Serena was sitting in her room, brushing her hair and humming blithely to herself. Luna hopped up onto the dresser.

"Serena, you should keep an eye out for trouble." Luna said sternly.

Serena chuckled. "Luna, lighten up! There’s no danger anymore. Galaxia’s gone, and we can just go back to being normal teenagers until the founding of Crystal Tokyo."

Luna grumbled. "Serena, I’m not sure. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Luna, I think you’ve had too much catnip."

"I have not!" Serena couldn’t help but burst out laughing at Luna’s emphatic denial. "I never touch the stuff!"

"Whatever. Luna, you’ve got to stop being so serious. Take a few lessons from Artemis. He’s a lot more laid-back than you are."

Luna sighed and hopped off the dresser. She climbed onto Serena’s bed and curled up to take a nap.

Luna wouldn’t have been sleeping, though, if she knew what trouble was brewing on Point D in the Arctic…

IN THE NEO-NEGAVERSE:

A tall woman with amber eyes and hair to match them walked, with a dignified air about her, towards several other people. She carried a blue metallic staff with stripes of silver and gold on it. At the top was a round globe of amber that seemed to gleam with its own light.

As Amberite, for it was she, walked past a older, taller woman with crimson red hair and sparking red eyes, the other woman closed her eyes and bowed her head demurely. This woman looked a lot like Amberite, save for the hair and eyes. Amberite nodded approvingly at her, and continued.

The next person Amberite walked by was a girl of about 15. Her hair was an almost metallic shade of grayish silver, and her eyes were of the same shade. She was fidgeting as she tried to remain still. It wasn’t working very well. As Amberite passed by, the girl smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

Amberite shook her head and frowned. Before the girl could do anything, Amberite dealt her a quick blow to the head. The girl rubbed at her head.

Amberite walked up to a man and a woman next. The woman was dressed in pale green from head to toe, with hair and eyes that seemed to be apple green. The man had blondish hair, but had no unusually distinctive characteristics, unlike the three women who preceded him. They both got down on one knee and lowered their heads. Neither of them was on Amberite’s good side, and neither wanted to anger her. Amberite nodded approvingly at them. Amberite completely ignored the two men last in the line. She walked up the steps, and sat down on a throne made of stone, with a rather ugly carving above, a part of the old Negaverse Amberite hadn’t bothered to get rid of. A man with red hair bowed to her.

"Queen Amberite, what are your plans?"

Amberite turned to the speaker, her advisor Rubeus. She glared at him.

"Rubeus, none of you have any right to ask about my plans, but I have to tell you my plans so that you my generals will be able to execute them."

"And your plans are what?" Pearl asked brashly. Amberite glared at her.

"I’ll get to it. Pearl. Anyway, after I abandoned Beryl, I tried to destroy the Sailor Scouts myself. It was a dismal failure, and it almost killed me."

"What?" The man standing next to Opal (the woman in green) queried.

"Jedite, Beryl ordered me to fight those Scouts, but I had seen Malachite’s demise," Amberite said, sweeping her staff towards the taller of the other two men, "and I knew better. Rather than get killed by Beryl like Zoicite and Neflite did, I ran for my life."

"How did those two get back if they died?" Jedite asked.

The red-haired woman, who had not said a word, moved out of the shadows and spoke.

"Amber’s powers are strong. She can bring back those who died as enemies of the Sailor Scouts. That’s how Rubeus, Malachite, and Zoicite are alive now."

Amberite’s face contorted into an angry snarl. "Ruby, call me Amberite, not Amber! I don’t know how many times I’ve warned you!"

Ruby smiled coldly. She lacked her little amber-haired sister’s charisma, and had never attained any rank in the original Negaverse. She tried to help Amberite succeed no matter the cost, and always used the name Amberite had used back before she became Beryl’s advisor.

"You are not Amber-ite to me, you are Amber, my baby sister." Ruby said.

"Ruby, know when to shut your mouth!" Amberite snapped. "I’ll be nice and tolerate you calling me that, as long as you do not fail me. Family or not, fail me and die!"

"Yes, Queen." Ruby said, bowing.

"Anyway, I found Opal, Ruby, and Pearl in North America. Together, we restored D-Point here, and Opal happened to find you" Amberite said with a gesture to Jedite. "And I got you out of the crystal. I also created a number of my type of monsters- Negamon- for you all to use." Amberite said.

"What do we do with them?" Opal ventured.

"You drain the energy of humans. With enough human energy, I can put my plan into action. Before I tell you my plan, you should try an energy-gathering mission, Opal."

"Yes, Queen. If you wish, I will get you the energy you need."

"Remember: there are more Sailor Scouts now than ever before. And especially remember this: Dinozore is much deadlier than he appears to be!"

"I will remember, Queen."

Opal disappeared in a flash of green.

MEANWHILE:

Michelle and Amara were sleeping in the sun. They had had a picnic, and both had simply dozed off.

Moving slowly and quietly, Nick, Lita, and Holly slunk up to them. Holly could barely keep herself from giggling, so Lita covered her mouth. She started to protest, but Nick glared at both of them sternly.

He leaned over so that his face was level with Michelle’s. He didn’t say anything, but he touched Michelle’s face gently. She stirred, and opened her eyes. Then, with a suddenness that startled Nick, she screeched and backed away quickly. Surprised, Nick fell backward, landing hard on his backside.

"Amara, don’t-" Michelle began; only then realizing who had awakened her. "Oh, it’s you. Don’t DO that!"

Holly squirmed out of Lita’s grip and started laughing out loud. Amara, who hadn’t been as asleep as she seemed to be, suddenly swept at Holly’s feet. Holly fell flat on her face, and starting wailing.

"Amara!"

Amara started laughing. "Looks like I got the last laugh."

Holly snatched at some of the leftovers from the picnic, and ate them.

"I was going to eat that!" Cirrus protested.

"The early bird catches the worm, Cirrus. You were late." Holly said, smiling around a mouthful of sandwich.

"You’re not a bird, Cirrus." Amara chided.

"And you’re not a boy. Your point?" Cirrus said.

"We just thought we’d wake you up. No reason to sleep at a time like this." Nick said.

"I had a strange dream. I don’t understand much of it, but I saw a huge lizard." Michelle said

"You mean a giant lizard that doesn’t stand erect." Amara remarked dryly.

"Hey!" Nick protested.

"This arguing is getting us nowhere. I suggest we find Amy, Raye, Mina, Draca, Trista, Darien, Serena, and Hotaru." Lita said. "Something doesn’t seem right around here."

Nick stood up and extended his hand toward Lita. She took his hand in hers, and they left.

Holly still sat on the blanket, cramming all of the leftovers into her mouth. Nick walked back, grabbed his sister, and all three left.

"Good riddance." Amara said. "That little brat ate all the food we had left! Next time, Michelle, make sure we keep her away from our food. She’s worse than Serena and Cirrus combined!"

"Hey! I heard that!" Cirrus squawked.

"I heard that too!" Holly shouted back at them.

MEANWHILE:

Serena, Mina, and Raye were walking down a street. Serena was holding an ice cream cone in each hand, trying to eat both before they melted. Mina was looking all around for cute guys. She was also holding an ice cream cone. While she wasn’t looking, Aphrodite leaned over from her perch on Mina’s shoulder and ate some of the ice cream.

"Aphrodite! I told you not to do that!" Mina hissed.

Serena started laughing, until the ice cream from one of her cones fell off the cone and onto her shirt. She started wailing.

"My new shirt got ruined by ice cream! Now it’ll be stained forever, and-"

"Serena, quit your whining! If you weren’t laughing at Mina, you wouldn’t have gotten ice cream on your shirt to begin with. It’s your own fault." Raye scolded.

Serena turned to eat her other ice cream cone, but found the ice cream missing! She looked on the ground, but it wasn’t there. Then she noticed Aphrodite had changed her position, and she had a smear of ice cream on her beak. However, the ice cream was a different kind than Mina’s. It was hers!

"Hey, you flying vacuum cleaner! Don’t eat my ice cream!" Serena shouted.

Raye sighed, and Mina simply looked bemused.

"She eats anything you leave lying around, except meat. You’ve got to watch your food when Aphrodite’s hungry." Mina said.

"It’s Serena with feathers." Raye grumbled.

"I heard that, Raye!"

IN THE NEO-NEGAVERSE:

Opal looked into a mirror composed of green crystal.

"Queen Amberite didn’t give me a target, so I’ll do the traditional Negaverse thing and suck the energy of anyone nearby." Opal said. Jedite slunk up behind her and kissed her.

"Not now! I have things to do. Unless you want Queen Amberite turning us into dust, we have to prove that we’re capable of handling those Negamon beasts of hers, and taking care of those pests in Sailor suits."

"Right. I forgot."

Opal swiped her hand over the crystal mirror, and the image of a large lizard appeared.

"This Negamon, Varanus, should do."

Jedite looked less than thrilled.

"Opal, are you sure? I don’t feel comfortable trusting my future to a giant lizard." He said.

"Well, I guess I am. Let’s not think about the consequences any more, let’s just send Varanus out into Tokyo to get energy for our Queen."

"Yes, our Queen. That arrogant witch, sitting on that throne and barking orders! What has she really done? Fight the Sailor Scouts? I did that, and fared worse!"

Opal looked startled, and covered Jedite’s mouth, shushing him with her other hand.

"Jedite! Don’t say such things, and don’t talk so loud! You know that we’re not on Queen Amberite’s good side. If we make her mad, then-"

Opal let the statement hang. Then she stood up.

"I’m going to supervise Varanus. You’re free to join the fun if you want." Opal said, her hair flowing around her slim figure like green water.

"No thanks. I don’t like playing with lizards." Jedite said.

"Your loss. Bye, Jedite." Opal said, blowing a kiss before disappearing in a flash of green.

Jedite paused for a moment.

"If Queen Amberite is right, and there are more Sailor Scouts than there were last time I faced them, Opal will need some help."

Jedite snapped his fingers and disappeared.

MEANWHILE:

Opal perched atop Tokyo Tower, cackling madly. She had sent Varanus to drain energy from whoever got close to him, and the Negamon was doing well.

"Now, to report back to Queen Amberite and tell her that the Negamon part of the plan is a success."

Unbeknownst to Opal, a pair of eyes was trained on her. Flying higher than the top of the Tower, a large bird navigated the thermals on wings that caught the wind like feathery sails. Yellow eyes under green plume feathers glittered at the sight of the Neo-Negaversian. Emitting a bloodchilling scream, the Jupiterian eagle dove.

Opal whirled, and screamed in a combination of fear and surprise. She dodged. Opal didn’t wait around to find out what this strange eagle would do, she just decided to flee. In a flash of green, she disappeared.

MEANWHILE:

Nick, Lita, and Holly were searching for the rest of the Sailor Scouts. They knew where Uranus and Neptune were, but that was it.

Suddenly, Nick stopped in his tracks.

"What is it?" Holly asked.

"Quiet." Nick said. He was listening for something.

"Nick?" Lita said.

Suddenly, a gigantic lizard lumbered into view! Holly stifled a scream. The huge creature was undoubtedly a monitor lizard of some kind, but it was far bigger than any Lita had seen before. It was huge, fully 20 feet from head to tail, and it looked incredibly dangerous. Suddenly, it lifted its head, sniffing the air. It turned to look at them, and bellowed.

"Lita, Holly, run!" Nick shouted. The two girls were frozen to the spot, too scared to move. "GO!"

"But what about you?" Lita said, her voice overflowing with concern for her boyfriend.

"Lita, just go! I’ll hold it off and let you and Holly get away."

"But-"

"Lita! If you love me, then please do what I’m telling you to! Your life may depend on it!" Nick said sharply.

Lita nodded. She turned and started running. She got only a short distance when her concern got the better of her. Holly stopped running too. Nick was standing as tall as he could, gaining the attention of the Negamon.

"Over here, you belly-dragging scavenger!" Nick shouted, waving his arms.

Varanus was undecided. The two females were easier targets, but this male was provoking him. Varanus wasn’t very intelligent and chose to attack the annoyance, just as Nick had predicted.

The Negamon charged, and sent Nick flying with a sweep of its massive tail. Nick got back to his feet just in time to avoid a pair of vicious jaws.

Lita’s eyes turned as hard as diamonds. Holly saw the same determined fire in Lita’s eyes that she had seen burning in the eyes of Nick, Serena, and Darien many times. Holly knew that Lita was going to help Nick, and probably recruit her to help.

"We’re going to help him. Holly, get ready to transform!"

"Do I have to help?"

"Yes!"

"Okay."

"Jupiter Crystal Power…"

"Gaia Crystal Power…"

"MAKE UP!"

Within seconds, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Gaia were ready to fight. Sailor Jupiter took off running, dragging a protesting Sailor Gaia along.

Varanus knocked Nick over, but before he could close in for the kill, Sailor Jupiter dove on Varanus. She grabbed the lizard’s jaws and pulled back on its head. The reptile thrashed, flinging Sailor Jupiter off of it. It turned to face the new threat, eyes blazing.

"Lita!" Nick shouted, pulling out his Crystal transformation stick. "Raptor Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Sailor Gaia lunged at Varanus, but a crushing blow from Varanus’ tail knocked her into a wall. She slumped to the ground in a halo of orange hair.

Sailor Jupiter was paralyzed with fear. Suddenly, a green blur hit the gigantic lizard. The Negamon registered the new threat as an enemy, something to be destroyed.

Dinozore slashed at Varanus with eye-blurring speed. The lizard broke off the battle and dashed off at high speed.

Dinozore turned to follow.

"Nick, wait!"

"I’ve got to stop that thing. Follow me if you want. I have a feeling you’ll be needed." Dinozore said, disappearing into the shadows.

"Great. A battle." Sailor Gaia said, staggering to her feet.

Varanus paused. He had detected new prey in the direction he was traveling. Two female humans, and two birdlike creatures. Easy prey, easy energy for Opal and the Neo-Negaverse!

MEANWHILE:

Michelle suddenly turned her head towards where Nick, Lita, and Holly had gone earlier.

"Amara, we’re in danger."

Amara laughed. "From what?"

Then there was a tremendous bellowing hiss, and a gigantic lizard charged from the direction Michelle had been looking. It saw them, and opened its jaws, exposing rows of savage fangs. Its terrifying appearance and sudden attack startled Amara, and she screamed. Regaining her composure, she turned to Michelle.

"Run! I’ll cover you."

"Don’t be foolish! You can’t fight that! " Michelle pleaded.

"Go!"

Michelle nodded, and took off. Amara assumed a fighting stance as the lizard bore down on her. It roared, slavering jaws wide. Amara closed her eyes as this reptilian horror bore down on her. When she opened her eyes, the reptile was still there! It snapped and hissed and clawed at the ground, but it couldn’t reach her! She looked to see why, and saw that Dinozore had the reptile by the tail.

"Amara, either transform, or get out of here! This creature is out for energy."

"I choose to fight. Uranus Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Suddenly, Michelle rushed up, clutching her transformation stick

"Wait for me! Neptune Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Michelle?!" Dinozore and Sailor Uranus chorused.

"What? You think I’m going to let you two fight without me?"

"Wait, didn’t I tell you to run away?" Sailor Uranus asked.

"This seems like some eerie parallel of what happened to me." Dinozore said.

"Huh?" the two Outer Scouts said.

"Nothing. Let’s send this lizard back to the desert it crawled out of!"

As if in answer, the giant lizard charged.

"World Shaking!"

The lizard swatted the ball of energy away.

"Deep Submerge!"

The lizard’s tail lashed out, splattering the Deep Submerge in all directions. It lunged at Sailor Neptune, and closed its jaws on her arm. Before it could start to thrash its head and tear her arm apart, Dinozore flew at it like a whirlwind of claws. The lizard let go and tried to combat Dinozore. Then the two combatants started moving away. They disappeared down an alley.

"Are you okay?" Sailor Uranus asked, her concern for her partner evident in her voice.

Sailor Neptune inspected her wounds. They were nothing more than puncture wounds. Dinozore had stopped the lizard before it had done any real damage.

"I’m fine, Amara." Sailor Neptune said.

"I wouldn’t say that." Cirrus said. "Monitor lizards have very dirty mouths. I recommend that you get that cleaned and soon."

Just then, Sailor Gaia and Sailor Jupiter ran up to them. Sailor Uranus spoke just as Sailor Jupiter opened her mouth to speak.

"Dinozore and that lizard went that way." She said.

"Let’s follow them!"

"Do we have to?" Sailor Gaia whined.

"YES!" Sailor Jupiter shouted.

MEANWHILE:

"What’s that!?" Serena screeched as Dinozore and the giant lizard exploded onto the street. The lizard knocked Dinozore aside. It had detected something new and useful. One of the girls gave off an amount of energy that focused Varanus’ attention on her. She was what Opal wanted; a person with lots of energy! Ignoring Dinozore now, it charged Serena. Serena screamed and barely dodged Varanus turned clumsily and charged again.

"Serena, you idiot! Either transform now, or get away!" Dinozore shouted. Serena saw Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Gaia perched on top of a building.

"Okay. Moon Eternal…"

"Mars Crystal Power…"

"Venus Crystal Power…"

"MAKE UP!"

Varanus paused, puzzled. The energy output of his prey had increased a lot, but he sensed that she was now dangerous. He was surrounded, a cornered beast. Eternal Sailor Moon started her speech.

"There shouldn’t be lizards on the streets of Tokyo! I’ll make sure that you will harm no one else! In the name of the Moon, I’ll punish you!" Eternal Sailor Moon said.

"Just attack!" Sailor Mars snapped.

Eternal Sailor Moon drew her tier and aimed it at Varanus. The lizard charged. Sailor Moon froze. Paralyzed with fear, she was a sitting duck of a Sailor Scout!

"Sauros Beam Eagle Slash!"

An eagle of orange energy hit Varanus, distracting it.

"Now, Serena!" Sailor Gaia shouted.

"Right. Silver Moon Crystal Power…"

Varanus froze. He didn’t like the look of this! He looked around, but Dinozore had blocked the other escape route.

"KISS!"

Varanus bellowed as the attack hit him, reducing him to dust. Serena looked unbelievably relieved.

"We did it!"

Suddenly, there was a hissing crack, and Eternal Sailor Moon dropped her tier and cried out.

"Damn you Sailor Moon! Damn you Dinozore! Damn ALL of you!" the woman holding a whip snarled.

"Oh, no… green… overloading… senses… blinding me." Sailor Gaia said in mock distress, suppressing her laughter. The whip cracked again, slicing a red line across Sailor Gaia’s face. She cried out in pain.

"Laugh at me, will you?" the woman cackled.

"Who are you? You’re not someone I’d be afraid of." Sailor Venus said, shrugging. The green-haired, green-eyed woman clenched her fists, growling under her breath. Her eyes started to glitter with rage.

"For you information, I am Opal of the Neo-Negaverse! My Queen will be pleased when I tell her that I have caught Dinozore and seven Sailor Scouts!"

"The…" Sailor Uranus began.

"Neo-Negaverse?" Sailor Neptune finished.

"What is a Negaverse?" Sailor Gaia said.

"It was an evil organization that we took care of before you met us." Dinozore said.

Then another person appeared next to Opal. Eternal Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, and Dinozore had to look twice. They knew him! It was Jedite!

"Ghost!!" Eternal Sailor Moon screeched, hiding behind Dinozore.

"Jedite! What are you doing here?" Sailor Mars said.

Opal put her arm around Jedite. "He is a fellow general of the Neo-Negaverse, and my husband."

Dinozore spread the wings on his shoulders, taking flight. Jedite leveled a blast of energy at Dinozore. He dodged it, but Jedite gestured and the energy ball turned towards Sailor Jupiter. Dinozore roared and flew at Jedite, crashing into him. Both Opal and Jedite fell hard to the ground, and the energy ball veered off and hit a wall.

"Tell your Queen that that’s what we think of her plans!" Dinozore snarled.

"Oh, Dinozore, I think the Queen," Dinozore noticed the venom with which Jedite spoke the word "might like to se you again."

Jedite and Opal got up, and disappeared in a flash of green.

"What was that?" Sailor Uranus asked.

"Trust me, I don’t know." Dinozore said.

"This is bad." Sailor Neptune said. "Just when we think we’re safe, another enemy appears."

THE NEXT DAY:

"Let me get this straight: A giant lizard attacks and after it’s defeated, Jedite and a green-haired woman show up and claim to be from the Neo-Negaverse." Amy said.

"That’s about right." Nick said.

"The Neo-Negaverse… ‘Neo’ means ‘new’, so the New Negaverse?" Mina said.

"We’ve got to tell the others about this. Where did Uranus and Neptune go?" Serena asked.

"Who cares? We haven’t seen them since yesterday." Holly said venomously.

"But, I thought we were done fighting." Serena griped.

"I told you to be ready in case there was an enemy attack, but you didn’t listen. I told you so." Luna said smugly.

"Great. A cat was right and I was wrong." Serena whined.

"So, what else is new?" Slither said slyly.

"We’ve got to be ready." Amy said. "Who knows what horrors could be unleashed on us next?"

"Yes, like that Megalania." Nick said.

"The what?"

Nick sighed. "The big lizard"

"Oh. That’s what it’s called." Holly said, smiling widely.

"Anyway, we’re in trouble here. Who knows what the Queen of the Neo-Negaverse has planned for Tokyo, let alone us!" Lita said.

Io perched nearby, asleep. No one knew, but Io knew much more about the situation than they did.

"This is war!" Nick snarled raising a fist to the sky.

"War!" Holly chirped. "Wait, that’s bad!"

"For them, yes." Lita said. "But not for us."