June 1, 1996

      Hikaru walked through the dark campus on the way back home from the
library.  It was just before midnight on a Wednesday and the campus was
deserted.  I hope I don't wake up Usagi coming in, she thought.  Usagi was
generally clonked out by 10 PM weekdays.  She's probably the only college
student on Earth who gets adequate sleep, Hikaru thought.  

      She heard voices as she came around the corner of the Engineering
building, which sits on the north side of the Quad in the center of the
Tokyo University campus.  To her surprise, she saw Makoto and Usagi
standing in the center of the quad, back to back by the statue of the
Meiji Emperor that sits in the middle of the quad waiting for drunken
students to put underwear or worse on his head.  They were surrounded by
six people that Hikaru thought were fraternity boys at first, until she
realized that the average frat boy is not blue, scaley, or clawed.  Sometimes, 
anyway.

      For a few seconds, she just stared, unable to believe her eyes.  She
could hear them talking, but she was too far away to hear what was said
clearly, at least until Usagi and Makoto both started shouting.

      "MOON PRISM POWER!"

      "JUPITER STAR POWER!"

       Hikaru couldn't believe it at first.  My roommate is SAILOR MOON?
The fight was soon in progress.  Lightning sent two of the demons flying,
while Sailor Moon clonked a third one on the head with her staff.  

       Hikaru watched for a few minutes and soon realized the two heroines
were outmatched.  I have to do something...Hikaru had not been in a real
fight for a very long time, and she had almost never used her powers in
combat before.  She thought for a moment, then realized what she could do.

      Sailor Moon lept and kicked another demon.  "There's too many of
these things, Jupiter!"  she shouted.

      "The others'll be here soon."  Jupiter grunted as she slammed one of
the demon's heads into the statue of the Meiji emperor.  "We just have to
hold out a little bit longer."

       At that point, Moon got hit by a demon from behind and fell down.
All three of the ones she was fighting got ready to grab her as she tried
to get back up.

       A straw hurled by hurricane force winds can pierce a telephone
pole.  Now imagine what a pencil could do at that speed.  As one of the
demons reached to grab Sailor Moon's face, it took a pencil through the
heart.  Ichor gushed everywhere and it collapsed.  

       A booming voice broke through the silence of the night.  "I'm
afraid you get an F for conduct, Mr. Demon."  Everyone instinctively
turned and looked to see who was speaking.

       A woman stood atop the balcony of the Administration building,
dressed in what looked like a cross between a Sailor Soldier fuku and a
business suit.  She had a fistful of pencils and pens in her hands, and
she was wearing a small red mask rather like Sailor V's.  Her hair was
long and black, her eyes green, and her figure lush.  "Attacking students
is a no-no.  I will punish you in the name of this University!"  She
hurled a barrage of pens and pencils moving at 150 MPH.  The demons
swiftly fell, writing in pain and spewing ichor as if they were showing up
in Fist of the Northstar.

      "Wow!  A new Sailor!"  Sailor Moon said.  "You're really powerful!"

      The demons started to get up.

      "Too bad my thesis committee isn't this easy to deal with...Finish
them off, Sailor Moon!"  Hikaru tried not to laugh.  I sound so hokey...I
hope my illusion power is working.

       "Right!"  Sailor Moon held up her staff.  "SHINING MOON POWER!"  A
wave of white light swept across the weakened demons, and they evaporated
in instants, crumbling to dust and blowing away in a sudden gust of wind.

       I hope Madoka doesn't mind me using her form as a disguise, Hikaru
thought.  Too bad I didn't have any guitar picks...  "Good job, Sailor
Moon!  Now I must go grade some papers.  Farewell!"  She teleported back
to her dorm.

       "Wait!  You haven't even told us your name!"  Sailor Moon shouted.

       Jupiter laughed.  "They never tell us anything at first.  She'll be
back."

       "I guess you're right.  She must spend a lot of money on pencils,
though."  Sailor Moon looked at all the pencils that now littered the
field.

      Jupiter laughed some more.  "Not any more than Mamoru spends on
flowers, I bet."

      Far away, Hikaru sat down to try and do some reading then realized
she had flung everything she had to write with at the demons and couldn't
do any notes. It was a d'oh! moment.

*****

 Chapter 13:  In Memory yet Green

*****

      Linna held onto Priss as they drifted through dream-space to
Sasami's dream.  For once, it was easy to find the right dream, for it
shone like a beacon to her.  Maybe I'm getting better at this, she
thought.  Moving Priss wasn't easy though.  It was like there was an
elastic cord attached to Priss, and the farther she moved Priss, the more
taut it became, trying to pull Priss back to her own dream.  

      Finally, they reached Sasami's dream and plunged into it.  For a
moment, the world turned into a phantasmagoric blur of whirling shapes,
pirouetting around a huge spinning nexus, and then their vision cleared.

      They stood in a devastated village by the seashore.  Some of the
buildings were on fire, and there were corpses strewn through the streets.
Priss said, "You sure we're in the right dream, Linna?"

       "Well, I thought this was the right dream."

       A child's cry cut through the night.  "Nooooooooooo!!!!"

       "Fuck."  Priss spat out and took off running through the burning
village towards the voice.  

        Linna ran after her, then realized, hey, I bet I can summon my
hardsuit, since this is a dream.  It formed around her as she ran.  

        A young girl, her blond hair tied into two fluffy bundles that
rather resembled rabbit ears, was trapped up against the side of a hut by
three hunched over humanoid figures.  They had green scaly skin and
heavily sloped foreheads more remiscent of a frog or a fish than a human,
but a largely human form with upright posture, two arms, two legs, hands,
and feet.  They did not have any eyebrows or eyelids, staring straight
forward unblinkingly.  They were armed only with simple spears, but were
menacing, none the less. 

        Priss was still transformed from earlier, and she drew her sword.
"Get away from that girl, you...whatever the fuck you are!"

      The creatures turned and gave her the sort of look normally only
found on the faces of rich people confronted by Pauly Shore or some other
human fungus.  

      Linna raised her right arm and got ready to fire at the things.
Unfortunately, Priss was in the way, so she simply did a suit-assisted
leap and came down feet first on the head of one of the creatures.  The
creature slammed into the ground, surprised, not that anyone could tell.
The second one tried to impale Priss, who simply chopped its spear into
thirds, then cut it in half.  The third one tried to run and Linna blew it
to kingdom come with her laser.  

     The little girl simply stared in awe, then ran over and hugged Priss'
legs.  "You saved me!  Thank you!"

     Priss kneeled down and hugged the little girl.  "What happened?"

     "I stopped in this village on my way to find the Tree of Life and the
Deep Ones came out of the sea and killed everyone!"  The girl began to
cry.  "I tried to heal them, but they were all hurt too bad.  Then the
Deep Ones found me and I thought I was gonna die, but you saved me!"

      "You were trying to find the Tree of Life all by yourself?"  What
kind of crazy mom lets her kid wander around looking for...uh..whatever
that is, Linna wondered.

      "An angel told me I had to save the world from all the monsters.  I
have to find the Tree of Life before they do so they'll have to go back
home to the stars they came from.  But I'm all alone and I don't know how
I'm gonna stay alive long enough to get to it."

     "Don't worry, little one, you're safe with me.  My name is Priss.
What's yours?"  Priss' voice was soft and comforting, a tone that Linna
had never heard her use before.  She could hardly believe it.  

      Linna turned and looked around the village and the nearby sea.  She
could see splashing in the water.  More Deep Ones, she guessed.  

      "My name is Serenity.  I'm from the village of Branchai.  My mommy
is named Hope and my daddy was named Fortitude.  Do you know where the
Tree of Life is?  I've been looking for it for ever so long."

      Priss felt her eyes starting to tear up.  Poor little child...how
could anyone lay such a heavy burden on someone so young?  "What are you
going to do when you find it?"

      "I want to heal the world.  I can hear it crying in pain."  The
little girl started to cry.  "All the monsters and death and
everything...it's so...so wrong.  It shouldn't be like this.  It shouldn't
have to be like this.  Why is there so many bad things in the world,
oneechan?"  She hugged Priss tightly, crying against her chest.

      Priss felt her own tears come now.  Linna tried not to watch them
cry.  "I don't know, little one.  It's just the way of the world."

      "It's wrong!  It shouldn't be this way!  There has to be some way to
fix it!  There has to be some way to make it better!"  Serenity began to
glow.  Priss looked at her and saw a glowing crescent moon on Serenity's
forehead.  White light erupted forth from her and the world dissolved away
in its brightness.

*******

       The white light faded.  Priss and Linna stood in a huge open plains
near the banks of a river.  Or to be precise, Priss was kneeling, trying
to hug a girl who was no longer there, while Linna stood nearby.  About a
hundred yards away stood a huge stone monolith, about a hundred feet tall,
covered with dried blood and strange runes that seemed to waver and move
as they looked at them.  Far off across the plains were more monoliths,
one every few miles, forming a huge V shape that stretched off to the
western horizon.  Inside the wedge, the land was a blasted heath, full of
twisted grey plants and strange phosphorescent lichens.  The few trees
looked like they were trying to claw their way out of the ground.  Outside
the wedge, things didn't look too healthy, but they weren't twisted and
vile.  The sun was high over head, a little to the east, shining down on
the huge river that ran north and south to the east of the two heroines.
Five figures stood next to the monolith--two men and three women.  They
all looked to be around sixteen years old.  One of the women had short red
wavy hair, one had long black hair, and the third was blonde, with her
hair up in two short buns on either side of her head, each of which had a
long attached pony-tail.  The black haired woman wore a suit of gleaming 
armor and carried a huge spear, while the other two women were unarmed, 
unless you counted the quill held by the redhead or the wand held by the 
blonde.  One of the men was short and stout, carrying a huge hammer. His 
hair was short and brown.  The other was tall, wearing black armor, a sword 
strapped to his belt, his hair short and black.  

      "Are you ready, Vulcan?"  the black haired woman asked the short
man.

      He lifted his hammer.  "There will be no turning back once we
start."

      The blonde haired woman smiled.  "This is why we were born.  It is
what we must do to heal the world."

      "What the hell is going on here?"  Linna muttered.

      Priss stared.  "That's her...the little girl."

      "Who, the blonde?  But she was..."  Oh yeah.  This is all a
dream...It's so vivid, I keep forgetting.  Linna felt embarrassed.  

      Priss winced.  "Something awful lives inside that wedge of
land...something wrong.  I can feel it, like a knife in my gut."

      Vulcan moved next to the monolith and closed his eyes.  The black
haired woman gestured and spread her arms out wide.  A wave of energy
rushed out and formed a dome over the group.  The red haired woman joined
hands with the blonde and with the man in the armor.  The trio began to
glow.  Their light filled the dome, which included the huge blood-stained
monolith.  

      Time passed strangely.  While it felt like minutes, Linna and Priss
could see the sun moving across the sky.  Vulcan struck the monolith with
blow after blow.  It began to shake as he struck it methodically, building
up vibrations.  Finally, as the sun almost reached the horizon, the
monolith shattered into a thousand shards of stone.  A stiff wind began to
blow from the east, rushing west into the land that had lain inside the
wedge of monoliths.  The dome grew, rushing forth into the wounded land.
From within the dome, three voices spoke as one.  "HEAL."  

      And it was so.  The energy washed across the land and in its wake,
trees ceased to claw at the sky, grass grew green and lush, flowers sprung
up from the land, and the fungus was cleared away as if it had never been.
The monoliths began to explode as the power washed across them.  Priss and
Linna looked on in awe.  The sun set, but the wave of power continued
across the land.  The stars came out, but they weren't...they didn't quite
seem right.  The constellations were subtly wrong.  One star hung low on
the horizon, almost seeming to glare balefully down upon the land.  It
hung on the western horizon, and from it descended a swarm of flying
creatures.  Ice from the cold of space clung to their bodies, melting off
into steam as they rapidly plunged down from the heavens.  They looked
vaguely humanoid, though with batlike wings.  Their heads were twisted and
insectoid, except for the huge protruding snouts.  They had a black
chitinous exoskeleton and sharp claws upon their 'hands'.  There were
hundreds of them.  

      Linna stared.  "Holy shit."

      Priss said, "God damn.  They're screwed."  She charged forward.  It
was a suicidal fight.  Priss LIKED suicidal fights.  Deep down, what she
wanted most was to die in a good cause.  Sometimes, it was just to die.  

      Linna swore.  "If you die in a dream, you'll turn into a vegetable!
Come back!"

      "Make me!"  Crazy people, Priss thought.  I LIKE crazy people.  She
sprinted along the ground, faster than she would have believed possible.

      Linna ran after her.  "You're going to get us both killed!"

      "It's a good day to die!"  She lept into the air, slicing through
the horde of creatures as they descended upon the dome.  They died more
easily than she thought they would, falling apart and crashing into the
dome.  Their remains evaporated as they struck it, while Priss, to her
surprise, fell right through it.  

      Linna followed Priss, blasting monsters right and left.  They died
far more easily than the average boomer, not that Linna minded.  She too
dove down through the shield...

*********

      The world had changed again.  They stood on the balcony of a great
crystal palace.  The five men and women stood nearby them.  They were
older now, somewhere in their mid-twenties.  There were crowds celebrating
in the streets of the city and fireworks exploding in the air.  The man in
black armor was in the middle of a speech.  "General Pearl reports that
the last of the byakhee have fled beyond the orbit of Pluto.  As we speak,
the Great Shield is being extended to protect the entire solar system!
The Inhuman Wars are at an end!  The Silver Millenium has begun!  LET US
CELEBRATE!"

      The crowd had already gone wild, so this royal command was hardly
necessary.  Priss smiled.  "They won."

      Linna nodded.  "Looks like it.  I wonder how long this dream is
going to be."

      Priss looked around.  "I'm hoping we get to stick around for the
party."

      Linna looked up at the night sky and saw the Moon. It was blue and
green and looked remarkably like the Earth, but with the continents wrong.
Or was that the Earth in the sky?

      Flicker.

******

     Linna and Priss stood next to a long, neatly trimmed hedge, which was
itself at the edge of a large, apparently freshly plowed field.  The air
was clean and crisp, if a bit cool.  There was a row of trees on the other
side of them, paralleling the hedge, and beyond that, another field.  It
was clearly farmland, unless the local idea of landscaping was stripping
large squares of land clear of plants and plowing it for dramatic effect.  

      On the far side of this particular patch of ground, there was a knot
of trees growing close together, and next to it was a fairly substantial
two story dwelling.  Children were playing in the yard.

      Priss turned to Linna.  "You sure we're still tuned into the right
channel?"

      Linna laughed.  "We'd be back in dream-space if we somehow got out
of Sasami's dream."  I think.  I hope we're not in some farmer's dream.

      A man walked out of the farmhouse.  He was dressed in a red tunic
and green trousers, gathered shut with a black belt.  His black boots
stood out against the green grass around his home and the brown dirt as he
entered the field.  He was carrying a sack of seeds and singing a song in
some language neither Linna nor Priss knew, though it seemed hauntingly
familiar.  

     He began to walk through the field, singing and scattering seeds
behind himself as he walked.  To Priss and Linna's surprise, the seeds
sank into the soil where they fell, and the ground almost bubbled in the
man's wake.  By the time he finished sowing seeds across the field, tiny
plants were poking up from the ground where he had begun.

     Linna said, "Magic..."

     "Pretty useful magic, too."

     The man looked over and finally noticed them.  "Why hello, there.
You two new here?"

     "Uh, yeah, you could say that,"  Linna said.  

     The man wiped sweat from his brow, which surprised Linna and Priss,
since what he had been doing didn't look very strenuous.  "Would you like
to stop a while and get something to drink?  I need a rest after all that
work."

      "Sure.  I could use a drink,"  Priss said.

      The man started out across the field, which was now green with young
plants.  Priss and Linna followed, trying hard to not stomp on any of the
new growth.  

     "So where are you ladies from?"

     "Tokyo."

     "Never heard of it.  What planet is it on?"

     This was the first time either of them had ever been asked what
planet they were from.  "Earth,"  Linna said finally.

     "Ahh.  Never been to Earth.  Grew up on Mars, moved out here when I
was younger.  Lived here around thirty years now."  The man only looked
thirty.

      Priss whispered to Linna, "Where the hell are we?"

      Linna shrugged at Priss.  I have NO clue, she thought.  Maybe we're
on the Moon.  

      Their question was answered when they reached the house and got a
clear view to the horizon and saw that the reddish blur off in the
distance they had been able to see before was actually the planet Jupiter,
looming hugely on the horizon, though it barely peeked over it.

     Flicker.

******

     Linna stood in an elaborate bedroom.  A woman lay in a bed nearby,
and next to her stood a woman in green and black robes with a hood pulled
over her head.  An ornate staff was propped against the end of the bed.
The woman lying in the bed was holding a newborn infant close to her
chest.  

      The hooded woman took the baby in her arms.  To most people, it
would have seemed a baby like many others.  The little girl had no hair
yet, her eyes were squeezed shut, and she bore almost as much resemblance
to a prune as a human being, just like every other newly born baby.  

      Linna looked around.  Hey...I lost Priss!  Did she snap back to her
own dreams?

      The mother sighed.  She was tall, thin, and platinum blonde, her
hair currently not dressed in any of the elaborate hairstyles she normally
adorned herself with.  She wore a simple white shift, also unlike the
palatial dresses she normally bore.  "Must you do this?"

     Linna looked at the woman.  She looks like Serenity, she thought.
Who the hell is this person taking her daughter away?

      The woman picked up her staff, a long rod topped with an orb.
"If I do not, in 25,000 years, humanity will become extinct in the solar
system.  This one alone cannot prevent what is soon to come here,
but where she is going, she will make all the difference in the world.
She is a warrior born, and she goes to a place that needs warriors
desperately."  The woman sighed.  "I am sorry, my queen.  Cherish your
first daughter.  I swear I shall never take her away from you."  

      25,000 years?  What year is this?  Where are we?  Linna couldn't
decide whether to watch this or go looking for Priss.  I wonder why they
haven't noticed me...

      The Queen sighed.  "I know you know things I shall never know.
She..She'll have a good home, won't she?"

      "She will live a long life and know much joy."  And much sorrow, but
this is not the time to mention that, the hooded woman thought.  She
pulled her cloak around herself.  She didn't need it, but the baby would.
"There is one who waits for her there, though he knows it not.  She will
know love...once she escapes her own stubborness about it."

      I should do something, Linna thought.  But what?  

      The Queen got up and kissed her baby on the forehead.  "Take my
blessing with you, my child."  The mark upon the Queen's forehead glowed
brightly.  "Your power will awaken when you most need it."  She laid back
down in the bed.  "Go now, before I can change my mind."

      Linna recognized the mark.  It is Serenity...or a relative at least.
She looks different though.

      The woman obeyed her Queen's command.  She raised her staff, and the
world folded around her and vanished.  The Queen sighed and sank back into
the bed.  Linna stepped forward.  Remember, it's just a dream.  She
probably won't freak at me suddenly appearing in her bedroom...if she even
sees me.  "Who was that?"

     "Pluto, the guardian of time.  Can you bring me my daughter from the
antechamber, Temperance?"

     Who's she talking to?  Linna suddenly realized she was wearing a
maid's outfit.  She laughed faintly.  "Yes, my queen."  She went out to
the antechamber and got a sleeping two year old from the small bed there.
She brought the little blonde haired girl to her mother.  

     Flicker.

******

     Priss had reappeared.  They were standing on a balcony again.  A
party was in full swing all around the palace they were in, which sat in
the midst of a vast expanse of gardens.  The Earth hung high in the starry
sky above them.  Priss was visibly shaking as Linna looked at her.  Both
of them were now clad in white finery that looked VERY expensive, as did
the golden necklace that Priss was wearing, especially the gem studded
'moon' that hung from the necklace.  Linna soon realized she was also
wearing a necklace.  Hers was silver with a tiny jade version of her armor 
hanging from it.  

     Linna said, "Where have you been?  You vanished on me...Pluto was
taking the Queen's child..."

     "I was the child,"  Priss spat out.

     "WHAT?"

     "I couldn't do anything!  I could think, but that was it!  I wanted
to speak, to run...but I was stuck in the baby's body.  I couldn't even
figure out how to cry properly."  Priss shook.  "She took me away from my
mother.  Next time I see her, I'm going to kick her ass from here to
eternity."

      "The Queen let her do it...they thought it was necessary."  Linna
wasn't quite sure why she was defending Pluto.  

     Priss fumed.  "She could have waited until I was at least old enough
to KNOW MY OWN MOTHER!"  

     "At least this way you didn't know what you were missing...I think
taking you away as a five year old or so would have been even harder on
you."

      Priss was getting irritated with Linna for not taking her side.
Before she could say anything, two well dressed young noblemen swept out
onto the balcony.  "Lady Courage.  Lady Prudence.  Come and join the rest
of us.  You should be dancing!"

      Before Linna or Priss could say anything, they were swept up by the
two young noblemen, who swept them out onto the dance floor.  The mood was
infectious, and despite not really knowing what she was doing, Priss soon
found herself enjoying the dance.  There were hundreds of people dancing
to the music.  
     
     As Priss moved across the floor, she recognized someone nearby.  Hey,
that looks just like Usagi!  Whoever it was, she was wearing a beautiful
dress and dancing with someone who looked suspiciously like Usagi's
husband.  It took Priss a few seconds to remember his name, Mamoru.

     Suddenly it struck Priss.  Serenity...my mother.  Usagi.  They all
have the same hairstyle...They look like each other.  As Priss watched,
she saw her mother, the Queen, approach 'Usagi'.

     "Serenity, my daughter, you have been dancing with Prince Endymion
all night.  There are others who wish to dance with you as well."

     The younger Serenity spoke with Usagi's voice.  "Have we really been
dancing all night?"

      A girl with long black hair who was dancing nearby laughed.  "Only
for the last four hours."

      It IS Usagi, Priss thought.  But if she is the Queen's daughter...
and I'm the Queen's daughter, then...My sister is living across
the hall from Leon.  Right under my nose, practically.  She looked around
the hall.  If I see Leon here, I'm going to scream.  

     Instead she saw her fourth grade teacher, a cute redhead who was
dancing with some clumsy tall nobleman she clearly didn't like.  Priss
boggled.  Well, this is gonna make finding my sister a lot easier.  I
wonder if she even knows I exist...I guess not...I have to find her
memories...or something.  Priss tried to remember.

     Flicker.

********

     The sky was pitch black as if all the stars had been devoured or were
hiding for fear of their lives when Priss and Linna found themselves back
on the same balcony as when they had attended the party.  This time, it
was shouts of fear and the sound of running that surrounded them.  They
were still clad in the party gear they had worn before, but it was out of
place now.  They could both sense that a great battle was about to begin.

     Linna looked up.  "I guess we must be having really heavy cloud
cover.  I can't see any stars or the sun."

     "I don't see any clouds."  Priss felt horribly oppressed.  This
darkness was horribly wrong.  It was like that blasted heath inside the
monoliths.  

     It was at that moment that a huge red eye winked open in the sky and
glared down at the palace of the Moon Kingdom.  Linna could feel it
looking at her, and only the fact that Priss was watching kept her from
screaming, running inside the palace and hiding under something.  

     Priss stared at the eye.  "Shit.  It's fucking ALIVE!"

     The darkness ripped apart into seven beings of shadow who rained down
upon the palace grounds as a horde of warriors poured into the palace
gardens out of the darkness.  The palace guard poured out to meet them,
but it was clear they were horribly outnumbered.  

     "Who are these people?"  Linna asked. 

     The stars could be seen again, now, but their light seemed pale and
muted.  Priss stared at the invading army.  "They're toast, that's what
they are."  She transformed and leaped down from the balcony, sword held
high.  

     Linna sighed.  You're going to be the death of us.  Still, I can't
let these people be slaughtered, even if it is a dream.  She concentrated
and her party dress became her hardsuit.  And I REALLY can't let Priss get
slaughtered.  She charged into the fray.

     Priss fought the greatest fight of her entire life.  The fact that
this was a dream had completely slipped her mind.  This was her kingdom,
her people.  Her ancestors had moved heaven and earth to create a time of
peace, and she was ready to die to defend it.  Some tiny part of her knew
the odds were impossible, but Priss didn't worry about odds.  She cut a
bloody swathe through the enemy army, but it was too big, the odds too
heavy.  

     Linna carved an even larger swathe through the invading army.  A few
sword blows had revealed that none of the average invaders had anything
that could do more than damage her paint job, which made mowing them down
ridiculously easy.  The real problem seemed to be whether she'd collapse
from exhaustion before she could kill them all.

      Then one of the seven shadows came after her.  It was one of the
creepiest things she had ever seen, a vaguely humanoid shimmering being
seemingly forged from darkness with glowing red eyes.  She opened fire on
it and her laser simply punched a tiny hole in it which soon closed up.
She tried to engage it hand to hand, but her blows went through it without
hurting it at all.  Even the monofilament whips didn't do anything to it.
On the other hand, it's blows did little more than ding her armor and
further damage the paint job.

      Then Priss cut it in half with her sword and it dissolved away with
a loud scream.  Priss said, "Sorry to butt in, but it looked like you were
gonna be here all day."

      A loud scream cut across the battle.  Priss recognized the voice
crying "ENDYMION!"  She ran that direction, cutting a swathe through the
enemy army.  Linna followed in her wake.

       They were too late.  Bodies were strewn everywhere, the senshi of
the Moon Kingdom fallen.  A tall pale woman with long red hair and a staff
in her hands was gloating over her triumph as she carried off the Princess
of the Moon and the Prince of the Earth.  The last of the Moon's defenders
had fled, and only two cats and the Queen remained.  

       Beryl was ranting something about snakes.  The Queen ignored her
and held up a yellow wand, tipped with two things:  a crescent moon and a
shining silver colored crystal.  She spoke words of power and a wall of
light erupted from the crystal.  Priss and Linna closed their eyes, unable
to bear to look.  

       Beryl's army was ripped apart in an instant.  Many died, the rest
cast out into what would become known as the Dark Kingdom.  Soon, there
was only silence and the fallen.  

       Linna stared around in horror.  It was victory, but at too heavy a
price.  

       Priss was in shock.

       "The Silver Millenium has fallen,"  one of the cats said sadly.

       "I shall send their fallen souls to Earth, so that they might one
day be reborn and hopefully live in the peace that was denied them in this
life."  She raised the crescent moon wand and light flowed from it once
more...

      Flicker.

********

     Priss and Linna floated in a misty void, surrounded by a kaliedscope
of light and darkness, a seething sea of chaos. Things kept appearing
and vanishing in the corners of their vision.  Gently mocking voices
drifted through the void, just below the threshold of sound where
they might have understood them.  

     Priss turned to Linna. "Does this mean we're done?"  

     "Umm."  'Sasami, are you there?'

     A figure strode out of the mists, which dissolved away.  The pair
stood on the balcony again, but now the palace lay in ruins.  The garden
was gone, only a wasteland remained.  The world was bleak and lifeless,
though the same Earth hung in the sky.  The woman who had strode from the
mists was Queen Serenity.  "This is all that remains of my kingdom.  Of
your homeland, Priss."  She turned to Linna.  "So you are the one."

     Linna blinked.  "The one what?"

     "The one who has brought my daughter to me.  I thank you, Yamazaki
Linna.  I wish I could reward you, but that is not in my power.  Except
for this."  She reached out and touched Linna's forehead.  She felt an
electric shock run through her.  "You will know how to use this when the
time comes."  She turned back to Priss, who was staring at her.  "My
daughter.  I am so proud of you."

     "I haven't accomplished anything to be proud of."  It was a rare
moment of honesty for Priss.  "All I've done is fight and sing a few
songs."

     Queen Serenity swept forward and embraced her daughter.  "You have
fought with all your heart and all the considerable courage you have in
it.  I was a great queen and I could not save my kingdom from destruction.
Do not be bitter because of your past.  You will do great deeds in the
future, my daughter.  I have faith in you."

     Linna looked around at the devastation, remembering how beautiful it
had been earlier in the dream.  What a waste...such a peaceful place
destroyed.  

     "I...Is Usagi my sister?"

     "Yes.  You must find the Silver Crystal so you can restore her
memories and those of her friends.  The world will need you all soon."

     The Queen turned to Linna.  "Will you help my daughter?  She will
need someone who can help her travel through the world of dreams where the
crystal has hidden itself."

     Linna blinked.  "I..uh...me?"  Linna pulled herself together.  "Sure.
I'll help as best I can.  The crystal is in someone's dreams?"

     "The world of dreams is shaped by human will, but there are vast
tracks of it that lie beyond where people normally go in their dreams.
Some of your scientists refer to it as subspace."

     "As what?"

      Queen Serenity tinysweated.  "Anyway, the Crystal is hidden in the
deeps of this world, the very universe within which we are now.  I do not
know where it is or how easily it can be found, but I hope you can help my
daughter to find the Crystal."

      "I will do my best."

      Priss said, "We'll find it.  I swear I'll find it, mother.  I...will
I see you again?"

      "Not for a very long time.  You must sleep now.  You will need your
rest."  She began to fade.  "I love you, Courage.  I know you will not
fail."

      My name is Courage...It fits I guess.  Priss smiled, though she was
crying.  "I love you too, mother."  

      The world dissolved away and Priss and Linna both sank into a deep,
restful sleep.  Far away from them in orbit over the earth, Sasami smiled
in her sleep and rolled over.  

*******

     Nene crawled out of bed.  Ack, I'm late for...oh wait, I have today
off.  She was about to sag back into her bed when she heard noises in the
kitchen.  Great, an early morning burglar, she thought.  She managed to
find her bathrobe and her handgun and crept out into the living room, just
in time for 'BOB and his Chainsaw' to fill her apartment with noise
spawned in Hell's music department.  She screamed and so did the person
who turned on the music, who turned out to be Ryu.  

      After a few seconds, he turned it off.  "..."

      Nene put down the gun.  "You startled me!"

      "What was this doing in your stereo?"

      "All the CDs you lent me were like that!"

      "Are you sure you didn't borrow this from Manami?  Or Priss?  Or
maybe the forces of EVIL?"  Ryu pulled out the CD and looked at it, then
at the CD case.  "This looks like my case, but these aren't
my....Manami..."

       "What?"

      "Manami switched all my CDs!  Oooooooooo."

      Nene laughed.  "I guess she did get you."

      "This calls for an escalating spiral of vengeance."

      "Cool.  Can I help?"

      "Sure."  Ryu kissed Nene.  "Let's get some breakfast first, though."

      "And then we'll plot our evil revenge."

      "Exactly." 

*********

     Hikaru and Noa sat down in her living room.  "So you're ready for
this?"  Hikaru asked.

     Noa nodded.  "As ready as I'll ever be."

     Hikaru moved closer on the couch and reached out her hand to Noa's
forehead.  "This may not be pleasant for you."

     "It's painful?  I can handle pain."  Noa was very nervous.  She knew
she was standing at the edge of a line beyond which there was no turning
back.  

     "Not physically.  You'll remember things and you may not want to
remember some of them.  More importantly, you may not want other people 
to know them, but I won't be able to help learning them.  To awaken your
abilities, I have to know you...and knowing yourself OR others can be
painful, embarrassing, and unpleasant.  I've only done this twice, not
counting the time it was done to me, and that wasn't exactly voluntary.
Well, sort of.  Anyway, one of them was my best friend, but there were
still things that...well, anyway.  This is your last warning."

      "Who did this to you, if I may ask?  You say it wasn't voluntary?"

      "One of the things you're going to be going up against tried to use
me as a living weapon against my boyfriend and his family because they're
descended from Juraiians.  I nearly killed them all."  Her voice was very
faint. 

      "So the thing that did that to you is still out there?"

      "I killed it."  Her voice was very matter of fact, but sounded
tight.  "I ripped its spirit body apart and..."  She shuddered.  "I know
how they can die, but it's not pleasant.  Not pleasant at all."  She
stared off into space for a few seconds.  "Anyway.  You ready?"  Clearly,
she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

      "Sock it to me."

      Hikaru placed her hand on Noa's forehead and dived inside her mind.

                        
                        ****************

     Young Noa chased the cat down the hallway.  "Alphonse!  Alphonse!"
Alphonse didn't pay any attention.  Hikaru followed the young five year
old as she chased the cat through an open door into the main room of her
parents' brewery.  

     Noa's father grabbed Alphonse and laughed.  He was a huge burly man
with bright red hair.  "Here you go, Noa-chan."

     "Thank you, Poppa."

     Noa's mother brought over a glass to Noa.  "Here, try this."

     Hikaru blinked.  Her parents were giving her beer at age five?

     "It's too bitter."  

     Her mother turned to her father.  "I TOLD you."

     He grumbled.  "Right, right.  Shouldn't you be doing your homework,
Noa-chan?"

     Noa hugged her cat until it was almost ready to explode.  "Okay!"

     She got all the way to her room before she remembered she didn't HAVE
any homework.

                         
                        ****************

      Noa, now 17, finished gassing up her motorcycle.  "You sure you're
old enough for that thing?"  the gas station attendant asked.

      "It's not a thing.  It's Alphonse."  She paid the attendant and
stalked off, leaping on the cycle and roaring off into the night.

      Hikaru blinked.  She named her motorcycle after her cat?

                        ****************

     Hikaru watched Noa, now 21, carefully polish an Ingram by hand.
Hikaru recognized it as the Ingram that was now in Noa's restaurant.  Noa
seemed to almost be in a trance as she worked.  Another SV2 officer, who
Hikaru recognized as Noa's husband, Asuma, approached her.  "You're STILL
here?"

     Noa blinked.  "I'm almost done cleaning Alphonse, Shinohara-kun."
She paused.  "Oh wait, you needed a ride, right?"

     "Yeah."

     She clambered down from the gantry.  "I'll take you right now then,
since it's supposed to rain soon and then I won't be able to take you."

     She named her mech Alphonse too, Hikaru thought.  I wonder why the
name is so important to her.

                          ****************

      Noa turned and saw several dozen labors heading for the park, a mere
fraction of the thousands in the city.  These were different.  No one was
operating them.  "This must be something like that HOS disaster...Has
Unit 1 been called out?"

     Hikaru watched quietly.  The worst part about trying to understand
other people's memories was that you couldn't ask questions to try and
find out the context.  It was like reading a book by picking random pages.  

      He paused, and radioed for more information.  He didn't like what he
heard.  "Unit 1 was called in and is now under attack from its own
labors."

      "WHAT?"

      "Military labors are out of control at the base...the chief says
we're getting out of here now!"

      Hikaru suddenly realized what was going on.  December 31, 2000 AD.
I remember that day all too well, unlike the others.

      Noa tossed aside the person she was grappling with and tried to run
for the carrier.  The controls refused to respond.  Alphonse twitched
about as if he was drunk.  Noa swore.  "Alphonse, what are you doing?"

      She struggled with the controls.  It was like trying to walk through
marshmellows.  They weren't responding.  In fact, it felt like something
else was trying to issue contrary commands.  Noa felt a growing sense of
unease.  No, I won't let something do this to my ALPHONSE!  She growled
and concentrated.  The resistance increased, then suddenly popped.
Alphonse took off at a run for the carrier...too late.  Four labors had
grabbed it and flipped it over.  

     Hikaru blinked.  That shouldn't have been possible...I'll have to
follow this up.  Hikaru plunged deeper into Noa's mind.

                          ****************

     Noa was substantially older in this memory, somewhere in her late
thirties.  She was confronting an old man and a bunch of armed punks in a
warehouse.  "Surrender now!"  she cried out.

      The old man laughed.  "Soon, the virus we've planted in your mech's
operating system will take effect and your mech will be paralyzed.  If you
run, you might get far enough away that we won't catch you when it shuts
down."  He checked his watch.  "You have three minutes."

      "I guess I have three minutes to render you all unable to move
then."

      The old man blinked, clearly not having quite thought of that.

     Three minutes later, the men were all knocked out, or pinned on the
floor with Alphonse sitting on their legs.  Hikaru laughed faintly as she
watched.

      Noa was holding the old man up in the air.  Three minutes.  Four
minutes.  "Hmmm.  Looks like your virus needs a little work."

      The old man began to cry.

                             **************

      Shige said to Noa, "Yeah, they did put a virus in your mech.  In
fact, your mech ought to be not functional right now."

      "I guess Alphonse's immune system was just too strong for it, eh?"

      Shige shook his head.  "Humans are the immune system of mechs.  Like
I said, this mech shouldn't be able to move.  Your operating system looks
like swiss cheese."

      "But he's running just fine!"

      "Who knows.  The more we improve these labors, the less we
understand them.  Anyway, I'm going to restore your operating system from
the backups."

       She nodded.  "Okay.  I wonder what the Old Man would have thought
of all this."

      Shige said, "He'd have yelled at me for not keeping more recent
backups."  Shige looked at Alphonse.  "On the other hand, the fact that
this thing is still running after 20 years...I think he would have been
happy about that."

       "Well, with maintenance a car will last 20 years easily."

      "Shinohara-san, you don't take cars into COMBAT.  Tanks don't last
20 years of frequent combat.  We replaced Unit 2 and 3 years ago, but your
mech just keeps going."

      "That's 'cause I take extra good care of him."

      "We take extra good care of all the mechs...anyway, I need to go
work on this and you're going out with your husband tonight, right?"

      Noa nodded.  "Take good care of Alphonse."  She turned to go.

      "I always do."

      Hikaru smiled faintly to herself and followed another thread of
memory.

                                ******************

     It was a cold winter's day.  Noa was in her early twenties, but
Hikaru couldn't tell quite how old she was.  She and Asuma were standing
out in the snow in front of SV2 HQ.  He looked very nervous.  "You have
tomorrow off, don't you, Noa?"

       "Hmm?  Yeah.  Why?"

       "Interested in catching a movie with me?"

       "Sure."

       The man seemed visibly relieved.  "How about the two thirty movie?"

       "I'm going to be cleaning Alphonse."

       Hikaru laughed faintly.  She can't even tell, can she...

       "On your day off?"

       "I won't have time before then."

       "..."  He thought for a moment.  "Four thirty?"

       "Sure.  What movie are we going to go see?"

       "How about Sleepless in Shikoku?"

       "I've been wanting to see the new Gundam movie."

       "Okay, we can do that."  He looked a little disappointed.  She
didn't quite notice.  

       "Cool!  You're the only person I know who is willing to go see a
good mech movie with me anymore!"  She danced about happily.

       "You up to going somewhere for a nice meal after that?"

       "Sure.  I'm kinda getting tired of the stuff we eat here.  Then
I'll take you by my parent's brewery and see how much we can squeeze out
of them."

       "I thought you couldn't get drunk anymore because of growing up
there."

       She laughed.  "Only Mom's homecooking so to speak, if you know what
I mean."

       He was about to find out.  Hikaru smiled.  First date, I guess.
She leaped down another thread of memory.


                                ******************

     Noa, 17 years old in this memory, sat with her friends watching an
entirely ridiculous show called 'Sailor V Gundam'.  Imagine giant fuku
wearing combat mechs.  Then try to get the image out of your head before
it rots your brain.

     Hikaru blinked.  I can't believe anyone besides me watched this silly
show.

      Apparently Noa's friends couldn't believe it either.  "Why are you
making us watch this awful show?"

      "Cause I think these giant robots are just so cool!  I'm gonna be a
giant robot pilot one day."

      "But this show is soooooo bad.  It looks like five year olds drew
it...and where did Sailor V get all these mechs, anyway?"

      "You people have no imagination.  I'll have my own mech and I'll
name it Alphonse!"

      "You name EVERYTHING Alphonse!  What is it with you and that name?"

      Noa smiled.  "I just like it..."

      Hikaru tried diving down another thread of memory.

                         *****************

      Noa, age 5, ran frantically through the mall.  She was completely
lost.  I shouldna gone to look at that dollie, she thought, cause now I
can't find Mommy anywhere.  Mommy got lost!  "Mommy, where are you!"

      Poor child, Hikaru thought.  I know the feeling.  

      She ran headfirst into the legs of a huge old man.  Well, huge from
her perspective.  He was dressed in archaic garb, and looked somewhat like
a priest.  He wore glasses and had short grey hair and a bushy grey
moustache.  He looked down at the child.  "Are you okay, little one?"

      "My Mommy is lost!"  Where is everyone?  Where's Daddy?  I can't
find anyone!

      "I'll help you find her.  What does she look like?"

      "She's big and beautiful and has brown hair and she's really nice!
And she's wearing a green dress."

       "Okay."  The man began leading Noa through the mall, keeping up a
steady stream of chitchat with her.  Slowly, Noa's fear and worries faded.
"So what's your name, little one?"

       "Izumi Noa.  What's your name?"

       "My name is Masaki Katsuhito."  

        Hikaru looked at the man.  Something about him was familiar.  One
of Kyosuke's relatives?, she thought.

        Noa looked around at everything for sale in the mall.  There were
tons and tons of stuff for sale.  Then she saw it.  The perfect doll.  It
was a little Gundam mech plushie in a UFO catcher machine.  "I want it!  I
want it!"  She pointed.  It's important to point so adults know what you
want.

       Katsuhito laughed.  "You like mechs, little girl?"

       "They're really neat!"

       "I'll see what I can do."  He got out a coin and soon snagged the
doll and gave it to her.  "He'll keep you safe whenever you're in danger.
You'll have a big strong mech to protect you."

       Noa giggled.  "He needs a name."

       Katsuhito thought for a moment, looking around.  A sign caught his
eye.  "How about Alphonse?  I guess he's a French mech."

       "Yeah!  That sounds like a neat name!"  I can use that for our new
cat too, Noa thought.  

        Hikaru laughed, then suddenly realized where she knew the man
from...

                              ****************

     Hikaru stood in a vast hanger.  It looked like a trophy room.
Alphonse stood against one wall by a gantry and elevated walkway.
Pictures lined the wall by Alphonse, showing various battles and other
deeds he had accomplished.  By a second wall stood a series of statues of
people Hikaru could not recognize for the most part, though the uniforms
identified them as the members of SV2.  A third wall held people Hikaru
recognized as Noa's family from some of the memories.  Her cousins,
father, mother, and others.  The fourth wall held a single statue, Noa's
husband, Shinohara Asuma.  The statue changed as Hikaru watched it, aging
from a young and nervous man to the confident elder gentleman that Hikaru
had met before.  The pictures on the wall behind him were a mixture of
scenes.  Asuma with a toothache.  Asuma recieving an award.  Asuma riding
on Noa's motorcycle with her.  Asuma throwing a snowball at someone.
Asuma in his SV2 uniform, giving orders.  Asuma and Noa's wedding day.
Their first kiss.  

      Hikaru turned away, not wanting to pry too deeply.  In the middle of
the room, Noa floated, suspended from invisible wires.  She was dressed in
her SV2 uniform, and she looked younger than in real life, though not as
young as in some of the memories.  She had a red string tied to each of
her thumbs.  The one from her right hand lead to Asuma, the one from her
left to Alphonse.

      Hikaru smiled faintly.  I wonder what I would have seen if I
ever...She wiped the thought from her mind.  No time for regrets.  She
examined Noa more closely.  Yes, I can see it, she thought.  Her power is
already awake.  Together, they are more than they are apart.  The whole
greater than the sum of its parts.  Two humans and a machine...not your
normal love triangle.  

       Now how exactly do I explain this to her?  She thought for a
moment, then acted.

******

      Noa blinked as Hikaru pulled her hand away from Noa's forehead.  "I
can sense where Asuma is...he's eating a sandwich at the office and
reading some papers.  And I can sense..."  She looked at Hikaru.  "Am I
clairvoyant now?"

      "You had a very powerful bond with those you love.  It is stronger
now.  Together, the three of you are stronger than any foe."

      "The three of us?  You mean..."

      Hikaru smiled.  "I think you know what I mean."

*****

     Asuma sneezed and papers flew everywhere.  I guess someone is
thinking of me.  Probably Noa, I guess.  I can almost see her talking to 
Professor Hiyama, now that I think about her.  He could hear her voice in his 
mind, and he smiled.  I love you Noa, maybe even almost as much as you love 
your mech.  If that's humanly possible.