The two teens had collapsed almost at the same time, and left the other Senshi shaken and bewildered by their sudden arrival. Rei had volunteered the shrine's spare bedroom for the two teens, and a scout meeting was hurriedly convened to try and figure out what was going on. They gathered around the room, forming into little groups. The Outers stood together as a trio, while the Inners stood awkwardly nearby. They settled into a few chairs and around the low table, pouring some tea and getting ready. "I noticed that you three seemed to know that dark hared girl?" Natsuna quietly asked the Outers, getting right to the facts in her typically police officer style. Michiru nodded, an odd expression on her beautiful face. "But the last time we saw her, she was only a child," she said, sounding honestly confused. "A baby, almost," Haruka agreed with her softly. "So where did she come from?" Minako asked them with a little frown. Haruka and Michiru looked at each other first, then both of them looked over at Setsuna. She sighed softly, stepped forward, and took up the job of explaining, "We first met her when we were battling the heart snatchers..." The girl cried out, a shining light glowing from her chest, then a eight pointed pure heart crystal appeared in front of her. The creature snatched it up, then bounded away across the city. Without it's knowledge, three figures followed back to it's lair. "You let it take a heart crystal from someone?" Usagi cut in, her eyes wide with surprise. "Sailor V and I faced them once or twice, and loosing those crystals left people almost lifeless. What if you couldn't get it back?" Haruka sighed softly, but patiently explained to her, "If we couldn't save her, it would have been sad. But because of that we were able to save many others." The frown on Usagi's face showed that she wasn't likely to agree with that idea anytime soon. Haruka was a bit surprised to see a little nod from Minako, though. The creature dropped into the sewers, and the three followed it down into the depths below the city. They continued through the tunnels, until Sailor Pluto stopped them with a single wave of her hand. "There's a dimensional shift here," she murmured, her time staff glowing faintly in the darkness of the tunnel. "Which means what, exactly?" Sailor Uranus asked softly. Pluto shrugged. "It means we may not be able to make it back home very easily," she explained with a small smile on her face. "We can't stop now," Sailor Neptune said with determination, and Uranus nodded her agreement. "There is too much at stake to turn back now," she continued. "We are all agreed," Pluto said with a nod of her own. "Which means it's time for this," she said, leveling her staff at the two of them. The gem on it's end glowed softly, then a strange light began to come from Uranus and Neptune's chests. With a painful cry and a burst of rainbow light, a sword exploded out from Uranus' chest, even as Neptune cried out, a mirror suddenly floating before her as well. "What in the world?" Michiru managed to get out, her breath coming labored as if from a long swim in rough waters. Pluto reached out to steady both of them, giving them a few moments to try and recover. "These are your talismans," she quietly explained, "like the Garnet Orb on my time staff, and they will grant you power in battle." The golden sword seemed to fit Uranus' hand like she was born to wield it. The silver mirror shone in Neptune's hands, and for a moment she was lost looking into it's depths. A small smile teased Neptune's lips as she murmured softly, "Sword, Mirror and Gem, the three ancient treasures of Japan. A coincidence?" Pluto just smiled mysteriously, and chose not to answer that. "Are you ready?' she asked them. At their two nods, she smiled and said, "Let's go." The three charged down the tunnel, then out into a massive laboratory. A man in a white lab coat was with the heart snatcher, and a woman also dressed in a lab coat stood nearby. The crystal glowed in the man's hands, even as he frowned, lost in thought. "Professor," she cried out, seeing them rush in, "intruders!" He turned, and they saw what seemed to be a normal looking blonde haired man, wearing a pair of rather odd looking glasses. One lense was clear, the other not, concealing the eye beneath it, and etched with a odd star pattern. The Professor called out to his assistant "Kaori, you must delay them for me! I must awaken Mistress Nine!" But before he could take a step, Sailor Pluto was there. The pure heart crystal was snatched from his hand, and in a single gesture, she made it disappear. He cursed her, running by before she could try and stop him. "Diamonds!" Kaori cried out, throwing her hands up. There was a rattling throughout the lab, as if pipes were being strained by liquid running through them. "Come forth!" The walls and floor almost seemed to explode as a thick red fluid poured out to engulf the three of them. Made up of hundreds of red slimy looking creatures to surrounded them all, attempting to drown them in their oozing bodies. The sword appeared in Uranus' hand, and in a single sweep she sliced a massive channel through the ooze. The creatures howled in pain, pulling back allowing Neptune to bring her mirror into play, blasting at the monsters. Sailor Pluto almost seemed to disappear, only to reappear right in front of Kaori. "I'm sorry," she said to the startled woman, leveling her staff right at her. "Dead Scream!" she cried out, unleashing her attack on her at point blank range. Kaori didn't even have the chance to get out a scream. Turning from the ashes that were all that was left of her enemy, she saw that Uranus and Neptune had the creatures well in hand. With only a bit of her help, they mopped up the last few confused creatures, then they ran off after the Professor. "He ran this way," Pluto said, leading them down a hall to reach what almost seemed like a child's bedroom. Lamps and dolls were arrayed what almost looked like a throne, and the Professor was up there shaking a young woman. Her black hair was shoulder length, and she looked almost delicate. At least, until you looked into her eyes, that were glowing a sullen red. "I'm too weak," the alien voice came from her lips, "and she fights within me." "You must fight," the Professor pleaded with her, "or all our work here will have been for nothing!" She got up, her form shifting from that of a child to an adult's. "I will try," she said. She looked over at them, gesturing as she threw bolts of power at them, "I am Mistress Nine! Fall before me!" The power she used against them was terribly immense, enough to force them all down to their knees. Again and again Mistress Nine hammered them down, but they still struggled onward, refusing to give up. Neptune looked up, and saw something that made her blood run cold: on Mistress Nine's brow a symbol glowed in the near darkness, a symbol very familiar to her. "Is that what I think it is?' she managed to ask the others. "It can't be," Uranus said hoarsely, "that thing can't be a Senshi." "Saturn," Pluto said to herself softly. She seemed to suddenly reach a decision, "Uranus, Neptune," she said intensely, "point your talismans towards me." "What good will that do?' Neptune questioned, even as she began to follow her friend's instructions, pointing her mirror towards Pluto. "Besides being our weapons, there is another purpose of our talismans," she explained to them calmly, "they can summon Sailor Saturn." She brought her staff to the other's talismans, and Mistress Nine suddenly screamed! It almost looked like her body was being torn apart from within, as the power and essence of Sailor Saturn struggled to be free. Finally, in a blaze of light, a glowing female form appeared, carrying a fearsome looking glave in her hands, an expression of calm serenity on her face. She turned to Mistress Nine first, a weakened figure struggling to stand. A single sweep of her glave, and she was gone, only falling ashes left in her wake. She looked at the professor, and seemed to soften slightly. The strike was more delicate, somehow, and... something was torn free of him, slain by the glave. He cried out, the glasses fell to the ground, and his face was wet with tears. "Hotaru?" he questioned the glowing figure softly. She nodded to him, then she turned to the Outers. Sailor Saturn's voice rang with a strange sorrow as she said to them, "It is finished. The one they sought to bring here is trapped between here and there, forever." "What about you?" Neptune asked her softly. "My body was too badly damaged by Mistress Nine," Saturn said softly, "I can not return to it." She began to fade, almost like a ghost passing on. "Wait," Pluto said, stepping up beside Saturn. She spoke into Saturn's ear quietly, and after a few moments she nodded slightly. "Will you do this?" Pluto asked her softly. Saturn nodded, her eyes closed, and she began to concentrate. Her energy began to shrink, condensing, becoming smaller and smaller. As it shrank, it became denser, harder too see through, until with a soft cry the baby fell towards the ground. Pluto caught her in a smooth gesture, gently cradling the child in her arms. She walked to the crying man, kneeling at his side. "Watch over her, Professor Tomoe," Pluto said to him softly. As he took the child into his shaking hands she added, "You see, she has a glorious destiny waiting for her." "Thank you," the Professor wept, "you've saved us both." He looked up at them, his eyes joyful, "What can I do to repay you?" "Love your daughter, and take good care of her," Uranus said, smiling a little. "That will be thanks enough, I think." They began to walk away, when Neptune asked, "What happened to the heart crystal?" Pluto held out her hand, and the crystal appeared from midair, dropping back down into her hand. "Displaced it forward in time," she said with a shrug. It glowed softly between her fingers as she said, "Let's put this back where it belongs." And with that, the three Outers were gone. "So this Hotaru," Ami said, "who became that little baby, is one of the two teens sleeping in Rei's spare bedroom?" Haruka didn't answer, instead rising to her feet. "Rei," she said, seemingly lost in thought, "could I use your phone?" Rei blinked, then "All right, I guess so." Haruka picked up the phone, dialing a number from memory. "Hello?" A little smile appeared on her face, "We're looking forward to seeing her, too. Is she all right? Hmm. Right." She nodded, adding, "Thank you very much." "You called Professor Tomoe?" Michiru asked her. Haruka nodded, "Hotaru's there, she's fine. She's still aging faster than normal, and she wants to see her Aunts Michiru and Setsuna again." "And Uncle Haruka?" Michiru teased her gently. A blush marked Haruka's cheeks, "You're not going to let me live that down, will you?" At the amused glances of the others, she explained "She still hasn't figured out I'm a woman." "One of the hazards of time travel," Setsuna said quietly, "being in two places at once." At everyone's startled glances she elaborated "They're both from the future."
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