The Strange Boy Yukino Tora, The Arrival of Uninvited Guests
"When are we going to get there?" The normally cheerful voice was slightly petulant, and she sighed loudly, adding, "We've been traveling for too long! You said we'd be there soon, Inari."
The calmer voice, Inari, replied, "We will be there soon. This has taken a few days. The last time we were summoned it took over a month, remember?"
Chiron softly said, "Don't worry. The Balance Star is never wrong. Once we get there, you'll be glad that you had to wait even a few days."
The first voice sighed again and mumbled, "I hope so. Inari always gets cranky when she's impatient and she keeps yelling at me."
"I wasn't yelling! If you weren't so annoying all the time, no one would have to tell you to be quiet. Mura, your problem is that you talk too much!"
"At least I talk. Zelia just sits there and stares at the Earth all the time. Maybe she thinks staring will get us to moving faster?" Mura's voice was teasing, but just a little hopeful underneath.
"No," Zelia replied, "I just don't think wasting my energy hovering around and talking all the time will get us there any sooner. Just stay calm. When we reach the Earth, there will be enough time for energy. Don't worry."
"Right. Then, we get to go after the ginzuishou!" Mura, with a pleased laugh, clapped her hands.
0
"Any sign yet?" Sailorneptune looked to Mercury, whose head was slightly bent to see her computer screen better.
The blue-haired girl shook her head. "No. None."
Uranus Knight signed and collapsed to the ground. Yawning widely, he muttered, "I'm beginning to think this whole energy disturbance deal was just another way Diana could get at Usa-chan. By sending some of her senshi away to check on some non-existent problem while there's a crisis on hand will make her look really bad in front of everyone."
His sister rolled her eyes and said, "Diana was using you against Usa-chan already. How do you think it looks when you're not even at the meetings when someone walks in?"
Uranus shrugged, refusing to be baited, and replied, "I said I was sorry. I was having a bad day, okay? What do you want me to say?" He shrugged again and added, "I've got issues. You, of all people, should know that."
Neptune pursed her lips, opened her mouth, and then shut it. She hovered indecisively for another moment, and finally, with a sigh of exasperation, threw her hands up in the air and turned her back to him.
"I-I'm getting readings of some kind," Sailormercury said slowly, "but these read-outs don't make any sense. I've never seen anything like this before." She shook her head with confusion and tapped a few more keys. She faltered again and said, "I just don't know! These readings..."
Uranus got to his feet and moved to stand behind her. She obligingly moved the computer so he could better see the screen, and he carefully scanned the data she had collected.
"This looks sort of like the inter-reality stuff Ame-san was trying to explain to me. This symbol here," he pointed to the screen, "keep repeatedly showing up." He quickly scanned the area, which appeared to be a barren, abandoned city from the pre-Crystal Tokyo era, and added, "This is a good hint that something actually is going on here at least.
Mercury nodded her head and pushed another button, saying, "The strongest readings seem to be coming from over there. At least, that symbol appears the most often when I scan that area. The problem is, I've been registering some really strange weather patterns. Massive dust storms, tornadoes, even an earthquake or two. If we're going try and get over there, we're going to be walking directly into the heart of the storm.
Sailorneptune, looking mildly annoyed that she was being left out of the conversation, said, "Isn't the heart of the storm supposed to be really calm or something?"
Her brother raised an eyebrow and murmured, "That's the eye of the storm, Neptune."
She blushed and mumbled, "Oh."
He sighed and then squeezed her shoulder momentarily. She smiled weakly and he smirked at her wryly, his expression betrayed by the true affection in his eyes. Then, releasing his twin, he turned back to Mercury's computer.
"We have to check it out. Can you plot the safest course through the weather, Sailormercury?"
She hit a few keys and then shook her head. "I'm sorry. The events are completely random. Plotting a course would be impossible. I can't even tell you what the least dangerous hazard is, because at this magnitude, to be caught in any of them would probably be fatal."
"I wonder how we could get through without being killed..." Uranus gazed off into the distance, lost deep in thought. Neptune tapped her foot impatiently.
For pity's sake! We're going to be here the rest of our lives if we wait for them to decide what to do! Between her calculations and his grandiose plans, by the time we have a course of action the world will have been swallowed by nothingness! It looks like I'll have to take things into my own hands.
"That's it."
Both Mercury and Uranus jumped with surprise and then turned to look.
Neptune, hands on her hips, continued with, "This is ridiculous. You," she pointed to Mercury, "have already said that there is no way through safely. So using your computer to analyze the problem further isn't going to change anything. And you," she pointed to Uranus Knight, "have already said that we have to go and investigate."
The two stared at her blankly. The aqua-haired senshi sighed with annoyance and slowly said, "We...can't...just...stand...here...We've...got...to...go...into...the...storms."
When they continued to look at her expectantly, Neptune threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "What else do you want me to say? You two are the smart ones. Find the calmest course at the moment and let's go before things get even worse!"
Uranus and Mercury stared at each other for a moment, frozen with indecision, and then nodded at the same time. Mercury's fingers flew over the keyboard at a shocking speed, and Uranus already had his communicator in his hand. Mere seconds after Mercury had begun, she transferred the information and combined it with what Uranus had learned. A map projected itself from Uranus' communicator, a bright red line leading the way to a bright red circle at the end. He looked at Neptune, who was staring at them with shock, and said, "You wanted action, didn't you, Neptune? Come on, we've got to hurry." The senshi of water and the knight of Uranus took off, leaving the shocked senshi of the ocean behind.
I think they may be even smarter than I thought. She looked up all that information and analyzed it in less than thirty seconds, and he fixed the map in even less time. She shrugged and told herself, "Luckily, they'll always need you to push them into action!" With a pleased smile, she posed.
"Neptune! What are you doing? Get a move on!" She blushed as her brother shouted for her and stopped preening.
Oops. Get caught inflating your own ego and you'll never here the end of it. You heard him! Get moving!
"Sorry! I'm coming!"
0
"Setsuna-san? It's me, Nichino Kazaki. Mother thought maybe your spirit needed guidance. I-I know I'm not really fully trained as a Shinto priestess yet, but my physic energy is quite strong, so I might be able to help you anyway...if you'll let me. Please, Setsuna-san, please come back. You've got so many people waiting for you to wake up."
Kazaki sighed lightly and settled herself near the bedside of the still woman. Looking at the former senshi of time, the daughter of Rei was shocked at the difference that just a few days had caused in her appearance. Setsuna's long, dark hair, usually so neat, was knotted and matted with sweat. Her glowing bronze skin was now pale and sallow. Her ruby eyes were wide, but she was staring blankly at the ceiling. Massive bags ringed them darkly, making her face seem gaunt and her eyes sunken.
"Oh, Setsuna-san..." Kazaki breathed softly, "Don't be afraid any more. We're here for you."
0
"What is that?" Sailormercury stood with her mouth agape, her computer forgotten in one hand.
"I dunno." Uranus Knight shook his head and added, "It's like nothing I've ever seen or heard about."
A funnel of dark orange twisted in place and threw streamers of lime green energy into the sky. Globs of orange and yellow energy fell to ground with sickening thuds. Where they landed, slime oozed in all directions, twisting as if it had a mind of its own and streaked with dark lines of red.
Sailorneptune shook her head. "Come on. You guys are telling me you can't recognize an enemy when you see one? Just look at that thing! It must be the reason for the energy disturbances! If I've ever seen a monster, and from what Usa and Moriko tell me of the Labyrinth, I have," she winked, "I've never seen more of a monster than that."
"A monster? I'm insulted. That's not a monster. It's my projection."
All three turned slightly in the direction of the whiny, annoying voice. The owner matched the voice. A shifty-eyed, weasel-like young man with spiky bright orange hair and red eyes bowed mockingly and said, "Yukino Tora, phase four animal trainer of the Caravan, at your service."
Neptune nodded smugly, "Uh-huh. See? I told you. It's a monster."
Tora frowned and repeated, "I already told you once! It's not a monster! It's my projection!"
"Excuse me, Tora-san, but what's projection?" Mercury held herself warily, but made no move to attack unless she needed to defend herself.
Uranus rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "Unbelievable. She stops in the middle of a possible battle to have a polite question and answer session with the enemy."
Tora looked over at him, a gleam in his eye, and replied, "You would rather we get directly to the fighting? Sometimes, to know your enemy is to beat him."
Uranus shook his head mockingly and replied, "Not impressed, but feel free." He gestured for the two to continue, and added, "I would never doubt Sailormercury's judgment. If she thinks talking to you might help, then I trust her."
Mercury, finding herself in an unaccustomed position as the center of attention, swallowed hard and repeated, "Tora-san? What is a projection?"
Tora levitated, his bright cloak of yellow billowing around him, and sat crossed legged in the air.
"Well...," he drawled slowly, yawning widely as he did so. "Each member of the Blue Moon Caravan enters a new reality one at a time. Our titles stem from when we enter. Hence my title being fourth phase animal trainer. My phase, by the way, would be the moon when it's three quarters full." He pointed to his belt, which bore the moon of his phase. He took a deep breath and suddenly laughed for no apparent reason. It was a piercing, high-pitched titter, and the senshi cringed. He stopped just as suddenly and mumbled, "Now where was I?"
"We were still waiting for you to explain what a projection is." Neptune's voice barely hid her impatience, and Tora raised an eyebrow slightly.
"So fiery," he murmured, "what a waste on a senshi of the waters."
"What?" Neptune blurted, "How did you know I was..." She shook her head and trailed off.
He giggled and replied, "That's my little secret, but since it's an easy one I'll give you a hint. What other element would use the colors that you wear?" Neptune shrugged and Mercury said, "What about wind? There's a lot of green in her fuku."
Tora shook his head and answered, "Nah. Her personality is all wrong for wind. She'd have to be impatient and harbor a secret hidden strength in her heart. Her strength is all too apparent on the outside."
Sailorneptune was obviously only following parts of the conversation, but she shook her head with annoyance and snapped, "This doesn't have anything to do with my personality or about my fuku!" She threw her head back arrogantly and said, "I'm Sailorneptune, senshi of the oceans."
Tora nodded his head and replied, "See? I told you. She's the senshi of waters, not the senshi of air."
Uranus Knight sighed with exasperation and said, "We already knew she was the senshi of the ocean. You were the one who asked what other type of senshi she could be."
Tora shrugged and bobbed slightly in the air. He shut his eyes, hummed a few bars of a song, and then announced, "Entry energy channeled into something physical."
"Excuse me?" Sailormercury looked to her partners to see if they had understood.
The twins shrugged simultaneously and Tora sniggered, and with his eyes still closed, said, "You've got them trained to perform at the same time! That's fantastic! I'll have to see if some of my pets won't do the same." He sighed mournfully and added, "Probably not."
Sailorneptune, recognizing a direct insult at last, snarled, "We are not trained! We just happened to shrug at the same time!"
"Your projection would be..." he paused thoughtfully and then laughed with delight.
"That's fantastic! Congratulations, Ocean Girl. I don't think you'll ever guess this one! However," he finally opened his orange eyes, "I don't think I'll tell you. Maybe you'll see it someday for yourself."
He pointed to Uranus and said, "The wolf. Loyal to the pack until the end, but a loner at the same time. Willing to die to protect a pack..." he smiled slyly, "sister."
Uranus stiffened, but Mercury held out a calming hand and said, "Wait. You're talking about projections, aren't you." It wasn't really a question, and already she was answering herself. "Entry energy channeled into something physical. That's the definition of a projection, isn't it? That's what those monsters we've been fighting have been. Projections of the Caravan members entering our reality."
Tora nodded and said, "Very good, Smart Girl. You are the cat. Quiet, seemingly calm, but actually quite clever and observant. Possessive. Secretive. I'll bet you know a lot more than you let on to anyone."
The blue-haired senshi seemed a little shaken, but she didn't respond.
Tora sighed and drifted towards the ground like a wobbly leaf in the wind. "I'm getting bored," he said dully, examining his fingernails with minute interest.
Sailormercury's eyes widened slightly, and Neptune seemed to sense that losing Tora's attention was probably not the best course of action. They were drastically underpowered, and if he was as strong as the other two members of the Caravan had been and decided to attack them, the results could be disastrous.
"Tell us about your..." Uranus groped for words, "projection." The trainer, his attention back on the senshi, smiled brilliantly and lifted back into the air.
"Isn't it impressive?"
They all turned to look at the hulking orange monstrosity. Tora shook a careless hand in its direction and said, "I mean, sure, it's not much to look at, but it's got real power." He closed his eyes and rotated in the air until he was floating upside-down. "That's the problem with the others' projections. Too flashy. Especially Fate Boy. He just doesn't get it. I mean, sure, his projection is probably the most attractive, but the thing barely has enough energy in it to get off the ground. What's the point of having a projection if it all it's going to do is look pretty?"
Tora shook his head and continued to ramble. "Now, Song Girl had a pretty good idea too." He opened his eyes and said, "You guys met her and the Dancing Leg right? They're the ones that look identical except one's red and one's yellow?"
When the senshi nodded he nodded his head with satisfaction and replied, "That's what I thought. You're the ones who got them caught." He shook his head mournfully and added, "They're grounded from this reality now thanks to that little stunt they pulled."
"You mean attacking Ryuu-san?" Mercury looked anxious, but Tora, completely oblivious to her, nodded his head calmly and answered, "Yeah, that's the one. They really got it good when they got caught. What a sight." He shrugged, an interesting spectacle from his reversed position, re-closed his eyes and said, "Anyway, Song Girl conned the Dancing Leg out of some of her entry energy. Smart cookie, right? The Dancing Leg's projection, that would be the tentacle-thing by the way, used to be a lot prettier, but Song Girl wanted to try her hand at a better projection. She promised to share with the Dancing Leg on the next cycle. Song Girl's projection turned out pretty good. The glowing eyes on the snake were a particularly nice touch."
He sighed sadly and added, "It's too bad all that spirit energy suddenly appeared and destroyed it." He rotated until he was right side up and opened his eyes again. His voice suddenly serious, he said, "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? Spirit energy of that magnitude is almost never found. To have so much of it gather in one place like that is a true miracle."
Sailormercury didn't comment, and Uranus Knight shrugged noncommittally. Sailorneptune looked as though she would rather kiss a dead rat than speak to Tora any more. She was obviously still holding a grudge from the trained animal remark he had made about her and Uranus.
Tora made a clucking noise in his throat and mumbled, "That's too bad, because energy like that would be wonderful to harness. It's quite powerful, and pure spirits are almost as strong as the power of pure, innocent, true love." When he still got no response from them he shrugged and dropped the subject. He began to slowly float towards the ground again, and asked, "Anything else? I feel boredom setting in once more."
Mercury looked helplessly to the twins, and finally, Neptune blurted, "Tell us about your pets."
The light in Tora's eyes appeared once more, and he replied, "Well, my newest pet is easily my most fantastic. We found her-" Suddenly, he stopped as if he had been struck. He opened his eyes slowly, a bright fire flashing behind them, and a quickly darkening look fell across his face.
"Oh no you don't. I'm not telling you about her. They warned me about that one. They said you have the white-haired pest with you now, and that she would tell you about our newest addition to the family. They told me watch out for the White One's tricks, because she would have you search for the answers of my newest pet. You can't trick me!" He shouted triumphantly. "I saw through your pathetic trick! The White One will never know the answer to her problem, and we shall keep the Aurora in our hands forever." He uncrossed his legs, still floating, and his body began to glow with an angry orange light.
"I think," he said slowly, all traces of playfulness gone, "that it's time you see what my projection can truly do. Controlling the weather was simply a game. It's true purpose..." he smiled coldly, "is to act as a weapon." He turned towards the orange funnel and shouted, "Fourth phase projection! Your enemies are at hand! Destroy them and scatter their bones to the wind!" With a final mocking bow Yukino Tora faded from sight, once again humming a song to himself.
The senshi had seconds to prepare before they were hit with the first attack. The funnel flashed green and yellow, and tidal wave of red dust shot towards them.
"Get down!" Uranus Knight threw himself face first into the ground, covering his head with his hands. The two girls were quick to follow. Over the blinding dust and the roar of the wind, Sailormercury shrieked, "What are we going to do? There's no way we can even get close enough to attack it when the wind is so rough!"
Neptune turned her head towards the other girl, shielding her face with one arm, and shouted, "We wait it out! That thing can't blast us forever, right? This is sort of annoying, but not really dangerous!" The projection was apparently coming to the same conclusion. With an angry howl, the wind picked up. Mercury and Neptune whimpered as their exposed legs and arms were pelted with dirt and rocks, leaving tears and scratches in their exposed skin. Uranus, completely encased in armor save his head, was faring much better.
"Come over here!" He yelled, "I'll help shield you from the wind!"
However, even as he spoke, the gale was dying down. In an eerie circle of silence, walls of dust and rocks still whirled around them at top speed. The senshi got to their feet and looked at their new prison. Mercury looked around hesitantly, and Neptune softly said, "This is the eye of a storm, isn't it?"
Her brother nodded and replied, "It would seem so. I wonder why we're being kept here?" He turned his head in time to see Sailorneptune shout, "Iridescent Tide!" and throw a ball of cerulean towards the dust. It crashed into the wall with no affect, and she shrugged, saying, "It was worth a shot. I guess we really are stuck."
"Ouch!" Mercury's cry was muffled as her face hit the ground. A glowing orange creature that looked like a person made out of mud, had tackled her from behind, and was centering its fists over the back of her head.
"Mercury!" Drawing the Heaven Sword as he ran towards her, Uranus slashed at the creature, which hissed and sprang into the air.
"Ah!" He turned in time to see Sailorneptune grabbed on either side from behind, and hesitated. Seeing her brother's indecision, Neptune flashed him a cocky smile and called, "Don't worry. I've got these two under control. Help Sailormercury!" He nodded and turned back around in time to be punched in the face. Staggering back, he found himself face to face with four more creatures.
"Projections of a projection," he murmured as he loped the head off of one, "that guy was right; this is a powerful creature!"
"Shimmering Frostbite!" Mercury gasped as she realized that the cold was having no affect on the three creatures that were approaching her, but continued with the attack.
If I keep going for a long enough time, they'll eventually be blocks of ice! Then it won't matter if their injured or not; they'll be contained.
However, the mini-projections obviously had no intention of waiting to be frozen. They ran directly through the ice and into the senshi of water. She cried out as a knee hit her chin, and her attack faltered and failed.
Sailorneptune laughed softly as one of the projections twisted her arm slightly, and she called, "You'll have to do better than that to stop me!" With a quick jerk, she pulled her arms free, dropped to ground, and knocked them both over with a quick leg sweep. She then drove the spiked heel of one of her shoes in the forehead of one. When it shrieked and faded from sight, she repeated the process with the other one. With a smug little chuckle, she dusted her hands off and said, "Now what can I find to do with the others?" Before she could move, a brilliant white flash lit up the sky. Shielding her eyes, she shouted to Mercury and Uranus, "What's going on? Are you guys okay?"
0
Setsuna suddenly sat straight up, and Kazaki jumped with surprise.
"Setsuna-san?" She whispered, "Are you awake?" The woman gasped, jerked, and fell back to the bed, her body twitching spasmodically. Kazaki, her hands fluttering helplessly, murmured, "What do I do? What do I do?"
Setsuna gasped again and cried out, clawing at the air above her. Finally, in an act of desperation, Kazaki leaned over and grabbed her wrists. Red energy flared around her hands, and she felt herself being pulled into the sightless ruby eyes below her.