The peaceful morning stillness of the town of Newport was shattered by the incredibly loud wails of a certain Serena Tsukino. Following the cries of Serena were those of the other eight Sailor Soldiers who made up the ranks of the inner and outer Senshi. These nine girls, all dressed in their school uniforms, were running like the wind in a desperate move to escape some greater evil. About fifty feet behind the girls was a pack of squirrels with glowing red eyes.
     “Why does this.... always happen... on test days?!” Ami Anderson puffed as she fought to keep up with the others.
     “I... wish I could.... answer that Ami,” Serena huffed, “Rei, can’t you hit them with some of that magic of yours?”
     “That would require me stopping and a moment of intense concentration,” Rei Hino said, “and we don’t have that long.”
     “Can’t you just disenchant them?” Mina Aino asked as she jogged with the others.
     “What ever you do, do it fast,” Nicole Tomoe shouted from the back of their ranks, “they just gained another ten feet on us!"
     “Split up!” Rei commanded. The four girls behind her immediately split into two more ranks off to the sides. Once she had the squirrels in sight she chanted, “Aku Ryo Tai San... evil spirits be gone!”
     A beam of some sort fired from Rei’s hands, engulfing the possessed wildlife and attaching anti evil charms to their heads. A moment later the squirrels turned around and went back to gathering nuts to store away for the winter months, the charms fading away into nothingness.
     “That was a close one,” Erika Tenou said as she stopped to catch her breath.
     “Any clue as to why the masses of wildlife have been attacking us lately?” Michelle Kaioh asked, crouching down next to Erika.
     “First the pigeons, then the chipmunks, then the crows, and now the squirrels,” Ami said, deep in thought, “you guys think it’s the Negaverse?”
     “Either that or Mother Nature is going crazy,” Lita Kino said, stretching her long legs, “at least Rei’s anti - evil charms work against them.”
     “But we can’t rely on them to save us all of the time,” Susana Miou said in her cryptic way, “sooner or later something is going to backfire.”
     “Which will probably happen soon,” Nicole said, “I have a feeling.”
     “I thought Rei was the only one who got feelings,” Serena whispered to Mina.
     “Usually she does, but now and then Nicole has one,” Erika said, getting in on their conversation.
     “Isn’t Susana the resident expert on visions and feelings?” Mina asked.
     “Are you guys coming alone or what?!” Rei’s voice bellowed, sending the three blondes into an action of standing up and accidentally smacking one another by putting their hands behind their heads and giggling. The others sighed, sweat drops forming on their heads.
     “In case you’ve forgotten we have a major test in math today,” Ami grumbled, annoyed that she hadn’t had time to study.
     “You’ll get another perfect score Ami,” Lita sighed, “you always get a perfect score.”
     “I prefer to study just to make sure I know everything,” Ami said. Everyone else sighed.
     “Ami, if you continue to get perfect scores then you’ll get bored and your head will explode,” Serena said.
     “We’re going to be late, Meatball Head,” Rei said. Serena turned red and bellowed at Rei, “Don’t call me that!”
     In the distance the 7:10 bell rang, signaling the building was open. From behind the girls came the sound of hundreds of wings beating against the air. The nine girls turned around to see all the song birds in the town around one giant bird woman, her plumage not very covering.
     “Give up, Sailor brats,” she cawed, a wave of cardinals and gold finches flying down to attack the nine girls.
     “This is bad,” Michelle said, diving out of the way, “they know who we are when we’re not transformed.”
     “Didn’t we go through this a long time ago?” Lita asked. Mina, Rei, and Serena nodded. “I thought so.”
     “Should we transform and destroy this over colored song bird?” Mina asked, taking out her crystal wand. The others followed suite, holding up their transformation items. “Venus Crystal Power...”
     “Mars Crystal Power...”
     “Jupiter Crystal Power...”
     “Mercury Crystal Power...”
     “Eternal Moon Power...”
     “Pluto Crystal Power...”
     “Saturn Crystal Power...”
     “Uranus Crystal Power...”
     “Neptune Crystal Power...”
     “MAKE UP!!”
     There were nine flashes of colored light and from those came the nine Sailor Soldiers, all ready for battle.
     “Make it quick girls,” Sailor Mercury said, “we have to get to school and study!”
     “How can we defeat that thing without hurting the birds?” Sailor Venus asked as she dodged a wing of robins.
     “I have no idea,” Sailor Pluto said, spinning her staff to block incoming birds, “Mercury, any ideas?”
     “I’m working on it Pluto,” Mercury said, scanning with her computer visor and her mini computer. A moment later she put her computer away and formed a bubble between her hands. “Shabon...” she said before spinning around, the bubble increasing in size before her now crossed arms, “Spray!” She swung her arms out to the sides of her body, the bubble bursting into smaller bubbles, which all popped to create an ice cold fog bank. From the fog dropped multiple blocks of ice containing frozen birds, all of which evaporated into an evil mist.
     “They’re not real!?” Sailor Mars exclaimed, “Which means I don’t need to hold back.”
     “I hear you Mars,” Sailor Jupiter said, an antenna rising from her tiara, “Supreme Thunder Crash!”
     “Burning Mandala!”
     A wave of lightning bolts and a mass of flame rings cut through the fog and struck the bird creature, dusting it instantly. The remaining evil birds vanished a moment later, the exhausted Senshi dropping to their knees to catch their breaths.
     “Did we get rid of it?” Sailor Moon asked.
     “I’m pretty sure we did,” Sailor Neptune said, returning to her human form, “but now we need to get to school.”
     “Hopefully we don’t encounter any more trouble today,” Mina said, “this is getting crazy.”
     “Onward girls,” Nicole said as she began to run towards the school again. The others quickly caught up to her. Three minutes later they reached the school. Moving like a well oiled machine the nine girls made their way up the stairs in the main lobby to the second floor and the school library, where they would study before tests or before class.
     “Good morning girls,” Mrs. K, the librarian, said in greeting, “how are you today?”
     “Tired,” Serena panted, taking a swig from a bottle of water before passing it on to Susana.
     “Over sleep?”
     “Not exactly,” Ami said, sitting at a nearby table and spreading out her notebooks and textbooks.
     “We were chased by assorted woodland creatures,” Michelle said, taking out a hair brush and brushing the tangles from her hair.
     “Are you serious?” Mrs. Winter, the assistant librarian, asked as she came out of the back office. Nine heads nodded in unison.
     “It’s been happening for the past couple of days,” Rei said, tying her hair back with a pair of scrunchies before she took out her own notebooks to review, “each time there were more and more creatures, and larger ones at that.”
     “And nastier,” Nicole said, adjusting the band that held her hair back, “and I’m getting tired of this.” Eight heads nodded in agreement.
     “Did you fight any monsters?” Mrs. K asked.
     “One that was a female bird / human mix,” Erika said, “the feathers on its body were rainbow colored and looked like a bathing suit, leggings, armlets, bracers, and a big collar, and her hair was also feathery and she had bird like eyes.”
     “Interesting,” Mrs. Winter said, inputting the data into a special program they had setup on the library computer. A moment later a picture and data appeared on the screen. “Is this the one you fought?”
     “That’s her,” Serena said as the other ten females crowded around the computer screen, “she sent all these birds after us.”
     “Spirit birds are her main attack,” Ami read from the screen, “other attacks include feather darts, a cyclonic attack, and a force shield.”
     “We dusted her, didn’t we?” Rei asked, “my flame attack and Lita’s thunder attack smoked her.”
     “According to this she can create illusions of herself while she hides elsewhere,” Mina said, “which means we probably didn’t get her.”
     “But where will she attack next?” Nicole asked, shuffling some of her papers, “I’m tired of all these attacks.”
     “Are there any who fight along side her?” Susana asked.
     “I’m checking the database now,” Mrs. Winter said, her fingers flying over the computer keys. One more image appeared on the screen, this woman wearing a fur body suit in a style like the bird woman’s.
     “This one has control over small woodland creatures like chipmunks, squirrels, and field mice,” Michelle read, her chin resting on top of Mina’s head, “she has the same properties of the bird lady.”
     "A ground based quake attack, nut and berry grenades, and a barrier,” Erika read over Michelle’s shoulder, “and she can hide in the trees.”
     “Which means trouble if they both attack at the same time,” a new voice said from the other side of the desk. Everyone looked up to see Reeny Tsukino. Next to here was Crystal Andreas, who looked dead tired.
     “Reeny, what did you do to poor Crystal?” Serena asked.
     “We stayed up all night playing video games, watching movies, and eating junk food,” Reeny beamed.
     “Please, take her,” Crystal mumbled, her hands shaking as she pushed Reeny towards Serena and the others, “Must sleep for a month.”
     “Your mom doesn’t trust you to take care of Reeny, does she Serena?” Rei asked, elbowing Serena. A sweat drop formed on Serena’s head.
     “I had a great time last night,” Reeny said to Crystal, who collapsed a moment later, fast asleep. “Guess I wore her out.”
     Erika and Lita picked Crystal up and helped her into the back office, where they set her in an easy chair and covered her with a blanket. Once they were sure Crystal would be O.K. they returned to the problem at hand - the two monsters. The minute they went back to the computer the 7:30 bell rang, signaling the start of advisory.
     “Crud,” Mina said, “stupid bell. We haven’t gotten any studying done.”
     “And we still don’t have a plan as to how to take these things on,” Rei said.
     “Meet back here before you go to lunch,” Mrs. K said as the girls moved towards the door, “Mrs. Winter and I will try to figure an attack plan out.”
     “Meanwhile,” Mrs. Winter said, “good luck on your tests.”
     “Thanks,” Serena said.
     “We’ll need it,” Mina added as they filed on to advisory.

     When 11:20 rolled around the nine Sailor Soldiers popped by the library on their way to lunch in hopes of an attack plan. When they opened the door they were squashed by a tidal wave of printouts.
     “What in the heck?” Michelle said as she was washed halfway down the hall.
     “Tsunami!” Mina and Serena exclaimed as they were washed away.
     “These are parts of the attack plan data,” Mrs. K’s voice said from amid the sea of paper.
     “We overloaded the printers,” Mrs. Winter added from the ocean of printouts.
     “Did you come up with something useful?” Ami asked as she began to organize the papers.
     “We came up with all this,” Mrs. K said.
     “The most important thing to do is use Michelle’s deep aqua mirror to reveal the truth,” Mrs. Winter said, “the mirror is the key to revealing what is real and what is not.”
     “More riddles,” Mina and Serena sighed, “Ami...”
     “I’ll explain when we fight the creatures,” Ami said, finishing the organization of the printouts in a nice neat stack outside the door before she began on all the printouts inside. In a matter of moments the library was clutter free once more.
     “Thank you Ami,” Mrs. K said, “now you girls should get to lunch.”
     “I’m hungry,” Nicole said. Everyone turned to look at her since she never complained of being hungry. A sweat drop formed on her head.
     “We’ll need to keep our strength up,” Serena said, taking on the leader position, “double lunches for everyone!”
     The other eight cheered as they charged on down to lunch in the school cafeteria, where they all gout double helpings of food and sat at a nearby table to eat.
     “I miss Alex and the others,” Rei said as she ate,” he’d be able to figure something out.”
     “I miss Steve,” Lita said, stars in her eyes. Serena and Mina sighed as the next phrase out of Lita’s mouth was, “he reminds me of my old boyfriend.”
     “Which old boyfriend?” Susana asked, a smile on her face.
     “I..... I....” Lita said, unable to think. She just repeated the one letter.
     “Woah, overload,” Serena said as Lita pitched face first into her plate of spaghetti.
     “Susana, you burned out Lita’s brain,” Mina said in mock horror.
     “Keen gear,” Serena said. Rei sighed.
     “How many boyfriends has she had?” Nicole asked.
     “Too many,” Rei said, “every boy she sees that is cute reminds her of her old boyfriend.”
     “Remember when she said Tod looked like her old boyfriend?” Serena whispered to Ami.
     “Yeah, one of us fell over and accidentally took him out,” Ami said.
     “If I recall correctly you heard her begin to say her famous line and then screamed at her that he did not remind her of her old boyfriend,” Mina said. Ami turned red and stared at her sandwich.
     “Oh, my head,” Lita said, raising her face out of her spaghetti. She had a meatball stuck to her right cheek, sauce all over her face, and spaghetti on her cheeks and in her bangs. Erika reached into her gym bag and pulled out a towel and gave it to Lita, who wiped her face free of the food. “What happened?”
     “Nothing, you just fell asleep,” Michelle said.
     The bell rang at that moment, signaling the end of their lunch period. Those who had food remaining on their plates immediately wolfed it down before dashing out the door to return to their classes.

     When the 2:35 bell rang the girls stopped by the library in time to see Crystal up and around and a little more alive. Reeny met them in the library as well and all of them were ready to go and fight the animal creatures. Mrs. K and Mrs. Winter came out of the office to fill them in on all the latest details on the monsters.
     “So, what’s the latest news?” Ami asked.
     “We have figured out the best way to make sure you dust them,” Mrs. Winter said, her voice filled with excitement.
     “Michelle’s mirror reveals the truth about things like this so she needs only to gaze into it to see if the monster is the true one or a copy,” Mrs. K said.
     “And she can also locate the real one,” Mrs. Winter added.
     “What attacks would be the best to use on each of them?” Rei asked.
     “It comes down to this,” Reeny said, taking a list from the desk and reading over it, “against Aviana, the bird woman, one should use lightning, a couple of flame arrows, ice bubbles, and a combo attack of water and lightning. Against the bird creatures the ice bubbles will knock them out of commission. When going against Critterella, the furry woman, earth based attacks, sonic attacks, and most other attacks will work well. Crystal’s shining web will be able to stop the ground based creatures fairly easily.”
     “That’s pretty simple,” Serena said, “are you sure it’ll work?”
     “Yes Meatball Head, it will work,” Reeny said. Serena turned red in the face a moment later, steam blowing from her nostrils.
     “Ami, have you been able to locate them?” Crystal asked, ready to leap into battle.
     “I found a small area where they are, but the exact location is difficult to pinpoint,” Ami said.
     “Another more important question is; do these creatures work for Black X?” Susana asked.
     “Black X?” Mina, Lita, Serena, and Crystal asked.
     “Back during the summer Alex, a bunch of the Warriors, and the Slayers fought against three angel / youma / mazoku mixes,” Ami explained, “the last one said they worked for Black X.”
     “Currently we’re not sure of that,” Michelle said, “however, we are finding more information so it may be that they work for this Black X person.”
     “Shall we go and teach these monsters not to mess with the Sailor Soldiers?!” Lita asked. The others prepared to cheer but Mrs. K reminded them to be quiet in the library so they whispered a cheer.
     “Thanks for all of your help,” Serena called as they left the library.
     “Any time girls,” Mrs. K said.
     “Always a pleasure to help you guys,” Mrs. Winter said.
     “Go get `em Sailor Soldiers,” Reeny said as she ran to join them.
     Once outside Ami opened her computer and scanned the area. A moment later two red blips appeared on the screen, their triangulation being up behind the school in the woods around the ski jumps.
     “We have their location,” Lita said, reading over Ami’s shoulder.
     “Now everyone transform,” Serena said, “Eternal Moon Power...”
     “Mercury Crystal Power...”
     “Mars Crystal Power...”
     “Jupiter Crystal Power...”
     “Venus Crystal Power...”
     “Moon Crisis Power...”
     “Neptune Crystal Power...”
     “Uranus Crystal Power...”
     “Pluto Crystal Power...”
     “Saturn Crystal Power...”
     “Callisto Cosmic Power...”
     “MAKE UP!”
     Eleven flashes of colored light brought forth the Sailor Soldiers, the Outer Soldiers, and one of the Moon Soldiers. The now transformed Sailor Soldiers leapt onto the roof, charged across it, then leapt don on the other side of the building near the woods. Once they were in the woods they split up, leaping from branch to branch, tree to tree, until they reached the top of the hill and the ski jumps.
     In the middle of a clearing sat Aviana and Critterella, both deeply absorbed in their lunch of Chinese take out. From the trees came a well practiced speech, which snapped the pair out of their deep concentration.
     “I’m a pretty sailor suited soldier of justice. On behalf of the moon I’ll punish you for using nature’s creatures for evil. I’m Sailor Moon!”
     “And we’re the Sailor Soldiers,” the other ten said, all striking battle stances.
     “Do you mind?!” Aviana shouted, “We’re trying to eat here!”
     “Aren’t these the girls we’ve been tormenting for the past few days?” Critterella asked, eating some pan fried noodles.
     “Yeah, we’re here to kick your butts!” Sailor Mars said.
     “Crap,” Aviana said, dumping her fried rice as she stood up, “you’re that little witch who disenchanted Critterella’s squirrel army and who toasted my copy.”
     “Yeah, that’s her,” Sailor Jupiter said, “except she’s not a witch.”
     “Defend yourselves!” Aviana said, a wave of crows appearing from behind her. The crows moved in to attack the Sailor Soldiers, only to encounter a counter attack.
     “Shabon Spray Freezing!”
     A wave of freezing cold fog engulfed the crows, encasing them in blocks of ice, which dropped to the ground a moment later. Aviana took to the air, only to have her wings clipped before she could reach proper attack height.
     “Burning Mandala!”
     Several rings of flame cut through the air and clipped Aviana’s wing tips. As she dropped to the ground she was struck with a combo attack.
     “Shabon Spray Freezing!”
     “Supreme Thunder!”
     “Deep Submerge!”
     The combo attack froze Aviana before striking her with lightning and water, breaking her apart. Sailor Neptune looked into her mirror to make sure they had gotten the real Aviana. A moment later, though, multiple feather darts sailed by their heads, striking the ground around them. They turned to face the real Aviana, who flapped her wings and called upon her cyclonic attack. Several massive twisters formed, picking up the Sailor Soldiers and tossing them about.
     “We’re all going to die!” Sailor Moon shrieked as she was thrown about.
     “Calm down Sailor Moon,” Sailor Uranus said, producing her sword, which glowed with energy, “Space Sword Blaster!”
     An energy beam in the shape of a crescent fired from the blade, which spiraled through the air and struck Aviana from behind, cutting off her right wing at the joint. The bird lady plummeted to the ground, the Sailor Soldiers joining her a moment later since the cyclonic attack kicked out.
     “You little witch, you’re going to die!” Aviana growled, hurling a mass of feather darts at Sailor Uranus. Uranus cartwheeled out of the way, allowing the feathers to strike Critterella multiple times.
     “You idiot!” Critterella snarled at Aviana before firing off her nuts and berry bombs at Aviana, all connecting and exploding with 100% success rate. “That was me you hit!”
     The two youma beat the puss out of each other, leaving the Sailor Soldiers to watch in embarrassment. After watching the bird creature and the squirrel woman duke it out for several minutes Sailor Moon said, “You guys want to finish them off?”
     “Sure,” Sailor Saturn said, pointing her glaive at the pair, “Death Reborn Revolution!”
     A mass of razor sharp ribbons fired from the end of her glaive, which cut through the air and wrapped the two creature women up. The other Sailor Soldiers moved in for the kill a moment later.
     “Mars Flame Sniper!”
     “World Shaking!”
     “Deep Submerge!”
     “Dead Scream.”
     “Moon Gorgeous Meditation!”
     “Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss!”
     “Venus Love and Beauty Shock!”
     “Jupiter Oak Evolution!”
     “Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!”
     “Spinning Shards!”
     Ten separate energy attacks, ranging from fire to water to earth to light, struck the two animal women, finishing them in a glorious explosion. When the glare from the light died down Sailor Neptune checked her mirror and nodded approvingly. The twin youma were defeated.
     “We got `em!” Sailor Venus cheered.
     “But we don’t know if they worked for Black X or what,” Sailor Mercury said. Everyone else groaned, sweat drops forming on their heads.
     “Who cares about Black X?!” Sailor Moon said, “At least we can get to school without worrying about getting attacked by chipmunks and such.”
     Everyone grumbled and reversed their transformations before walking away. Sailor Moon quickly reversed her transformation before she ran to catch up with her friends.

     “Damnit!” a dark figure cursed. He was seated in an elaborately yet tastelessly decorated throne room. “What the bloody hell happened?!”
     “Those two couldn’t get along,” a female voice said before chuckling, “it figures, though. They were both incredibly dense.”
     “Silence,” the man said, standing up, his cape and silver hair blowing dramatically behind him, “those two were some of my best generals.”
     “Are you sure about that?” the woman asked, her amber gold hair billowing out about her head. She smoothed the creases out of her dress as she stood up before skipping down the stairs before her and running off to play.
     “She’s hopeless,” the man said, sighing and holding his head, “she’s bloody hopeless.”
     “My lord Black X, we’re here,” a male and female voice said. Two flashes of light brought forth a well groomed young man and an equally well groomed young lady.
     “Beautiful,” Black X said, “with your help we bring about the resurrection of the dark angel. Now go forth and gather the energy that we need.”
     The two people vanished, leaving Black X to wonder if he could trust his two new generals.