Return of the Silence
"Oh, come on lady! All I want is your pure heart." A witchy voice drifted into Ryokousha's ear
"Get away from me you freak!" Cried
the victim of the heart snatching.
Automatically,
Ryokousha shouted, "Callisto Ice Power, Make UP!" and turned into Pretty
Soldier Sailor Callisto.
"Stop
right there!" Callisto commanded. "I am Sailor Callisto, Guardian of Dimensions
and Sailor Scout of Ice!"
"Oh,
it's one of you brats that the boss warned me about." The Daimon said. It had
the shape of a tree and started throwing razor sharp leaves at Callisto.
She jumped out of the way and called, "Frost
Bite!" A small tennis-ball sized light
shot itself at the Daimon. When the
Daimons appeared before, this attack was all it had taken to destroy them. This was not the case this time.
The
Daimon jumped out of the way.
"You
want some more? Come and get it!" It cried and started throwing leaves at her
again. This time though, they hit their
mark. Sailor Callisto's eyes widened as
they whizzed by her, lightly scraping her face, but it was enough to cause
blood to run. She then tried to attack
the Daimon again.
"Frost
Bite!" This attack hit the Daimon, but
it wasn't enough. The lady who was
being heart snatched seemed to have fainted.
"Hey! That hurt!" The Daimon cried. "If you want
to play rough, why didn't you say so?" It's branches shot out and wrung around the tree Sailor Callisto had
been standing in front of. "Hey that's
no fair!"
"Oh,
really? I'll show you what's fair! RAINBOW ICE CASCADE!" The attack smashed into the Daimon and
finally destroyed it. The tree the
Daimon had assimilated went back to its place and the park looked as if the
battle hadn't taken place.
"Geramatou,
it that you?" A schoolgirl called to a
basement laboratory normally haunted by the owner of the famous private school
above.
"Ah,
Mistress Nine. You have found a new
body?" The doctor asked.
"Yes,
and in this one I don't have to fight the girl's spirit. I have total control."
"Ah,
very good. I have reconstructed the
Daimon facilities. The Daimon Eggs
should be even stronger then before."
"Have
you been able to reconstruct the Death Busters and Kaolinite?"
"I
have put together their memories and personalities. Their weapons are lying on this table. They, too, should be even stronger then before."
The
Messiah's eyes swept over the weapons. The bracelet and necklace that Kaolinite got her power from were now
gemmed with rubies. Eudial's Firebuster
had been modified to handle even the Super Sailor Senshi's attacks and was
labeled Firebuster III. Mimet's staff
now had a silver star, the new sign of the Silence, where the old black star
used to be. Teruru's plant seemed to be
even healthier than before and as Mistress 9 reached her hand to touch it, it
tried the bite. For some reason, this
amused her greatly and she now looked over at Viluy's computer controlling
wristband. It was of a slimmer design
and could obviously do more things than before (and that isn't because it had
more buttons on it). The two twins,
Cyprine and Pichurol, had their staffs totally redone. The staff seemed to be made of titanium or
some sort of really light silver. The
star was silver and the loop was tight around the star. As the loop recurved, though, it wound
around the main part of the staff three times and ended in a snake's head.
"Hey,
you're eating my sundae! Get your own
you little runt." Usagi whined at
Chibi-Usa.
"In
Crystal Tokyo you never call me a runt and Mama Ikuko says that you need to
share!" Chibi-Usa retorted back. They immediately started a tug-o'-war fight
over the chocolate fudge sundae as Ryokousha walked through the door.
"Hey
girls! What's up besides Usagi-chan and
Chibi-Usa-chan?" Ryokousha asked in a
nonchalant manner. At this Chibi-Usa
stopped fighting with Usagi and acted like she had done nothing of the sort. This led to Usagi tipping over backwards and
spilling the sundae all over her.
"Hi Ryo-chan! Where have you been? We've been waiting here for you since 12:00." Chibi-Usa questioned
"Actually, Chibi-Usa-chan, it's only
12:10, but Ryokousha, where have you been? It's not like you to be even the slightest bit late. You also look like something's on your
mind." Makoto corrected Chibi-Usa and
questioned Ryokousha in the same sentence.
"I decided to go walking in the park and
I met this really cute guy." Ryokousha
responded. Immediately the girls were
all over her, accept Ami who had no interest in getting a boyfriend at the
moment but rather studying.
"What did he look like?"
"What was his name?"
"How cute was he, actually?"
"Was he as cute as Mamoru?"
The last obviously came from Rei, who
though that Mamoru was the cutest guy alive. The walking in the park and the cute guy parts were true, but the
actually met the guy part wasn't. She
also "forgot" to mention the Daimon that she also ran in to.
"He looks like Mamoru. Actually, a lot like Mamoru. He was a bit taller though and he had brown
eyes. I think that he goes Shippou
Gakuen. You know, that one that I go to
now. He was wearing the red and black
with silver trimmings uniform that the boys are supposed to were, anyway."
"Which makes him just right for Ryokousha." Snickered Minako. Rei was furiously trying to figure out a way to meet this
guy. Ami was still puzzling over the
same problem she still had a minute a go. Minako, after making good-natured fun out of Ryokousha, was doing about
the same as Rei and Makoto was daydreaming about meeting him. Chibi-Usa ordered another sundae while Usagi
yelled at her that she was wasting Usagi's money. Luckily, Ryokousha had been able to change the subject and get
the attention off her pretty easily. She wanted to wait to tell them about the about the Daimon and about
seeing Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna with Baby Hotaru in the park also.
"The Dark Silence has come again." Haruka murmured to Michiru on the top story
of the apartment that she and Michiru shared.
"Yes, but what if it isn't." Michiru responded.
"It has to be. Who else would be after Pure Heart Crystals?" Haruka wondered.
"But what are they after this time? Pharaoh 90 was destroyed, as were the Death
Busters, Mistress 9 and Professor Tomoe. We have the talismans and Mistress 9 destroyed the Sacred Cup." Michiru reminded her.
"I don't know. But we'd better keep an eye out for Daimons."
"Right."
"Mistress 9, what exactly are we looking
for this time?" Geramatou, who could be
rightfully called Professor Soen, asked. He really didn't know why he had been brought back.
"Professor, have you ever heard of the
Harmony Grail?" Mistress 9 asked in
response.
"No, does it have something to do with
the Sacred Cup?"
"There is a legend from the Moon
Kingdom. The legend goes that there
were once two infinitely powerful items. One was the Sacred Cup, which lent power unto the queens of the Moon. It let all members of the royal family
become Super Sailor Senshi. It would
remain in existence as long as the Queen bade it do so. The other, the Harmony Grail, was another
possession of the Queen. It made all
the Senshi the Queen bade it to into Terra Sailor Senshi. These senshi were more in tune with the
energy flows of the Earth and the Moon. This item, though, remained in existence only as long as it was
needed. Then it would divide into two
talismans. One belonging to the
ice. This one, the legend states, was
to take the form of a living creature. One belonging to the eternal slumber. Not much is know about this one. Here the legend ends. Less is
know about these two talismans than even the talismans that made up the Sacred
Cup. The talismans that create the
Harmony Grail, though, have appeared in this world. The Harmony Grail counteracts the beautiful Silence that is now
mine to command. We must find and
destroy the Harmony Grail before the Sailor Senshi destroy us once again. How long will it take before the Death
Busters are ready?"
"I am releasing them now. They have to find the appropriate bodies
first though. But watch, they will take
their weapons with them."
Professor Soen released the balls of
light that had been accumulating in the five glass domes. The black one for Karolinite hovered above
her bracelet and necklace. A seemingly
black fog spread over both of the accessories and for the second or two that
you could still see them for the visible stones seemed to have turned to black. The ball of light lifted from the table and
the ornaments were gone. Eudial's
memories picked up the Firebuster that was lying on the table. Mimet picked up her staff, Teruru her plant,
Viluy her wristband and Cyprine and Pichurol their staffs.
"It should only be a matter of time
before they find suitable bodies to take over." Professor Soen assured Mistress 9. Mistress 9 looked on in solemn approval.
"Setsuna-chan!" Came a cry from behind her. The dark-green haired 18-year-old with a her
hair partly down, partly in a bun at the back of her head turned around to see
a 16-year-old girl in wintergreen and ice blue with a bun tied in back of her
head with a wintergreen ribbon ran up to her. "Nice to see you again! It's
been so long!" Tasekaino Ryokousha
yelled energetically.
"Ryo-chan, nice to see you too. Did anything happen while we were
gone?" Mio Setsuna asked. After the Sailor Senshi had beaten Mistress
9 and Pharaoh 90 the first time, the Outer Senshi left and weren't seen the
entire time the Dead Moon Circus was in town.
"The Dead Moon Circus came."
"Who are they?"
"The new enemy..? Not much is know about them. They did manage to steal the Golden Crystal,
though. And beforehand the destroyed
Elysion."
"That couldn't have been a good thing."
"What do you think? Anyway, we got to have some contact with
Helios instead of just through dreams. That was nice."
Setsuna acted generally more open when
it was just Ryokousha and herself because one: Ryokousha had the hidden
identity of Sailor Charon who was Sailor Pluto's guardian and two: because
Ryokousha knew everything Setsuna knew that the Inner Senshi didn't know.
"Would you like to go to the café and
chat?" Ryokousha asked out of
politeness. "I'm positive that they're
having their two person special today. It would make it easier to discuss things."
"How about your house? We can be out of the public eye there."
"The only problem with that is that
Mako-chan and the other girls have picked up a habit of coming in without
knocking."
"Then going to the café should be the safest
option."
"Well, not much has seemed to change
here." Setsuna commented as she and
Ryokousha sipped their green tea.
"Yeah, well despite so many odd
occurrences happening, the people go about their daily lives, unaware of the
danger the planet is in." Ryokousha
answered. While she said this, she
remembered the dream she had been having for the past three days. The dream of running down a corridor with a
great clock at one end and knowing that she had to get to the end before the
clock struck twelve. The corridor
seemed to stretch and lengthen with every step she took nearer to it. She finally was force into an all-out sprint
and reached the end. There was a black
door at the end that she went through. While she was stepping through, she looked down to see Sailor Charon
step through the same door in her reflection on the floor. She entered a room with a pedestal in the
center. This room, though, was black
instead of white like the rest of the dream was. She also observed Rei, with the Mars symbol glowing on her
forehead, enter the room and the Outer Senshi, with their symbols glowing, also
entered the room. The only light in
this room came from those symbols and the intertwined "C" symbol on Sailor Callisto's
own forehead. The attention was drawn
to the center of the room. Mistress 9
appeared, laughing, and the light collected to form a single item in her
upraised hands. It was the Harmony
Grail. Suddenly, the room vanished and
they were all standing outside and watching the world be destroyed, just as in
the dream one year ago. Here, the dream
ended. Ryokousha took on a look of
worry.
"What do you mean by that." Setsuna demanded.
"Three days ago I fought a Daimon."
"They're back."
"Yes, and stronger than before."
"How much stronger?"
"I had to weaken it before finally
destroying it."
"Do you Inner Senshi know this?"
"They wouldn't have know how to handle
it until you knew about it."
There was silence for a couple
moments. Not that comfortable silence
like in the night when you are trying to sleep. More like a silence to build up tension.
"Setsuna-chan, have you been having a
strange dream lately?" Ryokousha asked
in a concerned manner.
"I have had one of a long corridor that
stretches until I run as fast as I can."
"With a clock at the end."
"Yes, then I step through a door at the
end. I then see Rei, you, Charon and
the other Outer Senshi enter the room."
"The room has a pedestal in the center."
"Yes. Mistress 9 appears and somehow gets the Harmony Grail."
"And the room vanishes to show the world
being destroyed, just as before."
"You have the same dream?"
"Yeah. Only everything is from our perspective."
"Haruka and Michiru have the dream too
and baby Hotaru has woken up crying several times."
"Then you think that the Death Busters
are back?"
"And stronger than ever before."
"Professor?" A woman with black hair tied back into two braids walked into the
laboratory. Her eyes were blood
red.
"Ahhh, Kaolinite, is that you?" Professor Soen was inspecting a Daimon Egg.
"Yes Professor."
"Good, right on time too. I need you to pick out a target for the next
heart stealing."