It was a relatively uneventful day in the safe house that Sailor Pluto had set up in a pocket dimension off of the Main Street in Newport, NH. In the main recreation room of the house sat Jubilation Lee, who was laying on her back on the crush green carpeting, reading a popular teen magazine. A short distance off sat Roxanne Spaulding, who opted to float in mid air and read another popular teen magazine. Not far from Roxy sat Arial Nagasi, who typed at a steady rate on her laptop, occasionally snapping her bubble gum and resting her weary eyes by pushing her glasses up to sit atop her head. Before the big screen tv in the room sat Bethany Starling, who was playing Command and Conquer on the group’s Playstation. Lizz Newton, a.k.a. Hexagon Myst, lay curled up on one of the large sofas in the room, her eyes closed, her walkman blaring, her mind in the world of dreams. At the main computer, a.k.a. ‘The Beast’, sat Josselin Tricot, who was working with e-mail and checking out some information on the net.
     After countless minutes of silence Jubilee rose from where she sat, stretched, yawned, and said, “I am totally bored. Isn’t there anything to do in this town except sit around all day, read the same teen magazines, look at the same boys, and dream of shopping at the largest mall in the country?”
     “Yeah,” Roxy added, descending low enough to pick up some silver nail polish from a nearby table. She opened the bottle and began working on painting her toe nails. “I’m tired of just doing nothing. We haven’t needed to fight anything for the past two weeks and I’m getting a little cranky!”
     “Are you sure it’s not that time of the month?” Aurora Rama asked as she entered. She was clad in black jogging shorts, a tight pink tank top, and had a light green towel draped over her shoulders. She wiped the perspiration from her brow before taking a swig of juice from her sports bottle. The other women in the room groaned. Roxy threw a half eaten cookie at Aurora.
     “Find anything to do in the great outdoors?” Ariel asked as she took a moment to stretch her back and rest her eyes, “I mean, besides looking at cute boys.”
     Aurora grumbled something under her breath, drinking more of her juice before replying, “There aren’t any cute boys to look at right now, just fugly ones, and I mean fugh-ley!”
     “That could be a mission,” Bethany said as she turned her attention from the tv for a minute, “either that or they’re all at the beach.”
     At the mention of the word beach, Lizz woke from her slumber, leapt from the couch, and darted off to get her bathing suit and beach stuff. She returned a split second later, backing away from Susana, who was dressed in her sailor uniform.
     “Is anything wrong Sailor Pluto?” Joss asked as he looked up from the computer.
     “There is a disturbance in the flow of time and space,” Sailor Pluto said, “hurry up and transform because we have a mission.”
     “A mission!” Roxy and Jubilee cheered in unison. Sighs came from everyone else.
     “What type of a mission?” Ariel asked as she saved her files and shut down her laptop.
     Pluto grinned and said, “You’ll see when we get there. Now, transform!”
     The Sailor Soldiers and Warrior took their transformation items from their pockets and raised them to the sky. They were about to call their power up phrases when their pens and wands vanished, only to appear in Sailor Pluto’s hand.
     “What are you doing Pluto?!” Bethany asked, a little stunned.
     “You fools,” Sailor Pluto said, revealing her true form of a Negaverse youma, “you walked right into my trap. The real Sailor Pluto is my prisoner in my pocket dimension, and without your transformation pens you cannot stop me!”
     The youma vanished into thin air, leaving the stunned group to wonder what they had walked in to.
     “This is just ducky,” Lizz said after a minute, “She has our pens so we can’t transform.”
     “In case you’ve forgotten,” Jubilee said, “some of us have powers independent of our Sailor powers.”
     “And our warrior powers,” Joss added, not wanting to be left out of it.
     “O.K., so we’re down to three who are somewhat powerless,” Aurora said as she plopped down in a chair to take a load off of her feet, “Actually, now that I think about it, two of us who don’t really have any powers to speak of.”
     “That’s one of you,” Bethany snarled, “I’m the one with the combat training here!”
     “Resident computer expert here,” Ariel growled back, her feet slipping out of her high heeled shoes to give her better footing should there be need of a physical brawl.
     “Calm down you two,” Jubilee said, stepping between the warring factions, “fighting amongst ourselves will get us nowhere fast. We need to find out where she went!”
     “By tracking the intersections of time and space and the point where all dimensions coincide,” Joss said as he tapped into the universal matrix, “we can locate her position in just a few short seconds.” A moment later his eyes snapped open and a portal opened above them.
     “Keen gear,” Aurora said, “we have a way to get to her.”
     “Yeah, but will our powers work there?” Roxy asked. Joss shrugged.
     “The only way to find out is to take the plunge,” Joss said. The others nodded.
     “All for one,” Ariel said, holding out her hand.
     “One for all,” the others said, linking hands with her, “Together we’ll make the youma fall!”
     The sailor soldiers and warrior leapt into the air simultaneously, entering the portal as a group. Though the energy was intense and the force was fierce, they held tight through the ride into the void. The portal snapped shut a moment later, leaving the room empty and somewhat lifeless.

     The dimension they rifted into was nothing like some they had encountered in the past. The ground was barren and lifeless. The sky was a deep red, almost crimson in color, with inky black clouds here and there. Here and there stood a scraggly and lifeless tree. A dry wind blew across the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
     “This is where that youma lives?” Roxy asked as she leapt into the air. A moment later she landed on her face, “What the hell?!”
     “What’s the matter Rox?” Joss asked as he and Lizz helped her to her feet.
     “My powers are gone,” Roxy gasped in disbelief, “I can’t fly or anything.” She then sobbed and covered her face with her hands.
     “I don’t feel the same,” Jubilee said, shivering and giving herself a hug, “the usual burn to kick butt is gone.”
     “I think our powers have been sealed,” Ariel said, “that’s the only way to explain this.”
     “At least some of us came prepared,” Bethany said, digging into the pockets of her cargo pants. She came up with some gun parts, a few throwing knives, and a couple of daggers. She distributed the assorted objects before assembling a wrist mounted plasma cannon.
     “Well, at least we can defend ourselves against some attacks,” Aurora said, her clothes suddenly changing to female battle armor. The dagger she had taken quickly shape shifted to a long sword.
     “We must be in some sort of RPG,” Lizz said as he outfit quickly changed to priestess robes, her talisman bracelets appearing as well. Her throwing dagger changed into a mace a moment later, catching her off guard so that she stumbled before quickly recovering.
     “That’s the only to explain this,” Joss said as he changed into his Warrior armor, his deep space sword forming in his hand, “Well, at least I have some power.”
     “I get the feeling that this youma is testing us,” Ariel said, her clothes changing to a tunic, leggings, and ankle high boots, all in differing shades of blue. A large trident formed from the knife she held, the jewels in the head glistening with power, “Either that or she’s toying around with us.”
     “I vote for testing us,” Jubilee said as her outfit underwent a change to something vaguely resembling her old X-men outfit, except the coat was violet and the rest of her clothes were differing shades of red. In her hand materialized a wand with a red crystal sphere at the end.
     “We have no idea as to the power our enemy has,” Bethany said as her clothes also changed to female battle armor, a magic shield forming on the other side of the plasma cannon, a VERY big and jagged blade forming from her survival knife, “but if this is any indication, then they’re very powerful.”
     “I just hope they don’t have anything too horrible in mind,” Roxy said as her clothes shifted to knee high boots, a battle dress with chest and shoulder armor, a flowing cape, and glistening bracers with a dragon inscribed in each one. A short sword formed from the throwing dagger she held.
     “Well, if this is like any type of RPG, then we have some sort of quest to undertake, correct?” Joss said. The others nodded in response.
     “Just remember that the actions we take may have greater consequences then we’ve ever imagined,” Ariel said, “up to and including character death and world annihilation.”
     As she said that several large plant monsters appeared from nowhere and quickly surrounded the group. Bethany leapt over Ariel and slashed downward, neatly cleaving one of the plant creatures in half. The creature turned black before disintegrating a split second later. Several tendrils grew from the other plant monsters, which they used as whips to lash out against the group. Joss and Aurora wound up being slammed into the ground and whipped repeatedly.
     “Make them stop!” Aurora wailed as she was beaten black and blue. She had since managed to roll onto her back and had her arms crossed before her face, her armor and bracers taking a bruising.
     “Hold on Aurora,” Jubilee said, waving the wand in her general direction. ‘Please let this do something useful.’
     The jewel in the wand glowed before releasing a stream of fireballs that struck the plant monsters that were attacking Aurora, engulfing one in flames and distracting the two others. Those two turned toward Jubilee, lashing out at her. Bethany leapt into the path of the tendrils, her blade flashing in the light as she slashed the tendrils apart.
     “When are you going to start thinking before you act?!” Bethany said as she hacked the vines to ribbons.
     “At least I did something to help her,” Jubilee growled back, “she’s going to be black and blue for at least a month.”
     “Will you two stop fighting?” Joss asked as he threw an energy blade from his sword, “We need to concentrate on the mission at hand.”
     “If we could transform we’d have them licked in no time flat,” Lizz said, her talismans glowing red, “however I think we can wipe them out with these magic type items and stuff.”
     “Are you sure we can do that?” Roxy asked as she hacked away with her sword. When she stopped there were several creatures in multiple pieces, and the others were beginning to retreat. “I’ve never done things like that before.”
     “Don’t we need to kill them all?” Ariel asked, shifting uneasily from foot to foot, “I mean, I’ve never done stuff like this before.”
     “Most likely,” Bethany said, pointing her plasma cannon at the fleeing monsters. She pulled the trigger and an energy beam exploded from the gun, cutting through the air and vaporizing the monsters in their tracks. A loud explosion ensued from where the beam struck, and a moment later the scenery shifted to a desert with giant cactus like plants, sand rivers, and waterfalls of sand.
     “This looks bad,” Roxy said as she took in her new surroundings.
     “That’s true,” Joss said, “odd we haven’t interacted with any non player type characters.”
     “I’m sure we will, eventually,” Aurora said, “there are always a couple lurking here and there.”
     As if on cue a pair of faeries appeared, fluttering around them. One stopped and blinked at them a few times before saying, “You look out of place. Can I help you?”
     “Actually, we could use a healing spell,” Aurora said, rubbing all of her bruised areas.
     “Do you trust us enough to do something like that?" the second fairy said.
     ‘Usually when someone asks that it’s a trap of sorts,’ ran through Ariel’s mind. When she looked up the faeries were circling around Aurora, a dust of some sort sprinkling down upon her. “Aurora!” she screamed, her trident glowing with energy, “Tidal Blast!”
     The jewels glowed before a column of water exploded from the tips of the trident, striking the faeries and throwing them through the air and into one of the sand rivers. She turned back to Aurora, who was glowing multiple colors as she gazed at her body.
     “Ariel, I don’t feel so good,” she said, “I’m hot and tired and itchy and....”
     She fell forward a moment later, her body vanishing in a brilliant flash of light. A text box popped up before them, writing appearing in a really odd italicized font.
     “So, you’re now minus one player,” the text read, followed by some evil text laughter, “if you want to save her you need to complete several events to gain the item that will allow you to access my castle. -E.P.”
     “That little witch,” Bethany grumbled as she punched the text box, which cracked and disintegrated a second later, “I bet she’ll try to pick more of us off every chance she gets.”
     “You may be right,” Lizz said, “but now we’re minus one of our team members.”
     The ground shook a moment later, throwing them from their feet. A very large ant type creature emerged from the ground, snapping the giant pincers atop its head and clicking its claws together. It took a step forward before its eyes glowed, sending energy rings at the group. Bethany leapt over the rings and swung her blade downward, meeting resistance from one armored claw. She put all of her energy and weight into the swing, the sword bursting into flames. The ant swung back, tossing Bethany across the field and to the ground.
     “That’s one tough skull to crack,” she said as she struggled to her feet, shaking cobwebs from her head.
     “Leave this to me,” Lizz said, her talismans glowing as she incanted a spell under her breath. She pointed at the ant and shouted, “Point Flare!”
     A beam of flames sailed from her finger, striking the ant and engulfing it in fire. The spell’s duration was shortened, though, since the ant fired off a harpoon of sorts, striking Lizz in the left shoulder. The spell caster screamed in pain, breaking off her attack before trying to remove the spear.
     “You will be gone soon,” the ant laughed, “that spear will drain all of your life energy and you will be taken to E.P.’s castle.”
     “We don’t think so,” Joss said, diving between the ant’s legs. He flipped to his feet and delivered several quick slashes with his sword before he cartwheeled out of the way. The ant turned its back to the others, concentrating only on Joss.
     “Suck bolts bug!” Jubilee shouted as she waved her wand, the jewel glowing to release a barrage of lightning bolts, all of which struck the ant. A small explosion followed and when the smoke cleared the bug blinked with oversized eyes, its head blackened by the spell. The ant roared and turned before charging directly at Jubilee.
     “Crap,” Jubilee said, cartwheeling out of the way of the ant creature. The ant crashed into a large cactus, slicing it in half with its pincers. Jubilee looked at it, a large sweat drop forming on her head. “I guess I shouldn’t write checks that my powers can’t cash.”
     “Now where have I heard that before?” Roxy asked as she brought her bracers together, the dragon insignias glowing before a giant shadow dragon was released to attack the ant. The ant and the dragon grappled for a minute before the ant disintegrated, belching forth a jewel of sorts that landed at Roxy’s feet. The dragon faded to energy that returned to her bracers a moment later. She bent down and picked the jewel up, holding it to the sky where the sun glistened off of it.
     “Nice treasure Rox,” Jubilee said, “but what does it do?”
     As if on cue the scenery shifted to a town in the middle of a forest, trees flanking it on three sides, a lake on the fourth. All around them people went about their daily business. Sylphs, Elves, Drows, cat and fox people, Sirens, and humans all lived and worked in harmony.
     “This place is amazing,” Lizz said as she looked around, “and peaceful too.”
     Joss began to sniff the air, a pleasant grin forming on his face. “I smell food,” he said, “lots and lots of food, of all types.”
     “I smell it too,” Bethany said as she sniffed the air, “spiced meats, fried noodles and rice, cooking vegetables...”
     “Cinnamon, thyme, sage, parsley,” Ariel said, also sniffing the air, “nutmeg, all spice, dill...”
     “Cookies, cakes, pies, jams, jellies, breads, apple cider,” Jubilee added as she smelled the air, “this is making me hungry.”
     The group looked at one another before nodding and saying, “Lunch time!” They broke into pairs, Joss with Lizz, Ariel with Bethany, and Jubilee with Roxy, before they split up to check out the bazaar and get something to eat. In the shadows, shrouded by a blood red, almost black cloak, stood Evil Pluto, a strange glint in her eyes as she watched the players of her game.
     Roxy and Jubilee stopped to check out a baker’s booth, the smell of sweets and such overwhelming and almost intoxicating to the two teenagers. The baker smiled at the pair as they looked at everything, hunger in their eyes.
     “I could get such a major sugar buzz from all of these sweets,” Jubilee said as she eyed a seven layer chocolate fudge cake, “if I had the money, that is.”
     “Yeah,” Roxy said, sighing longingly after a stack of cookies, “if we had the money.”
     They turned to walk away, only to be stopped by the baker saying, “Won’t you have a free sample of something?”
     “Did you say...”
     “A free sample?”
     The baker nodded a response. Roxy and Jubilee looked to one another before saying, “Sure we’ll have a free sample.”
     Roxy got a bag of delicious cookies and Jubilee was offered a large piece of the chocolate cake she had been drooling over. As they munched on their confectioneries the pair began to feel very sleepy. It didn’t take them long to realize that they were the victims of an elaborate ruse. As they began to sag to the ground Evil Pluto stepped forth, drawing back the hood of her cloak and running her hands through her hair to free it from the confines of her cloak.
     “I’ll be taking that crystal sphere if you don’t mind,” she said, stooping next to Jubilee.
     “Never,” Jubilee said, using he last ounce of strength to teleport the crystal sphere away to one of her other companions. She passed into slumber a moment later, leaving Evil Pluto to stand over the pair and curse repeatedly in a couple of languages. With a wave of her hand she teleported Roxy to her castle’s dungeon, leaving Jubilee face down in her chocolate cake.
     “Sweet dreams,” she said sarcastically, “your group is dwindling after every encounter, and soon enough there will be just one to take on the final boss.”
     She laughed somewhat maniacally as she walked off, tossing a couple of coins back to the baker before she vanished into the shadows. Jubilee snored on as life in the town continued.

     Elsewhere in the town Joss and Lizz were checking out some of the local dishes, sampling this and that and everything in between. With plates piled high with food they sat at a table that was shaded by an umbrella and began to sample their spoils.
     “This is good,” Lizz said before she stuffed a large piece of lobster in her mouth. As soon as she finished chewing on it she said, “I’m so glad we found this place.”
     “I agree fully,” Joss said as he took a big bite from a piece of roasted meat, “I haven’t had anything this wonderfully exotic for a while.”
     A sudden weight in her robes caused Lizz to pitch to one side. She righted herself and reached into the folds of her robes and extracted the crystal sphere. She and Joss stared in awe and shock, since Jubilee was the last person holding it.
     “This could be trouble,” Joss said as he stood to leave. The waiter stood in his path a moment later.
     “Was the meal unsatisfactory? Can I get you something more?” the waiter asked, blocking their escape route.
     “You could get us some take out boxes,” Lizz said as she stepped in front of Joss very nonchalantly, “and also some breath mints. The really strong type if you have them, since some of those spices are WAY too powerful.”
     The waiter quickly jotted these requests down and turned to leave. “One more thing,” Lizz said, “please hold onto the boxes. We need to go and help a friend, but we’ll be back to get our food.”
     “O.K. mademoiselle,” the waiter said, “it will be waiting at the front desk.” The waiter scuttled off and Joss watched in awe. Lizz turned around and said, “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
     “You’re incredible,” Joss said.
     “Yeah, I know, but you can sing praises to me later. Right now we need to find Jubilee.”
     The pair dashed off towards where they last saw the princess of pyrotechnics, meeting Bethany and Ariel in their charge. They eventually found Jubilee napping peacefully along the side of the road, a half eaten piece of chocolate cake stuck to her face.
     “That doesn’t look too comfortable,” Bethany said, nudging the sleeping person with her foot, “time to rise and shine sleeping beauty.”
     “It’s not working,” Ariel said as she watched Jubilee, “She looks like she’s really out of it.”
     Lizz knelt down next to Jubilee and cast a magical detection and identification spell. A small text box opened before her, revealing the results. “She’s under a sleeping spell,” Lizz said after a moment, “what’s worse is that it was ingested with the cake.”
     Bethany let out a startled, “Erp.” and everyone looked at her. In her hand was the remains of the cake with several bites taken out of it. “I didn’t know the cake was the...” she said before dropping to her knees and then sprawling on the ground, fast asleep.
     “Oh goody,” Ariel sighed, “now two of our people are fast asleep.”
     “I can remedy that,” Lizz said rather cornily, “Detoxify!”
     The jewels around her wrists glowed before she spread her hands over the pair. A while glow flowed over them and a minute later both Jubilee and Bethany awoke, a little confused and disoriented.
     “What the...” Jubilee said, a little groggy as the cobwebs cleared from her mind. Shock registered on her face a moment later and she said, “She’s got Roxy!”
     “Damnit!” Bethany growled, punching the ground, “She’s got two of our group in her possession and we can’t do a thing.”
     The ground rumbled a moment later and people fled past the group. The five looked up to see a large seed shaped creature with long vines for legs and a strange head attached to a very long neck rampaging through the city, destroying buildings and causing havoc with everyone and everything in its path.
     “Is that what we need to fight now?” Lizz asked, blinking at the creature, “It doesn’t look very dangerous.”
     “We could leave it to run amok, eventually destroying the town and terrorizing or killing the populous,” Joss said, “OR we could do the right thing and teach this monster a lesson or two.”
     “Well, let’s do this for Aurora and Roxy,” Jubilee said as she waved her crystal wand about. A wave of lava erupted beneath the plant monster, engulfing it for a few seconds while the others moved around to attack it.
     “Get it before it’s able to counterattack!” Bethany shouted as she charged at the creature, slashing wildly at it, 85% of her strikes hitting their intended targets.
     “How can we tell when it’s going to counter attack?” Lizz said as she hit the creature with a Skygate attack, “It’s not like we’ve ever fought anything like this before.”
     The creature began to flash darker colors, signaling something was about to happen. A moment later it belched a massive stream of flames that caught most of the attackers in its wake, throwing them back a little bit. The creature stopped blinking a minute later and flailed about in a normal manner.
     “I guess that would classify as a counter attack,” Ariel said as she pointed her trident at the creature, “what exactly IS it we’re fighting.”
     “It’s a Tropicallo,” Jubilee said, “it was one of the early boss type monsters in The Secret of Mana.”
     “Goody,” Bethany said as she slashed away at Tropicallo, “I always hated that boss.”
     “Well, let’s erase its bitmap,” Ariel said, the jewels in her trident glowing, “Breaker BEAM!”
     A large spray of bubbles and ice water flowed from the points of the trident, striking Tropicallo and tossing it a few feet away from them. Tropicallo retaliated by belching a couple of pumpkins which bounced before exploding near the attackers.
     “This really sucks!” Lizz said as she dove out of the line of fire, “how are we going to kill it when it belches big things like that?!”
     “Try hitting it from so many sides that it gets confused,” Joss suggested as he and Bethany began to wail on Tropicallo from multiple sides in a rapid fire fashion.
     “That’s easy for you to say,” Jubilee said as she hurled a massive string of magic spells at Tropicallo, “your strengths are speed and agility.”
     “And ours is spell casting,” Lizz said as she began her own string of magic spells, “and we gotta stick with what we’re good at.”
     “And my strength is in special techs,” Ariel said as she plunged her trident into the ground, “Geyser!”
     A column of super heated water spouted up beneath Tropicallo, the smell of steamed vegetables filling the air a moment later. A very cooked plant creature crashed to the ground a moment later, a jeweled staff being belched from the head and landing at Jubilee’s feet. Tropicallo exploded into a shower of dust a moment later, some snazzy victory music playing a moment later.
     “I guess we just completed the second event,” Bethany said, clipping her sword to her back, “that’s some nice music, though.”
     “Everyone, let’s give victory signs,” Lizz said, grinning.
     The five struck victory signs and poses, smiling.

     In Evil Pluto’s castle the dark one herself sat before a view type screen, fuming over the latest defeat of her forces. Several orcish servants stopped what they were doing and ran from the room, hiding from their mistress lest she hit them with her Evil Scream attack.
     “Damn!” she said when she saw the five heroic people giving victory signs after the defeat of Tropicallo, “they destroyed two of my strongest generals.”
     “Serves you right,” Aurora said from the cage she was in. She was still battered and bruised, only now it was worse from the treatment she got from the faeries and their false spell. “You’re messing with forces you know nothing about.”
     “And the longer they go on, the stronger they become, and the more skills they unlock,” Roxy added, “so either way you’re in for one hell of a fight!”
     “Oh, shut up!” Evil Pluto snapped, her right index finger glowing with energy. Roxy sneered at her before turning around to point at her butt.
     “C’mon. Hit me with your best shot. I dare you.”
     “I won’t waste my time or my energy on you,” Evil Pluto said, taking a deep breath. “I have bigger fish to fry. Oh Alleure darling, I need your help.”
     A silvery mist filled the room a moment later, parting to reveal an elven woman with long silver hair, silver eyes, silver makeup, and dressed in a long silver dress and silver boots. In one hand she held a long silver glaive with a rose inscribed in the blade. Silver bracelets jingled as she moved.
     “You called my lady,” the woman, identified as Alleure said, bowing.
     “Yes I did. I need you to go and take care of some problems for me,” Evil Pluto said.
     “I would be more than happy to, my lady,” Alleure said before she vanished back into the silver mist.
     “Excellent,” Evil Pluto said as she turned back to her view screens, “most excellent.”

     Back in town the scenery shifted, the jewels in the head of the artifact staff glowing as the group suddenly found themselves in a great jungle, with the sounds of wild animals on all sides. Several faeries appeared and flitted about while assorted small creatures scampered around.
     “I don’t like this place,” Jubilee said, clinging to Joss, “these things look really creepy and might try to eat me.”
     “Chill out girl,” Lizz said, “you don’t need to worry about too much. I, on the other hand...”
     One of the creatures decided to get a little too nosy for its own good by looking up Lizz’s robes. She turned and kicked the creature across the clearing, where it disappeared into some bushes. A split second later two large dinosaur like creatures leapt from the bushes, nearly flattening Bethany and Ariel, who stood near the front of the group. The pair of Senshi turned their heads to the others, fear on their faces, and immediately clung and hid behind Joss.
     “Oh brother,” Joss sighed, “it’s not that bad.”
     “They nearly flattened us,” Ariel said, “please get rid of them.”
     A sigh went up from Lizz, Jubilee, and Joss, who sort of looked questioningly at the dinosaurs, who leapt into the air and spun forward, smashing into Joss and Lizz, throwing them back into some bushes. The dinosaurs landed on their feet and began hopping towards the other three.
     “Why does this always happen?” Bethany said, unclipping her sword and holding it before her body, the blade glowing before bursting into flames. “I mean, we’re confronted with this strange new world and everything is out to kill us.”
     “This is an insult to Sailor Soldiers everywhere,” Ariel said, pointing her trident towards the dinosaurs, “and I won’t stand for it any longer.”
     “Nor shall I,” Jubilee said, pointing her jeweled staff at the dinosaurs, the crystal glowing in rainbow colors, “on behalf of the stars, planets, and all between...”
     “We shall punish you,” the three said in unison, striking various poses. The dinosaurs blinked at them for a moment before charging forward, eyes aglow. The three dodged artfully, coming back up in attack positions.
     “We can’t fire off anything big with them moving this fast,” Bethany said as she cartwheeled out of the way with one hand, “I can’t get a lock with my cannon or summon enough energy into my sword to do anything.”
     “Area local spells won’t work,” Ariel said as she flipped over the heads of the dinosaurs, using her trident to give her proper leverage, “I doubt anything in my arsenal will work.”
     “I’m trying everything I can think of,” Jubilee said, lighting bolts, fireballs, and ice crystals flying fast and furious at the dinosaurs, “well, everything short of that big and nasty spell I know.”
     “You know an area wide spell?!” Bethany and Ariel exclaimed.
     “Yeah,” Jubilee said, “a very nasty one that I don’t really want to use because I’ve never used it before.”
     “Under these circumstances I think using it would be fine,” Ariel said, blocking blows the best she could with her trident.
     “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Delta Storm!”
     Twin pyramids of shadow energy formed over the area, spiraling in opposing directions. First fire, then water, and finally lightning attacked the twin dinosaurs before vanishing. The two dinosaurs ceased movement, disintegrating and leaving no trace that they were ever there.
     “Bravo Jubilee,” Lizz said as soon as she dragged herself from the bushes, “That was amazing.”
     “But you can do the same thing,” Jubilee said, drawing a little design in the dirt with the end of her wand.
     “But it’s your first time casting a spell like that,” Lizz said, “that makes it really special and super impressive.”
     “Can we save the sisterly moment for later please,” Bethany said, “we have a mission to complete.”
     As the five moved deeper into the forest, Alleure appeared in the shadows, a somewhat maniacal snicker rising in her throat.
     “I can have a lot of fun with their party,” she said, giggling with glee, “for starters, let’s get rid of one of their spell casters.”
     She snapped her fingers, and giggled with knowledge.
     In the middle of their run for the goal Lizz suddenly vanished, which startled Jubilee and Ariel since they were right behind her. The others skidded to a halt, wondering where she went.
     Back where Alleure stood the silver goddess giggled with more glee as she plotted her next move.
     “I think I’ll replace her with the dye jobbed one.”
     She laughed somewhat maniacally and snapped her fingers again.
     In the midst of the confused group Roxy appeared in midair and was dropped onto her butt. She stood up and blinked, rubbing the bruise that was forming on her rear.
     “Where did you come from?” Joss asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
     “I haven’t the foggiest,” Roxy replied, “one minute I’m in a castle, the next minute I’m here.”
     “I think somebody’s messing with us,” Ariel said moments before she poofed out. Aurora replaced her a second later, a huddled mass of limbs and blue hair.
     “Aurora!” Bethany said, dropping to a crouch next to her friend, “How do you feel?”
     “I feel like hell,” Aurora moaned. Bethany hugged her a moment later, “Hey, why are you getting so emotional?”
     “We thought we’d lost you,” Jubilee said, “though I’m really confused right now. How did you and Roxy get here and where are Ariel and Lizz?”
     “More than likely they’re where we were,” Roxy said.
     “And how are you guys winding up here?” Joss asked.
     “Some elf girl named Alleure is able to do weird things like this,” Aurora said, “she must be in our area since our party is being changed around.”
     “How right you are, little one,” Alleure said as she appeared from the silver mist, “I replaced some of your stronger members with the weaker ones.”
     “Who do you think you’re calling weak?!” Roxy grumbled, lunging forward with sword in hand. She slashed wildly, but Alleure floated off of the ground and evaded every blow within a millimeter.
     “She’s good,” Jubilee said, arching an eyebrow in amazement.
     “Damnit, hold still and let me hit you,” Roxy snarled as she swung her blade about, still missing Alleure by mere millimeters each time since the elf had a faster reaction time and higher agility level.
     “That would defeat the purpose of combat,” Alleure said, smiling an evil little smile. A blade slashed through the air almost silently, except Alleure caught onto it and had her glaive in hand a split second later, blocking Joss’s sword with the butt end and Roxy’s with the head. “You almost had me,” she said, “but almost doesn’t count!” she added, spinning about, disarming Roxy and Joss instantly.
     “Damnit all!” Jubilee said as she began hurling spells at Alleure, who easily dodged most of them, but found herself on the business end of an area wide spell. “Crystal Shower!”
     Shards of crystals rained down upon Alleure, knocking the glaive from her hand and tearing her dress to ribbons. The rain ended a moment later with Alleure on the verge of tears and Jubilee’s teammates straddling different crystal shards, fear frozen on their faces.
     “How could you know a spell like that?” Alleure asked, sniffing back tears.
     “We unlocked some more techniques and other stuff like that,” Jubilee said, “so we’re a lot stronger than we were.”
     “So Evil Pluto hadn’t counted on this,” Alleure said, switching to a mode of brooding and thinking. She sighed after a moment and said, “You guys can have my glaive. It’s a powerful artifact and equally powerful weapon. After this you have two more events before you reach Pluto’s palace, which will test your strengths and weaknesses and such.”
     As Alleure stood to leave, Aurora said, “Would you like to come with us?”
     Alleure turned around, tears streaming down her face. She wiped her nose on the back of her hand and said, “Thanks for the offer, but I’m a failure and must face the wrath of my master. Good luck and I hope, nay, pray we meet again.”
     The silver mist poured around Alleure, taking her away to Evil Pluto’s castle. Roxy sheathed her sword and picked up the pole arm, balancing it in her hands for a moment before spinning it like a baton. A split second later she ceased the spin, the blade coming to a rest inches from the ground. The scenery shifted to a beach, beautiful singing wafting through the air. Joss’ ears immediately perked up when he heard these notes and he started to wander off.
     “Just where do you think you’re going?” Jubilee asked, grabbing Joss’ shoulders to restrain him for a minute. She moved in front of him and gasped in shock when she looked into his eyes, since there was no sign of intelligence or will there.
     “To the sirens,” Joss said in a monotone voice. He moved towards the sound a moment later, breaking free of Jubilee’s grasp.
     “Guys, restrain him,” Roxy said as she levitated him off of the ground, pulling him back towards the group. He broke free a moment later, his right fist glowing as a sphere of energy formed around it.
     “He’s going to use his World Shaking power,” Aurora said, scrambling to get out of the way should he actually get a chance to use it.
     “Not if I have anything to say about it,” Bethany said as she poofed out, reappearing behind him. She wrapped her arms and legs around his upper body, pinning his arms to his sides. She then wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him with all of her might. “Little help here,” she said as he fought to free himself of her. ‘He’s going to tear me apart!’
     “Sleeping,” Jubilee said, waving her cane at Joss. A wave of light flowed from the jewels, entering his eyes, which shut a second later. Gentle snores rose from the sleeping warrior, and the four women breathed a collective sigh of relief.
     “I guess we need to go and see the sirens,” Roxy said. As she said that, though, the siren song broke off into silence, which was followed by three distinct screams.
     “Well, save them at any rate,” Bethany said, unwrapping herself from Joss, who collapsed a moment later. She sighed, picked him up, and threw him over her shoulder, his butt high in the air.
     “Away we go!” Aurora said as she did the best she could to run. Roxy, who was flying towards the sound, dipped down to help lift Aurora and get her to their destination faster.
     As they ran towards the screaming and wailing they encountered assorted monsters who wished to slow their progress. Swords and other weapons flashed, cutting down much of the opposition, and magic cleared out whatever else stood in their way.
     As they traveled on, Joss began to stir, and presented himself as being fully awake when he struck something that tried to sneak up on Bethany with his sword, cleaving it in half instantly. The group pulled to a stop for a moment to allow Joss to regain his feet. Once all were back in action they resumed their run for the source of the screams.
     Several caves and stretches of beach later they reached what looked remarkably like a giant bird cage, made out of trees and such with trees inside. The door was wrenched from the hinges, a large stretch of ground dug up in some manner or another. The screams from within were intensified for some reason. A great roar filled the air and sent shivers down their spines. the screaming ceased and became broken singing, most likely from fear of what was within.
     “We must help whoever is in there,” Roxy said as she set Aurora down. She unstrapped Alleure’s glaive from her back before turning to the others. “Bethany, prepare that hand cannon of yours. Joss, your warrior powers may come in handy. Jubilee, you heal Aurora’s injuries and then follow us in.”
     “But why do I gotta...” Jubilee began to protest.
     “You’re the only one with powerful magic at the moment,” Bethany said, “Ariel and Lizz aren’t here, and Joss and I don’t have the magic to spare.”
     Jubilee nodded before turning to Aurora and beginning her spell. A magical glow followed behind the other three as they entered the cage to face a horrible three headed dragon monster.
     “What is that thing?!" Roxy exclaimed as she blocked a stream of flames with the glaive.
     “It’s called a Jabberwocky,” Bethany said, checking the readout from her computer, “and according to these stats this guy is STACKED!"
     “How about using that beam cannon of yours?!" Joss asked, deflecting flames with the shield that unfolded from his bracer.
     “No way,” Bethany said, blocking some attempts on her life by the creature’s tail with her shield. “You saw what it did earlier. I use that in here and all of us could be toasted!”
     “You don’t use it and we’re as good as toast anyway,” Roxy said, spinning the glaive about. The blade began to glow, which soon encompassed the entire weapon. The flames which struck the glaive boomeranged around and struck the Jabberwocky, one head and neck shrinking inward.
     “Well, I’ll be,” Bethany said when she saw the results, “that was certainly interesting.”
     “I’m willing to say this thing is weak against magical attacks,” Joss said as the symbol on his shield glowed. A moment later a rain of gems fired from the shield, fighting back the flames and striking the head, causing it to shrink and the neck to retract back a little.
     “This seems way too easy,” Bethany said as she swung her sword, a massive lightning bolt tearing through the air to strike the monster before her. The heads on the sides shrank down, but the middle one glowed before it counterattacked with a powerful delta spell. Bethany crouched down with her shield before her, anticipating a destruction which never came.
     “Hey,” Jubilee’s voice said from behind. Bethany looked up to see the spell blocked just inches from her body by a major protection spell. She turned her head to see Jubilee standing in the entrance, Aurora leaning against her for support, the jeweled cane in her other hand glowing white from the spell she was casting.
     “You’re such a trouble maker Lee,” Bethany said, rolling out of the way moments before Jubilee ceased casting her spell. The Jabberwocky resumed its tirade a moment later, belching flame bolts and such.
     “Hit it hard,” Roxy said as she plunged the blade of the glaive into the ground, “ERUPTION!”
     A geyser of magma burst out of the ground beneath the Jabberwocky, engulfing it and burning away one of the heads while shrinking the other two. The creature turned its attention to Roxy, who let out a startled noise and ran interference for the others.
     “Flame Slash!”
     “Gem Cyclone!”
     “Tetra Strike!”
     Three more magic type attacks struck the Jabberwocky, weakening it to the point of having only one head left. Bethany locked on with her hand cannon and fired, a beam of darkness being brought forth and striking the Jabberwocky, exploding and vaporizing it. A no-dachi of violet metal with a deep purple rose inscribed upon the blade sailed through the air and landed at Aurora’s feet. She sheathed her own sword before plucking the no-dachi from the ground, spinning it about before clipping it to her belt. A moment later the scenery shifted to a vast wasteland with a castle in the distance. Bones of large animals dotted the landscape as well, inhuman screams filling the air now and then.
     “This place is scary,” a very melodic voice said from behind them. They turned around to see the three sirens, one a mermaid, one a sylph, and one very bird like in body. All three were clinging to one another in horror and fear.
     “How did you get here?” Bethany asked as she reloaded her hand cannon, setting it up to recharge.
     “We... we don’t know,” the mermaid said, “it must have happened after the battle.”
     “We can’t go back now,” Joss said, “not when our goal is in sight.”
     “I believe we can teleport back,” the sylph said, “but let us give you some useful items.”
     “You’re not working for Evil Pluto, are you?” Aurora asked, massaging all of her aches and pains.
     “Now why would you think that?” the mermaid asked.
     “No reason.”
     The three sirens bestowed unto the group a bow with magical arrows; a battle axe with earth elemental powers; and a spear which could command fire and water magic. Joss took the axe, Bethany the bow, and Jubilee took the spear to give to Ariel later on. The sirens also healed the party before teleporting back to their cage.
     Once the non player characters were gone, the five remaining players took one last chance to check their equipment and such before they drew their weapons and charged towards Evil Pluto’s castle.

     In her throne room Evil Pluto watched the warrior’s charge with increasing anger. Not only had they unlocked most of their abilities and powers, but they also had some impressive equipment. They had defeated her monsters and Alleure gave them her glaive. This and the fact that Ariel and Lizz were not behaving combined to give her a splitting headache.
     “Baka,” she mumbled as Ariel and Lizz ran rampant in her castle, “I wasn’t expecting them to be so alive and full of energy.”
     A stray lightning bolt struck her hair, turning it into a frizz factory. Assorted articles of clothing were instantly attracted to her hair, eventually weighing her down so that with a startled, “What the?” she fell onto her butt.
     “Sorry miss,” Lizz said as she ran by, “Ariel, come back here with that!”
     “I will not,” Ariel called from down the hall, “It’s mine because I saw it first!”
     “But I wanted it,” Lizz shouted back as she followed, flinging spells left and right, “come back here!”
     Evil Pluto regained her feet, plucking various objects from her hair, and once freed from her laundry, took a brush and began to put her hair back into shape. A large bubble popped over her head a moment later, dousing her with ice water. She screamed in shock and surprise, the walls shaking from her wailing.
     “Come back with that!”
     “Make me you brat. I said it was....”
     Ariel stopped short when she saw how steamed her captor was becoming. Lizz pulled up beside her, a little shocked. A large energy dome formed over them, shrinking inward and forming a cage of non-magic conducting metal. Evil Pluto stepped down, squeezing water from her hair as she walked. She stopped before the cage, lifting her tiara for a moment to wipe the water from her brow before she set it back on her forehead.
     “I won’t have you tearing about my castle and irritating me further,” she grumbled, pulling her hair back and squeezing the last bit of water from it.
     “We’re sorry,” Lizz said, a glow coming from the pocket of her robes. She reached in, and to Pluto’s shock, pulled out the jeweled globe they received at the end of their first battle. The cage glowed as well, vanishing into thin air a moment later.
     “So that’s the power of the orb,” she gasped, “I never knew it possessed such abilities.”
     “I forgot I had that in my inventory,” Lizz said, blinking at it, “oh well, it saved our butt. Now to run for it!”
     Lizz turned and ran, leaving Ariel in a cloud of dust. Ariel blinked after her for a moment before she took off to catch up with her. Evil Pluto sighed and began chasing after the other two.
     From a cage strung high above the room Alleure watched the events, wondering when somebody would let her out of her prison or bring her back to floor level. Out of a window on her level she saw a cloud of dust in the distance and knew that help would be on its way.

     A bone dragon lunged out at the five, jaws open to snap upon an unsuspecting member. A sickening THWACK filled the air as Aurora’s no-dachi cut through the dragon’s neck, releasing it from the body. The head spiraled through the air towards Roxy, who swung the glaive and cleaved it in half. The two halves fell on each side of Joss, who slammed his new axe into the ground, sending a quake through the local area. The body shook apart a moment later, dust rising from the remains. Jubilee finished it off by opening a vortex that sucked in the bones. With the attack over they regrouped.
     “I’m impressed by the powers locked in these weapons,” Aurora said, “this sword can cut through almost anything, the axe is strong enough to summon quakes, the cane can cast high level magic spells, the glaive has powers of its own, the spear commands water and fire, the bow has arrows imbued with magic, and the globe...”
     “We don’t know squat about,” Roxy said, floating a little way off of the ground, “And I’m sure that Lizz has it.”
     “She does,” Joss sighed, “and she’s in the clutches of our enemy.”
     “Well, let’s stop standing around and go save her,” Bethany said, firing some elemental arrows at more monsters that advanced upon them. The other four struck battle stances and resumed their charge for the castle, weapons flashing in the sunlight that managed to stream through the thick clouds above.
     After what seemed like hours they reached the outlying ruins surrounding Evil Pluto’s castle. There they encountered one final bone dragon, this one with five heads and large wings. The dragon roared, flapping and kicking up a dust cloud that nearly blinded and choked them.
     “Now what?!” Aurora asked as her swings were blocked and deflected by the dragon’s claws, “He’s better than I am at fighting.”
     “No kidding,” Jubilee said, firing off a long string of spells at the dragon, “I may have to invoke my area wide spells.”
     “Don’t even go there,” Bethany said as she fired arrows in rapid fire manner, “those will be our last resort.”
     “Well, we may need that last resort soon,” Joss said as the dragon dodged the quake that resulted from the axe striking the ground by going airborne. “It won’t hold still.”
     “We’re at an advanced level,” Roxy said as she pulled the dragon back to the ground with a high level gravity ability, “the bosses get harder as we go along.”
     “Meaning they’ll take more to defeat,” Aurora said, swinging her sword again in a rapid manner. The dragon’s wings and three heads fell away a moment later.
     “Yet for some reason these creatures don’t seem so difficult to defeat,” Jubilee said as a fire spell engulfed the bone dragon, charbroiling it instantly, “wow, that was hot stuff.”
     “We unlocked most of our abilities,” Joss said as he brought the axe down upon the dragon’s head, a quake spell being unleashed. The dragon shook for a few seconds before it collapsed into a pile of bones, which crumbled to dust a second later and blew away with the wind.
     “That was pretty triumphant,” Bethany said, blinking at the defeat of the dragon, “yet it seemed way too easy.”
     “What do you mean?” Aurora asked as she clipped the sword to her belt, “we bested that bone dragon.”
     “I have this nagging feeling that there should be something more.”
     An ear splitting roar filled the air behind them, sending chills down their spines. They turned around to see a black dragon and a red dragon advancing on their position. Bethany sighed and said, “I knew it was too good to be true. I just had to open my big mouth.”
     “Well, back to action,” Jubilee said as she began to fire up a trusty dragon spell, “Heed me now oh thou who is darker than dusk. Heed me now thou which is more red than blood. In the name of that which is buried in the bottomless abyss of time eternal I summon thee master of the ultimate darkness. Show no pity for the fools who stand in our way. Infuse me with power, let your strength become mine. To wipe them from the face of the earth, to deliver unto them the ultimate doom...”
     The dragons perked up their ears when they heard the spell incantation before breaking into hysterical laughter. Jubilee bit her lip, her body glowing from the amount of energy accumulated for the spell, and fumed at the pair of dragons. The peak in her power level caused everyone in the area to look at her and move out of the path of her spell.
     “... Dragon SLAY!”
     A beam of energy that glowed more crimson than blood that flows tore through the area, striking the two laughing dragons. A small dome formed, which quickly expanded until the radius was ¼ mile. When the smoke cleared Jubilee was standing with her hands crossed before her body, breathing heavily, and all that remained of the dragons was a large blast crater and a bone fragment here and there. Jubilee’s teammates stared at her in wide eyed awe, all blinking in unison.
     “Woah,” Aurora said, breaking the silence, “they’re crispy.”
     “Well, I guess it’s onward to the castle,” Bethany said, clipping the bow to her back, “and from here on it’s smooth sailing.”
     “Then onward we shall GO!” Joss said, taking off towards the castle at a dead run. The others followed as quickly as they could, weapons in varying states of readiness.

     Many minutes later there was a loud knocking at the castle’s door. The orc and ogre servants were off tending to other matters, such as cleaning up after the three forms running through the castle, upsetting things and leaving chaos in their wake. When no response was begotten the door was knocked off of its hinges by an explosion spell. The large doors tipped inward, crashing to the ground with a deafening gong sound, like a church bell at point blank range. The sound echoed and reverberated for a few moments, and when still nobody approached the five entered, stepping lightly upon the heavy doors which lay in the building.
     “Well, there is no welcoming committee,” Roxy observed, spinning around with her glaive in hand, “which is surprising, considering the amount of noise we made.”
     “No kidding,” Jubilee said, “those were some DAMN strong explosion spells I used to blow the doors off of the hinges. I’m surprised those alone didn’t bring them running.”
     Lizz flew past them a moment later, the breeze blowing their hair. Ariel followed a minute later, vaulting over the doors and flipping through the air before landing to continue her run. Evil Pluto came up behind them as they stared after Ariel, and due to an inability to stop in time, caused a major pile up.
     “What the hell hit me?” Bethany asked, sitting up and rubbing her head.
     “I haven’t a clue,” Joss said from atop Roxy, his feet in the air, his head still swimming, “but it hit like a ton of bricks.”
     “Will you please GET OFF OF ME!?” came from beneath the pile of bodies, the sheer force of the person’s voice moving people off of the shouter. A second later Evil Pluto stood in the middle of the room, the five players on her little game sitting around her.
     “We should have known you’d be chasing our friends about,” Aurora said, unclipping the no-dachi from her back and pointing it towards Evil Pluto.
     “Let’s end this game here and now,” Joss said, unstrapping the earth axe from his shoulder, “we want a battle to end all battles.”
     “You mean a battle Royal,” Evil Pluto said, smiling evilly at them, “why didn’t you say that in the first place?"
     Lizz and Ariel came screeching around the corner a moment later, skidding to a halt with their friends. Jubilee handed Ariel the magical spear moments before the scenery around them began to change and shift. When the world stopped its spin they were atop the castle, the sky darkening with clouds blacker than pitch, the occasional flash of lightning shining golden upon a turbulent sea of chaos.
     “This is really creepy,” Jubilee said as she looked at the sky and the surrounding countryside.
     “This is the battle for the future of us all,” Bethany said, unclipping the bow from her back, “so there is no time for whining or crying since our lives are at stake!”
     “Prepare to die!” Evil Pluto said, her arms out to her sides. An unseen wind blew her hair wildly about behind her body. Her staff formed in front of her a moment later, and she grasped this and spun it like a baton before holding the end with a dark stone towards the group.
     “What do we do?!” Lizz asked as Pluto’s dark stone began to glow, “She’ll erase us for sure!”
     “I thought nothing could phase the great Hexagon Myst,” Evil Pluto said, “I guess without your Jupiter Prism you’re powerless.”
     Lizz grumbled a reply, a globe of darkness and fire forming between her palms. She hurled the globe forward and shouted, “Shadow Doom Flare!”
     The globe spit forth a beam which cut through the ground before Evil Pluto. A moment later a wall of dark flames erupted from where the beam struck, engulfing Evil Pluto. When the attack finished running its course Evil Pluto was on one knee for a moment, gasping for air.
     “Well done, young Lizz,” she said, unclipping one of the power items from her belt before tossing it to Lizz, “you have improved much in the course of your adventure. You may keep the globe of Kyrie as well since it responds to you.”
     “I think I’m up next,” Ariel said, stepping to the front with the spear in hand. The spearhead glowed a brilliant blue moments before she plunged it into the ground, “Aqua Vortex!”
     Water swirled around Evil Pluto’s feet moments before a water spout erupted around her, swallowing her in the raging waters. A moment later the attack ended, a very wet Pluto standing on her head, her hair wet tendrils about her face. She regained her feet a moment later, wringing water from her hair as she stood.
     “Excellent attack Miss Nagasi, using the properties of a new weapon with a spell of your natural element. You are a quick learner.”
     Evil Pluto unclipped another power item from her belt and tossed it to Ariel. “Not only do you get your Vesta pen back, but you may keep the Laguna Spear. So, now who will test their strength?” she asked, looking at the five remaining people.
     “I’ll take a chance,” Joss said, shouldering the axe. He swung the weapon above his head before he slammed the blade into the ground, “Eruption!”
     The ground beneath Evil Pluto buckled before a plume of magma exploded from it, surrounding her in walls of lava. The attack ceased a moment later, a slightly charred Evil Pluto standing, holding a burnt staff, her hair curled and singed.
     “I see that young mister Tricot knows more about earth based attacks than other people here, and I’m impressed by how well you can use the Geo axe. You may keep it,” she said as she unclipped a third power item from her belt and tossed it to Joss, “and you can also have your Uranus pen back. Now that three of you have gone, who’s next?”
     “I’ll go next,” Aurora said, unclipping the no-dachi from her belt before assuming a battle stance. “My experience is low due to being cooped up for a large portion of the adventure, but I feel like I have a firm grasp on how to use this sword.”
     She leapt into the air and blinked between, four of her reappearing around Evil Pluto. All four shouted, “Life Sprinkler!” before slashing Pluto with quick and short strokes. The four swung upward, sending Pluto into the air before blinking out again. Aurora reappeared above Pluto before she swung downward, smashing Pluto into the ground. Aurora blinked between one more time before landing where she started, the blade glowing lightly.
     “You handle that Soul Saber quite well for not using it that much,” Pluto said, her head reeling a little from Aurora’s attack. She grasped a power item from her belt and tossed it to Aurora. “You may keep the Soul Saber and your Ceres pen as well.” She then turned to the three remaining players and said, “Now who’s up?”
     “I’ll go next,” Roxy said, unstrapping the glaive from her back. She spun it like a baton as she approached Evil Pluto, stopping before the master of the twisted little game with the blade pointed at her, “Bring it on.”
     “You bring it on, little one,” Evil Pluto said, holding her staff in a defensive position, “I won’t hold back this time, since you seem to know what you’re doing.”
     Roxy leapt into the air, spinning the glaive above her head. She dove at Evil Pluto with the glaive before her. Pluto leapt out of the way as Roxy plunged the blade into the ground. The stone around her crumbled in a circular fashion, crumbling inward to leave Roxy standing in mid air.
     “Where did you go?!” Roxy said moments before an energy globe sailed by her head. She whipped around, the glaive instinctively moved to deflect a blow from the staff. The duo sparred in mid air for a while, sparks flying from the force of the strikes. Roxy took to the sky, attempting her dive attack again. This time on the down pass she blinked between, reappearing at points in the dive. When she reappeared above Pluto the evil diva swung, leaving herself wide open for Roxy’s upper thrust attack from below. The staff flew across the roof, landing near the others and sticking into the ground.
     “Well done, well done,” Pluto said as she cracked her jaw back into place, “You know how to use that glaive and your own powers quite well, very effective.” She unclipped another power item from her belt and tossed it to Roxy. “You can keep the Rose Glaive and your Juno pen.” Pluto turned to Jubilee and Bethany and said, “Which one of you two goes now?”
     “I’ll go,” Jubilee said, swinging her cane about, the jewels glowing, “I won’t hold my power back.”
     “Don’t write checks your powers can’t cash,” Pluto said, recalling her staff to her hand.
     “Where have I heard that before?” Jubilee mumbled as she set up her spell string, ‘I need a knockout combo attack to make sure I come out on top, but which spells to use?’
     Several energy globes smashed into the ground around her, crumbling the floor below. She leapt into the air, flipping a few times before firing off a string of fire spells. Evil Pluto blocked most of them with her spinning staff, dodging what remained. Jubilee landed and fired off a stream of plasmoids, which exploded to blind her attacker. Pluto crashed to the ground, holding her hands over her eyes.
     “Now for the coup de gras,” Jubilee said, setting up her final spell string, “Gem Missile! Fireball! Explosion! Freeze Blast! Air Blast! Cyclone! Earth Slide! BURST!!”
     The spell string assaulted Pluto with four elements, finishing with a giant explosion. A somewhat crispy Evil Pluto crawled from the smoke and ash, her fuku disintegrating a bit here and there. “Very impressive,” she said as she dragged herself to her feet, “Your check is good. You may keep the wand.” She then unclipped one of the two remaining power items from her belt and tossed it to Jubilee. “Here’s your Mercury prism. You proved your strength in combat many times over.”
     “What about me?” Bethany said as she unclipped her bow, extending it to its full height, “Don’t I get a chance?”
     “You have already proved yourself from the start,” Pluto said, unclipping and tossing Bethany her pen. “Sailor Pallas, your leadership in a crisis like this proved to be the greatest. You were well prepared in the case of an emergency, and that has led me to believe that all of you make one powerful team.”
     “So then... did we win?” Lizz asked, glancing at her power up item.
     “Yes, you did my children,” Evil Pluto said as she blinked out, “You may now teleport home and be happy once again. Fare well!”
     Her final words echoed as the thunderstorm rolled around them. The seven strapped their new weapons on and hoisted their power items to the sky, clicking them together before they called upon their powers.
     “Vesta Moon Power!”
     “Pallas Moon Power!”
     “Ceres Moon Power!”
     “Juno Moon Power!”
     “Uranus Nova Power!”
     “Jupiter Prism Power!”
     “Mercury Prism Power!”
     “SAILOR TELEPORT!”
     A column of colored light surrounded the group, opening a path through the clouds. The column pierced the clouds before it vanished, leaving the clouds to close in on the castle, the roof leaking water as it began to rain.

     Inside of the castle the ogres had let Alleure down from her ceiling prison and were cleaning her up when Evil Pluto returned. The ogres and orcs ran away from their master, but Alleure stood her ground.
     “So chief, how did it go?” she asked as Evil Pluto walked by.
     “They defeated me,” was Pluto’s reply, “and I’m glad they did. It proved that they’re powerful, and with those new weapons they should be unstoppable forces in their fight for justice and such.”
     Alleure blinked at her for a moment, then ran to catch up with her boss.
     “Where are you off to now?”
     “To take a long, hot, relaxing soak in a bubble bath,” was Pluto’s reply, “I need one after training them.”

     Elsewhere in the stream of time and space, mainly the safe house where this adventure began, a ring of multi colored light formed, a column shooting up from it. The column vanished a moment later, depositing the seven exhausted adventurers in the middle of the living room. They slowly regained their senses, wondering if it was all just a dream or if it really happened. The weapons strapped to their beings was proof enough.
     “Oh my,” Aurora said as she collapsed into a chair, the spirit saber in one hand, resting at the side of the chair, “I ache ALL over.”
     “You’ll probably be black and blue for the next few weeks,” Bethany said as she collapsed onto one of the couches. Her body gave her a signal for intense pain a moment later. “I think I might be joining you, though,” she said as she unstrapped the bow and sword from her back.
     A moment later Sailor Pluto stepped into the room, a glow from a gateway behind her. “We have a mission,” she said, “so...”
     The other seven sighed and grabbed their new weapons, passing her silently as they entered the portal. She blinked and said, “... I don’t think I want to know where they got the new weapons or the new outfits, and I’m not going to ask right now because I don’t think I’m ready to hear their answer.”
     She turned and followed them into the portal, which closed behind her. Once again the safe house was quiet.