Chapter 3

Scouts Reunite

Corinne, Nerissa, Helen and Jennifer waited at the Tokyo International Airport for the others to appear. They all had left around the same time and it made more sense if they met together before going to Serena's apartment and get down to business. They had so much to take care of.

A flood of new arrivals appeared with Amy in them. She smiled and waved to the four girls and walked over to them. She had obviously packed light since the only thing she had was a small, gray suitcase. She was dressed in a blue sweater with white jeans and comfortable boots. "Is everyone else here, yet?"

"No, they haven't arrived yet," Corinne said, shaking her head. "Sit down. We're in for a long wait."

Amy nodded and sat down beside Helen. "It's good to see you all again." She looked at Helen. "You look so much more healthier, Helen."

Helen smiled. "Thank you."

"It's good that your a little more pink now instead of that pale color you used to have." Amy smiled and settled back down in her seat. They sat there waiting for half an hour with nothing to say to each other.

"Hey you guys!" Suddenly Lita and Darien appeared. They didn't look like they had packed a lot either.

"Great, now we only have Mina and Raye to take care of. We have to go and meet Raye at the train station though," Nerissa said.

"That's cool." Lita sat down beside Amy and smiled. They began talking about their life since they had last wrote or seen each other. Darien sat down beside Corinne. They talked about local sport.

"Man, the air is so much more fresher over here," Mina's voice said.

Everyone looked up and smiled as the beautiful model walked gracefully over to them. She had two bags with her and Artemis' head popped out of one.

"Hey, Mina. Glad you could make it," Corinne said.

"Well, it was a little difficult but a famous model can get almost every wish granted." Mina smiled and giggled a little. "It's good to see you guys. Where's Serena?"

"She's probably at work. We didn't want to disturb her so we'll just meet at her apartment later," Jennifer said.

"Did any tell Serena we're coming?" Darien asked as he stood up with his bag.

"Sure," Lita said, "Amy did, right?"

"I thought you were going to," Amy protested.

"I thought Mina was," Nerissa said.

"Did anyone tell Serena?" Corinne demanded.

They all became silent.

"Great," Corinne drawled impatiently. "I guess we'll just have to call her."

"What time is it?" Mina asked.

Amy looked down at her watch. "It's too late to call her. She's probably already at school."

"Then I guess we have to go pick up Raye first and decide what to do later," Lita said.

They all nodded and left the airport in a black limousine that Corinne and Nerissa had ordered.

Raye stood at the platform of the train station and watched as the train left. She walked over to a bench and sat down on it and waited for her friends. She had convinced her masters that she desperately needed to leave to help her friends. They were in a lot of trouble and needed her. Which was as close to the truth as she could get. They, of course, didn't approve but they released her. She promised them that she would return when the emergency had passed and they just said that they would always have a room for her. She was grateful for her masters. They were such great people.

"Raye!" Mina appeared with the other scouts.

Raye stood up and smiled. "It's good to see you guys."

"It's good to see you. Did you get away without your masters angry at you?" Mina asked. Darien smiled and picked up the bag that Raye had brought. She didn't have much to pack since life at the temple was so simple.

"They were understanding," Raye said. "So, what's going on?"

"The end of the world," they all said in unison.

Raye smiled and shook her head. "Where's Serena?"

"Working," Corinne replied.

"Working? While the world is ending?" Raye demanded.

"Hush. We forgot to call her and tell her," Amy said. "But we'll catch her after class lets out."

"Okay. Can we go get something to eat? I'm starving," Raye said.

"I doubt the fed you up there. You so skinny," Nerissa teased.

They all laughed and walked out of the train station to the black limo waiting outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena turned off the lights and closed the door to her classroom. She dumped her keys into her white purse and walked downstairs to the office. She signed out and walked out to the teacher parking lot. She got into her black sports car and drove out of the parking lot and on to the street.

The kids had been wonderful but they didn't cheer her up very much. She still had a lot on her mind that just couldn't be ignored. So many things were happening, a domino effect of things. They all pointed to one thing but she just couldn't figure out what.

She slammed her fists into the driving wheel in the frustration and sighed. She would figure it out sooner or later.

Suddenly a long black limo pulled up at her right. She looked over there and shrugged. Rich people. She continued to drive. Suddenly a tinted window lowered and Mina's face appeared. She waved and shouted something over to Serena.

Serena frowned and knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. Mina was suppose to be in London, England. What was she doing in Japan? Serena continued to drive. Maybe she was seeing things. She just missed her friends so much that she was seeing things. And if they were coming, they would have told her.

As she neared her apartment complex Serena noticed that the black limo was still tailing her. She sighed and slowly pressed down on the gas. She just wanted to go home and rest. Luna was probably out so she would have some time alone to herself before the black cat returned.

She parked in the apartment parking garage and got out of her car.

"Serena!"

Serena shrieked and dropped her purse. She looked over to the gate that kept out unwanted people and almost fainted. She wasn't seeing things. They were really there. Serena picked up her purse and ran over to the gate. She quickly slid her card through the slot and ran out through the gate and into the arms of her friends.

"Didn't you hear me?" Mina asked.

"I thought I was seeing things," Serena laughed. She was so close to tears. It had been such a long time since she had seen her best friends. She had been alone since they left. She hadn't bothered to make friends in college since she was too busy trying to get a teacher's degree and she didn't like any of the other teachers at the school she worked at.

"No, we're here," Amy assured her. She hugged Serena tightly and smiled. "It's good to see you again, Serena."

"Same here," Serena replied, grinning. "Why are all of you here?" She looked over to the four older girls who was always a little apart from everything.

"The end of the world," Darien's voice replied.

Serena gasped and whirled around to find Darien standing behind her. She swallowed hard and smiled. "Hey Darien." At least she had managed to sound calm. She definitely didn't feel calm.

"Hello Serena," Darien replied, smiling.

Then Serena couldn't help herself anymore. She threw herself into Darien's arms and hugged him tightly with all her strength. She had missed him so much it was beyond words. It felt so wonderful to hold him again.

"It's so good to see you again," she whispered as she held Darien tightly.

"Same here." Darien hugged her back and kissed her softly on the forehead. They didn't want an all out make out session in front of their friends. They were, after all, mature adults now.

Serena reluctantly released Darien but kept holding his hand as she faced the rest of her friends. "What's going on? How's the world ending?"

"Why don't we go up to your apartment and discuss it there?" Artemis suggested. He looked around. "Where's Luna?"

"She's around. I bet she'll be home by now," Serena said nonchalantly. She smiled and lead them up to her apartment.

"It's not all that big," she said as she pushed the door open. She walked in and smiled as she watched her friends looked around. "What do you think?"

"Not all that big, eh?" Raye asked teasingly. "This place is huge. How did you afford it?"

"An aunt of mine passed away during my last year of college, she knew I would need money so she gave most of it to me in a will," Serena replied.

"And you never told us?" Mina asked.

"It didn't seem important. I mean, it was only a little money that helped me out. Then I got a teaching job at that private elementary and the pay is pretty good." Serena shrugged and walked into the roomy kitchen. She pulled out ten glasses and poured orange juice into them. "Why don't you guys have some juice while I change into more comfortable clothing? I hate wearing proper suits like this." She smiled as she disappeared into her bedroom and changed into a long white T-shirt and a pair of old, torn up blue jeans. She fixed up her odangos a bit and walked back out. Everyone was sitting around in her spacious apartment, talking, laughing and drinking the delicious fresh orange juice.

"Boy, you look comfortable," Lita remarked.

"Thanks," Serena said, rolling her eyes. She stepped carefully around the bags laying about and walked back into the kitchen. She searched her cabinets and finally came up with a bag of chips and some cookies.

"You know, Serena," Raye said in a certain tone that made Serena turn around suspiciously. She knew that tone. It was always a warning that Raye was going to insult her somehow. She stood there and prepared for it. "You haven't tripped once or dropped a single thing since we got up here. You've changed a lot. Your not that ditzy clutz we knew in junior high and in high school."

Serena mentally sighed in relief. She just couldn't take a battle with Raye. She was far too drained and excited from the fact that all her friends were with her again. She didn't think she could think properly for a verbal battle.

"Thank you, I think. I guess we all matured a little over the years," Serena said. She pulled out a large platter and began to arrange the cookies on it.

"What is that smell?" Helen asked quietly. She had barely spoken since they got up to the apartment. Many of the Outer Scouts barely spoke a word since coming up to the apartment. They were very quiet people.

"Smell?" Serena asked, confused. She didn't smell anything out of the ordinary.

"Yeah, I smell it too," Amy agreed. "It's sort of flowery."

Darien nodded. "It's roses."

"Oh! Of course, I always buy roses and dry them outside at my balcony when they look ready to die on me. I have a whole vases of them around my room." She brought out the platter of cookies and chips and placed it down on the coffee table. Immediately everyone began to dig in. They were hungry since no one really eats airplane food.

Serena sat down on the floor beside Darien and sighed blissfully as she leaned against him and snuggled close. "This feels so nice. I missed you so much, Darien."

"I missed you a whole lot as well." Darien reached over and entwined their fingers together. He kissed her ear and pulled her on to his lap. She gasped in surprise and chuckled in delight as she laid her head on his shoulder. He was still much taller than her no matter how much she grew over the years.

When everyone was full and relaxed they got down to business.

"All right, the world is ending with ecological disasters and natural disasters. Jennifer says we have to try and stop them all from tearing up the world. Of course your all thinking this is nuts since we have to face off with Mother Earth but we have to try. We gotta use our powers to stop the natural disasters as much as possible, save as many people we can and to try to slow or stop the effects of any ecological disasters since those are very deadly to the human and animal healthy," Corinne explained. Her and Nerissa were sitting beside each other and Nerissa was leaning against Corinne a bit.

"So, we have to face off with all these things and hope they end sooner or later with our help?" Mina asked.

"Yes," Corinne replied. "We just hope it's sooner."

"But how do we stop, say, an earthquake?" Lita asked. "I mean, that's the earth literally tearing up underneath us."

"We gotta let it go but we can use our power to protect people from falling buildings and getting crushed. Basically, we're going to try and preserve most of the human race. Everything else can be fixed either through modern day technology or with a little help of our powers."

"We have to save the people and try to keep the world together at the same time. This is going to be a really difficult one, scouts," Luna said. She suddenly appeared out of no where but no one questioned where she was. She took a seat beside Artemis and looked at all the scouts. They all grew up so much since she had last seen them.

"This is going to be a really hard one physically," Jennifer said in a very serious tone. She looked at all of them. Her red ageless eyes were hard with anger and sadness. "I know you've all faced evil that have affected you emotionally like the Wise Man and the Doom Phantom or Queen Beryl. Now your going to have to face all of this with your power and strength. Not much with love. Are you all sure your strong enough to face up to all the death we're going to experience?"

They all looked at each other and nodded.

It's a good thing Helen seems stronger, Serena thought sympathetically as she watched the pale girl bow her head and look down at her hands in deep thought. She knew that the frail girl wanted to fight and she had to be strong in the fight against Mother Nature. Serena made a mental note to stay at Helen's side as much as possible.

"This is going to be hard and we're going to have to make decisions that we might not want to make but it is only for the best of the people we're saving," Darien said solemnly. "We all have to be ready for those times when you have to decide between what people to save and how. It's not going to be easy"

"No, it's not," Amy agreed. "This is a very big fight and we're up against a very strong force."

"We can't just dust them with a few zaps of our power because there are no monsters to deal with. Only the earth. We have to face it off and save as many people as possible," Lita said in a hard voice.

"When do we start?" It was the first time Serena had spoken throughout the whole conversation. She had remained pretty silent as she listened to all that was going around her.

They all looked at Serena in shock. She did change a lot. In the past they all had to plead and force her to go into battle. Now she was asking when they would start. It was all a shock to their systems. Even Darien's.

Luna sat with a smirk on her catty face. She knew her girl had finally grew up and she was proud.

"As soon as the first problems break out," Jennifer replied smoothly. She smiled at her own shock of Serena asking when battle was going to start. Of course she knew the future queen of Tokyo was finally maturing into the beautiful, clear thinking woman she was suppose to be. What was she shocking about?

Serena nodded. She got up off Darien's lap and walked over to her window. They skies were darkening again. She felt something bad was going to happen. She had been getting premonitions since that time it rained too hard at school. It was like she was getting psychic like Raye. She smiled slightly at the idea. Then a really bad feeling went through her. "Not to seem strange with psychic powers but...." Suddenly the floor began to shake as a horrible earthquake started.

Serena gasped and dropped to the ground as everything shook around her. She looked up and saw that her friends were struggling to stay put throughout the shaking.

Horrible memories flashed through Amy's mind as she remembered the earthquake in Germany. So many people had ended up dead after it. She had seen all the bodies and the collapsed houses on the way to the airport and they saddened her a great deal. Now she was going through another one.

Everything began to fall from their shelves and cabinets. Knives were sent flying and the window shattered. Serena screamed as the shards of glass cut into her arms, neck, back, legs and chest. She continued to scream until a bright crescent appeared on her forehead. A bright light shot out from the crescent and bathed the whole apartment in the warm yellow light. Then the brightness shot out through each and every crack in the apartment and spread itself all over Tokyo.

Suddenly all the shaking stopped.

Everyone stilled a moment as they took in all that had happened.

"Serena!" Darien screamed, breaking the silence. He stood up and ran over to his fiancée's side. She was as gray as ash and it looked like she had no life in her. Darien easily lifted her into his arms but found that she had grown just a bit heavier than the last time he had lifted her. After all, she was taller and older.

He carried her over to a couch and laid her down on it. "Serena, Serena, wake up. Come on, meatball-head, wake up." He shook her as he said this. "Wake up." Fear shot through him like knives as he thought of the possibility she was dead. The fear was like a large fist around his heart, squeezing hard and making him feel very tense and afraid as he waited for Serena to reply to his calls.

"Darien, calm down. She's fine," Amy said softly. She had been checking Serena's pulse and found it strong even if it was a bit slow. "She's just drained from that energy she shot out. It stilled everything, obviously that took a lot of energy. She's fine. In time she'll wake up. She'll be tired but she'll be fine." She was very shaken from what had happened and was glad to find that she sounded calm. If she was going to be a doctor she had to learn how to remain calm in dire situations.

"She stopped the whole earthquake," Lita marveled.

"All because she was wailing in horror," Raye added.

"Helen, do you think you can treat those cuts on her?" Amy asked of the small girl. "It's better she doesn't have to deal with pain while fighting."

Helen nodded and kneeled down beside Serena. She touched each cut she saw and healed them easily. When she was done Serena moaned and woke up. She blinked several times before everything focused in front of her.

"What happened?" She asked in a hoarse voice. It was hoarse from all the screaming she had done.

"You stopped the earthquake," Mina said, smiling.

"I did?" Serena squeaked. She struggled to sit up but Amy pushed her back down.

"No. You have to rest. That energy you gave out was drained you very hard." She reached for a cookie and a fresh glass of orange juice and gave it to Serena. "Eat. You need to rest and wait until your strong enough. Food will help."

Serena grinned and took the drink and cookie offered to her. "Thanks, Dr. Mizuno," she said with a mouthful. She swallowed the orange juice and smiled. "Really, it's nice you guys care for me. But right now we have to go kick Mother Nature's butt." She sat up with renewed energy and smiled. "Come on. I'm not that much of a weakling that I used to be."

"That's for sure," Raye said affectionately.

"So, let's go save Earth." Serena dashed off into her room. She returned with her Eternal Sailor Moon brooch with was a golden heart with a gold crescent at the bottom tip. "Let's get started so we can get back for dinner because I know I'll be starving by then."

They all groaned and laughed.

"She's still the same Serena," Mina sighed to Amy. Amy smiled and nodded.

"But she's our Serena," Amy replied.

Raye and Lita smiled and nodded as well.

"All right, let's go and kick butt!" Raye shouted. She raised her Mars transformation stick. "Mars Crystal Power!" Quickly she changed in a bright red light. Then Sailor Mars stood there.

"Mercury Crystal Power!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power!"

"Venus Crystal Power!"

"Uranus Crystal Power!"

"Neptune Crystal Power!"

"Pluto Crystal Power!"

"Saturn Crystal Power!"

They all quickly transformed and stood there in their Sailor Scout uniforms.

Serena stood there all teary eyed. "It's so good to see the scouts back together again," she said in a thick voice. Then she straightened and looked like a totally different person. She raised her Eternal Sailor Moon brooch and shouted loudly, "Moon Eternal Power!" The whole room exploded with light as Serena whirled around and suddenly was Eternal Sailor Moon in all her glory.

"It is good to see them all together again, isn't it, Artemis?" Luna asked the white cat quietly.

"It is," Artemis agreed.