Sailor Moon: Age of Innocence

Chapter 2
Chapter 1: The Hunt

Chapter 1: The Hunt

It was a cool December day and a thin layer of snow covered the

ground around the Cherry Hill Temple. This was a peaceful place. A

place of contentment and contemplation. A peace that was suddenly

disturbed by a cry from within.

"Serena! Will you quit reading my comics?! This is a Sailor Scout

meeting, not playtime!" Raye yelled at her companion. The teen with the

long raven hair had again lost patience with her blonde friend.

"But Raye, I’m bored. Can’t we just finish up the stupid meeting?

Winter break started today. We got out at noon and I’ve wasted the last

hour here. I want to get home in time to do some Christmas shopping

with Mom," Serena whined back.

"Well, too bad. This is serious stuff and all you can do is act

like a baby. Grow up, Serena."

"Rayyyye!" Serena responded, her voice achieving a truly annoying

pitch.

Luna, Serena’s talking black cat, interrupted before Raye could

really rip into the girl, "Serena! Raye is right. The Four Sisters

have been quite active lately. Please pay attention!"

Serena grumbled something mostly unintelligible but seeming to do

with Luna’s heritage before sitting up and tossing Raye’s comic back

under her bed.

"Thank you, Serena," Luna stated. "Amy, I think you can continue

now."

Sailor Mercury, still in her school uniform, nodded at Luna and

smiled before continuing the report that Raye’s admonishment had so

rudely interrupted.

"As Luna said, there have been three incidents in the last week

alone. While we were successful in defeating each of the Droids, the

Sisters keep eluding us. I’d also like to point out that they almost

captured Rini two days ago thanks to the inattention of her guardian,"

Amy finished, too polite to name names.

All eyes in the room stared at Serena anyway. "What!?" she

exclaimed, "Oh, like any of you could’ve resisted free gingerbread man

samples."

Mercury continued, trying to divert attention away from Serena’s

imperfections. "In any event, I think the Sisters may be getting

desperate. Either they are low on energy or their timetable for

capturing Rini is almost expired. It would be in all our best interests

to keep an eye out for them and their energy signatures," the girl with

the short dark hair finished up.

"I couldn’t agree more," Luna added, nodding at Amy in praise.

Sailor Mercury was the smartest of the Scouts and easily the most

mature. Luna relied on her heavily to keep the group focused. She

really wished Serena would take after her more, especially since Sailor

Moon would one day have to assume the role of Neo-Queen Serenity.

"Well duh!" Serena said. "We do that anyway. Besides, we haven’t

lost a fight yet, what else could they have up their sleeves?"

"I hate to admit it, but Serena’s got a point," Sailor Venus added,

pushing her long blonde hair back as she spoke. "I mean, we beat Beryl

and so far, these Sisters haven’t exactly impressed me."

Artemis, the talking white cat that was Sailor Venus’ companion

admonished the girl, "Don’t take them too lightly, Mina. If you let

your guard down, any enemy can be dangerous."

Mina smiled at her cat and patted him on the head. "I know,

Artemis, I know. You’ve told me enough times."

Artemis and Luna exchanged glances and rolled their eyes in unison.

They’d each witnessed the strength these girls possessed, not only in

power but also in character. Still, it was instances such as this, that

reminded each of them that the Scouts were still pretty much children.

"Just be careful," Luna pleaded.

After each of the Scouts nodded in affirmation, Luna finally said,

"Very well then, meeting adjourned."

"Yay!" Serena yelled. "If I hurry, I should make it home just in

time to catch Mom and Rini before they go. Bye guys." Serena raced out

the door with Luna following close behind.

"And I thought only food made her move that fast," Sailor Jupiter

commented, eliciting laughter from the remaining Scouts. When it

subsided, Lita continued, "Speaking of food, I’ll be baking cookies

tomorrow for the nearby orphanage. Would anyone like to help?"

Amy and Mina both said yes but Raye seemed to hesitate.

"Raye? Why not?" Lita asked.

"Well..." Raye paused before continuing. "It’s just that they set

up that huge manger scene down the hill that completely disrupts the

entrance to the temple. We’ve complained to them but they refuse to

move it since it’s technically on their property."

"We?" Mina asked, "Your grandpa actually complained?"

Raye looked annoyed at her friend and snapped out, "Okay, so I’m

the only one who’s complained. It really bugs me that they’d put

something so gaudy so close to the temple. I mean, can you imagine

anything so rude!?"

Lita and Mina both looked at each other before laughing. Finally,

Mina said, "No, Raye, can’t imagine."

Raye simply crossed her arms and huffed. She had a short temper

that was hard to control sometimes, especially when her friends didn’t

see eye to eye with her. "Fine," she eventually said, "I hope you have

fun."

Knowing it was best to leave Raye alone when she was like this,

Lita turned to her other two friends and asked, "Well, want to see a

movie or something?"

"I’d love to," Mina said but Amy took on an apologetic look.

"I’m sorry, Lita, but I have someplace to be. You see, I’ve been

doing some extra credit for my early childhood class. I’ll be spending

the rest of the day at a daycare center," Amy explained.

"Extra credit? You don’t exactly need it you know," Lita said.

"I know. I really like the kids though. You know, I want to be a

doctor someday, and pediatrics is something I’m interested in." Smiling,

Amy added, "Have fun though, you guys. I really have to go."

With that, Sailor Mercury put on her jacket, waved good-bye to her

friends, and jogged out into the snow. She just hoped the Scout meeting

hadn’t made her too late.

Tencite watched Amy run down the steps and hurry along the sidewalk

from a bus stop across the street. The look in his eyes could only be

described as predatory. Finally, he was ready.

When he had informed Birdie it would take time to accomplish the

task set before him, her commander, Rubeus, hadn’t responded well.

Tencite really hadn’t cared. He’d met men like Rubeus many times before

and he still wasn’t intimidated. In fact, he considered Rubeus to be

somewhat of an idiot, with good reason.

In all the time Rubeus had spent fighting the Scouts he had been

unable to locate their base or even anticipate their attacks. Tencite

had discovered their meeting place in under two weeks.

The General had located the temple’s position by timing the Scout’s

responses to attacks on Rini and noting which direction they came from.

He’d only calculated the numbers in situations where all the Scouts

arrived at the same time, meaning they had all been together when they

noticed the attack, and after school hours, since he knew they were only

teens and would be in class then.

From those numbers, he’d been able to isolate a relatively small

area. The temple was the only logical structure in that area. Not

surprisingly, over the past couple of days, he had seen each of the

Scouts enter and leave it.

In the time Tencite had spend scouting the Scouts, Rubeus had

predictably continued with his energy gathering missions. In fact, it

seemed to the General as if the efforts of Rubeus and the Sisters had

increased greatly in the short time since his arrival.

It could be inferred that Rubeus was nervous, but it really didn’t

matter. The multiple battles had served Tencite well. He’d very much

enjoyed watching the Scouts defeat the Sisters and their Droids time and

again over the last couple of weeks. Of course, he’d done much more than

watch. By now, he had the powers and tendencies of the Scouts firmly

set to memory.

"Know thy enemy and know thy self," he thought with a smile.

Earth’s philosophers had always been his favorites. Watching Amy turn

the corner, he felt ready to put his preparation to the test.

 

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