Souls of Fire #15: Endgame, part 3--
Judgement Day

Ranma 1/2 VS Sailor Moon

Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/sm/index.html

Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and characters belong to
Naoko Takeuchi. Ranma 1/2 and characters belong to
Rumiko Takahashi. Proper licenses belong to respective
properties and characters.

This file can be freely distributed so long as it
appears in its complete form and proper credit. No
part may be reproduced for monetary gain without
permission from the author.

----------------------------------------------------

Command Center, Basilisk

Kanna could not believe her eyes as a white bolt of
energy lanced out from the Crystal Palace on the main
monitor. She switched views, watching as it expanded
outward, bathing the Griffin overhead with white
energy. Soon more energy lanced out at the Mekani
soldiers below.

Then five larger energy bolts lanced outward from
the Griffin, with one immediately colliding with the
incoming Hydra. Explosions rocked the Griffin as the
energies lanced onward, and Kanna knew it was the
Silver Crystal.

Yet, if one of the bolts hit the Hydra....

"No way," was all the Crystal Spider could say
before the white brilliance consumed the Basilisk. She
never felt the destruction, nor would she ever know the
destruction that would follow.

---

Siege Zone, Crystal Tokyo

Blinking was all it took to miss the excitement.

Neo Queen Serenity stood there, on the balcony,
dumbfounded, with the Silver Crystal cupped in her
raised hands. Only moments before Shizuka was lunging
at her, with her spectral claw, ready to slash the
queen's throat open, but now the priestess of Genbu
stood on the rail, wide-eyed in disbelief, with her
eyes passing from her chest back to the queen.

Events seemed to slow to a crawl, but Neo Queen
Serenity knew it was King Endymion's rose, thrown from
within the chamber, that impaled Shizuka through the
heart. Before she knew it the girl was spiraling
backward and down the height of the tower.

---

Mousse watched as the priestess of Genbu plummeted
to her death, and tried to find his voice, but another,
more immediate danger cast its shadow. The moment he
tore his eyes away he realized that Meka-Thanatos,
sparking from being overloaded by Neo Queen Serenity's
crystal, was falling.

With Sailor Pluto nowhere to be seen, Mousse cursed
his luck, and his life, never able to think who would
avenge his own death.

---

The mechanical snake having fallen, and two trusted
allies having been destroyed in less than thirty
seconds, Cinder forgot about Sailor Saturn entirely.
He turned his attention on the wrecked Meka-Thanatos,
analyzing it quickly with his mechanical eye. He then
peered at the high balcony above, where Neo Queen
Serenity stood, her expression betraying shock--
probably at the amount of damage being done only
moments after she released her energies.

Cinder turned back toward Sailor Saturn, and threw
away the Young Phoenix, spreading his arms out in
invitation.

"Finish it," he instructed her. "I shall regain my
honor in death by a superior opponent."

Saturn nodded, holding her Silence Glaive steady.
There was no further need for words, nor any need to
argue further; she understood the Way of the Warrior
well, as the Sailor Senshi, too, were retainers
themselves... retainers of the superior enemy.

He never felt the cold blade run through his armored
chest, nor the splintering of obsidian scales. Cinder
would never feel again, as he felt the circuit grafts
within him lose power.

It was all a glorious, monumental failure.

---

Ranma's fist, empowered by the energies gravity
granted him, smashed through Ziel's defenses-- no, not
defenses at all-- burying the Wind-User into the street
with monumental force.

Although he attacked with wind blades and spirals,
Ziel himself was using his own spiral as a shield
around him, which made it difficult to land a hit on
him. However, since it was still a spiral, entering
at the right point-- directly above-- offered a major
hole: the eye of the storm.

Glancing back, he noticed Ukyo come back to her
senses. She kept her head low, cradling it in pain,
as her body was not trained enough to match the strain
Ranma put himself through. And, apparently, Ziel was
similarly weak, as he made no movement at the bottom
of the shallow crater.

"You okay, Ucchan?" he asked.

"Shit," she whistled, glancing over the rim, "what
the hell did you do...?"

"I guess I hit him pretty hard, huh?" Ranma said with
a shrug. He turned away. "Now we've got to deal with
Hokuto, right?"

"Wait," Ukyo said. "We can't just leave him like
this...."

"Tell you what," the martial artist said. "You take
care of him, and I'll deal with Hokuto. Besides, I
want to show that punk Shion a thing or two."

"You aren't going to beat him up, too, are you?" she
asked, slightly concerned. "You're hurt, too."

"I'll survive," Ranma insisted, forcing a smile.
"I've faced things worse than that clown."

---

Both Shingo and Chika blinked their eyes back to a
normal level, now that the brilliant flash emanating
from the Crystal Palace had come and gone. Although
it seemed to last forever, it in fact was only a
second. The two agents stared out the window, toward
the sky.

Where the Griffin occupied the sky before was an
empty, clear sky.

"My god," Shingo gasped.

"No kidding," agreed Chika. "What the hell was
that?"

---

World Parliament, Geneva

Ayame rubbed her eyes, unwilling to lower her pistol
with the knowledge that the Mekani drones were likely
still advancing, despite the flash attack.

Her senses coming back to her, Ayame stared outward
toward the incoming Mekani horde... and realized that
the drones were no longer advancing. Squinting, her
vision found traces of arcs of electricity dancing
across each of them, indicating some kind of overload.

A new weapon? she wondered.

And yet, the area around her seemed to have lightened
up a bit, and the sky revealed why: the Kraken was
gone.

"Is it over?" the Chief Executive asked herself.

---

Siege Zone, Crystal Tokyo

All of it seemed so surreal.

Neo Queen Serenity dropped to her knees, oblivious to
her husband's constant calls of her name, oblivious to
the fact that she saved a world from ecological
disaster. She felt numb all over her body, unable to
feel anything save for what lay inside, tormented by
what she knew to be true: in order to save the Earth
her friends... and daughter, paid with their lives.

"No," she whispered, her voice shaking.

The Silver Crystal delivered on all that it promised,
and more, as it did indeed annihilate the invading
Mekani warships. She recalled the voices urging her to
use it, in order to spare the Earth from such a
travesty that occurred today.

The queen buried her head in her hands. "No...."

Shizuka dared Neo Queen Serenity to save herself or
the Earth-- she achieved both, at the cost of the
girl's life. Not only her life, but the lives of all
those who allied with the Mekani. Human or kami, they
too had the right to live, and in an instant it was
taken away by the Silver Crystal's light.

"No!!"

---

Both Saturn and Pluto remained silent, watching as
King Endymion gave up trying to break Neo Queen
Serenity out of her moment of sorrow. The world king
turned to face the last two Sailor Senshi of the nine
planets, sadness in his eyes, unhindered by the mask
he wore.

"All our enemies have been beaten," King Endymion
said, "but at a heavy cost."

"I know," Pluto said, nodding slowly, keeping her
voice even. "Such is the price of our actions."

"Perhaps time...?"

She shook her head. "There are laws that should not
be broken for selfish ends."

Saturn nodded in agreement. "We can't become the
tyrants those people believed we were. To rule the
laws of existence would place us beyond humanity and
righteousness."

Endymion wiped a tear from his eye, trying to remain
bold despite the situation. "Then I believe it is time
we resumed our duties. The Earth still needs us to
look after it, and we must ascertain the extent of the
damage. We may yet have enemies among us that we're
unaware of. As of now, I'll act in my wife's place.
I'm counting on you two."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Pluto replied, with a bow,
followed by Saturn.

---

General Hospital, Crystal Tokyo

The Peacekeepers found Shion's body several hours
later, having been crushed when the ceiling of the
underground complex collapsed around him. It seemed
that the energy wave the Silver Crystal emitted also
reached the Section Director, and, thanks to his
direct link to the system, it instantly killed him--
long before the ceiling could.

Ranma sat in one chair outside the room Ziel Kagura
lay in, his head in his hands, leaning forward. The
martial artist felt the aches he ignored during the
battle acutely now, amplified by his failure to turn-up
with Hokuto in the ruins of the Inner Circle fortress.
The Peacekeepers themselves were not turning anything
up, either.

He sat up, and stared down the hall, as Ayame Mishima
appeared, pushing her Vice Executive along in a wheel
chair. Although Ukyo was supposed to remain lying in
bed to recover, it seemed that her attitude and
position somehow won her the ability to get out of her
room-- if only for a little while.

"How're you feelin'?" he asked.

"Like a train hit me, what else?" Ukyo replied
sarcastically. She cocked her head toward Ziel's
door. "How is he, anyway?"

"Still unconscious, I guess," Ranma answered,
shrugging. "The doc said I really nailed him, and if
he didn't come in any sooner he wouldn't have made it."

"So Ziel is going to make it, huh?" Ayame said. "I
guess the Second will have to do." She sighed. "He's
probably the only other person beside Shion who knows
where Hokuto is. Then again there's always Shingo and
the other cell leaders... that is, if we can find the
rest of them. Section vanished back into whatever hole
they emerged from."

"Ranchan," the Vice Executive said, "Ziel probably
isn't going to come around anytime soon... why don't
you go see Akane or something?"

But Ranma shook his head. "I can't... not now, at
least. Even if I didn't promise... Shizuka's dead, and
so is Super-nerd. And maybe I did overdo it on this
guy; I don't beat-up weaklings out of habit, you know."

"Well, at least you could join us," she offered. "I
mean, at our... well, wake. For old time's sake."

"Too many of our friends are gone," Ayame agreed.
"It's the least we can do."

The martial artist shrugged, and folded his arms.
"I'll think about it."

"Other than that," the PK Executive said, "the world
is pretty smashed-up. Lots and lots of drone corpses
all over the siege areas, and it's taking a lot of time
and resources to clean them up. We can't even find a
trace of the warships... so either they've escaped or
the queen was right." She shivered involuntarily. "I
got a bad feeling about this."

"What? The war's over."

"That's not what my gut is saying," Ayame replied,
her look becoming more serious. "I just feel like
something big's going to happen, and we're not going to
notice it until it's too late."

"That's what we're supposed to look after," Ukyo
said. "Now that the Sailor Senshi are gone, it's up to
us PKs to deal with it." She shrugged. "It's probably
Section, anyway; nothing we can't handle."

Ranma leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. He
couldn't imagine what Ayame or Ukyo were thinking....

He forced his eyes open quickly, realizing that he
was being watched, and not by either of the PKs. Out
of the corner of his eye, in the hall away from the two
girls, he caught sight of a shadow, but an instant
later it was gone.

"Did you see that?" he shouted, pointing his finger
down the hall.

"See what?" asked Ukyo, her attention grabbed.

"There was someone there!" Ranma explained quickly.
Instantly he was at his feet, and he pedaled himself
down the hall.

"Ranma!" his friend cried.

His attention, however, was elsewhere. Ranma's heart
raced, the exhilaration of the chase consuming him.

Coming to the end of the hall at a T-intersection, he
glanced in both directions, and saw the shadow
duck into a room-- a closet, he guessed, the door left
ajar slightly.

He was at the janitor's closet in a flash, but,
throwing open the door, Ranma could find no one
inside. Inspecting the small room further, he could
see no signs of escape, nor any avenue by which one
could escape.

"What the hell...?"

Ranma heard the rushed clatter of footsteps, and he
glanced out the door to see it was Ayame, a pistol
raised upward in her right hand.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I thought I saw someone spying on us," he answered,
starting to doubt himself. "Maybe I'm just seeing
things...."

---

Prison Block, Crystal Palace

Shingo remained silent as he sat up in bed, the only
major piece of furniture in the palace jail. The
crystal chamber, he recalled, was a place he shared
with his friends back during the original revolt
against Neo Queen Serenity, but this time, he was
alone, save for his fiancé, the Peacekeeper agent
Chika, who stood outside the bars.

He remembered his previous jail time well; for no
apparent reason Shingo was taken from the others for an
audience with Neo Queen Serenity herself, as if he were
the ring leader. However, it was nothing of the sort;
he was being shown favoritism because the Queen of the
World once masqueraded as his sister in the old world.

He remembered the feelings clearly: betrayal, hate,
distrust, and embitterment. Shingo had to be the
selfless one by agreeing to return as a productive
member of society-- if only for his parents' benefit.
The queen likely knew he was lying, but somehow she
could not find the heart to banish him along with the
others, as he wanted.

All the time growing-up Shingo never imagined that
his klutzy older sister was Sailor Moon. He somewhat
admired the heroine of the city, for destroying what
monsters that threatened the populace. But... his own
sister... how could she not be able to trust even him?
That cat, Luna, even; she was probably sniping him
behind his back. Who knew what secret life those two
lived during the day?

Usagi Tsukino was no simple reincarnation-- she was a
creature that never existed; a figment created as a
guise for Sailor Moon, who eventually became Neo Queen
Serenity. Neo Queen Serenity... a ruler who would
wish for a perfect utopian society at the expense of
the qualities that made one human. A world frozen in
crystal, as his old friend Kenji put it. Shingo
wondered what happened to him after he was banished to
Nemesis, which lead to if his descendants were killed
during any of the Black Moon Wars.

"Shingo," Chika said, breaking his train of thought,
"you haven't said a word since they brought you here.
Please, just for me... we need to put an end to
Section's threat."

"Section is the only hope we've got," Shingo replied
coldly, unable to meet Chika's eyes. "The Master
Director knew what he was doing."

"Unfortunately, he's..." she choked on the word,
"...gone. I... you... don't know how that feels, do
you? With him Section will collapse, too."

"I lost my sister; I thought she was my sister," he
replied. "Trust me, I know."

"The holdout is meaningless. The Mekani lost."

"The other cells won't quit until they feel like
they've lost," Shingo replied, knowing it as truth. "I
only let you guys take me; my own cell's probably cut
me loose already. I wouldn't know who took over, and
so I'm out of the loop. I'm pretty useless to you."

"You might still be able to help us," Chika insisted.
"At least... us."

"Perhaps," he granted, "but it's not going to happen
overnight. The judges aren't going to be very lenient
with me, you know. I don't expect any good treatment
this time around, since all the other punishables are
either dead or dying. I'm the next one on the ladder,
I guess, unless Ziel recovers. The world, at least,
needs a scapegoat for the loss of life... the Sailor
Senshi, and the princess, too."

"True," Chika said, nodding. "I guess there's some
things in human nature no one can change."

"It's a start," Shingo replied, sighing. "The Master
Director wished it would go even further, one day."

"Shion," the PK operative said, closing her eyes.
Remembering his face, Chika could almost feel her step-
brother watching her even now.

---

Ballroom, Crystal Palace

The expansive ballroom was used for special
occasions-- usually parties thrown by the royal court
in celebration of certain events. Those of high
station, in their elegant dress, would frequent these
halls, to mingle with the rest of the high society.

Today, however, dusty trenchcoats and grungy clothes
were the order of the day, as none of the party-goers--
made up primarily of PKs that came directly from the
field-- had enough care to present themselves after the
disasters they've witnessed. Ayame wheeled Ukyo into
the chamber, pausing for moments at a time to nod and
shake the hands of her operatives. Her eyes scanned
the room, noting that Chika was nowhere to be seen.

She came to a stop, however, when King Endymion, in
his usual resplendence, appeared, grabbing Ayame by the
arm.

"Your Majesty!" Ayame said, surprised.

"Good to see you, Chief Executive," Endymion
greeted. "I was meaning to see you earlier, but now
isn't the time or place. I'll be seeing you after the
party, yes?"

"Yes, sir!" she replied, and Endymion released his
hold.

She spotted Hotaru and Setsuna easily, as both stood
near the curtained stage area at the end of the room.
Both Sailor Senshi reverted to their civilian guises
so as to not attract as much attention, although most
of the PK operatives were aware of their identities.
It pleased Ayame that the two remaining soldiers
decided to fit-in with the rest of the crowd.

"Hey," greeted Ayame, raising one hand from the chair
to wave.

"Glad to see you could make it, Ms. Mishima," Hotaru
said, bowing respectfully.

"Ayame will do," the Chief Executive replied, giving
a quick nod toward Setsuna. "How's Her Highness?"

"Broken," answered Setsuna. "We were fortunate to
escape this conflict with our lives... however, it will
not spell the end of the conflict."

Ukyo nodded in agreement. "The Mekani probably won't
stop. Maybe it won't take them forty years to assemble
another strike force."

"All the more reason why we need the queen's backing
on the new projects," Ayame said, scratching her chin.
"We barely competed with the horde this time; the next
time we won't be so lucky. We need weapons."

"You may just get it," Hotaru replied. "Without the
other Sailor Senshi...."

"But enough of that serious talk," Ukyo interrupted.
"This is a party, right? Right now we should be
thankful we got away with our lives, and...." She
scoffed over the absurdity of her own words. "Damn
it, it doesn't feel right, though."

Ahead of them, the curtains to the stage jerked open
violently, and all lights in the ballroom dimmed. Only
two spotlights remained on, focusing on the whole area
viewable of the stage. PK operatives all over the room
murmured concern, and Ayame's ears detected some of
them were reaching for their sidearms.

The shadow of a head popped out against the light,
emerging from the left curtain. "Wow!" she said, her
voice amplified by the speaker system. "There's a lot
of people here!"

A second shadow head appeared-- another girl. "Oh,
isn't that marvelous! It's a wake for the dead!"

The first emerged from the curtains, an outline of a
shadow. Ayame roughly-guessed at the outline, deciding
that it was a summer-dress school uniform. She tore
her eyes from the stage, and glanced back to the spot
lights, but there was no one standing there. By the
time she turned around again the second girl emerged,
having a roughly-similar outline, but slightly-taller.

The first shadow, A-ko, produced a skeleton dummy,
and held it out for the audience to see. She waved it
at the second shadow, B-ko, playfully. "See! The dead
do walk today!"

"Hey!" protested B-ko, shrinking away from the
skeleton shadow. "Put that away!"

"What is this?" wondered Ukyo. "Some kind of sick
joke?"

Tossing the skeleton aside, A-ko instead produced a
spherical object, holding it out with one hand. "They
say that the Earth exists in peace and harmony!"

"No, really?" B-ko said, with mock surprise.

A-ko produced a second object, dangling from a
string. She dangled the wedge-shaped object over the
sphere, bouncing it around up and down like a useless
yo-yo. "But then, someone else enters the playground,
and says the party's over!"

"Oh no!" B-ko cried, her hands to her face. "What
ever shall we do?"

A-ko bounced the sphere-- and it was apparent that
the object was a rubber ball. "They say we can put all
our hope together, and drive them off!"

"With this!" B-ko finished, holding out another,
smaller sphere. She tossed it at A-ko's dangled wedge,
and the wedge flew backward, then swung back, like a
pendulum. A-ko simply tossed the string over her
shoulder.

Both shadows faced toward the audience, holding out
'V' signs with their free hands. "And that," they said
in unison, "is how you save the world!" Tossing the
ball upward, both shadows pirouetted back to the
corners whence they came.

"Hold it!" Ayame cried, finding her own sidearm in
hand. She pushed herself past Hotaru and Setsuna, and
vaulted on-stage. Glancing toward the left, where A-ko
disappeared, the Chief Executive was pegged on the head
by the rubber ball.

Moments later the spotlights vanished, and the
ballroom returned to its original luminescence.

Shaking her head, Ayame gathered herself and entered
the backstage area, the barrel of her pistol doing the
searching. She lowered her weapon, realizing that the
two vandals were probably long gone by now.

"Who the hell were those people?" she wondered.

---

Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace

No one was allowed entrance to the royal quarters,
not while Neo Queen Serenity wished to be alone. Even
her husband, the king, was ejected from the area.

Her head was buried in her arms, lying at the end of
her colossal bed. Over and over again, she flushed
tears over the consequential deaths of her closest
friends-- and her only daughter.

"Why?" she repeated to herself again. "Why, why
why...?"

"My goodness," someone said, "you certainly ask a
lot, from one question!"

The queen raised her eyes above her arms, suddenly
alert. "Who's there?"

A shadow emerged, cast against the far wall opposite
Neo Queen Serenity. The world monarch could not make
out any outstanding features, but knew instinctively
it was a woman.

The shadow, C-ko, continued, "Could it be possible
that you've never suffered such a permanent loss? Can
it be, that there be a warm heart in this crystal
prison?"

"Who are you?"

C-ko held out her arms, and made a bunny with the
shadow play. "The poor rabbit, alone! No one to turn
to, nor anyone to share your thoughts with! All those
friends, a thought long gone."

"Show yourself...."

"And maybe," the shadow said, ignoring the queen's
words, "just maybe, the rabbit can learn."

In the blink of an eye, the shadow disappeared,
melting in with the rest of the shadows cast.

"Wait!" she cried, sitting up. "Come back!"

And then she knew it was pointless, for the intruder
had vanished.

---

General Hospital, Crystal Tokyo

Ranma was instantly brought out of his reverie when
he heard screaming from within Ziel's room. Standing
up quickly, he glanced down the hall, noting that the
doctors had been alerted to something, and they were
in a rush.

Quickly, the martial artist slipped inside ahead of
them, and the instruments monitoring Ziel were beeping
like mad. The Wind-User himself was shaking violently,
and, worst of all, screaming his head off.

"What the hell?!"

"Stand aside!" the doctors cried, pushing themselves
past Ranma. "He's having some kind of an arrest!"

Ranma stepped out of the way, allowing the doctors
to get to work at the machines. One of them tapped a
monitor, and announced, "I don't understand! It's not
natural!"

"RAAANMAAA!!" Ziel shouted, his wild eyes piercing
past the doctors, and toward the martial artist.

Before he knew it Ziel was bursting off the bed,
slamming the doctors between him and Ranma with
unnatural strength. Leaping out, he grabbed Ranma by
the scruff of his shirt, and threatened to drag the
martial artist down with him to the floor.

Holding the arm tightly to maintain his stand, Ranma
screamed, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Ziel, for his part, was struggling for breath, but
one look into his eyes and Ranma knew that the Wind-
User was being tortured from within. "It's... it's...
unreal...."

"Yeah, I know that!"

Spastically, he shook his head. "No! All of it!"
He struggled to find his voice, and Ranma knew that
Ziel wasn't going to last much longer. "This place...
all of it... none of it's real!!"

A heartbeat later, it was over, and Ranma found
himself holding Ziel's arm up by himself, now that the
Wind-User's grip loosened. He stood staring down at
Ziel, holding his arm in shock, as the doctors tried to
examine the patient... but somehow, Ranma knew it was
all useless. It was too surreal.

Standing over the dead body, Ziel's words tumbled
in Ranma's thoughts over and over, and suddenly, he
saw the truth.

---

Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace

Ranma ran through the halls of the palace at a brisk
walk, the knowledge gained pushing him onward. Where
there were guards stationed he plunged through without
waiting for them to allow him passage. Although he
could feel them at his feet, Ranma simply did not care
about such trivial problems.

As he rounded the corner Ranma almost ran into the
king of the world himself.

"Hey, King Endymion," he said. "I'm looking for the
queen."

"Greetings... Ranma Saotome," King Endymion returned.
"I'm afraid she doesn't wish to see anybody at the
moment... perhaps you can come back later?"

At that moment the guards pursuing Ranma arrived.
"Your Majesty!"

The king waved them off. "Guards, leave us. Ranma
here is my guest."

"If you say so, sir," the lead guard replied,
saluting before departing.

When the guards vanished, Ranma wiped his forehead.
"Thanks."

"Repay me some other time," Endymion replied.
"Perhaps you can tell me what's so important."

Ranma eyed the monarch curiously. "Umm... Your
Highness... aren't you too good for that 'common
speak' of yours?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, you know... I thought you royalty-types
always talked like 'high-and-mighty' stuff."

The king shrugged.

"Anyway, I've got to tell the queen something," he
insisted. "It's too important."

"Well, my friend, if you insist, I cannot stop you,"
Endymion said, stepping aside. "The royal chambers
are right down that hall."

Nodding, Ranma picked up his pace, but the king
called, "Oh, Ranma? One more thing."

"What's that?"

"Next time you come... can you dress a bit less-
ragged? It makes you look bad."

Turning away from the king, Ranma muttered under his
breath, "Yeah, right, bozo."

---

After leaving the presence of Ranma King Endymion
continued down the hall, stopping at the entrance to
the meeting hall. Opening the door, he found Ayame
Mishima already inside, her back toward the door,
apparently reading a report handed to her sometime
between the wake and the meeting.

"I see you're early," Endymion said.

Ayame continued shuffling through papers, then
closed the file folder shut and threw it on the
table. "You know, Your Highness, the more we move on
the worse things get. It wasn't just those two
doppelgangers we saw; my agents have been filing
reports that they feel like they're being watched all
the time."

"I see."

"And, thing is, I believe them," the PK Chief said,
turning around to face the husband of the world
monarch. "Ever since the Mekani were destroyed we've
had one weird thing happen after another. All the
Section top executives are dead or captive. All the
Mekani generals are dead. What the hell is going on?"

---

Neo Queen Serenity sat up from her lying position in
bed, as Ranma kicked the heavy double-doors to the bed
chamber open easily.

"Ranma Saotome?" she gasped with surprise.

"Hey Queenie," he called rudely, making fast steps to
the edge of the bed, "we need to talk."

"Why have you come?" Serenity asked. "I wished to be
alone."

"Well, ya gotta mourn later, because we've got
bigger problems," Ranma continued. "Ziel just died."

The queen's eyes lowered sadly. "When will it end?"

"That's not the thing, though," the martial artist
continued. "It's HOW he died. Look at me!"

Despite the order coming from one of her subjects,
Neo Queen Serenity instantly snapped awake, and saw
Ranma for the first time. His clothes were torn in
places, as if he were slashed many times, and his face
dirtied with blackened spots. Yet despite the scruffy
look, she could see the seriousness in his eyes.

"I've seen the way he's died before," Ranma added.
"His mind was being flayed on the inside, something an
esper knows how to do. Not only that, but after he
died... I noticed that Ziel didn't cast a shadow."

"No shadow?"

"And he warned me... that nothing was real. Or some-
such weird thing like that, but the thing is, he's got
to be right. Hokuto woke-up."

Neo Queen Serenity stared at the martial artist,
blinking. "I... I do not understand...."

"After the last war Section somehow found Hokuto, and
she was still alive," Ranma explained quickly. "They
intended her to wake-up... to use as a weapon against
whoever won this war. I mean, heck, everyone thought
she was going to wake-up, but nothing happened. The
thing is, she's already awake, and what we're living
through right now IS her weapon."

"If what you say is true," the queen said, somewhat
skeptical, "then why has she not shown herself?"

---

Ballroom, Crystal Palace

"Did you hear what happened?" A-ko asked her partner,
appearing in the now-empty ballroom, on-stage once
again.

"Yes!" B-ko said, nodding enthusiastically. "They
say that someone just died!"

"Right! And not just anybody, either!"

"Oh! Who could be next?"

---

Meeting Hall, Crystal Palace

Hotaru pushed Ukyo's wheelchair inside the meeting
room, with Setsuna trailing behind her. The well-
furnished room was thrown into chaos, as PK operatives
surrounded the area where Ayame had fallen only a few
minutes before. Ukyo glanced toward the side, where
King Endymion cradled a wound on his shoulder, and was
bleeding profusely. Another PK agent was tending to
the king, and thus the Vice Executive PK paid him no
mind.

Ordering her men to move aside, Ukyo saw the body of
Ayame. Her boss lay sprawled on the ground, face-down
in a pool of her own blood. The former chef shirked
back when she noticed the clean hole that drilled
through the back of Ayame's skull, and leaked blood
and brain matter.

"Ugh," she coughed, feeling like retching. "What
the hell...?"

"It was a clean shot, ma'am," one of the operatives
reported. "Even if we got here sooner it would be too
late. The boss died instantly... but from what, we
don't know."

"What about the king?"

"He's our only witness," the operative replied. "He
said something came out of the shadows, and attacked
them. Ayame protected him."

"The shadows?" Hotaru echoed.

"Then why not kill the king, too?" asked Setsuna,
her eyes cast at Endymion.

"It's likely Ayame found out something our shadowy
friends didn't want to leak out," Ukyo concluded,
rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Whoever they are, they
know their stuff." Turning back to the head operative,
she ordered, "Clean this mess up. I want to know who
did this, and when we do, I want to flog them,
personally."

---

Extra Hall, Crystal Palace

It seemed that in every building there was one room
which the owner had no idea what to do with, and it was
relegated to storage. In a lonely hall between the
ground level and the prison level, devoid of regular
use, coffins were set up, housing the bodies of those
who died in the last battle. Three such wooden coffins
were erected on pedestals, one for each of the former
Fenril Knights that died attacking the palace, placed
away from the eyes of people.

Only Neo Queen Serenity and her trusted aides had
access to this mysterious hall, as she wished to avoid
tempting others to defile the bodies. The preservation
magicks held over the bodies were very lasting, and it
would be difficult to remove any defacement.

Ranma trailed behind the world monarch, a chill
running up his spine at the thought of seeing dead
friends... ones he wished would still be alive now,
despite their annoyance. No one deserved to die the
ways they did.

Yet, paying respects to the deceased was the last
thought on either of their minds.

The coffin to the left served as the resting place
for Shizuka Minazuki. Although she appeared fine now
Ranma tried his best to block-out the details of her
tragic demise, but he couldn't help but note that her
neck was adjusted back to a natural place. Unlike the
other two he had seen her alive only a day before. He
wondered if she found the destiny she was looking for.

He peered over to her right arm, noting that the
spectral claw was missing, leaving a stump.

Mousse's body was reconstructed to the best of the
mortuary's ability, and Ranma winced at the thought of
getting crushed to death. His glasses were shattered,
and thus discarded.

Cinder remained in the third coffin, and, despite the
magicks at work, it looked like it was a struggle to
keep the kami's body together. Almost immediately
after dying the salamander's scales began to
disintegrate, so there were many patches showing
through to the metal wiring within. Ranma wondered if
Cinder really had any bones in that body.

Yet, thanks to the inspection, both he and Neo Queen
Serenity safely came to the same conclusion.

"It is as you said," she said, "they are missing
their shadows. It is a detail easy to miss, given
other sources to cast their own shadows."

"Thing is, what does it mean?" wondered Ranma.

Ranma tensed up, his intuition telling him that there
was something moving in the shadows, out of the corner
of his eye. Before Queen Serenity could ask what was
wrong, Ranma was already tackling her, barely in time
to avoid the shadow lance flying out from one of the
walls.

With Neo Queen Serenity down on the ground Ranma
jumped back to his feet, and he caught sight of the
shadow form from which the spear originated. "Dammit,"
he cursed, "she's quick!"

The shadow said nothing, and three more lances flew
out of its two-dimensional form, taking on a third
dimension. Ranma weaved his way around the attacks,
dodging each spear easily.

And then he noticed that the shadow creature's head
was bobbing up and down, as if laughing. Scanning the
area, the martial artist noted that shadow spears were
jutting out of every available shadow in the room at
the four walls.

"What is going on?" Neo Queen Serenity cried. She
gasped, catching sight of the danger Ranma saw.

"Damn, Hokuto," Ranma muttered, "stick it all in a
pin cushion...."

Shadow spears rained on the two from all directions.
Ranma's eyes could not track all the attacks at once,
and instantly he knew that he and the queen were as
good as dead. He raised his arms instinctively.

Several heartbeats later, Ranma opened his eyes, and
lowered his arms. Replacing the spears was a white,
misty haze, and the deadly shadow weapons were nowhere
to be seen. He glanced down at Neo Queen Serenity,
who appeared shaken, but unhurt.

"What the...?"

"Shadow is only as strong as the light around it,"
a voice said.

"Who are you?" asked the queen, bringing herself back
to her feet. "You saved us."

"This parody of existence," continued the rescuer,
"is but a shadow of reality."

Both Ranma and Neo Queen Serenity stared upward,
their eyes feasting on a bright wisp floating overhead.
As the voice continued, the wisp resonated in an equal
pattern in response.

"What the heck are you?" asked Ranma.

"Zedaji, of the Mystral Whole," the energy wisp
introduced himself. "I was placed commander of the
Charybdis by the Mekani Alliance, and it is my duty to
represent my people in the best manner possible."

"Mekani Alliance?" echoed the queen. "Then... there
are more than just the Mekani...?"

"We have a common enemy," Zedaji continued. "The
threat we found in the Silver Crystal was nothing
compared to this Shadow Weaver. This entity's power
dwarves your crystal a thousandfold."

"You mean Hokuto, right?" Ranma wanted to know. "We
know she's the one doing this."

"Where is she?" demanded Neo Queen Serenity. "What
is going on?"

"The entity you refer to as Hokuto exists here,"
answered the Mystral. "Here, in this Shadow Reality,
you are imprisoned, along with the remaining key
players in this power struggle. All of your world and
the sphere around it are being consumed in time. The
Hokuto entity will stop at nothing to destroy those
players that dare to shatter this reality."

"She's killing people who know the truth?" wondered
Ranma. "That doesn't sound like her at all."

"I fear," Zedaji added, "now that the messenger is
gone, I am the only remaining link. The shadows cannot
touch my form easily."

"None of this is affecting you, then," Neo Queen
Serenity said, sorting out the Mystral's words herself.
"Then, the shadows...."

"Watch them carefully," advised Zedaji. "I must move
to protect other interests at stake. In the meantime,
you need to be careful if you wish to escape this
parody world."

Along with the warning, Zedaji vanished, passing
through the ceiling as if were never there.

Neo Queen Serenity and Ranma passed puzzled glances
to each other.

"Watch the shadows?" paraphrased the martial artist.

"Have you seen them?" asked the queen. "Before you
came, one of them spoke to me. Perhaps that is what
Zedaji refers to."

"So you think he means they're not all on Hokuto's
side?" guessed Ranma. "That still doesn't explain
where Hokuto is, or why she's doing this... whatever it
is."

"The only way to ensure our protection from the
shadow weapons is a light of our own," the queen
realized. "However, we need a degree of darkness in
order to see, so the best option would be to weaken the
shadow whenever we possibly can. Higher lighting or
very little lighting will serve equal ends in that
respect."

---

"People are getting killed left and right," Ukyo
complained, waving her arms, then slamming the arms of
her wheelchair. "It's getting intolerable."

Ukyo, Hotaru, and Setsuna joined Ranma and Neo Queen
Serenity in the Extra Hall, following a summons and the
installation of extra lighting sources to dim the
shadows. The coffin lids were closed shut out of
Ranma's preference to get rid of the distraction.

"King Endymion is resting now," Setsuna added. "He
was bleeding bad, even from that one hit."

"Good thing he didn't know what Ayame did, then,"
Ranma said. "Then again, that guy gives me the
creeps...."

"I don't think that matters much, since we're
probably all going to die anyway," Ukyo said with a
shrug.

"If that energy entity you spoke of," Hotaru began,
"is telling the truth, then we need to escape Hokuto's
little trap."

"Zedaji implied we had to find Hokuto before that
can happen," Neo Queen Serenity replied. "She is
definitely on to us, and she will try to eliminate us
the first moment possible. For what reason, however,
we do not know."

"Fine mess Shion got us into," Ranma scoffed. "I
mean, how the hell are we supposed to figure this one
out, if even the Mekani don't know?"

"Well, think," Hotaru suggested. "Ever since
everyone else died a lot of strange things have gone
on. All the Mekani except for Zedaji are dead. Ayame
got shot through the head. Ziel was mentally crushed.
Shadow people started appearing all over the place,
and people are being watched."

"And Endy's thinks I'm looking bad," Ranma added.

"So what?" Ukyo said, giving her friend a look.

"King Endymion may be suspect, actually," Setsuna
said, drawing stares.

"How can my husband be involved?" asked the queen
evenly.

"First of all," Setsuna began, facing the monarch,
"King Endymion's speech pattern has changed since the
battle. Secondly, he was alone in the meeting hall
with Ayame, when she was killed. Yet, why is King
Endymion hurt?"

"Perhaps Hokuto tricked her into jumping in the way,"
offered Ukyo.

"But that's inconsistent with the evidence," the
disguised Sailor Pluto pointed out. "King Endymion
was standing closest to the exit during the attack.
The attack originated from the opposite end of the
room, where Ayame was... so he says. If she got in the
way, there would be plenty of space between her and the
king. Also note that, if Ayame saw the origin of the
attack, her body would be lying on her back, not on
her face."

"Then what are you saying?" asked Neo Queen Serenity,
although it was more of a formality than an actual
question.

"King Endymion attacked Ayame while her back was
turned with a shadow weapon," Setsuna formulated,
folding her arms. "That is the only way she could have
fallen face-first like that, and leave no evidence of a
weapon. It's also not improbable, judging from where
the king could stand, that he could do it."

"And he could wound himself," added Hotaru, "just to
make appearances, and shift any suspicion off him?"

"Sounds like a good conspiracy theory," Ukyo granted.
"But it's still a bit far-fetched to me."

"With both the queen and the princess out of the way,
the rulership would shift to King Endymion," Setsuna
pointed out. "If he's the one behind this, it's the
only logical answer."

"But why?" asked the queen. "Why would he do such
things?"

"Well, look at that!" a voice yelled. "Someone
needs another piece of the puzzle!"

Toward one of the side walls, a weak shadow emerged,
in the outline Neo Queen Serenity saw before.

"What is King Endymion?" asked C-ko. "What is he...
but a parody in a parody world?"

"Who're you?!" demanded Ukyo.

"Reality is decided in the mind," continued the
shadow woman. "The truth that is an illusion is no
truth at all."

Just as quickly as it appeared, the shadow C-ko
vanished.

"This," Ranma said, shaking his head, "has got to
stop. It's getting way too weird...."

---

Ballroom, Crystal Palace

"Did you hear?" B-ko asked A-ko. "They're asking for
the king's head!"

"No way!" A-ko denied, pirouetting across the stage.
"Who would've thought?"

"They say he's not the real king!"

"What's real, for real?"

"Isn't that a corundum?" both said at once, before
pirouetting off-stage again.

---

Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace

Kicking the doors of the bed chamber wide-open for
the second time that day, Ranma was unprepared for what
greeted him, Ukyo, Sailor Saturn, and Sailor Pluto.
Tentacles as black as night rushed out to greet them,
entwining them quickly.

Neo Queen Serenity, standing behind the four, was
left unmolested by the attack. She entered on her own
resolve, the shadow tentacles not daring to travel any
closer to her.

The shadow tentacles emerged from a single point
behind where King Endymion was standing, with half his
face concealed by shadow thanks to the lighting.

"You are not my husband," she accused. "Reveal
yourself, Hokuto Takemasa!"

"Is it really not I, King Endymion, Usako?" he asked,
a malicious smile forming on his face. "Or is it that
you aren't who you think you are? Which is it?"

"I do not know what you speak of!"

"Come now," the false Endymion said, "tell me you've
figured everything out now. Without you I'll be free
to usher a new age of peace and harmony. A true Age of
Light-- something which you failed to create, by
refusing to obliterate the darkness."

"What...?"

The shadow tentacles flooded over Endymion's form,
blackening him with dark ooze. The form weakened a
moment, then transformed and congealed. The shadow
substance parted, completing Hokuto's transformation
back to her true form.

"Gray, shadow, neutrality," she scoffed. "Such
things don't exist. It's all Darkness and Light, Black
and White. The universe is a continual struggle
between the two, not of those in-between. Vizier
showed me such. I will forge this new era, and you, my
dear queen, are going to witness it. You will watch
as I transform Earth into a true Bastion of Light!"

"That is not possible!" the queen cried. "Light
cannot exist without the Darkness!"

"Is that what you foolishly believe?!" Hokuto cried
angrily. "All of you humans... you pathetic creatures
will experience the Light. All of you shall be reborn
into the model subjects in my glorious empire!"

Hokuto's shadow extended outward quickly, touching
Neo Queen Serenity's own. Shadow-substance hands
emerged, grasping at her skirts and legs. The queen
screamed in shock, as she felt herself sink into her
own shadow.

The Shadow Weaver cursed suddenly, and Serenity felt
another presence enter. White wisps illuminated the
shadowed chamber, and she knew Zedaji returned.

"You damn Mystral!" she cried. "Your meddling comes
to an end!"

Neo Queen Serenity felt the Mystral's energies tug
at her, trying to pull her from the shadow, but the
shadow hands proved much stronger. Struggling, she
tried to resist as best as she could, but the shadow
easily over came her... and dragged Zedaji along with
her.

---

"Where are we?"

"This is the shadow. It is the border between the
two realities."

"Realities?"

"If Hokuto has her way, she will reincarnate you
back into her fantasy world, to be her puppets for all
time. That is her true intention; Hokuto wishes to
rule in her own mind."

"She believes that all there is to existence is the
Light, because of the last battle."

"What happened?"

"When Vizier was trapped in the barrel of the cannon
with Hokuto, naturally, he jumped bodies, and took
Hokuto for his own, then escaped. However, Hokuto was
stronger than Vizier at the time... and they fought for
an eternity in the plane of her mind. In effect, she
lost her mind in a sea of Darkness, and struggled to
find the Light again. She is no longer the Hokuto we
know, but a faint echo of what used to be."

"In other words, truly insane."

"Who are you people?"

"Faces you know, and have yet to meet. We exist
here, in this Shadow Reality, as True Reality has not
passed for a nano-second. Life, as you creatures would
describe it, is flashing before your eyes."

"Then the Scylla has not fallen yet?"

"No. In fact, Shizuka is still about to kill you,
and you have not yet activated the Silver Crystal. It
looks kind of funny to see that."

"We would have liked to have Ziel communicate all
this to you, but Hokuto got him first. We tapped into
his dream mind, and she knew it would ruin everything."

"But the Mekani... I met Zedaji. I do not
understand...."

"I suppose the best place to start is at the
beginning."

"The web... the one the Mekani spread from their
home galaxy... we are merely the edge of the web. The
mechanized army is moving outward in expansion, in
order to follow their primary directive-- to survive."

"In fact it was in this other galaxy, one adjacent to
our own, that the Mekani Hive was birthed, but their
origins are far more recent than their creator's story.
I speak of another race-- the one that fathered the
Mekani-- they are the M'tora. Levitating, conical-
shaped creatures with huge eyes and ten tentacles, two
of which are longer than the others, with a sharp beak
in their midst-- often contributing to the image that
they resemble squids... somewhat. Their size is as
large as a human head, but they dress with long capes
and shoulders that it appears they are humanoid, like
us. It's a deadly advantage they hold over other
races."

"The M'tora are probably one of the oldest races in
the universe-- their evolutionary development has gone
so far that they are unparalleled in psychic mastery
and science. It was this that lead them to arrogance,
and their near-destruction. You see, the M'tora had
rivals, and in order to eliminate those rivals they
escalated to unimaginable heights in warfare. It
reached a point where all these races, in a galactic-
scale war, nearly annihilated themselves."

"The M'tora and other alien races realized the error
of their ways, and, lying on the brink of extinction,
they forged an alliance based on the common goal of
survival. Although each of their powers have shattered
thanks to the climax of their war, together they
became strong again. However, their numbers were
decimated far beyond their former glory, and thus in
order to maintain hold on their empires they devised a
creature by which to police their territories."

"After a time this alliance devised a Hive Mind-- a
powerful computer which was designed to serve the goals
and carry out the wills of its masters. An army of
creatures, cheaply constructed, spread out to reclaim
any territories lost after the war to other minor
scavenger forces, or police borders. Using physical
designs to inspire fear in the people they wished to
subjugate, these creatures were the Mekani."

"By nature the Mekani will operate in the most
efficient manner possible. The Hive will relegate
orders to generals in a rigid hierarchy, where only the
leaders have any semblance of intelligence; all other
Mekani are drones. Although one of their prime
directives is to seek out and absorb technology, they
are not dumb enough to ignore an inferior technology
for such a case when it may be desirable. In fact, the
Mekani will prioritize efficiency so much that they
will often discard regular uses of technology we might
find useful-- such as energy shields-- because they
soak up too much power-- power that can be useful in
other systems."

"Nor were they programmed stupid. Their creators
were so well-versed in artificial intelligence that
they plugged-up any logical loophole imaginable... and
those that came up later were easily remedied. In a
sense the Mekani do have the ability to reason and have
the capacity for higher thinking, but often they will
hide this fact and play on their image of fear-- the
mechanical locusts that seek only to consume all in its
path. Psychological weapons, the M'tora know, are
very powerful, and cheap, weapons."

"Many thousands of years past, and the Mekani moved
to conquer the galaxy its masters inhabited. This so-
called Mekani Alliance welcomed those who wished to
bask in their glory, and swept aside those who would
remain unaligned to their cause. Any distrust from
past wars were erased as unity took hold on a galactic
scale, and for a time the Alliance remained content.
The member races of the Alliance became known as the
Aligned Peoples-- those who shared the vision of a
universal order in the cosmos."

"However, one day explorers from another galaxy
arrived. The Alliance thought nothing of it, until
later that same race came to invade their galaxy.
Although the invaders were wiped-out easily, the
Alliance determined that it could no longer remain
complacent with just bringing order to their galaxy--
but to other galaxies as well. In the name of
universal order the Alliance dispatched the Mekani to
all neighboring galaxies."

"The Aligned Peoples cannot be underestimated."

"In time the Mekani expedition came to find Earth,
and discovered a force in the Sol System that could
threaten the Aligned Peoples' hold on the galaxy. To
that end the Mekani-- along with a detachment of the
member races-- made their journey to this system, and
summarily wiped-out any perceived threat on the way.
When they arrived on Earth the object of their search
was nowhere to be found...."

"At some point in Earth's history, the human race
effectively put an end to the threat themselves."

"Unfortunately for the Aligned Peoples, the humans
living there at the time were powerful sorcerers-- the
High Men, and perceived the invaders as threats. They
attempted to wipe-out the entire expedition, hurling
powerful magicks from their sky castles, but some of
them managed to crash on Earth to continue the war.
Many years past as human magic-users and Aligned
Peoples warred, until the sole M'toran member of the
expedition usurped control over the Mekani on the
planet for his own ends."

"You'd think the Mekani would rebel by themselves...
but they can't. You see, the Hive Mind isn't just a
computer, but it's also made up of the people behind
the Alliance in the first place. It's not the core
conscience of a computer, but the organic mind of a
M'toran behind it. Their psychic mastery allows them
to achieve untold ends with their machines. In effect
those siding with the Mekani subjected themselves to
the wills of the M'tora driving them. Later
technological advancements allowed other members of the
Alliance to command them as well, but never as
effectively as with a M'toran. In fact the M'tora
need not control directly, whether in an interior
cockpit or a remote post, but through a dummy unit.
The dummy unit was essentially a special genetically-
engineered M'toran that served as an extension of its
will."

"The expedition members were unaware of this, of
course; only the elite heads-- those involved in the
original war-- knew of it. When the Mekani turned
against the Aligned Peoples these abandoned people in
turn sided with the High Men. The Mekani Director--
or rather, the M'toran commanding it-- determined that
the goals of the expedition were lost, as the Aligned
Peoples wished for personal gain rather than serve the
Alliance. But, in the end, the combined power of the
humans and the Peoples outmatched the Mekani hordes,
and they cast great magicks to expel them from this
plane, into a dark void of nothingness. This void was
made by creating an artificial Earth in a parallel
demi-plane, and all traces of the Mekani were taken
with it-- including the means by which the Peoples
could return home."

"The Peoples became known as the kami. It was their
intention to live out the rest of their existence on
their demi-plane, away from the Alliance that would
seek them out as traitors, and to seal the Mekani they
could not hope to annihilate on their own. Such was
the magical energies that went into the creation of the
demi-plane that new kami spontaneously-birthed for a
time. Time proved their deception a success, as the
Alliance bothered them no further."

"However, not all of the kami had sided with the
humans in the war. In particular, one is remembered--
Sagila, the Lord of Black Moon, a powerful dragon. He
was tried for crimes against the alliance of kami and
cursed for all eternity-- by fragmenting his soul and
forcing him into unlife."

"That creature is better known as Deathclaw."

"You see, the nature of Deathclaw's curse is this:
he cannot know a final death until he can find the one
who possesses the other half of his soul. He cannot
know the joys of living... but somewhere along the line
Deathclaw discovered he could reclaim that by
possessing a willing individual. However, that never
lasted long, as eventually the body died-- either from
the host's arrogance or by being consumed by the ghost
dragon's will. The cycle repeated itself until at last
he found the other half of his soul, in a girl that
mirrored his temperament perfectly."

"That girl is Shizuka. When she dies Deathclaw will
know a final death."

"In time the kami alliance fragmented, where two
distinct factions developed-- the Celestials, who lived
on the surface and in the sky, and the Infernals, who
lived under the ground-- warring over interests and
conflicting ideas. Along with this several renegade
kami refused to live in the demi-plane-- the Kami
Plane, as it became known-- and lived on Earth as
outcasts of their people. Along with the decline of
magic with the fall of High Man the kami on Earth
lived to become legends-- legends such as Grendel,
Orochi, Merlin, and Bahamut are but a few examples.
By the Common Era these legendary High Men and rogue
kami disappeared into obscurity, and few such
individuals still roam the Earth today."

"In order to enforce the border between kami and man
four leaders of the Aligned Peoples emerged: Seiryu,
Byakko, Genbu, and Suzaku. Their sacrifices forged a
bond of cooperation between the dying High Men and the
kami, and these High Men became the priests of the Four
Gods. However, since the High Men met near-extinction
thanks to the Mekani War, they had to turn to their
lesser brethren to carry on the tradition. These
people would serve to safeguard the border between man
and kami, as well as hunt down the remaining renegade
kami and deliver them to the Kami Plane, where they
belonged."

"The Four Gods exist only in spirit and not in form,
and like Deathclaw, they manifest only in a host body.
However, not only must the host be willing, but it must
be suitable to the gods' tastes, whims, and wills...
and must be of purity, requirements which are harsh but
nonetheless enforce their guardian spirits."

"The kami and Mekani stranded on Earth-- which they
believed were completely wiped-out-- became a black
footnote in the Alliance history, but they never kept
their eyes off Earth, for such time which it may once
again display some sort of threat to the structure of
their order. Even as we speak they continue their
expansion from their home galaxy, to bring unity to
the chaos holding this universe."

---

"The Shadow Weavers are descendants of the High Men,"
the voice continued, a voice which the queen
recognized. "The threat the Mekani perceived was when
Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom used the Silver
Crystal to wipe out the Dark Kingdom. They feared it
could be used against them in the same manner. Yet
they never imagined that the High Men themselves--
subjects in your Silver Millennium-- could pose a
threat."

"Our goal was to revive the power of the Four Gods,"
Sypha Blade explained, appearing out of the shadow to
Neo Queen Serenity's eyes, dissolving her guise as the
C-ko shadow. "We were collecting artifacts once used
by those Guardian Spirits, seeking only the Rings of
Zoltani now that Kanna located the Dragon Beard
Tassles. The Mekani were intrigued by the success the
Four Gods had in maintaining harmony, so they wished to
reproduce it. They would install Cinder, Mousse,
Shizuka, and Kanna as the Guardians of Suzaku, Byakko,
Genbu, and Seiryu, respectively. They would do with
the world as they saw fit, so long as they quelled any
threat to the Mekani Alliance that existed on Earth."

"Sypha?" Neo Queen Serenity said, surprised.

"Wiseman allied with the Mekani," she explained, "and
we along with him. The Mekani are primarily interested
in bringing order, not destroying. The ones trapped
on Earth wished to rape the planet out of revenge for
their imprisonment. They wished to remove the Crystal
Court from their seat of power and install the Four
Gods as regent powers, in order to quell the threat
forever. As members of the Alliance we will not fail."

"And yet, we never anticipated a greater threat,"
said another voice, this one belonging to a Mekani.
"Hokuto the Shadow Weaver."

"You are...?"

"Director Mezzat. Or rather, an extension. A dummy
unit has been installed in this vessel, parasiting off
one of your two Sailor Senshi that refused to
cooperate with the Aligned Peoples. The other remains
on the Charybdis in Zedaji's care. The true Mezzat is
still in Tau Ceti, directing orders here."

"The M'tora are strong in this regard," added Sypha.
"Neptune and Uranus were easy to bend to their will."

"But that's not the issue," said another, the shadow
form of A-ko dissolving to reveal Shizuka. "What's at
stake now is to destroy the Shadow Reality."

"And by that," said Kanna, appearing as the B-ko
shape dissolved, "you, alone, can decide."

"Why me?" asked Neo Queen Serenity.

"Hokuto perverts reality around you, and you alone,"
Shizuka answered calmly. "We... we are mere specters,
anchored here in a split-second, awaiting the moment
for reality to exert itself once more. The mental
plane Hokuto has constructed is powerful one, which can
only be broken by the one who initiated it."

"And that's you," Kanna finished.

"Me?"

"The Silver Crystal is a great source of Light
energy, which is why Hokuto immediately parasited you.
Her present state of mental deterioration requires her
to feed on another to survive."

"You can only escape in death," another said, making
an entrance. Neo Queen Serenity recognized the form
as Mousse. "If you remain here, you will become
trapped in this shadow, unable to challenge Hokuto."

"Then I must go back," she decided.

"Excellent," Mezzat said.

"And then what?" asked Shizuka. "What will you do,
once you've broken the Shadow Reality?"

"What do you mean?" asked the queen.

"You will have a chance to do it all over again,"
the priestess of Genbu pointed out. "The question is,
will you?"

Neo Queen Serenity lowered her head. "I cannot
say."

Silently, Shizuka nodded. "It's as I expect. Then
you do deserve to be lent our power."

Neo Queen Serenity's eyes opened in alarm, as the
forms around her transformed into balls of light.
Swirling around her like fireflies they gathered like a
protective shield. She saw more of the energy globes
appear out of the shadow, to join the others. Those
that had perished joined her, and Neo Queen Serenity
felt the warmness offered by the Sailor Senshi... and
her daughter. She felt the energy from others coursing
through her, with the likes of those such as Mezzat,
Sypha, and even Shion joining in. She almost heard
Ayame whisper her "Good Luck."

Bathed in energies lent to her by friends and foes
alike, Neo Queen Serenity expelled the darkness
around her.

---

"No way," Hokuto hissed in disbelief, as a shining
beacon of light emerged from the shadow pool where Neo
Queen Serenity disappeared to.

"What the hell is that?!" Ranma cried, from his
bound position on the ceiling along with Saturn, Pluto,
and Ukyo.

"It's her!" Saturn cried with joy.

The white radiance that bathed her form faded away,
melting the features of the being once known as Neo
Queen Serenity. Rising in her place, Eternal Sailor
Moon emerged.

"Sailor Moon," Hokuto said flatly, unamused.

"It's over, Hokuto," Eternal Sailor Moon declared.
"There is no such a place existing with pure Light, or
pure Darkness. Vizier changed you into nothing more
than a shadow of what you used to be."

"That's funny," the Shadow Weaver said, "that's
always what others thought of you. All talk, no
substance. You made the world worse than it already is
by pretending it was better than before."

"Perhaps," she granted, "but now I understand. I've
made the mistake of being unable to see another's
point of view. Ours is not the only one in the
universe. The Mekani are afraid of us, and that's why
they attack. The people want to be able to defend
themselves, without the help of the Sailor Senshi...
and that's why they rebel against us. They don't want
to limit their horizons; they want to stand on their
own and take their place in the cosmos. I tried to
afford everybody the freedom that was their right."

"Freedom isn't a right, it has to be earned!" Hokuto
cried. "That's what your enemies believe. Are you
saying they're right?"

"No, I didn't," Moon said. "But, if I can't even
understand that, I'm not fit to rule this world. There
is no one right in the universe."

"The only right is the Light!!" Hokuto railed
angrily. "Evil such as Wiseman and the Mekani must be
exterminated!"

"And by following that course of action, you yourself
become evil!"

"If it takes becoming evil to discover true good,
then so be it!"

Hokuto's shadow tentacles speared outward toward
Eternal Sailor Moon, but she charged headlong into
the oozing mass. She deflected each blow with a swipe
of her hand easily, and waded her way toward the source
of the problems.

"If there's one thing flawed with the Mekani form of
harmony," Moon cried, "it's that fear will generate
hate, and hate will lead toward war. War will only
breed more hate, and the cycle will continue."

"And your form of harmony requires the impossible
cooperation of billions of individual minds!" Hokuto
countered. "The only true harmony lies in One! Me!
My vision!"

More shadow tentacles emerged, splitting off the
ones already past Moon, much like thorns on a rose.
Her forward velocity slowed, Eternal Sailor Moon tried
to smash away the newly-forming thorns, but the field
was becoming thicker by the moment, obscuring her from
Hokuto.

"Don't give up!" Moon heard Ukyo shout from the
ceiling.

"You're almost there!" Ranma encouraged.

"Don't hold back!" Saturn cried.

"Your Highness... finish it!" Pluto insisted.

"What are you waiting for?" demanded Hokuto. "Don't
you listen to your friends and allies? There's nothing
stopping you from destroying me."

"Even if you are a parasite, and unable to live on
your own," Eternal Sailor Moon said, struggling against
the push of the tentacles, "your life still matters!"

"Such is what I'd expect out of a weakling like you!"
Hokuto scoffed. "But, you know what? You're only
denying yourself the truth. The reason you haven't
used your true power against me is because I AM you."

For a moment Eternal Sailor Moon was pushed back a
distance by the tentacles, and, somehow, she knew it
was true.

"You won't kill me because, if you do, you'll wake
up and die by Shizuka's hand," she gloated. "If
necessary, we'll fight for all eternity, and the
result will still be the same. You are your own worst
enemy."

"It works both ways," the Eternal soldier muttered.

"Eh?"

"You won't kill me because you'll die, too," Moon
pointed out. "You're just as afraid of dying, if not
more. The others were right; you're nothing but a
parody of your former self. The real Hokuto died back
on the Night Hammer. You're like Vizier... afraid of
dying your final death." She faltered a moment. "And
perhaps I was afraid, too. I never should've been
alive right now, because I was afraid of growing old
and dying. I convinced myself that the world couldn't
possibly do without me, so I made sure to guarantee my
own, and everybody else's, immortality. I was afraid
to let others solve problems on their own, because I
didn't trust them to."

"It is as you said," she concluded. "I'm my own
worst enemy."

Cupping her hands forward, Eternal Sailor Moon forced
a blast of energy through the thorns of tentacles, then
forced her way through. Hokuto's barrier barrage
intensified, but for each obstacle put in her path
Eternal Sailor Moon destroyed them in half the time it
took to erect them.

Before she knew it, she was at the center of the
black tentacle mass. Hokuto simply stood there, her
arms at her sides, staring at Moon coldly.

"What are you waiting for?" she said mockingly.
"Kill me."

Eternal Sailor Moon raised her arms, but hesitated.

"Just as I thought," the Shadow Weaver said with a
snort. "We're just going to have to start all over
again. Maybe the second time around, you'll just
give up."

"I understand now," Moon said. "Hokuto was fighting
to keep Vizier contained. She got lost in the Dark
power, and struggled to find a way out. She became
obsessed with achieving the Light, having experienced
the Darkness so fully. She awakened, and sought the
Light that was the Silver Crystal. She wanted to
create a world where the Light rules all, in her
vision of it. She could not hope to achieve this in a
real world, so she created a sub-reality to rule. She
wanted to show that all were in the wrong, and that she
was the only right."

"But, Hokuto's body was no longer able to support
her. She needed to survive somehow. She chose me,
and became a part of me, to exist for all time in her
own world, trapping those around her in it. She wished
to escape the reality, as I have done. She wished for
a perfect world so bad that she eliminated those who
didn't share her vision. She knew she could live
forever in the mind of another who ran the same as she
did."

Eternal Sailor Moon placed her hands on Hokuto's
shoulders, and stared straight into her eyes. "There
will be no more running. The fantasy ends now, and
the world will guide its own destiny. We are one and
the same; when the dreamer dies this nightmare ends!"

Transforming into light, Eternal Sailor Moon stepped
back into herself.

---

Command Center, Scylla

The young Sailor Moon tore her attention away from
Mezzat's damaged Mekani body, and noted that Sypha was
pulling herself back upright.

"The ship's still falling!" Moon cried frantically.

Sypha placed her free claw on her forehead, cradling
it in pain. "What?"

"I don't know what'll happen," young Moon continued,
"but if we crash the Earth as we know it will end!"

Instantly, the black sorcerer was awakened from her
pain, and she grasped her dragon pearl orb tightly.
Standing to her feet, she looked down at Sailor Moon.
"I suppose there's only one thing to do about it,
huh?"

In a bright flash, Sypha Blade vanished.

---

Levitating in the air below the falling Scylla,
Sypha's orb flared brilliantly, and she allowed it to
consume her whole body. Against the cold airs of the
Arctic, Sypha felt her body stretch and congeal,
extending outward quickly to rival the length of the
Scylla easily.

When her transformation spell was complete, Sypha
emerged in her true, glorious kami form as a Celestial
Dragon of Chinese legend. Orienting herself on her
back in the air the dragon caught the Scylla, but the
weight of gravity pushed her down along with it. Sypha
pushed against gravity with all the strength she could
muster, but she could barely slow its descent.

Blast, she cursed mentally. This serpentine body
isn't strong enough....

Her dragon pearl glowed brightly, offering Sypha more
energies. She felt the descent slow slightly, and she
quickly calculated how much more energy she would have
to expend to clear the danger zone.

Fine, she thought, if it's going to take everything,
that's what you're going to get! I don't care how, but
this Earth is my home... and there isn't a chance in
Hell I'll let it all be destroyed by something so
trivial as a flood....

Living forever was overrated, anyway.

---

Siege Zone, Crystal Tokyo

Ranma smiled to himself as he completed his
descent, that Ziel had the split-second opportunity to
avoid his devastating blow. He felt the force he
gathered smash through the street, creating a crater
where Ziel should have been.

Reaching the bottom, the martial artist collapsed in
the hole he created, exhausted. He smiled to himself.
"I guess there's a second chance there, Wind-User...."

---

Shizuka never felt the cold slash, nor any pleasure
in attacking, as she stood over Neo Queen Serenity's
fallen body. Although no blood poured from the world
monarch's body, the priestess knew well enough that the
damage was within.

Inside her, Deathclaw told her, "It was no will of
yours or mine that brought this event, but her own."

Her eyes passing from King Endymion, standing
hostage to the spectral claw, to Neo Queen Serenity,
Shizuka declared, "And so ends the dream. Good
morning, Earth."

---

Shion regarded the body Hokuto discarded in his
mind, shutting off the monitoring machines that all
agreed that she met her final passing. He removed his
glasses, wiping his forehead before replacing them,
then turned to leave the chamber she occupied for so
long.

"Things do have a way of turning-out okay," he said
smugly. "Now, the real work begins."

---

Dawn

"Weeks passed quickly after the last battle in the
short-lived Third Black Moon War. In a move that
surprised the World Parliament, but not those
involved in Hokuto's trap, the Mekani ceased their
attacks entirely."

"The world mourned the loss and passing of Neo Queen
Serenity openly. Only we truly understand why she
chose to save the world, and perhaps, in time, the rest
of the human race may understand. But now is not the
time to mourn, because the future is still uncertain."

"Princess Serenity turned down the chance to ascend
the throne, and King Endymion supported her fully. It
was then up to an advisory council, formed from
members of all sides involved in the war, to determine
how to next proceed from here. At the very least,
Mezzat's secondary body on the Basilisk was present to
present the Aligned Peoples' case and grievances.
Kanna, Shion, and Ayame busy themselves with this as
well. They still debate over the issue."

"It would go untold to the rest of the world the
sacrifice Sypha made, in expending all her energies,
including her life force, to ease the Scylla's death
dive. The Mekani warship now rests on the ice, and the
Mekani are repairing it round the clock to make it
spaceworthy again. Cinder, despite his distaste
for cold environments, journeyed there to pay his
respects to the last Celestial Dragon. With Neo Queen
Serenity gone that warrior no longer feels the need to
continue his vendetta."

"Despite being embittered over her Shingo Tsukino
could not help but feel the loss for the queen. He
reminisced over the old days with Chika, who spends
her time listening and comforting him. Disaster only
serves to bring these two closer as they learn to
understand one another."

"Mousse still feels somewhat cheated that he couldn't
get Neo Queen Serenity himself, but now that she's gone
the Master of Hidden Weapons seems to have calmed down
a bunch. He's disappeared as well, returning to the
old woman Cologne to train, and figure out what to do
with his life now."

"Shizuka and Deathclaw vanished, not wanting to be
found, I suppose. She explained to me all about what
she wanted out of the war, and now she's going to wait
and see what happens next. She told me that, if the
world needs another good nudge, she'll be back to give
it a big shove."

"Ziel somehow found respect in Ranma, probably for
sparing him the pain the second time with the last hit.
Without any pressing need to be anywhere he joined
Ranma and Ukyo on their trip to see friends and
family again. They've probably got stories to tell."

"Uranus and Neptune are recovering from their
ordeals as Mekani hosts, but the scars are slower to
heal. They would never speak of the travesties they
had to face while captive, and respectfully, no one
ever asked. The other Sailor Senshi struggled to find
something to do with themselves, although talk has
been going around as to whether or not they should
return to their civilian lives once again."

"If the need ever rose, I would've died for Neo
Queen Serenity. She never asked me to, and she'd never
ask me to, anyway. I always wondered, as the Soldier
of Death, what it felt to be the one who had to watch
loved ones die, as I was too used to the notion of
sacrificing myself for them. Life is a precious
commodity indeed."

"I hope that Hokuto Takemasa has, at last, found
true peace."

---

"Immortality... something which distorts time.
The immortals believe they have all the time in the
world, and are unable to appreciate life because of it.
One of the joys of living is knowing you have a limit,
and you try to push yourself to the fullest."

"Hate may be a product of war, but it is a part of
human nature. It was something which was denied in
this society. It is unrealistic to believe that one
can eliminate war by changing human nature-- it is
then humans are no longer humans."

"Humanity is not alone in the universe. There are
those that do not share in the humanocentric ideals
that existed here. Humanity must not remain content in
its perceived superiority, or it should be destroyed."

"The mother has released the child from nurture; now
it is up to the child to decide its own destiny. It is
a future which is yet uncertain and will be difficult,
but there are those here who can guide it... but never
control it, to its destiny."

Shizuka emerged from the Altar of the Sun, having
relayed her report to the departed spirits. She sighed
deeply. "Fool. In choosing to die the queen ditched
responsibility of living the consequences of her
terrible rule."

"It is time," she heard Deathclaw say.

The priestess nodded. "Yes. Let's go home."



----------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes

Thank you for reading!


--Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOhotmailSPAM.com)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/index.html

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