x"You failed?" Amberite fumed. "I've been nice enough to let you live and you FAIL?!"

Opal grinned nervously. "Queen Amberite, we tried to get energy like you ordered, but the Sailor Senshi foiled my plans and destroyed Varanus."

Amberite rubbed her forehead in frustration, as if she had a headache. "Listen, I watched the whole battle. I warned you about Dinozore; don't mess with Sailor Jupiter if he's around! Did you listen? Anyway, even if you failed, you proved that the Negamon are useful for gathering energy. I congratulate you for that. But don't fail me again!"

Opal wasn't sure whether she was being scolded or praised, so she edged away.

"Stay right there!"

Opal froze at the sound of Amberite's voice. She whirled, and her hair swished around her body. Her green eyes widened with fear.

"Try to avoid the Sailor Senshi if at all possible. Attack a different place or something, I don't know."

"We're off the hook?" Jadeite ventured. Amberite's eyes flashed with malice.

"I never said that." She said, her voice dripping with anger.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm letting you live because you are useful as energy-gatherers. As long as you obey me and gather energy, you will be allowed to live."

Amberite banged the pointed foot of her staff on the floor, breaking a hole in the floor.

"You may leave. But," Amberite said, smiling. "Return in about an hour. I am going to tell all of you my master plan for dealing with the Sailor Senshi."

MEANWHILE:

Draca sat down on the rim of a building, fully 50 feet off the ground.

"I can sense the presence of evil hovering all around us. This can't turn out well."

Draca looked down, noticing Setsuna Meiou walking below.

"I wonder if she sensed it too."

Down on the ground, Setsuna was thinking. She’d been feeling uneasy lately, and the telephone conversation she’d had with Haruka and Michiru hadn’t helped. They had told her of a new enemy, a green-haired woman who had commanded an evil lizard monster. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, though.

I feel like there’s a much deadlier evil force behind that monster. Something is trying to take over our planet. I can’t quite say why.
Suddenly, Charon stuck his neck out of his comfortable perch in Setsuna’s purse and squawked. Setsuna shivered. Something was going to happen, and she would not be left out of this next battle!

IN THE NEO-DARK KINGDOM:

Amberite sat on her throne, holding her Amber Globe targeting staff. Her generals stood before her.

"As you know, our goal is to conquer the Earth for our own. To do this, we must first defeat the Sailor Senshi. Except for Ruby and Pearl, all of you have fought them and lost. You know how powerful they are."

"Do you have a plan?" Pearl shouted.

A bolt of black lightning crashed right in front of Pearl’s feet. Amberite stood up, flashing daggers from her eyes.

"Don’t interrupt me!" Amberite snarled. "And yes, I do have a plan, Pearl. See, to defeat the Sailor Senshi, we need to take their power away. I haven’t told you, but I’ve watched the other enemies of the Sailor Senshi fail. Metallia, the Death Phantom, Pharaoh Ninety, Neherenia of the Dead Moon, and Galaxia all failed. They underestimated the Sailor Senshi, especially Dinozore and Sailor Moon. Galaxia underestimated Dinozore, and seriously underestimated Sailor Moon. I won’t make that mistake."

"But how will you do that?" Ruby said.

Amberite drew herself up, seeming to grow in front of the watching generals. She glared at them with eyes as cold as the Antarctic in the midst of a snowstorm, yet colored a deceptively warm amber yellow.

"We take Sailor Moon… out of the picture!" Amberite hissed. She started to laugh maniacally, even scaring her generals and Rubeus a little.

"How do we do that?" Opal asked.

"I haven’t figured that out yet, but I will!" Amberite cackled.

MEANWHILE:

"Come on!" Flora snapped impatiently. She tugged on Sauro’s arm.

"Cut that out!" Sauro said angrily. "It’s bad enough I’m being dragged to a really idiotic movie because Mom was busy!"

As they neared the movie theater, they saw Usagi, Ami, Rei, Minako, and Makoto waiting in line. Makoto noticed Sauro and Flora coming and told the others.

"Sauro-kun," teased Minako. "I thought you hated romance movies."

"I do." Sauro said, crossing his arms. "My mom MADE me take Flora-chan to this one."

Suddenly, Flora whispered something into Usagi’s ear.

"Hey," Usagi said blithely. "You’re going to see the same movie we are!"

"Great. Now I have to put up with meatball-head too." Sauro griped, holding his head as if he had a headache.

"Sauro-kun!"

"Never mind, Usagi." Rei said. "I understand why Sauro-kun would say that."

"Rei-chan!"

"Let’s just get our tickets and stop arguing." Ami said, stepping between Usagi and Rei.

If Mom wasn’t paying me for this, there’s no way I’d EVER see a movie like this. But then, Same-chan IS here… and maybe we can…

Sauro smiled from ear to ear. Sometimes romance movies could have their benefits…

LATER:

Sauro was half-asleep. Flora was sitting to his right, stealing his popcorn, and Makoto was on his other side, holding his hand. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Makoto looked at him out of the corner of her eye and smiled warmly.

Flora smirked, and pinched Sauro’s arm.

"Ow! Flora-chan, you little brat! That’s it! I won’t take you to the movies again no matter how much money Mom gives me to do it!" Sauro snarled.

Flora laughed, and then someone backhanded her. Hard. She looked around Sauro to se who it was. She squawked in a combination of surprise and fear at the sight of Makoto. Makoto was glaring so venomously that her eyes were almost glowing.

"Sit down, shut up, and watch the movie, Flora-chan!"

Flora nodded hurriedly and, shivering a little, looked back at the screen.

"Yes, Mako-chan." She said demurely.

Sauro looked at Makoto was amazement. She smiled warmly back, and then leaned towards him.

Sauro smiled widely, and leaned over. Their lips met, and they started to kiss.

"Not again." Flora complained to herself. "They do this whenever they get the chance."

"And your problem?" Minako said from the seat behind Flora’s.

"The problem is that I have no one to kiss." Flora said sourly.

"Join the club." Minako said, sighing. "Now that I think about it; romantic movies are terrible places to go if you are lonely."

Suddenly, the entire building shook. Sauro and Makoto separated and, along with the others, stood up.

"I don’t like this." Ami said.

Then Sauro’s communicator buzzed. He activated it.

"Tuxedo Raptor!" Setsuna’s voice said. "A Triceratops is rampaging through Tokyo!"

"What?!" Sauro squawked. "Are you sure?!"

"Triceratops? Isn’t that a dinosaur? But they’re extinct!" Flora whimpered.

"Setsuna-san, where are you?" Rei said, turning on her own communicator.

"I’m on top of a movie theater."

"We’re in a movie theater." Minako said.

"If you’re where I am," Sailor Pluto said. "You’d better get out here and see this. It isn’t something you see every day."

Sauro scrambled over the seat in front of him and through the panicked people trying to escape the theater. He dashed outside, to be confronted with a very strange sight. A Triceratops was running around outside! The giant saurian dashed past, pursued by a woman with black hair, who was moving incredibly fast. Sailor Lacerta! The Triceratops turned on Sailor Lacerta, who leapt onto the roof of the building. The beast charged, shaking the building.

Sauro ducked into an alley and pulled out his Tuxedo Raptor transformation stick.

"Raptor Tuxedo Power, Make Up!"

Tuxedo Raptor ran back out onto the street. He watched the Triceratops try to escape, but a purple ball of energy hit the ground in front of it. It bellowed, and reversed its direction, charging towards him like a runaway truck.

"Love Gem Power, Shield!" he shouted. The Triceratops crashed into the shield and tried to escape the other way, but Sailor Pluto stopped it again. Sailor Lacerta continued to attack it. Her claws found little purchase on the hide of a Triceratops, but she kept it moving in a panic.

Suddenly, a whip cracked and Sailor Lacerta hissed, more in surprise than pain. Then Opal appeared behind Sailor Pluto. Pluto started to swing her Time Staff, but Opal lashed out with her whip and ripped it out of her hands. Opal cracked the whip threateningly, and kicked the Time Staff out of Pluto’s reach. Sailor Lacerta leapt at Opal, but a blast of energy sent her against a wall. Tuxedo Raptor ran to help, but somebody grabbed him from behind. Jadeite! Jadeite pinned Tuxedo Raptor’s arms behind his back. He grabbed the Razor Fang and flung it away.

Opal opened a portal, and the Triceratops disappeared into it.

"Our Queen will be very pleased when we bring Tuxedo Raptor, Sailor Pluto, and Sailor Lacerta back as prisoners." Opal gloated.

A small saurian suddenly dashed at Opal and sunk its fangs deeply into her hand. She screamed and flailed her right arm, but Charon would not let go.

Sailor Pluto took the opportunity. She sprung to her feet and grabbed the Time Staff, which she pointed at Opal.

"Dead Scream!"

Opal turned, to see the Dead Scream attack bearing down on her. Charon let go and scampered to safety. There was a small explosion as the attack hit Opal. When the smoke cleared, Opal was still there. She was shaken up and battered, but far from defeated.

"Just for that, I’m not going to bring you back! You die here!" Opal snarled, grabbing her whip.

"Opal, just grab her! Let the Queen decide her fate."

Suddenly, Slither sprung at Jadeite. Jadeite let go of Tuxedo Raptor and shielded his throat. Slither’s jaws closed on Jadeite’s hand, and then Tuxedo Raptor punched him in the stomach. Jadeite doubled over and collapsed.

"Deal with that. I think we have the upper hand now."

"How so?" Jadeite said weakly.

Suddenly, a vine slashed through the air. If Opal weren’t watching her surroundings, it would have hit her. Opal and Jadeite looked, to see the Sailor Senshi!

"Hold it right there, you two! I don’t know what you’re doing, but cease and desist!"

"Not this again!" Opal groaned.

"I stand for love and justice. I’m Sailor-"

Opal and Jadeite disappeared in flashes of green light. Sailor Lacerta climbed a building and leapt away from roof to roof.

"Hey! You didn’t even let me finish my speech!"

"Shut your face, Usagi-chan!" Sailor Gaia snapped. "Big deal."

"It looks like the Neo-Dark Kingdom has struck again." Sailor Mercury said. "I assume that the dinosaur is the same type of monster as that giant lizard."

"It is." Tuxedo Raptor said.

"Sauro-chan! Are you okay?" Sailor Jupiter said with more than a little concern.

"Same-chan, I’m fine." Tuxedo Raptor said, blushing a bit. "No need to be worried."

"I don’t want you to get hurt." Sailor Jupiter said.

"It’s okay, Same-chan. But it looks like we have another monster to destroy."

IN THE NEO-DARK KINGDOM:

"WHAT?!" Amberite fumed. "You idiots!"

"But gracious, merciful Queen Amberite, we did get quite a bit of energy for you. The problem was, I guess Sailor Pluto or Sailor Lacerta saw Stampede, because they were attacking him, and then Tuxedo Raptor joined in."

"You can’t handle two Sailor Senshi and one tuxedo-wearing lizard?!" Amberite said maliciously.

"We had them, but then a lizard and a small dinosaur attacked us, and then Sailor Moon and her Sailor flunkies showed up. We were outnumbered four-to-one!" Opal pleaded. "Don’t hurt us!"

Amberite smiled. "I won’t this time. Did Stampede get destroyed?"

"No, Queen." Opal said. "I sent him back here when Tuxedo Raptor showed up. I’ll send that Negamon back for more energy if you wish."

"Yes, do that, Opal. I need more energy for the plan I have concocted!" Amberite said, cackling.

"You have a plan now?" Jadeite said.

"Yes, I do. I’ll tell you minions what it is a bit later, when your wife returns."

"Won’t I go?"

"No. That’s the catch; you can’t help her this time. Opal can’t get careless, or she’ll die."

LATER:

Opal perched atop Tokyo Tower again. This time, she was watching for any large birds. None appeared. The sun was setting, and eagles didn’t like the dark. Opal laughed. She could see Stampede charging about, draining humans of their energy.

I wish I didn’t have to live like this, in fear of Queen Amberite’s wrath. I could start a family with Jadeite. I almost envy those humans. Wait, what am I saying?! Opal thought to herself.

"It’s working! Stampede is sucking energy, and Queen Amberite will be proud of me at last!"

Suddenly, a dark shape swooped up out of nowhere.

"What the-" Opal began. The black snake with wings missed her by inches, then came around for another pass. It dove, jaws wide open. Opal didn’t need to look twice to know that it was deadly poisonous.

"I hate snakes!" Opal screeched, snapping her fingers and vanishing.

MEANWHILE:

Draca sniffed at the air. The monster has reappeared, but it was far away, and she didn’t feel like another battle today.

"It won’t leave my territory. I can deal with it tomorrow." She said.

ELSEWHERE:

Stampede had sensed a female human with a lot of energy. Homing in on her, it had discovered Naru. Stampede started to drain her energy.

"Rattlesnake Thunderstrike!"

"Varanus Beam!"

Stampede turned. It had collected enough energy. It could afford to chase after little annoyances.

Slither and Europa only got an idea of what they were up against when a dinosaur the size of a truck came charging at them. Fortunately, they were faster, and they dodged Stampede’s charge. They both ran for their lives. Stampede turned back to its prey, but she had escaped. Stampede snorted in annoyance. He continued on his way. There was more energy ahead…

Suddenly, it was stopped.

"You’ve drained enough energy!" Sailor Mercury said.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!"

Stampede was encased in ice, and frozen in place. The ice started to crack. Stampede’s head broke free. The rest of him followed, and he charged at Sailor Mercury.

"Screaming Blaster!"

Iyse’s attack seared the leathery skin of the Negamon. It turned away. Then, several figures appeared.

"Just in time!" Sailor Mercury said, sighing with relief.

"Protectors of this green planet…"

"Sailor Jupiter…"

"Sailor Venus…"

"Eternal Sailor Moon…"

"Have arrived to destroy you!"

Dinozore slapped his hand on his face and sighed.

"How embarrassing."

Stampede turned to the newly arrived Sailor Senshi. The scent of the creature was reminiscent of a creature that Stampede’s species was programmed to avoid; a raptor!

Disregarding Dinozore, it turned to face the biggest shape. Stampede didn’t have very good eyesight, and all it saw was a pink and white blur. It charged.

Eternal Sailor Moon, and she froze. Before Stampede could crush her, a red rose hit the ground in front of it. Stampede slowed down, decided that there was no danger and charged on, disregarding the rose.

Tuxedo Mask, standing on a building, stared in disbelief. He jumped down off the building, and pulled Eternal Sailor Moon out of the way just in time.

"Tuxedo Mask!"

"I guess roses don’t work against a lizard the size of a truck." Tuxedo Mask stated sheepishly.

Stampede kept charging, head lowered like a battering ram with horns. The others leapt out of the way.

Stampede came to a very clumsy stop, then spun and charged again. The Senshi dodged it again, but Sailor Jupiter was a little too slow. Stampede’s horn caught her Sailor outfit and it tossed her into the air. She hit the ground hard.

"Same-chan!" Dinozore shouted. "That’s it! Time to fight dinosaur with dinosaur! Raptor’s RAGE!"

Dinozore started to transform, getting larger and fiercer -looking. Stampede closed in on Sailor Jupiter, ready to smash her into a bloody pulp. Suddenly, a deafening roar shattered the calm air. Stampede bellowed in fear and turned to run.

"You stupid beast! I don’t care what that was, drain her energy and then kill her!" Opal shouted from midair, where she was hovering.

Stampede turned back. It pawed the ground, ready to charge.

Then a creature, like a dragon that had escaped the depths of humanity’s subconscious, came stomping out from behind a building. Fully 50 feet long, bearing a sail on its back like a boat from hell, came a monster. Stampede bellowed in terror. A Spinosaurus! Sailor Jupiter trembled from head to toe. She wasn’t afraid of much, but this…

The Spinosaur’s head hovered over Sailor Jupiter, snarling at the Triceratops Negamon. It took a thundering step forward.

Stampede took a step backward. Raptors were one thing, but this creature was in a league of its own.

"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!"

Sailor Venus’ attack hit Stampede, but it was too afraid to turn away from the monstrous carnosaur in front of it. The Spinosaurus breathed in deeply, then roared again.

Sailor Venus plastered herself against a wall.
"Nice dinosaur, don’t eat me please." She whimpered.

Sailor Mercury was looking through her visor and typing on her computer.

"Don’t be silly, Minako-chan. It won’t eat you."

"What? Why not? Ami-chan, tell me!"

Sailor Mercury looked at Sailor Venus and smiled.

"It’s just Dinozore."

"Dinozore!" Sailor Venus shouted, looking startled. "Oh, Raptor’s Rage. Great."

The Spinosaurus looked down at the girl beneath it. Sailor Jupiter closed her eyes, sure that she would be eaten any second.

Lita, I’m not going to hurt you. Sailor Jupiter heard a voice in her head.

Sailor Jupiter opened her eyes. The voice was familiar.

"Nick?" Sailor Jupiter asked. The Spinosaurus nodded slightly.

Sailor Jupiter sighed with relief. She was safe.

Stampede was far from safe. If it wasn’t a Negamon, it would have fled, but it had to drain energy. That was his master’s command.

The Spinosaurus snarled and surged forward. Stampede turned around and ran. At every step, the earth shook. The Spinosaur’s jaws closed on air once. Even if it was Dinozore, Sailor Venus was scared. Stampede and the Spinosaurus were heading straight for Eternal Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask.

"Serena, now’s your chance! Destroy that creature!" Tuxedo Mask said.

"But Mamo-chan-"

"Before it gets here would be good."

Eternal Sailor Moon nodded nervously.

"Okay. Silver Moon Crystal Power…"

Stampede saw the shape in its way, and felt the energy it was emitting, but preferred to face the unknown threat rather than what was after it.

"KISS!"

Stampede realized what was coming far too late. Eternal Sailor Moon’s attack tore through it, and Stampede dissolved into energy.

The Spinosaurus did not even slow down. It saw new prey…

"Sauro-chan, stop!"

At the sound of Sailor Jupiter’s voice, the Spinosaurus stopped. Though its jaws were only feet away from Eternal Sailor Moon, it did not attack.

A whip cracked the air, and sliced Sailor Jupiter’s shoulder. She screamed, and the Spinosaurus whipped its head around. Its blazing eyes focused on Opal.

"Shut up! I want Sailor Moon dead. That would make the Queen happy."

Opal slashed with her whip again, cutting across Sailor Jupiter’s hand. She cried out again.

The Spinosaurus roared in anger. Opal turned to see the Spinosaurus turn. It was looking right at her. Opal began to tremble, and it was all she could do not to run. The Spinosaurus roared, and then came thundering right for her! Opal screamed and tried to run, but Sailor Jupiter grabbed her wrist firmly.

"Oh, no. You’re not going anywhere."

Opal struggled to free herself, and finally succeeded. Just as she leapt away, the Spinosaur’s jaws snapped shut where she had been standing the instant before. It looked up and, locating her again, charged. The Spinosaurus missed Opal again, demolishing a tree. It whirled around, bludgeoning Opal with its narrow head, sending her flying into a wall. She regained her senses and hovered above the ground. The Spinosaurus reared up and snapped at the hovering woman. It flexed its claws and roared in frustration.

"I’m out of here!" Opal said, snapping her fingers. She disappeared in a flash of green light.

The Spinosaurus started to glow, and changed back into Dinozore. Dinozore de-transformed, and collapsed.

"Sauro-chan!"

Sauro stood up. "I’m okay. I think doing that uses up my energy too fast. Are you okay, Same-chan?"

Sauro touched Sailor Jupiter’s wounds, and she flinched.

"They’re nothing big, Sauro-chan. I’ll be okay. Thanks."

"Sauro-kun." Eternal Sailor Moon said, getting Sauro’s attention.

"Yes, Usagi?"

"You didn’t have to almost eat me."

"Whenever I completely transform into an animal, it’s like something comes over me."

"Until Opal did something stupid and made you REALLY mad!" Sailor Venus blurted out.

"Mako-chan is the only one who Sauro-kun will never attack in dinosaur form." Sailor Mercury said.

"Let’s go home. I think my mom will be mad if I don’t get back soon." Sailor Venus said.

"I’m in no hurry." Sailor Jupiter said. "I’m the only person in my apartment."

One by one, the Sailor Senshi de-transformed.

"Bye, Same-chan." Sauro said, giving Makoto a quick kiss goodbye.

IN THE NEO-DARK KINGDOM:

"Let me guess: you lost Stampede. What happened to you?"

"I had to escape an angry Spinosaurus." Opal said. Jadeite ran to Opal. He glared at Amberite.

"She might not have failed if you had let me go help her!" Jadeite exclaimed.

"She has to learn to take care of herself." Amberite said. "I won’t punish you this time because you spoke out of love for your wife, but I won’t be so kind next time. Don’t be so disrespectful again!"

"Yes, Queen."

"Now, find Ruby, Pearl, Kunzite, Zoicite, and Rubeus. I want to talk to them!"

Opal and Jadeite bowed. "Yes, Queen Amberite."

LATER:

Amberite sat on her throne. Rubeus was standing beside her, and Amberite’s generals stood before her.

"I have figured out how to neutralize Sailor Moon." Amberite said. She noticed that Ruby was about to speak. "Ruby, what do you have to say?"

"Amber, how will you do that?"

Ignoring Ruby, Amberite began to speak.

"The Silver Crystal has its own unique frequency. If you could create a crystal that counteracts this frequency and jams it, the Silver Crystal would not work. Hence, Sailor Moon will be unable to transform, let alone attack. All I need is the energy to create this… Anti-Silver Crystal. That’s why I needed to know how effective the Negamon were. If we target specific people and drain all of their energy, soon my plan can be implemented!"

"But what about Dinozore and the other Senshi?" Opal said.

"The Senshi without Sailor Moon are like a snake without a head. Let’s see if they’re so powerful without her!"

"I hope this works." Zoicite said. "I want to get some revenge on those Sailor Senshi, and especially Tuxedo Mask!"

"Silence, Zoicite! You’ll get your chance for revenge. But first, we must create the crystal. I can select the targets with my staff, and Opal and Jadeite will drain their energy with my Negamon. Soon, the Sailor Senshi won’t be a problem!" Amberite shouted, raising a fist to the sky. Her staff crackled with black lightning.

"Let’s see Sailor Moon stop us when she’s powerless!" Opal cackled.