Summer in Juban Town. It was a pleasant wednesday afternoon and Calcite had decided to drive by the school and offer his sister a ride home. At least ostentatiously that was his reason. Actually he was hoping to accidently run into Mai and invite her to dinner. Mai Saito was a teacher at his sister's school, they'd been going out together for the past few weeks.

Of course she didn't know him as Calcite, a renegade youma from the now defunct Dark Kingdom. Shortly after arrival (and the realization they were stuck here for the time being) he'd set up their identities. As far as anyone in Japan knew they were British citizens on indefinite work visas (with the exception of Titanite who was far too young). It's amazing what you can accomplish with the ability to control minds. Calcite didn't particularly enjoy brainwashing people but was a firm believer in survival. Covering their tracks seemed the best way to do that.

The renegades had chosen names that let them use the same nicknames they were used too. Mai knew Calcite as Calvin Hobbes, he'd based the name on a comic strip he'd read and enjoyed during his time in England. His sister was now known as Titania, though her friends generally called her Ti. The name was explained as being the result of a mother overly fond of Shakespeare.

Cal noticed a billboard on the right. Azurite's new career was going nicely and hadn't required any intervention on his part. As a model she could use the name Azure without attracting comment or even needing a last name. There had been the somewhat ironic suggestions that she should dye her red hair blue to match her name. Ironic because that was its natural color. They'd all made a few modifications in their appearances. Ti was now a brunette and Cal was a blond, it was a lot easier than having to explain green hair. Though his ponytail attracted a few comments.

Pyrite was now known as Piram Troy, a name attributed to a father who'd been a professor specializing in ancient greek history. According to their story Pyr was a writer and didn't need to work outside the house. Which was good cover for him to stay home and work on a way to let them live outside the synchronistic zone.

The six months since their arrival had been probably the happiest times of their lives. Certainly the easist. No more continually acting like a mean bastard/bitch in order to stay above suspicion. No more keeping Ti hidden so she wouldn't get burned for acting human. Ti was adapting well to her new freedom, he'd been afraid she wouldn't be able to cope after years of near isolation. The only problem as he saw it was her obsession with those stupid cartoons. When asked why she wasn't getting interested in boys like other girls her age she'd replied that she definitely wasn't like other girls. That was true enough. Actually the only thing that really concerned him about this anime fetish was the worry that she'd start emulating the heroines and use her powers in school or in public. Still at heart Cal thought she was too sensible to do that.

The past six months hadn't been without bad points. The biggest shock had come near the start when he'd enrolled Ti in school. After all wherever they lived Ti was going to spend her life surrounded with humans. It was vital she learned to interact socially with her new peer group. So he'd arranged the story that he was his sister's only living relative (almost true except for cousin Pyrite) and when he'd been transferred to Japan she had to come with him. Calvin Hobbes had a job at a multinational bank, again he'd arranged it via mind manipulation. The funds he'd stockpiled wouldn't last forever and he needed something to explain his presence in this country.

At any rate shortly after Titania Hobbes began school her brother had recognised one of the other pupils. Minako Aino. Alias Sailor Venus, alias Sailor V, alias the girl whose burned and frozen corpse should be decorating a glacier near the North Pole.

He'd barely avoiding panicking. Calming down he'd remembered that as Sailor V she'd never seen Lord Calcite's face or heard his real voice. But how could she be here?

He'd never found out. Titania had faced some bad moments when introduced to Minako. She hadn't recognised her but she'd been told Minako had been on an exchange trip to England so they should have lots to talk about. Ti had never even set foot in England. While her translator gave her a London accent all she knew about the country was the material she'd been made to memorize. Fortunately Minako avoided discussing her time in England. When asked about it she was very vague. As if she'd been told she'd been there but didn't remember any details of her stay.

Calcite had begun looking around and learned that the other Sailor Warriors were still alive. Usagi Tsukino wasn't such a big deal. They'd warped out of the Kingdom when she obliterated Beryl and had no idea if she had or hadn't survived. However the other three, Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino and Makoto Kino had definitely died. Yet all three were alive despite their fatal experiences at D point. Curiously there was little or no contact between the five of them. There were also no sightings of any of the Sailor Warriors. Calcite had thought it over and decided that they'd somehow been reincarnated a second time. Which made avoiding them at all costs an even better idea. Who wants enemies who can't even be gotten rid of by killing them?

It was more than a little odd that they'd all be reborn the same age and identities as their former existences. It wasn't the way he understood reincarnation was supposed to work. Frankly it seemed more like a copout you'd use in a kid's show to avoid discussing the reality of death. Regardless if they'd either disbanded after rebirth or just didn't remember being Sailor Warriors seemed irrelevant. As long as they weren't around the renegades felt a lot more secure.

Three months ago that had all changed. Suddenly Juban had again been hit by a series of life energy draining creatures and the Sailor Warriors had reappeared. Both fearing a youma hunt beginning and wondering at who was behind this Calcite had spent some time tracking the attacks. He'd been caught in one of them but it hadn't affected him as it was draining human energy. He had however faked being drained. At any rate he'd got close enough to sense that the source wasn't youma based but something different. In fact something alien to this world. The fact that out of the whole planet the aliens had chosen Juban confirmed Pyrite's synchronistic zone theory to Calcite. Everything truly abnormal would happen in this place. So it wasn't the ideal environment to live in.

That had been wrapped up a few weeks earlier. Exactly what had happened Calcite wasn't sure but an apartment building had been condemned for structural damage shortly after he'd sensed the source depart. Witnesses had talked about giant plants, vines and trees though there were no traces of these in the building. Eventually the media had lost interest and the matter was forgotten. Everything had been quiet since then which was fine with Calcite.

Calcite parked the car and got out, school was just letting out and the courtyard was full. He spotted Ti, then he saw Mai emerge from the building. She recognised him and smiled. He smiled back and headed towards her. At which point everything began to fall apart.

Lights flickered about twenty feet above the schoolyard and a man appeared. He didn't fall, just stood in midair and smiled down at the crowd staring upwards. Light purple uniform, short blond hair and very cold eyes. Calcite recognised him, any youma would. Across the schoolyard Titanite stared upwards with a shocked expression. He almost whispered the name. Jadeite!

Jadeite didn't seem to know he couldn't possibly be here. He just looked down and said, "Good afternoon ladies. I have decided subtlety doesn't work. Therefore ..." A glowing sphere formed above his outstretched hand. "I'm taking your energy!"

The sphere flared blinding almost everyone in the yard. Both Calcite and Titanite saw something invisible to human eyes. Energy flowing from the thirty humans nearest to the sphere. Those affected crumpled to the ground and both Jadeite and the sphere vanished. Mai was one of those to fall, Cal rushed to her. She was unconscious, more than that she was comatose! He could sense the massive weakness brought on by major lifeforce loss. Not much more would have been terminal. "Somebody phone an ambulance. If anyone knows where there's blankets fetch them. These people are in shock, we have to keep them warm!" Ti headed for the phones, so did Minako who'd emerged from the corner she'd ducked behind in order to transform. The attacker had vanished before she could become Sailor Venus. She didn't know who he was but that outfit had been far too close to Zoisite and Kunzite's.

"Yes, that's him!" The image on Ami's computer was a perfect match for the creep.

Ami nodded at the picture she'd pulled up after Minako's description. "Jadeite! I thought we'd seen the last of him."

"You know he reminds me of my old ..." Everyone turned to stare at Makoto "...uhh never mind."

"Never date the enemy." Minako glanced around the room. After the ambulances had picked up the injured and the police had taken statements she'd called an emergency meeting at the temple. Makoto was studying the picture, like her she'd never met the first youma boss. Both Rei and Ami looked like they'd hoped never to see the guy again. Usagi was over in the corner reading one of Rei's manga. Everything seemed more or less normal. Luna and Artemis were arguing over if it could really have been Jadeite considering the destruction of the Dark Kingdom. All Minako could say was what she'd seen.

"Hey turn the TV up!" Minako had spotted the picture of her school behind the newscaster. Luna slapped the remote and they all watched the screen. All it said was that twenty eight schoolgirls and two teachers had been incapacitated by an unexplained incident. First two students were interviewed, one talked about UFOs and the other claimed demons had attacked. The were followed by a sensible sounding foreigner who claimed there had been bright flash and those affected had collapsed. They cut back to the newscaster who said police were investigating the possibility of a lightning strike.

"Guess that last guy didn't see anything."

"He did. He was closer to Jadeite than I was. He probably thought he'd sound crazy if he described what he saw."

"Those others certainly sounded nuts." Makoto turned the TV back down. "Who was that guy anyway?"

"I forget his name, he's Ms. Saito's new boyfriend."

"He's American?"

"English. His sister Titania's in my school. She seems nice."

"Why's she over here?"

"Her brother's job. He got transferred to Japan so she had to come with him. Their parents are dead so he's her guardian."

Meanwhile Usagi looked up from her manga. "Hey whatever happened to Jadeite anyway?"

Ami answered, "That's a good question. All we know is that after the fight at the airport he disappeared and never came back. Not long after that Nephrite showed up."

Luna cut in, "He'd failed Queen Beryl. She must have destroyed him."

Artemis coughed. "We don't know that do we? For all we know she imprisoned him somewhere. Perhaps somewhere outside the Dark Kingdom. Somewhere he's just escaped from."

"But why steal energy? It won't do him any good and with the Kingdom gone there's nowhere to send it."

Rei slapped a fist on the table. "Maybe it's a challenge to us. If so we're ready for him. After all me and Ami beat him all the time and that was before our powers increased."

"Hey!" Usagi had been listening and hadn't liked Rei's comment. "It was the three of us who beat him that last time."

"Yeah, I suppose you were in the background somewhere."

"Background! I was fighting Jadeite alone while you just thought Mars was a candy bar!"

"I knew it was a planet! Anyway you kept getting lucky and even with that luck you wouldn't have won if it wasn't for Mamoru!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

Luna looked at Artemis, "I think this meeting is about to degenerate."

Artemis nodded, "I sometimes remind myself that not long ago the fate of the entire world was in their hands. Then I ask myself how the heck did we survive?"

Both cats sighed.

At a small house not far away the incident was also under discussion. "Look I was close enough to sense his aura. He didn't just look like Jadeite, he was Jadeite!"

Azurite looked at Titanite, "Ti, you sensed it was Jadeite?"

She shrugged, "How should I know? I never met Jadeite in person so I wouldn't recognise his aura. It definitely looked like him though."

"But it's impossible!"

"Maybe not!" Pyrite was scrawling equations (or possibly doodles) on a notepad. "Remember where we set up our warpgate?"

"In the Eternal Sleep chamber!" Calcite could see the scenario. "There were quakes when we left, one of them could have bounced the crystal holding Jadeite into the gate while it was still active. Could that have worked?"

"Possibly. There would have been a very brief period after we used the gate it could still dimensionally shift objects. However there'd be no guarantees where they'd arrive."

Although she didn't mention it Azurite saw a slightly different scenario. All hell is breaking loose, Margrave sees Calcite escape with the three of us. She goes berserk and throws the nearest thing available after us. She was right next to Jadeite's crystal when we vanished. Since she was the only one who knew Margrave was present in the chamber she kept quiet. Calcite had felt guilty enough about not bringing her along. Why make him feel worse?

What she did say was, "OK so say the dimensional transit breaks the crystal open and frees Jadeite. That was six months ago, why show up now?"

Calcite nodded, "And if transit didn't crack the crystal how'd he get free. For that matter a seven foot long crystal with a man embedded in it would be bound to draw attention."

Pyrite shrugged. "I don't know everything. What I will say is that it might not have been six months for Jadeite. He might have experienced temporal displacement so he only arrived a little while ago. Alternately the crystal never left subspace. It phased almost into this world then the gate collapsed. The subspace forces slowly eroded the crystal freeing Jadeite. His own powers would have been sufficent to shift him from subspace to this world. Remember those pocket continuums he created? He's got very good space/time manipulation abilities."

"Lucky thing he didn't know how to use them properly."

"Good point cousin."

Azurite shrugged. "It'll do as a hypothesis. Frankly how he's here isn't as important as what is he doing? He's gonna start the Warriors youma hunting again which is not healthy for us. Why the hell is he stealing human energy anyway? It's useless to him and with the Kingdom gone there's nowhere to take it."

Calcite nodded. "She's right. Jadeite collected energy for Metallia's resurrection. With Metallia gone what's the point?"

"You're both assuming something." Pyrite looked worried. "You're both assuming Jadeite is acting rationally. He spent months in total sensory deprivation, or almost total if it's true the sleepers can still see. There is a very strong possibility the experience has driven him insane. Maybe he thinks if he collects enough power Queen Beryl will forgive him. Maybe he's just collecting energy because he thinks that's what he does. Maybe he just thinks it's fun. Who knows?"

"A madman with the power of Jadeite?" Azurite felt something cold touch her. "What do we do?"

"Safest thing to do is stay low and wait for the Sailor Warriors to take him out." Calcite decided to move onto another matter that troubled him. "Pyr I'd like you to join me on a trip to the hospital."

"What's wrong Cal? Beside the obvious I mean."

"I don't know exactly. But while I was holding Mai I sensed something different. As if she'd suffered more than mere energy drain."

"Energy fields are my speciality. I'll pick up a few odds and ends and be ready in a few minutes."

"Just what is wrong with them?" They'd almost forgotten Titanite was still there, listening to every word they said.

"I don't know yet. But if we can help them we will." There was something he should have asked earlier. "Were any of your friends ...?"

"No. But it's the sort of thing that should have ended with the Dark Kingdom."

"You're right. But I'll bet it's finished before long. Jadeite couldn't beat three Sailor Warriors. There's five of them now and they've gained both experience and power. It should be over soon." Almost a shame considering how few of are left. Until you remember that Jadeite's a total bastard.

At the hospital not long afterwards a nurse was telling Calcite visiting hours were over. Also given the severity of the victims conditions hospital policy was to only allow relatives to visit them.

"I'd just like to drop off these flowers. There's no harm in that surely?"

The nurse felt her resistance fade. After all what could it hurt? "Five minutes, no more."

"Thank you, you're very kind." The glow left Calcite's eyes and he headed for the Critical Ward. Pyrite followed him. Behind them the nurse wondered why those purple eyes had been so fascinating.

Calcite set the flowers and the vase by Mai's bed and glanced around. All clear. Pyrite pulled two crystal rods from his jacket transferred them to his left hand. He passed them over Mai's body and glanced to the amythest held in his right hand. He swore quietly and repeated his actions. They'd been there four minutes when Pyrite slid his equipment away and said, "Let's get out of here." The two of them unobtrusively exited the hospital. Calcite was about to demand an explanation when Pyrite told him, "Wait until we get home, the others need to know about this."

About twenty minutes later they were back at the house they were renting. They could have teleported back in seconds but preferred not to, that could draw unwelcome attention from energy sensitives. Pyrite made a note to improve the home shields.

"It's bad Cal, real bad." Pyrite had everyone's attention. "Those people aren't just drained they're still being tapped!"

"What! You mean Jadeite's attacked them again?"

"Nothing so simple. His attack didn't exactly suck out energy. It implanted those affected with an energy matrix. The matrix drained their energy and transmitted it to Jadeite's receiver. Namely that energy sphere you saw him using. The thing is those matrixes are still implanted in the victims. They draw enough power from the hosts to sustain themselves then drain and store any extra energy the hosts build up. If Jadeite passes near the hospital the matrixes will transmit him the stored energy then begin the whole cycle again."

Calcite thought this through. "So you're saying as long as those matrixes are in place they'll stay in a comatose state. They can't recover because it draws off all their extra energy. Can you remove them?"

"No, messing with the matrixes would probably kill the hosts. But it's worse than that. You see the matrixes aren't perfect. They're gradually decaying. This means they draw more power to slow the disintegration and maintain themselves. Which means the victims don't stay locked at the same energy level instead they gradually get weaker. Eventually the matrixes will drain too much power and ..."

"They'll die. They'll all die!" Calcite's voice was flat.

There was a silence broken by Azurite saying "Ok things look bad but the Warriors know Jadeite's out there, right? According to Cal Sailor V witnessed the attack. So when they take out Jadeite it's all over."

"Yes, but not the way we want." Pyrite looked grim.

"You'd better explain that cousin", Calcite tried to avoid looking edgy.

"I may be wrong but I think when Jadeite gets zapped the distabalizing energy sphere will feedback to the implanted matrixes. They may go crazy and suck the hosts dry or the sudden energy shock might kill the victims."

Another silence. This one broken by Calcite saying, "Is there any way to safely deactivate the matrixes?"

"Yes. From the readings I got I could construct a tool to make Jadeite's receiver shut down the matrixes safely. The problem would be getting close enough to use it."

"I've got an idea!" Everyone turned to look at Titanite. "You know who the Sailor Warriors are, right? So just phone them anonymously, explain the situation and leave this tool thing somewhere they can find it."

"Not a bad idea Ti. The only problem was why would they believe us? Even if they did they'd wonder about who knew their real names and knew enough about Jadeite to construct the shutdown key. After they dealt with Jadeite they'd start looking for answers." Ti sighed, she couldn't argue with her brother's logic. He was a lot better than her at thinking up worse case scenarios. "But we have to do something." Azurite and Pyrite started trying to come up with alternatives, Titanite just watched her brother. He'd steepled his hands and closed his eyes, signs she recognised as meaning he was deep in thought. He opened his eyes and smiled. "Of course, it's so obvious! Pyr make the tool and modify one of the youma power trackers. I'll need both when I go hunting Jadeite!"

He headed for his room. Pyrite headed for the basement where his hidden lab was located. Azurite stood flabbergasted for a moment then strode after Calcite. "Wait a damned minute!" Titanite trailed after Azure in confusion. What was big brother up too after all these months of preaching low profile?

Calcite rooted through his closet. He'd dumped it in here months ago, there hadn't seemed to be any need of it. Ah! here it was. Calcite turned around and came face to face with Azurite. "Cal are you out of your mind?! Look I'm sorry about Mai but getting all four of killed is a little much! You can't beat Jadeite and you're risking exposing us all to the Sailor Warriors!"

"You're right that would be crazy but I'm not planning to tackle Jadeite alone. I'll track him and wait for the Sailor Warriors to attack. When they've weakened him I'll move in and destroy the sphere."

"If they don't think you're a threat and blast you they'll certainly want to know who you are!"

"But they'll already know. Sailor Venus will tell them." Calcite strapped his wristband in place and activated it. His clothing shimmered and changed. His glasses shifted and became a mask. Both his hair and eyes became as grey as the outfit he now wore. His figure became bulkier as the grey bodyarmour formed. "She'll recognise her old ally Gray, the guy who kept helping her against Lord Calcite. A man who already knows something about fighting Youma!"

Azurite just stared, Titanite applauded. "Cal, that's brilliant!" Then she added, "When you meet the Sailor Warriors can you get me their autographs?"

After a moment Azurite said grudgingly, "Well I suppose it makes sense." She sighed, "Who'd have thought you'd be using that identity again."

Half an hour later Calcite was listening to Pyrite explain how to use the shutdown key. The actual key was an enchanted pink crystal rod, similar to the ones Pyrite had used in his examination of the afflicted. "... so once it's activated you've got thirty seconds to get it into the sphere. It'll need at least another twenty to do the job. So don't activate it prematurely. And don't take any unnecessary risks OK?"

Calcite nodded and slipped the rod into a pocket on his thigh. Azurite asked, "So how do you find him anyway?"

"Pyrite thinks this tracker will pick up the sphere's energy signature. I'll try teleporting around the city looking for a signal. Then I'll just have to track Jadeite and stay with him until the Sailor Warriors show up." Pyrite had added a plastic shell and various lights to make the tracker look technological rather than magical.

"If they show up."

"They will. Jadeite's not one to stay undercover long. The warriors are very good at showing up anywhere their opponents do."

"Well good luck. Try and remember we need you so don't do anything too heroic."

Titanite added, "Just make sure and come back. OK big brother."

"I will. Now don't you have homework." She gave him a look that said, "At a time like this?" "You'll still have school tomorrow. So get too it!" She stuck her tongue out then headed for her room. Hopefully that'd keep her too occupied to worry.

Calcite slipped away silently. He intended to do the first teleport some distance from the house. Just in case the Sailor Warriors could track them. Azurite turned to Pyrite and sighed, "I should have known there'd be trouble after Cal got involved with a human."

He snorted and answered, "You're never satisfied."

She considered treating this as a double endentre but decided not to bother. "Meaning?"

"Meaning our first couple of months here you were complaining about him moping over having left Margrave behind. Now he's found someone else you're unhappy that he's not miserable. As for the 'getting involved with a human' part what was the alternative? Since the youma population was reduced to the four of us the only unattached female is his sister. Which brings up one of the few taboos that the Dark Kingdom shared with the humans. So the only other alternative was celibacy which Cal isn't cut out for. Someday Ti will pick up a human lover. After all what's the alternative?"

It occurred to Pyrite he might have just said too much. "There is one alternative you could suggest", he thought. "Namely that we break up and me and Ti become a couple. After all by our traditions a love affair between cousins isn't incest. Then you and Cal become an item thus keeping all our sexlives confined to our own species. The question is, do you still want him?"

Pyrite waited nervously but all Azure said was, "You're right of course. It's inevitable really." Pyrite felt himself relax a bit, he was just a little too insecure. He'd have to watch that in future.

Meanwhile over at the temple the meeting was breaking up. Actually in terms of being a Sailor Warrior strategy session it had broken up quite a while back. It never failed to amaze Luna and Artemis how many totally irrelevant topics they could bring up. Rei and Usagi seemed to be enemies again. It never lasted long but neither did the truce periods. As everyone headed out to the courtyard those two avoided each other. At least they weren't doing the "dueling tongues" thing.

They'd made absolutely no progress on the Jadeite matter. Still to be fair Luna had to admit they had absolutely no idea where he was or what he was up too.

That was when Rei suddenly stiffened and they heard the screams. Rei stared in the direction of the sound and shouted, "I've felt this aura before! It's Jadeite! MARS POWER, MAKE UP! What are you waiting for!" Sailor Mars dashed off toward the source of the yelling. The others triggered their transformations and followed.

About two kilometres away, feeling something of a fool, Calcite studied the blank detector. Suddenly it hummed to life. Jackpot! For a moment Calcite concentrated to remember his designated teleport point in that area. Then he vanished to reappear about 50 metres from the source. Sticking to the shadows he drew closer.

Jadeite stood in the middle of a collapsed crowd of humans. From the outfits he'd just ambushed a college baseball team heading back from practice. The sphere whirled above his left hand. It glowed brighter than it had earlier.

"Only the slothful seek to deprive youth of exercise and energy. Jadeite you should have stayed vegetating on a couch. On behalf of Mars I will lynch you!"

Jadeite smiled, "Sailor Mars. I'd been hoping to meet you again. By the way that speech made absolutely no sense."

"You think it's easy coming up with these things on the spur of the moment?"

"Hey, I do the speeches!" Usagi arrived followed by Ami. Makoto and Minako had accidently collided on the temple steps and tumbled the rest of the way down. They were fine but it slowed them.

"You weren't here. Besides you'd just say something corny."

"Like you didn't?"

"Compared to you I'm the most eloquent girl in town!"

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah!"

"You can talk this over after Jadeite's defeated!" Ami's voice brought the situation back. They turned to face their foe.

Jadeite watched them with an amused expression. "Sailors Moon, Mercury and Mars. I've been hoping I'd see you again. I owe you three a debt of vengeance which I'm only too glad to ... WHAT THE HELL!" Makoto and Minako had arrived. "This is impossible! There's only three Sailor Warriors. Who are you?"

"Our cue I think."

"After you."

"I'm the warrior of thunder and lightning. I strike like a hurricane and I'm strong as a typhoon. Sailor Jupiter at your service!"

"I'm the warrior of love and power. I first appeared as Sailor V but my real name is Sailor Venus!"

"And on behalf of our respective planets ..."

"...we will punish you."

Jadeite didn't look scared. He did look annoyed. "You Sailor Warriors are like cockroaches. Every time I turn around more of you show up! Well I'll just have to squash a few bugs!"

From the shadows Calcite watched and waited. It was about to begin. Jadeite levitated about two metres straight up. His hands glowed with power.

"Squash this! SUPREME THUNDER DRAGON!"

"CRESENT BEAM SHOWER"

The combined lighting construct and energy beam surged toward Jadeite. If it had struck the fight should have been over. If it had struck. He was gone before it was halfway there. As the attack tore through the space Jadeite had occupied the two Warriors sensed something behind them. As they began turning Jadeite's force beams slammed into them. Both were thrown semiconscious halfway down the block.

"SHABON SPRAY!" Mercury's attack formed a fog around Jadeite. OK while he lost his bearings Rei could ... A hand closed on her shoulder and Jadeite smiled at her. "That old trick again? You must think I'm a complete idiot." Electricity flowed from his hand and Ami screamed.

"Rei do something!"

"Stop yelling Usa...Sailor Moon. You're distracting me!" Rei tried to work out a way to blast Jadeite without hitting Ami. She couldn't, not while Jadeite was that close. Damnit how come Jadeite was suddenly using his powers so effectively?

"I'll stop him. MOON TIARA ACTION!" The tiara headed straight for Jadeite's head. His arm moved and Ami was swept into its' path. "NOSTOP RIGHTNOW!" The tiara froze in place about an arm's length from Ami's face. It stopped spinning and its glow faded. The tiara dropped to the sidewalk. Jadeite smiled and tossed the unconscious Ami toward Jupiter and Venus. She sprawled over them creating a small pile of short skirted females.

Jadeite smiled. "Three down, two to go. Your move brats!"

Calcite was getting worried. This wasn't the way he'd expected it to go. Jadeite seemed to have acquired the ability to teleport instantly to any place he wanted. No concentration, no delay period just there one instant gone the next. He was using it to devestating effect. What the hell was he supposed to do. Help the Sailor Warriors? Ridiculous, Jadeite would take him apart. You're a survivor not a hero, remember that.

Rei wasn't wasting her opportunity. "FIRE SOUL BIRD!" The flame construct soared towards Jadeite. As it did she spun around and screamed "FIRE SOUL!" Had Jadeite materialized behind her it might have worked. He materialized on her left side and his force beam cannoned her onto the pile of fallen Sailor Warriors.

"And then there was one. No tiara, no weapon, right?"

Things have changed creep. Usagi reached out, her hand sliding briefly into a pocket dimension and emerging with the Moon Sceptre. I stand by my friends Jadeite. "MOON PRINCESSAHHHHHH!"

Jadeite's energy pulse slammed the sceptre out of her grip, nearly breaking her wrist in the process. It spun through the air. Jadeite vanished and reappeared by the sceptre he'd knocked flying. He grabbed it and looked at it. "This is some sort of weapon yes?" Sailor Moon didn't answer, she was busy going over her very limited options. "Fine, die silent then!" Jadeite's right hand glowed and Usagi slammed into the Sailor heap, dazing Makoto and Minako who were starting to recover.

"Time to finish this!" Jadeite began floating toward his enemies. Calcite was trying to decide if he should intervene when something flew towards Jadeite. He twitched slightly and the object sailed by. The rose embedded itself in the concrete and Jadeite glanced towards the source.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?" How the masked figure had got onto the lamppost unnoticed was a mystery. Jadeite looked very surprised.

"Tuxedo Mask!? Didn't I kill you?"

"Not even close."

"Damn. That was the one good point about that fiasco at the airport. Ah well, if at first you don't suceed ..." Jadeite surged towards Tuxedo then vanished. His opponent extended his cane and spun around. He hit nothing. Jadeite materialized above him and fired downwards. Minus his hat Mamoru slammed downward just missing the Warriors. Jadeite smirked, "I'd like to drag this out, repay you fools for all the trouble you caused me. But I have things to do so I'll have to end this quickly. Did you idiots truly think you could beat me! I am Jadeite, first of the four. I survived the Big Sleep! If I could do that how could anything stop me!"

Minako tried to struggle out from under the pile. If only her head would stop spinning maybe she could hit the creep. Jadeite hovered above them, the sphere orbited his left hand which held the sceptre. Flames wreathed his right hand. "Play with fire and you get burned. Goodbye."

The fire surged forward and Minako instinctively closed her eyes. Then Jadeite screamed. She opened them to see Jadeite involuntarily jerk his hand away from them. The fire washed over a mailbox but didn't hit anyone. A long thin blade protuded from Jadeite's wrist. About ten metres from them stood a figure she recognised. His hands were full of more of the knives and he held them ready. "Gray?" she wondered.

Jadeite snarled at the figure, "Who are you?"

"Your enemy!"

Jadeite snarled and directed a force pulse at the figure. Gray leapt from the spot before it hit, filling the air with blades as he moved. Several headed for Jadeite and bounced away. Force shield.

As he jumped Calcite wondered if he'd finally gone over the edge. It would have been smarter to let Jadeite fry the Sailor Warriors then attack. Oh who the hell was he kidding? He couldn't just stand by and watch them burn. There were times a lot more ruthlessness would have been a definite survival trait.

Jadeite wasn't teleporting, maybe the pain from the injury blocked him. Or maybe he'd temporarily exhausted that power. Either way Calcite had to destroy the sphere and get away fast. He couldn't activate the blade while Jadeite's shield was in place. However Jadeite couldn't use his full powers through the shield. So ...

Jadeite dropped his shield to blast the intruder. Suddenly the blade in his wrist glowed and blue fire crawled over Jadeite's body. He screamed, dropped the sceptre and fell out of the sky. As he did Calcite pulled out the rod and activated it. He jumped and landed on Jadeite's back pinning his left wrist. Calcite punched the rod into the sphere and held it there. There was a warbling noise and the sphere began to fade from visibility.

Jadeite howled and heaved Calcite off him. He surged upwards to confront Calcite and saw Sailor Venus stand up. Behind her Sailor Jupiter got to her knees. The other Sailors were also moving. He glared at Calcite and snarled, "You destroyed my beautiful toy. You will suffer for that. At the time of my choosing!" Jadeite vanished. This teleport took seconds to accomplish, his figure fading from solid to transluscent to gone. Two objects remained behind on the place he'd stood. Calcite stooped to look at them. His pulserate skyrocketed as he recognised one of them. He was able to slid it into the pocket along with Pyrite's rod.

"What is it?" The question came from Sailor Venus. Currently the most together of the Warriors. Jupiter was wincing but standing up. Mercury had staggered halfway upright and Mars was leaning against a telephone pole for support. Sailor Moon had crawled over to Tuxedo Mask and was fussing over him.

Gray tossed the object to Minako. She barely managed to catch it. A rough greenish crystal. In his normal Gray monotone he said, "I'm no expert but I'd guess that's a chunk of jadeite. Some sort of calling card."

"Oh? Sailor Moon didn't mention he did that. But what are you doing here Gray? Not that we don't mind the help."

"You know me, do I know you?"

"I'm Sailor Venus." No reaction. "I used to be Sailor V."

"Oh." He shrugged. "I heard you were dead."

How could he possibly know what happened at D point? Then Minako realised he didn't, he was talking about Sailor V's apparent death."

"The bomb missed me but I decided to abandon that identity and become Sailor Venus."

"That explains the lack of a body. Although general consensus was it probably dissolved."

"Dissolved?"

"Everyone you fought did."

"But they were youma, I'm not."

"You're also not a normal teenager."

"You're not that normal yourself!"

"I never said I was."

"Venus who is this guy?" Makoto came forward to join Minako.

"Sailor Jupiter this is Gray. He's a superhero I met in England. Gray these are Sailors Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and that's Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask over there."

Everyone began saying hello and thanking him for his intervention. Gray raised a hand to cut them off and said, "I'm not here to socialize. There's work to be done." With that he turned and left in a series of superhuman bounds. He was out of sight very soon.

Venus was the only one of them not surprised. "Same old Gray. Never relaxes, never smiles."

"Kind of a rude guy." Rei winced and massaged an aching knee.

"Still we needed his help." Ami took the stone from Minako and examined it. "He was right, this is jadeite."

"Jadeite's a rock?" Usagi was helping Mamoru up, she sounded puzzled.

"Actually jadeite, nephrite, zoisite and kunzite are all minerals. It didn't seem relevant to the generals so I never mentioned it before."

"Oh. Hey look at Makoto!" Sailor Jupiter was staring off in the direction Gray had disappeard. "Here we go again."

After a moment she turned back to face her friends and said, "You know its funny but ..." They waited "...he doesn't look a thing like my old boyfriend." Everybody facefaulted. She continued, "Anyway I've decided to give up on older men. There's something wrong with older men who chase schoolgirls." Both Usagi and Mamoru started looking very uncomfortable. Jupiter quickly amended, "Of course it's different if it's something fated centuries ago. I mean that's a whole different ballgame."

Speaking of which the baseball team began reviving. "Let's get out of here. Luna and Artemis will be wondering what happened." The six limped off.

Meanwhile Calcite had arrived home and given everyone the good news. If he'd succeeded why was he so upset? "What's wrong Cal?"

Calcite didn't answer his sister directly. He reverted his mask to a pair of glasses (he didn't need glasses, he just wore them for image) and adjusted them. "Ti you wanted to see the Sailor Warriors in action?" She nodded. "OK, you know these function as a recorder for everything I see?" An old gimmick for reviewing human behaviour. "Well they recorded tonight's fight. I've set them for playback, just hook them into the crystal ball and you can watch it." Ti tore down to the laboratory.

Azurite asked, "So what's so bad you don't want Ti to know about it?"

"I told you Jadeite left a chunk of his namesake behind?" She nodded. "Remember that mineral guidebook?"

"Of course." It had felt strange discovering they all had rocks sharing their names.

"Jadeite dropped two stones. I managed to hide the second before the Sailor Warriors noticed. Take a look." He pulled the white stone from the pocket and dropped it on the table. Azurite picked it up.

There was something familiar about it but ... OH SHIT. "This is a piece of calcite isn't it?" He nodded. "Sonofa ... he knows who you are."

Calcite shook his head, "It's more than that. This isn't a psychoplasm construct it's the real thing. Which means ..."

Pyrite broke in, "Which means he brought it with him. He expected you to show up and wanted you to know he knew your real identity." Other things clicked. "The attack on the school ... Mai was the target so you'd be sure to be drawn in." Calcite nodded, he'd thought this through on the way home. "But why?"

Pyrite had just asked the question Calcite couldn't answer. "I don't know. Is it a threat to expose us to the Sailor Warriors? A challenge to battle? Blackmail? Work for me or your secret is gone? The whim of a madman? I don't know!" He sighed, "For now all we can do is wait and see what happens next.

Downstairs Titanite watched the Sailor Warriors getting trashed. Not a good thing, lucky big brother showed up. It looked like the Sailor Warriors needed some backup. Which gave her an idea.

Elsewhere and some time later Jadeite chuckled. Phase one was almost complete, just one last loose end. He reached toward the slab and felt something catch. He raised his hand and saw the blade protuding. Ah yes he'd almost forgotten that. His eyes glowed and the wound widened. With nothing to grip the blade slipped out and fell to the floor. There was no blood. Jadeite picked up the blade with his good hand and held it up. He concentrated and it reverted to the psychoplasm Calcite had sculpted into a knife. With no shape to hold it the plasm disrupted and dispersed. Jadeite studied his wrist. The wound began growing closed. In a minute it was good as new.

Jadeite's lair was filled with stalactites, stalagmites and slabs of crystal. All of which made the phone sitting across from him especially incongruous. He glanced at the number he'd written down and lifted the handset. As he punched in the number he made a minor adjustment to his larynx. Somebody picked up the phone at the other end.

"Hello, Aino residence." Excellent it was her.

"Minako, how nice to hear your voice again."

"Who is this please?"

"I'm sorry should I have addressed you as Sailor V?"

Silence on the other end broken by, "Who is this!"

"Excuse me, I forgot. It's Sailor Venus these days isn't it."

"WHO ARE YOU!"

"You don't recognise my voice? And after all the fun we had in England."

Minako answered the mock sorrow with a flat declaration of, "Calcite!"

"Lord Calcite but that's close enough."

"What do you want?"

"Oh nothing really. Just to let you know I'm in town and I might look up an old friend. Maybe meet your parents."

"Stay away from my family or I'll kill you!"

"You've already tried that remember? It didn't work. I'll see you later." He hung up. Phase one was now complete.

Jadeite crossed to the mirror and stood before it. He studied his features and then watched them change. His face shifted and his height increased. His uniform developed epuelettes, his hair shifted to a dark brown and grew over his shoulders. "Excellent!" he exclaimed and realized he'd made one mistake. He still had the Lord Calcite voice. He readjusted his larynx and tried again.

"The stars know everything." Perfect

Nephrite finished stdying his image in the mirror and began to chuckle.