Queen Beryl sat on her dark throne in a place that really was a dark, dark, dark world after all. She gazed into her crystal ball, despite the fact that it still wasn't showing anything useful, just because at least it was well lit so she could see it. To her surprise, an image appeared. It was the image of Tuxedo Kamen, repeatedly interfering in all her plans. "Yes...I must deal with him....ZOICITE!" Zoicite appeared in a flurry of petals. "Yes, my queen?" "We need a bait to lure Tuxedo Kamen into a trap. Better yet..." Queen Beryl began to explain her plan. Zoicite nodded and played along, being glad Beryl had forgotten to ask how finding the crystals was coming along. ************************************************************************** Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Mercury # 33 Venus Rising Translated by Jenny "Tex" Borchelt from the BSSM Anime Comic #7 adapted to story format by John Biles ************************************************************************** Usagi, Ami, Makoto, Urawa, and Naru were having lunch together at school. "I'm so glad you're okay, Usagi!" Naru said. "When we saw those monsters at your house...we...I..." Her voice choked up. "Well, I was safe with...at Tuxedo Kamen's place...he has a really nice house! Well, apartment," she said. Makoto smiled. "A dream come true for you, ne?" Usagi nodded. "Not quite the date I dreamed of...He...I was really surprised, really..." Her voice grew more contemplative. "So many things I didn't know..." "Like what, Usagi?" Ami asked. "Did he tell you his secret identity or something?" "Yeah...I mean, uh...I can't tell anyone!" She blushed. "Did you get to meet his new partner?" Makoto asked. "She was cute...she might be a rival," Makoto teased. Usagi blushed. "I'm...I'm not worried about her." Makoto nudged Urawa. "Urawa and Ami here can give you snuggle lessons if you need them." Urawa and Ami blushed. "Mako-chan...don't tease us like that!" Urawa said. *************************************************************************** Jupiter, Mercury, and Crystal sat nervously in the park. "Are you sure this is the right park?" Crystal asked for the third time. "Maybe they're late." "Maybe he forgot when our school gets out...he does look old enough to be out of school," Jupiter said. "Maybe he's related to Usagi..." Mercury said. They all laughed. Jupiter said, "Wow! A joke I could understand!" They all laughed again. Suddenly, they heard movement in a nearby tree and looked up. Tuxedo Kamen and Tuxedo Staff were standing up in the tree, looking down at them. "Hi!" Tuxedo Staff said. "Sorry we're late." Mercury looked up. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you make your appearance at ground level, Tuxedo Kamen." He smiled. "I guess I like looking down on people." They all laughed a third time, then the branch broke under the weight of two people. Tuxedo Kamen landed well, while Tuxedo Staff fell on her face. "OWWWWW!!!" She sat up as Tuxedo Kamen came over to her. "Are you okay?" "That hurt!" Crystal sighed. "It gets a lot worse than that..." "IT still hurt! Anyway, so what are we gonna talk about?" Staff asked. "Well, we need to plan out a way to find them before they can strike again." Mercury said. "Luna said a new sailor was coming too. Maybe we'll finally find the princess once she shows up." Jupiter blinked. "I've got an idea! Can't we use the Moon Wand to track down the two crystals they have?" "I've been trying, but I haven't had much luck..." Tuxedo Staff said. "I have two of them. Maybe if we combine your computer and my staff..." "Well, it can't hurt to try." Mercury ran the crystal finding program for about the two hundredth time, this time with Tuxedo Staff's staff attached to the computer by a wire. The program spewed a series of messages across the screen, then the message came up: Rainbow Crystals Located: 1 KM NW of this location, moving West. "Right! Let's go!" They took off running. *************************************************************************** Kunzite and Zoicite had carefully planned their trap. Grab Usagi and hide her away, then disguise Zoicite as Usagi to betray him when he rescued her. Only problem was...Usagi wasn't home. Again. There were cops all over the place too. Not that they were a real threat, but dealing with them would be rather...annoying to say the least. Instead, they were now waiting on a rooftop for her to come home. Once she did, they would grab her and then carry out their plan. "Why does Beryl want us to capture him, anyway?" "I have no idea...I just want to be rid of him," Kunzite said. "I guess she just can't resist my good looks and charm," Tuxedo Kamen said. Kunzite and Zoicite blinked in unison. They looked back and saw Tuxedo Kamen, Tuxedo Staff, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, and Senshi Crystal standing on the roof behind them. Senshi Crystal smiled grimly. "Give up, Zoicite. We've already shown you can't beat us." Zoicite laughed. "Fools. Well, we won't have to bother luring you into a trap if you walk right into it." Kunzite gestured and a black dome formed around Mercury, Crystal, and Jupiter. "It's been nice meeting you. A pity it has to end this quickly, but we don't have time to waste. I'm Kunzite." "Let them go, Kunzite!" Tuxedo Staff said. "I am Tuxedo Staff, defender of the innocent! You fight for evil and that's not right! I, Tuxedo Staff, will punish you!" He laughed. "Zoicite, think you can handle these idiots?" "With pleasure." Zoicite gestured and a pair of crystal knives appeared. He tossed one at Tuxedo Kamen, the other at Tuxedo Staff. Tuxedo Staff dodged desperately, slipped, and rolled off the roof. Tuxedo Staff had rather more luck, landing on his feet. "STAFF!" He ran after Tuxedo Staff, only to have Zoicite appear in his path, armed with more knives. "Get out of my way!" "With pleasure." He sidestepped, then kicked in the back as he went by, sending him flying off the roof. Tuxedo Kamen landed on his feet, next to Staff, who wobbled to her feet. Zoicite leaned over the edge and fired an energy blast at them. Tuxedo Kamen grabbed Staff, jumped and ran. Meanwhile, up on the roof, the black sphere slowly closed in on the three trapped Senshi. Jupiter said, "Lemme see if I can blast us out! SUPREME THUNDER!" The sphere ate the attack without even noticing it. Slowly, it closed in on them, closer and closer. Mercury's communicator started to beep. She answered it. "We've been trapped by Kunzite!" It was Urawa. "I had a vision of you trapped by...oh...I guess I'm a little too late..." "You could say that...you should have called us sooner!" "But I also saw you getting away, so don't worry, you'll be okay!" "How?" "Uhh...I didn't see that..." Urawa sweatdropped. *************************************************************************** Tuxedo Kamen ran down the alleyway, carrying Staff with him. "Ready to fight yet?" he asked. "YEah!" He put her down and they turned to face Zoicite, who dove for Staff's staff, only to have to roll and dodge the rose Tuxedo Kamen tossed at him. He pulled back and studied his opponents warily. Tuxedo Staff said, "Why don't you just give us the crystals and give up?" Zoicite laughed. "Foolish girl!" He teleported behind her and put a knife to her throat. "Drop the staff and let me take the crystals, or you die." Tuxedo Staff froze up from fear. Tuxedo Kamen clenched his fists helplesssly. "I'm sorry, Tuxedo," Tuxedo Staff said. "I've failed you..." She started to cry. "It's not your fault," he said. "I'll get you for this, Zoicite." "Oh, you're coming with me. Queen Beryl wants a word with you. This is easier than looking for that Usagi kid you seem to like so much." Tuxedo Kamen supressed a brief impulse to laugh. "If you hurt her..." "You'll what, watch her die? Anyway, time for us to go." "Back to the Dark Kingdom, maybe!" shouted a voice from overhead. "CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" A beam of yellow light fired down, shattering the knife. Tuxedo Kamen laughed as Tuxedo Staff leaped away from Zoicite. "You just don't have much luck at taking hostages, do you?" Zoicite looked up, but whoever had done that was gone. He vanished, teleporting back to Kunzite. "I had the girl, but then someone showed up and shot my knife! You must have missed one!" "Three sailors about to be crushed to death. Who did I miss?" He pointed to the three trapped Senshi, now kneeling down, back to back. "You missed me!" A voice said. Kunzite and Zoicite turned as a blond girl with hair like Tuxedo Staff's pointed her finger at them and shouted, "CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" A beam of light struck Kunzite's hands. He howled in pain and the black sphere vanished as his concentration was broken by the pain. The girl was dressed in a senshi uniform with yellow trim and her face was marginally disguised by a red mask similar to Tuxedo Kamen's. "I'm Sailor V...but now you can call me, Sailor Venus!" She took off the mask. Near her stood a white cat with a yellow crescent moon on his forehead. "And I'm her cat guardian, Artemis!" Tuxedo Staff and Tuxedo Kamen leaped up onto the roof. Tuxedo Staff blinked. "Sailor V! Oh wow! I've wanted to meet you like forever!" Artemis blinked. Sailor Venus smiled. "Nice to meet ya! Now let's put these two creeps away for good!" "I think not." Kunzite said. He fired a blast at the senshi, who dodged wildly. Zoicite turned and fired a blast at Artemis who yelped and got blown across the roof and off it. Sailor Venus growled. "No one does that to my friend Artemis! CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" She fired a third bolt at Zoicite, who dodged, only to be hit by a hat thrown by Tuxedo Staff. It cut his shoulder, then flew back to her. Meanwhile, Kunzite narrowly dodged a rose tossed by Tuxedo Mask. Slowly, a barrage of attacks drove Kunzite and Malachite back towards the edge of the roof. They glanced at each other. "We'll be back." They vanished in a spray of petals. Crystal cursed. "As long as they keep doing that, we'll never beat them! I want to GET EVEN with them!" "Well, now that we're all working together, we can beat them," Mercury said. "I need to go check on Ur...on a friend of mine. And I've got homework and..." Tuxedo Staff blinked. "Eeep! I've gotta get home...It's dinnertime! I'm soooooo hungry. See you guys tomorrow! Meet same time, same place?" "Sounds good to me." Mercury said. *************************************************************************** Makoto, Urawa, and Ami ate dinner together. "Where's your mom?" Urawa asked. "Wasn't she supposed to eat with us tonight?" "Yeah. She got called in. Some emergency. As usual." She sighed. "Another lonely night." "Hey, you've got us!" Makoto said. "I just wish Naru could have come over...she must be feeling lonely too." "Yeah. Well, she was eating with Usagi tonight." "Ahh. Well, Usagi can cheer her up if anyone can. She's always so perky." "This has really been hard on her. First Nephrite, then Umino...She's so angry now." "I can't blame her. So am I. I just hope she doesn't do anything foolish..." "Hai," Ami said. "Well, let's hope we do as well tomorrow as we did today!" "Amen to that," Urawa said. "I have a good feeling about tomorrow. Something big will happen...I saw a shining crystal, floating in the air..." "The Silver Crystal?" "Maybe," he said. "Someone was reaching for it..." "Yatta!" Makoto said. "I think everything is finally going our way! All we need now is the Princess." "Maybe Sailor Venus is the Princess," Urawa said. "Well, we can assume it's probably not Queen Beryl. That marks one name off the list," Makoto said. Everyone laughed. ****************************************************************************