“Sailor Moon...?”
     “Sailor Moon?”
     “Sailor Moon!”
     Usagi opened her eyes and let them adjust to the afternoon light, “What do you
want?”
     “Wake up!” It was Sailor Mars.
     The girls were still in their Senshi uniforms, lying in some tall grass on what looked
like an open field with several skinny, scattered trees.
     “I have a feeling we’re not in Tokyo anymore!:)” Mars said.
     Sailor moon sat up, rubbing her face awake, “Where is everyone?” She looked
around and saw that besides Rei, no one was there.
     “I wish I knew...”
     “Waaahhh!! It’s not fair!” Usagi wailed, “Why aren’t we together!? Waahh!”
     “I have no doubt we’ll find each other, Usagi-chan,” Rei let Usagi cry for once and
the tears finally let off.
     “Feel better now?” Sailor Mars asked the sniffing Sailor Moon.
     “Uh *sniff* huh...” She whimpered.
     “LOOK OUT!!” A voice yelled.
    Moon screamed and Mars ducked down, taking Moon with her.
     “ROOAAAR!” an inhuman sound rumbled from the opposite direction they were
facing.
    A thump was heard, then a loud whack and then a whine leading away with several
pairs of footsteps.
     Mars looked up and Moon shot upright. At that point, they both screamed.
     “Eh?!” Their rescuer backed away.
    “I know you!!” Sailor Moon stood up and pointed at him, “I saw you go into that
light too! With that bird and a cat with spots!”
    “Jaguar,” He corrected.
     Sailor Moon frowned and placed her hands on her hips.
     “Who are you?” Sailor Mars was now standing.
     “I,” The rodent ran his hand through his hair arrogantly, “am called Mouse. My
true name was Kelvin, but my human name was Ben.”
    “Ben!?” Moon’s eyes went weird, “You mean the Ben that was a new student at
Juban High School?”
    He nodded his head.
     “Imagine that...” Usagi pondered, putting an index finger to her chin and looking
up.
     “So exactly what was that thing that was here?” Sailor Mars brought up a good
point.
    “Oh. That was a squirm.”
     He was greeted with two blank faces.
     “Uh...it’s kinda like a six-legged snake.”
     “Ohhhh,” The girls nodded in understanding.
     “Look,” Mouse snapped, “We really oughta be going now. That is if we want to
make it to the Invisible Freedom Fighters Council by nightfall.”
    “Freedom Fighters?” Mars inquired.
     “Yes,” Mouse began treading through the grass that was nearly knee high.
    “Where exactly are we?” Sailor Mars asked another question.
     “Senshi, welcome to Soria, also known as Di. 1”
 Both girls gasped, “Isn’t that where Avery said she was from?!” Moon whispered
to Mars.
     “Yeah! And Avery also said that’s where the Diamond Riders were from too!”
Mars whispered back.
    “No way!”
     “Hurry up!” Mouse was already several meters ahead of them, and he was the one
giving them a path.
 

     Meanwhile, elsewhere in a dark, damp, echoing cave, Sailors Jupiter and Mercury
had landed and were searching for a way to get out.
    “Doesn’t this remind you of when we fought Queen Beryl?” Sailor Jupiter’s
entenna was radiating a faint glow that provided enough light to see a few feet ahead of
them.
     Sailor Mercury was tapping away on her tiny computer, “Sort of, but it isn’t cold
in here...hmmm”
    “What?”
     “Well, as near as I can figure, we’re deep inside a subterranean cave with hundreds
of tunnels weaving an intricate maze. I doubt we’re going to get out of here alive.”
    “Ami-chan!? Since when do you lose all hope!? Well find a way out!” Sailor
Jupiter was absolutely shocked at Sailor Mercury’s comment.
    “I’m sorry, Mako-chan. It’s just that I feel so lost without the others by my side.”
     “Yes, I feel the same way, but no matter what, we can’t lose hope! There has to be
a way out!”
    “You’re right, Sailor Senshi,” A solomn female wolf entered within range of
Jupiter’s light, “I am Wolf. I can help you out of here.”
    Jupiter and Mercury glanced at each other, then agreed to follow Wolf, without
further discussion. Her brown hair was short and evenly trimmed. She wore purple shades
of clothing that looked rather foreign.
     “Uh...Wolf?” Sailor Jupiter caught up with their guide.
     “Yes?”
     “Can you send us home? At all? Do you think?” Jupiter was doubtful.
     “No...I can’t, I don’t possess that magic. The leaders of the Empire of Shadow
may be able to help you. It was an accident that you and the other Senshi were transported
here,” Wolf didn’t look at them, but kept walking.
     “You know about us?” Mercury was puzzled.
     “Yes. I was sent to fetch you and bring you to the Council.”
     Jupiter and Mercury looked at each other  and shrugged. They continued their
journey silently.
 

     Sailor Venus stumbled across a dry desert. Staggering, she fell to her knees,
clutching her body for warmth. Sand blew everywhere and the wind entangled the
particles into her hair, “S-so-so cold...”
     The stinging sand ate at her skin as she crouched low, huddling herself into a ball.
    “Hope this is only a temporary storm...” she thought while she realized she had many cuts
made by the sand that stung her body relentlessly.
    “Sailor Venus...” a hand gently touched her shoulder.
     She was afraid to look up, for the sand would blind her, “Who-who’s there?” She
stuttered.
    “I’ve been sent to take you to a better place...”
     Sailor Venus shielded her eyes and tried to look at the figure. The winds slowly
died down and the sand rested upon the dunes once again, “Am I dead?”
    “No, but you need medical attention. Come with me, my name is Jaguar.”
     Sailor Venus shielded eyes from a new threat... the sun. She saw the female,
spotted cat that had dashed into the portal at Rei’s school, “Where are the others? Are
they dead? Am I the only survivor? Oh no! My Princess!” Venus wept quietly as the
jaguar helped her to feet.
     “They are all alive, although I do not know their condition. Come, we must hurry
before the rest period ends. The storm will return soon. We must go now.”
    “Yes... let’s go..” Venus dried her face on her filthy uniform glove. It was now
coated a light red, tears and blood. “They’re alive...”she could only think.
     The Senshi wearily accepted the strangers’ guidance and stepped blindly into the
unknown.
 

     “Moouuse!” Usagi whined, back in civilian form, “Are we there yet?”
     “Would you just shut up, Usagi!” Rei growled, “If that’s not the thirty-fourth time
you’ve asked!”
    “But my feet hurt!” She began artificially limping, “It’s getting dark too!”
     “We are almost there! (For the thirty-fourth time)” Mouse impatiently answered.
 Rei gave Usagi a look of warning.
    “Fine,” Usagi mumbled.
     They had been walking for what seemed like hours and had passed the outskirts of
several tiny villages. They were all mysteriously deserted, yet they looked as if they had
been lived in quite recently.
     “Why are all these towns deserted?” Rei asked as they approached another.
     “The people are afraid of you,” Mouse simply answered.
     “Afraid of us? Why?”
     “Because you’re human.”
     “You mean the people here aren’t!!?? Well, we’re not Earth humans,” Usagi
interrupted.
     “You appear human, therefore, to them you are human,” Mouse sternly
emphasized, “Well be at our destination as soon as we pass this town and walk through
the Rift.”
     After approximately ten minutes of steady paced walking, they reached a rock
jutting straight out of the ground and nearly encircling them. The towering stone reached
nearly thirty feet high. A narrow crack ran from the ground and almost to the peak ahead
of them, just as Mouse had vaguely described.
    “Is that the ‘Rift’?” Rei was giving the entrance the once over and took note of it’s
narrowness, “How the hell are we supposed to fit through there!?”
    Rolling his eyes, Mouse entered the cavern, seeming to have walked right through
solid stone.
    “Huh?” Usagi was bewildered.
     “It’s an illusion,” Mouse’s head reappeared then vanished again.
     “Sarcastically or realistically...?” Rei  muttered under her breath.
     She raised a hand and placed it on the stone where the break had formed. She felt
solid rock, “What?!”
    “Don’t think about it! Just do it!” Mouse’s voice seemed distant.
     “Yaah!” Usagi closed her eyes and charged at the rock.
     “Usagi-chan! Wait! What if-” Rei could just picture Usagi smack into the rock, not
painting a pretty picture.
     Usagi had no trouble in passing the barrier and opened her eyes to see Mouse with
his arms crossed infront of her.
    Rei staggered in with one hand over her eyes.
     “ ‘Bout time,” Mouse turned around and began to walk again.
    “RRR!” Rei growled and shook a fist at him.
     “Rei!” Usagi hastily helped Rei’s fist down with a sweat drop forming over her
head.
    The cavern was lighted, but the two Senshi couldn’t determine a light source. They
looked at each other, as though they knew each other’s thoughts. The tunnel-like cavern
ended within two minutes and the three stepped into the evening light. An open field of
short green grass and multi-colored flowers spread out before them.
    “Is this where we’re supposed to be?” Rei saw  that the rock had now become a
mountain, reaching into the sky and extending around, encircling the meadow completely.
     “Yes,” Mouse walked into the field and stood on what looked like a small,
rectangular, cement platform with a strange symbol forged into it, “Nezumi Tsuchi!”
Mouse yelled clearly, into the air infront of him.
     “What are you doing!?” Rei whispered subconsciously waving her hand.
     “Did he just say ‘Mouse of Earth’ or sumpthin’,” Usagi asked no one in particular.
     A pillar of light exploded from the slab and into the sky. Flower petals that rested
near the cement were forced upward and into the night. Just as sudden as it’s arrival, the
pillar broke and a large, heavy-looking, wooden door materialized before Mouse. He
stepped off and placed his hand on the door, “Coming?”
     Usagi and Rei hadn’t moved.
     “Hello?” Mouse waved his hand infront of their faces.
     Usagi blinked and Rei abruptly slapped Mouse’s hand, “Of course we’re coming. This had better not be some sort of trap! Or you won’t want to know what hit you, right
Usagi?”
     “Uh...right.”
     Mouse narrowed his eyes and decided to ignore Rei’s threat. He pushed open the
door that had no building and let the girls in.
 “Follow me, and don’t say anything until you are asked to,” Mouse looked both
girls straight in the eyes.
     They nodded and they marched forward, beside Mouse. The stone walls enclosed
them inside. What had appeared to be invisible outside, was now visible from the inside.
The structure had high ceilings as in a cathedral or a castle. Here, as within the Rift, the
structure was adequately lit with no apparent light sources. Along the walls hung banners
of animals of myth and lore, ancient-looking artifacts and tablets of unfamiliar scripture.
     “I guess now’s a good a time as any to tell you something, Usagi,” Rei whispered
cautiously, keeping an eye on Mouse.
     “What’s that?” Usagi was equally careful.
     “Do you remember Jessica? The one you met at the bus stop?”
     “Yeah...”
     “Well, she is Kestrel of the Diamond Riders and her friends are those other girls
that had her uniform!”
     Usagi didn’t say anything for a while, “Why do all these people new to Tokyo have
secret agendas?”
     Rei shrugged.
     “Do you mind?” Mouse asked, listening to their entire conversation.
     Usagi and Rei made faces at him. Mouse clenched his teeth, holding back his anger
for the good of them all. Just as Mouse turned forward again, Usagi saw a shadow with
long black hair vanish behind a corner of the up coming intersecting hallway, “Huh?”
Usagi looked down the hall as they passed and saw a human talking to an animal about
three quarters down the hall.
     “Jessica?” Usagi asked herself. She broke off from Mouse and Rei and darted into
the other corridor.
     “Usagi-chan!” Rei shouted and went after her.
     “Oh, for crying out loud,” Mouse grumbled and hesitantly chased after them.
 Usagi, panting, reached the girl, “Uh *pant* Uh...”
     “The animal that was speaking with the girl left just as Usagi got there. She was
wearing a black and silver cape. She turned suddenly and glared at Usagi with green eyes,
    “Usagi-chan?”
     Usagi’s jaw dropped, “Avery!?”
 Rei came to a halt, “Avery!? How did you get here!?”
     “The same way you did,” She grinned, moving her eye brows up and down.
     “Sorry, your Highness,” Mouse caught up with them, “they got away.”
     Avery made a sour face at Mouse, “You’re such an incompetent moron, Mouse!”
 His face faltered.
     “Highness!” Rei and Usagi questioned, glancing at each other, then back at Avery.
     “You mean they don’t know!?” Mouse was also surprised.
     “Ah-heh...no,” She shrugged.
     “Are you a princess, like me?” Usagi joyfully jumped up and down.
     “Not exactly...Mouse, take them to the main council. I’ll be there shortly,” Avery
easily commanded him.
     “Of course,” He placed his fist at his chest, then took Usagi and Rei back to the
other hallway.