Cyber Moon: Dark World
Episode 4: Mirror of nightmares.
By Razor Knight
Last update: June 26, 2009
Rei had, like the others, listened to Chie's story, and would have been as skeptical as them, if not for her abilities confirming part of the story. "Ami, Karin, I can at least tell you she's not lying about there being something inside her. I can clearly see a second aura in her. But it's not an evil aura."
Ami nodded. "So this Helios creature says he can't speak to us directly. I still don't get why we should help him."
Chie paused, listening to the voice only she could hear. It had been a good thing to hear Rei say she could also 'see' Helios, because Chie had still been unsure about it all not being just her own mind playing tricks on her. "The enemy will come looking for him, because he holds the only power which can stop them. If they get him, they'll get his power, and then they will become truly invincible."
"Those goons can't be stronger than Ami and Rei," Karin noted.
Chie nodded. "Not really..." she cringed as she 'heard' what Helios told her, "but their power is different than ours. It's hard to explain, but it doesn't matter how much power you have, as long as it's the wrong kind of power."
"I get it," Ami said, "like having a million spoons when you need a knife."
Chie smiled at that. "Good analogy."
"So, how are we supposed to fight those creeps?"
Chie waited for the answer, then looked at Ami. "For now, Helios needs to rest. His last battle against his enemies drained him, and he can only give a part of his power to... His host."
"How long will it take for him to be able to give us some power too?" Ami asked.
"He's not sure," Chie said. "Listen, I know this all sounds too..."
"When the enemy comes, you will be the only one with a chance to fight them. Are you aware of that?"
"Yes, but there's nothing I can do about it. When they come, I'll fight them. It's what Senshi do."
Ami nodded at that, but she was still skeptical about this. Not the fact Chie had something inside, but the whole 'different powers' bit. She wouldn't be content with this until she did some field research.
"It's time for us to strike."
"So Neherenia finally lost her patience, huh?"
"Wouldn't you, after being trapped in that thing for centuries?"
"You've got a point, Tiger Eye. Are you going for it?"
"Yes. I have a target chosen already."
"Good luck, and bring me a souvenir."
"You can bring yourself one when your turn comes, Fish Eye."
"You're no fun."
"And you're annoying," Tiger Eye said before vanishing.
"Unknown energy signals detected in Mexico."
Ami frowned. "Mana readings?"
"None. Energy source unknown."
"That must mean it's them," Chie noted.
"Yes. Let's go."
"I can handle them."
"You don't really know that," Ami countered, "and I'm still not sure about what your inner friend said."
"Suits you," Chie muttered. "Let's go tell the others about this."
Minutes later, the four Senshi appeared in a village built in the center of what had once been Mexico City. They could see the enemy, a man with a strange hairdo and stranger clothes, who was looking at some sort of small mirror. Besides him, a teenage girl was tied up to a strange metal slab, and struggling to get free.
The man hadn't noticed them, and leaned forwards into the mirror, his head disappearing into it. As he did that, the teenager screamed in pain, her struggle ceasing almost instantly. "What a waste, that stupid thing wasn't here."
"Stop it right there!" Lilith shouted.
The man smiled and bowed at them. "I'm lucky, I came here looking for one cute girl, but I get five instead. Let me introduce myself, I'm Tiger Eye, and I'm here to search for a certain friend of mine. Have you seen him?"
Mercury smiled coldy. "Even if we had seen him, we wouldn't tell you, freak. Get out of our planet, or else..."
"Or else what?" Tiger Eye snapped back.
"Glad you asked," Mercury said. She summoned a dozen ice spikes, which shot at the man as fast as bullets. Despite their small size, they were charged with enough magic energy to blow a small city up.
Still, the man just stood there, smiling as the spikes hit him and vanished. "What was that, an attack? It didn't even tickle."
So that Helios wasn't lying. Still, it was annoying to her, she could get no readings whatsoever on this enemy. "Lilith, why don't you try your luck?"
Lilith nodded, summoning her talisman, her Karma dice. "Here goes nothing." The dice rolled, stopping with a double four. "Lights up, freak."
"What do you..." Tiger Eye started, but was stopped by a wave of light shooting up from the dice and swallowing him. As the attack ended, however, he was still there, and still unaffected. "Hmm, interesting little toys you have."
"Great, now what?" Mars muttered. It wasn't even worth trying her own fire attacks, as she could guess they would do no good.
"Use my power. I know you can feel it if you focus."
Lilith heard the voice in her mind, and sighed. Nothing to lose with trying. She could, indeed, feel something different in her as she closed her eyes. "Guess what, freak? I'm not done yet."
Tiger Eye laughed. "Oh, so you aren't? Go ahead, then."
"Of course I will," Lilith said as her hands lit up with energy. She whispered something, and a small circle of light appeared right in front of her.
"What the heck?" Mars said in shock. That attack wasn't the usual, and from the face Mercury had right now, she could tell her friend could see that too.
"Dream Charm!"
A wide beam shot out of the circle, hitting Tiger Eye straight in the chest, and dragging him back for a good block before fading. The man was too shocked and in too much pain to move. "Impossible."
"Nothing is impossible for us Senshi," Lilith snapped. "Dream..."
"Screw it, I'm out," Tiger Eye said before vanishing.
Mercury looked at her glove, then at Lilith, then shook her head. "This just doesn't make sense."
"What's wrong?" Lilith asked.
"I can't sense your magic power anymore."
"What, does that mean I'm so strong it can't get a reading?"
"The kind of energy you used for that blast is different from what we know, from mana. Maybe Ami's computer isn't built to measure it."
"That's a good guess," Mercury admitted, then walked to the victim, who had fallen to the ground in a heap after her attacker vanished. "I detect no physical damage, but..."
Lilith saw the girl was crying. "What's wrong with her?"
"I don't know, I wish I knew, but she's in shock right now."
"Let's take her to the village," Mars said, "and we'll see what we can do for her then."
"What happened to my daughter?"
Lilith flinched. The glare the woman was giving them was fierce. "Miss, we're sorry, but an evil being attacked her. We stopped him from killing her, but..."
"But what? What did that monster do to her?"
"We don't know," Mercury admitted, "but we'll stop them from harming anyone else. As far as I can tell, your daughter's just in shock from the attack."
The woman looked at her daughter, who was now sobbing as she sat on a chair. "I suppose I should thank you for saving her," she said, her initial anger mostly gone as she realized her daughter could've fared a lot worst if not for the Senshi's intervention.
"Here," Mercury gave the woman a small, round artifact. "If your daughter doesn't recover by tomorrow, just press that and we'll be here right away."
"Thanks, Senshi."
"No thanks needed," Mars said, "it's our duty to protect this planet."
Once they got back to the base, Mercury looked at Lilith. "I have some questions to make to your friend."
"Go ahead, he's listening," Lilith said.
"First off, what is exactly that energy you used?"
"We call it dream energy, the only thing that can oppose my enemies' nightmare energy."
Mercury listened as Lilith repeated what Helios said. "So they use a different energy source, and mana can't affect those beings. Got it. Okay, second question is, what exactly happened to that girl?"
Lilith heard Helios' answer, and her face lost color. "That's sick."
"What's wrong?" Mercury asked, noticing Lilith was shivering.
"What Tiger Eye did back then, it's horrible. See, I have Helios in my mind, but he isn't prodding it, he isn't damaging it. But that 'mirror' we saw is a physical representation of a person's mind, and what Tiger Eye did back then..."
Mercury looked at her in shock. "He forced himself into that girl's mind?"
"Yes, he breached her mental barriers, and poked around her mind, looking for Helios."
The other two Senshi had been silent, but Mars decided to speak her mind. "That's just... We can't let anyone else go through that!"
Lilith stood silent for a moment, then let out a dry chuckle. "You shouldn't worry about that, Rei. You should worry about yourself, actually."
Earth frowned. "What does that mean?"
Mercury made the connections fast. "They're looking for Helios, and they saw Lilith using Helios' power. So now they know Helios is in her."
"They know Helios is in one of us. As he said, given some rest, he can let us all use that power. In the 'best' case scenario, they'll come only after me, but if the enemy thinks Helios is fully recovered, then..."
"Then they will come after us all," Mercury guessed.
"We'll just have to make sure they can't get to us," Earth noted.
"Shit. This is what I get for wishing to be stronger."
"Chie..."
Lilith turned away. "I'm not sure I can protect you all, girls. I know I'll fail, and then you will get hurt."
"And nobody will blame you," Mercury said. "We know all too well that even when you give it your best, you can fail, and..."
"But I don't want it to be that way!" Lilith snapped. "I hate this, why did this horse choose me, why not..."
"Because your heart is pure, and you care about others more than you care about yourself."
"Bullshit," Lilith muttered, then left the room before the others could say a thing.
"Awesome. Life just keeps on getting better, doesn't it?"
Ami looked at Karin, then shook her head. "We'll defeat them."
"That doesn't change the facts. We could all end up worse than that poor girl, you know?"
Ami nodded. "I'm quite aware of that, but I trust my friends to help me if I fall. What about you?"
Karin's mood lightened at that. "Of course I trust you all, I'm just too used to see the glass half-empty lately."
"Tiger Eye, what happened?"
"A Senshi happened," the man said. "That bastard Helios is letting this planet's Senshi use his power."
"Hmm... That gives me an idea. We can be sure that horse is in one of them, right?"
"Of course, he will be better protected if he stays inside one of them."
"Then we just have to draw them out."
"What exactly are you planning, Fish Eye?"
"It's quite simple. I'll go and attack someone, those Senshi will surely detect me, and then they'll come to save the victim."
"They'll kick your ass, just like they kicked mine," Tiger Eye mused.
"Oh, but that's the beauty of this plan. You two will wait in the shadows, and attack them as soon as they show up."
"I like that plan," the other man in the room noticed.
"We like it, too!"
"You four..." Tiger Eye muttered.
The other man shook his head. "Tiger Eye, we could use their help."
"Thanks, Hawk Eye," one of the four girls that had just appeared said with a smile. "So, Fish Eye, what do you think?"
"The more, the merrier."
Tiger Eye nodded. "Hate to admit it, but there's at least four of those Senshi out there. Having numbers in our favor can only help."
"And we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves," Hawk Eye noted, "after all, our goal is one and the same."
"Yes, when we get that horsie, our Queen will destroy everything. Isn't that cute?"
"JunJun, you freak me out sometimes," Fish Eye muttered.
"Only sometimes? I must be losing my touch."
Chie woke up at the sound of the base's alarm. "Them again?"
As she walked into the main room, she saw the others were all there, already transformed. "Those freaks are back," Earth explained.
"I'm curious about that crystal."
Chie knew what Helios meant. "It is... It was meant to be our main weapon, used only by our leader, but our leader's gone now, and that crystal's polluted with evil energy. Until we find a way to clean it out of evil, we're quite short in fire power."
"I understand. Maybe once this is over, I can try to help you with that."
"That would be good."
"Uhm, you done with the inner dialogue yet?" Earth asked.
"Sorry, yes. Helios wanted to know about the Ginzuishou. Anyway, let's go beat whoever they sent this time around."
"Zirconia, I can't wait any longer."
The short, ugly creature stared at the woman who was staring back at her from the other side of the mirror. "My Queen, the time is near for you to be released. We already know who the ones hiding Helios are, and your soldiers are right now ambushing them. If everything goes according to plan, then we will capture Helios today."
"I hope that's the case, for my patience is growing thin."
The creature bowed at the woman then turned to leave. "Do not trouble yourself with negative thoughts, Nightmare Queen Neherenia."
As soon as the four Senshi reached their goal, they saw a man tied up to a metal slab, and a white-haired woman about to look into his mirror.
"Stop it right there, you evil girl!" Lilith snapped.
"Hahahaha..." Fish Eye turned to them and gave them a smile that made her look both cute and creepy. "Who said I'm a girl, I wonder?"
"But..." Lilith looked at Fish Eye then shook her head. "Damn it, something that cute just can't be a man."
"Focus," Mercury hissed, "we have to defeat this girl, guy, or whatever it is."
"You'll be the one defeated," Fish Eye said. "I knew you idiots would come to rescue whoever we attacked. You're rather stupid to fall for such a simple trap."
Mercury realized what Fish Eye meant, but it was already too late. Something hit her from behind, and she slumped to the ground, her mirror popping out of her chest before she fell. Lilith had, as usual, luck on her side, and the energy blast meant for her missed her barely. She looked at her three friends as they all fell. "What is going on?"
Six other figures appeared, Tiger Eye amongst them. He looked at one of the other girls and growled. "Cere, your aiming sucks."
"It does not," CereCere snapped back, "I think this little girl's got some kind of barrier up."
Mercury and Mars stood up, and as Mercury looked at her, Lilith could see their eyes were glazed over, as if they were in a trance. "Chie, leave."
"I can't do that, I have to save you!"
"If you don't leave, they'll get Helios!" Mars snapped. "Just go away already, you stupid girl!"
Lilith knew Mars didn't mean to insult her, and that she was right, but she couldn't just run away and abandon her friends. "Seven against one, I like the odds."
Fish Eye, Tiger Eye and Hawk Eye walked to the mirrors, while the four girls started shooting energy blasts at Lilith relentlessly. Lilith dodged them all rather easily, but at the same time, she couldn't stop the three other villains from looking into her friends' minds.
"Nothing here," Fish Eye noticed.
"Same here," the other two said.
Earth had just staggered up when Tiger Eye looked into her mirror. She let out a scream and fell to the ground, barely conscious. The other two, however, only flinched, and for a moment Lilith wondered if they were that strong. No, tears were falling down their cheeks, and she could only guess what they were feeling right now. "Ami, Rei, I'm sorry," she said, stopping only for a second before she had to jump away from another blast.
Mercury looked at the three villains closer to her, and her eyes returned to normal for a split second, before glazing over again. "I don't care if I can't use Helios power. I'll destroy those bitches with my own strength!"
Before anyone figured out what was happening, Mercury had already pinned Fish Eye and Tiger Eye against a wall, and was sending a relentless wave of ice through her hands and into their bodies.
"Hey, what's up with that girl?"
Lilith wondered the same thing, but then saw Mercury had the Ginzuishou floating near her. "No!"
"What's wrong?"
"In that state, if she uses too much of that crystal's power, she will die," Chie explained.
ParaPara overheard that and realized something. "Hey, the lucky bitch's the one with Helios' power!"
"I'm too weak to help them, but maybe I can help you instead," Helios said.
Lilith saw a crystal appear in front of her. It was similar to the Ginzuishou, but had what seemed like small clouds of different colors inside. "What is this?"
"The dream crystal, what my world's strongest Senshi used before the enemy killed her."
"Wait, why do you have..."
"I'll explain later, for now, just use that crystal."
Lilith grabbed the crystal, and could feel an inmediate raise in her power. The rush of energy was great, and from the looks of terror in her enemies' faces, she could tell they knew what was going on. "Luck's just turned completely to our side, freaks. Lilith Guardian Power!"
Mercury released the two she was holding, and fell to her knees. "Why... Why won't you die?"
Mars walked to Mercury, noticing the two men were quite shocked, but not really damaged by her attack. "Let's leave this one to Chie."
Mercury stood up and nodded. "I guess you're right. I'm too tired to try anything."
Mars frowned as her friend fell down. Again, Mercury had used the crystal, and again, the effect was as expected. She looked back at the battle, feeling quite weak herself to do anything else. Maybe having those mirrors outside, like with their heart crystals, was having an adverse effect on them.
Helios was thinking along those lines, too. "Chie, before you attack the enemy, make those mirrors go back to where they belong."
Lilith looked at the three mirrors. "Huh, I can do that?"
"Yes, you have the power of the Dream Senshi right now, the only force that opposed these evil creatures in my home world."
Lilith decided to stop asking and start acting, amused by the fact the seven soldiers were just staring at her in shock. "I see now, I know what to do." She pointed at the three mirrors, and they floated to their owners, vanishing as they reached them. "As for you all, freaks..."
Tiger Eye gasped. "This is not good, the plan failed."
"Retreat for now!" CereCere shouted.
"Cowards," Mars muttered. Her energy was coming back fast now that she had her mirror, but a part of her still wanted to sit down and cry. That brief moment when these monsters had looked into their minds, she was sure the others had felt the same, a pain too strange to describe, like their minds had been torn in half. "I want to get them, to destroy each one of them..."
Lilith looked at her. "Sorry, I failed to protect..."
Mars saw Lilith fall forwards and caught her before she hit the ground. "Chie!"
"Let's take her back. Let's go to the base."
Mars saw Mercury was up and looking at her, and simply nodded at her.
"Am I dead?"
"Not quite, but using that crystal, along with your power going up, was a bit too much for your body," Helios explained. "I'm sorry, I should have foreseen that."
"It's thanks to you that we're still alive," Chie said dismissively. "But while I'm out cold, you could explain a few things to me."
"You want to know why I have that crystal."
"Along with other things," Chie admitted.
Helios' form was filled with light, and changed into a humanoid shape. Where the Pegasus had been, now stood a boy wearing a white, regal suit. Chie knew it was still him, since he had a horn in his forehead, and his eyes were still the same. "This is my true form. I am... A Senshi. A Dream Senshi."
"Dream Senshi," Chie repeated, "but why do you have that crystal? Are you the leader?"
"No... She's gone. It happened centuries ago, we were a group that fought against evil in our world, but then, one of our own betrayed us. Neherenia, who was the younger of the two sisters that were the strongest in our group. She had always hated her sister's for having more power than her, and she let herself be consumed by the nightmare energy, she became what the enemy was lacking, a Queen of Nightmares to lead them in their path of destruction."
"But she was a Senshi, why would she do something like that?"
"As I said, jealousy. She was weak-minded, she wanted what her sister had, the power, the beauty... She wanted even me, who was married to her sister, to be hers. We fought her, of course, but when it came down to it, our leader couldn't hurt her own sister, even if she had turned to evil. She tried to save Neherenia, and paid the highest price for it."
"Neherenia killed her."
"Yes. But before she died, her last wish was for me to not kill her sister. Even after she had betrayed her and killed her, she believed Neherenia could be saved."
"So this Neherenia, is she powerful?"
"Indeed, she was stronger than me, and I was the strongest of the Dream Senshi now that my beloved was gone. She and her troops killed all my friends, and for a second I considered unleashing the full power of the Dream Crystal on her. But I couldn't break that promise I made."
"You let her escape?"
"No. I had promised not to kill her, but I gave Neherenia something worse than death, at least worst from her point of view. I trapped her inside her own dream mirror, sealing her powers away. Her allies have been chasing after me ever since, trying to get the crystal so they can unseal her."
Chie was silent for a minute, then sighed. "That's quite a story. And I feel weird, knowing that crystal I used was..."
"Your body will adapt to its power quickly. I'm glad I could see that, since I wasn't sure any of you would be able to use it to its full potential."
"Ami or Rei could... After all, they're stronger than me."
"But I fear I won't recover in time for that, Neherenia may mobilize her full army against us."
"We're talking about a few dozen monsters, or a few hundreds?"
"Even more than that," Helios admitted, then his face turned grim. "Chie, I have a favor to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"I swore that I wouldn't kill her, so I want you to do that for me."
"I don't know if I can, I mean, I'm not that strong, and..."
"You've got the potential to be as strong as your allies, I've seen it in your mind."
Chie looked down for a moment, then smiled as she looked back at Helios. "I understand. I'll do everything I can to stop Neherenia."
"Thanks," Helios said. "But now it's time for you to return to reality."
"What do you..." Chie started, but then Helios and her surroundings vanished as she woke up.
A/N: This episode's for those who thought I was only going to give Mercury the task of killing the main bad guys (or rather 'bad girls,' bah.)
And I was planning to put the whole Dead Moon battle in one episode, but when I finished the battle of Senshi vs. Amazons, I felt it was too short and simple, so I rewrote it. The end result is what you could read here, and I also expanded a bit on Helios' story (He didn't give so much detail in Cyber Moon Chronicles.) If I added the final battle along with all that, the episode would be far too long for my liking.