Just as Rei, Usagi and Mouse arrived at the great silver doors with a golden
phoenix embroidered into it, a parade of  footsteps resembling the tapping of high heels
echoed in the high-ceilinged chamber.
     “What’s that sound?” Usagi paused.
     Mouse turned and looked down the hall in the direction of the footsteps. He
opened his mouth in shock at what he saw, “oh, no...”
     Ami, Minako and Makoto were sprinting straight for them!
     “Everyone!” Usagi cried and ran to meet the other Senshi.
     Rei’s eyes glittered and she smiled, following Usagi’s lead with arms open.
     The Senshi embraced in a group of hugs and tears. Jaguar and Wolf followed
behind Minako, Makoto and Ami, almost grinning at the unification of the Sailor Senshi.
     “Mouse!” Wolf growled, “I’m glad I caught you before you did something really
stupid!” She stabbed him in the chest with her forefinger, glaring her upper canines.
     Mouse looked at her blankly.
     Jaguar stepped around the whimpering teenage girls and joined the two freedom
fighter leaders, “She’s referring to their attire, oh great one,” she exaggerated and bowed
to Mouse.
     “What’d I do wrong!?” Mouse whined at Wolf and Jaguar.
     “They’re out of uniform...IDIOT!!” Wolf glared at him viciously.
     “oops,” Mouse pushed them aside and walked toward the Senshi, “a-hem.”
     The girls looked at him, apparently they began to regain control of their emotions.
     “You must change into uniform to attend this formal meeting,” He tried to ignore
Jaguar and Wolf snickering behind him.
     “Uniform? You mean Senshi uniform?” Makoto was the first to question this.
     “You are going to attend a formal occasion and you must be in battle uniform (if
you are warriors) to properly address members of the Shadow Empire,” Mouse explained
rather calmly.
     “Why should we?” Makoto eyed him.
     “If I may,” Wolf shoved Mouse aside, “You are going to be asked on a special
mission and you may be-”
    “We’ll let the Emperor clarify the details!” Mouse butted in again.
     “Shadow? Sounds evil,” Ami thought out loud.
     “That’s just because everyone thinks that dark means evil! I mean get over it!”
    Jaguar popped out of nowhere, “Dark doesn’t always necessarily mean evil!!”
     “Stop wasting time!” Mouse shoved both girls out of the way and took over again,
    “ Hurry up and transform!”
     “You’re beginning to sound like Luna,” Usagi joked.

     “Moon Crystal Power!”
     “Mercury Star Power!”
     “Mars Star Power!”
     “Jupiter Star Power!”
     “Venus Star Power!”
     “MAKE UP!!” They all cried in unison. In a flash of colors, they changed into their
Senshi uniforms.
    “Happy now?” Sailor Mars crossed her arms, slightly annoyed.
     Mouse gave a nod of approval and proceeded to open the silver doors and led
them into the crystal chamber with Jaguar and Wolf taking the rear.
    There was a soft sound of chimes as they entered that was constant as they
ventured forth. It was a dome-like chamber with a crystal statue that towered over them in
the shape of a mighty phoenix-crested bird. Embedded in it’s chest was an obsidian rock.
It’s eyes glittered with rubies and in each talon, was grasped a huge silver diamond.
     “Wow!” Usagi’s eyes widened and she tried desperately to take it all in, “Eh?”
    Usagi flew towards the ground and landed hard, “Owie!!”
     “Watch your step,” Mouse grinned.
     They were on a narrow path carved out of crystal with smaller crystals seeming to
‘grow’ out of the floor. The path opened into a large area with smooth flooring tiles
(made of crystal) surrounded by towering crystal ‘trees’. Lined up on either side of the
statue were ten white pillows-five on each side. Mouse seated each of the Senshi on a
pillow on one side and said to them in a serious tone, “The only rules for this meeting are:
Don’t speak unless you are spoken to, and DO NOT get up and move about until the
meeting is over, okay?”
    “Uh...” Usagi was struggling with the oversized bow on her outfit. After several
attempts at sitting, she decided to kneel which she found more manageable.
     Mouse, Jaguar and Wolf seated themselves on the other side of the statue. Soon a
male tiger wearing a crown and a golden eagle with things like peacock tail feathers on her
head came and sat on the other two pillows beside Mouse, Jaguar and Wolf.
     The melodic sound of chimes continued.
     Rei gasped and covered her mouth. Now walking towards them were the Diamond
Riders, in their battle uniforms. Kestrel was in the lead while the others fanned out from
her in a ‘V’ formation. The Senshi watched them with wide eyes as the Diamond Riders
halted before the statue. Kestrel smiled at the Senshi and raised her arms above her head,
    “Black Shadow Knight Transform!!” she said, closing her eyes and bringing her arms
down, but holding them horizontally.
     An explosion came from the obsidian rock and Usagi nearly fell over at the force.
    A silver beam shot from the obsidian to the left eye, paused, then to the right eye, back to
the obsidian, straight through and went to the left talon’s diamond, to the right , them up
again to the obsidian. The light faded, but came back instantly in full force and brilliance,
forming the image of an hourglass infront of the crystal bird.
     Ami pulled out her computer and pinched her ear. Her transparent goggles
appeared over her eyes and she began to analyze the energy surge. She recalled no rule
against this. She nudged Rei to her left and consulted her, “Rei-chan!”
    She turned to face her, blinking her eyes.
     At that moment, the power shut off and Kestrel was not there! In her place was a
bird of prey in armor of some sort!
     Rei flung her head around and Usagi nearly fell over again, this time almost
fainting.
    “Jessica!?” Sailor Moon uttered. Ami quickly covered Usagi’s mouth for her,
    “Shh!”
     She clenched her teeth, realizing her mistake. Mouse’s head peered around the
front of the statue, then disappeared again. The Diamond Riders lined up, standing at a
right angle beyond Sailor Venus, Kestrel farthest away.
    Sailor Mercury typed a message on her computer and elbowed Rei. She read:
    Beyond analyzing
    From where? Don’t know
    Energy extremely powerful
     Rei blinked and Ami pinched her ear again to put away the goggles.
     The chimes took over again as five more people marched forward. The first had
hair almost like Usagi’s, only it was short, dark pink and had a ring of pearls around the
buns. Next came a short-haired blond woman with pointed ears and a snake wrapped
around her arm. Usagi cringed at the sight, but tried hard not to make her fear noticeable.
    A cat with pale blue hair in a ponytail and white fur took her place beside the blond and a
black, furry creature beside the cat. The last had pale blue hair and a long, burgundy cape.
His skin was pale and he carried a huge staff with the figure of a dragon on the top.
     “EEE!” Usagi tried to say with her mouth closed, jiggling and poking Ami
fiercely.
    Ami made a face and looked where Usagi was pointing. Avery was walking beside
a tall man that vaguely resembled Mamoru, only this man had black hair about as long as
Kunzite’s(Malachite). This man had green eyes and looked very strong. Mouse, Jaguar,
Wolf, the tiger and the eagle stood up. Mouse leapt over to the Senshi and hastily
motioned for them to stand and then dashed back to his previous location.
     “Sailor Senshi,” the Mamoru look-alike said, “I am the Emperor of the New
Shadow Empire.”
     Ami raised her hand shyly and gleamed a smile, “Uh...didn’t Mouse,”Ami gestured
to the other side of the statue, “didn’t Mouse say something about humans being ‘wrong’
here...Sir?”
     Avery stepped forward and answered for him, “Hey, hey! He just thought it would
be easier to accept us if he appeared before you in human form!”
    “He reminds me of Mamo-chan!” Usagi got all starry-eyed and she clasped her
hands together and a broad smile appeared on her face.
     The Senshi all glared at her, sweatdrops forming over their heads.
     “What?” She questioned, glaring right back at them.
     “Uh...Osprey? Didn’t we agree that I would do the talking?” The Emperor in dark
garb brought up.
    “I don’t know, too late now!” Avery said, shrugging her shoulders which was not
apparent under her black and silver cape which matched what the Emperor was wearing.
     “Osprey?” Minako asked, “I thought your name was Avery Masamune!”
     Avery’s smile faded, “Well...it is...but my real name is Osprey. You can call me
either name!” A smile reappeared.
    Before anything else was brought up an earthquake shook the building.
     “What’s going on!?”Sailor Moon screeched.
     “We’re under attack!” Mouse and his comrades scattered.
     Wolf and Jaguar dashed down the path to exit the crystal chamber.
     “Not NOW!!” The Emperor cursed.
     Another thunderous quake knocked several crystals over, but the bird remained
solid.
    “Prepare to engage the enemy!” the tiger roared.
     The third assult caused the roof of the crystal dome to collapse and shards of
broken glass showered down. The Senshi screamed and ducked down, protecting
vulnerable parts of their bodies with their arms. The Emperor raised his right hand and a
transparent shield covered the area. When the air was clear of glass, the shield dropped
and the five mysterious warriors along with the Diamond Riders with Kestrel sprinted to
aid in the battle elsewhere on the compound.
    “How did they find us!?” Avery asked to herself.
     The Senshi stood up again and all found a ‘battle ready’ pose. A gush of night
wind swept through the opening in the roof and Kitty Sammy and Whisper fell from the
sky, landing infront of the group. Mouse did not delay and he leapt clear into the air about
fifteen feet and came down with a kick at Whisper. Kitty Sammy intercepted him in
mid-flight and they both smashed into a crystal, shattering it. Whisper leapt at the Senshi.
     “Venus Love-me CHAIN!!” Sailor Venus attacked Whisper.
     Whisper caught the whip with her hand and pulled, knocking Venus off balance.
     Jupiter lunged at Whisper and threw several punches, Whisper successfully
blocking them all. Jupiter performed a sweep-kick and Whisper did a back flip, landing a
few feet away.
     “I have to secure the building!” The Emperor tuned from the battle and placed his
hands in the air infront of him as if he were going to type something.
     A translucent ‘lap-top’ floating in mid-air appeared. Kitty Sammy energetically
leapt out of the crystal shards with Mouse right behind her.
    “Tiger Thunder Claw!” Tiger jumped into action, hurling several thunder bolts at
Kitty Sammy.
     She saw it coming and twisted her body in such a way that each bolt missed her
body.
     “Ouch...that looked like it would hurt!” Sailor Mars flinched at her interestingly
unique pose.
    “I call upon the feline prowess...” called Whisper, “Cat Revenge Strike!”
     “That old trick again!?” Jupiter grumbled, “Sparkling Wide Pressure!”
     The two orbs of energy collided and the force of the explosion knocked over
another pillar of crystal. Avery screamed as the crystal tumbled forward onto her. The
falling pillar exploded into dust, blanketing the battlefield and limiting vision to a meter in
circumference.
     “What the hell happened!?” Mouse wandered through the particles, bumping into
Sailor Venus.
    Venus shrugged her shoulders when Mars, Jupiter and Moon came into sight,
“Hello-oo!” Sailor Venus called out into the fog.
    “Osprey!!” The Emperor could be heard but not seen.
     Tiger and Eagle were waving to the Senshi, barely visible. They made their way to
them and found themselves standing next to the Emperor.
     “Shimata! This is not good!” The Emperor frantically expressed, “Osprey! Answer
me!”
    The dust began to settle and the siluette of a woman emerged from the cloud. No
one but Usagi noticed the glowing crescent moon on the girl’s forehead, “Wha...?” she
barely gasped.
     The siluette formed a pose and spoke, “ I am the dark side...I am the balance
between darkness and light...black and white. I am Sailor Moon Shadow! Defender of the
night!”