Hey-o! Here’s Chapter Nine. Or Episode Nine, if you prefer. By the time I send this in, the school year will probably have started. It was one of my summer goals to finish this story. That’s why it will keep making appearances. Hope you like it! The New Sailor Moon: Episode Nine That next morning, Serena just barely made it to school. Raye and Amy had similar problems, but Amy’s was the worst. She came in right when the bell rang, and Ms. Haruna was very shocked by this. “Amy? What’s wrong with you? You look sick,” commented Ms. Haruna. “I’m okay, just sleepy. Something attacked my apartment last night at three in the morning. My mom had to go to the hospital,” Amy replied, before loosing her focus and going all blank. School continued, Ms. Haruna letting Amy sleep during class, knowing that Amy was already far ahead of what they were discussing. Serena, still a bit sleepy, ate her lunch quickly at lunch, then fell asleep, telling her friends to wake her up for afternoon classes. After school, Jeff was waiting for them. Luckily, both Mina and Lita had other things to do that afternoon. “What’s up Jeff?” asked Serena, finally awake from her nap at lunch. “I wanted to talk to you guys about that Tuxedo Mask dude. Who is he?” Jeff asked. “I wish we knew. He’d probably be a great ally,” Amy said. Serena just laughed. “What’s so funny?” demanded Raye. “Tuxedo Mask isn’t a great ally! He’s less helpful now than when he was Earth Knight. As Earth Knight, he could actually attack with something besides a rose. The only way he’d be a great ally is if he were the Earth Prince. Other than that, he’s pretty useless.” With that, Serena left, saying she should get her homework done early and take a nap before dinner. Amy and Raye exchanged confused glances. Jeff just wondered what was up with the usually nice Serena. He took off after her, leaving Raye and Amy even more confused. “Serena! Wait up!” Jeff called as he got closer to the girl. “What do you want, Jeff?” she asked. “What’s up with you? Why’d you act so weird when we started talking about Tuxedo Mask?” “Look. Tuxedo Mask used to help me out a lot. The first two times I battled, if it hadn’t been for him, I probably wouldn’t be here now. Now, if I’m lucky, he’ll come and throw a rose, and that’s it. I’m not sure we should trust him anymore.” Serena frowned and looked close to tears. “Oh, it’s okay. I’m sure we’ll figure it out sooner or later.” Jeff gave her a hug. “Don’t you worry. I’ve got a plan. I’ll see you later, okay?” Jeff gave her a grin that made her grin too. “Okay. Bye Jeff!” Serena continued down the street, not noticing Darien as she passed him. Darien noticed her, and was staring after her. Jeff noticed Darien noticing Serena. He couldn’t but start thinking what a cute couple they made. Then he shook himself and went the opposite direction, heading for the temple. Later that day, Serena and Luna went for walk in the park. “You know what Luna? I hope that we get all of the guards and all of the scouts soon.” Serena smiled happily. “Yes, that is a good thing, but what we need to do is also find the Earth Prince and the Moon Princess,” Luna replied. “Yeah, I suppose, but once we find them, we’ll be so busy protecting them and all that we won’t have time for fun. It’ll be school, then our homework and protecting the princess before bedtime. I hope that she’ll be able to at least take care of herself when we’re at school.” Luna had to laugh. “Don’t worry. The Princess is quite capable of taking care of herself, once she has the Silver Moon Crystal.” “Then why does she need us?” “You’re her guardians. You help protect the kingdom.” “Oh.” Serena sighed. Soon, screams began to fill the air. “Uh oh. Could be trouble. Let’s go, Luna!” Girl and cat ran towards the screams. From a concealed spot in a bush, Serena saw a monster that looked like a tree and Zoicite terrorizing people and trying to do something to them. “Luna, what are they doing?” Serena asked. “Trying to get energy. Transform, now!” “Right. Moon Prism Power!” Sailor Moon emerged from the bush after calling the other scouts. They said they’d be there in a few minutes. “Hold it! Zoicite and big, ugly, creepy thing, you’re going down!” Sailor Moon shouted. She proceded to start attacking the monster with feet and fists, but she got tangled up in a stick-y web of sticks. She struggled, but couldn’t get out. Jadeite, Mars, and Mercury soon appeared. “Don’t get too close! It’ll get you like it got me. Hurry!” Mercury first shrouded the monster and Zoicite in fog. Mars and Jadeite tried desparately with their fire attacks to get Sailor Moon free, but it didn’t work. Mars, finally seeing that magick attacks wouldn’t work, threw a scroll at the mass. Nothing. Mercury’s fog lifted, leaving Mercury helpless. The monster tangled up Mercury before Mars could put a scroll on it. Jadeite, seeing how helpless they were, made an energy sword of fire and started to slash the monster. He accidentally slashed Mars’ scroll. Jadeite was the next victim, followed closely by Mars. “Trush! I command you to drain their energy, starting first with the traitor, Jadeite!” Zoicite shouted, from his perch in a nearby tree. “What does he mean ‘traitor’?” Jadeite asked Mars, the one closest to him. “Tell you later,” she replied. Just as the monster reached Jadeite, rose after rose after rose streamed down, cutting open Sailor Moon’s bonds. He did the same for Jadeite, so the monster couldn’t get him. “Sailor Moon! Try your tiara!” Tuxedo Mask shouted before using his extendable cane (I love that thing, don’t you? It’s so-o-o convient to hit things with.) to attack. “Right! Moon Tiara Magic!” Sailor Moon shouted, throwing the tiara. The monster, unable to stop it, let it hit it, turning to dust with a single shriek. Zoicite tried to escape, but on of Mars’ scrolls landed on his unprotected back. He froze in mid-air, falling down. Zoicite landed ungracefully on his head. (Ouch!) “Jadeite, grab Tuxedo Mask and hold him until I’m done,” whispered Sailor Moon. Jadeite complied, only to find Tuxedo Mask gone. “Moon Tiara Magic!” Sailor Moon shouted again, launching the disk of magic at Zoicite. The same thing happened as with Jadeite. The uniform changed into a dark, almost black, blue with ice-blue trimming. His forehead shown blue, black , and silver, with the same symbol as Jadeite. He floated up and down, finally collapsing to the ground. Mercury immediately went to his side. “Luna?” Sailor Moon called. “Well done Sailor Moon. We now have the fourth general in command back, Zoicite. Mercury, here’s your other half, and you are also fourth in command. The two of you were the brains behind the operations. Get him to his feet. Jadeite, I think he should see you first.” Luna and the scouts walked a distance away, where they could still watch them, but where the men couldn’t see them. Zoicite slowly woke, seeing Jadeite holding him up. “Jadeite? What are you doing here? Why can’t I stand on my own? Where are we?” Zoicite held his head with a hand. “Number one, I’m the first general to arrive in the twentieth century. Number two, you can’t stand on your own because a lot was taken out of your transformation from evil to good. Number three, we are in Cherry Hill Park in Tokyo, Japan.” Jadeite grinned. “This isn’t the Silver Millennium? Oh dear, what about Lady Mercury?” “She’s here. So is Lady Mars, and someone I don’t remember, Sailor Moon. Do you remember a scout of the Moon?” “Can’t say that I do. Where are they?” “A little ways away. Guys! Come on back!” Jadeite shouted, de-transforming into Jeff. Zoicite gave him a questioning look. “Good. He’s awake,” commented Luna. Sailor Moon giggled in spite of herself. “Lady Mercury? It’s good to see you again. Are you all right?” Zoicite seemed geniunely concerned. “Yes. Are you?” Mercury asked back. “Yes.” “That’s great. Now, Zoicite, what’s your real name?” Sailor Moon cut in. “My real name? It’s Zachary of Zoicite. Why?” “Because Zach is now your name. And, you should use your powers to get clothes like Jeff’s over there.” Sailor Moon turned around and de-transformed into Serena. “I’m Serena, by the way.” Serena started walking home. “What’s with her?” asked Jeff. “Dunno. I’ll go find out.” Raye ran after Serena. Jeff followed quickly. Zoicite, now Zach in clothes similar to Jeff’s, only with more blue than red, looked to Amy. “Hi. My name is Amy now. I’m glad that you’re okay.” Amy blushed a bit. “We should go follow them. Who was the girl?” “That was Raye,” Amy answered, as they began walking, well, running, in the direction of Serena, Raye, and Jeff. Well? Hope you liked it! See ya! -Crescent Moon