A fan-fiction Sailormoon/ X-Men crossover.
BIRD HUNT .
Disclaimer : none of the characters in this fan-fiction are mine
save one (see note- Chapter Two ).
The Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, Queen Serenity, Queen Beryl,
Queen Metallia, Luna, Atrimis, Chibi-Usa (Chiba Usagi) and Tsukino
Shingo are the copyrighted property of Takeuchi Naoko.
The X-MEN, GENERATION-X, EXCALIBUR, the Starjammers , Shi`ar
Empire, and the Watcher are all copywrited property of Marvel Comics.
Note: The Senshi's reluctance to loose Usagi to death again, and
Shingo's protectiveness to Usagi, is a reference to a Sail Moon fanfic of
mine, THE EXECUTION'S DRUM.
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Chapter One:
Troubling Dreams
__________________________________________________________
Usagi was growing more and more weary with each attack.
She wasn't the only one. One by one each of the Senshi and
Tuxedo Kamen had thrown themselves at the foe and
each one had been savagely repulsed by the foe.
Make that foes.
Usagi, as leader of the Sailor Senshi, as well as Princess
of the Moon, tried to make sence of all this- as if any of
this made sence. Not only had the monstrosity that was once
Queen Beryl and Queen Metallia survived their final war in
the Arctic, but they had gained allies. Powerful ones :
a extraterrestrial bird-warrior and an enigmatic firebird-
being. As each warrior threw his or her most-powerful attacks
at the enemies, the effects would split apart to the four winds
in a great X-effect.
As friends fell around her, Usagi found herself pleading to
the thing that was once Beryl.
" Please ! I surrender ! Just stop ! I'll give you whatever
you what !" Usagi screamed through her tears as the last
Senshi fell.
" You cannot 'give' us ANYTHING !" shrieked Beryl-Metallia.
"We will TAKE what we wish, Queen Serenity !"
" I am Tsukino Usagi !" Usagi screamed. "Queen Serenity is
dead !"
" We know who you are, daughter of Serenity ! Your blood
is sure ! Your heart beats true ! Now let that heart...
BREAK !!!"
As on command from an unbidden mistress, the Silver Emperium
Crystal cracks and shatters, exploding against Usagi.
Princess Usagi dies.
.........................................................
" NO !!!" Usagi cried out as she sat bolt-upright in a darkened
bedroom. Her heart pounded as savagely as the predawn trunderstorm
above her house. It was four-thirty a m.
" Usagi ! What's wrong ?" A black cat asked, studying the still-
sobbing princess.
" It .. h.. happened", stammered Usagi. "Again !"
" Again ???" exclaimed a surprised Luna. "That's twice tonight !!!"
" And five times this week", answered a voice after opening the door.
If this had happened two years before now, Shingo would have been
ordered- no, blasted- out of his sister's room by Usagi's shriek.
But much had changed in two years. And Usagi welcomed those changes.
Shingo held his sister for several minutes to calm her against the
storms in her head and heart. Then Usagi and her brother went to the
kitchen. Usagi just stared blankly as Shingo poured Luna a saucer of
milk.
" They're coming too fast." Usagi sat staring blankly into space.
"These dreams are warnings. Danger's approaching. And Metallia's
behind it all."
" But where? And How?" Shingo protested. "You told me Metallia was
destroyed when .. when.."
Shingo held his sister's hand in a death grip.
" When I died, Shingo, yes. Me and the Inner
Scouts and Beryl. When we died." Usagi hated
reminding her brother of that. Tsukino Usagi
may be Princess of the Moon, but she was also
Tsukino Shingo's saister. And Shingo felt very
protective of his big sister, especially upon
learning his sister was leader of the Sailor
Senshi. To Shingo, his sister was a small,
vulnerable rabbit. He must protect her when
possible.
What Usagi would never tell her brother... MUST
never tell... was how vulnerable she actually was.
She had to risk too much already.
" I will never willingly place my family in danger!"
Usagi said to herself. "I promise!"
"It is now Saturday. We will go to Rei with this
in a few hours", Shingo said to his sister and Luna.
"Shingo ..."
"I know, Usagi. It looks like trouble for the Senshi.
If it is, so be it. We will deal with it."
"Shingo!" Usagi pleaded. "I will not put you in danger!"
"WE will deal with it", countered Shingo with the smile
and a hug that only a little brother could give.
The sun was risen to mid-morning when Shingo, Usagi, and Luna
came to the steps of the Hiwara shrine.
Rei seemed busy sweeping the strorm's leafy intrusions from
the walkway. But appearances can deceive.
Rei looked up.
"We've been expecting you." Hino Rei gestured to the trio. "Enter."
Rei carefully steadied a visibly-troubled Usagi. "I'll fix you
some tea, Usagi", she smiled.
After Rei helped Usagi sit down, she turned to Shingo. "How long
has Usagi been like this?"
"Since Wednesday", Shingo replied. "Usagi was attacked by the dreams
even worse this morning."
"This morning ?" Ami cried out.
" Ami ? What are you doing here ?" Usagi asked as she came back
to reality. "I thought that you would be studying for the medical
entrance exams! You didn't need to come here! I know how much being
a doctor means to you." Usagi said apologetically.
Mizuno Ami looked directly at Usagi. "Do you know how much YOU mean
to me, Usagi-chan? I almost lost you because I was too busy thinking
about MY future! I can't bear losing you !" Ami bent down and hugged
Usagi. "Besides," Ami tried to reassure her leader, "I would just be
reviewing my review notes!" Ami then set down next to Usagi reassuringly.
"Usagi," Rei spoke up worriedly, "Shingo called and said you were
having nightmares about the Senshi. But that was all he said. What
exactly have you been seeing ?"
Usagi then related her dream. The Senshi gasped at the thought of Beryl
resurrected to fight them again.
Rei hugged Usagi protectively. "Don't worry Usagi. We'll get to the
bottom of this. I promise!"
Rei turned to Usagi and sighed. "Well," she said, "the good news, if there
is any, is that Beryl's not involved. At least not directly. "
"But I SAW her in my dream, Rei ! Or, rather, what WAS her." Usagi said on
the verge of tears and exhaustion.
"I know, Usagi ! That is why I casted a ward after my fire-reading." Rei
said, trying to calm her friend. "There were traces of Beryl in the fire.
Shadows."
"Her spirit, perhaps?" spoke Aino Minako. "Influencing things from ...."
"'Influencing' is the right word." Rei continued, "The shadow is too old
to be her spirit presently. It's more likely a past encounter of her's
coming back to now." This news gave each Senshi a shiver and a pause. Any
ghost of Beryl was an unpleasant thought.
"You said that was the 'good news'?" Minako said.
"Unfortunately, Yes." Rei said, "The Phoenix and the warrior with the
eye-tattoos and feathered-headress that Usagi saw were there. And they
are real enough. Also that they seem to come from the stars. But, other
than that, the spirits are silent about. Also, I saw an "X" cross my
sight several times. But I have no idea what it means."
"I think I have an idea about that," came a voice from the doorway of
the shrine, "but you're not gonna like the answer."
"Tuxedo-Kamen !"
"Mamo-Chan !" Usagi rose and embrased her beloved. "I thought you were
at Harvard !"
"I was," said Tuxedo-Kamen, "but I sensed you were in danger. So I came here."
"How ?" asked Kino Makoto.
"She brought me", answered Mamoru gestering to a far wall.
Five senshi turned- and gasped.
It was a rare occasion when she appeared.
And it usually foretold trouble.
"Sailor Pluto !"
"Hello, Meiou-Sama", Usagi said, trying her best to hide a
touch of apprehension.
"What did you mean," asked Makoto, " ' You're not gonna
like the answer' ?"
"The answer to the 'X' in Usagi's dream. It's probably a
reference to the X-Men."
"The X-Men ?" asked Usagi after a silent pause. "That American
super-hero team?"
"It depends on who you ask, Usako." Mamoru said holding her.
"Some say they're heroes, some say they're criminals."
"Hey ! Wasn't Yashida Shiro a member of the X-Men at one time ?"
Makoto asked.
"Yes !" answered Minako. "'Firestorm', didn't the papers say he
was called ?"
"I remember hearing about that," said Usagi, " but he hasn't
been superheroing for some time, and he's stuck to Japanese soil."
"What made you think of the X-Men, Chiba-San ?" Rei asked.
"Because one of the X-Men was named 'Phoenix'. And," Mamoru frowned,
"the warrior with the tattoos and feathers sounds too much like a
picture of an ally of theirs to be a coinsedence. I think the papers
called him 'Shi'ar'"
A white cat jumped down from Minako's shoulder. "Shi'ar ?" He asked.
"Yes, Artimis!" Tuxedo-Kamen said. "Do you know of the Shi'ar ?"
"I remember something," replied the white cat, "something from
just before the Silver Millenium's war with Metallia. But I was
only privy to a little information. Luna was more on the inside
than I was."
"I only heard as much as you did, Artimis !" Luna responded.
"Queen Serenity heard that Metallia had recruited allies from
a far galaxy. They were the Shi'ar. But before Metallia could use
them on the Moon Kingdom, her majesty had somehow dissuaded them
from attacking. It was a good thing, too ! Or so your mother said,
Usagi."
"Why was that, Luna?" Shingo asked, standing close beside Usagi.
"Because," Sailor Pluto enterupted, "The Shi'ar were a feared race
even one-thousand years ago. They are an intergalactic avian race
who have ruled a galactic empire for millenia. Metallia had heard
stories of them, and had decided to enlist their aide in the war
with Queen Serenity. And they would have struck, had the Queen not
gently persuaded them otherwise. But such persuasion cost her dearly
in energy needed for the coming battle."
"'Cost her... dearly' ?" Usagi flashed back to her mother's memories:
of the last battle on the moon, of the Kingdom's destruction, of her
Mother's sacrifice to save her daughter's spirit, as well as the Senshi
and Mamoru. Usagi could not keep back the tears.
"Now they have returned" continued Sailor Pluto, "to claim this solar
system as a prize for their empire."
"NO !!!" Usagi cried, as Shingo and Mamoru did their best to steady her
and keep her from falling. She was seeing her dream again. The Senshi-
and Shingo this time- falling where they had fought on the moon. The
thing that had been Queen Beryl snd Metallia laughing hysterically.
Usagi herself dying as the Silver Emprium Crystal explodes, tearing open
her chest and heart.
"I won't let that happen !" Makoto swore. "I saw Usagi dead once already!
I will not see her laid out in a casket again! Before that happens, I'll
bury every X-Man ! After", she said with an edge to her voice, "I tear
their hearts out of their chests!"
"Not without our help!" Came a challenge as three young girls in Sailor
uniforms stepped from the surrounding shadows. Shingo looked around at
them: Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Saturn.
At least his sister and he would not go into battle alone.
"Well," the Rei as she turned to the fire, "at the very least we know what
we're up against. And Usagi and Mamoru are together. Not like when Mamoru
had his dreams."