Hi, everyone! The characters in this story are the property of Naoko Takeuchi. Well, the ones that aren't original (yes, there will be some in this story). I don't claim to own them, except for the original ones, of course, and I never will in these stories. Shadows From the Past by: M. H. Torringjan Part three: Allies Serena awoke the next morning to the sun shining in through her window. Her alarm clock was going off, and she was late AGAIN! She put on her uniform at lightning speed and rushed out the door in record time. On the way to school, she met Andrew, supposedly by accident. "Hey, Andrew!" Serena said. He greeted in return and fell in step with her. He had to run to keep up with her. "Serena, how long have you been Sailor Moon?" Andrew asked. "Not so loud!" Serena reprimanded. "Since that Sailor V game came out at the arcade. I had spent the day wishing that I could be like Sailor V, and I got it." "Talk about wild coincidences," Andrew said. "You're telling me," Serena responded. "So, what are you gonna' do since your arcade got trashed?" she continued, breaking that conversation in half. "I'm thinking that I might use the money that I saved up from my earnings and go back to school," Andrew said. "Go back to school after getting out of it?" Serena asked in a tone that suggested that she thought that he was doing something sacrilegious. "You must be crazy! After college, I'm out of the loop!" "So what happened to Amy and Lita after the battle last night?" Andrew asked cautiously, not knowing if he wanted to know the answer. "They got taken along with your girlfriend." "I hope that they'll be okay. They almost got themselves killed just to protect my place of business." "No, actually, it was to try and rescue your girlfriend." "Oh! I say that's just as noble a cause. Well, here's your school. I'll see you later!" The final bell rang just as Serena sat down at her desk. Molly sat off to Serena's right, and she had noticed Amy's absence. "Serena, where's Amy? She never misses a school day," Molly asked. "She called me this morning," Serena said. "Said she was feeling a bit under the weather, so she decided to stay home today. She asked me to take her all her assignments." The class quieted down as Miss Haruna entered the room. She began to call out the role call. When she got to Amy's name, there was silence that was only broken when Mrs. Haruna commented on how strange it was to have Amy absent. Ms. Haruna finished the role call, then made an announcement. "Today, everyone, we have a new student in the class. His name is Michael Cross. He's originally from New York city in the US." As he stood in front of the class, before his name was given, Serena wasn't sure if he was a guy with the long, brown hair that he wore. Well, long for a guy. He didn't have a uniform yet, so he wore a tee-shirt with a designer symbol on it and jeans. He carried around a pile of books that appeared to be science fiction. He sat down in the back of the class in the only available place, which just happened to be Amy's place behind Serena. Ms. Haruna noted that they would have to get a desk for him later on. When Ms. Haruna started teaching the math lesson for the day, Serena heard pages slowly flipping behind her. She turned to see Michael reading in his own little books. Unfortunately, Ms. Haruna noticed, too. "Michael, please stop reading and pay attention," Ms. Haruna said. The minute that she turned around again, though, Michael was flipping pages again, softer this time. Ms. Haruna heard again and turned again. "Michael, I told you to stop reading. You need to know this subject." "I'm just wondering why I have to pay attention to stuff that I already know," Michael said in faltering Japanese. "The administrators stuck me in here because I was the right age, and won't move me up. I was past this where I came from." "All right, Mister Math-whiz, if you know this so well, then why don't you show me? Solve this problem and show me the answer by the end of the lesson." Ms. Haruna put a problem on the board for Michael to copy. "End of the lesson?" Michael said in disbelief. "Not enough time?" Haruna asked sarcastically. "Too much time," Michael corrected smugly. "Time me." Michael put pencil to paper and started working. Within five minutes, he had the answer and was showing the rest of the class how to work it. "Man, Amy would love this guy," Serena said quietly to Molly. "That's very impressive, Mister Cross," Ms. Haruna said. "But I still expect you to pay attention in class." "That's about what I expected. I was treated the same way in my old class. They wanted me to pay attention when the class that I was in was too easy for me, but required for the other classes that I wanted to take. I guess that I should be happy that I'm probably the smartest person in class, but I'm just not feeling it." Before he took his seat, Ms. Haruna told him to wait outside for her. After setting the class to the next assignment, she went out to give him the usual lecture. By the time that it came to lunch, Serena was starving from the exertions that her brain had gone to try and understand everything that had been taught. Serena went out to her usual place to eat, and noticed Michael sitting off to one side alone, looking like he was talking to himself. Serena walked over to him to see what he was doing. He seemed strange enough already, what with his mouthing off to Ms. Haruna. She arrived and saw him talking to a dog. "Hello, Michael," Serena said. "Can I sit down?" "No law against it," Michael said. He didn't seem to have any food with him. "Where's your food?" Serena asked. "Is that why you came over here, to ask where my food is?" Michael asked. "Gosh, you don't have to be so mean to me! I was just wondering!" Serena said defensively. "You're right. Sorry, it's just that I've been so bitter since I moved here. We left all of my friends behind, and I don't know anyone here except for my dog and my family. I didn't want this. My life was just perfect where I came from, now I've got to start over again." "Well, look at it this way. You don't really have anything to do all day long. And at least there haven't been any rumors around about you yet. Usually, they've been going for hours by now. You should hear some of the ones that they've started about my friend, Lita." "Your friend, who?" Michael asked. "Never mind. I'll introduce you to her when she's here." "Hey, Serena!" a voice yelled from behind the pair. It was Melvin, who had snuck up behind Serena, having noticed her talking to Michael. "Hello, Michael." "Hey, Melvin," Michael said. "You know this guy?" Serena said to Melvin. "Yeah, he and I are good friends. Well, at least we know each other. I talked to him before class began. He's really cool! He knows pretty much anything you can ask him." "That's your idea of cool?" Serena asked under her breath. Melvin didn't hear as he had noticed the dog sitting off to one side. "Hello, and who's this?" he asked. "He's my dog, Rigel. Watch out, he has been known to bite strangers." Serena reached over and patted Rigel on the head. Michael watched in amazement as Rigel took the coddling he was given. "He hasn't acted that way before. Oh, well." Just then, the bell went off and everyone went inside. Before Michael could get inside, though, Ms. Haruna stopped him to take his books from him. She would give them back to him at the end of class. The next subject was history, and Serena thought that she heard Michael mutter something about the Hapsburg Empire and Richelieu before the lesson had even started. "The Wiseman says that I should brainwash these two Scouts and make them work for me," Rubeus said as he mentally floated the two incapacitated Scouts to the brain-washer. He deposited them in and turned it on. It would take only a couple of hours to work its magic on the prisoners. Wiseman had come up with a brilliant plan, but he predicted that bad things were to come. For which side, he hadn't said. Rubeus assumed that it was for the Scouts, because who would hurt their own friends, especially of the Sailor Scouts? He turned to the crowd of awaiting Droids and called one up. "Droid Punker Moto, come forth!" A Droid approached Rubeus as he stared into the Brain-washer. The Droid looked like a bizarre combination of punk and motorcycle. Rubeus was almost disgusted with the sight that he himself had created. The hair was in a razor mohawk, colored green in front, purple in the back. The jacket she wore was black leather. It bore patches promoting anything that it could get away with. The tattoos on the Droid were of skulls and crossbones, snakes, and dragons. The bike had many added features on it, including a nitro-booster, a pair of wheels that could put out razors on them, and a handle bar with a halogen headlight on it. "I want you to go after the one named Game Machine Joe," Rubeus said. "Right, boss, there'll be nothing left of him but road-kill!" Punker Moto said in an excited tone. "No! Do not kill him! Wiseman wants them all together, alive." Punker Moto teleported out after Rubeus finished his statement. "I hope that she does a better job than the last two." At the end of the school day, Serena exited the building, then waited for Michael to do the same. Michael came out about five minutes later, then met his dog at the door. He didn't have any homework, as Serena could tell by the shuffling of books at his desk before the end of class. Serena met him as he was coming down the stairs. "Michael!" Serena greeted. "Hi, Serena. What are you waiting for? If I were you, I wouldn't have stayed here for all the tea in China." "I remembered what you said earlier about not having many friends here, so I decided to help you out with that. I want you to meet some of my friends." "What? I figured that you'd be asking for my help on the homework for tonight," Michael said sarcastically. "But really, I'd really like to meet your friends. That might help to salvage this day. Where are they?" "Wait just a minute." Serena dropped behind Michael and took out her communicator to call the others quietly. She arranged to meet the other two Scouts at the Hikawa Shrine. "We'll meet them at the Hikawa Shrine." She and Michael made their way to the Temple, where they met with Mina and Raye. "This is why you call us here?" Raye asked after they had been introduced to Michael. "Well, this guy tells me that he's having trouble meeting friends, so I figure that I'll help him," Serena explained. "But we thought that you had a real problem or something," Raye continued. "You shouldn't have called us here for nothing! We're supposed to be doing something important, remember? Or did you forget with the limited space in that empty cave called a head?" "Hey! I'm not stupid! I've got proof! Michael, didn't I do good in class today?" "Yes, but you could have done better," Michael answered from where he stood by the door. "See? I'm not as dumb as you think!" "You don't know how dumb I think you are," Raye pointed out. "Hey! Stop being mean!" Just then, Serena and Raye looked out at the street and saw Game Machine Joe run past the entrance. "What's with him?" Raye asked. "Maybe he's taken up jogging because the arcade was demolished," Serena suggested. Suddenly, the girls heard a sound like a motorcycle coming down the side walk. A blur went past the gate, and the four of them heard Joe scream. Serena, Mina, Artemis, and Raye rushed out onto the road. At the corner, they saw the thing that had rushed past the gate grab Joe and teleport him away. When the girls looked back to see where Michael had gone, he had disappeared. "He looks like my old boyfriend," Mina said. Serena and Raye sighed at Mina saying Lita's catch phrase. They made a quick sweep to see that the road was clear, and they transformed. "Moon Crystal Power!" "Mars Star Power!" "Venus Star Power!" The three Sailor Scouts were soon joined by a very angry Droid, raring for an attack. It got down on its wheels and prepared to accelerate towards its targets. Just as it began to speed up to ramming speed, a black figure jumped from the wall surrounding the Temple above and landed on the head of the Droid. It was Luna, doing something to contribute. The Droid lost its vision and swerved at the last minute. It hit a wall and fell onto its side. When it stood up on its hind legs, it saw the attack coming from Venus. "Venus Love Chain, Encircle!" Venus yelled out. A chain was tied around the Droid's wheels and feet. It fell to the ground, helpless. Well, almost helpless. From its hands, it shot spikes, which pinned the three girls to the wall. Venus lost her concentration and dropped the chain. The Droid got up and bent over. Its mohawk started to spin, becoming a deadly blade. It moved closer to the Scouts, and was about to cut the Scouts when a razor-sharp card smacked it in the face. The blade stopped spinning, and the Droid looked up. "It might be a good idea to leave those girls alone," a mystery figure said from the tree. The figure jumped from the tree and landed on his feet about five feet from the Droid. He was wearing a school-like uniform colored purple with a purple hat on. "Who's this guy?" Mars asked. "It sure isn't Tuxedo Mask," Moon replied. "He's another Sailor Scout," Luna answered. A dog jumped down from the tree after its master. The dog seemed vaguely familiar, Sailor Moon thought. She had seen it earlier that day. "Sailor Europa," the dog answered. "Rigel! I never thought that I'd see you again," Luna said. Serena thought that she heard Luna mutter something under her breath about keeping it that way. "Rigel, how'd you get here?" Artemis asked. He didn't seem too happy about the dog's presence. "It's a long story. I'll tell you later, like when we're not trying to kill or be killed by a creature," Rigel answered. "How'd you get into that tree, at least?" Luna asked. "Europa dragged me up there. He wanted a dramatic entrance," Rigel said with disgust. "That's going to get someone hurt one of these days. I'm just glad that we were where we were when we were, or else you three might have been feeding some Nega-scum right about now." "That's enough, Rigel," Europa said. "Let's teach this guy the power of the Sailor Scouts!" "Just remember, this is your first real battle in about a thousand years, so don't get carried away." "Okay, Europa Earth, Drop!" A large boulder fell from the sky, pinning the Droid, screaming and kicking, to the concrete. "That was easy enough. Can we go home now?" "Just like you always are. How many times do I have to tell you? Impatience breeds messiness. Don't get messy!" Rigel said to his prodigy. "All right, all right!" Europa said, turning to free the Scouts. As he freed Venus, he paused. "This feels so familiar. Any explanations, Rigel?" "Yes, but they don't matter right now. I'll explain it to everyone later." Luna and Artemis just sat off to one side, watching this whole scene unfold before their eyes. Memories were flooding back by the moment. "Man, can you say, 'authority figure'?" Sailor Moon said, in awe of the the clear show of who was the master of that relationship. She couldn't decide if Sailor Europa was Michael in real life. There couldn't be that many people with dogs named Rigel, so far as Moon knew. "I'll say!" Mars agreed. "Who wants to take the Droid out?" "I will," Serena said, taking her Moon Scepter out of her subspace pocket. "Moon Scepter, Elimination!" A blast, with the energy equal to that of exploding jet fuel focused into a small area, hit the Droid and disintegrated it within a few seconds. The Droid disappeared, leaving only his mo-hawk and the pile of earth that had been dropped on him. Europa waved his hands, and the earth disappeared as abruptly as the Droid had. "Moon Dusted!" "I'm getting majorly ticked at this brat!" Rubeus raged as he went to turn the brain-washer off. The two Scouts would be about finished in there by that time. Rubeus had estimated that the two would take a shorter time than they had, assuming that they didn't have much of a brain to wash. "Well, my secret weapons are almost finished, so I'll soon have my revenge! I don't think that this new Scout will cause me any trouble." Rubeus opened the door to the Brain washer, and the two Scouts stepped out. Their outfits had changed, and wherever there had been white, there was black. The crystals in their tiaras had changed to a swirl of their original colors and black. Their hairdos were a bit mussed from the brain-washing techniques used on them, but looked a bit more out of place than usual. "We are ready for our orders, Master Rubeus," Mercury said in a sinister tone. "I have no orders as of yet," Rubeus said, a smile crossing his lips. "Await my orders in the prisoner room." The girls left, and Rubeus stood in place for a couple of moments, pondering the endless possibilities of the recent turns of events. "Thanks for that save there, Europa," Moon said. Mars looked around to see if anyone would see them transform back to their original forms. "No problem, guys!" Europa said. He was glancing around as well. He was glad to have his long pants on the cold day, but he wanted to get out of them as quickly as was possible. Moon was the first one to revert to her normal form. Europa stared as he saw Serena emerge from the flash of light that accompanied reverting. Mars was next, and Europa saw Raye standing there after a few moments. Venus was the final one, and Europa gaped as Mina stood in her place a few seconds later. "Well, Mister Mystery," Mina said impatiently, "We're waiting." A flash of light, and they saw Michael step forth to meet them. "I knew it!" Serena exclaimed. "There can't be that many dogs named Rigel in this city! Why didn't you tell me?" "Because I didn't know that you were Sailor Moon," Michael said. "And because we didn't know who we could trust with this secret. In my old home, I only found one person, and that was my ex-girlfriend." "We need to talk, everyone," Rigel said, leading the way back into the courtyard of the Temple. They went off to one side, and Rigel began to tell them the history of Europa. "During the Silver Millennium, the planets and their moons were all involved with the Moon Kingdom somehow. One moon, in particular, was an exclusive example of them. This was Europa, moon of Jupiter. Europa was autonomous, and the leader had no responsibility to the other planets what so ever. The leaders liked it this way until Prince Michael got control. He formed an alliance with the Moon. Everyone in the Solar System had different expectations of what Europa would be like. Some thought that he would be a just ruler, maybe better than Serenity herself. Others thought that he would be worse than Beryl. "People liked, for some odd reason, to speculate upon which Princess he would get together with. Most expected him to fall for the Princess of Jupiter, but he secretly held resignations about her. He thought that she was too tom- boyish to love." Serena got a giggle out of that. It did seem like a good description of Lita at times. Rigel continued, "Europa was a very ardent lover of the arts, and one day, while at a poetry reading on the Moon, he met the Princess of Venus. He shocked the populous when he started showing up at all functions with Venus. Rumors started quickly that the guardian Artemis began to become jealous at the attention that Venus was showing to Europa." "None of which were true," Artemis said defensively. Rigel paused to make sure that there were no other running commentaries. "Europa wasn't only a prince, but he was also a member of the group of fighters known as Sailor Scouts. He got the other Scouts out of many jams from time to time. He and Venus quickly evolved from casual friends to lovers because of the times that he had saved her in particular." "Sound familiar?" Raye asked Serena. "What?" Serena said. Rigel seemed to be getting frustrated with the number of times that he was being interrupted. "When it came time for the final battle with the Negaverse, he was called away, as many of the other warriors had been, to fight the Negaverse on the Terran front. Of course, he was put in the front of the battle, and, being one of the most envied generals for the Moon Kingdom, he fell to betrayal. Serenity could not stand to have one of her finest warriors and allies destroyed, so she sent him into the future. To prevent the grief of Venus, she never told her of what had happened to her love. That's how we got here. I was sent with him to be his guardian. I was born to one of his dogs, and it was fate for me to be with him. "On his thirteenth birthday, I introduced him to his powers and told him most of the story that I have just told you all. I never expected to find you here, though. Or this soon. The instant that we arrived here off of the plane, I could sense the unmistakable force of the other Scouts. That was about a week ago. I decided that I would give him a day or two to rest before I made him get suited back up. He is well trained in his powers and knows the powers of all the others. He has knowledge of the enemies which we fight against today, or at least, what I know about them." Rigel paused to let all this sink in to the others. Michael was getting restless, as usual, like he always did when forced to listen to things that he knew. He had expressed that earlier that day, and wasn't very happy with himself. Rigel turned to the others and paid special attention to the cats. He had been trying for all his life to get used to not chasing cats, expecting this day to come. It was hard to suppress his natural instincts, though. He was able to hold himself back for fifteen minutes tops. Luna and Artemis jumped into Serena's and Mina's laps to put some height between them and Rigel. She and Artemis had hated that dog so much back during the Silver Millennium. He had neglected to mention that the dog had never once given the cats a moment of peace. He had always been chasing them up trees or scaring them out of their wits. The cats and that dog were complete enemies. Of course, things did seem to have changed, momentarily at the least. "So, what you're saying is that I used to love this girl?" Michael asked, moving closer to Mina. "I can get used to that." "Well, if that's it," Serena said, "I've got to get home, or Mom'll blow a gasket at my being late." Luna could tell that something was wrong with Serena. She stood up to follow Serena out the front gate. As they got to Serena's house, Serena began to cry. "Serena, what's wrong?" Rini asked from where she had been hiding in the bushes. "What are you doing back there?" Serena asked, trying to hide the fact that she had been crying. "Hiding from Sammy. He's being a jerk again. You're lucky. He hasn't gone after you yet, although I guess that he's probably planning something unspeakably evil at this moment." Serena wondered where Rini had figured out how to talk like that. "Now what's wrong?" "I don't think you'd understand," Serena said, rushing inside to her room with Luna in close tow. Serena closed her door and stayed in her room for the rest of the night. Luna wondered what was wrong with her this time. "Rena, what's wrong? You're not your regular perky old self tonight," Luna said. "It's nothing, it's just that Mina has Michael, Amy has Greg, and Raye has Chad. I'm the only one who's not happy anymore, and it's all because of Darien." "Now, Rena," Luna began. "I'm sure that Darien had some good reason for what he did. He'll make it clear what he wants when he wants to. Trust me here on this one. You should be happy, because you have a guy who'll always love you. He already has for two lifetimes. Nothing will make him leave you short of impending disaster, which you two would fight together." "You know what, Luna? You're right! I feel much better now!" Serena said unenthusiastically. Luna could tell that she was lying. "I just wish he would just tell me what was wrong." "Good, because it's time for bed!" Luna said. "What?" Serena asked, thoroughly confused. "It's only nine o'clock!" "Well, hearing how that dog acted around his Sailor Scout got me to thinking. If I treat you more like he treats Michael, then maybe you'll improve!" "You've got some sort of rivalry going on with this dog, don't you?" Serena asked. Luna looked away nervously. "He didn't tell you, but the cat guardians and he were enemies of each other. He always rubbed it in the faces of me and Artemis that his Scout had saved our Scouts so many times. He wouldn't only do that, but he would chase us around the place, just like a normal dog would to normal cats." "That's too bad, but I don't think that you should try to match him if we've gotten this far with you doing it the way that you have." "But, my, how you have cut it close some number of times." "Well, if you insist, I'll go to sleep." Serena changed into her pajamas and turned the lights off. "Good night, Luna." "Good night, Serena." End of part three Next part: The Cold Shoulder Well, How'd you like it? How about your opinion. E-mail- jmh6187@uncwil.edu. I'll take comments about characters, flames, and most anything else. See you next time!