Jadeite's mind was boggled by the thought of the senshi foiling his evil schemes when their powers were miniscule compared to his, but with the appearance of Tuxedo Kamen, it was beginning to make some sense. The masked man had the tendency to show up every time it appeared that all was lost for Sailor Moon and her friends. His contempt for the young girls began to grow, as did his determination to crush them. "Just as I thought. You weak little girls are not warrior enough to defeat me without a man's assistance. Well this time, not even his ridiculous speech will be able to save you from meeting your demise!"

That did it. The senshi began to see red, Sailor Mars especially. Not only did the guy like to see the innocent suffer for his own twisted enjoyment, but he was sexist, too. A very ugly combination.

"That's where you're wrong, Jadeite," said Mercury.

"Yeah, people like you never win!" chimed Moon.

"We'll show you what a couple of girls can do together!" said Mars, glaring at the blonde general.

Jadeite was not impressed. As far as he was concerned, the threats were idle. Well, he would shut them up once and for all. "Your idle threats do not faze me! Behold my power!"

The senshi waited to see what their foe would do. Much to their horror, he possessed the jets once again and they came after the girls.

"Come on, guys! Run!" the senshi of fire yelled. The girls did what she ordered. They were becoming tired of this game. Tuxedo Kamen's words of encouragement still lingered in their minds. The only question was how they would defeat Jadeite. They didn't have much time to figure it out. Suddenly, an idea of how to do so came to Sailor Mars. It was something that required teamwork, which was the only option in this type of battle.

"Remember what I've told you girls before. Jadeite is the enemy, not the jet," the feline advisor reminded the senshi.

"I remember," said Mars. "And I have an idea."

Moon and Mercury looked interested. Those were just the words they had been waiting for. They needed all the ideas they could get if they were going to defeat so tough a foe. "What is it, Mars?" asked Sailor Moon.

The raven haired senshi's eyes smiled at that question. "Well it starts with you. Divert the jet so that it is following you."

Sailor Moon wasn't thrilled about that. "What good would that do?" she protested. Then she sighed and started running again. She was so tired of this. At this point her legs felt like they were going to fall off. She hoped that the plan, whatever it was, would become clear to her.

Mercury decided to play a small game of cat and mouse with Jadeite in order to distract him. This would give Mars and Moon the opening they needed. "Shabon Spray!" The barrage of bubbles created a fog, thus obstructing Jadeite's vision. He was also freezing, but he didn't show it. 'This pathetic human is only delaying the inevitable.' "What the hell? I can't see a thing."

The ice senshi showed herself. Jadeite sneered at her. "You'll have to do better than creating a fog to defeat me!" He possessed another plane and it went after her. He gave an evil laugh. No way would these girls be able to get out of this. He was so overconfident that he did not sense Sailor Mars standing behind him, holding an odufa.

"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!" the senshi of fire chanted, throwing the odufa onto his back.

The ambush was so unexpected that Jadeite couldn't avoid the anti-evil scroll. For a second he was paralyzed and to his horror, his attack was reversed and the planes came after him instead. He proceeded to run. "Why are they coming after me?" He stopped running when he came face to face with the three senshi. He couldn't believe it. He had the senshi in the palm of his hand and yet they managed to outwit him once more. He wished that it was a nightmare, but it wasn't.

"You've underestimated us, Jadeite! Our combined strength is stronger than your evil!" said Moon.

Jadeite was still in shock…too much shock to come up with a condescending remark as usual. This incident put a damper on his cockiness. "Tell me how you did this to me."

"You were blinded by your arrogance and sexism," answered Mars.

"That's right," Mercury agreed. "You've fallen victim to your own trap, and that is the price you have to pay for underestimating us as warriors."

Sailor Moon was full of courage as it appeared that she and the other girls had Jadeite cornered. She now knew what she had to do. "You've been using your powers for evil, and for that you must be punished! And I am just the one to do it!" She took off her tiara. Jadeite cringed, knowing that he was in for it now, which was if she actually succeeded with the dreaded attack.

"Moon Tiara Action!"

The Frisbee transformed tiara hurtled towards the trapped general. He dodged it as best as he could, but he still felt half of its impact. This made him too weak to avoid the plane that was overhead. The wheels of the plane hit his back. He screamed in agony and fell flat on his face.

Jadeite hadn't felt so humiliated in his life. His back and face were hurting, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the blow to his ego. He was defeated by a trio of teenagers, whose powers were very measly compared to his. Could what Mercury said be correct? Had he really underestimated them all along? Nevertheless, he knew that he was in for Beryl's wrath. She was someone who always made good on her threats to her minions. He feared his designated punishment greatly. There was a tiny glimmer of hope that if he revealed the iota of information he discovered about the senshi, he would be spared. Of course deep down he knew that it was pointless to hope such a thing just because when Beryl made a decision, there was no changing her mind.

It was rather funny, but the senshi found themselves going through a mixture of emotions, unsure of how to feel entirely. They were proud of themselves for putting an end to their arch nemesis' evil plan, and they felt like they should be angry at him for causing them so much trouble. Instead, they honestly felt a tinge of pity, seeing him lying there. They didn't think it would be right to gloat over his condition, seeing as how they didn't like seeing anyone in pain, not even their enemies. Sailor Moon wandered over to him with a softened expression on her face. Mercury and Mars watched her, wondering what she was thinking. They were especially surprised when they saw their friend kneel down next to the fallen general and turn him over.

"Jadeite…if you surrender, the other senshi and I will consider forgiving you, and we will help you start on the right path," the blonde senshi told Jadeite.

There Sailor Moon went again with the surrender thing. Normally Jadeite would scoff that it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard since he hated to lose. Not to mention that the thought of living among a race he despised sickened him even more. But if it would enable him to escape his queen's wrath he was all up for it. Not like he could go anywhere anyway…he was too badly wounded and he simply didn't have enough energy to teleport. He opened his eyes to see the young heroine kneeling over him with an "I'm sorry for you" look in her eyes. He hated it. And when she had turned him over, he felt strange since he didn't think that she would touch him with a 100 foot pole unless she wanted to scratch his eyes out or something.

"My fate has already been decided…spare me your pity. I am not worthy of such an emotion," he uttered a bit hoarsely. He absolutely hated it when he was in a weakened condition and someone rubbed it in.

Sailor Moon could see that it would be next to impossible to get through to Jadeite, which was to be expected. Still, she was not going to give up. "That's not true, Jadeite."

The other two senshi and Luna were aware of the fact that Moon had the propensity for being gullible and not wanting to face facts, but they had never seen her be this thoughtful about it. It surprised them, and for once they agreed with her. It was just the matter of whether the enemy was worth the effort or not.

"You should take what little honor you have and listen to Sailor Moon, Jadeite," Mercury agreed.

"Yeah and stop letting your master pull you along like a dog on a leash," added Mars impetuously.

Jadeite was about to respond but before he could, he was surrounded by dark energy, and he disappeared in a brownish red energy sphere.

* * * * * * * *

When Jadeite awoke, he saw that he was no longer on earth, but in Beryl's throne room. He slowly stood up, and was obviously very shaky on his feet. He looked up and saw a very irate Queen Beryl. He thought maybe he could still reveal the info he found on the senshi. Then perhaps she could do her own dirty work for once if she wanted them destroyed so badly.

Nephrite correctly assumed that the senshi were brutal with the younger shitennou this time, based on his appearance: the bruises on his face, and how he was barely able to stay on his feet. His trio of henchwomen thought the younger general looked absolutely pathetic, losing to a bunch of teenage girls. They saw the battle using Yukari's crystal ball, which was their way of keeping themselves entertained in such a boring place. The girls nearly exploded with laughter when he was run over by his own planes. 'It's all over for you, Jadeite. Nothing will save you now. It's such a shame that your most valiant effort wasn't good enough,' thought Miki, chuckling to herself.

"Queen Beryl, if you please, allow me to reveal the important information I have for you," stammered Jadeite.

"You failed to defeat the senshi for the last time, Jadeite," said the queen, her voice barely above a whisper. However, there was a hint of fury in it—quiet fury.

"Queen Beryl…I've learnt the identities of the senshi. I know who they are," said Jadeite, desperately hoping to appease his queen's anger.

But Beryl wasn't interested in any useful information…not from this pathetic excuse for a failure at least. "Silence! Sleep forever! "

Jadeite's fear increased when he saw Beryl's eyes glowing bright. If only he could have stayed back on earth. Maybe then he would have been able to learn to live with the humans and take responsibility for his actions, like Moon said. "Wait, Queen Beryl!"

It was too late. The beam of light hit him, encasing him in a very large crystal formation, freezing him. She sent the crystal encased Jadeite into an isolated room in the Dark Kingdom.

"Let Jadeite's fate be a warning to you, do not fail me!" Beryl declared. "Nephrite, present yourself. You are now my new commander."

The chestnut haired shitennou materialized before Beryl, as did his youma. They made sure to stay right by their master. He was so glad that Jadeite failed and that he now had a chance to show off his abilities, which he considered far more superior, and the youma was extremely happy as well…so happy that they could jump up and down or hug him—both which were very unprofessional to do. So they contained their excitement.

"What an incompetent fool Jadeite was. He had a ridiculous scheme for gathering energy," said Nephrite derisively. He laughed evilly, as if to show how amused he was by the ludicrous scheme.

Beryl gave him a tiny smile. The older shitennou was very confident, which impressed her. "Is that so? Do you have a better plan in mind, Nephrite?"

"I do. I can get more energy from one single person than Jadeite was able to get from a hundred."

Beryl thought this was interesting. She had never heard of anything like it. Maybe she would not have to wait too long for the universe's destruction after all. "Is that so? How do you plan to do that?"

"I will use the power of the stars to tell me which human will reach their maximum creative energy output."

All of a sudden, he was rudely interrupted by high pitched tenor laughter. Laughter that annoying could only belong to one person—Zoisite. It made the youma cringe. Ruby started to feel very nauseous and there was only so much she could do not to spew chunks then and there; that was how much Zoisite sickened her.

Sure enough, the sakura shitennou appeared in a flurry of cherry blossoms, hovering mid-air. He was severely disappointed that Beryl hadn't promote him as a full-fledged general after Jadeite's failures, and so he was determined to do everything in his power to make Beryl see things his way. "You're very ambitious, do you know that?"

Nephrite was not pleased with having his meeting with Beryl interrupted, nor was he happy to see Zoisite, for that matter. The younger general had no manners at all.

"Get lost, Zoisite! This meeting has nothing to do with you."

Zoisite pretended to be insulted. "Must you always be grouchy with me? I am only looking out for your best interest. You really should not let your confidence be inflated or it could lead to your downfall."

All Nephrite did was scowl at the shitennou that was two years his junior. His trio of youma was angered that this annoying audacious little weasel dared to patronize their master when he was obviously superior to him in terms of power, rank and honor. They had stayed silent long enough. Well, not anymore.

"Oh, put a sock in it, pretty boy! Master Nephrite doesn't need a warning from you!" Ruby spat venomously.

"Yes, harass someone who can handle your dickheadedness!" added Yukari.

Miki decided not to add to the insults, at least not directly. She thought the other two were already doing a good job at that. She turned to Nephrite, whose brow was a bit creased with annoyance. "Master…don't pay attention to that vermin Zoisite. He's nothing but trash," she advised her boss rather impetuously.

Zoisite looked at his rival's youma and smirked. He was rather amused by their insults, but decided that putting them away was not worth it. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he said in a singsong voice, and disappeared.

The bickering had been getting on Beryl's nerves, but at least from the way the youma defended Nephrite, he would not have a hard time getting them to carry out his orders. "Very well, Nephrite. Your plan sounds promising. You may proceed."

"I thank you, your majesty." Nephrite and his three youma gave small bows and retreated from the throne room.

* * * * * * * *

Miki, Yukari and Ruby gathered together with Nephrite in his planetarium as he prepared to make his first evil scheme. They were so happy that Beryl was ruler enough to approve his plan. If his plot wasn't ingenious, then they didn't know what was. They couldn't wait for him to shut up Zoisite once and for all.

"The stars know everything. They hold the power of the universe. I shall tap into that power to locate those humans as they reach their full energy potential." The stars seemed to know Nephrite's wishes, and generated a brownish colored laser. It went through the center of his forehead. "Great Archer Sagittarius, I command you to shoot your arrow from the center of the Milky Way and find me a victim!" The stars complied with his wishes by revealing a girl dressed in a tennis outfit and a band tied around her head. Her dark hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. "Rui Saionji, your energy will be mine for the taking." With that, the image of the young tennis player dissolved.

Yukari thoroughly enjoyed the demonstration of power, as did the other girls. She hoped that she and the others would be given a chance to show their abilities and prove how useful they were. Ever since they had been working for him, all they had done so far was assist with errands, household chores and keep him updated on his predecessor's progress. Not that they were complaining; they just wanted a shot of making the senshi quiver in fear. But they knew that they would have to be patient. But there was something Ruby thought would help for the time being. She conjured a crimson coloured energy draining ball.

"Master Nephrite, I have something for you that will help with the mission," she told him.

"Oh? And what's that?" he looked over at the red head youma. Not that he needed any help at the moment but if it was something valuable, he was interested to know.

Ruby handed Nephrite the energy ball. "This energy ball is one of a kind. Even if those pesky sailor brats manage to escape your trap unharmed, you will still have the gathered energy."

It certainly was probable that senshi would interfere. But if it would not affect the energy gathering operation, then it was something he would be a fool to turn down. "Thank you."

"The pleasure is all mine."

"If you need any suggestions for the plan, don't hesitate to ask," offered Miki.

"I appreciate the assistance. However, that won't be necessary." The star shitennou already figured out how he would lure Rui into helping the plan. He would pose as a tennis coach and pretend that he wanted to help her. Of course he would have to learn the rules first, but that was okay. He had thoughts of learning about such a human pastime anyway.

* * * * * * * *

After school that day, Usagi and her friends were at the tennis club. They were watching a match that would lead up to the tennis tournament a week from now. As usual, Rui was giving her opponent a very tough match. She always gave it her all. She was considered one of the best tennis players for an almost sixteen year old.

"That's right sister! Give this hotshot the smack down!" cheered Naru.

Usagi gave her best friend a funny look. She always thought Naru was an only child. Did the red head have a long lost sibling and never told her about it or something? Why would she hide such information? "Why didn't you tell me you had a sister? I thought best friends tell each other everything." She looked slightly hurt.

"I don't mean that literally, Usagi-chan! It's just that since she is a year older than both of us, she feels like a big sister to me. We've been hanging out since we were kids."

"Oh." Now Usagi felt silly. "Thank you for the explanation."

All of a sudden, a red Ferrari sped up, pulled to the side of the road and parked. Its driver, a young man with long wavy chestnut colored hair, came out and went over to the fence where he would get a very good view of the ongoing match. All of the female spectators were very star struck by his beauty. They thought he looked like a movie star.

"Oh my, he is so beautiful!" one girl squealed.

"I love his hair," said another one.

There was someone who was wondering who the guy was.

"He's a young ceo," answered one girl.

"Do you know him?"

"Not personally. I just know that he is a ceo and my mom has seen him at the opera, and my older sister said he came to the music store she works at."

Usagi and Naru had pink hearts popping out of their eyes. Naru instantly had a crush on Nephrite. She had seen him at the music store and now here he was again. She so badly wanted to talk to him and get to know him, but was paralyzed by shyness, for fear of saying the wrong thing. She decided to wait and see if he seemed to be a nice enough person first.

Nephrite heard the girls making ooos and aahs over his appearance. He secretly liked the attention, though he was disdainful of such an emotion. Because he was on a mission and could not afford a distraction, he pretended not to notice. He did a front flip over the fence onto the tennis court.

Rui's opponent, a girl with red hair, was startled at such ability, and slightly annoyed that an unfamiliar person was on the court.

"Mister, what do you think you're doing? Only members are allowed here."

Nephrite ignored the girl, for he had gotten membership the day before. He turned to Rui instead. "I want you to put your weight into the ball," he coached her.

"Huh?" That was something she wasn't expecting—a stranger coaching her.

Nephrite turned to the red head. "Your racket?"

The teen girl started blushing. "Here you go."

Nephrite took the racket away from the girl and turned his attention back to Rui. "Give me your best shot, please."

"Okay." She demonstrated her best move, and the star king hit the ball back to her with ease. He put so much force into it that the ball knocked the racket out of her hand. She grabbed her sore wrist. She couldn't believe this new person beat her as if she were an amateur.

Usagi and Naru were in awe, too. 'Glad it's her and not me. If I ever end up being friends with him and he challenges me to a match, I would have to ask him to go easy on me,' thought Naru.

"You're not trying hard enough," Nephrite told the young tennis star.

'Not trying hard enough? Is he kidding me? I have given him my best shot like he asked. His skills are just out of this world,' was what went through Rui's mind. But she knew better than to say that. "I don't mean to be nosy or rude, but what's your name?"

"My name is Masato Sanjouin, and I'm a tennis coach," answered Nephrite. He placed the palm of his hand on the handle of Rui's racket, engraving his evil magical crest on it. 'I endow this racket with the Dark Kingdom's greatest power. Give Rui the strength of ten.' He handed Rui back her racket.

"Remember to put your weight into the ball."

"Um...okay. Thank you for the advice." She still wasn't sure what to make of this event, but the guy did seem like he knew what he was talking about.

Nephrite exited the tennis court, but not before calling for someone to be Rui's opponent. That way he would be sure that his scheme would work.