Then And Now Chapter 1: The Demon Puppet Master, a sailor moon fanfic

THEN AND NOW
Chapter 1: "The Demon Puppet Master"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

The Promenade in Crystal Tokyo was in chaos. Shoppers and tourists all ran in blind panic as a small group of people blew through the area on a mission of murder and mayhem. Armed with knives, the strange contingent of Japanese men and women set upon anyone living, stabbing and slashing with little regard to age, sex or position. Already dozens lay dead or bleeding. Such things were almost unheard of in the utopia that Queen Serenity had given birth to over an arduous thousand year reign. Here, people lived in peace.

Several officers of the city's Civil Defense and Protection force were converging on the scene. Forcing their way through the fleeing civilians, they headed for the pack. At a safe distance, one signaled the other two officers. Then each one pulled a device from the belt all officers wore and placed it on the pavement. Engaging the devices remotely, the officers watched as an electrical barrier sprang up between each device, creating a triangular fence around the mob to contain them without endangering the officers.

Madly, though, the mob pressed against the barrier, trying to break through it. Electrical energy sizzled against flesh, burning it with prolonged exposure. The pain caused by the discharge should have forced the rioting humans back. Instead, they pressed harder against the barrier until several forced their way through.

"Look out! They're loose!" shouted one of the officers.

A rioter, a youth of seventeen, sprinted toward the officer with ominous intent, his long blade knife gleaming in the sun. The officer gave ground, then pulled his shock club and swung it. Ducking underneath, the youth lunged forward and slashed upward. The blade caught the officer under his helmet across his chin, its edge opening up the skin and spattering blood across its metal surface.

More and more of the rioters shoved their way through the barrier, ignoring the searing pain and scorched flesh such actions brought about. The other two officers gave ground while trying to work their way over to the third officer. He was on the ground trying to ward off his attacker, who stood over him and repeatedly plunged the knife downward. Only the officer's chest armor had saved his life thus far.

Then a turbine's whine grew until it flooded the area. The violent mob looked up and saw an air car swing around and set down in the Promenade near them. Moments after the landing, Eternal Sailor Moon emerged, flanked by her five senshi.

"Contain and subdue!" she ordered, her pink hair flailing around her in the back draft kicked up by the air car. The five senshi nodded and fanned out.

"Fauna Assimilation - Boa constrictor!" Sailor Vesta shouted. Changing into a twenty foot boa, Vesta shot toward the nearest of the rioters. Grasping a wrist in her mouth, Vesta wound her body around the woman before she could bring the knife into play. Quickly the rioter was caught in the snake's strong coils and helpless.

"Aqua Initiation!" yelled Sailor Juno. Forming small globes of water in her hands, Juno fired them at the knife-wielding rioters. The projectiles impacted with the power of a fist, knocking people down like bowling pins.

Without hesitation, Sailor Saturn jumped into the middle of several rioters, her glaive at the ready. With the grace and speed of a ballet dancer, Saturn moved with deadly precision, knocking knives from hands with the force and momentum of her glaive. In some cases, the glaive severed the knife at the hilt. At no time though did her glaive come close to cutting flesh. She was that precise. Once disarmed, Saturn used the handle to trip or stun the rioters to the ground.

"This is going way too slow," muttered Sailor Ceres. "Floral Stimulation!"

Pushing their way out of the seams of the pavement, plant tendrils began to grow and wind their way around the legs of the combatants. Several slashed at the plants with their knives, drawing winces of pain from Ceres. Pressing on, she caused the plants to grow taller and thicker, capturing the arms of the rioters and holding much of the mob immobile.

"I think we've got them under control now," Sailor Moon shouted to her crew. She materialized the Moon Tier in her hands, her pink hair billowing behind her. "I'll sedate them so they won't give us any more trouble."

"We've got them now," Ceres said to one of the officers. "Is your partner all right?"

"We've got a medical team en route," the officer, a woman, replied.

"Princess!" Sailor Pallas spoke up. "Pallas can hear two voices in their heads!"

"Someone's controlling them?" Sailor Moon asked.

"Pallas doesn't think it's a someone," Pallas responded. "Pallas doesn't like the other voice! It's icky and scary!"

Immediately Sailor Moon was on her senshi communicator.

"Aunt Rei?" the Princess said. "We've got a situation down at the Promenade that's going to need your expertise. Can you get here like soonest?"

"On my way," was the response.

While Sailor Ceres concentrated on her tendril plants, she didn't see the sudden change in the demeanor of the officer next to her. The woman stared for a moment, then bent down and picked up a knife that one of the rioters had dropped. Sailor Moon, though, saw it all.

"CERES, LOOK OUT!" she screamed.

Though she tried to cut the distance between them in time, Sailor Moon saw the officer suddenly raise the blade and plunge it into Sailor Ceres' back. Pallas shrieked in terror. Saturn, Juno and Vesta all turned and saw Sailor Moon sail into the officer, her boot finding the woman's jaw. Ceres seemed to stand rigidly for a moment, her mouth open and her eyes wide with shock. Then the strength drained out of her legs and she slumped to the pavement.

With the control of their mistress gone, Ceres' plants went slack and no longer held the rioters. With ease they pulled free and set out to continue their murderous rampage. But Sailor Moon was far from finished.

"SILVER MOON CRYSTAL POWER KISS!" she shouted.

Pink energy blanketed the area like a tsunami wave, rolling over everything in its path. It seized all of the rioters. They went rigid, then sagged. Their arms dropped to their sides. The knives dropped from their hands and clattered onto the pavement. A collective sigh emerged from them. Then, as one, they all sank to the ground in a euphoric stupor.

Sailor Moon turned back to the fallen Ceres. Saturn and Pallas were already by her side, with Juno and Vesta rapidly converging. Pallas was openly crying. Sailor Moon was about to ask Saturn how badly Ceres was hurt, but stopped when she saw Saturn's violet aura flare.

"Are you trying to heal her?" Sailor Moon asked, hoping the answer was 'yes'. That would mean there was a spark of life left to heal.

"I'm just keeping her alive," Saturn whispered from her healing trance. "We need to get her to the palace medical bay quickly."

"Juno, get the air car started!" barked Sailor Moon. "Vesta, you and I will get her into the air car!"

"Pallas will do it!" Pallas said forcefully. She was still choked with tears, but her jaw was set. "Beautiful Incantation!"

Telekinetically Ceres was lifted up into the air. Saturn rose with her, keeping her hands on Ceres and her violent aura flowing. Pallas and Saturn guided Ceres into the air car. Vesta was about to follow, but stopped when Sailor Moon stopped. She turned and saw the Princess was looking out at all of the fallen rioters.

"You go ahead," Sailor Moon said, barely keeping control of her emotions. "I'll stay here - - make sure they don't wake up and start killing people again."

Vesta stared for a moment. "Right," she nodded respectfully, then plunged into the air car. "LIFT OFF, JUNO!"

The air car rose up from the pavement, turned toward the palace and shot off. Moments later Rei Hino came running up.

"You were right to call me," Rei said. "I can already sense its presence."

Sailor Moon's lower lip trembled.

Three years earlier: Cere-Cere fought through a moment of confusion. They had been watching Sailor Moon and Sailor Chibi-Moon desperately trying to invoke the Golden Crystal in order to halt Queen Nehelenia's takeover of Earth. She and her "sisters", now free of the corrupting influence of Nehelenia and bereft of powers as well, could only hope that the two senshi would succeed, for all their sakes. She had no illusions about what Nehelenia would do to them should Sailor Moon fail.

And then she'd felt a tug at the back of her brain. Sailor Chibi-Moon's words, about not surrendering beautiful dreams, resonated. She heard them with her ears, but she heard an echo as well in the back of her mind. It was like Chibi-Moon was touching her through the crystal itself. Did Cere-Cere still have beautiful dreams? Searching her mind, the girl immediately realized that she did. Living in a wonderful grove of flowers and trees, lush and green and elegant, with a handsome, exciting man by her side - - she had thought it a fantasy more than anything, but it must have qualified as a beautiful dream. With that, the Golden Crystal began to flare. Nehelenia screamed, in frustration and anger as much as pain.

And then Cere was back here. She recognized it now. It was the little camp she and her sisters had set up in the jungle near the Amazon River - - hardly the lush grove of flowers and trees she had dreamed of, just as her sisters were hardly the handsome man she fantasized about. Still, it was better than where she had just been. The clearing seemed unchanged from when she last saw it, that moment that Nehelenia had come to them and offered them riches and power in exchange for their beautiful dreams.

And they had foolishly accepted.

"Was that real?" Cere heard Jun say. She looked over, through the grass. Near a tree, Jun was sitting, her head in one hand and a haunted look on her face. "Did we actually do that?"

"It was real," grunted Ves. She was walking up from further along, near the little makeshift shelter they'd created. "Should have known it would be too good to be true, though. I thought that Nehelenia had a wrong vibe. But I didn't listen to myself." Ves scowled. "Got too greedy."

"Were we actually going to help that woman plunge the entire world into eternal night?" Jun asked. She seemed ready to come apart at the seems. "Destroy all of humanity?"

"No big loss," Ves sneered. "Humanity is overrated. I'm just mad that we got double-crossed." She made a face. "Wish I had one more shot at Nehelenia."

"Listen to yourself!" Jun gasped. "We were about to betray EVERYONE ON THE PLANET! And all you care about is the promise of power that you lost!"

"So? What's anyone ever done for me?" Ves roared back. "What have they ever done for you?" She leaned into Jun belligerently. "Sure, Cere came from a cushy background. You've never had nothing in your life! You don't even know who your parents are! And anything I ever managed to scrounge for myself got taken away from me! Hell, Palla-Palla's mom dumped her in a store and walked out of her life! THAT'S the humanity you're so worried about?" Ves spit on the ground. "Serve 'em right."

Then Ves stopped and thought.

"Hey, where is Palla-Palla?" Ves asked.

The three girls headed back to their "home", a shack constructed of scrounged scrap metal. As they walked, each one searched around them for a sign of their fourth. Once they were in sight of the shack, the three spotted Palla-Palla. The girl sat against the shack, her legs pulled up to her chest. Something was in her hands and she just stared at it. As they got closer, each girl could see what it was: a miniature figurine of a unicorn.

"Hey, Stupid," Ves said, concern muting her voice. "What's wrong?"

The girl sighed and stared at the figurine. "Palla-Palla misses the horsie."

Ves patted her sister on the head. Jun turned to Cere, arms folded over her chest.

"So what do we do now?" Jun asked.

Cere expelled an uncertain breath. This was just so confusing.

"I don't know," Cere replied. She glanced at the ramshackle dwelling. "I sure don't want to stay here any longer."

"I'm not going back," Ves declared resolutely. "To the orphanage. I'll stick with you three wherever - - EXCEPT there. I'll go back to the streets. I know people. Maybe hook up with Sancha again. But I'm not going back."

"There's nothing for us in the city," Jun added.

"There's nothing for us here," countered Cere. "As beautiful as this area is, we don't have any future here."

"You just have to know how to live here," Jun argued. "I spent years in this environment with Mi Padre. It's not a bad life."

"It's not what I want," Cere shook her head. "I'm too much of a creature of comfort. I love this lush green, but I love video and pretty clothes and art galleries and dancing - - and everything."

An awkward silence fell over the group.

"We don't have to split up," Palla-Palla said suddenly, emotion coloring her voice. Everyone looked at her.

"Who said anything about splitting up?" Jun asked.

"Cere-Cere thinks we should split up," Palla-Palla sniffed.

"When did she say that?" Ves asked. She and Jun were confused, while Cere looked at Palla-Palla in shock.

"She didn't," Palla-Palla replied with some guilt. "Palla-Palla just heard it in her head. Palla-Palla hears things with her head the way people hear things with their ears."

"Since when?" marveled Ves.

"Since always. Palla-Palla can hear what people think. But not if she tries to. Only if she's not really listening."

"This is amazing," Jun whispered in awe.

"Amazing?" Ves asked. "This could be our shot!"

"How so?" Cere asked warily.

"I know places in Sao Paulo that have card games," Ves continued. "We get in, Palla-Palla reads what the other players have, she lets me know - - we clean up."

"But isn't that cheating?" Palla-Palla asked.

"More like using your talents to your advantage," Ves answered.

"And what if they suspect?" Jun asked incredulously.

"We move on," shrugged Ves. "I can always find a game."

"Ves," huffed Cere. "Didn't you learn ANYTHING from what we just went through?"

"Yeah," Ves scowled. "Don't trust anybody but us."

"No! Absolutely not! You're not using Palla-Palla to rig card games!"

"God, you are such a Priss!" raged Ves.

"Stop calling me a Priss!" fumed Cere.

"Why should I listen to you anyway? You're the one who wants to split up from us!" Ves growled. "You never did belong with us anyway! Miss High And Mighty Diplomat's Daughter! You probably want us all to go back to Sao Paulo and get 'respectable jobs' and 'be pillars of the community' and all that crap! Yeah, I can see it, busting my hump for a few pennies, doing the grunt work to make somebody else a success! How the Hell is that different from what we were doing for Nehelenia?" Ves stuck out her chin. "Well not me! I look out for me now! And I look out for Palla-Palla, and Jun if she sticks! You go chase respectability! See what it gets you!"

"Stop it!" wailed Palla-Palla. Everyone turned to her and found the girl crying. "Stop fighting! Palla-Palla doesn't want anyone to leave! Until her Mommy comes to pick her up, you're all the only family Palla-Palla has left! Palla-Palla doesn't want everyone to leave and go away! Please!"

Ves knelt down and put her arm around Palla-Palla. The girl clung to Ves and continued to cry. Jun looked to Cere.

"OK," Cere said. "I guess you're all the only family I've got left, too. The only family I can depend on anyway. Promise I won't leave, Palla-Palla." She glanced at Ves. "But we're not going to survive by scamming floating poker games. That's no life for any of us, especially Palla-Palla."

"All right," grunted Ves. "It was just an idea."

"Fine, that's settled," Jun interjected. "So what are we going to do?"

Nobody spoke up immediately. And then it was too late. Palla-Palla suddenly looked up. She seemed to stare at something and a rapture slowly formed on her face. Cere and the others turned and looked to see what she saw.

At first there was nothing to see but the Amazon jungle. Cere was about to turn back and question Palla-Palla. But then she noticed a pin prick of light forming. The light seemed silver in color. It seemed to be growing and Cere thought she was imagining it. Then she knew she wasn't. Something was growing, and as it grew, it seemed to get brighter. Ves stepped protectively in front of Palla-Palla, while Cere and Jun edged away from the phenomenon and closer to their shack. It might not be much protection, but right now it was all they had.

The silver light flared brightly and then dissipated. And before them was a vision. She was a woman of delicate skin and features with spun gold hair and a white strapless gown, the bow in the back tied to resemble the wings of a fairy. She had the widest, brightest, bluest eyes any of them had ever seen and a smile warm with love and charity. Cere stared. She couldn't believe it. Was it possible?

"S-Sailor Moon?" Cere asked.

The woman's mouth curled up at a private amusement.

"Cere-Cere, Jun-Jun, Ves-Ves, Palla-Palla," Queen Serenity said to them. "I have an offer for you. And I hope you say 'yes'."

Continued in Chapter 2