Hotaru comes to meet Usagi and Chibi Usa to go to school. They're all happy because everyone is in the same school (except Rei -- she's still in private school). Even Setsuna is at the same school, working in the nursing room. Hotaru and Chibi Usa peak in on her, then a whole bunch of kids shove in and ask if it's true that she's Hotaru's mother. Setsuna laughs and tells them all to go to class.

Later, everyone is sitting at the coffee shop. Chibi Usa announces that she'll be returning to the future, since her parents must miss her. Hotaru is sad but Chibi Usa promises to come back soon. She leaves. Usagi, who is still sad about Mamoru going to the USA to study, thinks that another person is leaving her again.

At the Three Lights concert a few days later (Michiru and Haruka are accompanying them on the piano and violin -- the Three Lights are a very popular rock band) a new enemy appears; Sailor Iron Mouse. The Scouts defeat her, and they have a meeting to figure out who this new enemy is. Seiya, the leader of the Three Lights (she/he just happens to be Sailor StarFighter, by the way) befriends Usagi, but both the Scouts and the other two Starlights want her to stay away from Usagi. Seiya, of course, doesn't listen.

A million things are going on at this point (for the full story, see my other Smoon page) -- Mamoru, Mercury and Jupiter have been kidnapped, the Starlights are being obnoxious, that little Chibi Chibi imp has shown up, and Usagi is having dreams of Galaxia that she doesn't understand. From Galaxia's realm, Sailor Lead Crow vows to destroy Sailor Moon. On a hill in Tokyo, Setsuna and Hotaru are standing, looking out at the city. All of a sudden, dozens of crows take flight, screaming. Hotaru's eyes widen as she looks at them, and she mutters: "Again... Will it never stop?" Setsuna is puzzled.

Minako and Rei decide to investigate. They too are kidnapped. The only ones left to protect the princess are the Outers now, and the Starlights, but no one trusts them. Setsuna, Haruka and Michiru decide that they can learn more from their palaces (palaces guarded by the tiny versions of themselves they met in the SuperS series, and that float above their respective planets. I don't know if the Inners have any, but the Outers each have one, except for Saturn, who seems to share Pluto's). They leave, telling Luna and Artemis to watch over Hotaru for them. They realize that the attackers are indeed from their own galaxy, but before they can discover any more, Pluto is kidnapped by Galaxia. Hotaru, playing in the sandbox with Chibi Chibi on Earth, looks frightened, rises, and disappears.

Usagi wonders what's happened to the Outers, who were supposed to report back as soon as they learned something. She becomes better friends with Seiya, and learns that the Starlights are actually looking for their princess, who crash-landed on Earth. She also meets Princess Kakyuu (Fireball in English) and learns that Chibi Chibi is a Sailor Scout too, and has an ability to heal. Finally, frightened that something may have happened to the Outers, she decides to go and see if they're alright. Kakyuu and the Starlights go with her.

At the palaces of Uranus and Neptune, she finds only dust on the floor. At Pluto's palace, she finds the same thing, but also finds a recording of what happened: it shows Pluto disappearing, and Hotaru appearing beside her, to help her. A moment later, Hotaru too disappears. Sailor Moon puts her head in her hands and thinks that she can't take it anymore.

Sailor Moon decides to go and fight Galaxia in her own world, on the zero star of the Sagittarius sector. There she encounters Lethe and Mnemosyne, the guardians of the rivers of forgetfulness and remembrance (they are the coolest characters in Sailor Moon, except for Saturn, of course!). She wins them over and is about to go on her way when two more Sailor Scouts appear and destroy Lethe and Mnemosyne.

to be continued... (i haven't bought the last manga yet... i'll add the rest on when i have! come back soon!)

* note: This is not the entire Sailor Moon Stars story -- this is only the parts relevant to Saturn/Hotaru. If you want the full version of the story (and I've left out a LOT in this version) go to my other Sailor Moon page. You'll find it in my links section, on the main page.

(c) copyright - Takeuchi Naoko/Toei