In the afternoon sun, Chang stood in a vacant yard near Makoto's apartment. {Of all the surprises living with the Senshi has sent my way, this has to be the one I least expected,} he thought. {Of course, I should've seen it coming a mile away.}

Two or three days after Chibi-Usa had been cured, Chang had gotten a visit at the temple from Makoto, while Rei was out. He'd been sparring with Grandpa Hino, who was the only martial artist in Juuban who could give Chang a decent match. Yuuichiro had let Makoto in without asking the elder Hino, and Chang hadn't looked over at the temple doors until after he'd bowled Hino-sensei over with a Momentum Strike. Makoto had been watching open-mouthed. As soon as she could get her jaw off the floor, she'd asked Chang to train her.

"But I'm no sensei!" he'd protested. "And besides-" Makoto had cut him off. "Oh no! Now you listen up, Chang Delune! You are as good as the best sensei in Tokyo, you just proved it in front of my eyes! And you _know_that I like to mix it up, and you know *why* I'm interested in learning such advanced techniques!"

Lowering her voice, she went on, "We have our powers as Senshi, true, but there've been times my Thunder hasn't done a bit of good, like when we fought Kunzite." "Who?" Chang had asked, and Makoto spent the next half-hour telling Chang about Kunzite and the Dark Kingdom. Finally, Chang had been forced to concede.

"Okay, okay," he'd answered her, "I see that my level of martial arts could be a very useful added whammy. I'll start next monday after school, barring monster attacks or the like, and we'll continue daily after that."

{So here I am now,} thought Chang, {waiting for my student. I wonder if I aggravated Father this much?} Then a panting Makoto ran into the yard. "Sorry..I..School..Detention..Ran.."

Chang grinned. "Save your breath. You're going to need it."

* * * * *

Later that day, Chang walked beside an exhausted Makoto to the street corner where the Senshi were going to meet. Makoto was drooping with exhaustion.

"I can't believe... you put me... through that kind of a workout... right after... I ran all... the way from school... to meet you!" she wheezed. Chang gave her a sad grin. "I hate to break this to you, but that was basically a test to see what you could do. The *real* strains will start tomorrow."

Makoto groaned just as Minako walked around the corner. "Hey girl, what's wrong?" asked the blonde. Chang grinned at her.

"She's getting an object lesson in 'be careful what you wish for-'"
"-You might get just it?" Minako finished. Chang sighed.
"That's 'you just might get it,' Mina-chan, but good enough."

Mina fumed briefly - she hated being teased about her problem with old quotes - but brightened quickly as she looked across the street.

"Hey, check it out! A new bakery offering free samples!" she cried, and Makoto's head snapped around in an instant. "All right! Just what I need to get my energy levels back up. Hey, Ami, over here!" she cried, having just seen the blue-haired genius coming around the corner. Rei was behind Ami, as it turned out, and the five youths went into the bakeshop. Usagi, Chibi-Usa, and Mamoru were not far behind, and the group began eating quickly.

Of course, Usagi and Chibi-Usa got into an argument, and Chang begged off any more sweets and went outside to relieve his ears. {Ouch!} he thought. {Those two can be *loud* sometimes! I don't envy Mamoru, having to put up with both of them.} He frowned. {Even if the guy _is_ acting like a jerk. From what I hear - and remember from the Moon Kingdom - he and Usagi are destined lovers! So why is he suddenly acting like she doesn't exist?!}

Turning slightly, Chang glanced in the window to see Usagi handily outeating an older woman who was nevertheless pigging out with great vigor on the cupcakes. He chuckled. {Well, I guess she's doing her version of drowning her sorrows - burying them in sugar!}

Inside, the woman, who was wearing a black dress, stopped eating and rushed to the back of the store with a horribly embarrased expression. Chang chuckled again, and turned away to wait for Minako.

A minute later, he felt a chill go down his spine. "What the.." he asked aloud, then spun to see all the people in the shop (except for Mamoru, the Senshi, and Chibi-Usa) collapse! {Damn! Monster attack!} he thought, speeding around to the side of the restauraunt to transform.

Esmeraude, laughing to herself around the back of the bakeshop, was startled to hear a cry of "Moon guardian power, henshin!" from around the corner. Curious, she went to look, but by the time she peered around the corner, no one was there.

"Well," she commented, "that was odd... but I'll still destroy this place. O-HOHOHOHO!"

Up on the roof, Lunar stumbled as the laughter startled him, but kept his focus on his objective. From his vantage at the skylight, he could see a waitress reveal herself as a Droid and take aim at Mamoru and the girls.

In the shop, Mamoru prepared to throw himself between the Droid's attack and the girls, but as the little icing flower flew their way, his heroic action was interrupted.

"MOONBEAM BOOMERANG!"

The golden crescent flew down from the ceiling and shattered the flower to bits, before arcing gracefully back to its owner. Lunar stood in the open skylight, in a dramatic pose. "Attacking those who seek relief from their troubles! I, Lunar, will vanquish you!" he cried, trying mightily to keep a straight face as he stole Sailor Moon's thunder.

Mamoru and the Senshi wasted no time in running off to transform, and Lunar began to dodge, waiting for the inevitable distraction to give him a chance to attack.

He didn't have to wait long. It was perhaps one minute from the time he arrived to the time that the Senshi stormed in, making their usual speeches. The Droid, unimpressed, launched its attacks
- sprays of icing that Lunar was _sure_ were deadlier than they seemed -
and the Senshi dodged, except for Sailor Mars, who was caught mid-Mandala and sprayed. She stood there, apparently unable to move, as the stuff congealed into a cakelike cone.

"Hang on, Mars! I'll get you out of there!" Lunar cried, but as he dashed toward her, a yell from Mercury stopped him short.

"Lunar, wait! According to my computer, she isn't just *coated* with cake, she's been changed so her body has the *consistency* of cake! A sharp impact could shatter her!"

"What!? Oh, great - I hope killing this Droid undoes its attacks like usual!" Lunar replied in a worried tone.

"MOONBEAM BOOMERANG!"

Once again, the golden blade flew at its target -
but it was hit by a spray of icing the Droid threw at it, and it fell to the ground as a frosted croissant, where it did indeed shatter. {Oops,} Lunar thought as he dodged the tail end of the spray, {That confirms Mercury's observation! Better be real careful or-}

His train of thought was derailed as he saw first Sailor Moon, then Venus and the tired Jupiter get caught by the Droid's spray. "Che! Hang on guys, I'll get it! MOON GUARDIAN *glumph*"

The rather undignified finish to Chang's normal attack cry came as a reult of his getting caught, rather like Mars, in the middle of his attack sequence by an icing spray. As a result, Lunar could only watch as Tuxedo Kamen arrived and gave Sailor Mercury the key to beating the Droid. She soaked it with her Shining Aqua Illusion, melting its sugary outer coating and freeing the others. Moments later, six sifferent Senshi/Guardian attacks converged on the thing, dusting it with much more force than was strictly necessary.

"Ahh," Lunar sighed, "*That* was satisfying."

Sailor Mercury replied, "I agree, Lunar, but I'm picking up a source of dark energy from the back rooms of the bakeshop!"

Sailor Jupiter slammed her fist into her palm. "All right! Let's go kick some butt!" As he ran after her, Lunar muttered, "Well, *she* got her energy back quick. Must have been the sweets."

* * * * *

In the back room of the restauraunt, Emeraude was aghast as the Dark Henge toppled over and shattered. "Wh-what happened.."

"There you are! Attacking innocent people who are only looking for a bit of sweetness in their lives! I, Sailor Moon, will not forgive you!" At the all-too-familiar quote (Yes, I think the future Senshi still use those lines) Emeraude whirled around...
..Only to give a quiet laugh as she saw her assailants. "YOU are the Sailor Senshi of the past?!? You're not nearly as... *developed*... now.."

Jupiter cut her off. "HEY! Older ladies shouldn't joke about bad figures!"

"Older... Ladies..." Emeraude gritted out, before getting her attention totally (if pleasantly) diverted by two men in the rear of the Senshi pack. "Ooh! You two aren't half bad, though! You wouldn't by any chance be available for a social occasion tomorrow?"

The silver-haired one choked, while the tuxedo-clad one was glomped by a Sailor with blond hair in an odango-ponytails hairdo.

"No way! Tuxedo Kamen-sama is taken!"

"Ditto for Lunar, old lady!" affirmed Sailor Venus. Emeraude literally saw red.

"OOH! I am not an *older* *lady* and you'll pay for this! I'll get you next time!" With that, she teleported.

Back in the bakeshop, people were beginning to recover. Jupiter said, "Well, she must be our new enemy from Nemesis! We'll show her, right guys?" Transforming back, Chang shook his head. {Here we go again...}