Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 1: Dark Kingdom.
Episode 25: Dark descent.

By Razor Knight
Last update: February 22, 2013
Last edited: May 26, 2017

"It's cold," Moon said.

"We know," Mars muttered.

Moon sighed. They had appeared in some sort of icy tunnel, and Mercury said their goal was deeper inside it. They had walked for several minutes, but the tunnel seemed continued for miles.

"So, what's the plan?" Venus asked.

"If we're lucky, we may be able to get to the portal unnoticed," Mercury said, "once there, I may be able to locate Queen Bery's location."

"We teleport to where she is, eliminate her and go back home," Saturn said in her usual monotone. "I like that plan."

"Unfortunately, we may not be able to proceed as planned," Mercury noted as her visor started displaying some numbers. "Oh shit."

"Ami is cursing, this must be a bad omen," Mars joked.

"This is serious," Mercury explained. "There's five entities coming our way, and they're all as strong as a General."

"The Rainbow Youma?"

Mercury shook her head. "Something else."

It took only a minute for the creatures to reach them. Five female youma, all had wings and looked quite similar to each other, and were wearing form-fitting suits which left little to imagination. The only difference was their suits all had different colors. "What are they, the Youma Rangers?" Dragon Sun joked.

"We are the DD Girls, Beryl's strongest soldiers."

"DD Girls?" Dragon Mercury mused. "Is that for your bra size?"

"Leave or die," another of the youma said.

"Likewise," Jupiter snapped. "Supreme Thunder!"

The youma whose suit's color matched Jupiter's reached out her hand, and shot an energy blast, blocking Jupiter's one. "You're weaklings, I can't believe the Generals were beaten by you."

"Nightshade."

One of the youma fell to the ground, screaming in pain, and the others all glared at Nemesis. "Kill her!"

Four blasts of energy converged on Nemesis, but someone else took the hit for her. Nemesis looked at Mira and gasped. "Emi, no..."

Mira was lying on the ground, there were no visible signs of damage, but the energy had damaged her greatly. She still managed to smile at Nemesis. "I wanted to see how this would end, but... I already know you will win. A little help won't hurt, though." As she said that, she rose her arm and aimed her palm at the youma Nemesis had attacked. "Prismatic Hell."

The attack was as swift as it was deadly, a barrage of elemental beams shot from all directions, piercing through the youma's body before she could even figure out what was happening. Mira had spent all her remaining energy in it, however, and Nemesis saw she wasn't breathing.

Dragon Sun let out a scream and charged forwards, slashing down at one of the remaining youma. The youma's arm turned into a blade, however, but the Dragon still kept trying to cut her in half as the others watched the scene in shock.

Moon was looking at Mira's body. Yes, she knew this could happen, but it didn't make it any easier for her. Despite only knowing them for a short while, Usagi already considered the three Huntresses her friends. And she had promised herself she would not let any of her friends die. She turned to look at Saturn, who was also staring at the fallen Huntress. "Saturn, what's wrong?"

"I... I can still feel her soul."

"Sailor Saturn is the Senshi of Life and Death," Mercury said.

Saturn nodded. "I'm quite aware of that. I've been able to heal myself and others for years, but perhaps I'm strong enough now to-" she stopped as Dragon Sun fell near her. He was in a bad shape, but she could see the youma he had targeted was not much better than him. "I have to try this."

Moon saw Saturn kneel besides Mira's body, and turned to the others. "Come on guys, I'm supposed to be the lazy one. Let's get those creeps!"

"You seem a bit too enthusiastic about it," Mars noted.

"They hurt my friends. I cannot forgive that."

The Senshi attacked, taking down three of the four remaining youma. The last one, however, was smiling at them. "Well done, Senshi, I must admit we underestimated your skill. I guess we will have to stop playing now."

"We? You're the only one left!" Jupiter said.

The woman laughed. "They do look quite dead, don't they?" She looked at the other youma. "Come on girls, it's time to show them what real power looks like."

"Of course, they didn't vanish like other youma do," Mercury noted. She felt like slapping herself for not noticing it before.

Dragon Sun crawled to where Saturn was, and saw Saturn was trying to heal Mira. "Hotaru, you don't have to strain yourself."

"Yes, I do have to."

"I won't hate you if you can't bring her back."

"But I'll hate myself if I don't do it," Saturn said, then looked at Mira's body. "Besides, I think I figured out how to do it." She put a hand on Mira's forehead, and closed her eyes. "Here goes nothing." A thin white light surrounded both Saturn and Mira as she said that.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then Mira took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "What... What happened?"

Dragon Sun smiled at her. "Saturn brought you back, Emi."

Mira's eyes widened. "I thought that was only a legend."

"Apparently, it's not," Saturn said, "a warning, however, I can only do it once per person."

Dragon Sun checked the battle, and saw the others were still trying to kill the five. "I have to help them."

"You're in no shape to fight," Saturn said.

"But I have to-" He stopped as he saw Saturn's face. She was worried about him. "Okay, I'll just sit around while you get all the fun."

"Good," Saturn said and walked away.

"You two really get along," Mira mused.

"Eeeh... Don't start," Dragon Sun muttered.

Saturn could see that while the youma were stronger than they had first seemed to be, they were not that much stronger. However, she noticed Dragon Mercury stabbing one of the youma through with his swords, and the youma seemed quite dead for a few seconds. She could see things other couldn't, so she knew the youma was dead. But then, she rose from the ground and glared at him.

"Why don't you stay down, youma?" Dragon Mercury asked.

Suddenly, she could sense two souls inside the woman. No, three of them. She looked around and saw two other youma were 'resurrecting' and suddenly knew what the trick was, as the one the Dragon had killed was back to having one soul. She walked to Mercury, who was recovering while trying to scan the enemy. "I think I figured out how they revive."

Mercury looked at her. "Their energy seems to fluctuate at times, but I don't know the cause."

"They can somehow move their souls around, when one dies, her soul goes into another one for a second, and then back to the first."

"So the only way to get them would be to kill all five fast enough." Mercury guessed. "Moon, come here."

Moon had no clue on how to stop these women, but she knew if anyone could do it, it would be Mercury. She walked to them and smiled. "Tell me you know how to beat these girls."

"It's hard to explain, but we need to kill the five of them very fast. I think only your tiara technique could do that." Mercury gasped as she saw Moon produce her crystal. "Don't risk yourself."

"Someone died because of those girls already," Moon said, "I want to make sure I get them."

Saturn saw Moon walk back to the battle and rose an eyebrow. "You know, my first impression of her was... Rather bad."

"She's brave and selfless when it counts."

"I see. I suppose I could get used to see her as a leader."

"And as a friend?" Mercury asked.

"I'm not good at socializing," Saturn said.

"You can change that if you want. I didn't socialize a lot before I met Usagi, I still am a bit shy around those I don't know enough, but I'm getting better at it."

"I see. I guess someday I may call you all friends."

"That would be good," Mercury admitted.

Moon was ready, but she wasn't sure about hitting them all, not while her friends were still fighting with them. "Guys, I'll take care of them."

Mars saw what Moon was holding, and smiled. "She'll do it, let's fall back."

The five youma looked at Moon, and the one in red, who was seemingly the leader, laughed. "You are strong, kid, but not strong enough to kill us all. Not that you can kill that which cannot die."

Moon took out her tiara, and the crystal lit up, its energy washing over it. "Won't know until I try, will I? Moon Tiara Flight!"

The tiara punched through the five youma, but as the last one fell, the first one was already rising. "Weakling, you cannot defeat us!"

"I already did," Moon noted.

The first youma felt something in her chest, and looked down to see a bright light coming from inside her. "What is this? What kind of cheap trick is-"

Moon smiled as all the youma were swallowed by light, and vanished. "I may not be the smartest in my group, but I guess I'm smarter than them."

"How did you do that?" Nemesis asked, walking to her.

Moon caught her tiara, and everyone saw the crystal was floating along with it. "I thought they could still revive too quickly, even if I used my tiara, so it was the crystal that attacked them instead."

Mercury was looking at her computer, analyzing Moon's attack. "Somehow, the crystal left a sort of 'beacon' inside each of them, and then poured energy into each of them at the same time, burning them from the inside."

Moon looked down. "I don't like killing, even if those were evil creatures, but..."

"We understand," Mars said. "Also, I'll admit that was quite a good plan, Usagi."

Moon smiled at her, then saw Mira talking to Dragon Sun. "Huh? Wait, how-"

"I revived her," Saturn said, "I can only do it once per person."

"How do you know that?" Moon asked.

"How did you know how to do that trick with your crystal?"

"I... Just knew it."

"Exactly."

Mercury flinched. "Guys, I think we still have another obstacle in our path."

"The Rainbow youma? I thought they would learn their lesson after the beating Princess Serenity gave them."

The seven youma appeared in front of them. "You've already proven you can defeat us all in this form, but you will not win against our true form," Arieru, the mermaid-like youma, said.

"Crap, don't tell me they're going to do what I think they're going to do," Jupiter muttered.

Mercury saw the youma vanish, the orbs forming their souls fusing into a large, black one, and shook her head. "Okay, I won't tell you."

The orb's form swiftly changed, forming a rather large monster. Its skin and tail were scaly, like a reptile's, while its head and face were humanlike, but also covered in scales. Its arms and legs ended in claws like those of a lion, and the wings in its back were black and feathery.

"A Chimera," Mercury noted. "I remember this one from that day."

"Hissatsu," Moon said. "Guys, let's-"

"Moon, go on without us."

"What? I won't! We need to defeat this-"

"Usagi, will you shut up and listen for once?" Mars snapped, interrupting her friend. "We will take care of this creep and join you, but you're the only one who can possibly beat Beryl."

The large youma laughed. "Fools, Beryl is ready to revive Metallia, and that pathetic kid you call a Princess won't be able to stop her on her own."

"Then I'll go with her," Tuxedo Kamen said.

"Hmph, I don't need your help."

The man frowned at her. "Will you stop acting like I'm an enemy already?"

Moon looked down. "... Sorry."

"Don't worry, we'll be okay," Dragon Mercury said, "we're not going to let this guy defeat us."

Moon looked at her friends, and then at the demon. "Fine," she said, turning around. "Let's go, Tuxedo Kamen."

Hissatsu yawned. "Okay, are you kids quite ready to be killed? I can go get a book if you're not."

"Cute, a youma with a sense of humor," Dragon Venus noted.

"And a crappy one, at that," Dragon Sun added.

The demon let out a growl, and shot a ripple of dark energy. The Senshi were all hit and knocked back by it.

The three Huntresses had minimized the blow by forming magic shields, but they all fell to their knees. "That thing's too strong for us."

Mars stood up, and saw the others were also ready to fight. "Don't worry, we'll take care of this."

Dragon Sun looked at Mira. "You shouldn't fight it, but how about giving us a bit of help?"

Mira smiled, she knew what her brother mean. "Sure."

Circe looked at Jupiter. "Why don't you try hitting that bug hard? Odin's Might."

Jupiter cracked her knuckles as she felt a rush of energy. "Worth a try."

Hissatsu couldn't believe that one single Senshi was rushing at him, trying to go melee on him, but he decided to humor her. He swung his fist, which was almost as big as her. Jupiter however leapt over it, running over his arm, and punched him in the face.

Dragon Mercury saw the large demon fall sideways and smiled. "Buff spells?"

Calisto nodded. "Useful, aren't they?"

Hissatsu stood up and held his jaw for a few seconds before laughing. "I see, you humans may still be a challenge for me. I was afraid this would be a boring fight."

Dragon Mercury smiled. "Any of you guys good with those swords?"

"I like to think I am," Dragon Venus said.

"Same here."

"Then let's slice and dice that creep."

The demon saw the three Dragons approach and smiled. "Fools." He shot another dark wave, but the dragons leapt over it. He was expecting that, and he shot another wave at the still airborne Dragons, knocking them all down.

"Brad!" Venus shouted.

Dragon Venus tried to stand up, but couldn't quite do it. "That hurt."

Dragon Mercury stood up despite the pain. "I'm going to-"

"We'll take care of it," Mercury said.

"But-"

"You can barely stand, Terry. Leave this to us, please."

Dragon Mercury nodded. "Beat him for us, girls."

The three Huntresses walked to the three Dragons as the Sailors tried to fight the demon. "Brother, that was foolish. You were never that good with a sword."

"Can it, Emi," Dragon Sun muttered.

"Let us heal you, guys, so you can go help your girlfriends."

"From human taxis to human medikits, that's an improvement," Dragon Mercury noted.

"Can I just skip this one? I don't think his sense of humor has a cure," Circe commented.

"Ouch," Dragon Mercury muttered. "It would be a honor if such a pretty young lady healed me."

"Such a charmer," Circe said, "I wonder what Ami would think if she knew you're flirting with us while she's fighting a super youma?"

He shrugged. "Just hurry up and heal us. I can't just sit down and watch them fight."

"Will do. Think Moon will defeat that Beryl woman?"

"I would risk guessing Beryl may be stronger than even Hissatsu, so as far as raw power goes, Moon can't beat her. But this is Usagi we're talking about. She won't give up so easily."

A/N: This may be the first time I use a single scene through a whole chapter. Or not. Too lazy to go check my old fics. In any case, next up is the final episode of the Dark Kingdom arc.

And then comes the arc which introduced my two (or one, depending on your point of view) favorite characters in Sailor Moon. Finally.

Fun fact: Cyber Moon's Dark Kingdom's arc has roughly ten more chapters than this one has, but is slightly shorter than this one is.