Chapter 4:
Fight of the Best Friends

"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'd be at your side forever. But that's not possible now. I hope Charon's there with you. Ask her about the Star Scepter of Saturn. The spell Venus is under is too powerful for the Moon Scepter alone. But with the Star Scepter, she can be freed. I think it's under the rubble of the Moon Kingdom." Elisia's image winced, trying to hide the pain she felt.

The Outer and Inner Scouts, Darien, Luna and Artemis watched as Elisia's image got dimmer. "You all need to be in small groups. Serena, you and Darien can head for the moon and try to locate the Star Scepter. Serena, it's a family treasure so only you can touch it. Neptune, I hope you have the garnet coin. You, Uranus and one other can head for the Negaverse. Distract them so Darien and Serena can get the Star Scepter. The rest of you have to protect the planet." Elisia coughed. "I have to go. Serena, take my locket and don't lose it. Without it, I can't become Sailor Saturn." The image flickered and died.

"You heard her. Charon, do you know about the Star Scepter?" asked Sailor Moon.

"Yeah...it was the one thing that could save everyone if it didn't get lost. She says it's on the moon. I don't know. It's golden yellow and pink. The top of it has an orb held in place by gold clamps. The symbol of Saturn is on the very top, etched in gold. That's all I know."

"Thanks. Darien, let's go!" Serena and Darien stood close together and Serena held her scepter up. "Moon 'Port Power!" Instantly, they were gone.

Neptune pulled out the garnet coin. "I guess we better go," she said. "Uranus?"

"Coming. Hey Mars, wanna turn the heat up for the Negaverse?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Mars joined Neptune and Uranus on the other side of the room.

"Let's do it, Neptune!"

Neptune held the garnet coin in her hands. "Take us to our Princess Saturn." The garnet coin flickered in red and black before it engulfed them in a sphere of transfixed energy. They were gone.

"Okay, the rest of us have to stay!?" said Jupiter, not liking that she was left behind.

"Not quite. Luna, Artemis. I think I need to spy on my sister," said Charon. "You two want to come along? I want some answers and I think the *three* of us are entitled to them." Charon took a cat in each arm and closed her eyes. "Chamber Teleport," she whispered faintly and she, Luna and Artemis faded away.

"GREAT!"

Ami went to the door. "I think we better be out on the streets, just in case."

"Okay, Ami. You're the boss," said Earth. "I think I should go solo."

"Why?" asked Lita.

"Then you'll know who I am," answered Earth.

"We won't tell the others, if that helps," replied Ami.

"Okay." Earth closed her eyes and changed into her human identity. Her head hair was pulled up high into a ponytail, the curls resting just below her shoulders. She was wearing blue jeans and a velvet powder-blue sleeveless turtleneck. "You promised," said Leigh.

"Leigh!? You're Sailor Earth!?" said Ami, shocked. "I should've known. The red hair is a dead giveaway."

"I know. But then again, people want not to assume stuff."

"Let's get going!" Lita, Ami and Leigh left Darien's apartment.


Darien and Serena arrived on the Moon-or what's left of it. They landed in the midst of the rubble. Serena clung to Darien as they picked their way through the ruined kingdom. "It's going to be almost impossible to find the Star Scepter."

"But we have to, Darien! I can't let Liz down!"


Saturn got back to her feet. She'd let Venus beat on her for about ten minutes now. Her nose and mouth were bleeding. Her right shoulder was dislocated. Her left wrist was almost shattered (it was broken at the moment). Her kneecap was throbbing unmercifully and she was even weaker than before. 'I wish I had my transformation wand,' she thought as Venus kicked her in her ribs, instantly breaking three of them. But somehow, Saturn stayed on her feet.

"You're still awake?" asked Venus darkly. "I guess you need a major concussion!" She jumped up, ready to kick Saturn in the head.

Saturn closed her eyes, her hands together as if she was praying. "Saturn...powerbound..."she whispered. Just seconds before the would-be fatal injury, she opened her eyes and screamed, "STASH!" A beam of light erupted from the floor and took Venus away from her. The beam slammed Venus into the ceiling and vanished as Venus clanged against the floor. Saturn got to the doorway and stumbled out.


Sulite was watching Darien and Serena as they picked through the rubble. "Now, why would they be there?" she asked Rufus. He stood next to her, near the throne.

"Mistress...could they be searching for the Star Scepter?" he asked nervously.

"Now why would they think it's there, Rufus? You did get rid of it, didn't you?" She glared, unblinking, at Rufus.

"Y-y-y-y-yes, mistress," he stuttered.

Sulite then knew the truth. She grabbed him from the front of his collar. "You FOOL! They can destroy the Negaverse with that!!" She threw him to the side and was about to call forth an army when Dritoite came in, his uniform a bit cringed. "What happened to you!?" she demanded

"They're here! Neptune, Uranus and Mars! They're attacking us!"

"Then stop them! DO I HAVE TO DO *EVERYTHING* MYSELF!?" she screamed furiously. "IF they find Saturn, I'm killing everyone!"

Dritoite scrambled away, knowing that something had gotten in her way. *Again.*


"MARS...FIREBIRD...STRIKE!" Mars' firebird took out a wave of soldiers. "Where are they keeping Saturn!?"

"Not sure!" answered Neptune loudly. "NEPTUNE...WATERFALL...*SPLASH*!" Her power of water took out more soldiers than Mars' power.

"We can't waste our time with fighting these junkies! URANUS...TORNADO...*BREAK*!" Her power of wind whipped the remaining soldiers away. Uranus smiled. "Let's move!" Uranus ran into the only doorway in the room.

Neptune and Mars followed. "Is Uranus this bossy?" Mars asked Neptune.

"Only when it comes to getting our princess back," answered Neptune.


Serena was digging a few feet away from Darien when she thought she saw a speck of something glittery. She dug more quickly, hoping and praying that she had found the Star Scepter. But then her eyes fell sadly. She didn't find the Star Scepter. She found her old golden photo album. A tear found its way down her face as she put it in the old sack Darien found on the Moon. 'I'll look at it later,' she thought to herself.


Charon, Luna and Artemis peeked around the corner of the Time Chamber. They saw Pluto hard at work, watching the various timelines carefully. "There she is," whispered Charon to Luna and Artemis. "Looks like everything's normal."

"But she's just watching the timeline," whispered Artemis. "What's she looking for?"

"Maybe something that won't be consistent with what should be," Charon said softly.

"But she can help us," said Luna faintly.

"Not if nothing's disrupted," said Charon.

But Pluto saw something. She stood up from her chair. "Noooo...she can't be! I have to revive Venus! She can't join them so soon!" With that Pluto opened a portal and stepped inside. It sealed itself shut.

With Pluto gone, Charon, Luna and Artemis walked up to the monitors. On one was Serena as a young child on Earth. Another, Sailor Earth coming to Saturn's aid for the first time. But on the glowing monitor was a gruesome sight. All of the scouts were crying at three limp forms on the floor. Sulite's laughter echoed loudly in the chamber.

Princess Elisia, Princess Serena and Prince Darien were dead.

"Oh, noo..." whispered Charon.


Pluto stood over Dark Venus' body. With a wave of her Time Key Staff, Venus was awake. Venus cursed under her breath. "I better find Saturn before Sulite decides to kill me. And by the vibrations of the floor, Sulite's on the rampage already." She got up and saw the drop of blood on the floor...and another a few feet away. She followed the trail.

Pluto smiled as she faded away. 'Now for Saturn...'


Saturn leaned heavily against the wall. She'd forgotten about the bleeding nose and lip. She was concentrating on her broken ribs, the pain far worse for the whole body than the broken bones. "Serena...I can't...it hurts so bad..." She slid down the wall. "My healing powers aren't working anymore..."

"That's because I won't let them," said Pluto, phasing into existence. "I can't let you reunite with Neptune, Uranus and Mars."

"Why..." Saturn said softly. "I trusted you, Pluto. But you've been manipulating me the whole time. I wasn't your friend. I was just another tool, just like Charon, Earth, Neptune and Uranus!" Using the wall for support, Saturn got to her feet.

"No- Saturn, I valued our friendship-"

"Friendship!? Since when!? When I got to Earth three months ago, you seemed surprised. Then I found out that it was too soon for my arrival! And I'm not the only one! Charon and Earth aren't supposed to be here either! Aren't I right!?"

"Yes...you are. But I didn't have the heart to send my sister away so I didn't lock you all up."

"But you did! You didn't let me join the others on Earth a thousand years ago! Then you sent me back two years ago when Venus was Sailor V and I became Sailor S!" Saturn was getting stronger as her healing powers kicked in at last. "WHY!?"

"I can't say...you're too vital for the future."

"BULL! I don't believe you! I'll never trust you again, Setsuna!"

Pluto was stunned by Saturn's words. She had considered Saturn her closest friend. But now, all that changed in the blink of an eye. She was upset. However, as the Mistress of Time, she couldn't show it. Not in front of Saturn. "I'm sorry to hear that." Pluto then phased out of the hall.

Saturn jerked as she heard a sound. Then, a blow to the neck sent her wheeling to unconsciousness.

Venus stood over her prisoner. "I got you back." She threw Saturn over her shoulder and walked back into the darkness just as Neptune, Uranus and Mars went by.


"You guys must be nuts," said Mars, stopping. "I didn't hear her and I don't see her."

"I heard her yelling," said Neptune.

"And I did too. But it sounded like she was yelling at Pluto."

"Get out of here!" said Mars.

"Okay, but you go first!" said a voice and the three of them vanished from the Negaverse.


Serena worked frantically at the hole she was digging in. Something told her that she was near the Star Scepter. Then she felt something. Yanking on it with all her might, Serena pulled the Star Scepter up from the ground with such force that she fell onto her butt. "DARIEN! I FOUND IT!" she screamed excitedly.

Darien stopped digging and looked up. Serena held the Star Scepter high above her. He got up and ran to her. "You found it!" He threw his arms around Serena.

"Not now!" she said, getting up. For the first time since Darien knew her, Serena was serious. "We have to get back!"


Dark Venus tied Saturn back up against the wall she was on before. Saturn opened her eyes and glared angrily at Venus. "Why are you doing this to me? We're best friends!"

"I have no scout as a friend."

"Yes you do. Me. You were a scout. A few years ago, you were in England and you were Sailor V. Remember Sailor S? That was me! I was able to get free then and came to Earth for four months! Then Pluto found me and sent me back. But I met up with you!"

Venus then had a flashback of a memory.

*FLASHBACK *

It was just another day for Sailor V. She had been challenged by a monster that she hadn't defeated yet. Her and Artemis went to the harbor and met up with it. But she was sadly out-matched. She couldn't get her Crescent Beam to hit it once when she felt something in the air. Sailor V looked up above her and standing on the rooftop of the hanger was a girl dressed identically to her! But the colors were golden yellow and orange. She landed next to Sailor V. "Need help?" asked the new girl.

"Who are you?" asked Artemis.

"I am Sailor S, defender of justice and peace." She smiled at Sailor V. "Shall we finish this."

"Sure!" Sailor V was thrilled to have a partner.

Sailor S closed her eyes and removed her tiara. It turned into a disk-like ring. "RING SLICE... RADIANCE!" Sailor S threw it at the monster. It multiplied until there were ten rings. All of them smashed into the monster, cutting it almost to ribbons. "NOW!"

"CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" cried Sailor V. Her beam destroyed the monster. She then thanked Sailor S.

For four months, they were inseparable. But then, one day, they met up with a scout who called herself Sailor P (gee, I wonder who it was.) She then attacked Sailor S and despite her efforts to stay free Sailor P locked her away back on the moon. Sailor V was angry and attacked Sailor P. But Sailor P hurt Sailor V badly and for two weeks, Sailor V had moped around the house and stared at the only photo of her and Sailor S, who was known as Elisia Keiko. Eventually, Sailor V was back to crime fighting but she was never the same again. Sailor P knew that her and Sailor V were best friends from the moon and erased her memories of that time so Sailor V could heal and not remember those four months.

*End of FLASHBACK *

Dark Venus screamed as she remembered and slapped Saturn- hard. Her busted lip bled again. "You are lying! For that, Jupiter is mine!" With that, Dark Venus vanished.

As soon as she did, Crisite returned. "I see you still have your powers, Saturn. Not for long!" He whistled a tune and the wall glowed red again. Her powers were being sucked away.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" screamed Saturn.


Lita, Ami and Leigh watched as the sky darkened. "Oh, no!" said Leigh. "They're taking Saturn's powers!"

"And we're here protecting!" said Lita unhappily.

"I can fix that for you!" said Dark Venus, appearing in front of them.

They jumped back. "I don't think so!" yelled Leigh.

All three held their powersticks up. "MERCURY POWER!"

"JUPITER POWER!"

"EARTH POWER!"

Ami, Lita and Leigh became Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Earth.

"You all are just sorry excuse for protectors! VENUS! DEATH...BEAM!" Venus' beam smashed into Sailor Mercury, sending her flying through the trees.

"Mercury! That's it, Venus! EARTH! SPIRIT-BOOOOOOOOMB!"

Laughing, Venus grabbed the ball of energy and hurled it back at Earth. It hit Earth very hard and she laid motionless on the ground. Venus then looked at Jupiter. "Now it's just you," she replied darkly.

"JUPITER! THUNDER...DRAGON!" Jupiter watched as Venus prepared herself to take her dragon again. At the last second, Jupiter pulled her dragon up then down, crashing into Venus. Venus went flying on the ground, hitting it like a slinky.

But Venus got back up. "You're wasting your time, Sailor Jupiter. Saturn is already losing her powers. I could take you to her but then again, I might just kill you."

"Go ahead and try! I'm not giving up!" spat Jupiter.

"Not even for Saturn?" Then Venus showed Jupiter what was happening to Saturn at that very moment.

Saturn's screaming was subsiding, as if she was giving up. The dark energy of the Negaverse was throwing itself into her, taking away the powers of Saturn as it left.

"No! Saturn! All right! You win!" Jupiter lowered her head. "I'll go with you."

"Perfect!" Venus summoned the portal and led Jupiter through it. It sealed itself shut.


Ami woke up to something wet on her forehead. She focused on the person doing it and realized that it was Raye. "Raye?" she whispered. She sat up carefully and felt a throb in her head. "Where-?"

"Back at Darien's," said Raye.

"Yeah. We found you and Earth there," said Uranus.

"But we couldn't find Jupiter. Where is she?" asked Neptune.

"I'm not sure."

"That's what I told them," said Earth, entering the main room.

"Now, we have to wait for Darien and Serena. Oh, where's Charon, Luna and Artemis?" asked Neptune.

"Took a lil' trip," answered Earth. "They'll be back."

Just then, Darien and Serena returned from out of thin air. "Hey, we're back!" said Serena happily. "Guess what we found!" She went into the old bag that Darien held and pulled out the Star Scepter.

"You did it!" shrieked Earth as she hugged Serena tightly. "Now we can get rid of Sulite!"

"Um, who's Sulite?" asked Ami.

Earth then realized what happened. She told then about the secret plans to get rid of Sulite. "Oh, um the person who has Saturn."

"Okay," said Uranus. "Then we better teach him a lesson!"

As the others talked about how they could get into the Negaverse, Earth sighed softly to herself. 'I almost blew it.'


Charon, Luna and Artemis hid again as Pluto returned. She sat on the floor in a graceful manner and cried in her hands a few minutes. Then she gathered herself. "I ruined it. I wanted Saturn to join the others but she was too powerful for her own good. I had to lock her away on the moon. It's still not time. She was suppose to enter when the little one showed up. But now, I had to prevent her from being freed so soon. I hope it's enough." Pluto got up and vanished again.

Hearing everything, the three hiders came out. "I don't believe it," said Charon.

"What? That Pluto kept Saturn from us?" said Luna.

"We needed her. Oh, wait! I think Saturn did come!" said Artemis.

"What're mean!?" asked Luna and Charon.

"Back in the earlier days, Mina was Sailor V. We had some help-in the form of Sailor S. But a new scout, Sailor P, trashed her senselessly and she vanished. Could Sailor S have been Sailor Saturn?"

"If that's true then Sailor P would have been...my sister!?" Charon sat on the floor. "Then...she was keeping Saturn from us."

"Charon! Are you sick?" asked Artemis.

"No...I have to tell you both something. Me and Earth, we're not supposed to be around."

"What!?" both cats said in shock.

"Like Saturn, we came in much later but somehow, we had the urge to show up now. But she only suppressed Saturn. That wasn't fair. She should've done it to me and Earth but since I'm her sister, she didn't."

"You mean the reason Mina was going bonkers was because Saturn was calling for help to be free!?" asked Artemis.

"Yeah. And since you said she got free a while back, I think after this, Earth, Saturn and I need to vanish from time itself."

"How?" asked Luna.

"Being Pluto's sister gave me special powers. I can do it. But right now," she said, getting up, "We need to get back."


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