Episode Five: Alliances

"Could you stop smiling like that?" Autumnstar Kamen barely heard Kalon Mercury. He had never felt so alive in all his life. Right then, he wanted to start dancing around the craters. The gravity was mostly Earth like, but there was enough difference that he felt like he could take a leap into the air and bounce around. "Do you hear me?"

Autumnstar Kamen didn't. He saw three girls approaching them. He didn't recognize the one in pink or the one in blue, but the one in orange he immediately recognized. "It's Essie!" He took off and ran up to them, Mercury trying hard to keep pace with him. Autumnstar Kamen didn't look behind him as he broke out into a huge grin. "I am such a huge fan! Can I have an autograph?"

"Of course!" Neo Summerstar said, flashing him a dazzling smile. He was such a cute and darling little boy. She wanted to reach out and pinch his cheeks, definitely not the cheeks she normally pinched on men. Neo Summerstar tried to find a pen and paper but realized that she didn't have any. She frowned. "I'm sorry, it's going to have to wait. I don't have anything to put it on. Can you take a rain check?"

"I can!" he said brightly.

"For crying out loud, we're supposed to be fighting a war." Neo Springstar shook her head but stopped herself. It looked like they had all the Neo Star senshi together, which was a good sign. "Can I get an autograph too?"

"Excuse me, but there's a battle going on," Mercury said, rather annoyed with the babbling. She had no clue why they were all fawning over the orange haired senshi, there didn't look to be anything that special about her. "We're supposed to be fighting."

"Why do we have to fight?" Neo Summerstar asked. She looked towards Earth uneasily. "I'm supposed to make an appearance in a few hours, my manager is going to have a fit!"

"My parents might be worried about me," Autumnstar Kamen said. He looked over at Mercury who was glaring away. "It's a school night, I am supposed to be home by now."

"You'll live," Neo Springstar said with a shrug. She looked older than Autumnstar Kamen. They all did. None of them were worried about missing school. He felt pretty embarrassed but Neo Springstar smiled at him. "You can tell this to your girlfriend when you get back, it'll impress her."

"Girlfriend?" he asked, holding back his laughter. He stopped when he saw the glares from Mercury. "I suppose we should get back to fighting..."

"Attack Mercury," Veive whispered to Nethuns as they watched her talking with those four strange senshi that had come out of nowhere. "She seems to be the strongest of all of them, we need her out of the way."

"Tinia is stronger than me, she would probably be able to kill her," Nethuns said. Veive hid her cringe when she heard that name. Oh how she loathed Tinia. "Where is-"

"Just attack!" Veive hissed.

Neo Winterstar turned her head slightly when she heard that. Neo Springstar and Mercury were arguing away about whether or not the Neo Star senshi should be going to Star. From the corner of her eye, she could see both those senshi about to attack. "Winter Deep Freeze," she whispered.

Not much happened that anyone could see, just a small patch of ice as the two senshi began to move. With a yelp, they both slipped on the ice. That was all that she wanted to do. Neo Winterstar knew she could have used more strength to freeze them to death, but she felt that it would be wrong. Even if it was a war that she'd suddenly found herself caught up in, she didn't want to kill people.

Neo Summerstar boiled inside as she saw the two senshi fall on their butts. "How dare you!" she shouted. She absolutely hated being there, but she would be damned if she let those two cowards attack the others. "Summer Heat Inferno!" A rain of fire fell on the two senshi who screamed. Any stronger and it would harm the other Neo Star senshi. They were all so young and probably more innocent than Neo Summerstar herself. It was her duty to make sure none of them were harmed as the eldest then.

"Double Ice, Freeze!" Ribbons of blue and silver shot forward and destroyed the firestorm. Neo Summerstar looked up to the source and saw a handsome man standing there. His hair was half blue and half silver and his green eyes cocky. He was dressed in a dark blue jacket with silver trim and dark blue pants. "Beautiful and powerful. I think I might like you."

"George?" Neo Springstar whispered, leaning in towards her friend. She stared up at the man completely confused out of her mind. She was just happy she was taking the situation as well as she was for the moment considering her life had drastically changed in the past few minutes. "Who the hell is that?"

"I think he's a Zodiac," Neo Winterstar whispered back. Neo Springstar took comfort in the fact that Neo Winterstar was just as confused. "Why is he fighting for them?"

****

Tinia crawled out of the crevice and reached down to help Menrva up. "There are only supposed to be six of them," she muttered. "They need to quit popping up!"

"You forgot that the Neo Millennium is allied with the Star Millennium," Menrva said. She sighed as she looked around the landscape. Tinia had been very close to killing the leader of the Kalon senshi if that man hadn't shown up. To be defeated by a man was horrible indeed, Menrva hoped that word of what had happened wouldn't get out. "I believe that the Star Millennium has sent help."

"Not all that help will be very helpful." Menrva and Tinia turned to face two senshi. One of them was a man with brown wavy hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a rose coloured jacket and pants that had blue trim. The other was a dark girl with lime green hair tied in a ponytail as well, wearing a violet and navy fuku. "If you will accept the help of the Neo Zodiac senshi, you will be able to defeat them."

"You mean accept help from a man?" Tinia rolled her eyes. First she was defeated by one, now another was trying to help her. Nethuns would not like this at all. Veive either, she would call Tinia a coward. "We don't need help from them. We're not weak like you."

"We are not weak!" Neo Sagittarius said. She stepped forward, her blue eyes flashing. "We want to defeat the Neo Millennium as well. Taurus Knight can help you. Accept our help, it will be easier if we try to work together. Our team mates are already helping you fight."

"It may be wise to take their offer," Menrva said to Tinia. She looked at Taurus Knight and Neo Sagittarius carefully and read their emotional states quickly. Neo Sagittarius seemed ready to listen to Taurus Knight while Taurus Knight... Menrva nodded. There was hatred inside of him that was not directed at them. "We can trust them."

****

"Mars, where the Hell are you!" Kalon Venus shouted as she ran. Sethlans was on her tail and Venus had been ditched. Damn Mars, they could have probably taken Sethlans down if they'd worked together. "Shining Caress!" she shouted, sending an attack at Sethlans who probably dodged it perfectly which Venus didn't care to confirm. Running for her life was more important at the moment.

"Earth Tremble!" a woman shouted. Venus barely had time to look to the source before the ground started shaking violently. She lost her balance and fell down hard. The senshi who had attacked jumped down. She had short curly cherry red hair and dark green eyes. Her tan face was smirking as she looked at Venus. "That was too easy. From all I've heard, you were supposed to be one of the best. That was way too easy!"

"This is my first battle, I'm going to make mistakes." Venus stared at the symbol on the senshi's brooch. It was the symbol for Capricorn, making that senshi Sailorcapricorn obviously. That was so nice, they were fighting the Zodiac now.

"That many?" Capricorn asked, raising an eyebrow at Venus. Venus managed to resist the urge to punch Capricorn in the face. Where the Hell were her powers to cause doom and gloom? "Really, you're making one right now-"

"Stop it!" a voice shouted. A short girl with fluffy black hair pushed herself in front of Venus. She was dressed in a black and blue fuku and holding a sword in her hands. "You're not going to hurt her!"

"What are you going to do about it, Libra? Your powers won't work against me."

"A sword is still sharp." Libra was trying desperately to sound tough, but it wasn't working for either Venus or Capricorn. She just couldn't manage to look intimidating and blamed it on her height. "Virgo!" she cried out. "Help!"

Venus nearly shrieked as she and Libra suddenly began floating in the air. They were carried up to a ledge where a young girl with white hair tied back into a bun with a blue bow and blue eyes sat giggling. "Hello!" she said brightly to Venus. "You're pretty! Do you think I am?"

"Yes," Venus said, nodding quickly. She looked down at the ground where she'd been a few minutes ago. First the Zodiac were trying to kill her, now they were saving her life. She wished that they would make up their minds. She looked over at Virgo who was still giggling. Well, most of them had minds to make up.

****

"Okay, on the count of three I am going to come out and whoop your ass!" Pluto Kamen shouted. He'd managed to find another rock to hide behind, which probably wasn't helping him to look better at all. He took a peek and saw Horta waiting impatiently. "I'm serious!"

"Men," she muttered, shaking her head. Pluto Kamen rolled his eyes. Well geez, she was attacking him. What did she think he was going to do? Take it like a man? No, it would probably be take it like a woman because apparently in the Andromeda Kingdom, men were wimps. Pluto Kamen could at least sympathize a bit with Atunis now. "When is your count starting?"

"Oh, just attack him!" A loud dramatic sigh came from behind Pluto Kamen. He turned his head around slowly to see a girl with green hair held back from her face with pearl barrettes and dressed in a green and yellow fuku. "Do you really want to destroy the Neo Millennium or talk all day with him?"

"I am not going to act rashly," Horta said. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the girl. Interfering in combat was rather disrespectful and rude. There really was no need to kill Pluto Kamen either. He was rather amusing, perhaps she would take him prisoner instead. "Please leave, this is between us, not you."

"Yeah, go away!" Pluto Kamen echoed. "You're ruining my procrastination!"

"Why would she listen to two with such horrible fashion taste?" An intimate little fight was starting to turn into a party as another girl appeared. She fixed her long black waves of hair as she fixed Pluto Kamen with a glare from her blue eyes. "Well, are you two going to fight or not?"

"I guess not," Pluto Kamen said, smiling as he started to walk away. They were all staring at him and he saw his chance to attack. Three against one was definitely not fair at all so he didn't feel bad about attacking. "Winds of Tartarus!"

"Wind Flash," Cancer said casually, send a gust of wind to blow his own winds away. "Try harder."

"This isn't fair for him." Oh great, another Zodiac. A girl with short dark red hair jumped down beside him. She looked at him with her vivid blue eyes and smiled warmly. "Don't worry, I'm on your side." Pluto Kamen caught a glimpse of the symbol on her brooch and recognized it as the symbol of Scorpio.

"Right, right," he said. He looked over at Horta who shrugged. It probably was easier to let the Zodiac fight instead of them. Just then, Kalon Mars came running over to them. "Look at that, we're even now!"

"What is going on?" Mars whispered to Pluto Kamen. She looked between the Zodiac and felt confused. This was a sign of something, but she didn't know what.

"Beats me, I wish I knew." Pluto Kamen shrugged. At least things were looking up a bit.

****

"There!" Taurus Knight shouted, spotting a lone girl with peach odango. "There she is!"

"Heavenly-" Tinia started, ready to send her attack at Sailormoon. Menrva stopped her. "I can kill her easily."

"I think our allies want to do that," Menrva said. She was watching the other two uneasily. Mysterious senshi popping out of the middle of nowhere claiming an alliance was strange. Menrva was still uncertain as to whether she could trust them. Letting them attack first would be a good test. Tinia nodded, understanding Menrva's unspoken reasons.

"Good," Sagittarius said. "Silver Arrow Strike!"

An arrow flew at Kalon Moon. Jupiter saw it as she walked towards Moon after getting tired of hearing Alpan cry. Those weird senshi hadn't stuck around for long after wrapping her up. Jupiter wished Mercury was around, she could understand English better. "Storm Cloud Shield," she muttered as she continued walking. Her lousy powers could stop attacks at least. It absorbed the arrow easily, but Jupiter didn't care.

"Can you protect two at once?" Taurus Knight shouted. He smirked at Jupiter. "White Bull Charge!" A white bull went charging at her while Sagittarius shot another arrow at Moon, who stood there in shock that someone might want to kill her. "Idiot," Taurus Knight muttered.

"Rain Flood!" Aquarius Knight shouted. A cloud appeared out of nowhere and rained on the arrow, eliminating it. He jumped down and quickly brushed his white streaked black curls out of his eyes. "Hello!" he said to them with a smile. He looked over at Sagittarius and Taurus Knight briefly. "I was worried I'd be late."

"Thank you," Moon said politely. She was glad that he'd shown up. At least he didn't want her dead like everyone else. Kalon Moon fingered the small jewel in her hands, wondering when the time would be right to use it.

Two more people jumped down to join Aquarius Knight. One of them was a girl with short purple hair that was rather punkish and wearing a red and blue fuku while the other was a boy with short hair the same purple colour and wearing a blue and red suit. Both of them held staffs with half of a purple star on top of them. "You will not harm them!" the girl shouted loudly, holding her staff menacingly. She looked back at Kalon Moon. "Go ahead, use it."

Kalon Moon revealed the Iridescent Jewel that she was holding in her hand as she wondered how Aries had known about it. But if she was going to have cover, she was going to use it well. She quickly used the power of the jewel to warp space and move all the senshi fighting with her back into the Palace.

"Sun Rise!" Leo shouted as she saw everyone disappear. She frowned when she realized that she couldn't get through to the Palace. "What is this?" she asked, angry that her powers weren't working properly. There were better things she could be doing with her time, Taurus Knight had said that this wouldn't take too long!

"They have a plan of their own," Horta said. "They do have one of the most powerful senshi in the universe with them."

"That's not fair!" Cancer whined. "We were just about to beat them!"

"Life isn't fair," Horta said, wanting to slap the girl silly. She had the feeling that if the Neo Zodiac were going to get in the way more than help them. It was a shame, she would have enjoyed taking Pluto Kamen as booty.

****

Everyone was back in the Palace, safe and sound. Minako looked at all the new faces that had joined them since the battle had begun. The short black haired girl who was Libra smiled shyly at her. "I'm Maya," she said quietly.

"And I'm Zahra!" Zahra giggled some more. "That was fun, can we do it again?"

"I don't think we're ready to go out yet," Rowan said. She smiled warmly at all the senshi and tucked a strand of her short red hair behind her ears. "We're allies," she said, looking specifically at Aya. She knew everything, they all did. They needed their knowledge to fulfill their mission.

"How can you exist at the same time as us?" George asked, pushing up her glasses as she looked at the Neo Zodiac. She was doing a minor in Extra-Terrestrial and Pre-Terran Studies which mainly involved studying senshi. At least her knowledge was useful rather than fanciful as her parents had put it. "The Star senshi were created from the Zodiac, and I doubt that either teams could exist at the same time."

"Oh, we're from the future," Julian said, smiling at George. "The very far future."

"Yes," Electra said, nodding in agreement. "After the war ended, the Neo Star senshi dissolved. When it came time to bring about a new generation of senshi, the Zodiac were reborn. We are actually the children of the Zodiac senshi."

"That makes sense," Chloe said with a nod. She looked over at Shizuki. "Can we go home?"

"No," Shizuki said. She fingered the Iridescent Jewel. "I need to keep the shield up or else they'll get in."

"So we're stuck here?" Rafe asked. He looked over at Aya quickly and hoped he didn't look like a complete nerd. She seemed so cool. "I should be in bed by now! My parents are probably searching for me! It's a school night!" That came out far faster than he had expected. He still felt incredibly full of energy and didn't know how to get rid of it. Be in bed? Not when he was like this!

"My God, I'm supposed to be on stage right now!" Essie said, looking at her watch. "My manager is going to kill me! I have to get back!"

"Isn't it nice that we have nowhere to be right now?" Chloe whispered to George with a nudge. George smiled and nodded.

"I'm sorry, but you all have to put your lives on hold right now," Trent said. He had wished that the war could have ended, but it looked as though there was going to be a siege. At least he hoped so. "We need you here."

"I want to go to Star," Chloe said, crossing her arms. "We at least owe Stella a visit if we're supposed to be the ones protecting her."

"That's fair," Trent said with a nod. "She does deserve an explanation."

Everyone slowly began dispersing from the Throne Room. There wasn't any more urgency, so why stick around and worry? Minako didn't need to be around people to do that. She quickly caught up with Aaron. "I guess we're going to be seeing even more of each other," she said, smiling. Damn him, she was starting to see a bright side to this whole war thing. If she hung out with him more, her doom and gloom powers would disappear completely. Maybe that's what was happening.

"At least we won't have to see any more of the others." Aaron shook his head. "You didn't see the way Horta kept eyeing me. I bet she wants me." He smiled as Minako swatted at his head. "Seriously, I think she muttered something about booty."

"Probably because that's the only way she'd be able to shut that big mouth of yours," Minako said playfully. Aaron looked innocent. He really didn't want to end up as booty, it didn't sound very fun despite the fact that it made great material to tease Minako with. If Aaron ended up as booty, because the whole chivalry thing was reversed for the Andromeda Kingdom, that meant he wouldn't get to be with Minako. He wanted to be with her. Once the whole war thing was out of the way, Aaron swore he'd at least ask her out on a date. "You'd probably like it too much. Didn't Chiharu say your last girlfriend was a-"

Aaron yawned very loudly. "Isn't it late? I'm feeling tired!" That was the truth. They'd been up all night and he could have slept for a week after that battle. "Night!" he said, running off to his room.

**

Shizuki sighed as she looked out the window. She could still see the Andromeda senshi waiting to get in. They wouldn't get in, not while she had the Iridescent Jewel. But that meant she was a prisoner in her own Palace. She couldn't leave it, she wouldn't put Atunis in danger. "None of them respect me," she said. "Why am I bothering?"

"Because that's who you are." Shizuki turned around and blushed as she faced Atunis. He brushed a strand of her peach hair out of her face. "It makes you wonderful."

"I..." Shizuki didn't know what to say. She avoided looking up at Atunis, but he tilted her chin up so that their eyes met. "I love you," she blurted out. He was so beautiful, it made it all worthwhile. He smiled right before they began to kiss.