SMAV (Sailor Moon Alternate Vision)
Book One - Four Pawns and a King
by JP Buckner
ajaff@srv.net
http://onewest.net/~ajaff/manff.htm

Naoko Takeuchi created sailor Moon. All rights to these 
characters belong to Ms. Takeuchi and all relevant business 
partners and associates.

"Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" written by Burt Bacharach and 
Hal David

Kudos to all of the creative individuals who worked on the 
episode dealt with in this chapter.

Chapter Two - The Secret of the Lunar Sphere



"Help me! Mommy, help me!"

She ran. To where, she did not know, she could not see a thing 
around her other than blackness. Only the darkness was with her. 
If only that was all she felt. There was a presence here that 
worried her. So she did the only thing she could of. She ran.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared before her, and he was there. 
She did not know who he was. She just knew, somehow she knew, 
that he was Bad. Not just bad, but Bad.

"Stay away from me!" She screamed loud, at the top of her lungs, 
hoping he would leave. Hoping her mommy would hear her.

"Running is useless, Small Lady. There is no escape for you. Come 
with me now."

"Stay away from me! Mommy taught me never to go with strangers."

He began to laugh. "Stop this foolishness, Small Lady. You know 
who I am. You know what I want. End this, you cannot resist us, 
you cannot resist me. Our powers are stronger than yours are. You 
will not escape. No one escapes the Grim Man." Again he laughed, 
and she turned and ran. She ran into the darkness.

Soon, she could see something in the darkness. It was home, but 
it wasn't. Her home, her beautiful home was dark, wrong, sick. 

This scared her more than the blackness. So she screamed, she 
screamed and she ran. It was all she felt she could do.

"Mommy! Help me, Mommy, the bad people are after me. I don't know 
what to do!"

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

Prince Diamond sat in his throne, a glass of wine in his hand.
Taking a sip of his brew, he looked out over the throne room, to 
where his brother and Emerald stood.

"This escapade has gone on long enough. Perhaps attacking the 
child in her dreams will get me the Crystal."

"Of course, my Prince. Surely, the Grim Man dare not fail."

He had better fail, Emerald told herself. If he succeeds, then I 
won't have the chance to gain the Crystal for Prince Diamond 
myself. One day, my Prince, one day I will be your Queen.

Sapphire slowly began to fume. Surely my brother cannot be fooled 
by this display. He decided it was best to draw the attention 
away from this... this... woman.

"Brother, do we really need the Crystal? Crystal Tokyo is ours.
The Queen and her champions cannot oppose us. We have won the 
war, brother, there is no need for this exercise to continue."

Diamond tossed back his head, and sighed. "Wiseman, attend me!"

In a split second, the shape of a strange robed man, hunched over 
a crystal ball of power appeared. "My Prince, you summoned me?"

"You heard?" Though a question, Prince Diamond meant it as a 
statement.

"Yes, my Prince. Sapphire is wrong. As long as the Queen is not 
in our power, there is danger. You must not underestimate her 
power, or that of her subjects. They defeated you once, do you 
not remember."

Diamond cringed at that, hating the reminder of his earlier 
defeat.

"You will have the Queen under your control, Prince, but only 
with the help of the Crystal. Only its power can give you 
complete victory over your enemies."

Sapphire loudly scoffed. "Surely the power of the Dark Gate you 
are always rambling on about is enough. Or are you admitting 
these people are too much even for you, Wiseman?"

A blackened finger found its way out of the robe, and slowly 
pointed towards Sapphire. "Do not mock me. The power of the Dark 
Gate is far more powerful than you can imagine. I have not gone 
through all of this to be stopped by some pip-squeak coward who 
sees himself as a man."

"Enough!" Diamond spoke the word with authority, quickly 
regaining control of the moment. "Remember, Wiseman, you are 
aiding us. You approached us, and you are working on our account. 
Do not presume to speak to a member of the Royal Family that 
way."

Wiseman quickly lowered his head. "Of course, Your Highness. 
Excuse my presumption."

Diamond nodded in reply. "That is enough for now. We shall wait 
and watch the Grim Man's progress. Emerald, you will be ready in 
case he does not succeed?"

"Yes, my Prince."

"Then that is all." With that, Prince Diamond watched as Wiseman 
vanished, followed by Emerald and Sapphire's departure by less 
theatrical means.

As they exited the royal chamber, Emerald leaded over to Sapphire 
and whispered. "Nicely done. Either you've gotten Wiseman totally 
pissed off at you, or he really, really likes you. Next time 
you'll learn when to keep your big mouth shut."

At which point, she began to laugh. As Sapphire watched Emerald 
depart, he wondered if there was any noise in the universe that 
annoyed him more than Emerald's laugh. For the life of him, he 
couldn't think of one.

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

Serena was at a loss for words. She was sitting close to her bed, 
where Rini now lay. Serena's eyes were loaded with tears. Even 
after three days, she found the tears were easy to come by.

Looking around the room, Serena saw her friends there. Even 
though Molly was her oldest and dearest friend, the girls sitting 
here shared something with Serena that Molly never could. Well, 
most of them, anyway.

This new girl, she seemed so strange. She seemed so... familiar? 
Serena hadn't told anyone else, but there was something about Jai 
that tugged at her. It was if her heart knew her, even if she did 
not.

Serena watched as Jai sat next to Rini, on the opposite side of 
the bed. Three days ago, Rini had collapsed in Darien's apartment 
with Jai present, and the strange girl had not left Rini's side 
since.

"Three days. It's been three days, and she still isn't any 
better." Serena turned to Mina, and began to wail. "Oh, Mina, 
what are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Serena."

Rei harshly addressed Serena. "Can the hysterics, will you 
Serena?"

"I am not hysterical! I am just concerned, that's all."

Jai couldn't sit still anymore, and turned to Rei. "Leave her 
alone, Rei! This is very hard on her, give her a break. I think 
she's holding up quite well, considering."

Rei snorted. "Like I care what YOU think. If it were up to me, 
you wouldn't even be in the same room with Rini right now. I 
think you had something to do with this."

"Say what?"

Rei grinned; she had obviously touched a nerve. "Look at the 
facts. This happened right after you showed up. You were with her 
when it happened, and you haven't left her side since, during 
which she hasn't gotten any better. What were you doing at 
Darien's apartment anyway? I bet you were trying to steal 
Serena's boyfriend away from her."

Jai's face turned beet red, and she began to mash her teeth. Had 
Ami and Lita not been sitting between her and Rei, she likely 
would have been at the girl's throat in an instant.

"Now listen here, I don't know what your problem is, but get this 
straight. One, Darien broke up with Serena. Two, I have no 
interest in the boy myself. Now you, on the other hand, that's a 
different story. The two of you did date, did you not? I bet you 
can't wait to get your claws in him again.

"And three, I had nothing to do with this. Nothing. Rini's a good 
kid, and it hurts me to see her like this. So get off of your 
high horse, and give me a break!"

Rei's eyes shot daggers in Jai's direction. "Oh, I'll give you a 
break. Leg, arm, neck if you prefer."

The two were now standing, eye to eye, with only their two 
friends between them. "Oh, I'll tell you what I prefer. I prefer 
to shut your big mouth once and for all!"

Mina had enough, and jumped up yelling. "Will you two stop this?
You can fight each other later, but now we need to concentrate on 
Rini. Truce?"

Jai looked at Mina sadly for a moment, then she let loose a great 
sigh. "All right, truce. For Rini."

"Agreed, for Rini." Rei agreed, but her gaze did not take its 
leave of the new girl for a second.

As she sat down, Mina exchanged glances with Lita. Silently they 
passed each other the same message. I can't believe it; this Jai 
is almost as volatile as Rei.

Serena looked over towards Jai. "She's going to be okay, right? 
The doctors said she should just rest. Everything is going to be 
okay, right?"

Jai gave Serena a small smile. "I'm sure she'll be fine. I know 
you're worried."

"Worried? About this little fungus?"

Jai slowly nodded.

"Well, she does kinda grow on you."

"That's what a fungus does, Serena." Jai watched as Serena turned 
her attention back towards Rini. You know, Serena, you're not 
fooling anyone, she told herself.

Everyone's attention turned back towards Rini. After a few 
moments she began to stir, and started to speak.

"Help me! I'm so afraid. Please, help me. Luna P, help me!"

In a corner of the room, the cat sphere that Rini carried around 
with her everywhere began to glow. It slowly began to levitate 
from the ground, and slowly moved towards the bed, hovering over 
Rini.

"What the..." Before Lita could get any more words out, the 
sphere began to glow, and soon the room was inundated with a 
bright light. At first, the girls, as well as Luna and Artemis 
who were also present were blinded, but slowly their sight 
returned to them.

In the center of the light, they saw a strange looking girl, 
dressed in the appropriate Sailor gear.

"Are you, are you the one Rini called Luna P?"  Serena was 
incredulous. Or she would be, if she knew what the word meant.

The girl smiled, and responded in a soft and restrained tone. 
"Yes, Sailor Moon. Let me introduce myself. I am..."

Before she got the words out, Jai spooke up. "If I am not 
mistaken she is Sailor Pluto."

"That is correct."

The Scouts all shared glances with each other.

"Wow," Mina couldn't believe it. "Another Sailor Scout."

"The Princess of Pluto," Luna whispered to Artemis. "I know of 
her, of course, but this is the first time I've ever seen her."

Artemis simply nodded.

Jai readdressed the Scouts. "She is the guardian of time and 
space."

Rei gave Jai a slight smirk. "So, you two are old friends?"

Jai shook her head. "I never saw her before."

The Scouts faces went into massive face-fault mode.

"Then how?"

Jai shrugged her shoulders. "I just knew. That's all I can tell 
you."

Pluto turned her attention to Jai. "You know, that statement 
before was not accurate. You have seen me before. You just do not 
remember it, Princess of Saturn."

Jai rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Pluto smiled. "One day, perhaps you will remember, my friend. Who 
can say what the future brings?"

"You, for starters."

Pluto smiled. "I could say. But I won't. People should not know 
too much about their own future. Such is my burden, I know so 
much about all of you, but I cannot tell you."

Rei interrupted. "I hate to break this up, but what about Rini? 
Can you help her?"

"I cannot. It is up to you to save the Small Lady. You must save 
her."

"The Small Lady?" Serena asked.

"She must mean Rini." Mina offered.

"An agent of your enemies has invaded her dreams. Unless you go 
into the Small Lady's dream, and stop the Grim Man, she will be 
lost to us. You must help her. I can help you enter her dreams, 
there it will be up to you."

Serena stood up, a determined look in her eye. "I'll do it. I'd 
do anything for Rini."

In unison, the rest of the Scouts nodded in affirmation.

Serena smiled. "Then we'll all go."

"Not all of us."

Everyone turned their attention towards Rei.

"I said not everyone. Not HER." At which pointed towards Jai.

"Rei..." Ami began to argue, but she was cut off.

"She's not a Scout! She was offered, but refused, to be one. She 
can't come."

Ami began to argue again, until she felt Jai's hand on her 
shoulder.

"Ami, Rei's right."

Rei blinked hard. "Huh, I am? Of course I am!"

Ami shook her head in disbelief. "Jai, Rini's your friend too."

Jai looked at Ami with determined eyes. "Ami, I'm not a Scout. I 
don't belong in this fight. I would only get in the way. 
It's best I stay here. I can watch over her here, while the rest 
of you are doing what must be done."

Ami nodded. "Okay, I guess I understand. While we are gone, there 
is something you can do."

"And what would that be?"

Ami reached into her bag, and pulled out a large batch of papers.
"This is a test I prepared for you. Remember, I told you I was 
going to do this. It will keep you occupied while we are gone. I 
have your blood type, now I want to know where you stand 
academically."

Rei scoffed. "You have her blood type? I hope it's not the same 
as mine. I wouldn't even want to share THAT with her."

Ami shook her head. "No, Rei. Her type is type O."

Lita grinned. "Cool. Just like Serena's and mine."

Jai grinned. "Same as it was before I came here."

Mina asked, "Came here from where?"

Jai turned towards Mina. "Somewhere else."

Rei's eyes rolled towards the heavens. "Enough. Can we get going 
already?"

Pluto spoke up. "Yes, you must hurry. The Small Lady needs you."

Serena's face became serious, and she responded. "Okay then, 
let's go!"

Jai blinked repeatedly as she watched the Scouts disappear from 
the room. Shaking her head, she sat down, and began to go over 
the test that Ami had given her.

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

Ruins. Everywhere they looked; they saw the ruins of what seemed 
to once be a great city. It was dark, and still, and quiet. Of 
everything, it was probably the quiet that disturbed the Scouts 
the most.

"We must be in Rini's dream." Serena looked around, in total 
shock over the sight in front of her.

Rei couldn't believe the sight in front of her. "It's so dismal."

Serena agreed. "It's like totally wasted."

Lita shook her head in disgust. "This must have been a beautiful 
place, once."

"It seems so familiar," Ami added. "Do you think this is Tokyo in 
the future?"

"Not much of a future," Lita replied.

Rei tried to put on a smile. "Come on, guys. This isn't really 
the future, it's just Rini's dream, right?"

Serena's eyes cast their ways downward. "Poor kid, to have a 
dream like this."

The once and future princess stopped short as she heard a distant 
cry.

"Mommy! Where are you, Mommy?"

Turning back to her friends, Serena said, "That sounds like Rini.
Let's go."

The Scouts followed the sound of Rini's voice to a desolate 
building. Slowly opening a door, they found the young girl 
sitting all alone in the dark.

"Rini, are you okay?" Serena asked.

Turning towards the Scouts, Rini replied, "Don't call me Rini. 
Call me Small Lady. Who are you?"

"It's me, Serena. Rini, what's going on."

"I don't know you. I don't know any of you. Leave me alone."

"You don't know me? Rini, what's going on?"

Ami quietly spoke up. "I think I have an idea. We're in her 
dream, right?"

Serena and the other Scouts nodded.

"Well, maybe this dream is about before she came to us. Maybe 
this dream-self hasn't met us yet."

Rei's eyes began to glaze over. "This is so confusing, my head is 
starting to hurt."

Rini interrupted their musings. "Are you still here? Why don't 
you wide-eyed weirdoes go away and leave me alone?" 

Rini turned and ran, trying to escape from the newcomers. "It's 
bad enough I have The Bad Man after me, now I've got a bunch of 
weirdoes as well. Oh, Mommy, help me."

Turning a corner, she stopped andd tried to hide. She breathed 
heavily, trying to catch her breath. Slowly, she saw a shadow 
appear before her, and she knew HE was back.

"Surprised to see me, Small Lady? Don't be. You can run all you 
want, but I am everywhere. There is no escape from me, so just 
tell where the Crystal is, and I'll go easy on you."

"The Crystal? I don't know what you're talking about! Leave me 
alone!"

"Don't toy with me, Small Lady. Not unless you are prepared to 
face the consequences." The Grim Man quickly moved, swinging a 
scythe in an arcing motion, barely missing the child.

"Next time, I won't miss. Now tell me where the Crystal is!"

The Scouts turned the corner, and saw The Grim Man threaten the 
child. Mina quickly spoke up.

"She's in trouble. We'd better transform, and quick!"

Four pens and one crystal compact later, where stood five 
teenaged girls now stood Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts. 
Finishing her transformation, Sailor Moon pointed at the Grim 
Man, and spoke.

"I am Sailor Moon. I stand for love and justice. You take a dream 
and turn it into a nightmare. It is time that you got a wake up 
call."

"You're a pompous twit aren't you?" Suddenly, The Grim Man threw 
his scythe towards the Scouts. "Catch," he challenged.

The Scouts had little time to move, but somehow they barely 
managed to jump back from the twirling blade.

The Grim Man began to laugh. "You may have been able to defeat
Rubeus, girl, but I am The Grim Man, and this is my realm. It 
will take more than mere words to defeat me.

Mars' eyes began to flare. "Then you'll get more than words! Mars
Celestial Fire Surround!"

Venus joined in as well, adding a Venus Love Chain Encircle. Both 
attacks moved quickly towards The Grim Man. Both did nothing.

Shaking their heads in disbelief, the Scouts watched the 
unscathed Grim Man laugh at them.

"You fools! I am stronger than all of you combined! You cannot 
defeat me! Now, stand aside, and let do what I came here for. 
There is time to deal with all of you later."

Mars turned towards Sailor Moon. "Sailor Moon, take Rini and get 
out of here. We'll try to hold him off as best we can. Protect 
Rini."

Sailor Moon nodded, and turned towards Rini. As she approached 
the young girl, Rini screamed and ran away.

"Rini, come back!" Sailor Moon began to run, chasing after Rini. 
The remaining Scouts turned, and focused their attention on The 
Grim Man.

"We'll see who is stronger, when we attack you with all of our 
powers."

The Grim Man continued to laugh. "Oh, this should be fun. At your 
expense. Come on, bring it on."

As this was transpiring, Rini ran, and ran. She had to find a 
place that was safe, safe from the strange people after her. 
Stopping for a moment to catch her breath, she turned around to 
see the odd girl standing there.

"Why are you bothering me? Can all of you just leave me alone?"

Sailor Moon began to approach Rini. "Rini, please, we're here to 
help you."

"I don't believe you! You're one of the bad people. You want to 
hurt me like you hurt my mommy!"

Trying her best to calm the young girl down, Sailor Moon smiled 
as best as she could under the circumstances. "No, Rini, we're 
your friends. I'm your friend. I don't want to hurt you or your 
mommy. I want to help you."

Rini's eyes went bright with hope. "You want to help mommy? Come 
with me, please help mommy."

Sailor Moon followed, as Rini walked through the streets of this 
strange place. Eventually she found herself standing in front of 
a large spire of crystal.

"What is this place?"

Rini turned towards Sailor Moon. "This is the Crystal Place. My 
mommy is trapped inside. Please, help her."

Sailor Moon began to approach the spire. All of a sudden, Rini 
stopped her.

"Wait. Watch." Picking up a loose stone, Rini tossed it towards 
the spire, and Sailor Moon watched as it stuck some kind of dark 
barrier.

"The bad people, they did this. No one can get in. Mommy is 
trapped in there."

"Well, let's do something about that, okay?" With that, Sailor 
Moon opened her locket, and tried to concentrate on the power of 
the crystal inside.

Rini watched this wide-eyed. She couldn't believe what she was 
seeing. "That crystal, where did you get it?"

Sailor Moon continued to concentrate, focusing on the crystal, 
and the dark barrier in front of her. Slowly, she began to walk 
towards the barrier, all the while feeling the power of the 
crystal surround her.

Tentatively, she reached the barrier, and stopped. I hope this 
works, she thought to herself. Ever so slowly, she took a step.

Rini watched in awe as the power of the crystal met the power of 
the barrier. She saw a white light surround the stranger, and saw 
as this light penetrated the barrier, creating a doorway of 
bright light. The strange girl, surrounded by the light, turned 
towards her and smiled.

"Hurry, Rini. We can go inside now. But quickly, I don't know how 
much longer I can hold this."

Unsure of whether she could trust thhis girl, Rini froze. After a 
few seconds, her concern for her mother overrode her distrust, 
and she moved towards the doorway. Each step she took fueled her 
resolve, and before she knew it, she was inside.

Glancing up, she saw the girl looking down at her, a goofy smile 
on her face. In time, she asked, "You didn't answer me before. 
Where did you get that crystal?"

Sailor Moon looked and saw the look of awe and of curiosity on 
Rini's face. "It was my mothers. Come, let's go see to your 
mother."

Before they knew it, they found themselves in a chamber. Sailor 
Moon looked out, and saw a figure lying there, encased in some 
kind of crystal. The crystal made it difficult for her to see the 
figure within, and she could not make out any details. She could 
just tell that a young woman lay there, nothing more.

Rini looked up at Sailor Moon. "You say you're my friend. But I 
don't know you. How can you be my friend?"

"I am your friend. I am Sailor Moon, and we are friends. Rini, 
listen to me. This isn't real. This isn't your home. This is just 
a dream. You aren't really here. Your mother isn't really here."

"A... a... dream?"

Sailor Moon nodded. "Yes, Rini, just a dream. The Grim Man, he's 
in your dream to try to hurt you. Do you know why? Do you know 
what's going on here?"

Rini shook her head. "I don't know. All I remember is that my 
mommy needs help. And the bad people want me. Why won't they just 
leave me alone? What do they want? Wake up mommy, she can save 
us. She can save us all."

A sigh escaped Sailor Moon's lips. Slowly, she crouched down to 
her knees, being sure to look Rini straight in the eyes. "Rini, 
listen to me. That's not your mommy in there. Remember, this is a 
dream. Your mommy, she's out there in the real world, and she 
needs your help. Our help. But before we can help her we have to 
deal with The Grim Man. He's real. Until we deal with him, there 
is nothing we can do for your mommy. Do you understand?"

"I think so."

A smile came to Sailor Moon's face. "Good. Now let's go back, and 
teach that guy not to mess with a young girl's dreams. Okay?"

Rini slowly nodded, and followed Sailor Moon out of the chamber, 
and back towards where they had left the others.

As they neared the place, Rini's eyes got large as she watched a 
major battle in front of her. Well, it would be a battle if it 
weren't so one-sided. The other girls that came with Sailor Moon 
were all attacking The Grim Man, but none of the attacks were 
doing a thing. The Grim Man, he just stood there, laughing as the 
attacks landed ineffectively. Occasionally, he would slash with 
his blade, and Rini would watch in horror, as one of the girls 
would just barely dodge the attack. They're fighting The Bad Man, 
Rini told herself. Even though they don't stand a chance, they 
are fighting him. Maybe they are my friends.

One of the girls, the shorthaired one, rushed over to where Rini 
and Sailor Moon stood. Rini watched as she could see defeat in 
the eyes of the girl. She tried to pay attention as the girl and 
Sailor Moon talked.

"Mercury, what's happening?"

"It's no use, Sailor Moon. All of us have tried our best to fight 
him, but none of our attacks have any effect on him at all. It's 
as though he has some kind of special protection in this plane of 
existence."

Sailor Moon shook her head. "Why would he have protection here. 
This is Rini's dream, he should be just as vulnerable here as we 
are."

Slowly, a light came on in Mercury's eyes. "Wait a minute! That's 
it! This is Rini's dream!"

Sailor Moon just looked straight ahead, like a deer in the 
headlights. "Huh? I don't understand."

Sailor Mercury leaned over to Rini, and asked her, "Do you know 
who I am?"

Rini shook her head.

Sailor Moon smiled, "Rini, this is my friend, Sailor Mercury. 
She's your friend too. All of us are your friends."

Mercury again addressed Rini. "You understand that this is a 
dream, don't you, Rini? This isn't real, this is your dream."

"That's... that's what Sailor Moon told me."

"That's right, this is YOUR dream. You have the power here, Rini, 
not him. This is your realm, not his."

Sailor Moon began to understand what Mercury was saying, and she 
piped in. "That's right, Rini. Right now, you believe he can't be 
beat, so in your dream he can't. But if you believe we can beat 
him, we can. If you believe in us, he doesn't stand a chance."

Rini looked at Sailor Moon, then glanced towards where The Grim 
Man was fighting the other girls. Watching the onslaught, she 
just shook her head. "He's just too powerful."

"Listen to me, Rini." Sailor Moon leaned over, and brought her 
face down so it was on a level plane with Rini's face. "I know 
you don't remember any of us right now, but you've seen us battle 
tough foes many times. We've beaten the likes of him, over and 
over again. You even helped us in our last fight. We can do this. 
You just have to trust us. You just have to believe."

"I... I... I want to believe, I do. But..." Rini looked deep into
Sailor Moon's eyes, and saw something there, something... 
familiar. I... I do know you. I don't know where, but I do know 
you.

Tears began to cascade down Rini's face. She watched as the woman 
in front of her showed signs of worry and concern. I know that 
look, I do. I... I...

For a moment, Rini saw the woman she knew as Luna-P appear before 
her. "Yes, Small Lady. You can believe in Sailor Moon, and her 
friends. Believe in them."

Any hesitation left in the girl disappeared, looking once more at
Sailor Moon's face, she knew. She knew she could trust her.

"I believe in you, Sailor Moon."

Sailor Moon grinned at that. "And my friends? Do you believe in 
them? They're your friends too, you know."

Rini looked over towards Sailor Mercury, then over towards the 
other girls fighting HIM. "Yes, I believe."

Rini watched in awe as one of the girls, the one with long black 
hair, threw what looked like a fireball towards The Grim Man. 
Rini had seen her try this before, but this time...

The flame hit The Grim Man square in the chest, and he fell back 
from the attack, his face scrunched in pain.

Sailor Mars just stood there for a moment. Shaking her head, her 
eyes narrowed in focus and she gave a great smile.

"Hey, guys, I hurt him! We can hurt him; we can win this fight. 
No mercy!"

Rini continued to watch as the other two girls joined the dark 
haired one, and stood in awe as they pressed the attack. This 
time, their attacks were successful, and The Grim Man fell back.

"No, this can't be happening! This is MY realm, you cannot touch 
me here!"

Sailor Moon sauntered up, and addressed her foe.

"You are wrong. This is not YOUR realm. You are an invader here, 
and you are not welcome. I am Sailor Moon, and I will not allow 
you to poison innocent dreams ever again."

Sailor Moon closed her eyes, and began to summon the power of her
Moon Specter. Feeling the power rise up, pointed the Scepter 
towards the Grim Man, and yelled out, "Moon Scepter Activation!"

Rini's eyes went wide as powerful energy emerged from a scepter
Sailor Moon was holding (where did that come from?), Rini 
wondered). The energy shot forward, and found its way towards its 
target, The Grim Man. Rini's heart leapt as The Grim Man began to 
scream in agony.

As the screams continued, Rini's was overjoyed as The Grim Man 
melted, Rini couldn't think of a better term for it. In a second, 
he was gone, and all that remained was a pile of dust.

Rini turned towards Sailor Moon, and began to jump up and down 
with glee. "You did it! You beat the bad man! You are my friend."

Sailor Moon began to laugh at the sight in front of her. "No, 
Rini, WE did it. It was your belief in us that defeated him."

Rini smiled, and Sailor Moon began to worry. The young girl was 
beginning to fade.

No, she told herself, it's not just Rini. It's everything around 
here. The whole dream is fading away.

Before the scene completely faded into nothingness, Sailor Moon 
heard two final words from Rini.

"Thank you."

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

Serena woke up with a start, and quickly noticed she was back in 
her house, along side Rini's bed. The young girl was still lying 
there, but now she held a contented smile on her face.

Turning around, she saw all of the Scouts there, surrounding the 
bed, each shaking their heads, as if awaking from a deep sleep. 
Jai was there too, in the back, her eyes wide, and her mouth 
agape.

"Wha... what happened? How did we get back here?" Serena heard 
herself saying.

"Beats me," Jai replied. "All of you just appeared here out of 
nowhere. Just like how all of you vanished without a trace after
Sailor Pluto showed up."

Serena was about to respond, when she heard a voice come from the 
bed.

"Pancakes. I want pancakes."

Serena looked down, and tried her best to keep from crying. It 
wasn't good enough, and the tears began to flow.

"Why are you crying, Serena? Did you eat all of my pancakes?" 
Rini lay there, grinning like a cat.

"There might be some pancakes around. I'll go check with Mom." 
Serena got up, and ran out of the door.

Rini turned to Ami. "Why is Serena acting so weird?"

Rei spoke up. "When is Serena not acting weird?"

Rini began to laugh at that, and soon everyone else, human and 
feline, joined in as well.

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

"Check."

Jai looked closely at the chessboard in front of her. After a 
moment, she let out a large sigh.

Turning her attention to her opponent, she said, "If I'm not 
mistaken, you will mate me in two moves."

Ami nodded. "Yes, two moves."

Jai smiled, and moved her hand towards her king, tipping it over.
"No reason to continue then. Congratulations, Ami. That's five 
straight games you've won. You are as good of a chess player as 
I... as I heard you were."

Ami's cheeks began to flush crimson. "I'm not that good. You are 
quite good yourself, you know. I feel very lucky that I beat 
you."

Jai chucked and shook her head. "This is chess, Ami, no luck 
involved. I'm a fair chess player, but there is no shame in 
losing to you. You are exceptional."

"One more?" Ami asked.

"No, thank you. Perhaps another time. I think I've lost as much 
as my ego will allow. Frankly, playing you makes me feel kind of 
dumb."

Ami stood up from the table, and picked up some papers that were 
sitting on her desk. "You are not dumb, Tsuriaino Jai. And I've 
got the proof right here."

"And what, pray tell, is that."

"Why the results of the test I gave you, silly. Overall, your 
marks are very good. You would rank in the top percentile of my 
class in most subjects. Top of the class in English."

Jai began to chuckle. "I would hope so, it being my mother tongue 
and all."

"Doesn't mean a thing, and you know it. I wonder, have you tried 
speaking in English since you've been back? If the cocoon altered 
your speech patterns into Japanese, I am curious to see if you 
can still speak your native language."

Jai grinned. "One way to find out. Here let me try." Closing her 
eyes in though, Jai slowly began to speak, in perfect English.

"Do you know the way to San Jose, I've been away so long."

Opening her eyes, Jai nodded. "Seems okay to me, how about you?"

"I agree. It did sound right to me. One question though."

"And what's that?"

Ami stood still, eyeing Jai carefully. "This San Jose, is that 
where you came from?"

Jai laughed once more. "Hardly. Never even been there. That's 
just an old song lyric. I guess you're not familiar with it."

Ami shook her head.

"No matter. So, I did pretty well in my subjects."

Ami shook her head. "No, I said in most of the subjects. Your 
knowledge of Japanese History was extremely lacking. I'm sure, 
with my help, you can improve on that."

Jai sighed, and leaned her head back. "So, I guess I'll be 
starting school soon, right?"

"Yes. I almost have your identity ready enough to have you 
register at Juuban."

"School," Jai whispered, "I guess that will help me keep my mind 
off things until..."

"Until what, Jai?"

Jai looked up, startled, a gleam coming into her eyes. "Damn, 
girl, I guess I 'm going to have to be extra careful around you. 
Thanks again, for letting me stay here. This isn't going to cause 
you problems with your mother, is it?"

Ami shook her head. "For the hundredth time, no. She was happy to 
hear that I wouldn't be all by myself when she has to be away. 
And you never answered my question, until what"

Jai got up, and headed towards the door. "I'm getting a little 
tired. It's probably time for me to hit the sack. I'll see you in 
the morning, Ami."

As Jai left her room, Ami asked herself, "What are you hiding, 
Jai?"

END CHAPTER TWO