Chapter 3:

Sailor Moon Goes All Out!

The Sailor Scouts found Artemis. He was thrown through the window. Everyone went to Lita's apartment to get themselves together. Serena went to get Luna.

Still in their scout uniforms, the Outer Scouts sat on the floor. Sailor Neptune was resting in Lita's room. Darien kept the injured Artemis in his lap. Lita was in her kitchen. Ami and Raye were thinking quietly.

"Um, is anyone going to talk?" asked Leigh, speaking up.

"What about?" asked Kymbir. "About the fact we got stupid and Liz paid the price for it?"

"Now wait a minute!" said Alex angrily. "Now, if anyone should be blamed, it should be me. I'm her protector, like she is to Serena."

"No..." began Kymbir. "Pluto should be blamed. She's her true protector, if you want to get like that, Uranus."

"You're willing to blame your own sister?" said Leigh, shocked.

"Uranus was on to something anyway. I mean, my sister was too bull-headed to even talk to Liz. That wasn't fair. Even if staying with the Inner Scouts altered the time line, she shouldn't give Liz the silent treatment."

"What do you mean, Charon?" asked Ami, who was interested with the conversation.

"Pluto is the Mistress of Time. She has to make sure that everything goes just the way it should. And Elisia is *supposed* to be important to the future. That's all she told me. Now, if Pluto wanted to save her, Liz would be here right now which means it's a test."

"Test?" asked Darien.

"To see if we can save her without her interference."

"Boy, Charon, you *do* know a lot about your sister," said Raye coolly.

"I have to. Sometimes, things get real confusing to the rest of us and I have to piece some of it together."

"Okay, here's the snacks," interrupted Lita as she brought in sandwiches and treats on a tray to the others. "It's my best cooking so dive in."

The scouts slowly took something and ate even slower. Darien wasn't hungry so he looked down at Artemis. "Poor Luna. I hate to see how she'll react to seeing Artemis hurt."

"Speaking of hurt, I better check on Neptune." Alex got up and walked into the short hallway. A door closed seconds later.

"Hey, what's between Neptune and Uranus?" asked Raye. "They act too much like-"

"They were half-sisters," said Leigh quickly. "They were real close."

"Oh. Okay."

Kymbir and Leigh looked at each other. 'Good lie, Leigh.'

'Thanks. I had ta think of somethin'. Besides, it's none of Mars' business!'

'You don't think Alex will try to go after Venus, do you?'

'Hope not,' was Leigh's reply.

Alex sat on the bed, looking at Michelle. She loved Michelle. She couldn't deny that. But, in front of the Inner Scouts, she couldn't express it. With Setsuna, Kymbir, Leigh and Elisia, it was different. They respected them and gave them space. But the Inner Scouts wouldn't understand.

Michelle opened her eyes. She saw Alex and smiled. "Hi, love."

"Michelle," Alex whispered, relieved. "You okay? Leigh and Kym were worried sick about you."

"Yeah." Michelle took Alex's hand into her own. "What about you, Alex? Were you worried?"

"To death." Alex kissed Michelle's forehead. "We failed Elisia."

"I know. But we're not helpless. Elisia gave me something before she left to stay with Darien." Michelle went into her shoes, which were ballet-like, and pulled out a small, garnet coin. "This could get us to her."

"You want us to go into the Negaverse- alone!?" Alex was hoping that was what Michelle was saying.

"If we have to. With Leigh and Kym. Not now, though. Let's follow the Inner Scouts, since Sailor Moon is their leader. And technically, she's ours too." Michelle swung her legs to the side of the bed.

"Do you want to join the others so soon?" asked Alex quietly.

"Better. The Inner Scouts don't know about us." Michelle got up slowly. Dizziness took her vision away and she fell into Alex's arms as she caught Michelle. "Sorry."

"Sorry? About what, Michelle?" asked Alex. They locked eyes with each other. But they quickly tore themselves away. "Not now. Not in Lita's house."

Michelle just smiled. "I hope Liz is okay."

"In the Negaverse? Never."

Elisia cried uncontrollably as the pain increased to the point of breaking her will. Her powers hadn't left her and fighting the terrible dark powers of the Negaverse was hurting far more than when Beryl tore her apart a thousand years ago. She couldn't see anything but white, hot, searing, unbearable pain. But she refused to give up. She would not join Sulite like Venus did. And she won't be brainwashed either.

Crisite watched her from the corner. He admired her spirit. He never encountered such resistance before. But he was going to break her. In a different way. He snapped his fingers and the wall stopped glowing. Elisia slumped forward, her hair and face covered in a thin line of sweat. He walked over to the princess. "You have a will far stronger than Tuxedo Mask. But in the end, you will be one of us."

"Never," came her whispered voice. She was hoarse from screaming for so long. But she wasn't going to let him know it. Her dark glare caught his attention.

Crisite laughed. "You are beautiful as you are strong. Sulite wouldn't care if I killed you, Elisia. All she wants is your powers. And I have a way that might just do it."

Elisia felt exhaustion rush to her. She didn't want to sleep but it was so near. "You won't get Sailor Moon," she whispered.

"Oh, no. Not Sailor Moon. You've been chummy with Jupiter. Our next target is Sailor Jupiter."

"No... please... just take my power. I'll give it up." Elisia was desperate. Tears ran again and she wanted to be the only one to suffer.

"Oh, no. You had your chance... Elisia." He then sent an enormous energy ball at her.

She screamed and everything went black.

Lita jerked up for a moment. Her stomach felt like it was on fire. But it vanished fast. 'What was that?' she thought.

Serena and Luna were running to Lita's apartment. Serena wasn't really out of breath but she worried constantly about her cousin and that wore her out. "Luna... Artemis will be okay, you know."

"If I was there to help..." Luna began but she stopped herself. Elisia and Mina were prisoners of the Negsverse. It was a miracle that Artemis wasn't taken! "Let's just get to Lita's house."

Serena was surprised at Luna. She was much more serious than normal.

"Heeeeeeelllooooo, Sailor Moon."

That stopped Serena and Luna in their tracks. Standing before them was Venus.

Darien sensed that something was wrong. Ever since the Doom Tree scenario, he and Serena were very close. They knew when the other was in trouble. And right now, Serena was in trouble. He stood up, Artemis in his arms. "We gotta move," he said seriously.

Ami and Raye got up. "Why?" asked Ami.

"Serena's in trouble."

"Then let's move it scouts, before we lose another princess." Uranus and Neptune came into the living room.

"Okay!" said Charon and Earth. Everyone was out the door.

In the chamber of time, Setsuna watched the scouts carefully. "I see that Elisia thought ahead about giving Michelle the garnet coin. But are they really going to go alone? I hope not. Kymbir better see that soon or both Serena and Elisia will fall into the Wiseman's hands far more quickly than normal." She really wanted to help but this was something that Elisia had started and only the princess of Saturn could finish it.

"Mina! Snap out of it!" urged Serena.

"My name is Venus! I'm a warrior of the Negaverse!" Venus cocked her fist and tried to slam it into Serena's face. Serena quickly stepped to the side and Venus fell face first to the ground.

Serena threw her locket into the air. "MOON...CRYSTAL...POWER!"

Venus watched her transform. The instant that she was done, Venus cried, "VENUS! WEB... OVERTAKE!" Her web barely missed Sailor Moon.

"Sailor Moon! Fight her!" yelled Luna.

"I can't! She's my friend!"

"NOT ANYMORE!" screamed Venus and she rushed Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon threw up her hands to protect herself but Venus never got to Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon felt the ground vanished for a split second and then reappeared. She looked up and saw Tuxedo Mask hold her in his arms. "Are you okay, Sailor Moon?" he asked.

"Definitely," she replied dreamily. She was set down. Behind her were Sailor Neptune, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Charon, Sailor Earth, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars. They were all ready to fight Venus.

"She's been brainwashed real good," said Tuxedo Mask. "Not even your crystal can heal her, Sailor Moon."

"Are you going to fight me or do I get to kill you all!?" asked Venus angrily.

"We don't want to fight you," began Mercury.

"Too bad!" Venus closed her eyes and her dark energy web came into existence. "Die, scouts! VENUS... WEB-OVERTAKE!" This time her web caught Mars, Charon, Earth, and Tuxedo Mask.

"MERCURY BUBBLES! FREEZE!" cried Mercury but Venus repelled them.

"URANUS! TORNADO..."

"NEPTUNE! WATERFALL..."

But neither scout was able to finish her attack. Venus smiled and cried, "VENUS! DARK WAVE CONTRACT!" The wave was grayish-brown as it wrapped itself around Neptune, Uranus and Mercury. It contracted slowly, crushing them.

"That's it, Venus!" called Jupiter furiously. "I didn't want to hurt you but I'm not letting you win! JUPITER!...THUNDER-DRAGON!" cried Sailor Jupiter as her lightning dragon raced to Dark Venus.

Laughing, Venus called, "VENUS EVIL GAIN!" Jupiter's dragon was surrounded by a red-orange glow and then turned around and headed back to Jupiter.

"What!?" Her own dragon then hit Jupiter, electrocuting her. She fell to the ground, her breathing becoming shallow.

"Jupiter! That's it! You're moondusted!" yelled Sailor Moon.

Tuxedo Mask managed to get a rose into his hand and taking his cue, he threw his rose at Venus from the web, catching her shoulder. She screamed.

Sailor Moon had tears running down her eyes as she held her Moon Scepter, ready to blast Venus away. "Good bye, Mina," she whispered faintly as she gathered herself. "MOOOOON... SCEPTEEEEERRR... ELIMINATION!"

Her scepter hit paydirt. Venus was struck so hard by the power that she was lifted off the ground a few feet and then slammed back down, unmoving. Her dark powers were gone, freeing the others.

Tuxedo Mask touched Sailor Moon's shoulder and she cried into his chest. "You had to do it, Serena," he whispered.

But something odd happened. Dark Venus struggled back to her feet. Everyone gasped. "You scouts just lost Saturn. The instant I went down, Sulite fried her."

Sailor Moon turned around. "You're lying!" she cried.

"Really?" she said, mimicking Sailor Moon's annoying pitched voice. "Are you so sure?"

Saturn was all alone in the torture room. She could sense what was happening. Slowly, using her hidden mental powers of her planet, she managed- weakly- to get her Star Locket off from around her neck. She then let it glow. "Serena...if you get this locket message, then you know that I'm still alive...not by much but I am. I know you're scared. I promised that I would be at your side forever. But that's not possible..."

Venus smiled and then vanished into thin air. Serena wanted to go after her but the possibility of her cousin being dead haunted her. "Luna? Is she really telling the truth?"

"I wish I knew, Sailor Moon. But who knows."

"Definitely. But Saturn wouldn't have gone down without making a HUGE fuss," said a familiar voice.

Everyone turned around and saw Artemis up and walking toward them slowly. "ARTEMIS!" Luna ran to him first and licked the cut on his cheek.

"Look, destroy Mina if you have to but Saturn has to be freed."

"He's right," said Mercury. "Sailor Moon's scepter brought her down but she came right back."

"We need another place to think and to rest," said Earth.

"My place," said Darien. "Perhaps us Inners need to know your real names." He glanced at the Outer Scouts.

"Okay," replied Charon reluctantly.

Venus walked into the torture chamber. She was furious. She hated Sailor Moon. She glanced at Saturn and smiled. With a mere flick of her wrist, she freed Saturn from her bonds.

Saturn was on her hands and knees when Venus went over and lifted her chin up. She saw the tiredness in the princess' eyes. Her costume was torn and her locket was gone. 'Crisite must've took it,' she thought. Sailor Saturn wasn't in her look-alike Sailor V costume anymore. She was in her other scout costume (like the other scouts). Hers was white and golden yellow with orange bows.

"I think it's time to make Princess Elisia suffer more. Don't you?" Her voice was becoming demonic.

"I see...you...didn't...get Jupiter...," said Saturn.

"Oh, don't worry. I felt her power. I had her power for a minute. I'll find her again. But first..." Venus picked Saturn up by her chin, dragging her to her feet. "We're going to have a nice little fight to the finish." With that, Venus kicked her in the stomach and then elbowed her in her neck, followed by a wave of wind that threw Saturn into the wall on the other side of the room.

Saturn got to her knees, wheezing softly. 'I can't beat her. All I can do is keep her from finding out about my locket.' She got to her feet, fists clenched tightly near her. She wasn't going down without getting a few hits in herself, despite her weakened state.

All of the scouts arrived at Darien's apartment an hour later. Tired, everyone crashed everywhere: Neptune, Charon and Mars on the couch, Uranus in the recliner, Mercury in the lover seat, Tuxedo Mask and Moon on the floor close to each other and Jupiter sitting against the wall. Luna and Artemis sat near the door.

"Okay, this is good," said Uranus. "But what do we do now?"

"Other than sleep?" asked Charon. "Don't know."

But they heard a low buzzing sound. Sailor Moon looked up and hovering above her was the Star Locket. She took it and realized by its touch whom it belonged to. "It's Elisia's!" She put it on the floor and everyone crowded around it. The locket glowed for a split second and an image of a tired and weakened Saturn shot out of it, finding space on the ceiling.

"What's going on?" asked Jupiter.

"Saturn sent her locket to us. She isn't dead," said Neptune, relieved.

"For how long?" asked Uranus.