Chapter 1

"It smells funny here." Mai Li complained.

"That's because of the pollution." Meiko replied. "They hadn't figured out how to clean up the air yet."

"You get used to it." Kori said. Something slapped against his leg.

"What is it?" Mai Li asked.

"If I remember my history correctly, this is one of the Cardians the Negaverse used in their early attempts at Earth conquest." Kori said, looking at the odd card. "Malachite must have misplaced one. I think I can re-energize it." He closed his eyes as his short, auburn hair blew in the wind, tickling his face. The Cardian began to glow.

"Why would you want to?" Meiko asked.

"You'll see." In minutes, they were on the roof of a building, watching the original five Sailor Scouts argue over something. Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars and Jupiter were all milling about the plaza. The wind carried away most of their words, but Kori distinctly heard Sailor Mars call Sailor Moon "Meatball Head." He laughed. "The data tracks never mentioned squabbling among the group." he said off-hand. "Seeing them like this somehow makes them seem ... I don't know, more human, I guess, and less mythical."

"You get tired of looking at the Colossus of Serena, too?" Meiko asked.

"Indeed I do." Kori replied. "Enough of myths. I want to see the real stuff." With that he cast the glowing Cardian down to the plaza. "My power is based on the natural energy around me. Using that, I have suffused that Cardian with power. It should prove quite an interesting challenge for these young Scouts."

As the Cardian touched the ground, it grew and transformed into a three-dimensional version of the image on the card. The Scouts below immediately forgot their argument and galvanized into action. The normal humans fled in terror as the battle began. The plaza was almost completely destroyed in the battle, which stretched on for hours, even until night, with neither side gaining a clear advantage. It soon became clear who the best ones were. Mars kept trying new things until something seemed to work, and then she rallied Venus and Jupiter to her aid, and thus they were able to save Sailor Moon and Mercury from otherwise certain death.

"It is well known that the early Scouts had considerably less power than we do today." Meiko said.

"That can be changed." Kori said. "The Cardian was a weak object and couldn't hold enough of a charge to give me a challenge should I decide to fight it. But it did enable me to guage the strength of the current group, and give me a few ideas."

He worked for quite some time, first drawing the cards, then binding each of them to the elemental power they represented. On a good day, he could do ten cards. Mai Li watched him work with a sense of growing uselessness. Her powers were nonviolent, healing gifts. Since Kori had increased her power, she guessed she could do things she hadn't been able to do before, like regenerate lost limbs or organs, or maybe even reverse the aging process, but in a fight all she had was her martial arts skill, which wasn't much help against someone with fireballs or lightning at their command. Even the weakest of this timeframe's Sailor Scouts could defeat her. There really wasn't much else she did well, either. She was a lousy cook (but then, so was Meiko), she wasn't handy with fixing things, and as far as general household work was concerned, she had trouble even taking out the trash. So she acted as Kori's gopher, going for this, going for that, calling out for pizza, et cetera, and she did whatever she could to please him in whatever way he desired. She found it somewhat discouraging that the only thing she could be said to excel at (she was learning quickly) was being a submissive slut and general living sex-doll. And most of the time Kori was too tired from making cards to do much more than snuggle with his Sexy Scouts, as he called them. The whole first week in the twentieth century was hell as her sexual frustration grew.

The eighth day after their arrival he woke her up feeling much more amorous. He told her he had finished the deck and was ready to make up "for lost time." Eagerly she got on top of him and sucked his penis to erection. She was about to pull out so she could make love to him, but he held her head where it was. Taking the hint, she bobbed up and down on him, swirling her tongue around his shaft. She looked up at him for approval, but he was lost in the feelings. He kept her there even when she felt his orgasm approaching. She nearly choked on his semen as it spurted into her, but she finally managed to swallow most of it. She panted, catching her breath. Mai Li managed to smile when he brought her closer to him, then rolled over, pinning her beneath him. His stiffening member brushed against her nether lips, drawing a sigh from her. She moaned as he entered her, growing stiffer and larger still. She was so wet he had no trouble sliding in. She shivered with pleasure as he filled her.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yessss." she replied. He pulled out until only the head was still inside, and she moaned at the loss. Then he filled her again and her heart leaped in joy. Again he retreated, and she whimpered. Slowly, he alternately tormented her and overjoyed her, and she rode the emotional roller coaster like a bucking bronco. After he had found his rhythm, he began toying with her, tweaking, licking and biting her nipples. The pleasure-pain from his ministrations drove her over the edge. As her body shook in orgasm, she felt him join her, his seed spurting inside of her.

"Feeling better?" he asked. Mai Li sighed happily. He caressed her face and hair, kissing at the nape of her neck, drawing affectionate coos from her. He held her close as they basked in the afterglow.

"So do I get a turn?" Meiko asked. Kori chuckled softly.

"This is as good a place as any." Kori said, looking over the condemned old building. "Make sure there's nobody inside. We just want to get the Scouts' attention." Meiko and Mai Li nodded, dashing into the building. Two minutes later, they exited via the roof access stairwell. Meiko held Mai Li as she leapt from the building, making a controlled landing in the alley.

"It's deserted." she said. "Not a squatter in sight."

"Good." Kori said. He drew his deck from his belt, shuffling through the cards until he found the one he wanted. Putting the rest back in his belt, he held the selected card up as it began to glow, energized with the elemental power he drew from the world. "Inferno, Tarot of the Fire Storm, I command you to feed from this building and grow strong! Release!" With that, he tossed the card into the building. The building caught immediately, and blazed merrily for quite some time before fire-sirens sounded. "We can't have them interrupting Inferno's meal." Kori said, drawing another card from his deck. "Titan, Tarot of the Raw Force, I command you to defend this site against those who would interrupt Inferno's meal! Release!" He tossed the card to the ground, and it flashed, and was apparently gone. The first of the fire trucks arrived, and was immediately overturned. The firemen clambered out, and not a moment too soon, for Titan had begun to crush the truck, cab first. It began by flattening it, then, once the truck was completely flat, it folded it, then folded it again, and again and again until all that was left was a little cube that could be placed in someone's pocket if it were possible to lift such a heavy thing. The second fire engine arrived, followed by a tanker truck and a ladder truck. The ladder truck was lifted and stood on its nose. The tanker truck was flipped onto its back. The fire engine was lifted, and once the firemen had evacuated, it was hurled into the stratosphere.

"Whoa! What kind of Negaverse being could do something like that?" Sailor Moon asked as the others joined her on a roof near the fire. "Did you see the flying fire truck?"

"No." Mars replied sarcastically. "We were too busy doing our makeup to notice." She peered over the ledge. "I'm sensing more than one entity here."

"Like I didn't notice." Sailor Moon replied. "We've got one that's doing a major pyro number on that building there, and another that's kicking the crud out of the fire trucks."

"There's something else." Mars said. "I'm sensing five entities. Two that are attacking and three that are watching."

"Let them watch." Sailor Moon said confidently. "Let them watch us whip the butts of whatever it is they've unleashed." The fire in the building climbed into the sky, taking the shape of a giant fire-bird. "Whoa!"

"I'd like to see you kick ITS butt, Serena." Rei said, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Hey, we're a team." Sailor Moon said, a little nervous. "Let's do it, Scouts!" Following Sailor Moon's example, the rest charged into battle. "Jupiter, use your Jupiter Thunder to get whatever this is to show itself."

"Jupiter Thunder!" Sailor Jupiter exclaimed, as the small antenna rose from her headband, and lightning crackled forth, surrounding the creature, which was revealed to be something like a large, green gorilla.

"Okay, Scouts, don't let up! We can't let it turn invisible again!" The Scouts used their various attack calls, keeping the monkey-thing from turning invisible. It charged, batting Sailor Mars aside as she was preparing her Mars Fire for action. The others managed to avoid its charge and continued to attack. It lifted a car from the side of the street and chucked it at the Scouts.

"It's stronger than the Cardians." Sailor Mercury remarked after they had dodged the car.

"No kidding." Sailor Moon replied. "But we've got to stop it. Let's all attack it at the same time. Maybe I can break whatever spell is causing it to attack us."

"There's a problem." Sailor Venus said. "Mars is down for the count."

"Need any help?" asked another voice. The Scouts turned and discovered another young woman, this one with gorgeous red hair which flowed around her. She was wearing the uniform of one of the Scouts.

"Who are you?"

"I am Sailor Andromeda." the strange young woman replied.

"With Sailor Mars down, we need all the help we can get." Sailor Moon said. "Let's get going." The present's Sailor Scouts attacked the gorilla, stunning it. Andromeda powered up, and attacked.

"Nova Force!" she exclaimed, hurling a giant, white-hot fireball at it. The ball caught the gorilla squarely in the chest. It cried out in pain and rage, but other than that the only effect the energy had on it was to cause it to expand.

"It got bigger!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "It must be absorbing our attacks' energy."

"Brilliant deduction." Andromeda remarked. "What do we do about it?"

"I'm thinking." Serena replied.

"Think faster." Andromeda said as the gorilla charged. Kori appeared in the gorilla's path (though only Andromeda knew who it was), surprising it.

"Titan, Tarot of the Raw Force, I seal your power and confine your form." he said, and the gorilla transformed into a harmless card once more, floating into Kori's hand. He turned and did the same to the fire-bird, slipping both cards into his belt. With that, he was gone, leaving behind the charred remains of a condemned building.

"Who was that?" Sailor Moon asked, turning toward Andromeda ... but she was gone, as was Sailor Mars. "Is it my imagination, or are we short some personnel?"

"It's not your imagination." Sailor Jupiter said.

Rei groaned. "What hit me?" she asked.

"Titan hit you." someone said. "I am Xiang Mai Li, also called Sailor Callisto. My power is healing."

"Wow, you even got rid of my appendectomy scar!" Rei remarked.

"And re-grew your appendix." Mai Li replied. "Kori told me he had increased my power, I never knew that was all it would take for me to be able to regenerate body parts."

"Kori?"

"The mastermind behind our little operation." Mai Li replied with a cute little smile. "I think you'll like him."

"I should certainly hope so." a male voice from the shadows said. He stepped into the light. Rei's senses told her that this was one of the watching presences she had sensed before the battle.

"You were at the fight." she declared.

"I was the one who stopped Titan from destroying your friends." Kori replied. "And I stopped Inferno from spreading to other buildings."

"What aren't you telling me?" Rei asked.

"You want to know my secrets?" Kori asked, smiling. He stepped toward her, and Rei was made quite well aware of her own nudity. "All you have to do is open your mind." He was gazing into her eyes. She felt as if she were losing herself in those depths ... and she wasn't sure she cared. His lips brushed hers, and she kissed him. She felt her inhibitions disappearing, her arousal growing, her mind surrendering to his telepathic caress. She felt his fingers at her entrance. He slid the fingers in, finding her hymen. He caressed her nether region, stretching her gently while stimulating her to greater arousal. She whimpered when he withdrew them. When his organ slid in, she cooed in pleasure. The penetration wasn't as painful as she had been expecting. She pressed herself against him, trying to meld her body into his. She moaned into his mouth as he moved within her. She felt as though she would drown in the pleasure. But it was nothing compared to what would come next. She felt it building within her. The rhythm changed, holding her on the edge of something her mind couldn't name at the moment. She whimpered in desire. "Are you ready?" he asked. She could only moan in response. The pleasure built further, and finally crossed the threshold. Rei cried out in ecstasy.

"So an unknown warrior has brought two of your Scouts here to our time, and you believe they may be under his control." Tuxedo Mask said. "You're sure you don't know anything about him?"

"Something about the enchantment around him prevents us from gleaning too much information about him." Sailor Nebula told him. Sailor Chibi Io and Sailors Alpha and Proxima Centauri lounged on the ledge which surrounded their rooftop meeting place. Sailor Chibi Deimos paced angrily between one ledge and the roof-access stairwell, her close-cropped blue hair glistening in the moonlight. "We haven't seen anyone who was able to do that since the fall of the Catalysts."

"I will alert the Sailor Scouts of this timeframe." Tuxedo Mask said. "Do you wish to work in concert with us, or do your best to avoid altering the timeline any further?"

"The ChronoShard he used is not a unilateral object like the Time Key. His presence here has created a new timeline parallel to ours." Sailor Nebula said. "I will alert the Sailor Moon of our timeframe to summon the rest of the Scouts. If he conquers this timeline, he could use the ChronoShard to merge our two timelines into one and rule the inhabitants of both timelines. It's been tried before. Several times."

"Why would he try such a roundabout approach?" Tuxedo Mask asked.

"Because although it is the most difficult to execute, it is also the hardest to prevent. It is difficult for us to see outside our own timeline, even with the ChronoShard, because we have to know exactly which divergence to follow to find him. The fact that he has one of our ChronoShards should make it easier, since it vibrates at the same frequency as ours, but he hasn't used it since he arrived. In effect, he is running silent."

"I can see the difficulty that would pose." Tuxedo Mask replied. "Very well, you summon your Scouts and I'll summon mine. Perhaps together we can end this before it escalates beyond our control."

"Hello, Minako." Rei's voice giggled from the shadows. Minako whirled, then sighed in relief at the sight of her co-Scout.

"You're alright!" she said. "We were worried."

"Silly, there wasn't any need for that." Rei half-chided as she emerged from the shadows, dressed in a pretty, red jumper, matching boots and gloves, topped off with a sassy red beret. "Mai Li is a great healer, and Kori helped out a lot, too. Watch this..." A fireball appeared in Rei's outstretched hand, hovering above the glove so it didn't even singe the silk. Before Minako's eyes, the fireball changed shape, becoming a little bird, then a kitten, a puppy, a smiley face, and even a flower.