him out sharply, and the Sorceress knew that if he ventured into the darkness, he would dissolve and loose himself completely, if not for his iron will.

The Sorceress regarded her Knights, lost in thought. She knew that it would take a great deal of her energy to remold them in a proper form, energy she could not spare and continue to defend her kingdom. Her choice for premier Questor was a delicate one. If she chose the wrong one, and he did not accomplish the mission, it would severely exhaust her powers, and leave the Kingdom to be defended by the remaining three Knights. The risk of this quest was great, but she knew in her soul that her Kingdom could not go on as it was. She could not support their Kingdom alone forever. If a reclamation did not take place soon, her world would fall around her, destroyed, nonexistent.

Finally, she breathed deeply, and made her decision.

"Image Knight, come forward."

The first figure phased out of reality and reappeared in front of the Sorceress. Even though her position had changed, she still did not move at all.

"Do you fully understand the weight of this Quest, Image Knight?"

The woman did not move at all, her features were smooth and unmoving as marble, yet a voice was heard, issuing from the woman’s area. She didn’t appear to be talking, but the words were clear and crisp.

"I do, my queen."

"Find the five, and the way to the one will be opened. Understand, this is the only hope of our world."

"I understand, my Queen."

"Then receive your alteration."

~*~

"Wow," said Serena, as she slid around the pathway in the pink roller blades that Mina had rented for her, "This is harder than I thought! I can barely stand up . . . Whoa!"

Serena immediately crashed and burned, right into a bush.

"Ow! That really hurt!" cried Serena as Ami helped her to her feet once again.

"Really, Serena, if you studied the dynamics of this form of roller skating, you would understand that it’s really quite simple," lectured Ami.

Mina had conned Serena, Ami, Lita, and Rei into spending a day in the park with her, while simultaneously learning to roller blade. None of the girls were spectacular at it, except for Ami, who took to it like a Mercurian takes to water, but they at least managed to stay on their feet for the majority of the time. Well, all of the girls except for Serena managed to stay up for reasonable amount of time. Serena, however, rarely stayed up long enough to complain about how hard it was, and got a close up view of the grass in the park, several times.

"She sure doesn’t seem like a moon princess of legend, does she Luna?" asked Artemis.

"No she doesn’t," conceded Luna. The two cats were following at a safe distance. This time Artemis had refrained from his usual seat on Mina’s shoulder.

"I already know what the ground looks like. I don’t need a refresher course," he had responded dryly when Mina had pouted.

The two cats were amusedly discussing the Serena’s antics as she struggled to stay on the path, when suddenly, from out of no where, a small slobbery dog jumped on Artemis, and promptly drooled on him.

"Yiiiiiiiioooow!" cried Artemis in terror and revulsion, and he immediately took off as fast as he could go, in no particular direction. Luna remained frozen in her spot, watching the commotion. Mina realized the situation as soon as she heard Artemis’s fateful shriek.

She took off after the dog, making her way on her wobbley roller blades as fast as she could. Suddenly, a young man with red-blonde hair stepped in front of the running dog and cat and was immediately sorry for it. Artemis, in his terrified state, easily climbed the man and clung to his head. The slobbering dog settled down loyally on the man’s feet, and began to drool. Mina accelerated on her roller blades in an attempt to relieve the astonished man of his new hair-piece. However, she forgot that she could indeed not control herself, and plowed right into him. The two landed in a tangle of body parts, with Artemis still attached to the man’s head, and the dog on Mina’s back, still drooling.

The other girls and Luna arrived on the scene just as another, taller, blue-haired man arrived on the scene with a golden retriever. The blue-haired man was apparently amused by the entire circumstance, as were the other girls.

"Get this water fountain off of me!" cried Mina in distress, as she tried to wiggle out from under the dog.

The blue-haired man chuckled, "Pop, you heard the lady, get him off!"

The golden retriever walked over to the miscellaneous pile of appendages and casually plucked the small dog off Mina’s back and deposited him on the ground. The retriever then obediently turned and seated himself again, directly beside the blue-haired man. The small dog continued to drool. Mina struggled up, and the red-blonde man groggily sat up. He was still wearing the white muff of cat fur on his head.

The blue-haired man then nudged a pair of glasses up his nose and glanced at the other spectators.

"Forgive me, my name is Terrence Lockwood," he glanced at the retriever, "And this is Pop Fly, my dog. Those two are Henny Youngman and Benj."

Ami blinked confusedly, "That’s Henny Youngman?" she asked, gesturing to the startled blonde man. "Did his parents have a sense of humor, or something?"

The blue-haired man was amused, "No, no, Henny is the dog. Benj is the evolutionary miracle, Homo Humorous. He’s the one in the orange shirt."

Benj took advantage of the momentary pause, "Can someone get this cat off my head? He’s practicing acupuncture on my little grey cells."

"Little being the operative word," remarked Terrence drily. He turned to Mina.

"Miss, can you retrieve your cat from my friend’s skull? He does look very attractive as a hat, but fur is out this year."

Mina sweatdropped, and after a few moments of strenuous pulling, Mina managed to pry Artemis off Benj’s head. After he realized where he was, Artemis finally relaxed and took his place on Mina’s shoulder. Mina disgustedly tried to brush the drooled goo off her back, but failed.

"Is that mangy dog yours?" asked Mina furiously.

Benj sweatdropped, "Uh, yeah, sorry. He isn’t very good a being a dog, but he makes a fabulous sprinkler."

"Why did he come after poor Artemis?" asked Mina angrily.

"Well, he’s a Corgi, and that means he’s a shepherd. Except he’s pretty low on grey matter and thinks that all small white things are sheep. If it’s any consolation, he also likes to herd toilet paper."

Artemis growled. Benj looked even more embarrassed.

"Sorry if he ruffled your fur the wrong way Arty," apologized Benj as he stood and tried to pet Artemis. Artemis, not to be cajoled, swatted at him. He yanked his hand back, "Sheesh, I said I was sorry, what does he want? Some gift-wrapped crabmeat?"

Artemis, struck by the idea, purred readily.

"Great, I’m in debt to a gourmet cat."

~*~

"Are you sure, Terra?"

"‘Course I’m sure, I can row!"

"But you’re so little, I’m afraid you’ll hurt yourself."

"David!" Terra cried exasperatedly, "I won’t break, I’m not crystal! I can do it!"

"Okay, okay. Whatever you say. I forget sometimes that you are a real girl and not breakable. You’re such an angel."

"Ha! Don’t you think I see through that flattery!?" Terra said importantly, "Just try and bail yourself out!"

"I’m sorry."

Terra grinned, "You know, you apologize for everything. I think if I whopped you on the head and then looked sad, you’d apologize for it."

"Just my charming and wonderful nature, Terra."

"I know, I know."

She giggled. They were floating in the middle of the sizable duck pond in Mckenna Park, in a rented blue dingy, and Terra was rowing. Celeus was asleep under the foreseat, and David was watching Terra intently.

He had been dating her seriously for nearly six months now, and despite their age difference (Terra was a senior in High School, and David was a Junior in College), their relationship was working marvelously.

Terra was like a dream to David. From her long, frazzled brown braid, to her blue-grey-green eyes, she was a goddess. David didn’t just think she was beautiful, she was also kind and intelligent, witty, and charming. He still found it hard to reason out why this perfect girl was sitting beside him.

The circumstances behind their meeting were chancy and random at best. One day, he had spotted a plump black cat on his doorstep. The cat had fawned over David for about a week, when finally, confused by this bizarre feline, he had examined him. The cat turned out to be lost, and when he’d returned it, he’d returned it to the young damsel seated to his left.

For some confounded reason, after the cat had loved him like no other, he now detested him. Celeus would hiss and growl menacingly every time David attempted to touch him, and he could swear that he could feel the cat’s disapproving eyes every time he kissed Terra. Unable to reason the creature out, David wrote it off to the cat’s most times fickle and peculiar behavior.

"Bleeaach!" ugged Terra, startling him out of his musings.

"Had enough?"

"Yeah, yeah. I could go farther if I wanted, you know."

"I know. I know."

~*~

Image’s new form was confusing for her. It was very a rather strange experience to move physically, and not just mentally by projecting images. It took her several hours to master the new movements, but it came easily to her, and she was soon walking with a jaunt that would have impressed many models.

However, she was not out to impress anyone, except the carriers of the six crystals. She knew that their world desperately needed the crystals if it had any hope for it’s future, and she was bent on obtaining them, one way or another.

After she had mastered her bodily movements, she sat and immediately began her work. From a sub-dimensional pocket she drew out a black book bound with silver, a stylus carved from some sort of horn, and a sensor wand traced with ancient and intricate crystal. With delight she opened the book, for the first time in her existence, it was tangible, and she could feel the pages beneath her hand. She marveled for a moment at the parchment’s smooth unblemished texture, but them snapped her self out of her wonder. She had no time for such luxuries. The Queen’s hold on the Kingdom dwindled every moment, and it was her duty to save the Kingdom.

Deftly, she took the stylus in her hand, and steadying the book with the other, began to swiftly draw. Her lines were bold, yet graceful, and they found form on the paper quickly, merging to compose six deadly, yet beautiful creatures. They were all nearly five feet tall, with curving horns and large teeth. They had supple muscular bodies and ribbed back scales and were mainly covered in soft grey fur. They had large intelligent, expressive eyes and tense countenances.

They were a product of her own imagination, and they were her favorite creatures to birth. She took great joy in bringing them into existence because they were wholly hers, she was the creator. She was their mother in a sense, and she took pride in that. She knew that they were very intelligent, and once they had been birthed, she would have to convince them to aid her. She was confident they would, they were compassionate creatures, and hers was a noble quest, a quest to save the world.

Successfully finishing the picture, she replaced the stylus in it’s pocket and placed the book, open, on the ground in front of her. Summoning her strength, she channeled her energies into the book, and slowly, the six creatures came into being before her. They were a beautiful as she had envisioned, and they regarded her in wonder.

"My children," she murmured softly to them, even though she knew she had no need to. They were telepathic, "You must understand the turbulence which heralds your birth . . ."

~*~

Asleep in the bow of the rowboat, Celeus felt the energy release surge through his body and he sat up in surprise. He almost alerted Terra, but remembered in time that she didn’t. Instead, he roused himself and took a watchful position over the boat, ready to alert Terra if his worst fears were presented.

Luna and Artemis both felt the same volt race from the tips of their tails to the tops of their whiskers. The statice surge was so large, that it even traveled through Artemis and down Mina’s shoulder, providing a surprising shock.

"Ouch! Artemis, stop it!"

"I’m not doing anything, Mina! Do you think I’m an eel or something?"

"Well, then what was that?"

"An energy surge, and a strong one at that," responded Luna from the ground. The group was sitting under some oak trees sharing a lunch that Lita had catered. After the rather embarrassing incident, they had shed their roller blades in favor of a game of tag. Exhausted, but happy, they were now flopped in the shade of the largest tree in the park, the Great Oak.

"Yeah, somebody just released a whole lot of energy in some controlled way not very far from here, and that’s weird," remarked Artemis.

"Do you think it’s a matter for the scouts?" asked Ami, setting aside her sandwich in favor of a problem.

"That’s the thing. It wasn’t negative. It wasn’t positive either. It was just plain weird." answered Luna.

"But who or what has the capacity to cause such a surge?" asked Ami, perplexed.

"I’d say three to four Star-powered Sailor Scouts could do it, but the question is, why? Unless this surge was some kind message, or worse yet, some kind of burn-off from an energy transfer. I’d hate to think of the energy involved in that!" remarked Artemis.

"Could it be somethin’ natural?" asked Lita, "Some king of power surge?"

"The random chance of such a phenomenal surge of bio-energy is tiny," answered Luna.

"The question is, was the surge purposeful, or accidental?" asked Ami.

"The question is, who did that?" corrected Rei, "And why are they signaling us?"

~*~

Newly disembarked from their rowboat, Terra, David, and Celeus settled under a willow tree at the shallow end of the pond. It grew reedy, and a pair of cranes nested in the water. Terra love to watch their graceful flight and behavior, and the way that they lived. It was she that first led him to this spot, although, it had an eerie feeling of deja vu hanging over it.

The spot was guarded by a large sweeping willow tree whose boughs caressed the ground. David had seen Terra climb to the top of this tree as nimbly as a squirrel on previous occasions, yet at this particular juncture, she opted to stay on the ground, in his arms, as they both lounged against the smooth bark of the tree. They were lost in each others’ eyes so they failed to notice the green stone set into Terra’s amulet begin to glow faintly. However, Celeus had been on alert since the power surge half an hour before, besides, the way Celeus saw it, he would have had to have been deaf, dumb, or in love to have missed the tell-tale glow of the Jadestone.

Celeus was filled with an immediate sense of dread. There had to be a great psiconic power affecting the Jadestone, or it wouldn’t react. It generally didn’t react at all unless Terra was in danger. Celeus paced nervously behind the tree out of Terra’s sight. Although he desperately missed his princess, he had hoped to keep her from danger. Now, with this new development, that looked very unlikely. At this point Celeus had only one choice. He could not and would not allow his princess to be defenseless. Sailor Ceres would be reborn. Unfortunately, to wake the selectively amnesiatic princess, he had to enlist the help of a friend he hadn’t seen in quite a while.

~*~

The five girls and two cats were all still discussing their problem under the large oak tree when the pudgy black cat arrived. He politely waited in the recesses of a bush until an opportune break in the conversation allowed for his entrance. His effect on the group was substantial. The girls had not seen him since before the last battle with Kazracite, and the cats had last seen him months ago. Without his princess, Celeus found it difficult to talk to them. Difficulty or no, he had to talk with them now.

"Wow! Celeus you’ve lost weight!" cried Serena looking over the paunchy cat. It was true, he had lost some weight, not a great deal, even in his own eyes.

"Celeus, it has been a while!" agreed Luna, "And you do look better. How is Terra?"

"I’m afraid this isn’t a social call," he answered.

"We were afraid of that," sighed Mina.

"I assume you were aware of the massive power surge that passed through here about half an hour ago." he paused, and Artemis nodded for him to continue, "The Ceres Emerald Jadestone is now reacting."

The civilian sailor soldiers were shocked.

"Then that means we have a real threat on our hands," Lita remarked with some reluctance.

"That also means we have to wake Sailor Ceres," deduced Luna, "I’m coming right now, Celeus. I understand your devotion to your Princess. We have to wake her and protect her quickly!"

~*~

Still caught in a comfortable embrace, Terra and David failed to notice the pale glow of the green stone in the shaded greenery of their grotto. Terra did however notice Celeus’s absence, and she remarked upon it.

"He’s probably off chasing some pretty tabby," chuckled David.

An indignant and altogether pompous voice interrupted him,

"I most certainly am not, you ungrateful creature. Here I am trying to preserve your skin and what do you do when I’m not here? Insult me! I’ve even tried to be civil to you in past weeks!"

David turned his head so that he was face to face with the speaker, a black longhair cat he knew fairly well.

"Celeus! You’re talking!"

"Brilliant deduction Holmes," Celeus responded dryly, "Luna please get on with this!"

The smaller black cat who accompanied him nodded and took up a position in front of the astounded Terra Brown. The crescent moon on the cat’s forhead began to glow and the glow of the Jadestone brightened. David noticed it for the first time as the sigil of Ceres appeared on Terra forehead in a pale green glow.

Terra’s eyes were forced shut as she once again experienced the euphoria of complete memory regain, and when she opened them she was no longer Terra Brown, she was also Princess Terra of Ceres, and Sailor Ceres herself. She looked at David with new understanding, and if possible, her love for him deepened. He sat stunned.

Celeus sat with his tail curled around his front feet, and bowed respectedly to Terra when she looked at him in recognition.

"Terra?" asked David, his voice trembling slightly.

With a start Terra realized that David had not yet regained his memories and she shot a look of apology at him. She turned to Celeus and silently asked.

"Do I have to?" Celeus asked, half hope, half whine.

Terra nodded emphatically and Luna proceeded to wake David as well. As soon as he had recovered from his rewakening, the first thing he did was fold Terra in his arms and apologize to her as profoundly as he could. She quieted him, telling him that all was forgiven, and that he had no need to apologize. He looked up at her in a sweet mixture of love and gratitude.

"I hate to break up this touchingly poignant moment, Excellency, but I didn’t wake you two turtledoves up just because I was worried about your relationship. We have very real problems on our hand," remarked Celeus.

"Such as?" asked David.

"Well, Mr Infatuation, if you hadn’t been sucking her Excellency’s face off, you might have noticed that the Jadestone is reacting. I assume you remember what happened last time the Jadestone reacted?"

"Yes I do, and I’m not about to let anything like that happen again!"

"Oh really, you seem to have done a smashing job of stopping it on previous attempts."

"That was way below the belt, but I guess since you’re a cat that’s as high as you can reach."

"O, I am slain," quoted Celeus drily.

"Hamlet, Polonius, Act III, Scene iv," answered David tritely.

"Oh, so the fool of the court can read? And here I thought you spent all of your time trying to remember which name to answer to!"

"Celeus!" Terra reprimanded sharply, "That was uncalled for, and you know that!"

"Pardon, Excellency, I have been very tense recently due to my premonitions."

"What premonitions Celeus?" asked a familiar raven-maned girl as she strode onto the scene flanked by four other girls and a snow white cat with a golden moon on his forehead.

"Guys!" cried Terra and she was suddenly engulfed in a huge group hug, propagated by none other than one Serena Tsukino and her four cohorts. Even reserved Ami joined in as they giggled and gossiped. It took all three of the cats to remind the girls of the reason for their reunion.

"We are here for some purpose, Excellency," reminded Celeus sternly. Terra pulled a face at him and continued to partake of the other’s prattle.

"Serena!" cried Luna frustrated, "Remember the Jadestone!"

"Mina, come on, don’t embarrass me in front of Celeus!" the last word lowered to a growl as Artemis regarded Celeus darkly.

‘No doubt Artemis is still miffed over Pheobe.’ mused Celeus as the girls finally quieted enough so that they could here Celeus, as he began what Terra could tell was not going to be a pleasant conversation.

"As I was saying before your prince charming so rudely interrupted me," spoke Celeus as he sent a condescending glance at David,"The Ceres Emerald Jadestone began reacting about an hour ago. I believe it is reacting in response to certain stimuli we have felt in the last hour, namely, a bio-energy surge the other two guardians and I felt a little before the stone began reacting."

"What kind of energy surge?" asked Terra, suddenly becoming very serious. David slipped a comforting arm around her.

"We’re not sure, but it was a very large one, not very far away. Unfortunately it was of such a kind that we couldn’t trace it," replied Luna.

Suddenly the cat’s whiskers twitched and her ears went flat. The other felines went through similar motions, Celeus’s being the worst, as his fur stood out straight and fuzzed. David was about to make a snide comment when he noticed the Jadestone.

"Look Terra," he whispered as the Jadestone hovered at the end of it’s chain.

Without any movement, except for the crystal’s hover, the chain slipped un clasped and slid off Terra’s neck. The girls watched, mesmerized, as the Jadestone floated about a foot in front of Terra’s face. Without warning, Terra’s transformation pen appeared beside the stone. The stone circled the pen, and in a flash of green light that momentarily blinded all present, it was blended with the pen. When Terra was finally able to see, she gasped as she regarded the new wand before her.

"It’s a star wand," murmured Luna, "yet it’s not."

"It’s power signal is registering differently," remarked Ami, as she scanned it with the small super-computer, "I’m getting a resonance and an amplifier, and something else. I’m not sure," she looked up, "It’s somewhat like the Silver Crystal."

"That’s probably because that wand has the Ceres Emerald Jadestone in it," announced Mina, peering at it intently.

"What?" asked Luna startled, "Sailor Moon is the only Sailor who’s supposed to have a crystal transformation, as far as I recall."

"Well, it’s only logical that that stone underneath the star is the Jadestone," said David, We all ‘saw’ it go into the pen with that flash of light."

"And energy," reminded Artemis.

"But what changes will the crystal have on Ceres’s transformation?" asked Celeus.

"Well, there’s only one way to find out!" exclaimed Terra as she grabbed the still warm wand and shouted,

"CERES POWER!"

Nothing happened.

"I said, CERES POWER!!!"

More nothing happened.

"Swell, Celeus, the new star wand doesn’t work!" cried out Terra frustratedly

The other girls sweat dropped. They had forgotten that Terra knew nothing about star wands since she had missed the initial power up.

"I believe you’re going to have to say, ‘Ceres Star Power,’ Terra. That’s the was ours work," said Ami, timidly.

Terra shrugged and grinned as she raised the star wand for a third time,

"CERES STAR POWER!"

Terra was washed in a green light. She used the star wand to generate a net of glowing green vines which wrapped around her. They wrapped around her body, making a white body suit. They wrapped around her legs, making a pair of white knee boots with green trim. The vines curled around her throat to make an emerald green collar and green choker, with a golden emblem of Ceres on it. The vines swirled on her chest to make an emerald broach rimmed in gold, and a light green bow tied itself underneath the broach at the same time another tied itself in back. The vines wrapped around her arms and made a pair of white gloves trimmed in green, and then wrapped around her waist to make an emerald green skirt. Then they wrapped around her forehead, making a golden tiara with an emerald stone, a pair of emerald earrings, and the quadra-jadestone and the emerald piece at the bottom of her hair flashed back into being. A rustle of leaves blew past her and she struck a pose with both hands behind her back, feet apart, at attention, in front of the glowing green emblem of Ceres.