Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S
A New Quest
Part Six: Who Am I?
written by Mike Koos
-----------------------------

     Our story so far: Two years have passed in Ondyre since Osaka
Naru became Sailor Ondyre to help the troubled world.  But for Naru,
it has only been about a month.  Returning to Ondyre with Sailor
Jupiter, she finds herself involved with new and old friends in
another adventure to save the world.
     After defeating Alshlione and destroying her crystal, the Sailor
Senshi have been restored to normal.  On Ondyre, Naru's party arrives
at the Diaran Kingdom, reuniting Liana and Corwyn with the King and
Queen... until Pientris appears, claiming he has brought them all to
this place by way of his own schemes, to kill them once and for all.

                            *  *  *  *  *

     King Corwyn was stunned.  "Arielis?"  he heard the Queen ask. 
It couldn't be the real Arielis, could it?  This... *person* Pientris
had called forth looked very much like the seer and advisor they
remembered - the caretaker they had assigned to aid in taking care of
their son and daughter, and ultimately, hide them from Pientris in an
orphanage.  But if *Pientris* had brought her here, she couldn't be
real.  A figment of the demon's imagination.
     "Yes, Corwyn and Liana," the seer said in the same voice they
recalled, only older.  "It is I, Arielis.  Weren't expecting to see
me here, were you?"
     The younger, jade-haired Liana inhaled sharply.  Suddenly, she
could see the logic in Pientris' claim.  A whirlwind quest, learning
of her royal heritage and being instructed to bring her brother,
mother and father to the Diaran Kingdom... that could very well have
been Pientris' idea.  And to use someone the royal family would have
trusted...
     Pientris laughed.  "Yes, my poor, unfortunate enemies.  This is
the Arielis you are familiar with.  And yet... it isn't."
     "What are you talking about?"  Liana narrowed her eyes.
     Pientris' eyes centered on Arielis.  "Show them."
     On his command, a black cloud billowed out from the seer's body
and coalesced immediately next to her into a humanoid form.
     "A demon," Chalea hissed in a near-whisper.  "That explains it. 
She was possessed."
     Hana's eyes widened in surprise.  "Possessed?  Hey, is that
something you can do?"
     Chalea looked at her for a second, wondering why Hana had asked
her that particular question.  "Yeah.  But for me it requires a lot
of concentration and power.  I haven't had any use for it."
     Once the demon had completely left Arielis' body, she crumpled
to the ground.  The demon, meanwhile, turned back into mist and
disappeared.  Liana rushed to her caretaker's side.  "Arielis!"  she
cried, tears forming in her eyes although she wasn't completely sure
why.
     As she knelt beside Arielis, the seer took her hand.  "My
child..." she rasped, weakly.  "I... am sorry.  I had no control over
what that... *thing*... made me do."
     "It's okay," Liana squeezed the other's hand.  "Everything's
going to be all right now."
     "No...... it isn't.  I am afraid it isn't.  I... am dying."
     "No!  You - you can't be!  We can use Heal magic, get a doctor--"
     "Child.  Listen to me.  I am... beyond help.  The strain... of
being possessed is what did it."  Arielis coughed.  "The only...
reason I am able to talk to you now is because... because I wanted to
make sure you did... not hate me for what I had been... forced to do
to all of you."
     "We don't blame you for that.  It wasn't your fault!"
     Arielis closed her eyes and nodded.  "Thank you.  One... final
thing."
     The tears were slowly making their way down Liana's cheeks. 
"Anything."
     "Good luck."
     Liana felt the strength and warmth fade from the seer's hands. 
She screamed Arielis' name, holding one of the seer's hands to her
tear-soaked cheeks, then laying both of them to rest on Arielis'
stomach.
     She stood and wiped away her tears.  "Pientris!  I'm going to
see you destroyed for what you've done to my family!"  Her anger had
reached a boiling point; now, it was spilling over into her words.
     Chalea was the first to speak out.  "Liana, no!  That's exactly
what he wants!"
     "Not to worry, little girl.  I have no need to use her.  I have
something in mind which all of you might find more interesting."
     "Like *what*?"
     "Would all of you please take a look behind you?"  Pientris
asked, swapping his projection for a more physically present form,
with which he came to stand on the tip of the plateau in front of
them.
     They did.  And realized, to their dismay, that the entire Diaran
army was descending on them.
     Pientris hovered closer to them.  "My, my... what are you going
to do?  You'll never be able to take out all of those soldiers before
they kill you.  You might as well give up now and accept your deaths
gracefully."
     <He's right,> Chalea thought.  <And we can't hurt them, either.>
Nor could she seduce the number of male soldiers in the ranks, no
matter how much her compulsions were insisting she do it.  She had
been hiding behind Hana all this time to keep her charms from working
a number on the King.  Apparently Corwyn, with his so-called immunity
to her charms, had forgotten about that possibility.
     Chalea was aware the soldiers had already begun to feel an
attraction to her.  They weren't attracted to her *now*, of course,
what with Pientris controlling them.  Worse yet, none of her powers
were designed to keep men at bay or turn them away - she could kill
them, but that *wasn't* an alternative.
     That left only one target to attack.
     "Chalea!"  Makoto called her name.  "I've got an idea.  Can you
fly while holding on to me?"
     Chalea wondered what the Sailor Senshi had in mind.  "Don't you
know any levitation spells?"
     "I don't know.  And we don't have the time to look any up." 
Besides which, Makoto wasn't sure if she wanted to trust her position
in the sky to her amateur magic skills.
     That was all too true, unfortunately.  "Well... I've never
really tried to fly while carrying anyone.  I guess I could try..."
Chalea reverted to her true form and took to the air, proceeding to
lift Makoto off the ground.
     Needless to say, the King and Queen were stunned by the sight. 
A demon girl working with the Sailor Senshi and traveling with their
son and daughter?
     "Sailor Ondyre!"  yelled Makoto.  "Attack Pientris!"
     "But..." Naru protested, then understood what her teammate had
in mind.  If Pientris was controlling the army, maybe attacking him
would cause him to lose control over the soldiers.  What Makoto and
Chalea were planning, however, she couldn't tell.
     Pientris shifted a portion of his attention to her.  "Do not
bother wasting your time, you pathetic imitation of a Sailor Senshi! 
It will not do you any good!"
     Naru was already long since tired of the demon's speeches.  "Oh,
SHUT UP," she snapped.  "Sonic... REVOLUTION!"
     The Revolution seemed to have a minimal effect on Pientris - but
Naru wasn't about to give up.  While Naru launched several more sonic
blasts with her Vibrance Fork, Makoto set her plan in motion.  She
mouthed the words to her teleport spell, causing her and Chalea to
disappear and then reappear a few seconds later in the air behind
Pientris.
     Finding themselves in the air beyond the plateau, Chalea's
flight faltered slightly.  She tightened her grip on Makoto and
strained to keep herself steady.
     The difficult part was maintaining her balance while Jupiter
executed a Supreme Thunder Dragon.  Makoto's physical strength
absorbed most of the recoil from the attack, but since she wasn't
standing on the ground, the remaining force transferred to Chalea...
causing the Sailor Senshi to rock back and forth in her grasp.
     Jupiter's Dragon caught Pientris in the back at the exact same
instant as a wall of Sailor Ondyre's sonic blasts struck him from the
opposite side.  Makoto teleported them away before Pientris could
retaliate against them.
     Pientris staggered from the combined effort of the Senshi
attacks.  So, too, did the army, in a sense.  Some of them collapsed;
still others glanced about themselves in a sort of daze.  Knowing
full well his control over the Diaran army had been shattered,
Pientris watched for a moment as Naru rejoined the rest of her
adventuring party.  Chalea and Makoto appeared next to her, Chalea
lowering Makoto to the ground first before folding her wings shut and
landing on her own feet.
     Pientris made a sound that sounded suspiciously like an
abbreviated sigh.  "I hope you fools realize you have only sealed
your fate," he said, collecting himself.  "You force me to play my
hand far sooner than I had desired."
     The Diaran forces braced for the worst.  Pientris turned to face
the open air Chalea and Makoto had hovered through a minute earlier,
spreading his arms wide and chanting the words of the black magic
spell he'd been preparing to use for the final part of his ultimate
plan.  What his enemies didn't realize was that because he was
casting this spell earlier than he had planned, he hadn't had the
chance to stockpile as much Dark energy as he had preferred for the
effort of casting the spell and for use once that spell took effect. 
Influencing men and women into the Dark half of their tendencies and
emotions to collect the resulting energies was a fine art that could
not be rushed.
     He hoped he had enough.  Had he not let *his* emotions lead him
into initiating the spell, he wouldn't have been left vulnerable in a
no-turning-back type of situation like this.
      A giant portal given over to swirling currents of impenetrable
violet and black hues, held open by surges of the purely Dark energy
he had collected, opened within his reach.  Pientris gazed into his
portal and smiled, then leaped into it.

     Rei was still having trouble putting herself at ease on the far
end of the old, worn couch in Hirokazu's living room.  Maybe it was
just her, she didn't know, being back in her proper body after a
brief... vacation.  Or perhaps it had to do with the fact that there
was extremely little any of them could do, even now.
     After Sailor Moon had restored Hirokazu to a more stable
condition, she had helped Mercury carry the unconscious programmer
into his bedroom and laid him gently on the bed so that Ami could use
her visor to double-check his life signs.  They had taken a brief
moment to join Rei, Minako and Chibi-Usa in the living room; it was
markedly easier to revert to their proper uniforms if no one else
happened to be wearing them.
     Rei decided to pull off the glove on her right hand and arm,
while Minako silently watched her out of the corner of her eye,
wondering what the raven-haired Sailor Mars was thinking.  Her friend
had been fidgeting, all right.  That was to be expected.  But was
there more to Rei's brooding than usual?
     The not-so-little matter of Rei's dreams also remained.  She ran
the bare fingers of her hand across the rough weave covering the
armrest of the couch, past coffee stains who knew how many years old
and the patches where the threads wore thin.  She hadn't yet told
anyone about her dreams... the ones where the world ended.  Where
mysterious Talismen were the key to life or death for the Sailor
Senshi and all else that lived on Earth... and why?  Because she had
made insignificant progress in determining what the visions meant. 
Sailor Uranus and Neptune, whoever they were, searched for the
Talismen at the possible cost of whoever unknowingly carried them. 
But did *they* know what the Talismen were or why it was imperative
that they find them?
     The visions, therefore, had some meaning.  A possible future? 
Whoever was behind the daimon menace could very well have been
searching for the Talismen as well.  Uranus and Neptune seemed to
think the pure spirit extracted by the daimons played a role in that
search.  Of course, it was possible that their mutual enemy was only
out to accumulate the pure spirit of certain individuals, just as the
Dark Kingdom had tried to collect energy from people for their
purposes, and Ail and Ann after them.
     If the Senshi were to find the Talismen, wouldn't that imply
everything would turn out for the best in the end?  ...No.  Something
or someone else was after the Talismen, otherwise she would not be
having the dreams.  Or else it was crucial the Senshi found the
Talismen before a certain event took place.
     As soon as she established anything in concrete, she would be
ready to tell someone about it.  There was just so much to be unsure
of these days...
     Rei mentally changed the subject.  Bringing Makoto and Naru back
was the top priority for now.  Like Minako, Rei was frustrated by the
precious few alternatives they had.  They could only use Hirokazu's
copies of the full version of his game to *watch* the progress of
Sailor Ondyre and Jupiter.  Sending themselves to Ondyre by way of
the game was out - they had no way of knowing where they would wind
up and couldn't be sure of whether or not they would be able to
teleport to a useful location.  By the time the final battle began,
they could be lost in the countryside, set upon by more endless
streams of monsters... and that wouldn't do their friends any good.
     With Hirokazu temporarily out of the running there was no one
left to try to improve the game's program, unless Ami wanted to pick
up where he had left off.  From what Rei knew of computer programming
that meant Ami would have to start from the very first line of code
and work her way up... or down, whichever was the case.
     Usagi and Ami returned to the room... a sparsely furnished room,
even by Minako's opinion of Ami's bedroom.  There weren't any plants
to be found, and primarily the only added decorations to the room
were several posters, silkscreens or newspaper clippings of either
Sailor Moon and the Sailor Senshi or Sailor V.
     A part of Minako had always wondered on occasion why practically
nobody connected Sailor V with Sailor Venus...
     Most of the furniture was either handed-down from relatives or
bought at a discount price.  One of the legs of the coffee table had
come to be short enough that Hirokazu had to boost it with a bulky
reference book entitled, "So, You Want to Program Your 286 in COBOL,"
whatever that meant.
     Rei drew her shoulder-length glove back onto her arm and stood. 
"So, is he gonna be okay?"
     Ami nodded.  "He'll recover with some rest, but I'd like to have
him taken to a hospital for a more thorough examination..."
     "You want us to drag him all over the place to a hospital?" 
asked Minako, in disbelief.  "Don't you trust your own analysis,
Ami-chan?"
     "Not entirely," replied Ami, giving her a momentary stare. 
"Remember, I'm not a doctor."  <*Yet*,> she added in her thoughts. 
It wouldn't be right for her to assume her conclusions were one
hundred percent correct, even with the aid of her faithful visor.  Or
her Senshi minicomputer, if Minako hadn't blown it up.  Luna and
Artemis had left for parts unknown with her computer with the intent
of having it fixed, somehow.
     A broken Senshi microcomputer was a minor inconvenience at the
moment, though.  With any luck she wouldn't need it for a while.
     Luck - inasmuch as Ami believed in luck - was not on her side in
that regard.
     With the soft sound of something swiftly imploding, a portal
sprang into existence past Rei's end of the couch.  It was identical
to the one Pientris had opened on Ondyre... except this portal was
framed by streams of aquamarine and warm magenta energies.
     The pull of the portal was enough to wrench the reference book
out from underneath the coffee table.  They watched as the book
disappeared into the portal.
     "Wh-what IS that!?"  Chibi-Usa blurted, resisting the urge to
gape.
     Ami activated her visor.  "It appears to be a cross-dimensional
rift of some sort.  A portal, in other words."
     "A portal?  To where?"
     "I don't know.  Maybe if I had my computer, I--"
     Minako frowned.  "Would you let it go, Ami-chan?  I said I was
sorry."
     "I didn't mean it like that... I was just thinking freely."
     "Oh."
     "Anyway, if I had my computer, maybe I could've traced the
energies and attempt to see where they lead.  But the only way we can
tell where it goes now is to enter it."
     "Go in that?  Are you nuts?"  Usagi reinforced her grip on the
table near the hall.
     "We're probably gonna have to, and you know it," Rei told her. 
"I don't like what I'm sensing from that thing..."
     "Now I *really* don't want to go."
     Chibi-Usa snorted.  "What a big scaredy-cat."
     "I am *not*."
     "Are too!"
     "So tell me," Minako interrupted, "how does this help us figure
out where this portal goes?"
     {......Sailor Moon......} A female voice called to her, ethereal
and quite faint, like sounds carried on the wind.
     Usagi started.  "What!?  Who said that?"
     {...Please... you and your friends must... enter this portal. 
If...... you want to help... your friends Makoto and Naru... and
Earth, Ondyre... and many, many other worlds... you must enter.}
     "Who are you?"
     {Sailor Jupiter and... Sailor Ondyre know me... as Alliene.}
     The reported Goddess of Ondyre!  So, this portal was her way of
giving them a way to help, after all.  "Where does this portal lead?"
asked Ami.
     {A final battle.  The demon... Pientris has opened a gateway...
to the realm between worlds where...... he can influence and draw...
on the Darkness and evil on any world... he chooses.}
     "Then we have no choice.  We must go," Ami said.  She glanced at
Usagi, who steeled herself and nodded.
     The five Senshi entered the portal together.

     As the turmoil framing the portal continued to rage, King Corwyn
stared with trepidation into it.  "Wh-what is that?"
     "It's a portal, I think," Makoto clarified.  "He's opened a
portal!"  She was fighting the pull of the portal and the winds it
brought to life - as was everyone else - and had to bring up a hand
to hold back her ponytail so the hair wouldn't whip around into her
face.
     The Queen turned away from the portal to look at Jupiter. 
"Perhaps he has left Ondyre for good?"
     "I doubt he would do that after all he has said," her daughter
answered.
     A woman's voice, stronger yet still sounding as though it were
part of the wind, called out to them.  {You are correct.  Pientris
has opened this portal to go to a plane where he can do whatever he
wishes with the Darkness and Evil on any world, anywhere.}
     Makoto punched the palm of her open hand with her fist.  "We're
going to have to stop him."
     {Sailor Jupiter... your friends are already on their way to
fight Pientris.  I have kept this portal open and opened another
portal on Earth so that they can join you for this battle.}
     A swarm of gargoyles chose that precise instant to descend from
the clouds and set upon the Diaran army.  {Unfortunately, I cannot do
anything about the forces he has left behind.  He is instructing them
now to attack all of you so that you will not be able to follow him.}
     {Sailor Ondyre... I place my faith in you and your friends.  You
truly are the only ones who can save everyone from this threat.}
     "Thank you," Naru replied, trying to sound as if she was the
hero everyone expected her to be.  She finally understood what it
meant to be a Sailor Senshi.  A month ago she would have laughed had
anyone suggested she could be one of the Senshi.  Now, here she was -
Sailor Ondyre, on her way to join with the rest of the Senshi in an
attempt to save not just one or two, but countless worlds from a
considerable evil.
     She was far more frightened than her stance suggested.  But
there was something inside her urging her not to quit, to continue
on... and that scared her as well.
     "Whose voice was that?"  the King asked, studying her.
     Naru met his gaze.  "The Goddess of Ondyre, Alliene."
     The Goddess of Ondyre?  It made complete sense for the guardian
of Ondyre to have the backing of their respective goddess.  Chalea,
then, couldn't be an *evil* demon, could she?
     And above all, with the blessing of the Goddess of Ondyre, the
Sailor Senshi, the Prince and Princess of the Diaran Kingdom, a
pixie, part-rabbit girl and a demon were the only ones who stood a
chance of stopping Pientris once and for all.
     "Go," the King told Sailor Ondyre.  "Stop Pientris.  We will
engage his forces here."
     "But we could help--"
     "There are more important people than us who need your help now."
     Naru knew this to be true.  There really wasn't much time to
lose, either - any delay here gave Pientris more time to establish
his power.
     What was honestly troubling was that all this sounded like part
of a comic-book or video game plot.  "Good luck," Naru said at last.
     "We wish you luck as well.  May Alliene smile on you."
     Naru pursed her lips and nodded.  "Thank you."  She turned to
face the members of her small team.  "It's time we joined the fight
against Pientris.  Sailor Jupiter... I would like you to lead the
way."
     The taller Senshi nodded.  "Right."  Without further discussion,
Makoto ran, leaping into the portal.
     Naru tightened her grip on the Vibrance Fork.  "I thought you
said you hated it when she does that?"  Brin asked.
     "I do.  But I feel a lot better with someone who knows what
she's doing leading the way."
     Naru was the next adventurer to jump into the portal, followed
by Brin, Hana, Chalea, then Corwyn and Liana, together.
     The King watched the portal disappear after the last of Naru's
party entered.  He had dreamed about this day; had envisioned how
Pientris' hold over the land would be ended.  The idea that the task
would be left to his son, daughter, and their friends had simply
never occurred to him.

                            *  *  *  *  *

     All they found in the void past the portal was darkness.
     They had visible shadows, and could see each other, though what
they couldn't see was any visible source of light - or the demon they
had come to confront.  There was no ground to speak of, as well, yet
they could feel *something* beneath their feet.
     If Pientris had such an avenue of power open to him, why bother
remaining in a single kingdom on a world somewhere, toying with
everyone's minds?
     Makoto decided she should be the first to see if their words
could be heard.  "Hello...?"  Her call seemed to be swallowed by the
darkness of the void in the distance.  <It figures that'd happen.> 
They walked for a while longer, and she repeated the call.
     She was about to ask her teammates if they had any workable
ideas as to what plan of action they should take, when someone
answered her call.
     "......Jupiter!"
     <Usagi's voice?>  "Sailor Moon!"  Makoto raised her voice. 
"Over here!"
     "Where?"
     "Here!"
     "Keep yelling!"  Jupiter heard Sailor Mercury say.  "We'll home
in on the source of your voice!"
     "Can't you use your visor?"
     "It isn't detecting much of anything in here."
     "Okay.  Everybody yell," Naru ordered her group.  "That might
help them find us sooner."
     <And then what?>  wondered Chalea.  Pientris might be anywhere
in this void.  Alliene had been right - she could sense a presence of
good and evil from every last direction... above, below, left,
right... presumably, from the worlds Pientris could influence or
detect here in this... plane?
     If none of them had a plan, they were all in big trouble.
     It took both groups almost five minutes of wandering around in
the pseudo-darkness to catch sight of one another.
     Relieved, Sailor Moon hugged a startled Jupiter.  "Sailor
Jupiter!"  she cried.  "I'm glad you're okay!"
     Makoto pulled herself away from Usagi, smirking.  "Why wouldn't
I be?"
     "You tell us," Venus snorted.  After all the trouble they'd all
been through, Makoto was acting as if this were nothing more than a
casual walk?
     Usagi, meanwhile, was finally able to see how much her friend,
Naru, had changed.  Sailor Ondyre wore a Senshi uniform slightly more
pronounced than the one she'd worn on her previous outing; her
shoulders were each protected by a flare of transparent material
rather than the ribbed shoulders worn by practically all of the
Earth-bound Sailor Senshi - as far as Usagi knew - except for Sailor
Pluto.  The orange ribbons tied at her chest and lower back again
matched the ribbon nestled in Naru's short auburn hair, but now they
were longer - particularly the ribbon at her back, which nearly
extended down to the level of her knees.  A polished, rounded azure
jewel-brooch in the shape of a heart rested in the center of the
ribbon on her chest, a lighter shade of blue than the midnight blue
of the skirt, collar and lace-up boots of her uniform.
     Naru's Vibrance Fork resembled an elaborate tuning fork.  Small
crimson jewels adorned the flat edge of the fork, while a much larger
azure orb was mounted within the inside curve.  The other end of her
staff tapered to a decorative point in pure gold.
     Yes, Osaka Naru was again a Sailor Senshi, though Usagi had a
bit of difficulty in thinking of her as one.  Naru had, for the most
part, been an innocent... able to readily live more of a normal life,
if one discounted the 'weirdness' she was more than often finding
herself drawn into.  In Naru's opinion, this was a welcome change.
     But Usagi still wanted to keep Naru from risking her life in the
same manner her friends among the Sailor Senshi did.  Didn't
Naru-chan deserve to lead a normal life, free of anyone or anything
seeking to execute her?  Of wondering who she really, truly was?
     The determined look on Naru's face told her Naru had accepted
the role of Sailor Ondyre.
     {Your thoughts betray you, Sailor Moon.  I find your concern for
your friends rather touching.}  said a familiar voice from within the
void, everywhere around them.  One that only a little over half the
group recognized...
     Chalea knew who the owner of the voice was at once.  "Pientris,"
she said, sardonically.  "You can't fool me.  You can't read their
thoughts because they're highly aligned with the powers of Light."
     {Foolish girl.  Do you not know better than to make assumptions?
My powers have been *exponentially* increased in this realm!  I can
control entire planetary systems from here!  For me, now, controlling
a single person requires little more effort than your worthless
miniscule thoughts.  See for yourself...}
     Chalea snorted.  "More talk, no act--"
     Her voice died in her throat as her entire body went as rigid as
stone.
     "Chalea!?"
     When her features relaxed again, she turned to look at the
entire group.
     Chalea's eyes were glowing a bright red.  Her eyebrows were
furrowed, and she snarled, baring her fangs.
     <He's controlling her again!>  thought Naru, as the succubus
flew straight toward her with murder on her mind.  "Sailor Ondyre!" 
the demon-girl screeched.  "You don't know how long I've been waiting
to KILL you!"
     "Everyone keep your distance!"  Naru yelled while dodging
successive swipes from the talons Chalea had formed from her
fingernails.  Chalea could easily kill her with a single touch... but
in her frame of mind, Naru was willing to bet Chalea wanted her to
suffer, first.  "She can kill any of you if she gets too close!"
     Time to get on with appealing to Chalea's better judgment, then,
even if that tactic *never* worked in practice.  "Chalea, please! 
You don't want to fight with us!  We're your friends!"
     "Get *real*, Sailor Has-been.  You've been fooling yourself if
you think a child of the Darkness like me could be part of your
nauseating group!"
     Naru's expression didn't waver.  "You don't mean that, Chalea. 
Pientris is controlling you again!  Whether he lets you realize it or
not, you *are* our friend.  Fight him!"
     Chalea bit out a laugh.  "It'll never work, Sailor Ondyre!  I--"
Her face suddenly took on a pained expression.  "...No!  I'm not
going to fight--" And just as quickly, changed back again. 
"...Pientris.  I'm not going to fight him.  Maybe I WANT to be
controlled!"
     "I don't believe that.  And we know you don't, either.  Please,
you have to fight him!  You deserve the right to think for yourself! 
I know this isn't the real you..."
     Each of the Senshi watched Naru carefully.  Naru was reaching -
searching, pleading... trying to help Chalea break free of Pientris'
control over her, they knew.  And it *was* working; there was visible
evidence of a struggle within Chalea from the way the look on her
face kept shifting.
     Hana stepped closer to Chalea despite the others' warnings. 
"Get BACK!"  the demon snarled, spitting a thin stream of acidic
venom at her.  Hana blocked the stream with her shield - but the
venom bubbled, burning a hole clear through the shield about the size
of a tennis ball.  She yelped and hopped backward.  "This doesn't
concern you, *rabbit*.  *Yet*."
     Naru sensed Brin draw near.  "Brin," she whispered to the young
pixie.  "Fly around her head a few times.  Maybe that might distract
her or give her a chance to overcome his control."
     "Okay!"
     "But *be careful*," insisted Naru.  She didn't want to think
about what Chalea could do to Brin in the demon's state of mind.
     Brin seemed to pout for a second.  "I will."  That said, the
pixie darted toward Chalea's head...
     Just as she drew close, Chalea's head snapped up.  "What
the...?"  All at once, Pientris' presence in her mind had completely
*vanished*.  Her mind was clear again!  She did have to collect
herself, though, for she had been pushing as strong as she could
manage against Pientris' presence when it... disappeared.
     <It's happened again!>  She recalled her theories as to *why*
the Darkness in her left her on occasion like this, and glanced about
her.
     She found what - or who - she was looking for.  "Brin!"  Chalea
exhaled, relieved.  "Thank goodness you're here!"
     Her remark took Brin completely by surprise.  "*What*?"
     They heard a low growl, presumably from Pientris.  "I understand
it all, now.  It's you!"
     Brin stared at her.  "What are you talking about?"  This was
clearly not the Chalea she had expected to face.
     "It's you," Chalea repeated.  In the excitement, her voice was
growing hoarse.  "Don't you see?  Whenever you're near me, the
Darkness doesn't control me!  It's all gone - Pientris' control, my
compulsions - *gone*!"
     "If that's true..." Brin gasped.  "How?"
     Chalea thought about it.  "You're a being of powerful magic, and
completely Good.  *That's* why Corwyn is protected from magic and my
charms - in all that time you were with him, he must've absorbed some
of your magic somehow.  It changed him... made him sensitive to
magic!"
     That made sense enough to penetrate the confusion in Brin's
mind.  "I... guess..."
     "Please!  Stay with me, Brin!"  pleaded Chalea.  "I need your
help!"
     Brin was taken aback.  "Uh..."
     But Chalea wasn't about to give up.  "I'm not strong enough to
resist Pientris' control in this place all by myself.  With you close
by, he can't touch me!"
     "Are you sure of that?"
     "He's not able to control me right now.  Please?  I don't want
him to take control of me again.  If he does, he'll probably have me
kill everyone right away!"
     "I bet you're right," Brin said, unable to provide a
counter-argument against the other's words.  "Okay, I'll do it!  Just
be careful, okay?  I can't fight if I'm sticking close to you."  She
alighted onto Chalea's shoulder, taking firm hold of the gold circlet
fastened around the succubus' neck.
     Chalea soared into what was currently passing for the sky.  She
purposely let out a mocking laugh.  "You can't control me anymore,
Pientris!  *Now* who's the fool?"
     {You are, if you believe my entire strategy consisted only of
controlling you.}
     "Okay, then, prove it!  Come out here and face us instead of
hiding in the shadows!"
     {*You* are the one who hides in shadows, if I am not mistaken.}
     "Yeah, well..." Chalea frowned.  "What are you doing now, huh?"
     {I am afraid you are confused, child.  I am not hiding.}
     There was a pause before Pientris spoke again.  {I am
*everywhere*.}
     "Oh, would you just SHUT UP and show yourself already!?  Some of
us don't have all day, you know!"
     Makoto's teammates looked at her, stunned.  Wasn't impatience
one of the emotions Pientris could use to his advantage? 
"Jupiter..." Sailor Moon cautioned her.  Jupiter didn't sound as if
she was being controlled.  There was no sense in taking chances
either way, of course.
     Makoto happened to catch a glimpse of her friends' faces. 
"What?"  she asked.  Could they blame her for wanting to get all this
pointless pre-fight boasting out of the way as quickly as possible? 
Granted, impatience was more Sailor Mars' style than hers...
     {Very well.  If you insist.}
     <I had a feeling he'd say that.>
     What appeared to be a vast starfield came to form from the void
all around them, so that they seemed to be standing in the midst of
deep space.  Entire planets formed in the field long enough to have
the Darkness drawn from them to a point several yards away from the
unusual team of heroes... the spheres of evil energy assembling
themselves, piece by piece, into a giant.
     The giant Pientris flexed his newly-formed muscles.  "There! 
Much better, if I do say so myself."
     <Geez, can't this guy come up with something ORIGINAL to say?>
wondered Minako.
     Sailor Mercury retracted her visor.  She'd been running scans on
their surroundings for several minutes, and had switched to watching
Pientris take shape.  "He's almost completely made up of pure, evil
energy, drawn from all those worlds we saw!"  she inhaled sharply.
     "I could've told you that," Chalea smirked, though her heart
wasn't in it.  Sure, thanks to Brin, she no longer had to worry about
Pientris making her do anything, but he didn't need to, did he?  Not
if he could pull together an endless source of evil energy and use it
to attack them in any way he pleased!
     "Very good," Pientris stated in his new, omnipresent voice.  "I
can see that at least *one* of you is thinking sensibly!  You made a
tremendous mistake in coming here to confront me!"
     Sailor Mars remained far from impressed.  "We'll see."  She drew
out a ward before her.  Lowering her voice ever so slightly, she
chanted, "Rin... pyou... tou... sha... kai... jin... retsu... sai...
zan!"
     Rei's eyes shot open.  "AKURYOU TAISAN!!!"
     The ward landed squarely on Pientris' face.  He cried out as if
in pain - but only for a few seconds.  More planets appeared; more
Dark energy was drawn into him.  Laughing, he ripped the ward from
his face.  "What a pathetic opening move."
     Rei smirked.  "It worked, didn't it?"
     "That, my dear, is a matter of opinion."
     "And I don't want to hear yours.  Burning... Mandara!"
     Pientris shrugged off the attack.  Hoping to trip him, Sailor
Venus wrapped a Love-Me Chain around the giant's ankles.  She pulled
on the Chain, bringing Pientris to his knees.
     Jupiter leapt into the air to pitch a single Sparkling Wide
Pressure at his face, while Corwyn and Liana moved to hack at his
feet from the opposite side with their swords.  Her attack connected
- but not before Pientris brought up a palm to slap her out of the
air.
     The next thing she knew, Chalea had caught her and was being
lowered to the ground.  "Thanks."
     "You're welcome," replied Chalea.  "Didn't that hurt?"
     Makoto checked herself.  "A lot.  At least there's no walls
around here for me to hit this time."  Meanwhile, Liana and Corwyn
dodged the giant's attempts to sweep them aside with his feet.
     "Huh?"
     "Never mind," said Makoto, forcing a grin.  No, they weren't
viewing Ondyre through the eyes of a role-playing computer game any
longer... though if she concentrated, she could still feel her hit
points dropping.  <Maybe I'm just trying too hard.>
     The Senshi were pitching their best attacks at the giant now,
including Sailor Ondyre, who was having mixed success in activating
her Vibrance Fork and jamming it into the giant's legs to disrupt the
molecules of evil energy there.
     "If you want my honest opinion, I think you and Naru are
forgetting the more powerful forces also at work here."
     Jupiter considered this.  "You mean like magic?"
     "Well... your attacks do tend toward magic... but yeah.  And
Light and Darkness."
     "Mmm," the Senshi murmured.  "Will our magic work in here?"
     "There's only one way to find out, right?"
     "Right."  She muttered the words to her teleport spell and
vanished, promptly reappearing next to Hana.  "Hana!  Try a Light
spell!"  she said before the rabbit-girl could react.
     Hana bit back the reply that immediately came to mind and aimed
the most powerful Light spell in her collection at the giant's
midsection.
     The spell tore a large hole through Pientris' gut... which
Pientris immediately resealed with more Dark energy.  Drawing more
energy, he let it rain down on all of them.  Only Chalea, who was of
the Darkness, herself, was the least hurt by the attack.
     However, the effect of Hana's spell wasn't lost on Sailor
Ondyre.  <We need more Light to fight this Darkness!  If only...>
     Alliene's voice came to her.  <Pientris can call on the power of
Darkness everywhere, Naru.  You must call upon the Light.>
     <But how?>
     Silence.
     "You cannot do that here, Sailor Ondyre!"  the demon boomed. 
"*I* control this realm, and you can only do what *I* say!"
     Hana sprang high into the air and blew away the giant's mouth
with another Light spell.
     "A valiant try.  But, as you can see, completely ineffectual."
     <If only we could channel Light energy from all these worlds as
easily as he does the Dark energy,> Naru thought.  <I wish we could
do that!>
     To her surprise, worlds appeared behind her and Light energy
filtered into her from them.  Afraid Pientris would not give her the
time to put it to good use, she quickly lifted both arms into the air
and released the energy.
     It shot forth from her at high speed.  Within seconds, it had
completely consumed Pientris' left arm.
     Naru was more or less aware of the wail of pain the demon let
out afterward; the sheer power of her attack had knocked her backward
onto her rear, and somewhat painfully, at that.  "That's it!"  she
thought aloud, pulling herself back to her feet.  "Minna!  We can
channel the Light energy!  Now all we have to do is attack him with
one *big* blast..."
     Mercury nodded.  "The Planet Attack."
     The seven Sailor Senshi arranged themselves in a wide circle
around Pientris, summoning the Light energy to them.  A considerable
number of worlds came and left... leaving their energy with the
Senshi.  Privately, Naru was amazed that the knowledge of what to do
had come to her so readily.
     "Mercury Star Power..."
     "Mars Star Power..."
     "Venus Star Power..."
     "Moon Prism Power..."
     "Jupiter Star Power..."
     "Ondyre Crystal Power..."
     "Moon Cosmic Power..."
     Pientris had thought that none of his enemies' attacks could
truly have much of an effect on him, leading him to believe he could
devote most of his attention to regenerating his arm.  But the sight
of the Senshi preparing to use a massive amount of Light against him
brought fear to him for the first time in a long while.  "What...!?"
     "SAILOR PLANET ATTACK!!"
     A monumental column of Light energy rose from the Senshi...
consuming the giant Pientris and tearing apart the Dark energy
building blocks of his body, overpowering them into nothingness.
     When the Light cleared all that was left of Pientris was the
human-sized form he had had before entering the rift.  Pientris had
dropped to his hands and knees, struggling to collect himself.
     Sailor Moon brought forth the Heart Moon Rod, but Naru rested a
hand on it to hold her back.  "Allow me.  Please?"
     "...Okay."
     <How do I know all this?>  Sailor Ondyre wondered one last time
before readying her own weapon.  Somehow, someway, whatever she
needed always came to her at the right time, such as it did now.  Was
Alliene the one helping her realize all of this?
     She steeled herself, setting her feet apart, twirling the
Vibrance Fork before her in both hands like a baton.  After four
rotations, she ended the spin.  Naru held the Vibrance Fork parallel
to her own body and leveled it at Pientris.
     The demon's fear was now evident in not only his face, but his
entire body.  "Wait--"
     "Ondyre... Rising... Concerto!!"
     Spheres of warm light in every pastel color imaginable rose from
the ground underneath him and a distance around him.  Each sphere
brought with it a single audible note - at times sounding like a
solitary flute, others a massive choir, all for one note.  As the
note-spheres flew toward the sky they formed a musical concerto
unlike any those present had ever heard.
     The Concerto also dissolved Pientris and took him with it.  He
tried to scream, but his voice only added to the Concerto, instead.
     At the end, there was an explosion.  The universe faded to black.

                            *  *  *  *  *

     The celebration went on through the night and well into the next
day in the Diaran Kingdom.  After Pientris' destruction, the citizens
of the Kingdom were released from the curse of suspended animation in
which they had been frozen for more than fifteen years.
     King Corwyn and Queen Liana had wasted no time at all in
reinstating themselves in the castle, and commissioning new clothes
fit for a returning prince and princess... much to young Liana's
discomfort.  An impromptu ceremony had been put together during the
evening to honor what Sailor Ondyre and her friends had done for both
the Kingdom and all of Ondyre, once again.  Even Chalea was
commended, though only a few of those who were present knew what
Chalea truly was.
     But through it all, Naru and Makoto felt more and more like
outsiders.  By the following afternoon Sailor Ondyre and Sailor
Jupiter were ready to leave, with Hana, Chalea and Brin in tow.
     Liana caught up to them in the courtyard of the castle.  "Father
and Mother told us you were leaving," she said, straining to catch
her breath, "and that you didn't want anyone to make a big fuss over
it.  Can't I talk you into staying a while longer?"
     Naru briefly studied Liana.  The Princess was dressed in a light
turquoise formal gown designed to compliment her jade-colored hair, a
selection of clothing which made Liana more uncomfortable with each
second she wore it.  "I'm afraid we really must be going.  Neither
Sailor Jupiter nor I have been sent home yet, so we've got to assume
our adventure isn't over."  Naru shifted her grip on the Vibrance
Fork uneasily to emphasize her point.
     "I still haven't found out anything about my people," said Hana,
in a voice with an underlying tone of sadness.
     "I have to redeem myself somehow," added Chalea.
     "I'm going to keep *her* out of trouble," Brin grinned from her
perch on Chalea's shoulder.  She found it amazing that her presence
could have a remarkable effect on so many people.
     A tense moment of silence passed between the six friends.
     Naru cleared her throat.  "So... this is the first time you've
worn anything like that, isn't it?"
     Liana looked at her in surprise.  "It's that obvious?"
     "You'll get used to it.  Trust me.  Not just the dress, but the
role, too."
     "I doubt it," the Princess replied.  "I'd rather be going with
you.  You know, there's probably a good chance that this is the last
time I'll see you."
     Naru smiled.  "Oh - I've got a good feeling we'll all meet
again, one way or another.  The fact that I'm Sailor Ondyre is proof
of that.  But for now, we've got to continue on because our quest
isn't over.  We still have a lot of questions we'd like to have the
answers to."
     Another voice spoke up.  "Perhaps I can help answer some of
those questions."
     The six adventurers glanced in the direction from which the
voice had come, to see Alliene walking toward them - not as a vision,
but a fully present, completely corporeal form.  The goddess wore a
sky-blue frock that was a cross between Liana's gown and Naru's own
frock, and wore her brown hair short.
     As Alliene approached, Chalea found she could no longer maintain
her disguise and was forced to revert back to her true form.  Thank
goodness there was no one watching... She recoiled, acting as though
she wanted to be on a different continent.
     Alliene held up a hand to calm her.  "Do not be afraid, child. 
I will not harm you."  The words seemed to have a positive effect on
Chalea.  Naru wondered if there was more to the goddess' words than
what they saw.
     "Osaka Naru," Alliene turned to face Sailor Ondyre.  "I have
come to tell you that your current quest is indeed over.  I will
answer as many of your questions as I can."
     The goddess hesitated for a second as her eyes met Naru's; Naru
wondered why, but assumed that Alliene would tell her soon enough. 
Now that she finally knew what Alliene physically looked like, there
was a nagging sense of familiarity in the back of her mind...
     "Chalea."  Chalea snapped to attention at the mention of her
name.  Alliene's expression and gaze were not of displeasure toward
the girl's Dark nature or anything she had done in her past, but of
kindness and compassion, which made Chalea instinctively suspicious. 
Wasn't it a goddess' role to destroy Evil and Darkness?  "You have a
good heart.  One day, you will be able to redeem yourself as you hope
to do, and at that time you will become mortal again, free of your
demon form and all the Darkness it brings you."
     Chalea blinked.  "I was once mortal?"
     "Yes."  Alliene placed her hands a slight distance from Chalea's
temples.  "Allow me to restore your memories of your original life on
Earth."
     Chalea did; the images flowed unrestricted into her mind's eye. 
"Chalea and Chelise were originally sisters living peaceful lives in
a village," Alliene narrated for the benefit of the others, who could
not see Chalea's memories.  "Centuries past, in the history of the
Earth.  With their mother and father, young Kiriko and her older
sister Sachiko were a family of peasant farmers."
     "One day, however, their parents left to take their harvest to
market, leaving the sisters to care for the farm while they were
away.  A band of bandits happened upon their village and decided to
seize it for their own, including Kiriko and Sachiko's farm.  The
sisters were forced to act as servants and prostitutes for the
bandits, and were severely mistreated."
     "Kiriko and Sachiko eventually died from all of the wounds they
received.  It was their dying wish, in anger, that the men 'got
exactly what they deserved.'"
     "Which is why I'm a succubus now," Chalea lowered her head.  A
tool of her own desire for revenge.
     "Yes."  Alliene's voice had remained sympathetic.  "But, as I
stated, you are well on the road to redeeming yourself.  To finish
your journey, you must find true love.  A man who loves you for what
you truly are or can be."
     "That's impossible!"  argued Chalea.  "If I even *see* a man, my
first impulse is to seduce and drain him of all his energy... the
energy I have to take from them to live!"  A hopeful look came to her
crimson eyes.  "Unless... unless you can cure me of the compulsions
and the need to live on the energy of males."
     "Unfortunately, I cannot.  The hold of the Darkness over you is
far too strong for anyone except yourself to defeat it.  Choosing not
to follow the path your sister took and instead working for Good were
the first steps in the right direction."  Alliene paused.  "As you
have noticed, keeping Brin close to you silences the effects of the
Darkness on you, just as she unknowingly helped alter Prince Corwyn's
sensitivity to magic, although her presence cannot counter your
body's need for the energy of a male being to survive."
     "How, then, am I supposed to find true love?  Won't I
'accidentally' drain whoever it is or something?"
     The goddess smiled.  "No.  When you find your true love, you
will know it."
     Chalea sighed.  "I figured you were going to say something along
those lines."  But then, whoever said it was going to be easy for a
demon to redeem herself?
     Next, Alliene turned to Hana.  "Hana."
     The significance of this conversation was not lost on the young
girl.  After all, not only had the Goddess of Ondyre chosen to make
an appearance before them, Alliene was also about to reveal what
could be potentially important information about her and her people! 
This was something Hana had been waiting for, for most of her life. 
Growing up as an adopted child in Mirinis, facing scorn from visitors
to the Inn who viewed her only as a dirty, wild animal and not an
individual...
     Her eyebrows raised in interest.  "Yes?"  Not necessarily the
best response to offer a goddess... though Hana couldn't think of
anything better to say in this instance.
     "Your people live in seclusion deep within the forest named for
them... the Esteria Forest.  They avoid all contact with the outside
world because, as you have seen, people tend to look down on them."
     Hana nodded.  "But where can I find the forest?  Are my parents
still alive?  Why was I left in Mirinis?"
     Alliene took a deep breath before continuing.  "Your birth
parents are still alive.  But rather than tell you exactly where to
find the Esterians or why your parents chose to leave you in Mirinis,
I would like to charge you with a quest of your own - to find your
people."
     "Me?"  Hana spluttered.  "Why?"  Well, this certainly wasn't
fair!  Alliene knew where the Esteria Forest was located, yet she
wouldn't tell anyone how to find it?  Why?
     "I know my request may sound unfair to you, Hana, but your
presence during Naru's quest has helped change public opinion toward
your people along the way.  I believe that you are the perfect choice
for changing the way the world thinks of your people and others."
     "That's a very big task."
     "Will it help if Brin and I came along?"  Chalea spoke up.
     Hana's face brightened.  "It might."
     Alliene returned her attention to Naru.  "Naru," she began after
another noticeable pause.  "You are the last with questions to be
answered, but yours are by far the most important.  You have, I
assume, wondered why the magic of our world comes so freely to you?"
     Naru indicated that she had.  "The reason for that is because
you are of very powerful magic, and are a child of Ondyre itself."
     "But what does that mean?"  Naru asked.  Alliene's explanation
hadn't really explained anything at all, as far as Naru could tell.
     The goddess appeared as though she were searching for the proper
words to say.  "You see...... Osaka Naru... Naru, you are the direct
reincarnation of my... my own daughter, Nalie."
     No one was more surprised to hear this than Naru.  "B-but...
that's impossible!"  Osaka Naru, the daughter of a *goddess*?  How
could that be?  She was a regular girl, from another dimension, whom
weird things always happened to...
     Wait.  Would *that* explain why she seemed to be a magnet for
strange circumstances?  Circumstances which happened on a more
frequent basis after the Sailor Senshi started to appear.  Maybe it
was because she, too, was a Sailor Senshi?
     "Sailor Jupiter?"  Alliene inquired of the other Senshi, aware
that Makoto was still stunned by her revelation.  "Are you familiar
with the era in your dimension known as the 'Silver Millennium?'"
     Makoto nodded slowly.  "Yes.  I am."
     "During the time in which your Solar System lived in the era of
the Silver Millennium, the legend of the Sailor Senshi reached even to
this dimension - and Ondyre.  A small group of Senshi, led by one who
called herself Sailor Pluto, came to this world to help rid us of an
ancient evil.  We were grateful for the help of the Sailor Senshi,
and they took their place as the heroes that they were in our
legends.  Thereafter, we maintained constant contact with the worlds
of the Solar System and enjoyed the same peace and tranquility they
did."
     "On the day of one such contact, a Princess was visiting the
Moon Kingdom.  I learned that some time before that, the visiting
Princess had crossed the dimensional barriers, became close friends
with many people, including young Princess Serenity and Prince
Endymion, and after a year of special training, became one of the
Sailor Senshi herself."
     "Following her example, I wondered if I should send my only
daughter to the Solar System to become a Sailor Senshi.  While I
wanted to keep her safe rather than send her away into situations
where she would be risking her life, the benefits of having a Sailor
Senshi to represent and help protect our world were considerable. 
Our world needed a champion.  Ultimately, I left the decision to stay
or go to you, Naru, and you chose to go.  You were very excited and
determined to make me proud.  I *was* quite proud, at that."
     Naru pursed her lips, saying nothing.
     "You became Sailor Ondyre.  You were given the Vibrance Fork as
your staff because of a fondness you carried for music, and soon
began training to learn to use your special powers as well as your
duties as a Sailor Senshi."
     "But even I could not anticipate the direct assault by the Dark
Kingdom on the Moon Kingdom."  Makoto's face darkened; she knew this
part of history all too well.  "When the Dark Kingdom attacked, you
bravely rose to defend the Moon Kingdom against them... but you were
still unaccustomed to your new powers and abilities... and you were
lost in that battle.  We lost contact - both with you and the Solar
System."
     Alliene stepped closer to Naru.  "Allow me to awaken the
memories of your former life, as I did for Chalea."
     The memories verified Alliene's words.  She saw her debate with
her mother over whether or not to go to the Solar System... Meeting
the Sailor Senshi and training with them.  Bits and pieces of the
ceremony in which she officially received the title of Sailor Ondyre.
A final, desperate attack by her even as she lay dying...
     Naru shook her head, willing the memory to leave her.  She
opened her eyes and saw everyone watching her expectantly.
     She was short of breath.  Her mouth was strangely dry.
     "It's true," Naru told them, panning visually across their faces
until she reached the one she knew to be her former mother's. 
"It's... it's all true."
     The more she looked at Alliene's face, the more similarities she
found between Alliene and the features of the woman she had known to
be her mother for the past fifteen years.  Alliene could very well
have been the same person, with longer hair and no makeup.  But the
voice... was the same.  Alliene's voice remained calm, unlike her
Tokyo-based counterpart.
     "You... *are*... my mother."
     Liana gasped.  "Naru is... Nalie, the daughter of the Goddess of
Ondyre?  I've heard stories about the lost daughter of the Goddess. 
From what I was told, she disappeared trying to become a guardian of
this world, and her spirit is supposed to be watching over us.  So
this... this is what happened?"
     Naru's eyes went distant.  A symbol - the planet's crest, which
was also engraved on the surface of Naru's amulet - flared to life on
her forehead, shining brightly.  Her hair shifted as if by the wind
to give way to its presence.
     She reappeared to them - not as Sailor Ondyre but as Nalie,
wearing only the frock Naru had worn on both of her visits to Ondyre.
The Vibrance Fork remained in her hand... her trusted staff.  There
was an air about her that matched the absoluteness of Alliene's
presence.  "I'm sorry... I never returned..."
     Alliene embraced her daughter.  "You have returned.  And now,
you remember who you are.  That is all that matters.  It is not your
fault that we were separated from each other."  A tear formed in her
eyes as her daughter gazed up into her face.
     They separated.  "But, although I am happy you have been
returned to me after all this time, I know I cannot keep you from
your current life or ask you to give that up."  The sadness gave way
to hope, if only for the moment..  "If and whenever you wish to visit
Ondyre..."
     Two rings materialized.  One floated in the air before Naru, the
other before Makoto.  Both were of a simple setting - a thin band of
gold containing an emerald flanked by two small rubies and two small
sapphires.  Makoto took the ring into her hands, examining it
carefully.
     "...all you need to do is use these rings.  They are, in
essence, keys to the dimensional barrier which separates us.  They
will allow you to come and go as you please... also, they have other
functions as well."
     Naru reverted back to her Senshi uniform and accepted her ring.
     "I am sure your friends are worried about you, Sailor Jupiter,
so I will send you back to Earth, now," Alliene told her.  "Do not
concern yourself with Naru.  There is one last thing I want to
discuss with her before she departs."
     "I understand," Makoto said, slipping the ring onto the ring
finger of her right hand, over her glove.  "Uh, wait!  What about the
programmer... Hirokazu?  What part in all this does he play?"
     Alliene smiled.  "Consider him a medium.  I took notice when his
mind connected to Ondyre, showing him more of the world to help him
create a window through which anyone could view Ondyre.  But Chelise
learned of what he was doing, and corrupted the game for her
purposes."
     "So was it a coincidence I was brought here that first time,
then, or was it planned?"  Naru asked.
     "It was a coincidence, unfortunately.  Otherwise, I would have
been better prepared for your arrival.  Your visit *did* help me
understand who you were."
     Makoto sighed.  She cast a long, final glance at Liana, Hana,
Chalea and Brin.  "I guess this really is good-bye, for now."  After
all, it *was* a sudden departure... Finally, she took a few steps
backward and willed her ring to activate.  She disappeared in an
implosion of soft, warm light.
     Naru watched her depart.  <Good-bye, Sailor Jupiter.  I know
you'll be safe.>  "What did you want to discuss with me?"
     "Just this: Currently, your Amulet and magic will only work
here, on Ondyre.  They will not work on Earth."
     "What?  Why not?"
     "This amulet was one of your treasured possessions.  I gave it to
you as a birthday gift one year.  Because you have such a strong bond
to it, it, as well as the magic of Ondyre, made it possible to
trigger a transformation into Sailor Ondyre.  However, it was not
officially energized with the proper powers for that purpose."
     "How do I become Sailor Ondyre on Earth, then?"
     "You must either receive the proper item you need to call upon
your Senshi powers - or have your Amulet charged with the power of
the ginzuishou."
     "The ginzuishou?"  Naru was confused.  She recalled Nephrite and
Zoisite demanding to know where the ginzuishou was... and the
kurozuishou.  How was she supposed to find the ginzuishou, then,
without anything to aid her in her search?
     "Sailor Moon can help you find the ginzuishou."
     "...Okay.  You said my magic spells wouldn't work, either?"
     "That is correct.  For magic to fully work again on Earth, the
people of Earth must believe in it as a whole.  The magic of the
Senshi, however, works because the magic emanates from them and what
they represent.  They fully believe in their strength and powers."
     "Ah."
     Alliene began to fade.  "Wait!  Where... are you going?"
     "I must leave now.  I am still the goddess of Ondyre.  There are
many things I must tend to.  But you will never be far from my heart.
Farewell, my daughter, and may we meet again in the near future."
     Naru forced her tears back.  "Farewell..."
     With Alliene gone, Chalea resumed her disguise.  She prodded
Naru, grinning.  "So, you're the daughter of a goddess, huh?"
     "I guess so," Naru shrugged.  "I just wonder what I'm gonna tell
my mom back on Earth."
     Hana stepped closer.  "Would she believe any of this?"
     "Maybe; I don't know.  With all the weirdness we've seen, who
knows?  I didn't tell her about everything that happened the last
time I came here, though."
     Liana smirked.  Well, she was supposed to be a princess, so why
not make one of those princess-like speeches?  "Anyway, uh... as the
Princess of the Diaran Kingdom, I'd like to say that all of you will
always be welcome in our kingdom.  Even if I have to kick a few
people around and see to it myself."
     Naru had to laugh at the image that brought to her mind.  "I
hope you never change, Liana.  I can't picture you as a 'proper'
princess."
     The princess made a face.  "I hope you never have to.  Maybe you
won't, if you don't let two years pass before your next visit."
     "I'll visit as soon as I can.  I promise," Sailor Ondyre vowed.
     And with that, she was gone.

                            *  *  *  *  *

                            -- EPILOGUE --

     "Kawamori Maki?"
     Maki looked up from the book she was reading... alone, in the
living room of her apartment.
     Her first instinct was to check the front door.  Didn't she live
on the second floor of her building?  Who, then, would be calling her
name?
     Unless she was going crazy and hearing voices.  But how could
that be?  She figured that if she did hear voices, they would most
likely be ones she recognized.  She didn't recognize this one.
     The voice called her name again.  This time, she sensed a
definite impatience to it.
     A quick check proved to her that there was no one at the door. 
Maybe someone was out on the balcony?  Unless someone had sneaked
into the apartment before she came home and was waiting to leap out
at her.  But Maki had been home for well over an hour; surely, if
anyone was waiting to ambush her they would've done it by now...
     The outline of a girl, illuminated from behind by the late
afternoon sun, was traced on the curtains covering the glass door
which led to the balcony.
     Maki started.  "Who are you?  What do you want?"
     From what she could see of her... 'guest,' what the sunlight
highlighted of the girl's clothes and features, the girl was
apparently dressed as a Sailor Senshi.  None of the newspapers or
television crews had ever been able to get a Senshi to stand still
long enough to define exactly what the Senshi wore or what they
looked like; the Senshi enjoyed being 'unknown mystery heroes,' so
there was nothing anyone could do about it except approximate certain
details, as they had done with Sailor V so long ago and continued to
do now.
     This Sailor Senshi wore a white bodysuit trimmed by an orange
skirt and collar, as well as a royal blue ribbon tied in a bow upon
her chest.  The sunlight didn't allow her to see much of the girl's
face through the thin curtains... but the long, flowing blond hair
which framed that face was readily visible.  Another red bow rested
securely in the hair on the back of her head, looking somewhat out of
place since it didn't seem to be holding much of her hair back at
all.  It was there for decoration, perhaps, like the golden tiara
half-hidden by the bangs covering her forehead.,
     "Kawamori Maki," the Senshi said.  "In the name of love and
justice, I have come to talk to you."
     <Love and justice?  What's she talking about?>  "Why me?"
     Sailor Venus remained still.  "I've come on behalf of all the
young women you have caused to be hurt in the name of 'protecting'
your brother."  She paused.  "I can't believe you would have so many
people hurt to keep your brother from making his own decisions. 
Shouichi is an individual and can decide who to have a relationship
with on his own.  You shouldn't interfere."
     Maki frowned.  Who was this girl to think she could tell her how
to run her life?  "I don't care if you are one of the Sailor Senshi. 
What business is it of yours?"
     She saw a tight-lipped smile cross Sailor Venus' face.  "Matters
of love *are* my business.  Let your brother lead his own life.  Just
so you know, I'll be watching..." After another brief pause, the
Senshi flipped backward off the balcony and disappeared.
     "Hmph," snorted Maki at last.
     Several streets away, Sailor Venus ran past surprised
pedestrians.  Artemis was doing his best to remain close to her,
though it was difficult for someone with a cat's body to keep pace
with a Sailor Senshi.  He silently thanked his luck that Venus wasn't
running at top speed.
     She ducked into an alley to revert back to normal.  A minute
later Minako resumed her walk through the streets with Artemis held
safely in her folded arms.  "Mina, why do you think you have to
interfere in everyone's love life?"  Artemis craned his neck to look
up at her.
     "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, innocently.
     Artemis sighed.  "Honestly.  Sometimes I don't know where your
mind is."
     Minako gave him a wink and grinned.

                              <the end>

                               CREDITS:
                               --------

Written by: Mike Koos
Pre-readers: Richard Beaubien, Louis-Phillippe Giroux, Tom Williams, 
     David Wills

Apologies: Takeuchi Naoko and the others who brought us the manga and
     animated versions of Sailor Moon.

Special thanks to everyone who read and enjoyed this series.  I
apologize for taking so long to get this final part out, but there
were several private (and mechanical) delays keeping me from wrapping
it all up when I would have liked to.  
I know I've left a few (^_^) loose threads open, along with an
unanswered question or two; does that mean there will definitely be
future stories in Ondyre or with Sailor Ondyre?  Perhaps.  :)  And
something else...

(For those of you wondering, I'll put up a picture of (young) Corwyn
on my WWW pages, eventually.  I'm just trying to come up with a
design I like.  :)  

All parts of this series are available at the RAAC archives at
ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works
or from my WWW pages at http://www.fanfic.net/~makoto/
Comments and questions welcome.

* Mike ('Kino Makoto') Koos: makoto@cal.net
* http://www.fanfic.net/~makoto
* 
* "I can do nothing to stop you.  Your background music is too strong
* for me." - Sam Johnson, Whose Line is it Anyway?