WRATH OF THE GODS
Chapter 6: A Power Greater Than My Own
A Sailor Moon fanfiction
By Bill K.
Friday, March 11, 2011, 3:01 pm - - fourteen minutes after the Tohoku earthquake.
Usagi stared at the news announcer on the television. A banner across the top of the screen spoke of breaking news. The announcer spoke of warnings from the government's Earthquake Early Warning System of a massive quake that had struck in the Pacific Ocean seventy kilometers east of the Oshika Peninsula of Tohoku. Early estimates of the quake were of at least 8.5 on the Richter Scale and emergency mobilization was beginning in the entire northeastern coast line of Japan. An uneasy feeling of dread came over her and she wasn't entirely certain the feeling was from the news reports.
"Luna?" she called out.
"Artemis has it measured!" Luna called out from the other room. "Dear Lord. It's a Magnitude nine."
At that point, Luna felt a change in the energy of the room. Abandoning her computer and her link with Artemis, Luna raced out into the living room. There, Usagi stood in the room before the television, silver energy swirling around her. Her clothing was in the process of transforming into a white off the shoulder gown with puffed brocaded sleeves. It was Usagi's Princess form, the form she unconsciously summoned only in the most dire of emergencies.
"Usagi!" cried the black cat, fearing what her charge intended. Usagi glanced back at her vacantly and then faded from view.
Ami Mizuno was in an examination room with a patient, a thirty-nine year old woman being treated for a persistent skin discoloration. Dr. Mizuno was in the middle of discussing the risks and rewards of the prescription cream she was recommending. Suddenly the woman's eyes grew wide and she let out a scream of shock and surprise. Turning to see what had scared her patient, Ami found herself face to face with Princess Serenity.
"U-Usagi?" Ami mumbled in surprise and alarm.
Serenity responded only by extending her hand to Ami. After a moment's confusion, Ami grasped the hand. Both women faded from sight, causing the witnessing patient to scream again.
Without any sensation of the passage of time, Ami found herself on the grounds of the Shrine on Sendai Hill. Rei was there, speaking with Akira-Sensei. Turning to the presence she sensed, Rei gaped at them. She seemed visibly as confused as Ami felt. Serenity extended her hand. Mechanically Rei took it.
And a moment later the three were in the living room of Makoto Kino Ikegami.
"What the Hell?" Makoto gasped, dropping her duster and approaching them. Extending the hand that still had hold of Ami, Serenity only stared at the tall, brown-haired woman. Her face marked with confusion, Makoto grasped the hand.
Artemis looked up from his computer in shock. Princess Serenity stood near the sofa, holding hands with Ami, Rei and Makoto. The three women were reeling. Minako became aware of their presence and stared from the sofa. But the Princess seemed on a different plane of awareness.
"How," stammered Artemis, "did you all get here? Usagi, you were with Luna a moment ago!"
Turning to Minako, Princess Serenity extended her hand, Rei's still caught in her grip. Minako just stared at it.
"Hell of a way to make an entrance," she whispered and took the offered hand. The five women instantly faded from sight.
"Artemis!" the cat heard Luna scream over their real time connection. "Usagi! It's Usagi! She's . . .!"
"I know," Artemis told her. "She was just here! She had all the senshi with her!"
"You don't suppose she's headed for the earthquake, do you?"
"It's the only explanation that makes any sense," Artemis replied. "She must have somehow sensed the rest."
"The rest?"
On a pier in Miyako, a coastal town on the Peninsula of Oshika, people were picking themselves out of the rubble of the aftermath of the earthquake. The town had been hit hard by the quake. Buildings were shifted or collapsed. Streets were cracked. Everywhere was shock and mayhem and the dawning realization that those who survived had just survived one of the strongest quakes in recorded history. Those who weren't pinned scrambled to help those who were. Children cried. The injured cried out. Sirens were everywhere as emergency crews raced in a dozen directions.
And without warning, they were there. Survivors stared in disbelief. Though they didn't quite recognize the blonde woman in the gown, the others were the famous Sailor Senshi, for even in the north the fabled exploits of the Sailor Senshi were known. A sensation passed through the on-lookers, a sensation of relief. They were safe now. The Senshi were here.
Instantly, though, the blonde in the gown crumpled and fell to the surface of the pier.
"Serenity!" gasped Sailor Mars, for all four of them were transformed by Princess Serenity's power. She knelt next to the Princess and cradled her. Sailor Mercury knelt on the other side and checked her vital signs.
"She's over-exerted herself," Mercury judged.
"Doing Sailor Teleport all by herself? Can't imagine why," Venus said.
"She should be fine if she doesn't attempt anything else," Mercury added. Her computer appeared and she began pecking on it.
"Where are we, anyway?" Jupiter asked. She looked around the seaport curiously. Hopeful expressions greeted her. Then sirens split the air.
"Those are tsunami sirens, aren't they?" Mars exclaimed.
"It's not surprising," Mercury said. "We're in Miyako, in Tohoku Iwate Prefecture. We're on the closest land mass to the epicenter of the earthquake."
"We had an earthquake?" Jupiter exclaimed.
"Yeah. Where have you been?" Venus asked.
"I didn't have the radio on at home! I-I didn't know!" Jupiter retorted. "So why did Usagi bring us here?"
"To help," Mars grimaced. "Why else? But how did she manage it?"
"How did she take on Galaxia?" Venus asked. "How did she grow those wings to save Chibi-Usa from falling? How does she do anything? In times of crisis, she reaches down for that little extra and makes miracles happen."
"Yeah," Mars sighed. "But what happens when she reaches down one day and there isn't anything left."
"Then you'll scold me," Serenity wheezed. "Just like you always do."
"Thanks for scaring the life out of us, Hon'," Jupiter smiled.
"I'm sorry," Serenity heaved. She still seemed out of breath.
"It's as I feared," Mercury proclaimed. Everybody immediately turned to her, because those words from that mouth automatically commanded respect. "The quake was a magnitude nine with undersea mega-thrust. That drastic a tectonic shift will produce a tsunami. I've already detected the wave on my computer's sensors."
"How bad?" Mars asked.
"Do you remember the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004?" Mercury responded. "That bad."
"Well, we'll have to stop it," Serenity proclaimed weakly. "All of those people will be hurt."
"Serenity," Mercury exhaled. "A wave of this magnitude is going to flood the entire northeastern coast of Japan. How do we stop something like that?"
"We will," Serenity replied. "We have to."
"Even if it means you kill yourself in the process?" argued Mars.
Serenity bowed her head. "If it comes to that."
"How soon do we have, Mercury?" Venus asked, steering the conversation away from things they didn't want to think of.
"I estimate the wave will hit Miyako in approximately forty-four minutes," Mercury reported. "The rest of the northeast coastline will be affected within minutes after that, taking into account distance. I don't have an estimate of the size of the wave, but there's little doubt it will be big."
Just then one of the local police officers approached them. They turned to him and he nodded.
"We're grateful for your help," he told them. "Has some menace done this?"
"No," Rei mused. "Just the normal wrath of the gods."
"How may we assist you?" the police officer asked.
"You need to evacuate this town," Mercury told him sharply, "immediately! There's a tsunami approaching! A huge one!"
"But the people that are still trapped," the officer began.
"We'll try to take out some of the rubble," Venus offered. "But anybody who can move needs to move it out of here now."
"I'll advise my Captain," the officer nodded. He moved off crisply. Mercury was still typing on her computer. Venus turned to Mars.
"You got her?" Venus asked, referring to Serenity.
"Yeah," Mars nodded. "Besides, my fire powers might touch off a gas line or something. You go ahead. And be careful."
"Hey, careful is my middle name," boasted Venus.
"And I thought your middle name was 'modest'," needled Jupiter.
After Venus and Jupiter headed into the town to work with the rescue crews, Mars glanced at Mercury. She was doggedly working on her computer. Serenity was still in Mars' lap, recovering.
"So," Mars ventured, "got any ideas on how to stop that tsunami?"
"I don't know," Mercury scowled. Mars could read that the emotional turmoil of the past week was weighing heavily on her friend and fellow senshi.
"Maybe a wall?" Mars offered.
"The logistics would be impossible," Mercury shook her head. "The length, the thickness and height needed to repel the wave would require an astronomical amount of energy to produce and maintain against the force of the water."
"If it's what I have to do," mumbled Serenity.
"You'd kill yourself!" snapped Mercury. "You may as well slit your throat right here for all the good it would do!"
"Mercury," Mars said, touching Mercury's hand for emphasis, "we're here. We have to at least try."
Mercury expelled a loud breath. She wiped her face with her hands.
"Maybe," Mercury offered with little enthusiasm, "if a sufficient wave was thrown in the opposite direction, it would have enough kinetic energy to cancel out the tsunami - - though the more realistic scenario would be to lessen the effects of the wave and by logical extension the impact on the shoreline."
"Whatever I have to do," Serenity said.
"There's no guarantee that it's any safer," Mercury countered. Serenity touched Mercury's leg with her hand.
"Whatever we have to do to help these people," Serenity told her, looking her firmly in the eye. Though Mercury could tell she was still weakened, she also knew Serenity wasn't going to be dissuaded from this.
"I'll try to calculate the mass and energy quotients needed to produce a counter-wave," Mercury sighed in frustration.
"Mercury," Serenity weakly appealed to her.
"I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE!" Mercury snapped. Tears sprang from her eyes. She bit her lip and looked away. "It's too soon! I shouldn't have to mourn you, too!"
"Then how about I promise I won't die?" Serenity offered.
"You think it's that easy?" Mercury scowled. "Dad didn't think he was going to die, either."
Embarrassed, Mercury pushed to her feet and scrambled off to calculate in private.
"Mars?" Serenity appealed. "Talk to her."
"Why?" Mars asked. "I'm with her."
Serenity looked at her friend, askance.
"I don't want these people to die," Mars continued. "But if it's between them and you, I don't want you to die least of all. If it's the will of the gods that people die this day, you can fight it, but you won't win. I'm not saying don't try, Serenity. We have to try. Otherwise I couldn't look at myself in the mirror. But throwing your own life away just because you're afraid to survive if they don't - - well, that's just stupid."
Serenity looked down, chastened.
"Venus!" Venus exclaimed, facing a mountain of rubble that had once been a three story building. "Love And Beauty Shock!"
The energy from the attack exploded into the rubble, pulverizing much of it and sending the rest into the shell of the building it had collapsed from. Immediately rescue workers moved in to search the basement and first floor that Venus had uncovered.
"Careful you don't get too close to the base of that rubble," Jupiter warned. "You'll end up injuring the people you're trying to save."
"I'm careful, grandma," huffed Venus. "I have been at this longer than you."
"Funny how that's the same attitude Akiko gets when I scold her," Jupiter observed. "Supreme Thunder!" Lightning shot to the ground and impacted a pile of rubble, shattering the larger chunks. It was then Jupiter saw a hand exposed. "HEY, I'VE GOT SOMEONE OVER HERE!"
Rescue efforts continued until the very last. With the tsunami minutes away from the coastline, Mercury signaled everyone to the pier. As they answered the summons, Venus and Jupiter noticed some of the town's folk gathering nearby to watch.
"Hey!" Jupiter yelled at them. "Didn't you hear the evacuation order?"
"We heard!" someone yelled back. "What do we have to be afraid of? You Senshi will protect us!"
"Yeah, this is a once in a lifetime chance to see you in action!" someone else added.
"SAILOR JUPITER! MARRY ME!" yelled a third. Jupiter turned away and blushed.
"The price of fame," chuckled Venus.
Everyone regrouped and turned to Mercury. Serenity seemed a lot stronger.
"We're going to create a counter-wave through massive air displacement," explained Mercury. "By focusing a mass of air downward at the proper angle, it will in turn displace enough water to throw up a counter-wave at the tsunami. Best case scenario is the wave neutralizing or severely lessening the tsunami so that it isn't a threat beyond the immediate coast. We'll have to use Planet Power to generate sufficient energy to displace sufficient air volume." She looked at Serenity. "Are we all ready?"
"We have to be," Serenity advised her. "There's no more time left."
Clasping hands in a circle, the five senshi yelled in unison "Planet Power". Immediately the jewels on their tiaras glowed brightly, while the crescent moon mark on Serenity's forehead surrounded them in a silvery aura. With skirts billowing and hair fluttering in the unnatural breeze, they lifted as one into the air. The people watching on the pier and in the wharf cafes and businesses applauded and cheered them.
The silvery bubble containing the senshi floated out over the ocean to the spot Mercury had designated. Though still intent upon their jobs, basic human curiosity made the senshi all peek at the incoming wave. As one their breath caught.
"It has to be forty meters high," Mercury whispered.
Buckling down, the senshi concentrated. Energy flared as light and then a great force, like an invisible hand, knifed downward at an angle into the ocean water below them. Water displaced around it, forming a wave that fanned out from the impact point primarily in an easterly direction. A small back wave headed back to Miyako, crashed up against the pier and breakers and splashed over, spraying the watching crowd with sea water. It elicited a raucous cheer from the group.
In the other direction, the wave rippled out toward the on-coming tsunami like a charging samurai. Each senshi hoped it would be enough, because they could all feel that they didn't have enough energy to try again.
But to their horror, their wave was engulfed by the one hundred and twenty foot tsunami wave with little effect. It was on them in a second and only the silver bubble that surrounded them kept the senshi from being swept along with the wave.
On shore, grim realization was dawning on the festive crowd watching the senshi. As the wave approached, the audience and the aid workers who had stayed behind to search and free quake victims turned almost as one and fled with the wave looming over them. The tsunami struck the pier and breakers, spilling over with a towering cascade of sea water. As the senshi watched from above, the wave engulfed buildings, cars, people and anything else in its path. The water surge was twenty feet tall and more. It just kept going. Nothing seemed to stop it.
"NO!" shrieked Serenity. She strained against Venus, who held one hand, and Mars, who held the other.
Hundreds of people were engulfed as the wave surged a mile inland and showed no signs of stopping. Chunks of brick and concrete that had been the tsunami wall bobbed in the water. Capsized boats were carried through streets. Buildings already weakened by the quake were shoved off of their foundations and whisked away. Broken timber that had once been the wharf was carried along by the current as the water surged two miles into the town. A woman broke to the surface momentarily, splashing frantically as she tried to latch onto something. Without a word, Serenity guided the bubble down toward her, hoping to pick her up. Then she was sucked under and disappeared beneath the terrible surge.
In disbelief, Serenity sank to her knees. Her effort almost broke the connection between her and Venus, which would have destroyed the bubble and sent them all plunging into the angry water. The others looked on in shock. The water surge was approaching three miles now and didn't seem ready to stop.
Finally, though, the tsunami wave reached its maximum length and lost its driving energy. The water receded, carrying much of the town of Miyako back out to sea. The senshi watched from above, straining to maintain their lofty perch. When the wave returned to the ocean, they set down. Serenity's gown was gone, replaced by Sailor Moon's familiar uniform. The bubble dissolved. She sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands, and wept over the barren foundations and rubble-strewn streets that were all that was left of the town of Miyako. Her friends, standing to either side, added their tears to hers.
Continued in Chapter 7