DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is property of Naoko Takeuchi, Viz Media, Toei Animation. I'm just a fan.
NAMES: Every main character in this story has a parallel to the characters that you know and love (Olugbeja::Mamorou; Galing::Ami; Wicapiwakan/Wika::Rei; Madeira/Madi::Makoto; Etoiledor/E.B.::Minako) Look up their names in their native languages and you'll see the connection.
Act XII: Mastermind
No more time to relax! Back to The Radiant Sailor Moon!
Part 2: Zoisite
Sticking close together in a single-file line, the senshi walked through the narrow opening. LEDs embedded within the movable walls on each side gave off a gentle golden light.
"I don't like this." Sailor Mars' assessment reflected that of the entire team.
"Y-yeah! If he can move these walls, he could crush us whenever he wants!" Sailor Moon said nervously.
"He won't," Sailor Mercury answered.
"How do you know?" Sailor Jupiter asked, hands preemptively positioned against each wall.
"If we're dead, he won't be able to lord it over us. He has something to prove. In Australia, we'd call him a 'figjam.'"
Sailor Venus looked back from her position at the front of the line. "'Figjam?'"
"Uhh…" Mercury hesitated before speaking carefully. "'F'...'I'm good, just ask me.'"
"Actually, I prefer hearing others say how good I am," Zoisite said over the all-surrounding loudspeakers. A purplish glow began to emanate from the end of the corridor. "A few more steps, ladies. Quickly, now."
The warriors kept pushing forward. After a few moments they found themselves inside an open room. The floor in front of them was a square grid of tiles, each with a circular white light embedded. Due to the overhead light, their individual fukus stood out in almost neon colors. With a sudden whirr and slam, the path that they just walked through was sealed.
"I like the psychedelic aesthetic," Mars said while scanning over the floor. "So...what's the first game? Tiddlywinks?"
"Cute. I'm sure that attitude makes you irresistible to men." As Mars seethed, Zoisite continued from his mystery location. "The first game is simple: I'll tell you where to stand and you move to the other side of the room." The row of lights opposite of them began to flash. "The only rule: you must move correctly."
"What the hell does that mean?" Jupiter asked with annoyance.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out. You do have someone here with a truly majestic intellect." As Zoisite answered, one of the circles in the row directly in front of them began to flash blue. The senshi's eyes turned to Mercury.
"I...assume...that's where I need to stand." She stepped down onto the large tile. The light ceased flashing and returned to white.
"Thank you! Now, if the holy woman would stand next to you…" To Mercury's left, the light began to flash red. Reluctantly, Sailor Mars stepped down and took her place.
"Next, the honorable warrior...the veteran of many battles!"
Sailor Venus looked around nervously at the comment. She slowly made her way to the flashing orange light next to Mars.
"And on the other side of the experience curve...the rookie."
"Hey! I'm not that far behind everyone else!" Jupiter protested while moving to the green light between Venus and the wall. As she settled at her location, the lone remaining senshi stood on the backline. A few moments passed.
"Umm...do I get a fancy nickname and light show?"
"Of course! Every team needs cannon fodder!"
"What?!" Sailor Moon screeched as a pink light flashed in the tile directly in front of Sailor Mercury.
"Ignore him," the Senshi of Intelligence soothed. "He just wants to make you mad." As Sailor Moon huffed to her spot it was obvious that he had succeeded. With all five of them in place, Mercury called out to the gamemaster. "We're all here. Now what?"
"You move first."
After those three words were spoken, silence took over. The girls looked at each other. "Sailor Mercury, any idea of what he means by 'move correctly?'" Mars asked.
Mercury studied the gridded lights. "There must be a pattern. We need to figure out what it's based on. Numbers? Direction? Something about our colors?"
Still shaken at their enemy hinting at her Sailor V past, Venus spoke: "I'm not sure...but let me try something. Everyone, pay attention to anything in this room that might change." The other four warriors braced themselves as Venus took a deep breath and took a small hop forward to the next tile. Peering down, she did not see the light change in any way. The rest of the crew looked around for any changes. Seeing nothing, Venus relaxed. "Ok, we know tha- AAAAUGH!"
Without warning, the tile gave way as a trap door, causing Venus to plummet out of sight. "Etoiledor!" Sailor Moon immediately ran towards the hole that Venus disappeared into. But as she stepped on the tile directly in front of Mars, it too gave way, plunging Sailor Moon down.
"FREEZE!" Sailor Mars shouted. The trap door tiles reset.
Jupiter stood petrified. "I'm not moving a centimeter until one of you comes up with something!"
Mars softly shook her head. "I don't-"
"Sailor Mars, move diagonally by five spaces. That will put you over by the far wall." Mars shot an uneasy look to Mercury.
"...You're sure?"
"Trust me."
Unsure of herself, but without an alternative plan, Sailor Mars followed the instruction. Standing on the far side she waited for her tile to open up and attempt to swallow her...but nothing happened.
Mercury then turned to Jupiter. "Go straight. Seven spaces without stopping. You'll be on the other side."
Jupiter remained a statue.
"Madi…" Mercury gently prodded.
"Ok, ok!" Sailor Jupiter took three deep breaths...did a couple of deep knee bends...pulled her foot back for a quad stretch…
"Hurry up!"
"OK, OK!" she answered to Mars' not-so-soft urging. After a false start, the towering warrior traversed the seven tiles in seven large steps. Reaching the other side, she froze again. "Am I safe?"
Sailor Mercury took seven hops straight forward to join Madi on the other side. She turned back to Sailor Mars. "Come two diagonal and you're finished!" Mars moved without hesitation. As she reached the last line of lighted tiles with her fellow senshi, a choir's tone rang out over the speakers, along with canned applause.
"I'm starting to dislike this guy," Mars said flatly.
"How did you figure out the pattern?" Jupiter asked Mercury.
"I didn't realize it at the time, but when he gave us our positions, they corresponded to positions on a chessboard. And the way in which he identified each one of us were clues to our assigned pieces."
Mars nodded. "'Holy woman' being bishop. 'Rookie,' rook…"
"And Usagi and Etoiledor moved the wrong way," Jupiter realized.
"I didn't even notice that the floor was 8x8. If the lights had been in a checkerboard style I would've realized sooner."
"But that would've been much too easy!" Zoisite's soft voice came over the system. "Besides...I left you a clue...white lights on the ground, black light at the top...black and white...c'mon! You missed that?"
Mercury shook her head, clearly annoyed. Jupiter piped up: "How are we gonna save Usagi and-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the ground shifted beneath them. The tiles were now pulling the three of them in different directions. As they unwillingly rode the floor, walls rose up between them. When the sound and fury stopped, each senshi found herself standing on a single tile, enclosed by 30-foot walls on each side.
"Can you two hear me?" Jupiter yelled at the top of her lungs.
"No talking, please!" Zoisite said. "Now, if you will turn your attention to the screen in front of you…" In each of the girls' individual chambers, a panel on one of the walls flipped over to reveal a screen. The screen was blank, save for the Z.O.I. Cyber logo rotating like a 90's screensaver.
Sailor Mercury spoke directly towards the monitor. "What's next?"
"Let's get your minds working in a different way! On this screen a puzzle will appear. You have one minute to solve it. Simply write your answer on the touchscreen. Fail to answer correctly, and...well...you know!"
"Fine!" Mars barked. "Let's go!"
"Certainly! The clock starts...NOW!"
The screensavers disappeared, replaced by questions. Sailor Mars' monitor showed a crude drawing of a parking lot. There were six spaces, one car and five numbers. "16...06...68...88...car...98…'what's the missing number?'" She scratched her head. "Those numbers...are NOT in any order!"
"'81 x 9 = 801'...well, that's wrong," Sailor Jupiter said to herself. "'How can you make this equation correct?'" She scratched her head. "Can I cross this out and write 729?"
"A bear walks one mile south, one mile east, and one mile north. The bear is now in the same place as where it started. What color is the bear?" She chuckled lightly at the easy geography question. "Actually, the fur of a polar bear is transparent...it reflects the light of its surroundings, therefore, it can change. But...since you're probably looking for the most simple answer…" She used her finger to write "white" on the touchscreen.
"10 seconds!"
Sailor Jupiter was flustered. This clearly wasn't a math problem, so...what was it? She cocked her head to the side...and then cocked it a little more...and a little more. With time running down, she reached to the screen with both hands and tried to rotate the screen upside down. This attempt only resulted in two huge smears across the screen. "Hey this-"
At the 10-second warning, Mars was still perplexed. Something wasn't right here...and it was that damned '06'. It was just so out of place! It would have made more sense if it...were...a '90'...upside-
"TIME"
"OH F-!" Mars exclaimed as she dropped through the floor.
The ground began to move again as Sailor Mercury was still stuck in her space. She tried to keep calm though she couldn't see anything. Suddenly, she felt a hard jolt, as if her cubicle had run into something. The wall to the side began to rotate. As the part of the wall that had been underground came into view, Mercury could see that it was transparent. When it finished moving, she could see into the enclosed space beside her...where Sailor Jupiter was standing. Mercury locked eyes with Jupiter. "Pheta?" Sailor Jupiter shrugged.
"Congratulations! You two have reached the final!" Zoisite cheered. "And don't worry, green guardian! I judge based on intent. I know what you were trying to do on the screen."
"Thanks," Jupiter said with a bit of sarcasm. "So, what's next?"
"The final test of course. I want to see how fast you can think...under fire?"
The wall behind each of the warriors dropped into a floor tile. They both turned to look down the newly revealed corridor. In the distance, they could see a dancing, orange glow.
"You're not serious…" Mercury whispered.
At that moment, the walls with the screen began to move towards them, pushing them down the dangerous hall. Instinctively both Jupiter and Mercury pushed against the wall in an attempt to slow its progress. The wall's rate of speed increased.
"What the- ?" A surprised Jupiter pushed even harder. The wall moved even faster.
Mercury could see Jupiter being driven down the corridor. "You have to stop! That's not working!"
Jupiter looked behind her. As she got closer to the makeshift cliff, she could actually see flames leaping into view. Desperate, she reared back and let loose with a mighty right hand. Upon impact, the wall accelerated tremendously, forcefully shoving Sailor Jupiter back. Mercury heard her scream fade with distance...and then she heard nothing.
Panicked, Mercury looked around. There was definitely no escape to the left or the right. There was also nothing to climb on to attempt to get over the walls. She tiptoed backwards as the wall advanced, knowing that she was now within 50 feet of the end of the road. She began to run her hands over the approaching wall, hoping to feel a button, a lever, a soft spot, a…
As she brushed the wall with the back of her hand, she felt the tip of her finger run over a slight cleft. Immediately she tried to slip her fingers within the tiny opening. With a little effort she was successful...and was now holding a handle. Curious...she was pretty sure that she couldn't use this to push since every action against the wall sped it up. Now less than 10 feet from the cliff, and able to feel the heat - if this was an illusion meant for a theme park, it was a really good one! - she tried the only other thing that she could think of...she pulled the handle towards her...
The wall slowed down.
She pulled again, a bit harder this time...and the wall stopped completely. With a theory firmly in mind, she tugged again...and the wall began to move slowly away from the fire. Now that she understood what was going on, she wanted to try one more thing. Biting her lip, she grasped the handle tightly with both hands, braced herself, and pulled back as hard as she could.
Like a cannonball, the wall shot down the corridor, talking Mercury with it. Suddenly, the wall made a hard right and Mercury lost her grip, momentum continuing to take her forward. She hit the ground hard and rolled, ending up in a prone position. She pushed her upper body off of the ground, noting that despite her enhanced senshi strength, her arm was really beginning to hurt. Lifting her head, she saw that she was in an empty room, the walls and floor the same composition as everything else that she had encountered.
A slow clap caught her attention. She turned towards the sound. A few yards away was a 10-level stair-step pyramid. At the top, sitting behind a metal table in a futuristic chair, was Zoisite.
"Don't you love the brilliance of the Chinese finger-trap?" he began. "So easy to trap the simple-minded by their own efforts. And so many ways to use variations on the idea." He turned fully in her direction. "In the end, I knew that you'd be the only one left."
Sailor Mercury worked up to her feet. "How could you be so sure?"
Zoisite chuckled and flipped his rat-to-ponytail with his hand. "A mastermind sees it coming before it comes." He pressed a button on his chair. A pod popped out of the table and opened. Zoisite reached in and removed an object. He beckoned to Sailor Mercury with a smirk and a tilt of the head. Reluctantly, she made her way over and up the stairs. Once she reached the top, Zoisite opened his hand. Sailor Mercury gasped.
"I picked this up from my security team at our Tokyo office. It was the code on this flash drive that brought down the Redline wrist monitors." He looked straight into her eyes. "You're one hell of a programmer! But, sending code to disable the Crystal Disk all over the globe?" He tossed the drive to Mercury. "That was just mean!"
"How did you figure it out?" she asked.
"A little searching here, a little videotape there," an annoyed look flashed on his face, "discovering that someone is hacking into your operations!"
Sailor Mercury was now nervous about how much Zoisite might know. She definitely wanted to figure out if he knew about Luna and Artemis. How could she coax it out of him? "So...I guess there's nothing else for me to say. You know everything. About me…" Her eyes searched the empty space. "...about my team." Her gaze returned to Zoisite's eyes, looking for some kind of clue.
He gave a short gasp. "Oh! Yes, your team. I assume that you'd like to see them, right?" He keyed in a code on his chair. With mechanical noises, the floor near the far wall began to retract. Sailor Mercury's eyes widened in horror as four transparent capsules emerged from underneath. Within those jars were Sailor Venus, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter was breathing heavily and rubbing her knuckles. Mars seemed to be meditating. Venus sat with her head to her knees. Sailor Moon was agitated, apparently yelling for help, but Mercury could hear nothing.
Sailor Mercury dashed in their direction. But before she could leap off of the pyramid, Zoisite grabbed her by the elbow.
"What are you…?"
"Fascinating," Zoisite said softly as he admired her arm. "Your mix of white and Aborigine produces the exact same skin tone as my black and Puerto Rican...a perfect match." He looked into her eyes again. "What do you think that means?"
Mercury bit her lip. Looking at this guy...she kept getting this same...strange feeling! But...now was not the time for that! "It doesn't matter! Let me go, and let my friends go!"
He released her arm, but put up his index finger. "First...take a moment to admire my work." He gestured to the pods. "Those chambers are made with the same polymer as the other glass-like features that you've seen here. But I've found a way to allow the material to be a soundproof one-way mirror, or the normal polymer, without affecting its integrity!" With the touch of a button, Sailor Moon's cries could be heard. All of the captured girls heard her, and suddenly realized that they could now see out of their reflective prison. Eyes falling on Sailor Mercury, they immediately began to bang on the pods and yell in her direction. Zoisite typed a command into his chair and the translucence of the senshi's pods faded into darkness as their voices disappeared. They descended below the floor and the opening closed. "Adding the tinting feature was just a bonus!"
Incensed, Mercury got right in Zoisite's face. "Let. Them. GO!"
Unperturbed, Zoisite smiled at her. "Have you forgotten that the game is still going?" He typed another command. Loud mechanical whirring and clanking could be heard under the floor. "I really have to work on the noise," Zoisite sighed. A few moments later, the floor opened up and the pods reemerged, still opaque and darkened. He looked up to Sailor Mercury. "Have a seat." Instantly, a chair popped up from the floor. Mercury carefully sat down opposite of Zoisite. The tech mogul pressed a button on the table. A panel slid open and a game board popped up. Mercury took a good look at it: there were several sets of four-hole rows, on the side was a container holding multi-colored pegs. The final row, in front of Zoisite, was hidden with a hood. "Are you familiar with the game 'Codebreaker?'"
"I haven't played it, but I get the gist of it."
Zoisite nodded. "Well, normally there are six colors and any combination is allowed, but today, there are only four colors, and each one can be used only once." He gestured backwards over his shoulder. "I've mixed up the order of your friends' capsules." I have their correct order here in front of me. Guess the order correctly, you earn their liberation. Fail…" The wicked smile returned. "...and you all become the property of Queen Beryl!"
As he leaned back in his chair, placing his index finger on his lower lip in a playful manner, Mercury assessed her situation. She didn't like anything about this game setup, she didn't like how much Zoisite seemed to know about her personally or about their operations, she didn't like being out of communication with Luna and Artemis. She took a deep breath. But...if Zoisite was giving her a fighting chance to save her comrades and walk out unschathed, she would maximize it.
"How many guesses am I allowed? Eight?"
"With only 24 possibilities?" Zoisite snapped. "You get six." He chucked. "Nice try, though."
Taking a breath to steel her resolve, Sailor Mercury reached for the pegs and chose one of each color. Looking up from the board at Zoisite, she had that...feeling...again! Foe or not, she had to ask:
"Does this feel...familiar to you?"
Zoisite smiled. "An opponent falling to my intellect? Too many times to count. You'll have to be more specific."
Disgusted with his arrogance, Mercury returned to the task at hand. There were no hints, so she might as well just put them down in any order and go from there:
Red | Green | Pink | Orange
Zoisite nodded. "One correct. Five moves left."
Sailor Mercury's eyes remained focused. One correct color didn't give her a lot to go on just yet. The best strategy at this point would be to keep one color in the same place and move all of the others. She took another handful of pegs:
Orange | Red | Pink | Green
Zoisite smirked. "One correct. Four moves left."
Excitement and nerves began to build. If she was right that pink was the steady color, the next guess would be a win because there would be only one more slot for each of the colors to fit in! However, it was more likely that this wasn't the case. She had to be prepared to do some more deduction...
"Do you remember what I told you during your tour?"
Mercury's gaze rose up from her pegs. "Yes, mostly."
"So, what do you think?"
"About what, precisely?"
"About Z.O.I. Cyber." He uncrossed his legs, leaned forward, and stared straight into her turquoise eyes. "The work that we're doing will change the world for the better. That's what I've always wanted to do. And I know that you were excited about what you saw today. Why don't you join me? Bring your medical expertise and head an entirely new division. You'll have free reign!"
"No, thank you," she answered while placing her pegs.
Green | Orange | Pink | Red
Zoisite returned to his original position. Stroking his chin without changing his expression, Zoisite spoke: "Zero correct. Three moves left."
Mercury covered her mouth with one hand. She now knew for sure that position three was not pink. Of course, the question now was, where does the pink peg go?
"Interesting that you kept the pink one in the same spot," Zoisite said. "Perhaps it's a subliminal message that the pink one is keeping you stuck in one spot?"
Sailor Mercury turned a sad stare in his direction. "What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"
"I asked you earlier, can they truly appreciate your unique mind? Do they have what it takes to challenge you? Help you to grow? Exceed your wildest dreams?" His face became earnest. "I can help that happen. I want to help that happen!"
She returned her attention to the game and looked back over her moves. Position four had to be green or orange, but it couldn't be red. Position two had to be red or green, but couldn't be orange. If her first move only had one correct answer, then using that pattern but swapping the pink could eliminate some other possibilities. If this answer came back "zero," she'd know what to do next. If it was "two," there'd be more work. She decided on the two to keep steady and made her switch:
Pink | Green | Red | Orange
Zoisite scrunched his face. "Two correct. Two moves to go."
All of her concentration was on the board and eliminating possibilities. Because the switch added one to the total, she now knew that position one could not be red, it was either pink or orange. To simplify the next move, she'd keep pink in position one. Assuming that pink was now correct, that would mean that red was still in the wrong spot. Since red couldn't be position four, she moved it to two. That bumped green to position three, and since she knew that either green or orange were correct from the first move, orange would remain in position four for this guess. There was still uncertainty, but things would either be very clear...or over...with this attempt! She reached for the pegs...
"Agree to work for Queen Beryl and I will release your friends. No more games. No harm."
Sailor Mercury looked up. "What?!"
"Whatever you've heard about her is wrong. She gifted my brothers and I with the ability to help everyone on Earth. Her concern is taking care of this planet."
Sailor Mercury gave him an (actual) angry look. "By draining people of their energy? Enslaving them? Not to mention actually threatening to kill us!"
"There's a method to her madness, I assure you. Once you open your mind to her, you'll understand." He leaned forward again. "This world is changing. And when it does, you want to be on Queen Beryl's side. The perks are extraordinary! My brothers and I were all struggling in our lives before she arrived. She came in, pushed us past our limits, and gave us a glorious new purpose. You ever see the movie Dead Poets Society? 'Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.' That's basically what she said to us. The order that she's going to usher in will be amazing. The path that you're on right now? As a so-called guardian? You're standing between Queen Beryl and everything that belongs to her. Everything that belongs to her!"
Sailor Mercury looked Zoisite dead in the eye. "Imperium."
Zoisite stared right back. "If you don't make a different choice, you're going to regret it!"
Sailor Mercury returned to the board. "I'll live with that."
Pink | Red | Green | Orange
Stone-faced, Zoisite flipped the hood, revealing his pegs: a perfect match to Mercury's guess. He typed a code into his chair and the pods once again became translucent. There they were: Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Venus, in order. Mercury batted her eyes innocently. "How about that...it only took me five guesses!" She stood up and ran past Zoisite to the edge of the platform. "Guys!" The trapped senshi all snapped to attention. "We're good! I'll have you out soon!"
"Oh...you will?"
Sailor Mercury turned to look at the back of Zoisite's chair. "You said that if we defeated you, we could walk out of here! Are you a liar?"
Zoisite folded his hands. "For this game, I said 'guess the order correctly, you earn their liberation.' They can now see and hear. I've liberated their eyes and ears."
Sailor Mercury grabbed the chair and turned it towards her. "That's preposterous!"
Zoisite smiled. "My house, my rules. I gave you a chance to end the games, but you didn't take it. Besides, that codebreaker game was far too easy for you! Now, if you want to earn their freedom…" Zoisite reached over and pressed the button on the table. The codebreaker gameboard lowered. Immediately following that, a new game rose to the surface...a familiar one. "I think this is more fitting, don't you? Bring this adventure full-circle with the ultimate game of strategy and intelligence." He gestured to the open seat. "You move first!"
Sailor Mercury looked at the chessboard's gleaming gold and crystal pieces. She then looked back to her teammates. They were pressed against the sides of their pods in various positions, eyes full of hope and concern. Their safety was at stake. And she was going to bet it on another game?!
With a violent swipe of the hand, Sailor Mercury knocked the pieces off of the board, turned, and leapt off of the pyramid, landing on the floor. She sprinted over to the pods, stopping right in front of Sailor Jupiter. She placed her hand on the chamber's surface.
"What are you doing?" Jupiter asked.
"I tested and this stuff is definitely fireproof," Mars chimed in. "I don't think that he was bluffing when he said that it's waterproof too!"
Mercury began to think: her water would be ineffective. Zoisite had all of the controls. Even if she were able to somehow commandeer the chair, he most certainly had backup commands at the ready. She looked back. The pyramid was collapsing into the ground. Once the top platform returned to the same level as the floor, Zoisite began to walk over. Racking her brain, Sailor Mercury thought about any weakness in his plan...anything that she could try. "Waterproof...fireproof...fire…" She hesitated in thought for a moment...then moved her arms in large circular motions. Mist quickly gathered around her hands, swirling into foggy blobs. Approaching the scene, Zoisite looked on with curiosity as Mercury returned her hands to Jupiter's pod. Upon contact, water raced across the entire surface, covering it. Unsure if she was even capable of this next step, Mercury took a deep breath and concentrated. She had the water under her command...now...she needed the molecules to realign...into hexagonal patterns...holding strongly in place...holding that shape...and now...each molecule needed to slow down...vibrate slower...slower. Focusing on her task, she ignored her arm screaming in pain. With her energy dwindling, Sailor Mercury gave one last push before collapsing. Zoisite, Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, and Sailor Venus looked on with awe: Jupiter's pod was now covered in a layer of...ice!
Mercury held her arm. Ironically, it felt like it was on fire. Nodding in appreciation Zoisite reached the exhausted senshi. "Impressive display!" he exulted. "But, liquid or frozen, the polymer still repels it!" He squatted down and raised her head by the chin.
"You take your hands off of her!" Sailor Moon yelled.
Zoisite ignored her and looked into Mercury's sweaty face. "Now do you see? The only way out is with me. So let's-"
His proposal was interrupted by a loud thud. He traced the sound to Jupiter's pod. "Is she really that hard-headed?" he chuckled. Another thud, and some of the ice fell off of the pod. Zoisite's face fell as he saw...a crack! "How…?"
"Waterproof...fireproof...non-conductive…" Sailor Mercury weakly responded. "This testing ground is completely sealed from the outdoors. So...did you test the integrity for extreme temperatures?"
Jaw dropped, Zoisite looked back to the pod just as a powerful punch busted the side wide open. Out stepped a shivering, angry Sailor Jupiter, hands pressed together with electricity arcing. Zoisite hopped to his feet and turned to run. Jupiter already had him sized up.
"Sparkling wide pressure!"
The orb flew from her hand and struck Zoisite in the small of the back. With a pained holler, the tech mogul collapsed onto the floor.
Sailor Jupiter immediately moved over to Sailor Mercury and helped her to a kneeling position. "Are you ok?"
Still a bit woozy, Mercury nodded. She looked over to Zoisite, flat on his face. "Now we have to figure out how to use his controls and open the pods."
"As long as he's out, we're not in any danger," Sailor Venus said. "You should look for an escape first."
"What?!" Sailor Moon protested! "I don't wanna be trapped in here! We need to figure out how to-"
Before Sailor Moon could finish her demand, the tops of the capsules whooshed and flipped open.
"How did that happen?" Mercury asked.
"Maybe there was some automatic setting," Venus said shortly after landing from her leap out of the pod. She turned to the senshi having the most trouble escaping. "Sailor Moon, would you do the honors?"
After gathering the team around the fallen Zoisite, Sailor Moon summoned the Moon Stick and the group performed the healing. As they recovered, Sailor Moon looked around at the group with a huge smile. "We did it! That's all of them!"
Sailor Jupiter nodded in agreement. "Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite...we took down all three of Queen Beryl's minions!"
"Freed them is more accurate," Sailor Mars corrected.
"Yeah," Mercury added as Rubioro slowly started to stir. "So, what now?"
"Oh, I'm sure that you'll all think of something worthwhile." In disbelief, the warriors all wheeled towards the familiar voice. Sailor Moon's heart began to jackhammer as Olugbeja Aiye walked out of the shadows.
"No...way," Jupiter stammered.
"Why are you here?" Venus asked suspiciously.
"I had vacation time, so I decided to come and let you ladies out." Olugbeja walked over and knelt next to Rubioro. As the tech mogul came to, he looked around at the surrounding commotion.
"So...how did you like the maze?"
Sailor Mars wasted no time: "Do you know who Queen Beryl is?"
A confused Rubioro shrugged. "Not a clue."
Venus prepared to ask a question, but before she could, Olugbeja held up his hand. "Ladies, I'll take things from here."
"Excuse me?" Sailor Mars asked.
"Why? What's going on?" Venus inquired.
Helping Rubioro to his feet, the Nigerian answered: "This man holds a key to my past."
Sailor Moon stepped forward. "How do you know?"
"I just do."
"Disculpame, bro. You do seem kind of familiar, but...I've met lots of people recently. I don't know how much help that I could be." He looked over to Mercury. "Plus...I think that I need to talk to her."
"Don't worry, I'm very close with them. You'll have time to talk. First, please, I need you to tell me everything that you know." The two men began to walk back towards the shadows.
Sailor Moon was incredulous. "What are you doing? Queen Beryl has done something to him! We need to-"
"YOU MUST TRUST ME!"
While all five of the senshi were taken aback, Sailor Moon was in complete shock. The look in Olugbeja's eyes was one she had never seen on the cool and collected character: desperation. Voice quivering just a bit, he repeated himself: "You must trust me!"
With that, Olugbeja and Rubioro made their way to the hidden elevator, leaving the girls to ponder what was happening.
"Well, at least the villain was nice enough to tell us how to get out before leaving!" Wika snarked. The group was now back in the command center. No one had gone back home as the outcome of the mission left them with many questions.
Luna shook her head. "I don't know what to make of him. Sometimes he seems trustworthy, other times...I don't know…"
Usagi was very clearly holding back tears. "Luna! You know that he supports us! He just...he has-"
"Usagi, stop," Wika said sternly (but with restraint). "He came in, just as we were finishing a mission in a secret lair...and walked away with our target. Something is up. You can't put your crush ahead of our safety!"
"He's more than that!" Usagi shouted, beginning to break.
"Just an FYI," Galing jumped in, "the Cuddle Buddies app has been shut down." She put her phone down. "I don't know what Olugbeja might have had to do with that, but at least we don't have to worry about it anymore."
"Probably has to do more with you freeing him from the evil influence," Artemis said from his position on Etoiledor's lap.
"Still," Wika said, "we clearly can't have him around-"
"WIKA!"
"Just for right now! We need to-"
"That's not fair! He risked himself to save you before!"
"I'm not denying that! I'm saying that we have to be smart! He's-"
"He's hurt and he's trying to figure out his dreams! He just wants to know why he's dreaming about Imperium! He won't hurt us! He won't hurt me!" By this time, Usagi was in full meltdown. She jumped up, activated the panel and ran up the stairs. A loud bang let the room know that it wasn't quite open before she reached the top. The remainder of the group sat in stunned silence.
"Give her time." Eyes turned to Etoiledor as her soft sentence broke the stillness.
Wicapiwakan, feeling a bit responsible for Usagi's outburst, still didn't hide her feelings. "We have business to take care of, and we have a guy who may or may not be on our side. I can't understand taking a chance on… 'love'", using the bunny-ear finger-quotes, "...when you don't know whether it's safe or not."
Etoiledor removed Artemis from her lap, stood up, and walked towards the stairs. "I can," she said gently.
As the panel slid shut, Madi awoke with a start. She looked around the room.
"Where'd everybody go?"
Angry and frustrated, Queen Beryl peered into her crystal ball. She was searching for something...some answer to how things turned out this way. She had accomplished a lot in a short amount of time...but it had cost her dearly. It took a lot of work to find her kings, and now they were lost to her...temporarily. Though she had no doubt that she would soon reclaim them, she was still enraged with the interference.
She sighed and rested her head on the crystal ball. Reaching out with her spirit, she could feel the immense energy that she and her kings had successfully gathered thus far. And with the energy still flowing in, it wouldn't be long. "You are almost ready, my Great Ruler." Queen Beryl relaxed as a psychic force enveloped her. She smiled. "Of course. You'll soon have it. Imperium is too close to be lost now. The instant that it emerges we will claim it." The force swirled around her. "Yes, that's right...something for myself as well. This is something that I've waited a very long time for!"
She leaned away from her crystal ball and back into her chair. Though not under her direct control anymore, her kings were still working on her behalf. Her faith renewed, she thought of the glory on the other side of this struggle: Imperium in the hands of her master, her four kings ready to carry out orders, the people of earth kneeling in gratitude to their new queen...and king. She smiled again.
"Draw him closer to me, my kings. Draw him closer…"
Perched on a rooftop, long white hair billowing in the soft breeze, he overlooked the illegal activities below him. The man in white's blood boiled as he watched these evil people do harm. He could practically smell the stench of greed on them. Standing to his full height, he turned his eyes to the first quarter moon overhead. As he prepared himself, his mind entered prayer mode. This dua was reserved for the Hilal, but his will was strengthened anytime that he saw the moon in the sky.
He tucked his hair into his white gutra.
"O Allah, do make the appearance of this moon a token of peace, faith, salvation, and Islam for us."
He threw his white cape over his shoulders, securing it with a golden crescent moon pin.
"Do make this moon arise as a favor to us so that we may perform deeds which conform to Thy Will and are dear to Thee."
He pulled a white mask over his mouth and nose, and took a final inspirational look at the moon.
"O Moon, our Lord and thy Lord is Allah."
He pulled his scimitar from his belt, and leapt off of the roof.
As-salamu alaykum. I'm not sure why, but I sense that you want to call me "Kunzite." I've battled the evil within me for so long, I've almost forgotten my life before it. Perhaps I'm in need of a flashback… But it's not only voices coming after me, it's these strange people! What do they want? Do they truly know me, or is this a trick sent by the same evil that tried to overcome me two-and-a-half years ago? I assure you...I will show no mercy to any who do wrong...no matter how beautiful they may be. Wait...why did I say that? Let's find out together next time with "Visions." Allah hafiz.
[Go to YouTube and search "The Radiant Sailor Moon" for access to Etoiledor's Playlist!]
