One could not help but notice the eruption, just south of the Japanese archipelago. Its explosive force rained volcanic ash as far away as Hong Kong, though the larger chunks, the volcanic bombs, only reached as far as Tokyo. Ash fell like snow, clogging engines' breathing mechanisms and forcing students to wear gas masks, and ash clouds blotted out the sun over the entire nation for six days. Even the Negaverse dared not visit during this time, for fear of suffocating their agents. These were only the visible effects, however.

An ancient ship, left there from a time before humans had even evolved, was shaken from its undersea covering of rock. Geothermal generators absorbed heat energy from the volcano and provided power to the ship for the first time in millennia. After storing enough energy to leave its watery tomb, it pumped all the water out of itself, rendering itself buoyant, and floated to the surface, then crawled up onto the land with the aid of extendible tank-like treads. The vessel crawled to the top of the cone, then down into the crater, where it capped the lava flow, utilizing its heat for its own power. With those needs attended to, it began to seed the new island.

"Wow, would you look at that?" Minako asked, peering through her telescope. "The ash just cleared up yesterday and already that cone's looking green in patches. What do you think, Artemis?"

"Let me see." the white cat requested, and Minako moved back so he could peer inside as well. "Hmm ... that's strange." he muttered. "Never seen a volcano get that green that fast before."

"Negaverse activity, you think?" Minako asked.

"I don't think so." Artemis said. "They usually destroy life, not create it."

"Point taken." Minako replied. "I still think we should call the others." The phone rang. "Aino residence." she chimed.

"Mina, it's Ami." Ami's voice declared over the line. "Listen, there's a scientific expedition going over to the new island to take a look at it up close. They've asked for volunteers and so I volunteered all of us. Hope you don't mind."

"Mind? I was going to suggest it myself." Minako replied. "When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning, early. Set your alarm for five-thirty."

"Ugh." Minako grumbled. "Can't we just leave this evening and sleep on the boat or something?"

"Perils of tagging along on a government expedition." Ami replied with a smile in her voice. "They set the hours."

"Well, at least we know someone who's going to like the hours even less." Minako said.

"Yeah, that's why I asked Rei to smooth it over with her. See you in the morning."

Rei rubbed her eyes as she took her seat on the boat. Five-thirty was earlier than she was used to getting up, but she had managed to only hit the snooze button twice. Serena sat in one of the back seats, mumbling animatedly to herself.

"What's with her?" she asked.

"Well, knowing how hard I work to get her up at the regular time, she knew she wasn't going to be able to wake up at five-thirty in the morning." Luna replied sleepily. "So she stayed up all night, drinking coffee with caffeine pills in it."

"Looks to me like she's about to run out of gas." Artemis remarked, noting the decreased effect of the pep pills Serena was now popping directly, then washing down with her coffee.

"Oh, dear." Luna sighed. "I'll have to stow away to keep her out of trouble."

"I'll help." Artemis volunteered.

"Thank you, Artemis, I'll need all the help I can get." Luna remarked, as the two felines disappeared under some luggage. The other Scouts appeared, along with about four other volunteers and the government crew. The caffeine's effects abandoned Serena as the boat launched and headed toward the island. They landed just as the sun was peeking over the horizon.

"Wow!" Minako gasped. "It's like a jungle!"

"So much growth in so little time." Ami muttered. "What could have caused this?"

"We'll find out when we get there." Rei replied.

"Should we let Serena sleep or wake her up?" Lita asked.

"Let's wait until we get to the island." Rei decided.

"Not used to these early hours, is she?" the captain asked. "Don't worry, when we get to the island I'll have the medic give her a shot of adrenaline. That'll wake her up."

Yume opened his eyes. The mechanisms to which he was connected had detected a set of anomalies on an incoming buoyancy-type vessel which they could not handle on their own. Overriding their autonomous functions, he peered through the eyes of the techno-organic wildlife. Scanners indicated that all but seven of the organisms on the incoming vessel were unremarkable G-class organisms, with perhaps some intriguing features which could bear looking at later, when the techno-organic colony was better established. The anomalies, five bipeds and two quadrupeds, needed to be studied, however. Long-range scans indicated no other such organisms anywhere in the hemisphere. He would have to acquire these.

One of them appeared to be suffering some form of somno-deprivation, temporarily treated with adrenaline, with predictable results. This one would be the easiest to capture.

Serena roared in rage as the adrenaline entered her body, and her eyes snapped open. She lashed out at the first thing she saw, but fortunately Rei and Minako were holding her down. She panted, then glanced around in confusion.

"It's okay, Serena, we just gave you a shot of adrenaline to wake you up." the medic said. "Care for an energy bar?"

"Thanks." Serena said. "Why didn't you just shake me?"

"You didn't go to sleep last night, did you?" the medic asked. "I thought not. Probably kept yourself awake with caffeinated beverages or pep pills. Not good for a girl your age, and for your information, shaking you wouldn't have worked in your state."

"It's just that I hate shots." Serena replied, rubbing at the sore place on her arm.

"Well, it's all over now." the medic assured her, handing her an energy bar, as well as a rice ball. "Now, eat that, you'll need something in your stomach." Serena obediently ate. "I'd recommend a nap about lunchtime, too."

"Promise not to wake me up with another shot?" Serena asked.

"I promise." the medic replied. The team disembarked, and began to look around.

"Look at this!" Ami gasped, pointing into the boughs of some odd form of tree. "Looks like some kind of monkey!"

"Let's bag it and have it examined." the captain suggested. The creature bounded from the tree and began to explore the boat, where it was easily captured.

"Odd..." the medic said, looking at a tissue sample. "This creature appears to be organic flesh existing in symbiosis with highly advanced technology."

"Some sort of cyborg?" the captain asked as the volunteers gathered more specimens, careful not to damage anything.

"This is more well-integrated than cyborgs as we know them, captain." the medic said. "I dare say we're dealing with techno-organic life." Just then the "monkey" cut through the bars of its cage with its claws and used beams from its eyes to stun the captain and medic, before it escaped. The rest of the crew tried to stop it, but they were stunned as well.

With the crew stunned, Yume was free to separate the anomalies from the normals. The two quadrupeds stuck close to the sleepy one. He decided the easiest way to get them to separate was to shift the path. He willed the plants to shuffle about, creating several forks. The sleepy one strayed from the path. Now was his chance!

"Serena! Pay attention to where you're going!" Luna cried as Serena strayed from the path. Artemis panted along behind, but would have concurred. Suddenly the vines on the odd, alien trees began to move, ensnaring the cats.

"Huh?" Serena muttered, then noticed her companions' plight. "Artemis! Luna!" Fueled by adrenaline of her own making, she transformed and prepared to fight the foliage. She leaped into the air, preparing to cut the cats down from the vines, but she was ensnared before she could do so. The vines were strong and super-prehensile, able to bend anywhere at will. Sailor Moon was repositioned to be easier to carry, and the vines began to pass her along up the ash cone toward the summit, where she was placed in a chute of some kind. She slid down the chute until it opened on a dark chamber. She sprung to her feet, concentrating on keeping her adrenaline pumping so she could stay awake.

"Greetings." a voice said. A portal opened, and Serena saw what looked like a body floating in some kind of liquid. The liquid drained out, and the glass surrounding the body opened. The body was lowered down on cables to the floor, where they promptly detached. The plug-holes closed as if they had never been, and two eyes opened, gazing on Serena as one would gaze on a pretty painting. The stranger's deeply tanned skin showed no signs of tan-lines. His eyes were larger than normal, and very expressive, though they currently displayed only an intermediate level of amusement. His mouth sported the kind of lips Serena had always thought of as "kissable," even moreso than Darien's, and curved up in a slightly mischievous one-sided smile. His muscles were well-toned, but not massive, and rippled as he moved toward her. It was impossible for Sailor Moon to determine how old he was, for his appearance remained youthful despite the shoulder-length mane of ivory hair he wore. He was unclothed, and his genitalia were clearly visible--a nine-inch penis and testicles the size of golf balls. Serena could not repress an aroused moan. "I do not wish you any harm. My name is Yume. I command this vessel."

"Where is the crew?" Sailor Moon asked, shoving dirty thoughts out of her mind as best she could.

"I am the captain, crew, tactical computer and sole inhabitant." Yume said.

"You're a robot?"

"Not exactly." Yume said. "Long ago my people learned to integrate tiny machines into our bodies, especially our neural nets. Since then, we have lived symbiotically with machines. To answer your question, I'm not a robot, but a techno-organic being. To answer the question you HAVEN'T asked, I roamed the cosmos for four hundred and twenty-one years before crashing here, and though I had to enter emergency stasis-sleep after the crash, I fully intend to live another five hundred."

"That's a heck of a lifespan." Sailor Moon muttered.

"Having your own private army of instant-repair nanites does have its advantages."

"What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to establish a colony on an uninhabited world, but I ended up crashing on this one. The recent eruption lent power to the geothermal generators, thus enabling the rest of the ship's functions to come online. I had it move directly into the crater of the ash cone so that it--and I--could take advantage of the wealth of geothermal energy."

"You're harnessing the volcano!" Sailor Moon gasped.

"And profiting by it, my dear." Yume said. "Soon enough the ship will be repaired, and I will be able to use the geothermal energy I've gathered to catalyze the fusion core, thus reestablishing my space-travel ability."

"Then you'll leave?" Sailor Moon asked. Yume shrugged.

"Depends on how the colony here goes." he said. "Anyway, that's neither here nor there. You have needs which must be attended to." Yume made a gesture, and Serena's clothes were ripped away. She gasped. Cables descended from the ceiling and wrapped around her limbs. One inserted itself in her vagina, another inserted itself in her anus, and a third forced its way down her throat. She felt it branch off and enter both her lungs and her esophagus. Fresh air flowed into her lungs from one of the branches, while food flowed into her stomach from the other. The cables in her nether orifices began to vibrate. Serena moaned, despite her revulsion. A helmet descended from the ceiling and placed itself over her head and eyes. Lights within the helmet began to flash, and Serena found it harder and harder to fight. The cables made her come, and her body bucked and writhed with the strength of the orgasm. She couldn't help but feel sleepy, and her body went limp in the grip of the cables as she drifted to sleep.

"I can't find Serena, Artemis or Luna." Ami said. "Where do you suppose they've gotten themselves to?"

"Now that you mention it, I can't even figure out where we are." Minako responded. "I've tried backtracking, but you're the first person I've run into."

"The paths are changing." Sailor Mars said from the treetops, jumping down to join her friends. "We've been separated from the other volunteers on purpose."

"Can you tell where Serena is?" Minako asked.

"The vines were moving her toward the ash cone." Mars said. "Faster than I could follow, so I backtracked and found the cats strung up by the same kind of vines. I used my powers to get them down, but after that, everything started secreting this weird flame-retardant substance."

"We'd better use our powers sparingly then." Minako suggested.