“This snow will continue until sometime late tomorrow, and will be followed by high winds and more...”
     The tv announcer was interrupted by the ring of the telephone and the pressing of the mute button. A tall and lithe form stretched out of a comfortable recliner and rose, trailing an emerald green robe of crushed velvet.
     “Hello,” the soft and sultry female voice said before the owner took a long sip of some warm herbal tea. The tea was spat back into the cup a moment later in the manner of a classic spit take. “You’re kidding?! You’re not kidding. I’ll be right there.”
     The person hung up the phone reciever, tied her robe around her body, and took a moment to tie her golden hair up with a wrapped up handkerchief. She threw on her royal violet overcoat, grabbed an interesting looking pen from her purse, and stepped out of her front door like a woman on a mission.
     The nameplate on the door she left read ‘Ariel Nagasi, PhD’ and her mission was to save the world from eternal winter.

     Across town, in another apartment, Lizz Newton, Jubilation Lee, Roxanne Spaulding, and Aurora Ramma were in the midst of their daily dance aerobic workout. Booming over the stereo system at ear split levels was a mix of dance, techno, and J-Pop, which threatened to shake the walls down around them.
     “Work your body, move it. Work your body, groove it,” Aurora shouted as she performed a complex combination of punches and kicks that ended with her performing a back handspring into a backover bridge. As she went into an inverted split the music suddenly stopped.
     “Hey, we were...” Roxy began to say as she turned around, but stopped when she saw who it was. “Ariel, what are you doing here?”
     “I got a call from Bethany,” Ariel said, “she’s with Adderson and Joss in Pennsylvania, and Icezer is on a rampage down there.”
     “Bloody unbelievable!” Lizz exclaimed, “Don’t these guys ever give up?!”
     “They won’t give up until they’ve frozen the entire planet for the wind princess,” Jubilee said. The others looked at her like she had three heads. She sighed and said, “I’ve been reading the reports of the guardians and the others who faced one of the generals.”
     “So far we’ve gone up against Chilla and Frezon,” Roxy said, “that leaves Icezer and Frigidera, then we can kick the princess’ butt into orbit!”
     “Well, what are we waiting for?!” Aurora demanded as she produced her transformation wand, “those three can’t hold Icezer off forever.”
     The others produced their transformation items and held them aloft while shouting their henshin phrases.
     “Vesta Moon Power!”
     “Juno Moon Power!”
     “Ceres Moon Power!”
     “Jupiter Prism Power!”
     “Mercury Prism Power!”
     “Make UP!”
     Five flashes of colored light brought forth Sailors Ceres, Vesta, and Juno and Neo-Sailors Jupiter and Mercury. These five joined hands and initiated a Sailor teleport to Pennsylvania and the base where Bethany Starling was stationed.

     “Gravity Cutter!”
     Several whirling blades of yellow-green energy screamed through the air, slashing through many snow dancers and ice wyverns before dissipating against Icezer’s barrier. Icezer clapped with glee and cheered, dancing about like a 9 year old.... or a 3 year old.
     “That was fun,” Icezer said, adjusting the ribbon In one of her pigtails of ice blue hair. She smoothed the wrinkles out of her school uniform and said, “Would you like to play some more?”
     “Won’t this ever end?!” Warrior Universe said as he charged his sword for another attack.
     “Space Sword.... BLASTER!”
     Multiple energy blades cut through the air and reduced many more of the snow dancers and ice wyverns to molecules. Warrior Uranus landed next to Universe a moment later, his own sword blade glowing.
     “I think she has enough energy to keep this up for quite some time,” Uranus said, shivering a bit as the temperature in their area suddenly dropped by 40 degrees.
     “Tidal Blast!”
     A column of water cut through the air and doused much of the sky bound fleet, the temperature freezing them solid in ice in a matter of seconds. Warrior Neptune landed near the other two following the end of his attack, spinning his trident for show.
     “You guys miss me?” he asked, the response being grumbling and cursing from the other two. “I’ll take that as a no.”
     “Is anybody else coming to join the battle?” Universe asked seconds before an ice blade slashed through the rock above his head, giving him a closer haircut than he would have liked.
     “Explosion Array!”
     A familiar appeared above them, spinning a glaive around above its head. A string of explosions tore through the air and vaporized many of the snow dancers in the first use. A heavily cloaked figure landed beside them, plunging the blade of its weapon into the ground while shouting, “ERUPTION!”
     Columns of magma erupted from the ground, engulfing many of the airborne pests. One caught Icezer’s sword and melted it down to the hilt.
     “Hey, who invited you?!” Icezer demanded. A moment later she regretted saying that for the figure drew back its hood and launched into its introduction.
     “Brought forth from the silent star, Saturn, a warrior to protect the light. I’m Warrior Saturn.”
     “Nice timing, oh fearless leader,” Neptune grumbled as several snow dancers began to attack him. “Figures when you’d show up the action would heat up.”
     “Dead Scream.”
     A ringed globe of violet energy sailed through the air, striking the snow dancers who were attacking Neptune and destroying them instantly. The warriors looked to see Warrior Pluto, the garnate orbe in his staff glowing and flickering.
     “From the time space star, Pluto, a warrior to protect time. I’m Warrior Pluto.”
     “Whatever,” Icezer said, “snow dancers, get rid of them!”
     The snow dancers began to advance, but stopped short when five Sailor Soldiers appeared before them in a flash of colored light. These five immediately struck battle stances, weapons forming in their hands.
     “About time you showed up,” Uranus said.
     “Give it a rest!” Sailor Juno said, “We made it, didn’t we?!”
     Bethany caught up to the group a moment later, breathing heavily from her long run across the compound. She caught her breath, held her transformation wand to the sky, and shouted, “Pallas Moon Power Make UP!”
     Lightning erupted from the jewel in her wand, wrapping around her body like bolts of cloth. There was a loud clap of thunder, followed by a bolt of lighting striking her and enveloping her. From the chaos stepped Sailor Pallas, her daggers in hand, wind blowing her hair about in a wild manner.
     “Oh boy,” Icezer said, clapping, “a new playmate. Winds of the north, south, east, and west, grant me your unyielding strength...”
     A large cone of wind formed before her body, gusts kicking up in the compound. The occasional cadet or recruit passed by and stopped to wonder what was happening, but moved on when they sensed danger. Icezer continued to gather wind in her hands until the cone was as tall and as wide as she was tall.
     “Bandersmash Breaker!” she cheered, flinging the cone forward. The cone exploded into several shockwaves that tore through the area, digging trenches and scattering everyone. Some landed on their feet, others on their faces.
     “This sucks,” Sailor Ceres muttered as she spat a few pebbles across the compound.
     “We gotta try to get rid of her army then take her on,” Sailor Vesta said as she kicked a snow dancer in the face, “I’m five seconds away from giving this thing two black eyes and one high heel up the behind!”
     “How could you surivive my attack?!” Icezer demanded, throwing a tantrum, “Go get them, my wonderful army. Make them pay for not dying!”
     The snow dancers suddenly increased in number, hitting the senshi and warriors from all sides and not giving them a chance to attack. In a matter of seconds they were sprawled on the ground, battered and bruised.
     “This sucks,” Vesta coughed as she struggled to get to her feet, only to have a snow dancer land on her back and dance the Can Can.
     “... spirits of earth, as my word as thy undying vow, grant me your power,” Uranus chanted under his breath as an ice wyvern sat on his back, “Dare BRANDO!”
     An explosion erupted beneath the wyvern, melting it instantly with the force and heat generated by said explosion. The back of Uranus’ armor smoked from the spell, but he slowly got to his feet, the blade of his sword glowing.
     “Ok you little brat,” he growled as she stepped towards her, fighting off the attacking snow dancers without flinching or blinking. His eyes began to glow a strange shade of yellow-orange as his armor changed to black with golden trim and golden glints with a yellow-orange under tunic. “Brought forth from the shadows, a warrior to defend the light. You can call me the angel of darkness, the master of the shadows, Warrior Twilight!”
     “About time he found a name we could say with a straight face,” Neo Sailor Mercury sneered. The others glared at her.
     ‘I get the feeling that ther is a force here trying to tear us apart so that we can’t fight as a team,’ ran through Saturn’s mind as he fought to stand, leaning on his glaive for support. “Spirits who dwell in light and air, listen now to my heralding, stop this evil influncing. AWAKEN!”
     A globe of light formed above the group, glowing brilliantly, oblitterating the shadows in the area. Dark mists rose from each of the senshi and warriors, all of whom felt all the better for the spell. The mists dissipated and Warrior Twilight reverted back to being Warrior Uranus.
     “That feels *much* better,” Universe said, giving Saturn a thumbs up before he hurled a globe of intense gravity at Icezer, “Gravitational Collapse!”
     Several ice wyverns were captured in the globe and crushed as flat as pancakes.
     “You’re going to pay,” Icezer shrieked, noting a moment later that the temperature in the area was increasing by leaps and bounds. She turned to see Saturn, Ceres, and Neptune with yellow - white auras around their bodies. “What the?”
     “Solar Flare!” the three shouted, the air in the area suddenly leaping up by thousands of degrees. Icezer vanished in a cloud of snowflakes as her army was melted away and vaporized. With the threat gone the senshi and warriors breathed sighs of relief.
     “I’m glad that’s over,” Juno said, “but Saturn, how did you know we were under some sort of spell?”
     Saturn shrugged. “I saw how you guys were acting and immediately knew you weren’t yourselves. To be honest, you were complete opposites of what I consider to be your norms.”
     “I get the feeling we haven’t seen the last of her,” Pluto said, shouldering his staff. He turned to Uranus and said, “When did you become Warrior Twilight?”
     Uranus shrugged as he sheathed his sword. “The name came to me at that moment. I just can’t explain it.”
     “Well, shouldn’t we be getting back to our homes and such?” Neo Sailor Jupiter said, striking one last snow dancer with a lightning bolt.
     “Yes, let’s,” Pallas said, “if there’s any more trouble we’ll let you know.”

     In the throne room of the wind princess, Icezer appeared, tears in her eyes, her clothes singed. Frezon and Chilla were there as well, both having experienced recent losses to the senshi and warriors.
     “Welcome back Icezer,” a deep and sultry female voice said from the throne, “I see you lost to the senshi in your mission.”
     “I’m sorry your highness,” Icezer cried, “they were more powerful than we had anticipated, and one knew how to dispell my mind warping power.”
     “No excuses!” the wind princess hissed, and Icezer instantly burst into tears.
     “Your highness, may I take the next mission?” a liquid male voice asked from the shadows.
     “Ahhh.... Frigidera, so you are here.”
     A clean cut young man with short, midnight blue hair stepped forth. He was clad in a sky blue shirt, midnight blue jacket with white gems on the breasts, white kahki pants, and white shoes with midnight blue trim. He also wore globes of midnight blue and in one hand held a staff with an ice blue sphere in the head.
     “I am here to serve you, your majesty,” he said, kneeling before the wind princess.
     “Stand, ruler of the west,” the wind princess commanded. Frigidera stood and she said, “as you requested, you may have the next mission against those Sailor Soldiers and warriors.” She turned her head towards the other three and said, “You three should take some pointers from Frigidera here. He shows spunk and the get up & go to succeed.”
     “Yeah, you could learn something from me,” Frigidera said, smiling at the other three, who grumbled at him.
     “Go forth Frigidera, and chalk up a victory for us.”
     “Yes your highness.”

          To Be Continued...

    next chapter: Frigidera’s attack.