Cyber Moon: Dark World
Episode 2: A long road out of hell.
By Razor Knight
Last update: June 16, 2009
Their enemies were definitely the difficult kind. They just appeared at a random area, draining the energy of any civilians they found, but vanishing before she or her allies could reach the area under attack.
It had been two months since the attacks started, and they had used their time wisely. Rei was training the two weaker Senshi, and had managed to get them to Cosmic level. Still far from the power the two of them had, but it was a start. As for Ami herself, she had been searching her computer's database, for clues on how to restore the Ginzuishou.
She looked at the crystal... A crystal they had worked so hard to recover, but it was useless to them as it was. It could only be used to destroy, and the world had seen enough destruction already. There were no historical records of the Ginzuishou ever being polluted by evil, It was apparently the first time one of the Ginzuishou had been corrupted. The first time in countless thousands of years. It just went along with the rest of their rotten luck.
Rei walked in, and she looked up from staring at the black crystal. "Any luck out there?"
"You could say so. That monster killed half a dozen civilians before I got there, but this time around, I could see her."
"Her?"
Rei nodded. "A blond woman, her power was as pathetic as that Kaorinite freak, but... She escaped. And again, our trackers won't work."
"They know we're trying to track them down," Ami said, "it's a pity they don't realize we have the 'Talismans' they're looking for."
It had been rather easy for her to figure things out. The Talismans, the key to the powers beyond Cosmic, were bound to their souls. Kaorinite had mentioned Talismans, so she made the connection and knew the enemy was looking for them.
But the Talismans wouldn't show up like that, just taking the soul out of a Senshi's body wouldn't be enough. The enemy apparently didn't know this, but the question was, why had they stopped searching for them?"
"Ami?"
"Sorry, I was just doing some thinking. I still have no idea why they changed their strategy."
"Maybe their leader was watching, and knew how strong you are. Given that we're the only Senshi left, they might have figured getting a Talisman was an impossible feat."
Ami nodded at Chie. "That's a good guess, I suppose. In any case, this means just like the Dark Kingdom, they need energy for their goals to be complete."
"Just a crazy idea here," Karin interrupted, "but maybe we should just wait?"
"People's dying out there," Rei said.
"I know that, and I'm not saying we shouldn't try to stop them from killing people. I'm saying we should just wait and see what happens when they get enough energy."
"Waiting for whatever they want to unleash to be unleashed, then destroying it?" Ami pondered. "That could work, or it could just destroy our world."
"Eeeeh... Then forget I said anything."
"Are you still searching for them?"
"Of course," Ami said, "but I can't get any clues on where they might be, and I'm using every available satellite to try and locate them."
The satellites orbiting the Earth weren't affected by the youma invasion, and that was a good thing, since Ami could hack into any (and all) of them at any time, giving her control over what was happening everywhere in the world.
But satellites couldn't detect magic, nor could they see through magic shielding, so when dealing with enemies like the ones they were facing right now, having a million eyes was worthless.
"Have you gathered enough energy yet?"
"We have almost reached..."
"... Our goal. We will soon have enough..."
"... Energy to fully bring you to this universe."
"Good, once that's done, I'll be able to bring our master here as well. And then, this world will be ours."
"We can hardly wait..."
"... For that day."
"The enemy's in China," Ami said.
"They're attacking there?"
"No, I mean I finally located their hideout. But it's not actually good news."
"What do you mean?"
"I was only able to detect them because they're throwing out an incredible amount of energy. If I'm guessing right, this means they're finally going to bring their boss here."
Rei changed to her Senshi form in a blink. "Then we should go greet him, her or it."
Mercury nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. Earth, Lilith, you're coming along too."
"Of course, I wouldn't miss this one," Karin said with a smile.
The twins bowed, then stepped aside as the woman walked past them. "Lady..."
"This world, its stench of life is almost unbearable. Fortunately, you chose a good area for our base, there's enough humans near us for me to use." Her hands filled with light and she smiled. "Soon our master will purify this world, and the Silence will..." she stopped and looked up. "I can sense enemies approaching. Those so-called Senshi are drawing near."
"Then we shall..."
"... Stop them."
"Have Mimette and Villuy go, too. I don't want anything to interfere with the summoning."
As soon as they appeared, Mercury could see something was wrong. Very wrong. "No, this can't be..."
"What's the problem?" Earth asked.
"I don't know how they're doing this, but I can't sense any life forms other than the few inside that cave, in several dozen miles around us."
"There are three villages in that area, right?" Mars noted. "That means they killed everyone in them?"
Mercury nodded. "I think we have to go and destroy them before anyone else falls."
"Hey, look, a group of super cheerleaders."
Earth turned to see four women had just appeared. The four wore suits of different colors, but they all looked like bad copies of their Sailor suits. "Hmph, I didn't know we had groupies."
"You shall not..."
"... Survive this battle, Senshi."
Mercury looked at the two, then at Mars. "Their power is low, but their weapons can reflect anything we throw at them. It would require a fast barrage of attacks to overload them."
"I say we do this the hard way, then," Mars said. "Earth, Lilith, take care of the other two."
"Gotcha," Earth said with a smile. It was good to finally be able to test her new powers in battle.
Mars turned to the two women. They looked like twins, but she could see they shared the same aura. One soul in two bodies, perhaps? "Hmph. Let's see how long this takes."
Mercury nodded, and both rushed to the twins. Their targets, however, vanished and reappeared behind them, shooting energy blasts at point blank. It did nothing but piss the two Senshi off, however, and they moved faster than the twins expected, both turning and punching out at almost the same time.
"This is simply..."
"... Impossible."
Mars pulled her hand out of the woman's chest and turned around. "If that's the best this enemy has for us..."
"Our master will..."
"... Destroy you all."
Mercury looked at the two other Senshi as the twins turned into dust. Earth was standing over a rather bloody Mimette, and Lilith was kicking Villuy around like a rag doll. "These are weak, but I can guess their leader will be stronger."
Earth and Lilith walked to them and smiled. "This was easier than our training," Earth commented.
Mars was about to say something, but a black beam shot from the ground near them, creating a 'hole' in the sky, which quickly grew in size. "What is that..."
"A transdimensional portal," Mercury said, "something's coming through."
The figure that appeared from inside the portal was a rather unsetting sight. It was a giant, humanoid creature, but its body was apparently made entirely of darkness. As the figure stepped through, the portal vanished, and a woman appeared floating near it. "Master, it is time for you to purify this planet."
"Purify?" Earth muttered.
"Most likely means destroying everything," Mars said.
What happened next, however, they weren't quite ready for. The giant creature turned into mist and was absorbed by the woman, who then started laughing. "I will bring the Silence to this impure world!"
"Mars Inferno Demon!"
"Mercury Endless Winter!"
The two attacks hit their mark, but the woman just stood there, unphased by them. "Pitiful humans, you are powerless against me!"
Mercury was lost for words. This woman... She was stronger than them? But how was that possible, this was their ultimate power, their strongest attacks, and still, she had just shrugged them off?
"Begone!" the woman snarled, sending a wave of darkness all around her, which knocked the Senshi away. She then smiled as her hands were covered by dark energy. She then started chanting some words in an unknown language, and the ground around her went pitch black. "The Silence shall soon take over this planet."
Mercury regained consciousness and immediately looked around. The ground and vegetation around them was slowly going black, as if darkness was taking over the area. From what she could see, it was expanding, and fast. If they couldn't stop that woman fast, then the world would be...
She realized something. Those alternate Senshi who had helped them defeat Beryl, they had most likely dealt with this one enemy, and won. So why couldn't they defeat it? They were far stronger, still...
"They had the crystal," Mars said. She had a knack for knowing what Mercury was thinking, it was almost unsetting, really. "Mercury, is the crystal really useless?"
"It's just a weapon of destruction, Rei. It's dangerous."
Lilith and Earth stood up, slowly, both looking like they were barely able to stand, let alone fight. "You know," Earth noted, "if that crystal's only good for destroying things, then it's just what we need right now."
Lilith frowned. "But there's no Sailor Moon, so it can't be..."
"It can be used, but it's risky," Mercury explained.
Mars saw Mercury reach her hand out, and the crystal appeared, floating in front of her. "Ami, wait, you can't..."
"I would really love to finally find a way to bring our friends back... But if we let this woman destroy the world, then our friends will be gone for good."
"Ami, don't..."
"Rei, there's no other way," Mercury said, then took the crystal in her hands and looked at the evil woman, who hadn't moved since her 'purification' begun. "You say we're powerless, but I'll show you what our real power can be. Mercury Lunar Hailstorm!"
The others just looked on as a rain of ice, snow, water and light fell around them, none of it touching them. As the attack ended, they could see the woman had been turned into an ice statue, her eyes locked in a stare of shock and disbelief. Mercury calmly walked to the woman and, before anyone could say a thing, punched through her, causing the statue to explode in a rain of ice shards.
"Ami, are you okay?"
Mercury fell to one knee, but smiled. "Yes, it's just... The Ginzuishou needs a lot more power to work than I estimated."
"It's all over, huh?" Lilith asked.
"This attack is," Mars agreed, "but there may be other enemies out there."
Mercury nodded at that, then looked at the crystal. For a second, she thought the crystal looked slightly less black than it usually was, but she dismissed it as her mind still feeling the effects of using it.
"Ami, you don't look so good."
"It's okay, Rei, I'm just..."
Mars run to Mercury's side as she fell on her face. "Ami!" She checked on her friend and sighed in relief. "Damn it, you scared me. "
Earth looked at Mercury's prone form. "Will she be okay?"
"Yes, but as she said, that crystal needs a lot of power to work."
One week had passed since the battle, and Mercury couldn't help but wonder. Was Sailor Moon really needed in this, their reality? What about the others? Weren't they being selfish, wanting to bring their friends back to a world that was almost doomed to fall? Even Usagi wouldn't shrug this off, no, she was sure Usagi would be quite shocked if she saw how things had changed.
Maybe it was better just to work with what they had now. Rei and her were at their highest level, and the other two would eventually catch up. So it was okay, wasn't it? There was no need to bring their friends back to this nightmare.
It was well past midnight, but she couldn't fall asleep. She decided to go for a walk, to clear her mind. The base they were using now had once been the headquarters of the JDF, and it was surrounded by nature. It was almost amazing, to see the speed at which nature had claimed what had once been the city of Tokyo.
Ami opened the door, and noticed something was very wrong as soon as she stepped outside. Temperature was dropping, even though they were in mid-summer, and she could see a thin layer of ice in the distance. The ice was getting close to their base at an alarming rate, so she knew it was not a natural event.
She kept on running, but wasn't sure why. Only thing she could see was a dim light in the distance, which she could never reach, no matter how long she run. Everything else was darkness, an unsetting darkness wich had no visible limits. There was something there, in that light, something she knew she had to see.
It seemed like hours to her, but finally the point of light grew into a small circle, she was getting close to it. Before she knew it, the light was all around her, and she couldn't see any of the darkness that had surrounded her before.
And there was a very familiar feeling to this light, too. Something she knew she had felt before. Something she had never thought she'd feel again. As several forms appeared, she stood there, too shocked to speak, too shocked to move.
"Rei, we've been waiting for you."
"Usa... Usagi?" Rei couldn't stop herself, and she run to hug her friend. However, she was shocked when she realized she couldn't touch her, this wasn't Usagi, only a image of her. Her soul, if what she was feeling was right.
"Don't be afraid, Rei. We're with you all the time."
"How can I bring you back?"
"Bringing us back requires a sacrifice, one I don't want you to make, " Usagi said. She sounded so kind, so calm, Rei had missed this. However, she had already realized what was going on. This wasn't real, she was dreaming this.
"A sacrifice... We're ready to make any sacrifice if it means seeing you again, Usagi."
Mako walked up to Rei. "You should just forget about us. What you will have to do in order to revive us, it's just..."
"You two lost enough already," Minako said, "if you go any further, you could lose it all."
Lose it all? What was up with them? No, these couldn't be her friends, she couldn't believe they were asking her to just forget about them. "I don't believe this."
"Rei, please..."
Rei looked at Usagi and shook her head. "I'm not going to turn back after coming this far, Princess. The Earth needs you... We need you. All of you."
Usagi looked away and then nodded. "I can't agree to that, but... I understand."
Rei blinked a few times. No, her eyes weren't tricking her. The figures had all vanished, all but that of Usagi. "What is going on?"
"I can't change your mind, so I'll help you. The Ginzuishou is the key to all this, Rei. Use that knowledge as well as you can."
"Use that knowledge? But we already knew that, Usagi..." She noticed her friend was slowly fading and paled. "Wait!"
"I'm sorry, Rei, but it's time for me to go."
"Wait!"
Ami was quite shocked. When she entered the room, she had noticed Rei tossing and turning, and had tried to wake her up. Rei's sudden outburst was a confirmation, she was having some sort of nightmare. "Rei, are you okay?"
Rei groaned and put a hand on her forehead. "Not really... I had a strange dream."
"That will have to wait for now. There's an unnatural ice layer growing everywhere in the world. At this rate, the whole planet will be covered in a few hours."
Rei stood up and walked out of the room. "What about breaking that ice?"
"I managed to keep the ice away from this place," Ami noted, "but I don't know how long I'll be able to do it. I have the satellites working non-stop, looking for wherever the enemy might be."
Chie and Karin saw the two enter the main room of their base and nodded at Rei. "Things look dire," Chie explained, "but the computer found the sources of the ice. There are thousands of seed-like pods everywhere in the world, and they are creating the ice."
Ami looked at the computer, using her skill to probe the 'seeds.' "I see... Those pods work by flooding the area around them with ice mana. I could easily disrupt that and destroy the pods, but to get to all of them..."
Rei sensed something and looked up to the sky. "Satellites won't find the true enemy, because they're not looking in the right direction."
Ami nodded at that, giving the computer some more commands. The screen changed to a view of the space outside the Earth, and a small, bluish object could be seen speeding towards their world. "That is..."
"Let me guess, an ice asteroid?"
"No, a spaceship of some sort."
"How do we get up there?" Chie asked.
"You can't," Ami said.
"Hey, we want to help too, so don't..."
"Don't be a fool," Ami snapped. "We can get there, we could drag you along, but if the readings I'm getting are true, then you two would be frozen dead in less than one minute."
"Damn it, that's not fair," Chie complained, but knew Ami was right about this. "Okay then, I suppose we can only wish you luck."
Mercury and Mars had already transformed, and Mars smiled at the other two. "We'll be back soon."
As soon as two reached their destination, Mars realized just how right Mercury was. Even with her Holy powers, she felt extremely cold. Mercury, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by the temperature at all. "Where is their boss?"
Mercury had her visor down and was looking around. "I'm detecting a strong entity nearby. Actually, from my readings, it's coming this way."
Mars smiled. "Good, the sooner we kill it, the sooner we'll return home." She closed her eyes for a second, and a thin aura of fire surrounded her body. "I'm already sick of this cold."
Mercury gave her an understanding nod. In her case, however, this cold wasn't enough to bother her. In fact, all it did was upgrade her powers. "Here it comes."
'It' was a tall, slender woman, wearing a regal attire, complete with a crown. The only strange thing about her was that she was made entirely of ice, as was her clothing. "You are not allowed here."
"You're not allowed into our world, either," Mars snapped. "Die."
A column of flames rose from under the ice woman's feet, but she was seemingly unaffected. "Foolish creatures. While inside this ship, I am invincible."
Mercury had been busy scanning the woman. "Her skin is impervious to magic."
"Then I have a plan," Mars said and rushed at the ice woman.
The woman didn't try to dodge, waiting until Mars was a mere meter away before making her move. "Begone."
Mercury's face lost color as her friend fell, a rather large ice spike embedded in her chest. "Rei!"
"That's what she gets for defying the Ice Queen Kaguya."
She couldn't believe it, Mars was going to die, just like Moon, and there was no way for her to... No, maybe there was a way. But first, she had to take care of the main threat. "Die!"
Kaguya laughed. "Your friend tried the same," she snapped at the approaching girl, before sending out another ice spike. She gasped, however, as Mercury deflected the spike with a punch. Mercury's other hand clasped around the Queen's neck, and Kaguya could see the girl was smiling. A cold, emotionless smile.
"Fight fire with fire, or in this case, fight ice with ice. Mercury Freezing Pulse!" Mercury could feel it, her enemy's very blood freezing in a matter of seconds, and any liquid in the woman's body was frozen solid as well. She dropped the Queen, who fell to the ground and shattered into countless ice shards, and turned to Mars. "Rei, hang in there!"
Mars flinched. "I'm an idiot, huh? Underestimating that ice woman like... That."
Mercury's eyes watered. Mars was losing blood, and fast, and she could see her vital signs were weak already. She had to do something, but what? "The crystal!"
Mars heard that and shook her head slowly. "Ami, don't do it. That crystal's polluted, if you try to use it again, then..."
"If I don't do a thing, then you'll die," Mercury noted. "Weren't you the one telling me not to go and die without bringing our friends back?"
"Even if I'm not here, you can still do it."
"That's a lie, and you know it," Mercury scolded as she summoned the crystal. As she looked at the crystal, she knew she hadn't imagined it: The crystal was not as dark as it had been, even if the change was too little to be noticeable unless you focused in it. "I don't know if this crystal can do it, but I'll take the risk."
Mars saw the crystal light up, and the dim, almost black light it gave shone over her body. It took her mind a few seconds to register the feeling, but she could feel the wound closing. "It's working."
Mercury opened her eyes, noticing the wound was about to close, and smiled at her friend. "If I let you die, then what am I going to tell Usagi?"
The ship started shaking violently, and Mars realized something. "Without that woman around, this place's going to break apart."
Mercury looked around. "You're right." She then turned to Mars and sighed. "Think you can teleport us both back to Earth?"
"I'm sure I can, but why are you asking that now?"
"Because..." Mercury said, then fell on her side.
Mars grimaced. No, Mercury was still alive, but this time the energy used up by that crystal was more than before. She saw the crystal floating there and gasped. She could see, now, that its blackened surface was lighter than before. Still black, but not the same shade as she remembered. "Use that knowledge..." Rei said, repeating the words Usagi had said in her dream. She put the crystal away, and picked Mercury up from the ground, idly noticing a group of ice women coming towards them from all directions before she vanished.
Earth and Lilith were standing right besides the base's main entrance. A minute earlier, the ice had been creeping towards them, relentlessly, but now it was vanishing. They could guess that meant the others had won.
Lilith turned as she heard a sound, and saw Mars appearing, with Mercury's prone form in her arms. "What happened to her?"
"She used the crystal again. I'm to blame for that."
"What exactly happened?" Earth asked.
"Their 'boss' showed up, an ice queen, as she called herself. Our magic didn't work on her, so I tried going melee against her."
Mercury woke up as Mars said that. "You're too much of a hothead sometimes."
Mars put Mercury down and smiled at her. "Yeah. So Mercury here did something to that woman and killed her, then she healed me."
"I hadn't used that attack, but I knew it was there."
"What was that anyhow?" Mars asked. "I was too weak to really see what you did."
"I'm not quite the melee fighter, but that one attack only works when I can touch my foes. It instantly freezes any liquid inside any living being's body to something close to absolute zero degrees."
"Fuck, that's a nasty way to die," Lilith admitted.
"In any case, I realized an interesting fact about the crystal," Mercury said.
"I think I know what you mean," Mars admitted.
"Is it a good thing?" Earth asked.
"It may be," Mercury said, "it should be a good sign. Let's go inside, I'll show you what I found."
"My Queen, we've found a planet full of creatures you can feed on."
The woman looked at her soldier and chuckled. "Good, go and prepare this new world for me."
"At once, Dream Queen Vadianne."
A/N: Took me a bit longer than I planned to write this one, but I hope the results are good enough. What's next? Besides Vadianne, there's the Dead Moon, Galaxia, and then... No, I'm not ruining the surprise.
