A cloaked figure stepped into the royal chamber, his one good eye focusing on the King and Queen of the Earth.  He walked towards the thrones, his blue, armored boots clanking steadily on the ground.  Throwing his red cape over his shoulder he knelt before the Earth's rulers, "What is it that you desire?"

King Endymion rose, "Sailor Pluto has reported to us that the Pantheon has obtained another time key.  With this second key and the one they obtained from the Nega-Moon after they were defeated, they have sent the Destruction Squad to the past with the mission of destroying the Sailor Senshi."

The warrior looked at the King, "The entire Destruction Force?"

Neo-Queen Serenity nodded, "Unfortunatly yes.  Imperium Knight, as the commander of the Crystal Guard it will be your mission to establish a cover in the past and protect the Senshi from the Destruction Force.  Though be warned, before his betrayal the Swordsman had downloaded psychological and combat evaluations on all of the Inner Senshi and they will be prepared to combat the Senshi.  You will have to help the Senshi advance their powers quicker than they originally did."

The Knight reached up and let his fingers guide across scar on the right side of his face at the mention of Swordsman's name, "What is the exact date of their arrival?"

The King frowned, "June 19, 1993.  Except thanks to the time-demon Chronus the soonest you'll be able to arrive is August 28."

The Knight frowned clearly as he rubbed the brown stubble that had begun to grow on his chin as he struggled to remember his history, "That would be two days after they started their first year of high school.  That gives me nearly a year before the Outer Scouts first show up according to our timeline."

Queen Serenity smiled warmly at how well the Knight remembered the history of the Sailor Senshi.  The King looked at his wife and nodded, "You are correct.  Now go and make the proper preparations for your mission, and remember to not let your personel vendettas interfere with your mission."

"Of couse, Sire.  I will not fail you."

"We know you won't."

The Imperium Knight stood to leave but was stopped by Serenity, "A moment more of your time, Imperium Knight."

The Knight turned, "Of coure your, Highness."

"There is an old friend of yours in the past, the Imperium Sword.  As you know the Sword was found and captured by the Nega-Moon and when the Nega-Moon was defeated we lost the Imperium Sword for possibly ever.  In the past you will be able to find the Sword, and you must find it and use it to help you with your mission."

"Of course, Queen Serenity.  I thank you for reminding me of that fact."

The Queen smiled, "It was my pleasure."

As the Knight walked from the throne room Queen Serenity turned to her husband, "I am worried about the Knight, he has not smiled since the Pantheon first attacked a year ago.  He continues to serve us loyally but he is full of bitterness and sadness."

The King laid his hand over his Queen's to comfort her, "I know, but perhaps this trip to the past will help him learn to care again.  Regardless he will complete his mission and for now that must be our greatest concern."

Serenity said nothing, but mearly nodded in acknowlegement.

***

"Oh, no.  I'm going to be late again," Serena cried as she sprinted into Juuban High's courtyard, just as the bell rang for class to begin.

"Serena, you must learn to get out of bed on time.  The High School  will not tolerate your constant lateness as they do in Junior High," Serena's black cat, Luna, scolded.

"I know, I know," Serena whined looking at the cat as she rounded a corner.  Suddenly she felt herself being knocked to the ground as she ran into someone.  He wasn't wearing a school uniform, only blue jeans and a heavy, black leather jacket.  The black, rimmed hat he was wearing landed at Serena's feet.

"I'm so sorry," Serena stuttered out as she held his hat out for him, "I was running really late and wasn't watching where I was going.  Oh, I am like so sorry."

The stranger took his hat and put it back on his head.  He looked up, the hat creating a dark shadow over his face, making his features undeterminable, "No harm, no foul.  I'm fine."

He stood up and walked away leaving Serena alone to rush to her class.  Luna meanwhile watched the stranger walk away, Something about him, I just can't place my paw on it.

***

Serena grumbled under her breathe as she walked into the detention room, The third day of school and already I've got detention.  It's just not fair.  Serena glanced around the room, expecting to see no one else, and was shocked to see the same guy she had bumped into that morning.

"I thought I'd be the only one in detention today.  What did they get you for?" she asked curiously.

He turned, allowing Serena to see his face for the first time.  She gasped when she saw the sight before her.  His left eye was sown shut in a not so neat manner making it clearly look as if it had been done in a hurry.  The entire left side of his face was a mangled maze of scarred tissue, yet the right side had only one long scar going down the cheek.  She had to admit though that he must have been pretty good looking before his face was ruined, but now he looked just plain horrible, How can someone even stand to go into public knowing they look like that?

"I wouldn't take my hat off," he replied and noticed that she was staring at his face.  He cracked a slight joke to lighten the load on her, "Sorry about the mess, didn't get a chance to clean up this morning."

Serena smiled slightly at the joke and apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare like that."

The stranger shook his head sighing and held out his hand, "You're always apologizing for things you really don't need to you know that.  Anyway, my names Jeremy.  It's nice to meet you."

Serena took the hand that he offered, "I'm Serena.  I've just never seen anyone that's ever had a scar before."

Jeremy almost chuckled, "Especially not this bad, huh?"

Before Serena could answer though another voice boomed from behind them, "Social time is over.  It's 3pm and detention has begun.  I'm Mr. Harlem and the rules for detention are simple, if you break them you'll be here tomorrow night and every night after until you can sucessfully complete a night of detention."

"There is no food or drink allowed, you will not talk unless you are asking me a question.  You must work on something academic and if you don't have anything academic to work on then I have a nice jar of topics for you to do a report out of the encyclopedia on.  There are no bathroom breaks, you better have taken care of it before you came to detention.  Are there any questions?"

After a fw moments of silence, "No.  Good, now you can get to work."

Jeremy sat back in his desk and started to read some book he had brought with him while Serena just stared off into space.  She started to think about the date she had with Darien for that night and was starting to picture the perfect evening.  She imangined herself being swept into his strong embrace and his lips slowly touching hers.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Mr. Harlem standing over her shoulder until he shouted in her ear, "Excuse me Ms. Tsuniko!"

Serena jumped at the loudness of his voice, "There's no day dreaming in detention now where is your academic work?"

Serena looked up at him nervously, "I don't have any today."

Mr. Harlem grinned eagerly, "Oh really.  Then I guess you get to do a five-page report out of an encyclopedia."

Mr. Harlem headed towards his desk and pulled out a container full of pieces of paper, Jeremy could guess what the slips were for.  He shook his head in disgust, I'm going to shoot myself for this.

"Hey!  Why don't you just lay off of the girl," Jeremy shouted towards the teacher.

"Oh, really,"  Harlem responded as he turned towards Jeremy and continued, "And why would I want to do a thing like that?"

Jeremy had had a bad enough day and lashed out, his voice seething with sarcasm, "Well let's see, it is only the third day of school and she is a freshmen so she definetly isn't going to get to much homework this first week.  Now I think that would explain why she doesn't have any academic work so why don't you just lay off her a bit and be a hard-ass later in the year."

Serena and Mr. Harlem both looked at Jeremy in surprise as he actually cocked off towards a teacher.  Mr. Harlem exploded, "Well since you have such great ideas you can think them over tomorrow in ISS.  Hope you have fun, now get out of here, I'll see you tomorrow."

Jeremy shrugged and left the detention room without any apparent misgivings, Oh well, it's not like I can't handle it.  I'll just use the time to further my research.

***

Serena walked out of the detention room and headed for her locker, ready to go meet her friends at teh arcade before meeting Darien for their date tonight.  She walked around the corner and for the second time that day ran into someone.

This time she managed to stay on her feet, but when she looked up and saw a giant.  He had to be at least seven feet tall and was made of solid muscle.  He wore a school uniform and it dawned on her that he was 'Big Bob', the local bully.  He supposivily hung around after school for freshmen to torment and it looked like Serena was next on the list.

"Well lookee here, another pretty little freshmen to meet the trashcan," he sneered evily as he hefted Serena over her shoulder.

He started towards the bathroom, probally where the nearest trashcan was and Serena felt her uniform's skirt suddenly flipped up, revealing the white panties she was wearing underneath.  She heard laughter as a cool breeze flew across her bared thighs.  She broke out in a cold sweat as she felt someone's fingers slip under her panties elastic band, she dreaded what was about to happen.

Then as quickly as the fingers had slid under the band they flew out and she heard a loud crash behind her.  She was lowered to the ground, even though Bob kept a firm grip on her arm.  Turning her head to look over her shoulder Serena saw Jeremy standing there with one of Bob's goons sprawled across the floor behind him.

Jeremy spoke softly, but his voice radiated with confidence, "I suggest you let her go, NOW."

Bob let Serena go as he started to laugh hysterically, "You're, haha, telling me, haha, what to do?"

Serena rushed behind Jeremy, "Thanks for letting her go, you get to keep your pathetic pride."

Bob glared at Jeremy, no longer laughing, with a look of vengence.  Jeremy has hurt his pride with that comment, and he was going to pay, "Those are fighting words, boy.  Time to teach you whose boss."

Jeremy turned and looked Bob right in the eyes, No backing out of this one, oh well I guess I'll have to take care of this garbage.  He pulled his leather jacket off, revealing the plain black t-shirt underneath, and handed it to Serena, "Hold this."

Bob stepped up to Jeremy and swung his fist at him hard.  Jeremy ducked the larger man's punch and brought his own fist up in a beautiful uppercut sending his foe staggering back from the blow.  Jeremy didn't stop there though, he snapped his foot up and into Bob's gut causing him to drop to his knees and gasp for breathe.

Jeremy stepped back and one of Bob's goons tried to be sneaky and attack Jeremy from behind, but Jeremy was faster.  Just as the Goon started to bring his cupped hands down towards Jeremy's back he pivoted and brought his foot across the Goon's face.  A few of the others tried to nail him but Jeremy sent them all down to the ground in a matter of seconds.

After a few minutes Bob and all of his goons were gasping for air, "Now next time you might want to listen to me, it'll be a lot less painful."

They all moaned weakly as their answer.  Jeremy took his jacket back from Serena and escorted her out the door, leaving them behind.

Once they were outside Serena finally spoke, "That was amazing.  I've never seen anyone fight like that.  You could probally give my boyfriend a lesson or two."

"Maybe, but fighting's something that's extremely serious and should be left as a last resort only."

Serena looked up at Jeremy and saw only a stone-cold expression, "I suppose you're right."  He's so cold, like there's no love left inside of him.  What could have done this to someone as young as I am.

Serena go a brilliant idea, "Hey, I'm going to meet my friends at the arcade, how about you join us?"

Jeremy glanced at Serena, "No thanks.  I've gotta get some work done, but I'll see you around."  He walked off with a wave over his shoulder, She's as friendly and trusting as she is in the future, but I can't let myself get to know them.  If I do I risk ruining my entire mission.

Serena whispered softly, "Yeah, sure."  What happened to him.  He seems almost afraid to let anyone befriend him.

***

"He actually took on Big Bob and his goon squad?" Lita asked amazed.

Serena nodded as she focused on the Sailor V game in front of her, "Yeah.  The best part is that they didn't even lay a hand on him.  He was so fast that he took them out with no difficulty."

"He sounds almost too good to be true," Raye said sarcastically from behind Serena.

"Actually it sounds like there's a likilehood that he's from the Negaverse.  If he has better than human reflexes and strength," Amy said adding her opinion to the conversation.

Serena looked up from the game, "That would explain why he seemed so distant and cold, but something in my gut tells me he's not a Nega-Creep."

Raye laughed, "Serena actually has a gut instinct, now that's a laugh."

"HEY!" Serena cried out in annoyance.

"Lay off Raye," Lita said coming to her friend's defense.

"Yeah," Mina agreed from behind, "Serena may not be reknown for having gut feelings but guys if she has a feeling about this guy maybe we should give her the benefit of doubt.  I mean she has proven us wrong in the past."

The other girls reluctantly agreed when they heard Serena shriek, "Oh no!  I was suppose to meet Darien 15 minutes.  I've outta here."  Serena ran out of the arcade and headed while the other girls were left to themselves.

"Well I have to get to the library and work on my homework," Amy said as she headed for the door.

"I guess that just leaves the three of us," Mina said as they pondered what to do now.

***

Amy stepped into the library and headed towards her typical computer station to surf the internet only to discover there was someone sitting in her normal spot.  She glanced at the stranger as he flipped through his books and the internet making notes in a large notebook, over half full from the looks of it.  The stranger wore a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and a round black hat that was pulled down over his eyes.

The stranger turned towards Amy, "Can I help you with anything?"

Amy blushed at the fact that she had been noticed, "I'm sorry, it's just that I usually use this computer."

"I see.  I'm Jeremy." the stranger replied, tipping his hat up so Amy could see his face.  It was a mangled mess of scars on the left side and his left eye was sewn shut.  The right side of his face was fairly clear of scars except for a small one running down the cheek.

Jeremy shut the book and signed off of they internet, "I'm sorry to cause any inconvience, you can have the computer if you'd like."

"Well, thank you but you didn't have to."

Jeremy shrugged, "No problem, it's time for me to go grab a bite to eat anyway."

Jeremy started to walk away, Damn she's as beautiful as I remember.  He turned back towards Amy, I'm going to shoot myself for this, "Hey, would you care to join me for dinner?"

Amy turned towards Jeremy and blushed slightly at the request, "Sure."

Jeremy motioned to the door and they walked out searching for a nearby restraurant.

***

Serena rounded the corner and saw Darien standing there waiting for her.  She slowed down to catch her breath, but Darien turned and saw her.  He glanced at her with a look of disappointment and spoke, the affection in his voice giving him away, "Hey Meatball Head, you're late."

Serena walked up to him slowly, "Sorry about being late, Muffin."

Darien sighed and wrapped his arms around her, "That's okay.  I would have been more worried had you been on time."

"Mmmhmm," Serena cooed as she melted into Darien's firm embrace.  She leaned her head up and brushed her lips lightly across Darien's.  Darien leaned down and their mouths embraced as Darien pulled Serena closer to him.

Their lips parted and Serena's stomach growled and Darien whispered, "Come on, let's go put some food in that tummy of yours."

Serena smiled as they climbed into Darien's car, "Sounds like a plan."

***

Meanwhile, high above in a floating cloud city of immense porportions a tall warrior looked down at the giant city of Tokyo.  His left hand gripped the ornamented sword hanging from his belt and he turned sharply, his black cape billowing in the wind.  He looked at his mighty armored general standing behind him, "Swordsman, I am in need of energy.  Send Mace to retrieve it and tell him to make sure he kills the Sailor Scouts if they show up."

Swordsman kneeled before his master, "As you command Lord Aires."  He stood swiftly and headed to relay the orders.

Aires looked down at Tokyo again, Soon we will return to the future and Crystal Tokyo will be ours.  Aires lit a cigar and puffed on it laughing hysterically.

***

 Jeremy sat across from Amy and admired her, looking as if he was reading the menu.  Why did I just invite her all of the sudden?  If I get involved I risk ruining the entire mission, yet how can I not get involved.  Something just clicked and now I've put my mission at risk.  I royally hate my life.

"Jeremy?" Amy asked softly.

Shaking his head clear Jeremy saw that the waitress was looking at him, waiting for his order.  He cleared his throat, "I'll take a cheeseburger with the works, french fries, and a vanilla milkshake, please."

The waitress nodded and left to send their order in.  Amy looked over at Jeremy, "So what about your family?"

Jeremy frowned, "They were killed about half a year ago in a car accident."

Amy laid her hand on Jeremy's to comfort him, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Jeremy shrugged, "It's okay.  I don't talk about it much, but for some reason it doesn't bother me to discuss it with you.  After their death I moved here to live on my own, my parents never liked the idea of someone else raising me so their lawyer sent me here.  Since then I've been on my own."

"Wow it must have been really hard on you.  My parents are divorced so I kind of understand how you feel, but my Mom's always been there for me."

Jeremy nodded, "That's always tougher I think, because you can't help but wonder if there's something you could have done to keep them together."

Amy adopted a puzzled look, "How'd you know that?"

Jeremy smiled, chuckling, "It's amazing what you learn with no friends and living on your own."

"It must be hard, not having friends to rely on and confide in."

"It is, but you learn to live with it."

Just then the waitress arrived with their order.  The ate in relative silence only talking about small things, learning more about each other as they talked.  They sat for hours before Amy finally glanced at her watch, "Oh no!  It's eight thirty.  I'm suppose to be home at nine and I'll never be able to make it in time from here."

Jeremy stood up and held out his hand, "Come on then.  We've got to get the hell out of here and get you home on time."

Amy took his hand as he tossed the mony on the table, "But how?"

"Simple," he said pulling out his car keys, "I've got a license.  Now where do you live?"

"Green Acres Apartment Complex."

Jeremy frowned, "It's going to be close, but we can make it if we do a bit of speeding, lets go."

The ran out the door, hand in hand, and headed for Jeremy's car still parked in front of the library.  The climbed in and Jeremy pulled out, tearing down the road for Green Acres Apartments.

***

Darien glazed into Serena's deep blue eyes and smiled softly as she finished her meal, It's expensive to take her to dinner, but it's worth every penny.

She finished off the last drop of her milkshake and Darien got up, holding out his hand, "Come on, let's get out of here and go for a walk."

Serena took the hand Darien offered her, "Sure thing."

After paying the bill and stepping outside Darien draped his arm Serena, hugging her close to him.  Serena sunk into his grip and sighed softly as she stared at the stars, This night's been so wonderful, I'm afraid it'll end all too soon.

The two walked into the park, enjoying the silence and just being together when a scream pierced the air.  They both broke into a run towards the scream by instinct and saw the problem.

A large, muscular warrior clad in deep, hunter green armor stood with a energy harnesser, absorbing the life force from a couple sitting by the lake.  The warrior raised his left arm, which had a large mace at the end.  Serena and Darien didn't need to guess what was coming.

With practiced ease Serena pulled her locket from her dress and raised it high into the air and shouted her words of power, "Moon Crystal, POWER!"  Her silver crystal's energyies danced around her as Darien drew a rose from his suit, summoning its power.  Seconds later the energies died down and Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask stood ready for battle.

With a quick flick of his wrist Darien sent one of his magically sharpened roses across the mace as their enemy brought it towards its innocent victims.  The creature paused as the rose imbedded itself into the concrete, cracking it slightly.

The creature turned towards the two warriors as Serena stepped forward, "I am Sailor Moon, champion of justice.  I will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and that means you.  In the name of the Moon I will punish you."

The creature laughed loudly, "You think you can beat me?  Ha!  Even if you had all of your precious Senshi you wouldn't stand a chance against the power of Mace."

Serena summoned her Moon Scepter, it appearing in her hands, "Wanna bet."

As Serena took aim Mace launched his own mace at her, knocking the Scepter from her hand.  Darien lept high into the air as Serena scrambled for her Scepter.  With a fluid, well practiced motion Darien sent another rose at their enemy, imbedding itself into Mace's left arm.  Mace removed the rose with a slight sigh of pain, a small trickle of blood flowing from the wound.

Darien landed smoothly beside Serena, "Sailor Moon, we need the other Senshi."

Nodding in confirmation she activated her wrist communicator and waited for the others to answer the call, "Guys, Tuxedo Mask and I are dealing with some major Negatrash in the park and could use your help right away."

Raye, Mina, and Lita signalled that they were on their way as Serena turned back to the fight, Why didn't Amy answer.  It's not like her to ignore her communicator.

While Serena dwelled on Amy's lack of response Mace took the oppurtunity to launch his mace into her chest.  The force rocketed her across the park into a nearby tree.  She shook her head in pain, thankful that nothing was broken.

***

Amy sat nervously wondering how long it would take to get home, she needed to get home quickly so she could help the others.  Her communicator had just gone off and she had barely turned it off without Jeremy noticing.  She glanced at Jeremy, the young man she had just spent the evening with, Why did the Negaverse have to attack tonight, and why did I even go to dinner with him.

Jeremy pulled into her apartment complex's parking lot, "Well there you are, Satterlee taxi service front door drop off."

Amy laughed lightly at the joke, "Thank you for the ride."

"Hey it was no problem, thank you for the company at dinner tonight," Jeremy replied warmly, but without even a slight smile, but the affection into his voice told Amy he had enjoyed himself, "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

"Yes," Amy said as she shut the door and waved good-bye.  Jeremy pulled away and headed down the street as Amy headed the opposite direction and lifted her transformation pen, checking to make sure no one was watching, "Mercury Star, POWER!"

Energy flowed across her body as she transformed into Sailor Mercury.  She pressed her earing, her VR Visor appearing over her eyes.  The visor tracked the location of Sailor Moon's communicator and she sprinted towards the battle in progress.

***

Jeremy watched Amy headed in the other direction out of his rear view mirror, I was right.  It was her communicator that had gone off, now I just have to head towards the battle and help the Senshi out as much as I possibly can.

***

"Mars Celestrial Fire, SURROUND!"

A beam of superheated rings flew towards Mace who lifted his left arm to block the attack, causing the rings to ricochet away from him, "Time to meet your maker, Sailor Mars."

Mace lifted his arm preparing to launch his mace as Mars, but as the mace left its housing he heard battle crys from behind.

"Jupiter Thunderclap, ZAP!"

Jupiter's lightning disc flew into Mace's back, knocking him to the ground.  He glared at Jupiter as he shook his head clear and climbed to his feet.

"Venus Love Chain, ENCIRCLE!"

A chain of golden hearts wrapped around Mace, entangling him, making him a threat to none of the Scouts.  Venus grinned as she held Mace in her chain, "Allright, Sailor Moon, take him out."
 Serena nodded as she aimed her Scepter, "Moon Scepter..."

Mace lifted his head and roared in defiance as large energy spikes expanded from his body, shattering Venus's chain and knocking all of the Senshi to the ground.  He walked towards Serena, laying on the ground, barely conscious.

"Poor Sailor Moon.  You're so beautiful and you have so much power, yet you've choosen to ally yourself with the wrong side.  With your death the future will truly belong to the Pantheon."

Mace raised his arm to crush Serena's skull.

"Mercury Bubbles, BLAST!"

A cool, damp fog covered the battle field as Mace felt his arm connect with the ground, Sailor Moon was gone.  A few minutes later the fog cleared and Mace saw the missing Senshi standing beside Sailor Moon's body.  He laughed hysterically charging Mercury, "You think you can defeat me!"

***

Mercury cringed back in fright as Mace charged and felt her body freeze in fear.  Mace was a mere couple yards from her.  She managed to push out with her legs, throwing herself to the ground, out of the villian's path.  Mercury felt pain shoot up her leg as she connected with the ground and looked down, seeing the problem.  She had severly twisted her ankle, Oh, no.  He's got me now.

Mace raised his left arm and an energy aura gathered around his mace, "Say your good-byes, Sailor Mercury."

Mercury closed her eyes and waited for the death blow to come as Serena shouted, "NOOO!"

Mace swung his arm down at Mercury and she felt the energy grown closer.  Then a cool, rustling breeze flowed across her body and her body was lifted from the ground.  She heard a loud smash, obviously the mace hitting the ground and releasing its energy and opened her arms.

The first thing she noticed was that she was a good 100 feet in the air and was in the arms of a stranger in blue and white armor and wearing a black, billowing cape and a black hood casting a shadow over his face.

They landed on the ground and the stranger sat Amy on the ground and turned as Mace glared at him, "Who in the hell are you?"

Amy heard a soft chuckle come from the armored warrior, "I forgot that you joined the Destruction Force right before it left.  I'm sure you've heard of me, I am the Imperium Knight, defender of the Sailor Senshi, and your worst nightmare."

Amy's eyes widened as the powerful villian took a step back in fear.

***

Mace quickly composed himself and put on a relaxed, confident stance, "The Imperium Knight, huh?  I've read about you and must admit you're a strong fighter.  You should use your might to fight with us."

The Knight chuckled again, "Not in your life."

Mace shrugged slightly, "Oh, well.  I tried to give you a chance and now you die."  Man, this guy's the toughest warrior of Crystal Tokyo and I've got to fight him, oh shit.

The Knight dropped into a combat stance as mace charged him, "We'll just have to see about that."

The Knight lept gracefully over his adversary, bringing his left arm in front of him as he did, "Imperium Shield."  The crystal on his left forearm glowed for a second and formed a transparent blue, round shield on his forearm.  Mace swung around attempting to backhand him with his mace arm, but he brought his shield up and took the blow with no effort.

The Knight responded by bringing his right fist up in a crisp uppercut.  Mace doubled back from the blow, but the Knight didn't let up his attack.  He slammed his shield into Mace's chest, stunning him long enough for the Knight to land a firm snap kick into his gut.

The Knight brought his foot into a roundhouse kick, but Mace managed to catch it in mid air.  He swung the Knight around, letting him sail into a near by tree.  Mace stepped forward, his right hand extending, and sent jolts of electricity into the Imperium Knight's body.

He then launched his mace at the Knight which wrapped tightly around the Knight's body.  He then sent his electrical shocks through the metal, amplifieing the elctrical energy.  The Knight kneeled over in pain, grinding his teeth together so he wouldn't scream.  The electricity danced across his armored body like children playing in a park, having not a care where they wandered.  Mace laughed hysterically as the Knight fell to his knees.

He tugged on the chain, slamming the Knight onto the ground, "Scream for mercy and I might kill you quick and clean."

The Knight glared at Mace, with no fear of dying, and rasped in pain, "I'll never ask for mercy, especially from the likes of you."  His voice dripped with anger and contempt, the Knight's pain was only visible through the slowness of his words.

"Then, die!", Mace screamed as he pulled his chain harder, tightening it around the Knight's neck, squeezing the breathe of life from him.

"Jupiter Thunderclap, ZAP!"

Jupiter's lightning disc split Mace's chain giving the Knight back his freedom to breathe and shocking Mace long enough for Sailor Moon to attack.

"Moon Scepter, ACTIVATION!"

Positive energy flowed from Serena's scepter and collided with Mace, sending him reeling back to the ground.  Serena and the other's mouths dropped as he started to slowly climb to his feet.  Serena could only stutter, "What?  How?  My scepter didn't destroy him."

The Knight climbed to his feet and called out to the Scouts, "He's a human being so the Moon Scepter can't eliminate him, only hurt him."  His voice softened as he tried to recover from the eletrical attack, "Don't try to heal him, he's far too evil for that.  Your only chance is to attack him now, while he's weakened, with the Sailor Planet Power."

The Senshi nodded and joined hands.

"Mercury Star, POWER!"

"Mars Star, POWER!"

"Jupiter Star, POWER!"

"Venus Star, POWER!"

"Moon Crystal, POWER!"

 The Senshi's voice rang together as their individual power's combined, "Sailor Planet, POWER!"

A ray of rainbow energy poured forth from the girls and rained down on Mace, incinerating his body upon contact.  The Senshi listened as his death screams faded as his body crumbled to dust.

"Dusted!" they shouted together in joy as they turned to the Imperium Knight who was now standing, with great effort.

Serena stepped forward, a look of concern on her face, "You're hurt, is there anything we can do to help?"

The Knight shook his head, "No thank you."

Dariend stepped forward, "Well then, thanks for your help, but I have to ask.  How is it that you knew so much of our enemy and of the Senshi's powers."

The Knight looked at Serena and let his eye glide across the other's faces, his glaze resting on Darien, "I have fought your new enemy many times before and I know of the Senshi's powers for reasons that for now must remain my own.  You need only to remember that I am the protector of the Sailor Senshi, champion's of justice, and will always be on your side."

With his words spoken the Knight lept high into air landing on a nearby building and lept again until finally landing on the roof and sprinting away.

The Senshi and Darien watched the Knight leave and wondered why their mysterious ally had was their 'protector'.

Mina watched the Knight leave and sighed, "Wow!  What a hunk."

Raye nodded as they detransformed, "You can say that again.  Did you see the moves he had, he was amazing."

"Yes, he was, but we can't depend on him.  It is quite possible that he has his own agenda and might only be willing to help us against enemies from the same group as Mace was," Amy rationilized for the others.

The other Senshi nodded as they turned to leave the park and rest.

***

A fist crashed into a nearby mirror, shards of glass falling to armored warrior's feet, "What in the hell do you mean Mace was defeated!?"

"The Sailor Senshi managed to defeat him using the 'Sailor Planet Power', Sire," Swordsmen said from behind his enraged master softly.

"How in the hell did they manage the time to preform the attack.  Mace wasn't the brightest, but he wasn't a fucking moron.  He knew to keep them apart so they couldn't perform the attack, and he was good enough to do it," Aires bellowed.

"They had outside intervention, Sire," Swordsmen added nervously, he knew how violent his Master's anger could be.  He also knew the next question and did not want to answer it.

"What kind of intervention, Swordsmen?"

He swallowed hard, "According to all accounts, Sire...  Well I'm not sure how, but..."

"WHO?" Aries bellowed.

"The Imperium Knight."

A burst of energy flew from Aires's hand and crashed into the wall beside Swordsmen's head and he ran two fingers over the scar on his face, "How in the goddamn world did that no-good son of a bitch follow us to the present?  How in the fuck did he follow us?  HOW DAMNIT HOW?"

Swordsmen sunk low and let Aires finish his tantrum.  Aires fell back into his chair finally and stroked his chin, "Then we have a problem."  He looked Swordsmen in the eyes, "Find the Imperium Sword before that damned Knight does.  Understand?"

"Yes, Sire," Swordsmen bowed as he left the throne room.

Aires sat back in his throne, gently caressing his scar, So we meet again, Knight.  Too bad it'll be for the final time.  Aires tipped his head back and laughed madly.