I don’t like to make the egotistical assumption that people 
have read the first two books in this trilogy.  This synopsis will 
bring new readers up to date and act as a refresher for others.  

**If you don’t want a refresher course on Crystal Tokyo Trilogy 101,
then please skip down the page right to the prologue!**
     

<<<<<~The Story thus far~>>>>>
 

Life had never been what you could call "normal" for Tsukino Usagi, 
her beloved and their friends.  That said, for all the battles and 
all the pain, once the danger was past, life went on much as before.
They graduated from High School (and Mamoru from college) and looked
forward to better days.  What they had learned from a trip to the 
future haunted them all, though.  If what they had seen was correct,
their world would end one day so that a paradise might rise.

Their world did end, but in a way they never could have predicted.  
One unscrupulous man by the name of Kashu Hikaru uncovered the secret
of Usagi's double life through a blood test she had taken to get into 
college.  At first he wanted to do little more than gain notoriety, 
but instead became obsessed by the desire to possess Usagi's unearthly
beauty and power for himself.  Kashu Hikaru had been a pawn of dark 
forces that sought the ruin of the Moon Princess and her Prince.  His
lusts led him down a path that eventually killed him, but not before 
the world found out just who and what Tsukino Usagi was.  One by one,
most of the Senshi's private identities were ferreted out and made 
public.

Much to the shock of everyone involved, the Senshi found out that 
they were not exactly "human" anymore – at least not Terran human, 
that is.  Queen Serenity explained to her daughter (in a dream) that 
she had sent them along with everyone and everything she could into 
the future the night the Silver Millennium had fallen.  They were who
they had been a thousand years ago, right down to the last chromosome.
If that knowledge was not enough to shock them, the old Queen told 
Usagi that she'd also sent as many as she could manage of the Moon 
Kingdom's people into the future as well.  This, in the end, was how
Usagi would know the reborn citizens of the Moon Kingdom.  Each of 
them would have a small piece of the Silver Millennium sleeping 
inside them.

The world has never been accepting of those who are different.  The 
last heirs of the Silver Millennium endured fire, unwanted publicity 
and physical attacks.  When a mob trapped Usagi and Mamoru in a 
church in which they had just exchanged wedding vows, the world 
watched as the two seemed to die to save the huge crowd from the 
deadly fury of a propane explosion.

Usagi had learned through this time of trial to use the Ginzuishou in
a new way.  It was called "The Balance" and it increased the power 
she was capable of by a hundred-fold.  The danger to her was also 
increased exponentially.  That kind of power was euphoric, but deadly.
All the Queens before Usagi who had gone into the Balance burned out,
unable to resist the seductive call of the power that invariably 
consumed them.  But the soul bond between the last Princess of the 
Moon Kingdom and her Prince was stronger than even the fatal bliss 
of the Balance.  

Usagi, Mamoru and the Senshi worked towards rebuilding a lost Kingdom
and establishing peace with Earth.  They couldn’t know that other 
ancient forces had also noted the reemergence of the Silver Millennium
and worked to once more bring it down.  Past, present and future were 
on a collision course that would end in death and ruin.  In a battle 
for the future, Usagi aided by the unselfish love of her Prince and 
her friends, managed to seal the creature who now called himself 
Death Phantom away and bind him to the dark world of Nemesis.  That
battle claimed the life of Sailor Saturn, who brought her glaive down
on Death Phantom and Nemesis in an effort to stop the rouge planet 
from colliding with Earth.  Her sacrifice shattered Nemesis but in a
last, desperate attempt to claim the future for himself, Death 
Phantom used his ebbing power to send three asteroids hurtling 
towards Earth.  Their impact set off an ecological disaster the likes
of which neither Earth or the Moon had endured.  

Those three asteroids slammed into Earth, causing tidal waves, 
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on a scale never before seen by 
humanity.  Millions died within hours.  Millions more in the days 
that followed.  The dirt, ash and water vapor propelled into the 
atmosphere combined to shroud the Earth in a blanket that cut off all
sunlight.  Every living creature would die in the frozen night that 
would take decades to pass.  Unless a miracle occurred mankind was 
doomed.  

That miracle took the shape of the last Crown Prince of Earth and his
beloved, the heir to the Moon Kingdom.  The reasons behind the 
ancient taboo of contact between the two realms was revealed.  The 
Ginzuishou could create and renew; the Golden Crystal shape and 
mold.  By combining the two powers, Usagi and Mamoru could heal and 
renew a shattered world.  It would take time however, to bring about
this miracle.  A healing spell of suspension was cast in Elysion by 
Helios.  The power of it was increased by the Ginzuishou and directed 
by the Golden Crystal.  Earth entered a state of suspended animation.
Everything and everyone was covered by a thin layer of crystalline 
ice.  Well, almost everyone.

Two of the Outer Senshi, Uranus and Neptune were left untouched by 
the sleep that overtook the planet.  Before they had time to do 
little more than wonder what was going on, a visitor arrived.  A now
teenaged Chibi-Usa announced that they were needed in the future.  A 
portal to the Timegate held by Sailor Pluto opened and, unable to 
deny their destiny, they walked into it and onward to the future.





*****************************


“The Quest” 

 By Meara

Prologue 

*****************************

They made their last stand in the formal gardens at the back of the
estate.  The lush beauty of the place was eerily at odds with the 
sounds of battle that were carried on the light breeze.  The warriors
at the front gates of the country house fought desperately, trying
to give those in the garden a last chance for escape.  

The woman was only twenty-three and possessed of a delicate, almost
ethereal beauty.  Hair so blonde it was silver fell to her shoulders.
It lifted like a silken veil in the light breeze.  She watched her 
beloved as quietly as she could, not wanting to add to their troubles.
He was so handsome, she thought while the wind ruffled his black hair.
Her amethyst eyes were filled with tears and she gasped as a 
contraction took her once more, a hand going to her rounded abdomen.

The handsome man opposite her looked up in alarm when she did so.  
“Are you all right?” he asked, sapphire blue eyes narrowing with 
concern.  He was clearly torn, wanting nothing more than to take her
in his arms and comfort her, but the urgency of his task prevented 
it.  His hands went once again to the controls of the stolen proto-
gate.  “Hang on, I’m almost done.  Once we get to Elysion you and the
baby will be safe.”

“I’m all right,” she lied.  A thin sheen of perspiration on her face, 
she tried to smile convincingly.  “This little one wants to fight, I 
think.”

The double doors leading back into the house burst open, people 
flooding into the garden.  They trampled the flowers and plantings in 
their panic.  One of the armed men stayed by the door, looking back 
into the darkened room before slamming it shut.  He began to pull a 
table to better block the doorway. 

“The gates have been breached.  They’re coming,” his gaze was firmly 
on the pregnant woman.  “That baby is the last hope of a thousand 
years.  We can’t let them have the child or everything is lost!”

The proto-gate erupted to life, but the portal flickered and wavered.
It seemed to settle for a moment and the pastoral beauty of Earth’s 
hidden shrine was visible.  The sight of it silenced the nervous 
whispers among the frightened refugees.  

“Elysion,” a single hushed and reverent voice spoke for them all.  
“It’s really Elysion!”

With a shudder, the portal almost collapsed, the view changing from
that of Elysion, to a dark and barren world.  A voice came from the 
gate itself, howling like the frigid wind that blew across the 
ravaged planet.  It was everywhere at once and all could hear it very
clearly.

“Young rebels, if you want power come to Nemesis.”  There was the 
ghostly outline of a hand that reached out to them across the void of
time and space.  “To conquer all, first conquer the Black Poison 
Crystal.”

The sound of fighting cut through the silent shock that had enveloped 
the crowd.  The whole house shook as those pursuing the small band
blew through the front doors of the mansion.  Although his heart was 
beating a mile a minute as he did so, the man at the controls of the 
proto-gate grabbed the pregnant woman and pushed her into the portal.
“Whereever it is, we have to go.  We can’t let them have the baby!”

“What are you waiting for?!” the man at the controls shouted to the 
people who looked nervously at the world on the other side of the 
portal.  “Move!”

Centuries of blind obedience to the Elders of their movement came 
into play, and like sheep the people did as they were bid.  It all
happened so fast that they never stopped to question why a device that
should only be able to move two or three people at a time was suddenly
capable of transporting them all.  They ran, one on top of another, 
blindly seeking the promised safety of the world beyond the proto-gate.  

The man with the midnight hair waited until all the others had made it 
through before he grabbed the control box and moved towards the portal 
himself.  Just as he reached the threshold, the glass doors to the 
house exploded open, sending the shattered remains of the table flying.
He stopped, straddling the portal with a foot in each world and turned
to look at those framed in the mangled doorway. 

Neo-King Endymion saw the frigid, desolate landscape on the other 
side of the portal.  He’d seen it before, he somehow knew, but his 
memory refused to tell him when or where.  Never the less, a chill 
ran through him at the sight. 

“No, stop!” Mamoru shouted, Jupiter and Mars on either side of him.
“It doesn’t have to end this way.  Surrender now and no one else will
be hurt.  The rest of the Sons have accepted that they were wrong about
the Moon Kingdom…”

A bark of laughter erupted from the man in the portal.  “Wrong?  Of 
course we were wrong.  We thought that Serenity was the source of the
evil but it was you – all along it was you!  Serenity is just another
one of your victims, a pawn for you to use.  And don’t speak to me 
about those weak, traitorous fools who surrendered to you.  You could
have had it all Endymion, but you refused to let us guide you on the 
true path.”  

Mamoru felt more than saw Mercury come up in back of him.  He heard 
the soft melodic tapping that meant she was using her hand held 
computer.  “Keep him talking,” she whispered, making sure to stay 
behind Mamoru so that her activities couldn’t be seen.  “I’m trying 
to tap into the proto-gate’s controls and get their coordinates.”

These fanatics had never passed up a chance to expound on their view
of the way the world should be before, and Mamoru used that knowledge
now.  “Your idea of guidance would have resulted in nothing more than
a dictatorship, with me as the puppet and you and your ‘Elders’ 
pulling my strings.”

“We were more right than we knew to keep ourselves pure and apart 
from the rest of mankind!” the man shouted.  “Earth must be burned 
clean of the evil and corrupt people that now infest her.  We will 
return this world to her rightful masters – to us and it will once 
again be a paradise.”

“And you’re going to create this paradise by running away like 
cowards?” Mamoru taunted.  He had to get the man to step back through
the portal. 

“This exile is necessary.  Our new Prince will need time to grow into
his birthright,” a smile came to the man’s face and he finished 
stepping through the threshold and onto Nemesis.  He took the control 
box and slammed it to the ground.  The portal began to destabilize 
almost at once.  “I’m not the fool you’d have me be.  Without this 
control panel you can’t follow us.”  The figure was swallowed up by
the darkness.  “Enjoy your victory today, Endymion.  It won’t last.”

The portal was gone and with it the last chance of finding the 
radicals who called themselves the Sons of the Golden Kingdom.  The
death and chaos of their short lived rebellion was over, at least for
now.  As the last of the portal dissolved into a mist that was 
carried away on the breeze, a voice lingered.  It was faint and 
fading, but the hatred in it cut into Mamoru’s heart like a dagger.

“Watch your back, King of Earth.  Our Prince will come for you one 
day, and when he does he will have all that you now possess!”


***************************************

“Evil forces wanting to take over this peaceful state appeared.  We
managed to suppress them, but many fled into space in fear of being
cleaned up by the Ginzuishou.”  - Neo-King Endymion, episode 83, 
Sailor Moon “R”