Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
"Digital Moon" Conclusion
written by Mike Koos


[OP: Moonlight Densetsu]

The story so far: People all over Tokyo are disappearing, and it's
suspected that a shareware role-playing game that places the player in
the role of the Sailor Senshi may be the cause.  Playing the game,
Naru is transported from the safety of her house to the terrifying
reality of the game's worlds, where she realizes she is going to have
to fight in order to survive.  Fortunately, she finds help in a
strange young rogue who calls herself, Liana.
The Sailor Senshi, with the aid of a copy of the game Naru had given
to Usagi, try to recreate the circumstances that make people
disappear... and succeed.  Now, Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, Artemis and Luna -
faced with a blank computer screen, wonder what they should do...

---------------------------

     Chibi-Usa stared dazedly at the darkened computer monitor, almost
unable to get a word out.  "Mi-minna...... Usagi......" A solitary
tear made its way down her cheek.  Mamoru raised his head to look at
her and put an arm around the girl to comfort her.  
     He put an inquiring glance to Artemis and Luna, but they had
nothing to offer.

*  *  *  *  *

     Usagi awoke in an undignified position on the dirt road.  "It's
about time you woke up," Rei frowned at her.  "Why is it always so
hard to wake you up?"
     "You're no light sleeper yourself," Usagi shook the dust from her
blouse.  "Where are we, anyway?"
     "I don't know.  Everyone else is out looking around.  They left
me here to keep an eye on you."
     Usagi wondered if Rei was simply being sarcastic or honestly
upset that she'd had to watch over Usagi.  Rei had practiced her act
around Usagi for quite some time and had become very good at hiding
her true feelings.  "Gee, thanks.  Remind me to pay you back for the
favor."
     Rei only turned her face away.
     "We're inside the game world," Usagi decided she would try to
break the charged silence that usually resulted between her and Rei. 
Inside it they were, though it didn't look as Usagi expected it to. 
The landscape itself didn't suggest any place they knew of, yet at
the same time it looked oddly familiar, like they belonged there...
A bird nesting in the tree above them cheerfully trilled its own 
rendition of one of the game's BGM pieces.
     "Yeah.  It took you this long to figure it out?"
     "I... no!  I was only... ah, forget it.  Any sign of Naru-chan?"
     Rei looked as if she had no idea what Usagi was talking about. 
"We won't know that until the others get back."
     "How long have they been gone?"  Usagi asked, standing beside
Rei, who paid no attention to her.
     "About ten minutes."
     "How long have we been here?" 
     "Fifteen minutes.  But you've been asleep for twenty."
     For a moment Usagi glowered at Rei for the cheap shot.  "Rei no
ijiwaru..." she muttered sourly, as Rei turned her back.
     That did it.  "What did you say?"
     Usagi stuck out her tongue. "Biiiiiiiiiiii---..."
     "Oh, grow up," Rei retorted.  "I don't have time for this! 
Mou...," she cursed softly to herself, "I should've gone with the
others and let you sleep here."
     "And let the monsters get me?  How could you-" Rei grimaced; it
looked as if Usagi was going to start crying again.
     Suddenly, Rei noticed something that made her Senshi instincts
kick in.  "Shut up!  Look!  They're coming for us, NOW!"
     One look told Usagi that Rei was correct.  Ami, Minako and Mako
were running toward them, but they were also bringing a pack of
monsters close on their heels.  Mako was bringing up the rear; Usagi
assumed she had tried to stand and fight for a few seconds.  Mako
had, in fact, until Minako forcefully tried to pull her away.
     It seemed as though Usagi were about to jump out of her skin
upon seeing the monsters.  Hiding behind Rei, she looked for a quick
escape route.  There weren't any, naturally.  "What are we going to
do?"  she yelled into the wind.
     "The only thing we can do!"  Minako yelled back.
     What the girls did next might have brought surprise to a normal
person.  To the monsters, it meant absolutely nothing.

     "Mercury Star Power--"
     "Venus Star Power--"
     "Jupiter Star Power--"
     "Mars Star Power--"
     "Moon Cosmic Power--"

     All five joined voices in unison.  "MAKE... UP!!"

     The Sailor Senshi stood in a circle, facing outward toward the
monsters advancing upon them.  They steeled themselves and waited for
the attack to begin.
     It didn't.  Instead, the monsters stood perfectly still,
watching them.  The sky began to turn overcast.  "I don't recall rain
in today's forecast," Sailor Venus quipped uneasily.
     Mars stared intently at the sky.  She'd definitely felt the
presence of something evil, but the next line wasn't hers...

     "So, the Sailor Senshi have fallen into my trap.  I have been
expecting you.  I knew you wouldn't be able to resist coming sooner or
later."

     Sailor Moon snapped her head up.  "Who are you?"
     The voice remained unnervingly calm.  "That, my dear Sailor
Senshi, is something you will never know.  The ultimate blow to the
Sailor Senshi: to be defeated by an enemy they never even knew, like a
storm coming out of nowhere to wash away everything before it!"
     This was something Sailor Moon wasn't going to stand for;
speeches were her department.  "Kidnapping innocent people and
trapping them here in this world... A video game should bring only
fun, not terror and evil!  We cannot allow your evil plans to
continue... In the name of the moon, we shall punish you!"

     The voice laughed.  "You'll have to find me, first!"  To the
monsters, it commanded: "Dispose of them!"

     Sailor Mercury took the cue.  "Shabon...... SPRAY!!"  The entire
battleground disappeared under a layer of fine mist.  Next came Sailor
Mars' chance.  A handful of monsters disintegrated under the care of
her Burning Mandara.  "This is too easy," she remarked, lining up
another monster in her sights.
     "Shh!  Don't say that!  Someone might hear you!"  Sailor Moon
whispered urgently back.  Rei was right; these monsters were just as
easy to beat in person than from behind the helm of a computer
keyboard.  Why?
     "Whoever the source of that voice was, she's toying with us,"
Mercury read into Sailor Moon's thoughts.  "She knows we're the
Sailor Senshi, and yet..."
     "She keeps sending weak monsters to fight us!"  Jupiter
concluded.  "This is all just one big game to her."
     "You might say that.  She knows she has us trapped in her world
now; it may not even make a difference whether we are alive or not."
     "I'd prefer to be alive, thank you," Sailor Venus replied in 
between Venus Love-Me Chain attacks.  "Yeah!  Don't say stuff like
that!"  There was a note of desperation to Usagi's voice.  Why
couldn't Mamo-chan be here...?
     Or, at least a musician to play better background music for the
battle.  The current music sounded like a mix between pop music and a
rap song gone horribly wrong.  Not only that, it tended to distract
the Sailor Senshi from the fight.  They forced themselves to
concentrate harder and tune out the music.
     They didn't have to for too long.  For their Senshi powers
turned the tide of battle severely in their favor.  With it came a
change in background music.  Now, the music reminded everyone of a
suspiciously all-too-familiar triumphant fanfare.
     "You mean we can tell by the music whether we're winning or
losing!?"  Sailor Mars was tempted to cover her ears.
     "That's the way it looked when Ami was playing," Jupiter
replied.  Who knew they would have to listen to this blasted music
while going through the RPG's battles in 'real life,' too?
     Sailor Mars watched her teammate for a brief moment.  Mako
almost seemed at home in this world... actually enjoying this, Mars
thought.
     She knew exactly what to do.  Calling upon the powers of
Jupiter, Mako brought the house down upon each and every monster on
the battlefield at once.  All were destroyed.  A few even
disintegrated right out from within their armor.  
     Mako wiped her brow.  "That's how you do it."  The others
looked at her nervously.  A strange uplifting feeling came over them:
they were advancing several levels in game experience.  Four or five,
from the feel of it.
     "Okay!"  Sailor Moon appeared unshaken.  "Let's go find
Naru-chan!"  Mars, Venus and Mercury nodded their consent.
     "Hold on,"  Mako told them.  "Remember where we are?  We're in a
role-playing game.  That - whoever or whatever she was -'s world. 
We might be able to win a few battles on our own, but we'll probably
have more luck if we play along."
     "Are you sure?"  Ami put the question to her.  
     "Battles in video game RPG's usually happen on a random basis,
right?  I don't think we'll be able to carry on like this through all
that.  Besides, who's to say that someone hasn't upped the chances
of us getting attacked?"
     Mercury started.  She'd forgotten completely about the nature
of the game they had been thrown into.  Mako had a point, of course -
even the Sailor Senshi had limits.  "What do you suggest we do, then?"
     To their surprise, Mako knelt down and started poking through the
items the monsters left behind.  "Grab anything you think is useful. 
Especially anything that looks like gold or money.  We might even be
able to use the armor and weapons... or we can always sell them at a
shop for more money.  I just hope none of it's cursed..."  She pulled
a flask of a clear sky-blue liquid out of an abandoned leather pouch. 
"And be on the lookout for medicine and other things, too."
     "Like what?"
     "I don't know," came their friend's response.  She grinned. 
"You're the one who's played this game, Ami, not me."
     "......Mako-chan?"  Sailor Mercury asked after a moment's
pause.  The others were still rummaging through the remnants of the
battle.
     Preoccupied at first with a dagger, Mako lifted her head.  "Hm?"
     "Tell me - how did you come to know so much about role-playing
games?  I would have expected Usagi-chan to know more about a game
before the rest of us..."
     Sailor Jupiter's face flushed red.  Mako wondered for a second
whether she should tell her story.  "Well..."  She let her voice grow
distant.  "A while back--"
     Mako cleared her throat and started anew.  "A long time ago, I
got dumped by a guy.  I was so upset that I went down to the local
arcade and just lost myself in one of the RPG's."  The image brought
a momentary smirk to her face.  "I don't even remember how much money
I spent that day."
     "Ever since then, if I've needed to forget something or wanted
to lose myself, I'd play an RPG."
     Ami recalled what little else Mako had said about her past, and
wondered how many times Mako had had to 'lose herself' in a game.
     Another voice came to them from the sky.  This time, however, it
was a familiar one.  "...Usako?"
     Sailor Moon haltingly pulled herself up.  "......Mamo-chan?"
     There was nothing for a moment, and then, "We can talk to them!?
Chibi-Usa!  We can talk to them!"
     Sailor Moon turned to Sailor Mercury, who activated her visor. 
"Apparently, the gateways aren't completely closed whenever a person
is pulled through to this world.  The dimensional fabric between this
world and ours appears to be destabilizing at a slow yet noticeable
rate.  That's why we can communicate with Mamoru and Chibi-Usa."
     "Don't forget about us," Artemis' voice drifted down to them.
     Mamoru's voice took on a note of urgency.  "We finally managed
to get the computer running again.  That might have something to do
with it, too.  Is it safe enough for us to join you?"
     Ami thought about it.  "Can you see us on the computer monitor?"
she asked, cutting Usagi's "Yes!!"  short.
     "...An overhead view, yes."
     "Perhaps it would be best if you keep an eye on us from there. 
Warn us in advance if there's anything coming our way."
     "What about me?"  Chibi-Usa's voice cut in.  "I want to help!"
     Sailor Jupiter turned her head up toward the sky.  "It's too
dangerous for anyone to join us right now."
     "Yeah!  Besides, Mamoru might need your help!"  Minako had
unwittingly cut off another of Usagi's attempts to get a word in.
     "......Okay," Chibi-Usa replied slowly.  "I don't like this,
though."
     "We don't, either."  Usagi sighed.

*  *  *  *  *

     Naru and Liana walked out of the shop with an entirely new set
of armor, weaponry and outlook on traveling the countryside alone.
     "I still say this stuff's a little too tight," Liana grumbled,
trying to adjust the leather straps underneath the shoulder plates of
her armor.
     Naru's smile compressed.  "Don't complain.  You picked it out
and I paid for it.  That's all I had money left for after all the
things you chose for me."  Regardless of what Liana thought, the pair
still looked a sight better than when they had checked out of the Inn
earlier.
     "Next shop," decided Liana, "I'm doing all the buying."
     The sincerity in her partner's voice brought a comment to Naru's
mind.  "You sure you don't mean stealing?"
     "What!?  No, I do not!  I'm not a thief!  Have I not told
you that already?"
     "Then why do you keep getting upset every time someone thinks
you are?  Anyway, I always thought a rogue was a thief."
     "Perhaps you would get upset as well if everyone always accused
you of being a thief."  Liana left the latter remark unanswered.
     The expression on Naru's face softened.  "I don't think you have
to worry about any of that from me.  So tell me, what are we supposed
to do now?  Where're we supposed to go?"
     Liana's eyes fixed on Naru for a brief second, studying her. 
She pulled a worn map from within her thin armor and unfolded it
while they walked past the edge of town.  They had neglected to stop
and buy cure-all potions or herbs while they had the chance - but
Liana assured Naru that the small stockpile they had between them was
enough, and to save her gold for even more important things.  "See
this road?"  the young rogue's finger traced a route for Naru.  "It
is the road we are on.  I believe we follow it until we reach the
forest... here, and then head northeast to the Temple of Alliene."
     The Temple of Alliene?  Exactly how far had Naru come in the
game?  She recalled reading about the Temple - yet that was
light-years from the point where Naru's characters reached experience
level thirteen.  So long ago... "What do we do at the Temple?"
     "I'm not sure.  We're supposed to look for the Amulet of Ondyre.
 The legends say you will need its power to free our world from evil."
     Now why did it sound to Naru that she had heard those very words
before?  "What's the name of this world?"  she asked, putting the
thought out of her mind.
     Liana answered in the same semi-serious tone.  "Ondyre."
     "I should've known."  Liana nodded in agreement.
     Evidently, she should have remembered she was back in the open
land, too.  Her traveling companion's reflexes faster than hers, 
Naru discovered Liana meeting the would-be pouncer in mid-air before
she knew it.  Naru struggled to draw her long sword while Liana
traded blows with the thing.  The two were closer to completing their
arc and landing now.
     Muttering under her breath to herself, "It's just a game.  It's
just a game,"  Naru ran through several possibilities in her mind -
racing, equally as fast as her thoroughbred pulse - only one scenario
of which didn't end in both members of her small party getting
killed.  Still, if it was 'just a game...'
     Another part of Naru's mind retorted, Yeah, you go ahead and
keep telling yourself that.
     The monster and Liana touched down in a severe roll over each
other, tumbling through the dry weeds closer and closer to the river
that almost ran impolitely parallel to the nearby road.  If it hadn't
been for the attack, Naru reflected, she would never have seen it.  
     Liana could feel the warm breath and sheer strength of the
creature and tried to maneuver it so that it couldn't come out of the
roll on top.  Where, her mind cried, was Naru?  What on Ondyre was
she doing to help?
     Then, out of the corner of her eye she saw Naru straining to
keep up with them as they continued to roll, each desperately trying
to stay on top.
     Had she not been desperately trying to shove a few hundred pounds
of monster into position, the young woman might have noticed that
Naru was trying to look intimidating exactly the wrong way: by
swinging her sword about in wild, ineffectual slashes.  Liana finally
did catch a glimpse.  "Would you please NOT do that!?"
     That took Naru by surprise.  She stopped dead in her tracks,
lowering her sword to her side.  Unfortunately, stopping to yell also
forced Liana to let her guard down.  The monster - dull enough to
recognize this in her expression - flung her to the dirt and pinned
her.  Liana felt the impact ripple through her rattling armor, yelping
out more in shock than pain.
     "Liana!!"  Naru got the hint and picked up running again.  The
monster had its full attention upon Liana... maybe it hadn't had
breakfast or something, Naru didn't know.  She would be able to get
in a few good blows before it turned its attention to her, giving the
other girl a chance to attack.
     Naru's mind started to form another sarcastic rebuke, but she
willed it out of her mind.
     Her heart already pounding hard and loud enough for her to sense
it inside her ears, she gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands
tighter than necessary and leapt in for the kill.  She brought the
cutting edge of the blade down quickly as she could onto the
monster's unguarded back.
     It bounced off the armor there with the sickening thud of a
low-budget 'B' movie.  Annoyed by the distraction, the monster
reached a paw into her frame of recovery to backhand her halfway
across the field.
     Still, the moment gave Liana her chance.  She brought both her
feet up into the pit of the monster's gut and kicked upward with all
the strength she could muster.  Naru later admitted that Liana's move
had been rather strong; it took the monster a good ten or fifteen
feet of sky to realize its altitude had been changed.  At least none
of the combatants realized how much of an angle Liana had put on her
kick, not until the monster drifted in midair toward the river.  Naru
saw her chance.  She closed her eyes and concentrated on a magic
spell she'd picked up on without even reading a spellbook or
anything.  Even if she found the ancient writings bound into her own
little spellbook as if they had always been there.
     A decidedly heavy block of solid ice formed around the monster's
feet, forcing it down into the water in an embarrassing splash.  Once
the water settled, Naru and Liana rushed to peer in - Naru stumbling
on the way.  Sure enough, it hadn't taken the monster long to break
free of its enchantment and swim back to the surface, ready to try
that pouncing thing again.
     Only this time, Naru blasted it with one of her patent-pending
fireballs.  She had found how to increase their power and range
compared to when she first stepped into this game... the fireball
that caught the monster roughly about the size of a medicine ball. 
Perhaps it was Naru's imagination, or a trick of the light, but she
could have sworn she saw the monster break out in a nervous sweat
right before the fireball hit, scattering it to the winds.
     Ironically, there were no winds to be felt, so the char-broiled
remains of the monster simply fluttered down into the indifferent
river.
     "Ashes to ashes," Naru said, recalling a phrase she had once
heard.
     "What?"  asked Liana.
     Naru let the issue drop.  "Oh, nothing."
     "Let me guess," her partner slowly turned to her, gesturing to
Naru's sword.  "You don't really know how to use that sword, do you?"
     Naru blushed in embarrassment.  "No.  I... I don't."
     "Then why would you buy it?  I think you might be better off
with something along the lines of a staff.  Most magic-casters use
staffs, not swords."
     "Gee, and here I thought I was here to make a difference,"  Naru
muttered under her breath.  "One more thing... before we go around
calling everything that attacks us a 'monster,' what was that
thing?"
     Liana shrugged.  "How should I know?  You are supposed to be
the educated one."
     Naru Osaka, who had once thought of herself as a girl to whom
weird things always happened, threw up her hands in a sigh of defeat.

*  *  *  *  *

     "Keep going - I think I see the exit up ahead."  Mamoru polished
off another bitter cup of coffee while trying to help guide the
Sailor Senshi through their latest game challenge.  He let out the
exasperated sigh he'd saved up for moments like this.  He'd long
since forgotten to keep track of time in his world; in the game three
days had already passed.  The Senshi had found a small town to, as
Mako advised, sell off all the extra gear they kept from battles and
buy the most powerful weapons and armor they could.  Though, contrary
to Usagi's earlier daydream, Rei decided she felt more comfortable
with a staff rather than a sword.  It made little difference...
especially when none of the girls were accustomed to fighting with
swords, staffs and shields.  Usagi had had a terrible time adjusting
to wearing the heavy armor picked out for her.  "You're nothing but a
big target," Rei told her.  "You might as well be a well-protected
big target."
     They had puzzled their way through several game challenges. 
Mako, Ami and Mamoru saw to that.  Between Makoto's knowledge of
role-playing video games, Ami's storehouse of knowledge and the love
of her life watching over them like a god might, Usagi felt this was a
game they wouldn't lose.  So why did she have a feeling that disaster
hid over the horizon?  Too much listening to Luna, maybe.
     No, she knew exactly why.  The only way any of them were going
to return the kidnapped gamers to their proper world and leave the
game was to find the one who believed herself in control and deal
with her.
     In the 'real world,' Mamoru pulled down a couple of the window
blinds' dusty slats to hazard a guess as to the time.  Evening was
beginning to set, autumn hues watercolored across the sky.
     Across the room from him Chibi-Usa slept peacefully on the
battered old couch that once belonged to his parents, before that
fateful accident.  The couch that once saw Mamoru's blood the morning
before Zoisite and Kunzite tricked him into giving up the jewels of
the nijizuishou in his possession.  The day he and Usagi each
discovered who the other really was.  An awakening.
     Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon.  Mamoru Chiba, Tuxedo Kamen. 
Princess Serenity and Endymion.  And much more... Chibi-Usa stirred
on the couch.  "Usagi... Sailor Moon...... minna...," she murmured
desperately.
     "Chibi-Usa-chan..." Luna watched over the sleeping child,
despairing over the fact that there was hardly anything she could do.
     Usagi.  Sailor Moon's plaintive cry came from the computer
speaker.  "Mamo-chan?  Are you still there?"  He'd nearly forgotten
he was supposed to help them out of the maze.
     The maze within a haunted forest.  Before he reached his chair
Usagi screamed again.  The speaker failed to do her voice justice. 
He leapt into the chair.  "Usako!?"
     "Oh, lighten up, you big baby!  It's just a bush!"  It was
Rei, overreacting over Usagi's overreacting.
     "Oh, yeah?  What about that tree you tried to burn down back
there?"  Usagi demanded.
     "So I couldn't see it with all this fog around.  At least I
don't run and cower every time we hear a little noise!"
     "Please, stop arguing, you two!"  Sailor Mercury said quickly,
automatically placing herself between Rei and Usagi.  Ever since Rei
had been returned to the Senshi Ami found herself playing mediator
for the occasional argument.  "This is accomplishing nothing!"
     Mako saw that the party was no longer alone.  A group of undead
creatures advanced on them.  "It might attract attention," she
corrected in a near-whisper.
     "Now you've done it!"  Sailor Venus readied her weapon.  "You've
gone and waken up the undead!"
     Usagi made a mental note to remind herself to tell Minako
exactly what she thought of that concept.
     "What?  What's going on?"  disembodied Mamoru's voice cut
through the air.  He looked at the world through the eyes of a small
computer monitor, an overhead view in pixels.  The forest was so
dense the treetops obscured Mamoru's view of the party - and the
thick fog made matters much worse.  When the Senshi were completely
out of sight, a flashing square popped up to show their screen
position.  A pointless feature, really, since the game always kept
the party in the exact middle of the screen.
     Another way to see the party was to wait for them to be
attacked.  For 'random occurrences,' these happened often. 
Occasionally all it took was a single step off an established path
for a monster to jump out at you as if you had stepped on a land
mine.  Even so, most of the monsters proved themselves pushovers and
the Senshi found themselves at experience level fourteen in no time.
     Usagi tore her eyes from the ghouls to shoot a glance up at the
canopy of trees.  They and their attackers were directly under the
tree cover; Mamoru probably couldn't see them.  Maybe it was just as
well - the ghouls and skeletons scared the ability to run and hide
right out of her.  Rei's evil spirit-ridding techniques also worked
little here.  The only thing the monsters - and the game - seemed to
know was brute force and magic against the same, one on one.  Fight
or retreat.  "You'll have to understand most RPG's don't come with an
option for fancy evasive maneuvers," Mako had told everyone earlier,
taking a cue from Ami and someone she recalled from television.  "Any
imagination these monsters have comes from the programmers, not the
monsters."
     But more and more their enemies began to show a high level of
ingenuity.  Sailor Jupiter took it all into account... wondered if
she had been wrong to assume everything that happened to them came as
a result of a computer program.
     Had she but known the truth... What none of the gamers knew was
that the world of Ondyre was one hundred percent real.  Or, at least,
that's what the inhabitants thought.  It was a separate dimension
from the one the gamers came from, the RPG acting as a portal.  But
it wasn't a true portal... it affected everyone passing through it. 
They too saw the world and interacted with it as the RPG did.  It
colored the responses of the people living here as well as those of
the monsters and the gamers 'playing the game.'  Only it was not a
game.  Some people found themselves fighting for their very lives, as
Naru had.  Some had hidden in the deepest hole they could find,
waiting for the nightmare to end.  Others had tried to, but were
brought out by parties of their own.
     The monsters continued circling around their prey, eyeing the
girls not unlike a desert predator looking forward to its first meal
in a long time.  Sailor Moon had a mental image of that old Warner
Bros. cartoon character - what was his name, again?  Something
'coyote' or other... drooling, licking his chops.
     Sailor Mars had had enough.  "Since when do we let creeps like
these stop us?  What these guys need is a little fire..." So
saying, she set the undead creatures aflame.  That did the trick -
the bad guys practically went poof!
     Far overhead Mamoru saw the party's experience point counters
rise rapidly.  A little more, come on... there, experience level
fifteen!  And still rising - maybe, just maybe... level sixteen!  Ah,
but then his computer screen decided it was time to start fading out
again.
     What!?  Why was the screen fading?  There it was, happening to
him once more.  No, not again!  Not now!  I thought we had this
fixed...  Chibi-Usa peered over his shoulder.  "I thought we fixed
that?"  He hadn't even heard her wake up.  "Something's gone wrong. 
Usako?  Usako!"  he cried.  "Something's-"
     The screen turned completely black.
     Usako...
     A bright magenta box popped up on-screen.  It said, "Sorry!"  in
blinking white letters.  "This unregistered shareware version of
The Quests of Ondyre only allows adventures up to experience level
15.  If you would like to explore more of the world of Ondyre, send
your registration along with the provided form to..."
     Mamoru clicked the monitor off.  In all the excitement, he'd
forgotten about the game's shareware limitations.  Not that he had
known what they were in the first place.  "We've lost touch with them
again.  Maybe this time, for good."
     "Don't say things like that!"  Chibi-Usa didn't know Mamoru to
be one to give up so easily.  "There has to be another way..."
     For a second, Mamoru met the silent gazes of Luna and Artemis. 
"There just might be... Come on!  We're leaving!"  He rushed to the
door.
     "Where are we going?"  Artemis ran after him.
     Mamoru gave him a curious tight-lipped look.  "To see a man
about a game."

*  *  *  *  *

     "......Usako?  Usako!  Something's-"
     Silence.
     Sailor Moon called Mamoru's name.  Once, twice, three times,
four.  No answer came.
     "Something must have gone wrong!"  Sailor Mercury said, watching
the sky.  She had no idea what she was hoping to see.
     Sailor Venus scowled.  "You think?"  she muttered under her
breath.
     "We've got to keep going!"  Rei thought to rally everyone.  "All
we can do is hope Mamoru-san can re-establish contact somehow later 
on.  We weren't expecting to be able to talk to him when we were
first brought here, were we?"
     "That's right!  We have to keep going!  For the sake of all the
gamers who were brought here..." stated Minako.
     "...And Naru-chan," Sailor Moon reminded her.
     "...And Naru-chan."
     "Excuse me," a new voice said.  "Did I hear you correctly?  You
intend to confront the evil presence that plagues our lands?"
     Sailor Moon turned a cautious head left, right, left, right. 
"Who said that?"
     Ami pointed into the clearing barely ahead of them.  "I believe
he did."
     "Who are you?"  Minako switched her attention to the boy.  He
was a wanderer, hair almost as fair as hers if not for the dirt
clinging to each strand.  Probably an orphan, from his ragged
appearance, she surmised.  He looked as if he hadn't eaten or taken a
bath in days.  That, and his pale white skin suggested he had not
seen the sun in a considerably long while.
     The boy's next words confirmed part of that theory.  "I call
myself Corwyn.  Perhaps you know a way out of this forest?  I have
been lost here for quite a long time."
     Lost?  Usagi didn't doubt it at all.  Not in these woods.
     "We stand in an enchanted forest.  If you stand still in one
place too long, or if the spirits decide to have fun with or torment
you-"
     "Take your pick," Rei muttered.
     "Indeed... If so, the paths will not hesitate to change around
you."  Corwyn took a hard look at the surrounding landscape.  "As it
does now."
     Sailor Moon shook off the urge to give in to fear.  Without
Mamoru to point out the proper way from above how would they find
their way out of this scary place?  She had had just about enough
battles with evil spirits and undead creatures for one day.  One
week, she told herself.  One month.  Happening to glance to her
right, she caught a glimpse of Rei keeping an eye on her.
     So, too, was Corwyn.  "You are strangers to our land as well,
are you not?  I have never seen clothing like yours.  The armor and
weapons are familiar.  Who are you?"
     "We are the Sailor Senshi."  Ami did away with the contraction
for added impact.  "I'm Sailor Mercury, this is Sailor Moon-"
     "The Sailor Senshi?  Here?"  Corwyn breathed, though Ami
doubted he knew the full meaning of the word senshi.  "Then you are
the ones foreseen in our legends!  The ones who truly are destined to
help us free the world of evil!"
     Sailor Jupiter's jaw dropped.  "You're kidding, right?"  To her
this stuff was lifted directly from a few of the form RPG's she'd
played a long time ago.  Yeah, you're the one.  Destined from birth
to lead the fight against evil.  Okay, sure.  Etcetera, etcetera...
     None of which held a candle to her destiny as a Sailor Senshi.
     "Why would I mislead you?"
     "Never mind."  Mako pursed her lips.
     "Hey, I don't mean to be rude or anything," Sailor Moon's voice
was subdued, "but couldn't we continue this discussion OUTSIDE this
creepy place?"
     "There's only one way I can think of:" Venus hesitated.  "The
Sailor Teleport."
     Of course, the Sailor Teleport!  But would it be able to
teleport Corwyn as well?
     "It worked when we teleported Chibi-Usa off Rubeus' ship," said
Rei.  No one bothered to remind her that Chibi-Usa was a Senshi, too.
     "Okay, minna, gather around.  Corwyn, stand in the middle of our
circle.  We're going to try something."  Usagi suddenly realized she
had no idea where they were supposed to teleport to.
     Corwyn answered her question.  The evil presence was holed up
somewhere in the Temple of Alliene.  "Then that," Rei said firmly,
"is where we must go."
     The Senshi linked hands to form a circle with Corwyn in the
center.  Calling upon their respective powers, they activated the
Teleport.

*  *  *  *  *

     At that very moment Naru was staring up in wonder at the
Temple's ceilings.  Like the walls, the ceilings appeared to be made
up of smooth steel plates roughly about twelve feet by twelve feet. 
The floors, on the other hand, were corrugated plates of the same
thin material.  Which wasn't steel, now that she had a closer look
at it.  Liana agreed, except the young rogue hadn't an idea what the
material was.  "I know, I know," Naru waved Liana's reply away. 
"You're a rogue, not an architect."
     "A what?"  Liana asked.
     Naru frowned.  "Never mind.  Let's see if we can figure out
where we're supposed to be going."  She moved toward the mouth of the
corridor.  If it weren't for the miserable lighting in this place,
she would have felt a whole lot better.  At least they could often
see the monsters coming and bolt well in advance, if the monsters
hadn't seen them first.  Everything reminded Naru of a game or two
she'd seen back home - one of those first-person, three-dimensional
corridor games she never paid much attention to.
     "Why not consult the map?"  Liana drew a piece of weathered
paper from her pocket.
     What?  Naru turned abruptly.  "You have a map!?"
     "I... bought it while we were in town," Liana shrugged
sheepishly, already tracing their path.
     Beside her, Naru looked at the map.  "You stole it, didn't you? 
I'll bet it belonged to that guy in the armor shop."  Liana kept
quiet.  After all, what could she say, other than the guy got what he
deserved?  And Naru wouldn't like that at all.
     Naru tried to decipher the map.  Wait a minute - this map was
complete.  Indeed, every corner was mapped down to the tiniest of
passages.  "I thought no one ever made it out of this place alive! 
How in the world can this map be accurate?"
     "It is a magic map."  Liana protested.
     Oh.  That was supposed to make it better?  Practically
everything on Ondyre - maybe even the world itself - was magic.  So
saying that anything was magic made very little difference to Naru. 
"Are you absolutely SURE we can trust it?"
     "Absolutely; I would trust my life to it, as I did to you." 
Naru had forgotten Liana held her apparent magical nature in high
regard.  Either that, or purely blind faith.  Well, so be it.  If
Naru was going to go completely down the tubes, she might as well go
as far as possible.
     "See if the place where the Amulet is kept is marked on the map
and get us the most direct route," Naru concluded.
     "Of course it is marked!"  Liana clarified.  "Why would it not
be?  It is a magic map."
     "Yeah, you said that already.  Humor me, okay?"
     Around the next corner more monsters waited.

*  *  *  *  *

     Five Sailor Senshi and one young man rematerialized in the
entryway to the Temple of Alliene.
     Usagi tried to discern the end of one of the endlessly dark
corridors with her eyes.  "This is where that evil lady is holed up?"
     Corwyn frowned.  "From what I have seen, she is definitely not a
Lady."
     Oops.  Her mistake.  "Er - so what's she supposed to be?"
     "None know for sure.  I heard she may be a shape-changer who
tries to assume the form of what you fear the most."  Evidently there
was a lot less variety in fear here than present-day Earth.  Usagi
wondered if she might have a lot less to worry about had she grown up
in the world of Ondyre.  Maybe then she'd come close to fitting
Luna's qualifications for an ideal Senshi... but then, this world was
only an illusion.  A game, right?
     "Well, minna?  Do we go in?"  Usagi asked.
     A pair of screams drifted from the Temple's halls.  "Naru-chan!"
realized a shocked Usagi.  "And another person," Sailor Mercury
thought to add.  "She must have been advised to come here and defeat
the evil...whatever it is in order to return home."
     "Then what are we standing around here for?"  Impatiently,
Sailor Mars ran through the temple's open doors.  The others
followed.
     Corwyn decided on a reluctant shrug.  These five who acted
almost as one were going to take a bit of getting used to.

     The Senshi attempted to sneak through the Temple straightways. 
"It's so dark in here!"  Sailor Moon whined.  "Isn't there anything
we can do?"
     Corwyn pulled out a torch.  "I've got a torch-"
     "Save it," Mercury interrupted him, activating her computer
visor.  Infrared/structural mode, she instructed it.  Who needed
magical maps when technology worked as well?  Or were they the same
thing?  Even Ami had no way of knowing - as far as the Sailor Senshi
were concerned - where technology ended and 'magic' began.
     The walls and corridors painted onto the visor's thin
transparency in sharp straight lines for paths and ninety-degree
angles where those paths met each other.  Six humanoid profiles,
shifting through the warm end of the color spectrum, appeared to show
their present location.  Two other humanoids appeared to be engaged
in a fight several halls away - Naru and whoever had joined forces
with her.
     "Do you expect us to find our way through these halls in
complete darkness?"  spluttered Corwyn.
     "A torch or light may attract monsters to our position.  By
resorting to infrared scans we can find our way there without light."
     Infrared scans?  "Assuming there are no traps along the way."
     Mercury pointed to her visor.  "I can see those with my visor,
too.  We won't need to worry about them."
     Corwyn gave her a strange look she could see through the
darkness.  "You have an answer to everything, don't you?"
     "No," Ami turned to go.  "I don't."
     "Does this mean you know where they are?"  Mars asked.
     "Yes."
     "That's good enough for me," Usagi announced.  "Mercury, lead
the way."
     Sailor Jupiter made an effort to match her stride to Mercury's. 
"Y'know, in a few circles, using that visor in here could be
considered cheating."
     Ami blushed for an instant.  "Who's going to know?"

     An eternity ago, a younger Makoto Kino stood in the pouring rain
outside her favorite local arcade.  She stared through dulled eyes at
her drenched reflection in the large window.
     One hour earlier she had met her boyfriend at their spot - the
gazebo in the park - only to hear him mouth the words she never
wanted to hear: "I think it would be better if we were just friends."
     He'd left her then, on the verge of tears, standing in the rain.
Shinozaki-kun appeared to save the day, bringing an umbrella for
keeping away both the rain and her tears.  Somehow, someway,
Shinozaki always managed to show up when she needed a dose of comfort
or a guardian angel.  He walked her home and saw her to her door, try
as he might to cheer her up in that curiously personable charm of
his.
     But instead of drying off inside, Mako had waited patiently by
her door for Shinozaki-kun to leave before starting off again on her
own.  She wandered miserably and aimlessly down who knew how many
streets... cold from the downpour, hot from the anger she bit back. 
The mood of the cloudy skies matched the mood in her mind and heart. 
It suited her just fine.  Anyone who recognized her on the street
figured they had better stay well out of her way.
     She unintentionally wound up at the arcade after a while,
staring into the window.  Okay, so she had intended to come here
sooner or later, but she hadn't set out with an idea of ending up
anywhere.
     How Shinozaki-kun would worry if he saw her now.  The thought of
Shinozaki throwing a fit over her, soaking wet as she was, turned up
the corners of her mouth.
     Mako entered the arcade.  "Oh, Kino-san, good--" the attendant
greeted her.  "My goodness, you're soaked!  Let me see if there's a
towel around here you can use to dry off.  It wouldn't do to have you
electrocute yourself on a game now, would it?"
     She found that despite how miserable she felt, or thought she
needed to feel - or the attendant's partly sick attempt at humor -
all she managed was fumbling a plain 'thanks.'
     Towel in hand, she dropped her change into the machine.  How
life would be like if she were a part of this adventure.  How life
would be like if these characters were her friends...

*  *  *  *  *

     The programmer's house looked like any other in its lineup along
the darkened streets, nestled securely into its own little nook in
the middle of the street.  An innocent bystander would have a hard
time finding anything wrong with the house, unless he or she were
going to discount chipped paint, a not-so-manicured lawn and windows
in dire need of a cleaning.
     Sailor Chibi-Moon blinked at the normality of the picture.  "I
don't get it.  It looks like any other house around here."
     "Doesn't it?"  Tuxedo Kamen smiled briefly, walking toward the
front door.
     Chibi-Moon wondered for a second what he'd meant by that. 
"Hey!"  she called.  "Wait for us!"  She scrambled to catch up with
him, as did Luna and Artemis.
     She knew what was wrong.  There were two police cars parked
alongside the curb - more around the corner, for all she knew - yet
they were both simply abandoned.  Dark and quiet.  As if their owners
had gone inside the house... but never come out.  It gave her a cold
shiver even the two cats could feel.
     Tuxedo Kamen jiggled the doorknob.  The door, in response, swung
open.  
     "I don't like this," Artemis announced.  
     "Nor I," Luna agreed.  "It's like a pre-fabricated trap."
     "Trap or not, that programmer might be the only chance we have
of getting Usa - no, Sailor Moon and everyone else back.  So it's a
chance we'll have to take."  Tuxedo Kamen put a foot around the lower
edge of the door.
     But what if the programmer himself was a demon or monster of
some sort just waiting for one of them to stick their foot inside?
     "It's more likely that the guy's been used by that... demon we
overheard when Usako and the others were transported into the game." 
Then, with a grin, he added, "I don't know of that many demon
programmers."
     The child grumped.  "There's always a first..."
     Nothing interesting happened, so Mamoru decided to edge his head
into the doorway to take a peek at the room.
     And to jerk it back even faster to avoid being creamed by the
mass of sticky transparent netting shot at him.  Spider webbing, he
told himself.
     "I knew something was gonna be waiting for us," spat
Chibi-Moon.
     "It wouldn't be fun if there weren't."  Tuxedo Kamen forced a
small laugh.  He stepped back a few paces.  The next thing his three
companions knew, he was charging full-tilt into the house.  Tuxedo
Kamen dropped into a tuck-and-roll to avoid the demon's web blasts,
frustrating it.  As he came to a stop he aimed his walking stick at
the demon and extended its length, catching the demon square in its
would-be gut.
     The demon reeling, Tuxedo Kamen stood and took his first real
look at their opponent.  She was very much a terrifying sight, in
appearance bearing little resemblance to the spider-youma of
Nephrite's that fought Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars at
a bridal contest.  This demon, too, had a body more like a spider's
rather than a Human - what foul thing might be produced were there
ever crossbreedings between humans and spiders - but her body was the
black of Evil itself and seem to blend in with the shadows.
     A quote popped into Tuxedo Kamen's mind.  This just isn't my
day.
     He could see her bared fangs now, dripping with saliva - or
venom, as it were - and Mamoru didn't want to think of what happened
should the liquid merely come in contact with his skin.  Sure enough,
drops of it fell to the carpet, instantly burning holes he gathered
to be about an inch wide.  Guess it doesn't matter if she traps
something in a web or not, he tried to return her stare.
     Close to the computer station on the far wall was a humanoid
trapped within a cocoon of the demon's super-sticky silk.  Whatever
it was started flailing, having realized an event was taking place. 
The programmer, no doubt.  The demon crew still needed him.  Anyone
else could be terminated without a second thought.
     Tuxedo Kamen noticed Sailor Chibi-Moon gaping in initial fear at
the sight of the demon.  So did the demon.  "Run!"  shouted Mamoru,
horrified.  He didn't want to lose his future daughter in the
present.  "It's too much for you to handle!"
     The spider turned her spinnerets on Chibi-Moon, yelling a
deafening battle cry; a wad of gooey webbing went splat! against a
Sailor V silk-screen.  Another impacted the wall inches above the
cats' heads.  Chibi-Moon had launched into the air, performing a
forward flip for the sake of argument and came down with her Moon Rod
at the ready...
     "PINK... SUGAR... HEART...... ATTACK!!"
     Nothing happened.  No, not now... Sailor Chibi-Moon and the
spider nervously looked at the Moon Rod. 
     The spider was the first to recover, bracing her spinnerets for
another barrage of web-strand.
     Then, the Attack came.  Chibi-Moon blindsided the demon, giving
Tuxedo Kamen an opening to finish the spider off with a special
attack if he so chose.
     He did so choose.  The four breathed a hasty sigh of relief
after the demon spider dissolved into a final, forlorn wail.
     Tuxedo Kamen noted all the web goo draped across the walls and
ceiling, the demon's attempt to make herself feel right at home. 
"It'll be a while before this place gets back to normal."
     Artemis agreed.  "That's for sure."
     The cocoon on the wall flailed uselessly again, louder this
time.
     One quick upward slash of Tuxedo Kamen's walking stick had the
man free.  He immediately collapsed out of the wrappings onto all
fours, seeing if it was possible to put his breath back where it
belonged.  "Thank... you," he tried weakly to place the blur before
him.  "You have no idea how long they've kept me here, made me adapt
that game to their purposes...... I don't think I've eaten in at
least a week."
     That would mean... Chibi-Usa marveled at his condition.  Maybe
he hadn't eaten or whatever for a week, sure.  He sure didn't look it.
     "I've trained myself to live for weeks on nothing but coffee and
cup ramen," Hirokazu, the programmer proudly answered Chibi-Usa's
question.  His eyes were beginning to readjust, giving him an
opportunity to take in the sight of a young Senshi.  "Hey!  You're
one of the Sailor Senshi, aren't you?"  His eyes went excitedly wide.
"I never believed I'd meet any of you in person--"
     "Later," Tuxedo Kamen interposed.  "A lot of people are trapped
within that game of yours.  The rest of the Sailor Senshi have gone
in to try and rescue them.  We were able to help them along until we
ran into your shareware limitations."  There seemed to be an edge to
Mamoru's voice he hadn't intended to let show.  "We need your help."
     Hirokazu slowly glanced from Sailor Chibi-Moon, to the cats, to
Tuxedo Kamen.  That done, he righted the desk chair and within
seconds was tapping judiciously at the keyboard in front of him. 
"All right," he cracked his knuckles loudly.  "Let's see where we
stand.  Let's see what we can do."

*  *  *  *  *

     The Amulet of Ondyre glittered enticingly bright under the only
true light in the Temple.  Innocently sitting there, almost daring
Naru and Liana to reach out and take it for their own.  Liana's face
developed a glow much like that of the Amulet.  "There's the Amulet! 
Let's go get it!"
     Having just come from another tiring battle, Naru's senses were
terribly alert.  What was it about this room that reminded her, um,
of that movie featuring an archaeologist with a battered old fedora, a
bullwhip and an unusually round large boulder for a trap?
     She grasped Liana's arm.  "Wait!  It could be a trap!"
     "That might be a welcome change from monster attacks," Liana
snickered, feeling a little silly.
     "I'd rather get rid of the attacks and traps altogether."
     Liana didn't blame her for feeling that way.  "So how do we know
if this is a trap?  I see no magical auras containing it."
     Naru grimaced.  "You can sense magical auras, too?  Is there
anything else - any other talents you haven't told me about?"
     "I will only tell you about them when they are needed.  Sort of
adds a measure of surprise and excitement to our adventure, don't you
think?"
     "Liana...!"  I've had enough of this adventure!  Naru mentally
protested.  I want to go home!  Ondyre was a great place to visit,
as long as one didn't mind the five-second intervals in between
fighting hordes of monsters that would have made the Dark Kingdom
jealous.  Wait... the Dark Kingdom?
     An image of Nephrite appeared before her in her mind's eye.  She
withdrew temporarily and decided to let the memory of Nephrite give
her strength, not take it away.  There were some battles that needed
to be fought over and over, to remind one of his or her reason to
fight in the first place.  Naru reached a hand out for the Amulet,
could almost see her reflection in its golden luster...
     "Naru-chan!"  That voice again!  Like Usagi's, it had haunted
her every minute of her exile to Ondyre.  She heard Liana's voice. 
"Who are you?"
     It wasn't a dream!  Naru spun about on one heel......
     "Sailor Moon!?"  And the Sailor Senshi, too.
     "Corwyn?  What are you doing here?  Who are these people?" 
Liana demanded of the boy.
     Corwyn shrugged.  "A pleasure to see you again, I suppose.  I am
proud to have the honor to introduce to you the legendary Sailor
Senshi."
     "These are the all-powerful warriors of legend?"  Liana sized
the Senshi up as though she were a jungle predator circling her prey.
"The Sailor Senshi, the ones who would come to save our world?" 
Corwyn nodded.  The Sailor Senshi stood still with foolish looks on
their faces.
     "Wait a second!"  Naru felt her temper rising.  "If the Sailor
Senshi are the all-powerful warriors of legend who'll come to save
this world..." She took a single step toward her traveling companion.
"...why did you say that saving the world was written in the legends
as MY destiny?"
     This news stunned Corwyn and the Senshi.  "Why have I not heard
of these legends, Liana?"
     Everyone in the room was confronting her now.  Liana saw she was
backing away from the Amulet's pedestal.  It was time to come clean.
"Okay.  I was hoping you wouldn't find out about it.  I... sort of
stretched the truth a little."
     "You lied," Corwyn corrected her.
     "I lied.  I had read about the Amulet in the legends and
figured I could get someone to pay a lot of money for it."
     Naru's brows furrowed.  "That's where I came in."
     "When I saw you come into Traldone, I figured you were the one
to help me get the Amulet."
     Despite her anger Naru's curiosity got the better of her.  "But
you knew my name..."
     "I read your name on the inn's registry."
     Naru decided to take a long glare at Liana, and then the Amulet.
"How could you, Liana?  After I believed everything you told me..."
You've betrayed me!  "I trusted you."  She turned her back on her
one-time traveling companion, tears welling up in her eyelids.  "I
must have been so naive to trust you..."
     "Uh, Naru!  Wait!"  Liana walked toward her.  "I... I admit that
is what I thought of you at first."  There was a genuinely anxious
expression to her face.  Naru wouldn't even look at her.  "But that
changed.  I abandoned that plan.  We've fought together.  Laughed
together.  You defended me in front of that shopkeeper."  Liana
lowered her head to one side.  "We became... friends.  I think."
     "No!!"  Naru exploded.  "Not this time!"  She ran back to the
pedestal.  The Amulet waited for her to take it... "I'm not going to
let you get your hands on the Amulet.  I'm gonna give it to someone
who can really use it!"
     "Naru-chan!"
     "Naru!"
     Naru saw an eerie blue glow before her.  It had to be the
Amulet, so close to her fingertips.  The glow filled the room.
     It wasn't the Amulet!
     "Such a touching drama,"  a familiar voice dribbled like maple
syrup.  "We really must charge admission.  It's a pity I don't have
popcorn to enjoy this with."
     "Why don't you show yourself!?"  Sailor Jupiter demanded.
     "As you wish."  The blue glow - and the voice - was alive,
drawing in breathlike wisps to coalesce around Naru, becoming solid. 
An arm formed around Naru's throat.  Realizing what was happening,
she strained to renew her grab for the Amulet.  "Got to... have
to......!"  The fog wouldn't let her, tightening its grip on her
throat so that she had to fight for breath instead.
     A woman who was yet not a woman solidified from the fog, Naru,
still struggling for the Amulet and air casually wrapped in her
embrace.  The whole scene reminded Usagi of a picture of a child
holding a teddy bear in one arm and sucking on the thumb of the other
hand.  "I'm sorry.  I can't let you have that amulet,"  the woman
spoke her first corporeal words.  "You see, it belongs to me, and I'd
prefer not to give it up at this exact point in time."
     Several things she could have said passed through Naru's mind
like leaves drifting past her on the surface of a lazy river.  All
she could manage, however, was a strangled gasp.
     Mako grit her teeth.  "Are you afraid to face us?  It seems like
you're always hiding behind something."
     Usagi nervously put up a hand to try to quiet Mako. 
"Mako-chan!"  she hissed urgently.
     "Yeah!"  Minako added.  "Quit hiding behind that girl and come
on!"
     It was Ami's turn to worry.  "Minako-chan!"
     "What do you take me for, an unthinking video game monster?" 
the woman laughed.  "I am Chelise, the Queen of the video game realm,
and I'm much more stronger and powerful than the likes of you."  To
prove this, she lobbed an energy pulse into the midst of the circle
of Senshi.  They scatter to avoid the blast.
     "Trying to copy my moves, eh?"  Sailor Jupiter forcefully shot
back to her feet.  "Take this!  SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!!"
     Mako knew if she tried the direct approach, she might end up
catching Naru in the crossfire.  So she needed to try a different
approach.  Her Sparkling Wide Pressure projectile concentrated on the
stone column directly beside Chelise.
     The column crumbled, threatening to collapse upon Chelise, who
stood underneath.  Unconcerned, she raised her free hand out in front
of her and force-blasted the damaged column away without an
afterthought.  For an encore she turned ninety degrees and blasted
Sailor Jupiter.
     Mako caught the brunt of the blast square in her stomach,
tossing her unceremoniously into an ornamentally chiseled wall at the
rear of the hall.  She unconvincingly pulled herself up, using what
was left of the wall as a guide and wincing at the obvious loss of
hit points.
     No one ever accused Makoto Kino of not being able to take a
punch.  Or return in kind.  Though right about now, she didn't feel
like spouting another cliched comeback like, "Oh, yeah?  Take this!" 
or "That the best you can do?"  She powered up for another Sparkling
Wide Pressure assault.
     Sailor Venus beat her to the yell.  "Venus... Love-Me... Chain!"
Her Chain whipped around Chelise, circling the long way, for a strike
at Chelise's unprotected head from behind.  Chelise grabbed the chain
instead and watched with bemusement as it disintegrated in her hand.
     Naru's face was slowly turning a shade of purple or blue -
whichever it was, Usagi didn't want to know.  She readied the Heart
Moon Rod.
     Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter put up a crossfire of Sparkling
Wide Pressure and Burning Mandara shots, hoping now that their aim
was true.  When the dust and smoke cleared Chelise relaxed her shield
over Naru.  Oh, the girl wasn't to be harmed.  Not yet, anyway. 
The Senshi attacks truly hadn't hurt one bit.  Why should they?  A
bunch of pathetic amateurs, these Senshi, she thought.  I'll show
them.
     "DARK SCYTHE!!"  A sickle-shaped wave of energy, so
single-minded terrifying that even the air fled from it, sliced forth
toward each of the five Senshi, Liana and Corwyn, at once.  Seven
warriors were thrown violently into the rear wall.  Ironically, Mako
found she'd fallen against the same wall Chelise had originally
blasted her into.  Naru, still struggling against Chelise's
death-lock on her throat, managed to croak two words: "......Sailor
......Moon..."
     "I hate it when they do that," Minako threw in resignedly.
     Sailor Mercury was the first to stand.  "Shabon............
SPRAY!"  Mist swirled outward from Sailor Mercury as a living entity
might, blanketing the hall.  Under its precious cover, the seven
warriors regrouped.  "What can we do?"  Usagi asked.  "She's too
powerful for us!"
     "Too powerful for the Sailor Senshi?"  Corwyn frowned.  "No one
is too powerful for the Sailor Senshi to defeat."
     "Cut it out, would you?  We've got to save Naru!"  insisted
Liana, who wasn't about to let a warm, casual conversation begin. 
"If we strike now, while we are hidden by this fog, we can defeat
that she-demon!"
     Corwyn carefully studied the bold intent in Liana's eyes.  "You
do think of her as a friend, don't you?"
     "Is it not obvious?"  Liana's impatience shone through.  Any
second now Ami's mist would fade away and Chelise would attack
renewed.  "Everything you heard me say to Naru was true.  Don't judge
me before you know all the facts."
     Sailor Mercury decided to change the subject.  "We need to come
up with a different plan of attack.  Straight, simple attacks
obviously aren't working."
     "Oh, girls..." Chelise's voice grated condescendingly, "You
might as well get on with it.  I can wait here as long as you can,
but I don't think your friend here can."

*  *  *  *  *

     What can we do?  She's too powerful for us!
     "Isn't there a backdoor code or something you can use to pull
everyone out of the game?"  Tuxedo Kamen asked, worried.  Usako's
voice gave him very good reason to worry.  So did the Hit Point
displays on Hirokazu's monitor.
     "No."  Hirokazu's eyes never left the screen.  Mamoru and
Chibi-Usa had seen similar behavior before from Ami, so this was
nothing new.  "She - Chelise - watched me closely while I
programmed the game.  She seemed to know a lot about computer
programming... if I didn't know any better, I'll bet she could've
programmed the whole thing herself."  He paused.  "I honestly don't
know what she needed me for."
     The programmer's eyes rolled back to look at whatever it was his
mind was thinking of.  "The only codes I put in were the usual debug
codes, a couple cheat codes I thought I'd use for a little fun..."
     Hirokazu nearly fell out of his chair.  "That's it!"  His hands
flew back to the keyboard.
     "What?"  asked Chibi-Moon hopefully.
     "I don't have a code to teleport everyone out of the game -
teleporting people across time and space is beyond my expertise in
programming... I think I made the lowest grade in the class on that
test over temporal studies..."
     "Get on with it!"  Chibi-Moon snapped.
     "Uh.  Well.  As I said, I may not have a code to pull everyone
out.  But I can use one of my cheat codes to boost everyone's
levels to maximum."
     "Everyone?"  Mamoru raised an eyebrow.  "Including the Sailor
Senshi?"
     "I sure hope so."

*  *  *  *  *

     A sudden change was taking place.  All across the world of
Ondyre, no matter where an adventurer out of his or her home element
fought, stood or hid,  the effect was either exhilarating or
frightening, depending on one's state of mind.  Naturally, those in
the midst of battles thought it was a godsend.  More so since most of
those affected had been alone, completely and utterly, since their
'kidnapping.'  For the relative few who joined forces, they had
become ultimately unstoppable.  And what of the still fewer out of
all those who had even become friends or - quite a dangerous risk for
adventurers in Ondyre - more than friends?
     Only one had experienced betrayal.
     Naru, too, felt the sensation of rising power.  Now, in a
surprising burst of strength, she broke free of Chelise's choke hold.
The Amulet was hers, and for the first time, she actually held it in
her hands.
     "What?!?"  Chelise stormed.  Determined not to lose her trump
card she shot after Naru.
     "Naru-chan's free!"  Minako shouted.  "Let's get that demon!"
     Liana noted the sudden change in the behavior of Naru and the
Senshi, but said nothing, or knew what to make of it.  "Good idea." 
She drew her sword.  Corwyn readied his sword while the Senshi
powered up for what they hoped would be their final assault.
     Chelise, attempting to dive for cover behind Naru, stopped
herself cold in midair.  An egg-shaped bubble of cream-colored energy
surrounded Naru, who exhaustedly almost welcomed it.  Chelise backed
away.  A look of fear shattered her firm look of stern determination.
The Senshi found themselves backing away as well.  Usagi was frantic.
"What's happening to Naru-chan?"
     "It must be the Amulet!"  Liana strained to be heard over the
increasing din, shielding her unprotected eyes from the expanding
glow.  "I think she is receiving power from it!"
     And I thought that power burst a minute ago was enough,
Usagi's lips formed a thin line.  She noticed Chelise was more
interested in Naru than anything else.  Now's my chance; if I don't
do it now, we may never get another chance!
     Usagi gripped the Heart Moon Rod tightly in her left hand. 
"MOON... SPIRAL..."
     That was the exact time Naru chose to break free of the egg in a
bright, blooming flower of light.
     But she was no longer the same person she had been.  The Amulet
saw to that.
     Naru wore a white bodysuit accented by a midnight blue skirt,
laced high-heel boots and collar, gloves trimmed by piping of the
same color, a bluish-green jewel-brooch set in the middle of an
orange bow upon her chest - matching the bow she'd tied in her hair a
lifetime ago - and likewise, a strikingly similar jewel forming the
center of a golden tiara.
     She had become a Sailor Senshi!  "Naru..." was the lone word
heard in a room full of people who at once had nothing better to say.
     Naru's staff had reformed itself - into a long, slender silver
tuning fork of a staff, a jewel orb resting in the inside curve of
the fork and a number of smaller red jewels adorning the metal's
smooth surface, a pattern for anyone who cared to see it.
     Chelise planted herself in front of Naru the Senshi.  "Who ARE
you, anyway?"
     Naru set the butt of her staff on the ground.  She opened her
eyes slowly.  "I am the defender of this world.  The defender of its
spirit, and the spirit of all those who live upon it, Sailor Ondyre."
     Sailor...... Ondyre?  the Senshi pondered.  Liana and Corwyn's
faces had changed to expressions of hopefulness.
     Sailor Ondyre leveled the business end of her staff at Chelise
and fixed the demoness with a stare Chelise felt down to her
backbone.  "You are the one responsible for corrupting the
interdimensional balance between our worlds.  You endanger the
lives," Sailor Ondyre narrowed her eyes, "of everyone for your
amusement.  I'm here to put a stop to that."
     "You are, huh?"  Chelise retorted reflexively.  She puffed
herself indignantly up to full height.  "I don't think-"
     Naru's eyes flashed.  "No longer!"  Energy writhed forth from
the inside curve of her staff.  "SONIC... MAELSTROM!!"
     The Maelstrom brought forth the howling fury of an
existence-bending whirlpool underneath Chelise.  Naru bravely stood
her ground although she had no idea what the Sonic Maelstrom was. 
She willed it to put an end to the evil that corrupted the land like
a dark fog that never lifted.
     Chelise understood too well what the Maelstrom meant; anything
that yanked her atoms apart in clusters and, in layman's terms,
flushed the resulting pieces down a whirlpool drain into
non-existence couldn't be all that good...
     She screamed as the last remaining parts of her corporeal form
swirled into the whirlpool and met their end.  Her scream followed. 
Naru likened the experience to a warped version of flushing an
unfortunate late goldfish in the toilet.
     Chelise had been vanquished.  All of existence wavered in and
out of reality for a second.  When it returned to solidness the evil
presence in the air was gone.  Presumably following the path of its
evil master, Rei mused.  She turned back to Sailor Ondyre in time to
see her collapse.
     Liana was the closest to Naru.  "Naru!!"  she rushed to Naru's
side.  Naru's body decided to vanish into thin air instead.  "Naru?" 
She shifted helplessly to the approaching Senshi.  They, too,
vanished.
     That left her and Corwyn alone in the hall.  "What on Ondyre
happened?"
     Corwyn studied everything he could see.  His footsteps were
echoed tenfold throughout the empty hall.  "I think we have won. 
Everyone must have returned to where they belong."
     "I almost wish they hadn't.  Not until I got the chance to
straighten things out with Naru."  Liana's head drooped.  "I did not
want her to leave while she was still angry at me."
     Corwyn looked at the kneeling rogue in a new light.  "Naru
struck me as the kind of person who would understand."
     Liana frowned.  "Don't give me that!  You always were terrible
at cheering people up."
     "What else can I say?"  shrugged Corwyn.  "I never met her."  He
turned, intending to make his leave of the hall.  "Are you coming,
sister?"
     Liana started to rise.  A glint of light off something metallic
attracted her attention.  "Give me a moment, brother.  I - I want to
say goodbye to Naru."
     Corwyn's eyes softened.  "Very well.  I will wait for you
outside."  He nodded solemnly, leaving the hall.
     Following the glint, Liana heaved aside a fragment of the stone
column Mako and Chelise had destroyed.  The Amulet of Ondyre lay
quietly upon the debris left behind, its jeweled face curiously
clean.  She quickly scooped it into her palms.  
     To think, this Amulet had been the cause of a great deal of
trouble.  Liana began her journey with the sole intent of duping
someone into going to the trouble of getting the Amulet of Ondyre for
her so that she could sell it at what she thought was a good price. 
That 'dupe' had been Naru Osaka, and although Liana had come to
regard Naru as a friend her original plans ruined that friendship.

     "You are a bit of an innocent, aren't you?"
     "Not anymore,"  Naru Osaka put up a lopsided grin to match
Liana's.

     Liana sighed, stowing the Amulet inside her cloak, close to her
heart.  One day, Naru would return to Ondyre, and Sailor Ondyre with
her.  When that day came, Liana would be there to give her the
Amulet.  This, she vowed.

*  *  *  *  *

     "I don't believe it, I'm gonna be late again!"  Usagi whimpered
urgently to herself.  Why couldn't her mother or Luna ever wake her
up early?  They both knew she never started the morning early if
she could help it...
     "Usagi!"  a familiar voice rang out.  "Wait up!"
     Usagi turned, nearly losing her small bento sack in the process.
There stood Naru, exactly the way Usagi remembered her, dressed once
again in her school uniform and a green bow half-buried in her auburn
hair.  "Naru-chan," Usagi froze.
     "C'mon, we'd better hurry or we'll both be late!"  Naru took
Usagi's arm, dragging her along.  "I want to have some time before
the bell to tell you all about a really strange dream I had last
night!"
      A dream?  Naru thought it had all been a dream?  
      Usagi opened her mouth to tell Naru she'd had the same dream. 
She stopped.  How could she tell Naru?  She wasn't even sure herself.
And trying to talk about it with Naru would probably just end with
her sticking her foot in her mouth.  Usagi hadn't been with Naru in
the 'dream,' Sailor Moon had.
     "Slow down!"  insisted Usagi at last.  "I'm not in THAT big of a
hurry to get to school!"

(end)


This story is dedicated to my sister, Tara - who looks somewhat like
Makoto and acts somewhat like Usagi, and is a Sailor Moon fan in her
own right.

CREDITS:
Writer: Mike Koos
Pre-readers (in alphabetical order):
     Johnny Dentino
     David Wills

Special Thanks to (in no particular order):
     David Wills
     Drew Hurlstone
     Ed Little
     John Boomgarn
     Tom Williams
     Tom Kinnen
     Dave Boland

...and a special note of thanks to all RPG/adventure game creators
and players out there, including the Dev Team; whose Nethack has
given me another reason to stare at the "@" symbol for hours on end.
^_^

Sincere apologies to everyone who is a part of the Sailor Moon series
in Japan, manga or anime, especially Takeuchi Naoko.  And another
round of apologies for everyone who may have had a reference here. :)

Author's Notes: Well, that's the end of this story, although it did
get a little out of hand during the end and longer than I'd expected.
I'll count on everyone I know to remind me never to work on more than
one thing at once, especially when other things keep coming up... ^_^

Some of you sharper-eyed Sailor Moon fans will probably notice that
I've placed the time frame of this story somewhere within Sailor Moon
S.  That's mostly because I haven't completely adjusted to Super S
yet... ^_^

Please, if you'd like to say something about this story or Bubblegum
Splash!, don't hesitate to write.  (Note new e-mail address)
Part 1 of Sailor Moon: Digital Moon is available for FTP from the
rec.arts.anime.creative archive site, ftp.cs.ubc.ca, or email me and
I'll try to mail you a copy.