Chapter 8 – Coming to terms
In the basement of the Crystal Palace, a very distraught group of people were gathered in the transporter room. This group was composed of the Inner Sailors, the Sailor Quartet, Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endyimon, Sailor Earth and Sailor Moon. They were all gathered around a large table that was sitting dejectedly in the far corner of the large subterranean chamber.
The Royal Family had been ushered down to the basement almost immediately upon their entering of the Palace. The reason behind the decision was that in theory, this would be the safest place for them and allow them enough time to recover and brainstorm until they found a way to deal with the alien force that was still wreaking havoc on the lands above them. Neo-Queen Serenity's body flinched every time another explosion or loud rumble became audible through the thick rock that made up the walls around them. Each occurrence of either of those indications was like a knife to her gentle heart. These were her people, and she was letting them get slaughtered while she hid below ground. It made her sick to her stomach when she thought about how her life could be deemed more valuable than those poor citizens being targeted by their enemy.
They hadn't been in the basement for very long, but already the minds all of those gathered were beginning to run more smoothly as the adrenaline of the initial attack wore off but was replaced by physical exhaustion. Each of them silently began to churn out ideas for what they could do to save Crystal Tokyo and defeat their enemy's forces. The relative silence of the basement was almost palpable. Through the subtle sound of racing hearts and labored breathing, another, stranger sound made itself be heard. To anyone who had been in a kitchen at some point in their life, it almost sounded like bacon sizzling in a frying pan. The scent, however, was much different. It was a hot metallic scent that stung each of their noses and made some of them cover their mouths so they wouldn't have to taste it further. The crowd of warriors and rulers slowly turned their bodies towards where this possible new threat seemed to be coming from. The hands of those with weapons moved down to them in the blink of an eye. The Sailor Soldiers made a barrier with their bodies, putting them between the Royal Family and the location where the sizzling noises were coming from. They did not know what was coming but their first duty remained to ensure the safety of their leaders.
Suddenly, the crackling sound was replaced as several blue and white energy discs appeared on the floor, and everyone instantly knew that someone or something was forcing their way into this supposedly safe refuge. King Endyimon and Sailor Uranus drew their respective swords while Sailor Earth raised her Gaia power scepter. With each passing second, it became more and more clear that there was a magical transport or teleportation going on right before their eyes. After a few more seconds, little bolts of white lightning began to arc along the outlines of each of the discs The Sailor Quartet broke away from the line of sailors and moved up to take up positions around the area where the discs were appearing while the Inner Sailors tightened up the wall that the Quartet's absence had created.
The Inner Soldiers dropped down in their fighting positions. The death and carnage that the Black Moon's surprise attack had everyone on edge, and every single one of them, including the Royal Family, wanted to rip into whatever enemy they could find as some measure of retaliation. They each secretly hoped for someone that they could annihilate so they could let their pain and anger out even though that went against everyone that they stood for. There were not infallible and were still subject to feelings of justifiable anger and momentary lapses of hatred. It was important that they kept those feelings in check or else they would become no better than the enemies they fought against. If this was an adversary appearing to attack them, they would strike back in defense as opposed to offense.
Even though the Sailor Quartet were very skilled fighters, the Inner Sailors prepared themselves to be the last line of defense in case whatever was coming got passed them. The energy discs flashed one more time, sending a blinding white light throughout the limited artificial lighting present in the underground chamber. Everyone either turned their heads or closed their eyes momentarily, lest they risked becoming blinded for longer than that or at worse, the rest of their lives. When the light faded, and every set of eyes focused back to the area again, a collective gasp from everyone sounded. There, on the spots where the discs appeared stood Magik, Hybrid, and the Outer Sailors.
"Hybrid!" Sailor Jupiter cried out in surprise as she saw her husband. The other Sailor Soldiers were just as shocked as she was. The silence that followed stretched on for several seconds, nearly bordering on the uncomfortable when Sailor Mars asked the question that was going through almost everyone's minds.
"How did you all get here? All the transporter devices are here with us …" Sailor Mars gestured with her arm to the table where the devices were kept to show everyone that her statement was correct. "and besides, there are magical wards around the Palace that are meant to prevent anyone from getting access to it without Neo-Queen Serenity's permission first." Her voice was hard and her body remained tense as she wasn't convinced that what she saw was true. She didn't want the sight of her friends to be some sort of illusion that their enemy had produced for to fool them.
"Although that is an excellent question…" Sailor Saturn began. She stepped forward, holding the blades of her Silence Glaive upwards.
"It's one that can wait for later," Hybrid interrupted. Sailor Saturn looked slightly miffed, but she held her tongue since she knew that he was right. There were other things to discuss that were far more important to the lives of everyone that were suffering above them. Hybrid and the others were beginning to follow Sailor Saturn's gesture by moving towards the table, and even though the Sailor Quartet let them go, they remained at the ready until they could be sure that these people weren't imposters. As soon as everyone was gathered back around the table, Magik asked a series of questions that she had a feeling she wasn't the only one that wanted answers to.
"Does anyone know who these invaders are? Or at least where they might have come from? Who sent them? Anything?" She placed both of her hands flat on the table as she spoke, looking around at the group in front of her. Her eyes blazed with anger as she demanded an answer to her inquires. Tempers were high among the majority of the people around the blonde haired spell caster. Each of them looked around at the other participants as well, waiting for someone to speak up. The collective tension in the chamber was almost thick enough to be cut with a knife. Everyone in the group was running on anger, shock and disbelief of what had just happened. Half of the room was eager, and the other half was anxious to get out there and dispatch more of the alien life forms that were destroying their city. A few seconds passed before Hybrid spoke, looking directly at Neo-Queen Serenity.
"It's the Black Moon, isn't it?" Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endyimon, and the Inner Sailors' faces all grew blank, and their postures turned rigid as his question resonated with each of them. Hybrid hadn't been there himself when the first battle against the Black Moon had occurred during his global mission to destroy the War Wolf demon species. After the appearance of Aldrich Reid and the magical corruption that caused his symbiote to take him over and turn him into a murdering demon, Sailor Jupiter had explained everything that had happened once he was capable of being rational again and the significance of the magician to future events. Magik, Sailor Earth, the Sailor Quartet, and Sailor Moon all had the same look of confusion on their faces. If the situation hadn't been so grave, it may have even been comical.
"What's the Black Moon?" Sailor Ceres asked. She'd lowered her hands completely by now and was in the process of letting them hang loosely at her sides. It had been decided by her and the others that the newcomers really were who they appeared to be, and that there was no danger forthcoming from any of them. In the silence that followed, Sailor Mercury cleared her throat loudly, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room towards her. Feeling the stares of everyone on her, her shoulders suddenly slumped, like they'd just taken on a great weight out of thin air.
"I'm afraid that I can answer that question all too well. I will do my best to keep it as simple as possible, as there are quite a few things that a scientist like me could go into great detail about. She paused before speaking, letting her brilliant mind gather her thoughts. "Before the Great Sleep, Neo-Queen Serenity, the other Inner Sailors, and I all became involved in a war that was occurring not only in our time, but in the future as well." Some looks of confusion from her audience were shot over in her direction, but she quickly held a hand up, stopping all questions before they were asked. "I know it sounds strange, but please just bear with me. The war was going on in our present time, and in the 31st century." She paused to let this bit of information sink in for everyone. Magik's eyes slowly widened as she was the first one to grasp what Sailor Mercury was alluding too.
"Wait, are you talking about time travel?" she asked softly. The disbelief was very evident in her voice. The other younger Sailors' eyes widened as her question sunk in with them. They looked from Magik back to Sailor Mercury for a response.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." Sailor Mercury centered her gaze solely on Sailor Moon, and the young soldier knew right away that the next part of Sailor Mercury's explanation was going to concern her in some way. "A child version of Chibiusa had travelled back in time from the future to our time period with the goal of finding the original Sailor Moon." As she finished her sentence, Sailor Mercury looked over at the queen and she could tell that the memories of those events were already running through Neo-Queen Serenity's mind judging by the look on her face. After a few seconds, Sailor Mercury turned back to the rest of the group. "She'd hoped to bring Sailor Moon back to her own time so that she could help her rescue her mother from the shell of unbreakable crystal that the future Inner Sailors and myself had put her in in order to save her life." Sailor Mercury paused again and swallowed hard. She had to wrap this up so they could discuss the more pressing matters. "We battled the servants of the group that she referred to as the Black Moon that had traveled back in time in order to capture Chibiusa so that she wouldn't be able to save her mother. After we'd defeated them, we traveled to the future with Chibiusa and fought against the rest of the Black Moon's servants. In the end, we were able to defeat them in that time period as well and then travel back to our own time once the war was over." Sailor Mercury took a deep breath as she ended her tale, and saw different expressions on almost every face around her.
"But…this time is different." It was the sad but quiet voice of Sailor Venus that held everyone's attention now.
"Venus is right! The droids are different and we didn't see any of them when we travelled back to the dark and dead version of Crystal Tokyo with little Chibiusa." The two observations were put out for consideration by Sailor Mars. Her voice held just a touch of anger and a thirst of revenge in it that was picked up by almost everyone. She was by far the most moody of the Sailors, and the level of emotion that she was using only came out in her voice every now and then.
"I've was thinking of that while I was telling our shared story," chimed in Sailor Mercury when Sailor Mars had finished. Everyone's attention was drawn back to her like a strong magnet, and they each secretly hoped that her gifted mind had come up with a plan or at least a solution that they could use to save not only themselves, but the world as they knew it. "The time line is different from the one the five of us experienced the last time." Her gaze found the faces of not only the Inner Sailors, but also those of Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endyimon. She sucked in a big breath before she continued. "There are several differences. First, Chibiusa is a young adult now, not the small child that we knew from before, who was so much wiser than her eight years. We were able to rescue Neo-Queen Serenity before she was caught in the attack during the Black Moon's surprise attack, which means that we didn't have to encase her in the crystal sarcophagus to save her life."
"That's true! That means not only do we still have the Silver Moon Crystal, but we have Neo-Queen Serenity to wield it as well!" Sailor Venus clapped her hands together in excitement as she said her thoughts out loud. Her bright smile and the bit of good news she had just said were welcomed after the grim events of the day thus far.
"That is definitely a powerful force in our favor, Sailor Venus. Another one, is that almost half of us have faced these people before and that may give us an advantage that the Black Moon may not realize." Sailor Jupiter's green eyes lit up as she threw in her own observations.
"That's right! This time we know who the real enemy is! The Death Phantom!" Sailor Venus steadied herself as she spoke, panning her head over to look at Neo-Queen Serenity. Just like before, looks of confusion spread across the faces of the younger Sailor Soldiers, and Magik's as well.
"Who's that?" Sailor Earth asked for all of those, who like her, didn't understand who the person Sailor Venus had just mentioned.
"He is, well was, a criminal that Neo-Queen Serenity banished to the Dark Moon…" Sailor Mercury's sentence trailed off as her mind drifted back to the memory of that dark period of time. Sailor Mars' temper got the better of her again and she finished the sentence for her friend.
"He was a very powerful sorcerer who, after being exiled, became one with the Dark Moon, the tenth planet in our Solar System. Well … more specifically, the Black Crystal located in the very heart of the Dark Moon." Sailor Jupiter turned to her daughter as Sailor Mars spoke. She could see that her daughter was not fully grasping the relevance of what was being said. When Sailor Mars had finished, the tall brunette warrior put her hand on Tera's shoulder, drawing her attention. When she looked at her, she tried to explain it in a way that she might understand.
"Tera, honey…the Death Phantom is Aldrich Reid." That one simple sentence suddenly made it seem more real to the younger Sailors, and it drew everyone back to the present instead of the past. That name drew a loud gasp out of Sailor Earth. Her mother was well aware that her daughter had researched the history of Crystal Tokyo and her parents' respective roles in guarding it. As a young child, she'd been very curious as to why the citizens of Crystal Tokyo were in such awe of her parents. She'd made many trips to the Library of Records where she could read any public record that she wanted. The kingdom historians had written quite a lot on her parents actually, and she had read it all. What she had discovered was both confusing and disturbing and for the longest time, she kept what she had learned to herself.
When she'd gotten a little older, she'd wanted to see if her parents would trust her with the knowledge that she'd already discovered by telling her themselves. As it had turned out, both of her parents had been completely honest with her, not leaving out any details, and they knew even more details than the historians had not recorded. The tale was gruesome, and it was hard listening to her parents telling her how the magician, Aldrich Reid had tried to orchestrate their deaths, as well as the deaths of the other Sailor Soldiers and the King and Queen. That had even included her, because at the time she was still growing inside Sailor Jupiter's belly.
Sailor Moon and the Sailor Quartet all recognized the name as well but they didn't have the same emotional impact as Sailor Earth did upon hearing it. There was a brief moment of silence as the memories of those dark times ran through every mind that knew something of them. After a minute, Hybrid broke the silence, and his voice was a little hoarse as he spoke.
"Now that everyone knows who and what we're up against, we need to start formulating a plan on how we can fight back." There was a nod of agreement from everyone in the group but yet no one immediately spoke up.
"We should find the Death Phantom whatever he is and take him out! Without his power and influence, the Black Moon leadership might falter enough for us to defeat them all!" Sailor Juno banged her fist on the table in anger and aggression to drive her point home. The rest of the Sailor Quartet, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Mars all nodded their heads in agreement with her. It was at this time that the king finally broke his silent vigil from the far corner of the table.
"No. That plan is far too reckless, and I won't risk any more lives than necessary." His voice was firm and serious and it was clear that the topic was closed for further discussion. However, Sailor Vesta dared to challenge her king.
"But, my king, if we could capture or at least neutralize him, we may be able to stop this war before it causes any more casualties." Sailor Vesta said before taking a breath. She opened her mouth to say something else, but she was interrupted.
"No, Sailor Vesta. I agree with Endyimon." Neo-Queen Serenity cut the red haired Sailor Soldier off before she could get another word out. There was a brief moment where it looked like Sailor Vesta might actually verbally challenge Neo-Queen Serenity as well, but the young Sailor Soldier wisely, and very quickly, suppressed that urge. Sailor Mercury drew everyone's attention back to her, when she saw Sailor Vesta back down.
"Neo-Queen Serenity is right. We don't know enough about what else is different this time, and why, from what we've experienced, to devise a proper plan of attack yet. It is unfortunate but we just don't know enough yet". She paused to look around the table. "We need to learn more about our enemy, more specifically, what technology they have. And I also believe that it is very important for us to figure out if they have any plans on traveling back to the past again." There was a general murmur of agreement going around the table. Sailor Mars suddenly looked straight at Sailor Mercury and her face clouded over as a thought entered her mind.
"We also need to find out if there are any new members of the Black Moon that we haven't seen or faced in battle before."
"That's right! I saw Prince Diamond just seconds before we got Neo-Queen Serenity into the Crystal Palace." Sailor Venus remembered suddenly.
"I think we might be able to help with most of those points," said Magik softly. Everyone turned their attention to her to hear what she was talking about. Everyone had the sense that she wouldn't have said something like that if she didn't already have a solution.
