"You're welcome," Sailor V added. Risa, who appeared to be in shock, did not respond. However, after a few moments, she raised her arms and pointed her gun at her vigilante savior.

Sailor V rolled her eyes at this and turned away from the lieutenant, unbothered by the move of aggression. Instead, she focused on the matter at hand; her opponent. As the smoke cleared, his damaged, limping figure became visible.

“Well, that’s good news,” she said, observing the lizard-man’s injuries. “Your resistance to bullets had me worried for a minute.”

Apparently, while impervious to the physical wounds such as gunfire, he was vulnerable to energy-based attacks.

The lizard-man roared with frustration. “Wounds like these are nothing!” he spat as he flexed his muscles and cast away the tattered remains of his cloak.

“You sure?” said Sailor V with an air of mockery. “Looks pretty painful.”

“Wait, were you watching?” piped up Risa, taking in the meaning behind Sailor V’s words. “You used me to observe his abilities! Didn’t you?”

“Don’t tell me you wanted my help?” Sailor V taunted. “In any case, you’re not going to be of any help here, so be a good girl and run along.”

Risa scowled, and after a moment of indecision, left the scene and the monster to the infuriating hero, and observed from afar.

The monster cracked its knuckles and cricked his neck. “I’ve been waiting for you, Sailor Soldier,” said the reptilian monster.

“Oh, a fan? Did you want an autograph?” Sailor V replied. Internally, she concluded that he had attacked the town to draw her out. But why?

“No, not that,” he smirked, then thrust out his claw, firing one of his blasts.

Sailor V deftly dodged it with a swift cartwheel, then as the resounding explosion followed, she returned fire with her pointed finger, releasing a thin ray of yellow light. She expected it to pierce the monster’s body but was surprised to see it deflected by a claw cloaked in purple energy.

“Interesting,” she commented, then proceeded to fire multiple beams at him in rapid succession. Upon witnessing him dodge or deflect each, she smiled, baring her teeth, and charged at him with incredible agility. The two clashed and began a fierce hand-to-hand exchange.

Minako was surprised to find that of the punches he couldn’t parry and the kicks he couldn’t block, the monster was able to withstand the powerful blows enhanced by her Sailor Suit transformation. In addition, his own attacks were landing hard.

Still, she pressed on, but after over two minutes of sustained combat, the fighters sensed a mutual understanding and separated, creating some distance between themselves. They sized each other up as they caught their breath.

Minako was worried. The other monsters she had fought of late had been dispatched with ease. Their appearances hadn’t even made the news. However, it seemed like the powers afforded to her as Sailor V might not be enough against an opponent like this, even after all the years she had spent training her body and honing her martial arts skills.

“Why don’t you use your full powers, woman?” the monster hissed.

Minako couldn’t help raising her eyebrows in shock. How did he know she was holding back? It was particularly vexing because it was true. He would be no match for her true power, but there was no need to resort to that. Not yet.

“I don’t need them for an opponent of your level,” she quipped in response, but his brief hint of knowledge concerned her.

“We shall see,” the monster replied with a grin, then began running around the battlefield while firing a barrage of his energy blasts.

Sailor V followed suit, darting around while firing off rays from her fingers. However, it quickly became apparent that this strategy would tire her out. While her Crescent Beams were made of dense energy, they were primarily intended for precision-based shots or inflicting piercing wounds. Meanwhile, the monster’s energy balls had an explosive yield, meaning any she didn’t intercept mid-flight went on to leave a blast radius, from which she had to flee.

Minako had to get close. When the monster fired a shot, then moved behind an undamaged parked car, she saw her opportunity. Employing the same tactic she had used earlier that day, Minako dodged the incoming blast, then aimed for the car’s fuel door. “Crescent Beam!” she cried, the magical words aiding the power of her attack.

The laser-like beam tore through the old car’s exterior and alighted the gas tank inside. The car exploded in a haze of flame and thick, dark smoke. Hoping to capitalize on the damage she had no doubt inflicted, Minako dashed across the street to get a better angle and raised her pointed finger at the place the body should be.

He wasn’t there. Thinking that the smoke may be obscuring him, Minako moved closer. Suddenly, the reptilian man appeared, crashing through the window of the nearby shop. There was no time to react. Before she knew it, he had grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground. As she raised her high-heeled leg to kick him, the hand gripping her glowed purple causing an electric-like surge to course through her body, numbing her limbs.

“You fight well, woman,” he conceded. “But our battle is over. Surender the Legendary Silver Crystal to me and I shall spare your life.”

“The Silver Crystal?” Minako uttered in confusion. “That’s what you’re after?”

“Yes! I know all about what happened years ago. How you inherited the crystal and used it to wipe out your enemies. Now, hand it over or I will take it from your corpse!”

Comprehension dawned on Minako. Apparently, this creature had heard an abridged version of what had really transpired that day, but there was no danger of him getting his hands on the crystal. With that in mind, Minako could accept her fate. “No deal, lizard lips,” she told him calmly.

The monster scowled, raised his other arm and flexed his sharp claws. “As you wish,” he said with a tone of finality, and drew back his arm in preparation to strike. Still unable to move, Minako closed her eyes, resigning herself to death. She vaguely considered what moments would flash before her eyes as death took her. Perhaps memories of the good old days with her friends, or else, the incident that had put an end to all that.

However, she was pulled out of her reverie by a nearby bang. Two more followed and the jerking movements of the monster that followed were surely not those of him delivering her death blow. No, it was gunfire. Minako opened her eyes. The lizard-like face before her was grotesque and full of holes. While the monster had maintained his grip on Minako’s throat, she realized that his paralyzing energy flow had ceased.

Still feeling some of the numbing effects, Minako raised her right arm as high as she could and rested her index finger on the monster’s chest, pointing directly at his heart. “Crescent Beam!” she expelled.

Minako and her would-be executioner both dropped to the floor in a heap. She took a deep breath, then pulled herself to her feet with some difficulty. She surveyed the street while flexing her muscles to encourage the remaining numbness to dissipate. As expected, crouched behind the burning, smoke-billowing car, was Lieutenant Higa with her weapon drawn.

“Looks like I owe you one, lieutenant,” said Sailor V.

“Don’t do me any favors,” Risa snapped in reply. “I didn’t do it to help you. That thing killed my partner!”

Minako knew the lieutenant well enough to know she was lying. She had a good heart and could never sit idly by while someone was killed before her eyes—even the annoying vigilante who caused her so many problems.

Minako smiled softly, like she hadn’t in a long time. Suddenly, though, she glimpsed a flash of purple in her peripheral vision and was propelled across the street like a rag doll.

“Arrogant human!” the lizard-man roared, standing tall in spite of the gaping hole through his chest. “You dare presume my superior race shares your physiology?”

***

Still atop the nearby hospital, Ami observed the fighters’ energy signatures using her computer, concerned by the sudden drop in Sailor V’s output. As expected, Minako was having a hard time with her latest opponent. Would she have to use that power?

Just then, Ami’s thoughts were interrupted by nearby screams. "Rei?" she said with alarm, then consulted her computer. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared to have occurred.

The lights in Rei’s hospital room turned on again and the nurses returned. "How can she be lucid after we gave her a sedative?" Ami hears one of them say with consternation in their voice.

"I don't know, it shouldn't be possible," a colleague replied desperately.

At that moment, a new signal registered on Ami’s computer. Ami smiled and remarked, “Impressive as always," noting how even in her old friend’s current state, Rei’s precognitive abilities had detected the appearance of a second enemy before her Moon Kingdom technology.

“It’s been a while, but I suppose I better head out,” Ami said to herself, checking the inside of her brief case for good measure. Visible at the bottom, was her blue and pink Crystal Change Rod.