Chapter Two: Of Visitors and Discoveries
The boys landed hard on the white stone that Wufei immediately recognized as something that would be used at a temple. There were beautiful sakura trees surrounding the wooden temple house and the boys immediately felt at ease in the place. It was a peaceful place and they enjoyed the tranquility.
"I am to assume that you have a reason for being here?"
The boys turned and stared at the black haired young woman wearing traditional priestess garb standing on the path behind them, her violet eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion, but there was no true hostility there. Duo decided that he was going to step forward and bite the bullet and he did it with his usual big grin and flirty attitude.
"Hey babe, is this the Cherry Hill Temple?"
Her eyes narrowed further and the boys fancied they could see flames grow in her eyes.
"Yes, may I ask who is wondering?"
"Well, I'm duo Maxwell and my compadres are Wufei Chang, the uptight one with the micro-ponytail, Heero Yui, the other uptight one, Trown Barton, the one with the unibang and Quatra Winner, the cute little blonde. We were sent here through a portal of some kind on advice from…someone."
The woman looked at them for a moment before nodding carefully.
"A portal huh? Sounds like I need to call Ami." She turned her attention back to the boys.
"My name is Hino Rei, and this is my temple. Come with me and I'll call a friend who I think can help."
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Ami had been surprised when Rei had called about a group of boys coming to the temple through a portal, but had gone over with her computer and run every analysis that she could. Her conclusions, while definitive, were not very helpful without some more clarification.
"Well, the portal was to a very isolated part of what seems to be the old Negaverse."
"What do you mean the 'old' Negaverse? Isn't the Negaverse just…the Negaverse?"
"No. When queen Serenity eliminated Metallia for the first time the Negaverse split into what I've known as the 'old' and the 'new'. The old is the original Negaverse, the one that attacked the moon all those years ago. The new is where all our enemies have been coming from. Beryl and the generals were the only enemies from the 'old' Negaverse that we have fought; all the others have come from the new."
Rei nodded and though the boys were curious they decided that they didn't need to know. They needed to get home.
"How does this help us to get home?"
Ami shook her head slowly.
"It doesn't, but it tells me who will know for sure."
"Who?"
"Pluto."
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Nemesis was tired, but then that was nothing new. She had been fighting for nearly a day since the boys had left her and she knew that she still had two days to go before the Gate would vanish and things would go back to their normal cycle of war, battle, war, battle, war, rest, battle ad nausaum. She couldn't wait for the break that the Gate's closing would gain her and fought harder still when a group of youma tried to sneak past her. Heads flew, limbs hit the ground in wet puddles of blood and youma fell to her blades, one after another after another. She was slowing ever so slightly, but it was enough to be caught with the sword coming at her from all directions and she began to take damage, though she ignored it for the time being. She idly wondered about those boys and whether or not they had made it home…
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The arrival of the other girls was a bit of a shock for the boys as they were just as varied as the pilots themselves and Duo had locked onto the dark girl called Hotaru, who he learned was the adopted daughter of 'Haruka-papa' and 'Michiru-mama'. Rei and Wufei were practically spitting fire at one another and Makoto was just watching in supreme amusement, her easy strength obvious to the boys and piquing Trowa's interest a bit. Ami was typing away on her computer, her delicate fingers racing over the keyboard of the tiny computer and fascinating Heero, who couldn't imagine the young woman's intelligence. Hotaru was content to just listen to Duo, imagining what it would be like to be friends with him, but thinking it impossible as he would fear her when he learned of who and what she was. Michiru was happy for Hotaru and knew in her sea-heart that Duo wouldn't back away from the Firefly of Death. Haruka, on the other hand, was not at all pleased at the boy's attraction to her firefly, but Michiru's firm grip on Haruka's arm kept her from castrating him there and then.
The portal took them all by surprise.
Pluto's stately form stepped from the portal and she stood, looking at a group of boys that she had looked in on once or twice before, but never thought to interact with. She knew that they didn't belong to their world, but had no honest idea as to how they had come to be there.
"May I ask what is going on here?"
Quatre, always the polite one, stood and bowed.
"Miss Pluto, I am Quatre Winner and, well…my friends and I are in a bit of a quandary."
"I am aware that you are not in your proper place. I am not the Guardian of Time for nothing young Mr. Winner. My question is how did you get here?"
So they told her and as they told her about the Gate she nodded, having already known that the Gate existed. It was, in fact, the bane of her job. The Gate was the only artifact that allowed for dimensional travel without passing through the Time Gates, so she couldn't monitor what happened within or without it. It was an irritant, but one that couldn't be destroyed, so it was one she was forced to deal with once every century. Her expression went from one of understanding to one of confusion when they told her of the warrior they had met in the Netherworld. She hadn't known of any human warrior who could even survive in the Netherworld, much less fight there. That expression turned to one of horror as the warrior's name spilled from the blonde's lips.
"Nemesis, that's what he called himself."
An old memory, one from the Silver Millennium, floated to the fore of Pluto's mind. A memory of a young Nemissian, battered and nearly broken; holding her own, alone on the battlefield that was the dark side of the moon. She'd been so small at the time, so fragile, that Pluto had thought that one strike would be enough to kill the girl, but she'd fought on. Pluto and her father had watched from the Gates, powerless to help the young warrior as she defended a people that hated her for her brother's sins.
The young warrior who was later banished to the Netherworld for the sins of her brother.
"Oh Selene."
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