Kaito left Yume alone for the rest of the day, but he did pay attention to her behavior in class. She seemed more... confident now, and he wondered what had happened to her during lunch break to cause it. Any other person like her he would have written off as boring for now, but there was just something about Yume that made him hesitate. He couldn't identify it though, and it was driving him crazy.

Kaito heard the screams when he was on the rooftop, sitting on the edge of the railing in a way that would give the teacher's a fit if they ever caught him in the act. He was supposed to be at Kendo practice,but he had too much on his mind to care at the moment. This, however, was interesting. Even from this distance, he could tell that something was going on at the athletic field. With a grin, he hopped back off the railing and headed downstairs, ducking into a restroom. 

To his luck, it was empty, and his hand grabbed the little keychain of a sword that hung off his belt loop.

"Susano'o Crystal Power, Mask On!"

Tempest Mask burst out of the bathroom, scaring two students who happened to be walking by. They blinked as he charged past them, and he opened a nearby window and vaulted out. He handed on a set of bleachers, his geta sandals echoing on the metal. He straightened up, and his eyes fell on the scene out in the field. Collapsed people, but no threat in sight. Unless moths counted.



While Yume left with a section of the other students with no after school activities, Hiro left the classroom at the end of the day and headed to the locker rooms to get ready for cheer practice. She was still riding the emotional high of getting to sit with someone during lunch, and she couldn't help but smile to herself as she took off her school uniform and redressed in her cheering outfit. 

Hiro was just taking her bag of equipment out of her locker when she heard the screams. A few of the other students nearby were looking around and mumbling to each other, clearly just as confused. It sounded like it came from outside... Hiro dropped her bag on the bench and followed the flow of people out to the field. Hiro gasped when she saw the small group of people collapsed in the grass, surrounded by... blue moths?

There was something strange going on for sure, but... these people needed help! She hesitated, and then decided to go over and she if they were alright. Before she could follow through, something jumped down onto the bleachers, and Hiro ducked behind them to hide. 

She watched as a strange guy in what looked like a demon's mask and armor walked down the metal stairs to the field. She caught sight of the blade on his waist, wondering if it was even real. He looked like a lost member of a kabuki theater troupe to her, but she decided to just watch and see what he was doing here. Had he attacked the students?

Now transformed, Sailor Elysion stepped out from where she had chosen to seclude herself—this time, her golden eyes spotted more than just collapsed bodies and bright spots in the distance. There was a man over there! His position on the bleachers provided an excellent view of the field. Could he be the one who was doing this?!

Elysion took a deep breath, her mouth a hard line, and dashed over, the chiffon sleeves of her uniform and her long pigtails fluttering in the current of her motion. The training she had received as a child, long before her awakening as a sailor soldier, made it so much easier to tap into her Sailor Crystal now that it was humming in her chest. No ordinary human could have covered the distance that she did.

As she swiftly controlled her deceleration and came to a stop, she never stopped watching that unknown man. Was this his doing? A glance towards the bodies showed small blue moths, their wings beating furiously.

She turned back to watch the man's figure again, the wind whipping one of her pigtails against her face, but in doing so she missed what was happening right next to her.

One of the moths had landed on the chest of the fallen female student, placed perfectly on the knot of the bow below her sailor collar, almost like a winged brooch. Then it shifted into something else. The body lengthened, expanded, changing from a moth into some kind of huge multi-legged... THING. It retained the wings, the pattern more visible as it grew in size, but now it was no longer a moth. It was a massive, cerulean blue, eight-legged spider-creature. With moth wings.

The noise that it made as it hunched over the prone student cut through the air, echoing across the field, unnatural enough to chill everyone present to the bone.

When the final bell rang, Reika skipped out happily, hoping to catch another glimpse of her new friend and perhaps even walk home together with her. However, Yume was sadly nowhere to be seen, as if she had simply disappeared into the throngs of students flowing out of the school. How’d she disappear so quickly?

She was confused, and a tad disappointed, but at least they were going to eat lunch again tomorrow. She was about to go home with her other friends when she heard the piercing scream from the athletic field. That didn’t sound like a happy shriek. That sounded like someone in trouble.

She turned toward the source and saw the collapsed students, narrowing her eyes at the strange blue dots on top of them.

A figure in the distance dashed out of a window, nearly giving her a heart attack. What was that… a ninja?

A second figure dashed into view, this one looking like a sailor senshi—but not one she was familiar with. There’s a new senshi?!

Reika happened to idolize the senshi, and so for a moment she felt star-struck to see one in action right in front of her eyes. Even if she had no idea who this one was or what they were called. She instinctively walked forward, at around the same time the transformation happened on the creature upon the fallen female student.

Next thing she knew, she was mere feet away from what seemed like a huge insect monster—a giant spider.

She turned to look at it as it towered over her, its shadow falling over her ominously. Then it let out its bone-chilling noise, and she did the only thing she could.

She screamed.

From his position above the field, Tempest Mask could see someone new approaching the scene, moving much faster than the average person. On closer inspection, he noticed the young woman's blue and white sailor uniform, tiara, ribbons, and brooch, and instantly connected her to the guardians of Crystal Tokyo's palace. She was a senshi, but not one he was familiar with.

Not intimidated, he locked his deep blue eyes with her golden ones, taking in her full appearance. Though the top half of his face was covered, his lips turned up in a half smile at her. Something about her felt familiar, but he couldn't say exactly what. Something deep within him was trying to communicate something important, but before he could begin to puzzle it out, one of the moth's beside her began to mutate into a hideous creature.

Whatever monster it was, it was crouching over a defenseless student as it made a horrifying noise, and his hand went to the blade at his side in an instant. Even worse, another student had wandered into its way. 

Tempest Mask turned away from Sailor Elysion, eyes hard and serious now, and moved to intercept the spider creature. He was off the bleachers in almost an instant, his mane of blue hair catching the wind as he dashed across the field. Kusanagi flashed in the sunlight as he pulled the straight sword out of its sheathe, and then he was between Reika and the monster.

"Rebel Wind!" His voice was deeper and more commanding that usual, and his sword glowed blue as he swung it, creating a blast of wind to slam the bug off its victim.



From her hidden spot by the bleachers, Hiro watched in barely contained excitement as what looked like a senshi showed up at school. Was she going to see a real fight, like the ones that the news broadcasted with the Sailor Quartet sometimes? She inched closer to get a better view, and then she heard Reika's scream. Her eyes quickly found the girl, uncomfortably close to the grotesque monster that was once a moth.

Without even thinking, Hiro ran out to try and help her. No one was going to hurt one of her new friends today! The weird Kabuki guy was already there by the time she had run onto the field, but she wasn't deterred by it at all. She reached Reika and grabbed her hand.

"Come on, we've gotta get out of here!" Hiro said, trying to tug her away.

The voice behind her was too familiar!

Reika...!

Sailor Elysion spun around, the eye contact with the strange masked man suddenly broken. She didn't quite know what to think of him. He looked strange, with that decorated mask and his unusual outfit, but when he looked at her she could have sworn he smiled (although she couldn't see his mouth). Most importantly, she felt nothing. No malevolence or danger. Hadn't that been what her mother and the Sailor Quartetto tried to teach her? Chaos was something you could sense...right?

But her attention needed to be elsewhere now—the ruby-haired girl from this afternoon was now faced with a huge and hideous creature. The chills running down her spine felt exactly like those she had felt when she saw the unnerving replica of her mother attack her father. Somehow, she couldn't shake the thought that these things were connected. It unsettled her in every possible way.

The masked man attacked, aiming a blast of wind at the spider-thing. It screeched again and raised up on its four back legs, the front four pedaling wildly in the air, then slammed itself down on all eight. Another person rushed onto the scene—Oh no, Hiro!—and intercepted Reika. But the spider had turned towards it, the face full of eyes focused on the two girls.

Sailor Elysion adjusted her stance. Her golden eyes narrowed at the thing; she was determined to protect her new friends, somehow. They had plans to have lunch together tomorrow! For just a moment, she closed her eyes.

"Please... Forest of Dreams... grant me the power to save them!" she prayed, the way her father had once taught her.

And then she plucked from thin air a small tassled dart, then another, and then another. Elysion felt a strange wind blowing around her body, tugging at her pigtails, although everything around her seemed completely unaffected. She adjusted her grip on the narrow projectiles, winding up.

"Sleep Paralysis!" she cried, throwing the darts. They raced forward through the air, two sticking solidly into the monster. It had moved slightly, but suddenly it remained completely frozen.

"Quick!" she called to the two girls. "Run!"

Nearby, the second moth hand landed on the chest of the male student. It, too, was undergoing a horrific transformation.

Tempest Mask frowned at the best as it reared up before recovering. This thing was stronger than he thought, and now there were two girls caught in the line of fire. He held his sword with two hands as he shifted into a more formal stance, ready to try and drive it off again, when he heard the senshi call out an attack. Two darts stuck the spider creature, and it froze on the spot. Handy.

His attention turned to a second moth nearby that was beginning to mutate, much to his frustration. How many more would be created? He'd have no qualms against more opponents to fight, but people were in danger.

"I will assist you in this battle if you wish, Kyudo-Hime," Tempest Mask said, though his eyes never left the monsters for longer than a second. They would have to work together to handle two of them.

She blinked in surprise when the masked man spoke to her. He sounded... familiar? Sailor Elysion peered at him curiously, unable to suspend the smile that crept onto her lips at the name he addressed her with. She adjusted her grip on the long bow, the weight and length exactly like those she used for traditional archery. Normally she hated being referred to as "Princess" in any form, but her deep love of kyudo made the title seem better. If there was something she didn't mind excelling at and reigning over, it was her beloved sport.

Her reply was quick, the voice of someone trained for battle.

"If you can do so without being a liability, I welcome your aid," she responded, the tone matter-of-fact but not unkind or mocking.

Motion nearby caught her attention; she spun around in a whirl of white and seafoam green only to see the second moth—now as large as the spider-creature—mutate into some strange four-legged thing that walked on stilts nearly two meters high. It slammed one of the unnaturally long legs into the ground, narrowly avoiding crushing the leg of the male student it had sprung from. The thing moved again, a strange muffled laughter coming from it, and stomped again.

Sailor Elysion frowned at it, considering her options. Unless these things were weakened slightly, she doubted that her other attacks would be able to purify them. She could try to freeze this one, as well, but it was still putting the civilian in danger.

Instead, she rushed forward towards it, remembering the physical training Sailor Juno had provided when they sparred together.

"Elysion Kick!" she cried, leaping into the air at a height only possible for sailor soldiers, trying to strike the long-legged thing backwards and away from the body.

The mysterious man suddenly rushed in out of nowhere like her knight in shining armor. He drew his sword as he stood between her and that scary monster, and when he swung it, he unleashed some kind of magical power. For a moment, Reika was too stunned by this act of chivalry that she almost forgot the perilous situation she was in.

But then someone grabbed her hand. “Kobayashi-san?!” she turned in surprise.

Strange looking darts flew through the air and hit the monster, suddenly freezing it. Darts? A strange memory flashed across her mind about the time Yume mentioned that she loved archery. They seemed to be coming from the unfamiliar senshi, and Reika felt an unexplainable draw toward her. Who was she and what was going on?

She didn’t need to be told twice, though; she followed Hiro away from immediate danger. She shrieked when she heard another slam—another one of those nightmarish creatures had emerged. Her knees felt weak as jelly and she tried not to cling onto Hiro too much in fear.

As much as she wanted to get out of there, something made her pause and turn back toward the senshi and the masked man. They were facing these things alone—could they handle it?

A powerful desire to be of use—to help or assist in some way—crashed over her. She’d long idolized the senshi and wished she could be a soldier herself, someone who fought for love and justice. Someone who wasn’t this meek, useless girl who couldn’t even tell the boy she liked about her feelings…

Her chest felt warm, and a strange light began to emanate around her body. Reika let out a surprised yelp and let go of Hiro’s hand. She could almost feel herself bathed in power as if in answer to her deepest wish.

What was happening to her?!

Tempest Mask nodded at Sailor Elysion in agreement, finding himself pleased that she seemed to accept his nickname. Something about her smile pushed him to want to fight even more, and he timed his next attack to coincide with her Elysion Kick. He swiped his sword horizontally, and a wave of sea-foam materialized to slam into the monster she was attacking, though he was careful not to catch her with it.

"Tidal Crash!"



Hiro was relieved that Reika followed her away, and she tried to put as much distance as possible between them and the battle that had broken out. They were halfway across the field and back to the safety of the school building when she heard Reika yelp and let go of her hand.

"Hey are you alright- woah...." Hiro came to a stop where they were and stared at her glowing classmate. Could she always do that? "Is that normal for you?"

Her kick and the masked man's attacked seemed perfectly timed. The stilt-legged monster screamed in agony as it was thrown backwards, tripped over the unnaturally long appendages as it fell. It struggled to regain its footing. She didn't want to congratulate herself too soon, but it seemed to be at least somewhat injured—a good sign that her training had not been in vain.

Commotion from the girls she had met earlier in the day—both of whom were supposed to be out of the danger zone by now—turned Sailor Elysion's attention away from the active battle. Her golden eyes widened in shock when she saw that the girl with the dark rose-coloured hair was... glowing!? What in Serenity's name was going on?

Elysion couldn't think of what to say, but she felt vaguely confused...as if she could just barely remember something, but couldn't fully visualize the memory.

Then the spider-like thing forced part of its upper body free from the temporary paralysis. The horrifying screech echoed across the field. As it scratched the front two legs unsteadily at the ground, the monster tossed back its head, and then spit forward a mass of disgusting-looking webbing. Sailor Elysion noticed it just in time to see that it was headed right for Reika and Hiro!

"Look out!" she cried. There was no way she could rush there to block the webbed fluid quickly enough!

“No, of course it’s not normal for me!” she cried at Hiro’s question. The light seemed to embrace her like an old friend, and although she felt alarmed by it, it was mostly because it was a strange occurrence, not because it was malicious. In fact, the energy was both rejuvenating and comforting.

Awaken, Sailor Thalia, soldier of Elysion.

Sailor Thalia? Who was speaking to her? The voice seemed both familiar and strange at the same time.

In the middle of the light, she thought she saw an outline of a figure. All she could see was the color blue.

She felt something warm on her wrist, and when she looked down, she saw that a bracelet had materialized on her left hand. The chain was gold, and it was decorated by flowers and heart-shaped charms in red. It was glowing too with a different light.

Awaken from your slumber… it’s time to realize your dream.

The voice guided her, and Reika didn’t know why she was doing what she was doing or how she knew to do it. It just felt right. She wanted this power. She wanted to fight for love and justice.

She raised her left arm and spoke the words that ran through her mind, practically begging to be released.

“Thalia Power, Make Up!”

The light exploded outward at around the same time the spider released its webbing. The mass of sticky material was incinerated by the power that spew forth from Reika’s figure, and by the time the light died down, she was no longer Reika.

She was...

She looked down in disbelief at what she was wearing.

She was a sailor senshi!

The flash of light made Elysion fear for the safety of both girls, but when the glow cleared she could not have ever anticipated what she saw.

A sailor soldier. Another one! One she didn't know! Someone who wasn't a member of the Sailor Quartetto or one of her grandmother's guardians!

The pigtailed sailor soldier could only gape at the newcomer, completely flabbergasted. Elysion did not recognize the bright pink of the girl's uniform, far more vibrant that Sailor Ceres, but she did know that hairstyle. And Reika, who had been glowing only moments before, was now no longer standing where the new sailor soldier was. It wouldn't take a genius to put two and two together with this type of equation.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it, however; the long-legged thing had recovered enough to launch another attack. Sailor Elysion reacted almost automatically this time, spinning around and drawing her long bow with a steady focus on the target. The arrow made of energy was there just beyond her fingertips, humming against the bowstring. She could feel the blue ribbons of her back bow whip against her legs as a strange wind picked up.

"Please, focus your attacks here!" she called, hoping that at least the masked man would assist again. She wasn't sure she could generate enough power to finish this creature off on her own.

It stomped forward, unsteady on its legs this time, and she knew she had to take the shot.

"Golden Arrow Purification!"

Tempest Mask sheathed his sword, watching as the creature fell over in pain from the combined attack. They worked together well, it seemed. But apparently the two students caught in the crossfire earlier had yet to escape. In fact, one of them was...glowing? Well this was odd. He was too slow to stop the other creature from spiting a web at the girls, but his help ended up unneeded as the glwoing one erupted into light. 

A new senshi appeared in her place, and his mind took a moment to connect the two events. One of them had transformed, how lucky. And judging by Sailor Elysion's reaction, it was a surprise to her too. At her call to attack again, he turned his focus back on the monsters, and redrew his weapon. 

"Tidal Crash!" He released his wave of water just as the shining arrow left her string.



"Uh... maybe stop, drop, and roll or something!" Hiro suggested. Was being covered with light the same as being on fire? She had no idea, but she was trying to help.

And then Reika yelled something about Thalia and Make Up, and the light became blinding. Hiro yelped and fell over. When she blinked the spots out of her eyes, a sailor senshi she didn't recognize was standing in front of her. What happened to Thalia?

Hiro gaped at the pink, red, and yellow uniform until her brain caught up with what had just happened, and then she recognized her face.

"R-reika?!"

She couldn’t believe what was happening. Her body was positively thrumming with energy from the inside out, as if she had a new source of power unlocked within her.

She looked at Hiro with confusion. “I’m a Sailor Senshi,” she stated needlessly, and then, her gaze landed on the monsters. “I’m a Sailor Senshi!”

She rushed forward toward the other two battling the creature. “How can I help?!” she asked hurriedly, watching as they attacked one of the creatures once more.

Thalia—for that was her name now—had no idea what exactly she could do yet, but she had a feeling she was about to find out.

She could have cheered as she watched her arrow combine with the energy of the tidal attack and smash into the long-legged creature. It glowed brightly for a moment, wrapped with almost blinding golden light, and she thought she heard something over the wind, as though the creature had screamed "AWAKEN!" How strange—was she hearing things? And then it was shrinking, reverting back to the unnaturally blue moth she had seen the first time, so small that it could have fit in her hand... until it cracked in two—almost perfectly symmetrical—and faded away.

Sailor Elysion took a deep breath, chest heaving from the effort of defeating the thing, and turned to speak to the new sailor soldier who had just run up. Something caught her peripheral vision (another blast of webbing from the spider, which had freed more of its legs from the paralysis of her earlier attack), but the creature's aim failed to hit the group. Still, she knew it would strike again.

"Quick, we have to take care of that one before it can try again!" she instructed the pair, forced to assume leadership over the unknowns who had joined her on the battlefield.

"You!" she directed quickly at the sailor soldier, hoisting her bow to point it towards the girl clad in deep pink. "The power that you felt, when you transformed. It's a part of you. You should be able to use it to assist us. Focus on that energy—clear your mind of other things."

The spider was nearly free now; she didn't have time to train this girl right now! The spider-like thing, now fully enraged and almost completely free, screeched again. Elysion narrowed her eyes at it, considering her options. It just wasn't weak enough for her to defeat yet!

Another second, and it was now freed, charging across the field at the group and sending a volley of sticky web-like projectiles in rapid succession!

These strange moth monsters just kept getting stranger. When the combined attack struck it, it glowed and transformed into a moth again, only to crack in half like glass and disappear. Was it even real in the first place?

But there wasn't time to dwell on its nature as the second monster broke free of its stunned state and charged once more. 

Tempest Mask stepped towards it as Sailor Elysion coached the newcomer. They needed to handle the webs before they had a chance of defeating the actual creature.

"Eight Way Revenge!" His sword slashed the air in front of him repeatedly, so fast that the blade itself was blurred. If he could cut the webs, it might leave an opening for the senshi to finish this.



As she watched Reika, now a Sailor Senshi, run to join the fight, Hiro wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't possibly do anything against those creatures, but she couldn't just stand there and do nothing, it just didn't feel right. Maybe she wasn't meant to be some kind of hero. After all, she was kind of bad at sports and just didn't seem to have much charisma with others, but...

She was good at cheering people on, right?

"Yeah, go get em!" she yelled, just like she did at the school sponsored games with the cheering squad. Too bad she left her equipment in the gym... Hiro jumped and waved her hands from the sidelines with all the enthusiasm of ten high school girls in one. 

And that's when an orange glow began to surround her, just like Reika had done, though she didn't seem to notice at first.

One of the creatures had been defeated, but they still had more to deal with. She turned her attention toward the trapped one, the one trying to break free as they spoke. Sailor Thalia jumped when the other senshi addressed her, but paid attention to what she was saying. The power that she felt… a part of her? She should be able to use it. She nodded, heart beating loudly in her chest, worried that she might fail because she had no idea what she was doing. But she closed her eyes and attempted to focus, tried to pinpoint the source of it, and how it had guided her before. She surrendered to that part of her again, letting it tell her what to do.

The words seemed whispered to her from nowhere—no, from within—and she opened her eyes, nearly collapsing backwards when she saw that the creature had broken free now and was charging toward them, shooting webs as it went.

There was no more time to hesitate.

“Cherry Blossom Kiss!” she cried, and lifted her hands before her. A hurricane of cherry blossom petals surged forward, each one exploding upon contact with the enemy, creating a storm of small bursts all around the spider’s body and its webs.

The creature took the hit of the new and strange floral energy, howling in pain. The assault of the masked man had also taken a toll on it, weakening it with multiple slashes. Sailor Elysion leaped towards it, her hands expertly cradling her bow, waiting for just the right moment to strike. The spider-like thing wheeled its many legs again, thrashing in anger, and then fixed its eyes on another target. Elysion followed it's gaze to see... Hiro Kobayashi.

GLOWING.

The tangerine aura around the girl was unmistakable, absolutely not some trick of the light. The princess's mind connected the information almost instantaneously, feeling that tug in her heart that she was so quickly learning meant fate. Reika had transformed into a sailor soldier after she glowed with that pink energy. Did this mean that Hiro would transform as well? Elysion couldn't shake the feeling that it was possible. Inevitable, perhaps.

She hadn't managed to come into range before the spider, desperate now, fired two blasts of web towards Hiro.

"Transform!" she called to the dark-haired girl cheering on the sidelines, hoping that the other girl could harness her power the same way her other classmate had. And quickly!

"Huh?" The yell grabbed Hiro's attention as planned, and she stopped cheering just in time to notice that there was something very odd going on with her. Unlike with Reika, Hiro responded to the glowing with stunned silence. 

"Awaken, Sailor Euphrosyne."


"Wh-what?" she asked, before looking up. That's when she finally realized that the second monster had turned its attention back to her. She took a shaky step beck before it fired its webs at her. Was she supposed to fight too?!

"Wake up!" The voice in her head was practically screaming at her now. In the palm of one of her hands, a coach's whistle materialized, made of bright orange metal with black stripes and a star on it. She dove to the side to dodge the webs, and went with her instincts and blew into it.

The shrill sound it made was accompanied by a burst of orange light and silver stars, obscuring Hiro from view. When the light dissipated, Hiro was dressed in an orange, black, and silver sailor fuku. Her skirt was orange striped with black, her collar orange with silver stripes, and her shoulder pads covered with silver protective armor. Her silver boots had an orange star on each one, and a belt held a silver horn to her waist. White gloves covered her hands up to her elbows, but the most surprising part to her was the tiara that held up the fringes of her hair

"Wow..." Her now visible orange eyes stared at her new outfit, inspecting every inch of it before a grin spread on her face. She really was a sailor sanshi! And if that was true...

Hiro, no, Sailor Euphrosyne as the voice in her head called her, narrowed her eyes at the monster still before her. 

"You're in for it now, you creep!" She spun on the balls of her feet in a tight circle, and silver stars formed around her. She stopped on a dime and held her hands out in front of her. "Shooting Star Cheer!" The silver stars she had created launched themselves at the monster like energy shuriken, spinning on their edges fast enough to slice things.

Woooah. That was awesome.

Reika blinked at the result of her attack, surprised that she was capable of doing such a thing. How could she possibly possess all this power inside of her? They had almost killed the spider now, but then…

She glanced at where the creature was looking at and did a double take. Was Hiro… glowing? Just like Reika did a few moments earlier? The unknown senshi was telling Hiro to transform, and Reika watched in amazement as Hiro first dodged the monster’s webs and… blew a whistle?

Light exploded in the next moment, enveloping the girl. And when it was over, yet another new sailor senshi stood where Hiro had been standing before. Reika couldn’t believe this. So many new sailor senshi appearing today, all in the same spot?! What was going on? A part of her was excited that she was one of them and her new friend was one of them, but she was also feeling a slight trepidation about what this all meant.

She was however quickly distracted when Hiro unleashed her attack, her eyes turning glossy and amazed.

Wow. So cool!

Golden eyes watched in amazement as her classmate transformed and fought back against the monster's webs. So Hiro was another sailor soldier! What were the odds?! Oh, Serenity wished Diana were here! Her mother's advisor seemed like the only person who might be able to explain something as strange as this. The two sailor soldiers newly awakened were complete strangers to her; in all her years of reading stories from the palace archives or being lectured on important historical events, she had never heard of anyone fitting these descriptions.

But there wasn't time to dwell on that now. They could discuss and regroup after. After this thing was defeated! The spider-like thing continued its attempt to rampage, but its weakened state was clear. The shooting stars from the other soldier's attack had flown true and hit their targets. Now it was Elysion's turn.

Sailor Elysion ran across the field, zigzagging to avoid counter-attacks, and leaped into the air. Her pigtails streamed behind her like ribbons. The pleats of her white skirt fluttered as she seemed to remain suspended there, the gloved hands adjusting her grip on her bow, pulling back the thing string that was now glowing with energy. Bright eyes narrowed as she set the creature squarely in her sights.

"Golden Arrow Purification!" the voice rang out, uttering the words as she let fly the shimmering energy arrow.

It connected with the multi-legged thing before it could react or run. It howled loudly, the noise bone-chilling and disturbing, as its form illuminated with gold-tinted light. Then the wordless scream formed into something else, and the beast seemed to cry out: "AWAKEN!" The light faded; it was so much smaller now, and rapidly decreasing in size, turning back into the blue moth that it had been when Elysion had first spotted it. As her own feet touched solid ground again, she ran towards it, but the token faded away before she could touch it.

The students...! She redirected her attention towards the two collapsed figures. They both appeared to be breathing—in fact, the young man was sitting up now, wondering aloud what was going on. Sailor Elysion had her communicator in hand in seconds, dialing 119 to call emergency services. When she glanced up, she could see a few people coming from the school.

"Help is on the way!" she called to the approaching figures. "Stay with them!"

Now she turned towards the two sailor soldiers and the man in the mask. "Quick, follow me!"

At the very least, they needed to regroup without being stopped by other people. They couldn't detransform out here and reveal their identities. Thankfully she knew they could quickly reach an unused commercial building just behind a park near the school; it seemed like it had once been a café or an arcade. Besides, her mother's soldiers should be arriving soon—and almost on queue, she heard their voices, heard the excitement from the people near the school. After all, the Queen's guard were basically celebrities. But no time to think about that now.

She ducked into the place through a broken window that faced a deserted alley. Inside it was cool and dark, dusty and abandoned. There was some furniture and other fixtures that remained, but the age and disuse was obvious. Sailor Elysion watched and waited for the others, hoping no one had been caught by passers-by or... much worse in her opinion... the media.

This was so freaking cool! Sailor Euphrosyne was awestruck by her own attack actually working, and then she got to watch the first senshi shoot some kind of super cool final arrow that took the monster down for real. They disappeared, and the hurt students were left on the ground alive. It was just like the stuff she saw on TV, how exciting!

"Uh, right!" She didn't really know where Sailor Elysion was taking them, but she was going to follow anyway. It was too bad they'd miss the Queen's senshi... She jumped through the broken window and looked around what appeared to be an empty warehouse or office. 

"Woah... is this your hideout?" she asked, eyes sparkling. 

______________________________________

Tempest Mask watched Sailor Elysion run off, having defeated the monstrous insects with the help of hr new allies. He hesitated to follow though. Did he want to get involved with sailor senshi? He tended to avoid getting in their way because he liked his freedom, but... this girl really interested him. It wouldn't hurt to see what she had to say, at least.

His mind made up, Tempest Mask jumped away from the field and towards the abandoned building.

"That was an impressive battle, Kyudo-Hime." His sword was sheathed again, and he stood at a distance from the other girls.

Before she realized it, the battle was over—the monster vanished, and the emergency services called for the students that had been hurt. And then the unknown sailor soldier spoke directly to her and the other mysterious fighters (well, okay, not all of them were mysterious, she was fairly certain one of them was Hiro).

She didn’t even question it; she followed the senshi. It had been drilled into her since youth that senshi were soldiers of justice, so it only seemed to make sense. Besides, she was a senshi too, now. And she felt that strange connection with these other two girls.

Sailor Thalia carefully entered the building through the window. The senshi-that-was-Hiro asked if this was the other girl’s hideout, and Thalia hoped not. She expected a senshi’s HQ to be much cooler than this.

“Um… so probably a dumb question, but who are you all? I mean, I know you and you probably know me because we transformed together earlier,” she pointed at Hiro’s senshi alter ego, “but you both are completely unfamiliar to me,” she added, looking at the other two. “And I follow the senshi’s adventures pretty closely, if I do say so myself.”

This old place? Her hideout? She made a confused face at Sailor Euphrosyne's question, but recovered quickly.

"No, nothing like that," she explained. "I just knew it was abandoned."

Hmm... Come to think of it, wasn't a secret hideout something that her grandmother had? Wasn't that in the stories her mother had told as a child? Elysion vaguely remembered something like that. Under some other building they had a secret control station. She felt like maybe Artemis and Luna had been involved. The first queen of Crystal Tokyo had been an amazing, inspiring figure, but she didn't quite seem like someone to design and construct an entire hidden base. Maybe it was something she should ask about at home.

So the masked man had followed them as well. Sailor Elysion regarded him as best she could in the dim light. Now that the battle was over, she wasn't distracted by monsters and attacks. It seemed so strange to learn that there was a young man in her town with his own unique abilities. He wasn't protected by the planets, was he? Sailor soldiers were something she (mostly) understood, if only because they had always been part of her world. This one, who called her "Kyudo-Hime," he was so different.

"Thank you for your assistance," she replied, bowing respectfully. "Your help was very much appreciated. What should I call you?"

And then Sailor Thalia was asking who everyone was. Sailor Elysion hedged for a moment. She wanted to reveal herself to her two classmates. They were on the same team now, sharing a destiny as sailor soldiers. But what about this young man? Although he had fought alongside her, she didn't know much about him. If she trusted him too much right now, she might regret it.

Plus... she knew there were some aspects of her self that she couldn't risk revealing to any of them. Not yet.

If they know you are the Princess... it puts them all in danger...

Instead, she decided to start with their current identities, particularly after Sailor Thalia mentioned an affinity for following news of the sailor soldiers. Her mother's guardians were very popular, after all—this was no surprise.

"I am Sailor Elysion," she began. "As you just saw, there is a new and strange evil threatening our home. I—and now, both of you—have been awakened to our powers so we can fight it."

Elysion took a deep breath, then combed her fingers through one of her long pigtails.

"I know that's a lot. I'm sorry. I hope you aren't too strongly opposed to fighting for this cause, because it is probably your destiny. This sort of thing doesn't just happen—there's always a reason."

He still couldn't stop himself from showing off a little whenever someone asked for his name, and this time was no different. There was just something about being dressed like this that made him more... theatrical. His lips curled up into a slight smile as two of the senshi questioned his identity.

"I have many names. I am... the Rouge of Crystal Tokyo. The Son of the Raging Wind and the Crashing Ocean. The Summer Storm. Lord Susano'o Reincarnated!" His eyes fell on Sailor Elysion, and like a sharp contrast to his boasting, dropped on one knee to bow. 

"But you, my fair ladies, may call me Tempest Mask." He stood again. "I feel as if I am intruding on a moment not meant for myself, so I will take my leave. But if you ever require my services again to battle evil, I will return." Tempest Mask hopped back onto the windowsill, his back facing them. "Until we meet again, guardians..." The wind howled, playing with his long, dark blue hair and ceremonial robes. And then he was gone.



Sailor Euphrosyne was a little disappointed that she hadn't just been invited to a senshi-only base, but maybe they could go to one later...

The masked man introduced himself, and Hiro was reminded of a gallant rounin she read about in manga sometimes. But before she could say anything, he was gone. Yet he'd called them guardians. This entire turn of events hadn't begun to sink in until he said that, and the senshi that wasn't Reika confirmed it. This was their destiny, and Hiro couldn't be more excited if she tried. 

"Of course we wanna fight!" she said. "This is like.. the best thing that ever happened to me! So cool..." she squealed. "Are we gonna fight more of those weird moth things?"

She blinked in amazement as the mysterious man started rattling off titles that most would find ridiculous but she just thought were really cool and poetic. It was hard not to clap at the end of it, but he clearly only had eyes for one of them. It figured. No one was ever interested in her.

Before she knew it, he was gone with the wind.

She turned toward the senshi whose name she didn’t know, who introduced herself as Sailor Elysion. The name was definitely new and unfamiliar, though… also not. Elysion… where had she heard that? Did she hear that during her awakening? She frowned, but the memory was too vague to catch.

“So we’re new soldiers…?” she asked, more to herself than to anyone.

Elysion seemed to be more knowledgeable in whatever was going on. “How long ago were you awakened?” she asked. “Do the other sailor senshi—the Queen’s senshi—know about us?”

When Hiro said she wanted to fight, Reika felt the excitement infecting her as well. “And yes, of course I want to fight! I’ve always idolized the senshi! To become one myself… this… this is like a dream!”

And again that word—dream—seemed to resonate in her.

It had been scary for sure, but she also felt strong and confident and capable. She never wanted this rush to end.

Sailor Elysion stared out the window where the masked young man had disappeared, his cape flowing in the wind. Watching him, she felt... too many things, all at once. It confused her. She didn't know who he was, despite his titles. She tried to memorize them, knowing this would be exactly the sort of thing to talk to Trivia and Diana about.

Her attention turned back to the reactions of the other sailor soldiers. Her golden eyes widened at their total and sincere excitement. This truly hadn't been what she expected. She remembered the tales of her grandmother's team, particularly everything centered around the legendary Sailor Moon: all they had wanted was to be normal girls. (Mama's team... that was a little bit more complicated. The Sailor Quartetto... they were destined for her in a different way.)

And here she was with not one, but two "normal girls" who embraced their destiny as sailor soldiers. She felt like somewhere, something in the Galaxy Cauldron was giggling to itself at a joke well-played.

Sailor Elysion fidgeted, wondering how she could answer these questions without giving too much away. She didn't want to lie to them, but there were things she simply could not tell them. Even with their enthusiasm at their awakenings... would they still feel this way if they knew just how hard it would be? If they understood exactly how much they were sacrificing of their lives? They spoke of dreams... but she didn't think they realized in this moment how many other dreams they would need to set aside.

At least the question from Sailor Euphrosyne was simple enough.

"Yes, I think it's very likely we will fight more of those moth things. This is is not the first time I've seen them appear."

Sailor Thalia... her queries were more difficult to be forthcoming with.

"Not long, but I knew of my future as a sailor soldier from a young age. I have trained for these kinds of battles, even though I didn't have access yet to my powers. The Queen's guardians know of me, but not yet of either of you. We don't work alongside them, but due to their important roles I know they will watch over us."

Okay, at least all of that was true.

Sailor Elysion glanced around the crumbling, derelict former hangout from who knows how many years ago. She still thought of the earlier comment from Euphrosyne. A secret base, hmm? That sounded like something they could benefit from, actually...

"I think we need to leave soon, before anyone gets suspicious. Don't tell anyone about what happened today. Please. I can't tell you how important that is," she instructed, hoping they would understand the gravity of this situation.

"Can we meet here again? Tomorrow? Maybe I can answer more questions then. And we can try to learn about whatever we're facing."

Sailor Euphrosyne almost squealed at Elysion's response. Yes, more fighting! This really was the coolest day ever! And the Sailor Quartet was gonna watch them? Extra cool! She was just about ready to shout this to the whole world when Elysion told them to do the exact opposite.

Oh right, secret identities and all that. 

"Right, yeah! I won't tell anybody..." she said with a grin. Despite her expression, she was serious about keeping her promise. "We'll be here tomorrow, right Reika, er.. Sailor Thalia?" She couldn't help but giggle after saying that new name. This was going to be so hard to get used to.

Knew her future? How lucky Sailor Elysion was. She wondered how that was possible, but figured she’d probably already asked enough questions. Still, training from a young age… she must be very knowledgeable and skilled. She must have been prepared for this. She felt rather disappointed when Elysion said they weren’t going to be working with the queen’s senshi—and wondered why that was, too. She had a feeling Elysion knew a lot more than she let on with how decisive and sure she sounded about everything.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I understand the whole secret identity thing,” she promised, even if she wished she could tell people she was a sailor soldier. Maybe then it’d be easier to find love… Surely everyone would want to be with an awesome senshi, right?

“Yes! Of course, I’ll be here,” she nodded excitedly at the prospect of future meetings. Then she turned to Sailor Euphrosyne.

“Sure… Hiro,” she said with a wink. At least they knew each other’s identities. She still wanted to know Elysion’s, though.

“Well, I guess we’d better get back before anyone misses us.” She detransformed back to herself, and prepared to leave with the others.

She tensed when the pair started referring to each other by their names. Sailor Elysion did her best to will herself to maintain a calm exterior, even though every nerve in her body screamed to fidget. She'd have to tell them eventually that she was their classmate, too. But that just seemed like it would open a can of worms to other things—like telling them that she was the princess. She couldn't do it.

The broken window that the group had made it into this abandoned place via was still close enough for her to reach it quickly. The long-haired sailor soldier nodded respectfully to her new companions. It was such a relief that they were willing to keep the secret. There was just so much to explain... and to figure out! She needed more time.

"Thank you, both of you. We'll meet again tomorrow."

And with that, she carefully executed a backflip and jumped out the window. The moment her boots touched the ground outside, she was running and leaping, using her enhanced capacity as a sailor soldier to propel her far from Hiro and Reika. Her mind was racing with a sense of guilt for bailing on the pair so abruptly, as well as all of the questions about the situation they had faced. She had spent her whole life waiting for her future as a sailor soldier... and now it was finally here.

The reality definitely wasn't what she had been dreaming about.

Sailor Elysion had been so caught up in her desire to escape without detransforming, so that she could get back to her covert route that allowed access to the Crystal Palace, that she hadn't considered that there could be other civilians near the "hideout" she had selected. Sure, it was in a dead and rundown part of town... but that was still a part of town. And it was so near the school. The likelihood that she, or the others, would be spotted by someone... it certainly wasn't low.