Author's notes and disclaimers at the bottom. Arigato! ^_^ -Lianne *Usagi and Mamoru's Love: Surprises* Part 5 "What do you mean you can't transform!" Artemis yelled as they ran. "I don't know!" Usagi yelled back. "It won't work! Maybe it's the dimension we're in?" The youma picked up speed, nearly catching them. Artemis squeeked, but Usagi scowled. "Fine," she yelled. "I'll just handle you another way." She turned around and suddenly made a diving kick at the youma's knees. Its legs buckled and it fell over with a roar. She grabbed its shoulders and slammed it against the ground, digging with her shoes into its furry hide with sharp kicks. The monster roared in pain. Artemis could only stand a moment in total shock watching the sweet Usagi he knew attack a killer youma with her bare hands. He had to shake himself to run and jump on the youma and dig his teeth into the creature as well. he thought. The youma roared and rolled around the ground, trying to shake the two of them off. It tried to reach for its sword with one hand, and swiped its claws at Usagi with the other. Usagi dodged his arm and dug her nails into it as hard as she could. The monster cried out and slackened for a moment; she took the oppurtunity to grab its sword out of its sheath and shove it into the youma's chest, burying it deep in it. The monster yelled and screamed a few times as Usagi and Artemis jumped off, watching it roll around in pain for a moment, then go still. It was dead. Usagi walked over to its corpse, pulling the sword out of its chest without emotion. She looked at the blood staining its blade. She frowned. "I could use this." She wiped the blood off on the grass without blinking. Artemis stared at her for a minute, mouth open but no sound coming out. After a second, he spluttered, "Usagi! What came over you?! How could you attack a huge youma like that with your bare hands?! You could've been killed!!!" She looked at him and made a face. "You jumped on it, too." "Only 'cause you did!" She shrugged. "We beat it, didn't we?" Artemis blinked. It was totally unlike Usagi to be so calm in the situation. He would have expected tears and wails and shrieks, but had instead seen something HARUKA would hardly attempt. "Usagi, how come you did that? It's not like you to do something so dangerous." Usagi thought a moment. "Um...I donno. Maybe I just didn't think about how I could get killed, but instead just thought about killing it?" Artemis blanched. Usagi looked at him skeptically. "C'mon, Artemis! The senshi aren't with us, and I'm gonna look for Mamo-chan and Luna. We're alone, so we're gonna have to be extra brave. There's no one to protect us now." She looked at the sword, eyes shining. "But I can protect myself. I'll take care of you, Artemis. I'll get us through." Artemis could only stare. A cold feeling crept through him. This was Usagi-chan? It was so unlike her carefree self. Had...had this weird place they were in done it to her? If he lost the sweet Usagi he knew to the new, warrior Usagi, he didn't know how he'd cope... Usagi whipped around on the corpse, suddenly making a very Usagiesque pout and glare. "Baka-youma," she chittered in her high voice. "You can NEVER defeat the all-powerful USAGI! How DARE you try to kill me, you big nasty!" She humphed, then spun around, nose in the air, and stomped away. She didn't notice the rock below her foot, and she tripped and fell, sprawling. On came the gushes of tears and usual wailing. Artemis smiled and sighed with relief. Maybe Usagi hadn't changed, after all. *********************** Luna curled her tail around her body. "Mamoru-san, are you almost finished?" He looked at her, cocking an eyebrow. "Bored? Excuse me, your majesty. I'm just trying to give us a bit of safety." He went back to sharpening the end of a huge branch he had found on the ground with a sharp rock. Luna made a face. "But we didn't see anything dangerous." "Do you WANT to? And then we'll be unarmed against whatever could be around here?" Luna sighed and rested her head on her paws. "No." He tested the point of the branch on his finger, satisfied at its sharpness. He stood up and hefted it. "Right. We don't know where we are or what's out here, so we might as well be prepared in case we DO get attacked." Luna blinked. "Do you know how to use that?" He glared. "Well enough. I DO use a cane as Tuxedo Kamen, Luna, and thank you for your vote of confidence." "Just checking." "Sure." Mamoru sighed and looked up. "Let's get moving." ********************* "NANI?!" Venus' jaw dropped as she looked at Jupiter. "That portal took you as a CHILD?!" Mercury covered her hand with her mouth. "Oh my God..." Makoto was curled up on the ground, sobbing brokenly. "Usagi-chan," she sobbed. "She and the others...we'll never...see them again..." Mars knelt down beside Makoto and took her by the shoulders gently. "Mako-chan, calm down. We need you to talk to us. If you can't tell us what you know about that portal we can't save them." Makoto slowly looked up, sobbing. She fought her racking chest and wiped away her tears as she fought to gain control. "It...it's a portal... from another...dimension...when I was a little girl, I was at a playground by myself, and it appeared nearby and sucked me in. I was so scared..." She looked to the floor, voice cracking. "Are you sure it's the same portal?" Ami asked. Makoto nodded shakily. "I'd know it anywhere. That feeling I got...the way it started to possess me...it was because it was sent by the queen there that once tried to possess me." "POSSESS YOU?!" Makoto hugged her arms. "Her name was...Nestia. Queen of Streama. That's where...Usagi, Mamoru, and the cats were brought to. It's a...remote place, not in our time and space plane, I think. She's very powerful, but her dimension isn't enough for her to rule over. She...wants to take over Earth." She rubbed her eyes. "But...she can't enter our dimension through her own body, so she needs to take the body of an Earthling to pass through a portal. She...tried to take over my body...I thought...I would never get out alive..." She broke down sobbing. "Mako-chan," Minako asked softly, "how did you get away?" "I...I don't know....a green light came out of me and blew her away...maybe... my power as Jupiter that I didn't...know yet...I got free and ran as fast as I could. I...I found the portal and got back through. I tried to forget it after that, and never told anyone...I thought they'd think...I was... crazy..." She buried her face in her hands. "But now she's come back! And she took them! She's going to possess one of them - using their body as a carrier and come to our dimension to conquer it!" She fell over, crying brokenly. Ami and Minako comforted Makoto. Rei stood up slowly. "Don't worry, Mako-chan," she said quietly. "Usagi and Mamoru are strong. They can defend themselves. But we've got to find a way to re-open that portal to try to help them." Ami shook her head. "I can't open it - the power disappeared immideately and I couldn't get coordinates." "What are we gonna do?" Minako asked. To be continued... -O.K., I know that was probably the shortest, crappiest part I've ever come out with in my entire life. I was working hard with my other fanfics this week and was just plain lazy, so I didn't get much good done with this story. I'll try to have a good part next week, and I wanna try to have the whole thing done by the end of November. If the Makoto thing is confusing, don't worry - I'll explain more later. I recieved so much e-mail this week and couldn't answer it all - if you wrote me an e-amil and asked for a reply and haven't recieved it yet, I apologize. I'll try to have those out within a week, O.K.? Some people wrote me about this story and basically implied they liked it because of the romance I have between Usagi and Mamoru as a married couple. Don't get mad at me due to the lack of romance in the past 2 parts - a little of it'll be in the next part, and there's some really nice romance and strengthening of their relationship later on. You'll see. ^_^ Thank you all for putting up with me, and Part 4 of "Surfacings" is up for all of you that've been waiting for it. Thanks to all the fine e-mail I've recieved on that! ^_^ Also, Amethist and I have gotten Part 3 of "The Wacky Adventures of Psycho Setsuna" up for all of you that are bored enough to be following that. ^_^ We're very pleased with the response you've all been sending us! Thanks a ton! ^_^ Ja ne, minna-chan! ^_^ -Lianne (LianneSen@aol.com) *Sailor Moon and all its characters are copyright Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha Ltd./Toei Animation, Co., Ltd. and the English adaptation is copyright 1995 DIC productions, LP. This story is copyright Lianne Sentar, October 1997. **DOWN WITH DUB-BASHING!!!