Senshi Kurai
Part 2: Friends and Foes
Jackie Chiang
http://sailorneptune.simplenet.com

Quick Copyright notes: This is a fanfic based on Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon,
 an anime/manga created by Takeuchi Naoko.  Characters belong to her and
 all others associated with rights [Toei, Bandai, Kodansha, etc], but the storyline,
 ideas, and any other characters are created by me.  1996 - Jackie Chiang


At the end of the day, the bell rang.  All the students poured out 
of the building, laughing and shouting.  Usagi, Minako, Makoto, 
and Ami left the school together.

"Where are the others?" Usagi asked.  She was in a pretty good mood.
  They were heading to Rei's temple, but not for sailor senshi business.

"Well," Ami explained, "Michiru-san is conducting a science experiment
 and needs to stay after school to finish it.  Haruka-san and Hotaru-chan
 are staying with her."

"Oh," Usagi said, a little disappointed.  She had looked forward to 
talking with the other girls some more.

Suddenly a scream pierced the air.

"That's coming from around the corner!" Minako said.  They raced
 down the street.  They stopped to see a man in gold attacking a girl
 from the high school.

"Henshin yo, minna [Transform, everyone]!" Usagi said.

"Hai [Yes; right]!"

"Moon Crisis Make-Up!"

"Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

"Venus Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

In a matter of seconds, the girls were transformed from ordinary high
 school students into Super Sailor Moon, Super Sailor Mercury, Super 
Sailor Venus, and Super Sailor Jupiter- the Sailor Senshi!

He was draining energy from the girl.  He finished and threw the girl 
to the ground.

"Hey you!"  Sailor Moon shouted.

The man looked up.

"I won't let you get away for harming an innocent girl!  I'm the pretty 
sailor suited solider, Sailor Moon!  I fight for love and justice, and in the
 name of the moon-"

"In the name of Mercury!" Mercury yelled.

"In the name of Venus!" Venus shouted.

"And in the name of Jupiter!" Jupiter added.

"-We'll punish you!"

The man laughed.  "I don't think so," he said.  "I'm Phoebus of the Sun
 Quintet.  And you're going to die!  Solar Flare!"  Rainbow fire shot
 from his hand towards the senshi.  They dodged it.

"Whoa!  That's a little too close!" Jupiter said as her ponytail was sizzled.

"Hey!" Phoebus said, angry that he had missed.  "Dangit!  Don't move!"

"What does he expect us to do?" Mercury said sensibly.

"Jupiter Oak Evolution!" Jupiter let loose her attack.  Phoebus evaded
 it and released his Solar Flare.  The Senshi managed to avoid getting
 toasted.

"Shabon Spray!"  Mercury shouted.  Hundreds of soap bubbles flew
from her arms, creating a thick mist around Phoebus.

"What?  What's going on?"  Phoebus whirled wildly about.  He couldn't
 see a single thing.  He felt the fringes of fear crawling up his spine.

"Moon Gorgeous Meditation!"  Super Sailor Moon yelled aiming her 
moon kaleidoscope  at it.  Phoebus screamed as he disintegrated into dust.

"Was that easy, or what?" Jupiter said, grinning.  The four gathered 
together in a group.

"What the...?"  Venus said, her eyes focusing on something.  The 
others looked at what she was staring at.

A girl in red was standing several feet away from them.  She had long
 black hair and was wearing a red outfit.

"...Is that Mars?"  Jupiter asked, confused.

The girl looked like Mars, but there was something odd about her.  She
 was wearing red high heels, a red mini skirt, and a white body suit, but
 that's where the similarities ended.  Instead of a tiara, she wore a gold 
circlet with a red jewel in it.  Her neck collar had the symbol of the planet
 Mars on it, but it was black instead of red.  Mars's sailor collar with the
 white stripe was solid red on the girl.  She wore a red cape down her 
back that reached her knees.  The girl had no shoulder pads; instead,
 she wore the armor like ones that Sailor V had.  The purple bow in
 front had another black Mars symbol in its center.  The long purple
 bow in back of her outfit trailed behind her, blowing in the wind.  
She carried a whip in her glove, which also had none of the sailor 
rings on them.

The girl walked up to them slowly.  She had a blank expression on
 her face.

"Sailor Mars?" Mercury asked questioningly.  She moved towards 
the girl.

The girl's lips curved upward into a smile.  Without warning she 
lashed her whip out at Mercury.  It slashed the side of her body.  
Mercury cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground.  The other 
Sailor Senshi immediately jumped back to avoid getting flailed.

"Who are you?" Sailor Moon yelled out angrily.

The girl's smile broadened.  "I'm Ares of the Senshi Kurai.  You're
 going to pay for killing Phoebus!  Ares Destruction Flare!"  Black 
flames shot out from her whip as she slashed it through the air.  The
 flames struck Venus and Jupiter, sending them crashing down.  
The whip wrapped itself around Sailor Moon's body, effectively 
causing her to drop her moon kaleidoscope.  The whip burned into
 her side, and she fell down as the it released her.

"She's...strong," Jupiter muttered, her face ashen.

"Much stronger than anyone else we've been against," Venus whispered.

Ares laughed, an odd, lunatic laugh.  "This is going to be sooo much 
easier than I thought.  Hecate was wrong.  You Sailor Senshi are a bunch
 of wimps!  Prepare to meet your doom!"  She let her whip fly, while
 the Sailor Senshi closed their eyes and waited for the inevitable pain.

It never came.

The girls opened their eyes.  Ares was holding her wrist, groaning in
 pain, her whip forgotten at her side.  In front of her was a single 
rose... A single _yellow_ rose.

"Tuxedo Kamen-sama?" Moon asked, mystified.

Everyone looked up.  Instead of the tall man in a black tuxedo that
 everyone expected, there was a girl in yellow next to a tree.  She had
 long black hair that fell past her shoulders.  She wore a yellow sailor
 fuku, complete with all the little things that make them so grand.  
Her tiara had a yellow jewel in it.  Her yellow collar had the familiar 
yellow star on it.  She had two yellow bows, one on front and one in 
the back of her outfit.  Her yellow miniskirt blew around her legs.  
She wore yellow high heels with ankle bracelets that had little star 
charms on them.  However, she also had a yellow cape and wore a 
white mask on her face, an exact replica of the one Tuxedo Kamen had.

"How dare you attack the defenders of the Earth?  You shouldn't harm 
young girls!" the girl said.  "I'm the earth soldier, Sailor Earth!  In the
 name of the Earth, I will punish you!"

Everyone gaped at her in shock.  Venus almost fainted, Jupiter looked 
extremely pale, and Mercury was hyperventilating.

"Earth Rock Crash!" the girl hollered.

A stream of large rocks flew from her hands towards Ares.  They hit the 
stunned girl, bruising and scraping her body.  Ares fell to the ground for
 several seconds.  Then she flew into the air, somewhat distortedly.

"You won't get away for this!" Ares screamed.  Tears were streaming 
down her face.  A hint of a whine came through her voice.  "I'll be back,
 and when I do, you're all going to die!"  With those words, she 
disappeared.

Jupiter and Venus managed to stand up.  They went over to their leader
 and their official brain to help them up.

Uranus, Saturn, Neptune, Luna, and Artemis ran up belatedly.

"Are you guys okay?" Neptune asked worriedly.  Mercury was busy 
examining everyone's injuries.

"Yeah, just peachy," Jupiter groaned.  She felt sore all over.

"You guys are a little too late," Venus added somewhat flippantly, even
 though she was in minor pain.  "You missed all the fun."

Super Sailor Moon whirled around.  "Where is she?"  She scanned 
the area, looking for the mysterious girl.

"Where's who?" Uranus asked, looking above her towards the tree.  
"I don't see anybody."

"She's gone," Mercury added, not hearing Uranus, after a few moments
 of careful observation.  Jupiter and Venus nodded in agreement.

Luna frowned, impatient.  "Will you girls please tell us who you 
are looking for?" the cat asked, twitching her tail irritably.

Super Sailor Moon turned around slowly.  "You better come with
 us to Rei's temple," she said.  "It turns out that we have a new 
Sailor Senshi."

The others looked at her disbelievingly.

"You had better explain yourself," Uranus said grimly as Sailor Moon
 stared at the spot which had been recently vacated.


"Oww!" Ares whined as a kneeling blue haired girl applied alcohol to 
her scratches and cuts.  "That hurts!  I can't see why you just use your 
healing spells!"

A girl in a green version of Ares's costume sat sideways in her throne, 
her legs crossed over the arm.  She gave her friend an exasperated look.  
"Look, Ares, you know we aren't to use our magic skills when there are
 less energy consuming ways of doing it.  If you want Hermes to help 
you, quit your whining."

"Really, Ares," the blond in orange added.  "It's bad enough that you 
failed to destroy those miserable Sailor Senshi, but if we have to tolerate
 your useless wailing for another minute..."

"Why do you always have to pick on _me_?"  Ares started crying.

"Aphrodite," Hermes said, pausing in her labors to brush her blue bangs
 out of her eyes, "apologize to Ares right now.  I can't help her if she keeps
 moving around."

Zeus stopped playing with her braid and intervened.  "Ares, shut up.  For
 Jove's sake, you're worse than Sailor Moon," the brunette snapped irritably,
 shooting the raven haired girl a killer look.

The girl immediately stopped her wailing.  "Zeus! How _dare_ you compare
 me to that, that, whiny little brat!" she shrieked.

Hermes rolled her eyes, obviously thinking it was a fair analogy.  She
 finished applying the cloth to Ares's body.  "There," she said, patting
the last one, "that should do it."  She stood up while Ares continued to
 break everyone's ear drums.

The last girl in the room finally spoke.  "That's enough," she commanded.

The others looked at her.  They knew that she was in one of her moods 
by the glowing black moon, which was identical in form to Sailor 
Moon's, on her forehead.

"Yes, Hecate*," they said.  No one, not even Ares, dared to upset their 
princess.

Hecate stood up from her sitting position in her throne.  The light black 
cat sitting on her lap tumbled off.  Glaring at her, Cynthia** walked to
 where Ares was sitting.  Hecate smoothed out the wrinkles in her 
long black dress, taking her time to think.

"Ares," the cat said, "you _know_ that you're not ready to take on our
 enemies right away.  Haven't Phoebe and I taught you _anything_?"

Right on cue, Phoebe*** entered the room.  He was a handsome cat, 
all white except for the black moon on his forehead.  "What happened?"

Cynthia rolled her violet eyes.  "And where were you, Phoebe?  Taking
 a nap?" she said sarcastically.

"As a matter of fact-"

Cynthia interrupted him.  "It doesn't matter.  Ares here just got beat up
 by the Sailor Senshi."

The white cat jumped up onto Aphrodite's lap.  Aphrodite smiled and 
petted her pet.  "I told you that she wasn't ready," he said arrogantly, 
as if it was Cynthia's fault.

The black cat glared at Phoebe.  "I didn't send her; she left without 
telling anybody."

"But they destroyed Phoebus!" Ares broke in, wailing, attempting to 
defend herself.  "He was my favorite of the Sun Quintet!  Besides, it's
 not like any of the _regular_ senshi defeated me!  How was I 
supposed to know that a new one would show up?!"

"Ares, shut up," Hecate said, her voice firm and sharp.  She pushed her
 long black hair off her shoulder as she walked past her.  Her blue eyes
 connected with Ares's purple ones, and Ares did as she was told.

"You did an extraordinarily idiotic thing in sending Phoebus to gather
 unnecessary energy," Cynthia snapped.  "I'd think you'd know that we
 have enough power to last us for several months."

"So they have a new Sailor Senshi," Hecate murmured to herself while
 Cynthia yelled at Ares, musing over the thought in her mind.  She 
walked over to the crystal observer and watched it carefully.  Lost in 
thought, she distractedly stroked the black crystal that she wore as a 
necklace.  Suddenly she spun around.  "Zeus!"

Zeus stood up immediately.  "Yes, Hecate?"

"I want you to go see Poseidon.  Have her see me at once in my throne
 room."

"I'm on my way," Zeus said.  The brunette turned and went out the 
door.

"Now, Ares," Hecate continued, sitting back down, "I want you to go
 over everything you know about the Sailor Senshi that you fought.  
We need to prepare more if we seek our ultimate goal."

Ares, Hermes, and Aphrodite all smiled.  "Revenge."

To be continued...

* Hecate is used in Greek mythology to represent the dark side of the
 moon.
** Cynthia is what Artemis is rarely called as a secondary Greek 
name.  Since Artemis has been incorrectly identified with the moon
 (Selena was the true goddess), Cynthia would be a long stretch as 
a name.
*** Artemis is also known as Phoebe, and her brother, Apollo, who 
is connected with the sun, is also known as Phoebus.
Quick note: Zeus, Aphrodite, Ares, and Hermes are the Greek names 
of Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Mercury, respectively.
