By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
The story so far...
The nexus, the barrier separating the infinite parallel worlds of
the omniverse, is about to go into a recessive phase wich will make
any portals from the tenth sphere into the earth dimension impossible
for a very long time. Eager to take vengence on the sailor scouts
before this happens, the demon lord Lady Daemonfang lures Sailor
Moon into a trap; she fights the pretty soldier in a one on one
battle at the end of wich she unleashes an ancient weapon upon
Sailor Moon, the chains of Mephistofeles. They attain their goal
successfully, killing the champion of the moon regardless of the
other scouts` attempt to free her of the dark steel chains.
Meeting the spirit of her previous incarnation`s deceased father,
she manages to come back to life, at a terrible price: never again
will she be a sailor scout.
As her friends realize the sacrifice she made, a hundred portals
open throughout Tokyo; Daemonfang`s invasion of the city has begun.
And now, part II...
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 15
DESCENT INTO DARKNESS, PART 2: ONE LAST SHOT AT GLORY
Take a huge blue planet with a thick atmosphere and cover four
fifths of its surface with water. Then, heat it unevenly, giving a
warm climate at the equator and polar temperatures at the poles.
You`ll get a planet where the weather is at best unpredictable, not
to say totally chaotic.
The huge masses of cold and warm air colliding, the large masses
of water vapor and the occasional geothermal activity will make it
virtually impossible to tell if the sun will really shine tomorrow.
Should magic make its way into this volatile equilibrium, all hell
will break loose.
Litteraly.
"I`m afarid, Shingo!" said Chibi-Usa to Usagi`s brother, the man
who would one day be her uncle. "I know that mommy is out there
somewhere, she`s in danger, I just know it!"
"I know, but I can`t go out there and leave you here alone. What
if one of those monsters I saw came here while you`re all by
yourself?" said Shingo. He could feel the unnatural energy flowing
through the air; it clashed silently with the natural Technum of
the earth, rushing a surge of raw power through his veins.
"I want to go help her, please come with me to find her!" she
pleaded.
"Are you sure? It`ll be hell out there!"
"Yes, I`ll do anything to help Sailor Moon!" courageously said
Chibi-Usa.
"Okay then... I`ll go upstairs get my uniform, transform before we
leave the house." said Shingo, racing up the stairs to fetch his
emerald green costume.
Lightning tore the sky, revealing the shadows of many demons flying
left and right throughout the town; Chibi-Usa was going to help fix
this situation as Sailor Chibi-Moon.
* * *
A blinking light had been flashing on the comm-screen of the saturn
station beta`s medical bay for well over an hour now, but Technuma
Saturn was much too busy with dermoregenerator maintenance to even
notice it. In the end, Ramatech Jupiter went there himself to tell
of the latest energy readings over Tokyo.
"Didn`t you pay any attention to the calls we sent you?" asked the
massive guardian.
"I need all my focus on my job. You wouldn`t want your life support
to fail while you`re floating in one of these pods, would you?"
replied Technuma. "So, what`s happening that I should have taken
notice of?"
"Energy readings from earth, they show a massive transdimensional
breach that`s getting stronger steadily."
"I`ll definitely have to keep an eye on that. My girl is down there,
after all." said Technuma.
"Aren`t you going to do anything about it?"
"I already did all I could. If I were a religious person, I`d pray."
simply replied the pragmatic guardian.
"I sincerely hope you prepared her adequately." commented Ramatech.
"So do I."
* * *
Their fur drenched by the pouring rain, Luna and Artemis moved
through the streets to reach the spot where the scouts where
heading; their little legs were racing fast as they tried to avoid
the panicked crowds as well as the monsters running everywhere.
"This is awful, we have to find out from the girls just what is
happening!" said Luna.
"This is far worse than anything I could have ever imagined, and
it`s not likely to improve soon!" added Artemis.
Bouncing over walls, through holes in fences and taking every
shortcut they knew, they finally caught up with Tuxedo Kamen; he was
walking alone down an alley, carrying the sleeping Usagi in his
arms; she was wrapped up in his cape, though it was now just as
soaked as Usagi`s wet, cold clothes.
"What happened? Why isn`t she in uniform???" asked Luna.
"It`s bad, Luna. She fought Daemonfang alone... and lost. She was
dead for a few minutes, and when she came back to life, her costume
vanished, and so did the silver crystal. Usagi is an ordinary girl
again, as she was before she met you for the first time." he
explained.
"She looks terrible, we must find a spot to let her rest for a
while." said Artemis.
"I know. That`s what I was looking for when I met you two." said
Tuxedo Kamen. He looked around and saw an open door nearby; he went
in and noticed that he had stumbled into the remains of the former
"Club Crystal" discotheque.
"She`ll be safe in here. It`s totally deserted and abandonned."
observed Luna.
"I never imagined something good would come out of this place."
said Artemis.
"Neither did I. What matters is that Usagi can rest." said Tuxedo
Kamen as he brought Usagi in the manager`s office and placed her
delicately in the comfortable (although dusty) chair.
"You can leave her in our care, no one will come in here. The city
needs your help right now." said Artemis. Luna agreed with her.
"I don`t like this, but... I believe you`re right. I`ll come back
later to check on Usagi." said Tuxedo Kamen. He turned around and
left the relative comfort of the abandonned club for the cruelty of
the thunderstorm.
* * *
The ancient gargoyles growled menacingly when they saw the steel
doors of their sanctuary open; they quickly calmed down, however,
when they realized that it was Lady Daemonfang`s allies, Ithzhanh
and Akuma Kamen, who carried the chest wich contained the sleeping
chains of Mephistofeles. They silently observed the demons as they
placed the chest back in its place, in the middle of the circle of
gargoyles.
"I must admit that these chains are impressive. I never would have
thought that any weapon could have single handedly defeat the
champion of earth." said Akuma Kamen.
"Did you doubt my mother, Akuma? Or were you hoping that Sailor
Moon would defeat her, maybe?" whispered Ithzhanh.
"Silence, little maggot!" he growled back, his eyes glowing bright
red. "Doubt my loyalty just one more time and I`ll have my wife,
your mother, send you to the ore mines!".
This was no small threat, as the guards who motivated the prisoners
working there were recruited among the prisoners who managed to live
more than ten years despite the cruel and viscious treatment given
by the other guards. By becoming guards themselves, the former
prisoners took their vengence for their ten years of abuse by being
brutal themselves. This vicious cycle ensured both merciless guards
and productive prisoners (as long as they managed to remain alive).
"Like she`d listen to you! I`m the royal overseer in this kingdom,
you`re nothing more than a glorified sex toy!" taunted the
disgusting little demon.
"Precisely." said Akuma Kamen, a wide smile drawing upon his lips.
"All I have to do is give her an orgasm and whisper in her ear what
I`d like her to do for me."
Ithzhanh shivered as he heard these words and realized he was right.
"Let`s go back to the surface." ordered the seductive demon to the
ugly one. "Our lord mistress awaits our return for the next phase of
the plan."
* * *
"So, Mercury, what`s the plan?" asked Sailor Jupiter, nervously
impatient to pound some demons into the ground.
"Our first step is to find their central area of operations within
the city. So many portals require some kind of controlling device.
If my computer can`t keep track of so many portals, a magician`s
mind couldn`t possibly be expected to do that either." she explained.
"There`s something more to these portals... transporting these
troops should only require about ten to twenty portals,
strategically located in the city, and besides, since the nexus
shuts off her world from ours in a few days, this invasion would be
pointless unless..."
"Unless she plans to take the entire city back to her own world?"
completed Sailor Jendra before Mercury could complete her sentence.
The others looked at her in disbelief. "It was just a wild guess."
she said in self-defense.
"A wild guess that is right nonetheless. If we can find her control
system and destroy it, all portals linked to it should backfire and
close, most likely sucking the demons back in at the same time."
continued Mercury.
"So what`s the catch?" wondered Mars.
"The portal activity is too intense to allow me to pinpoint the
precise location. We`ll have to go through the entire city to find
it, and let`s not forget the hordes of evil beasts roaming the
streets who won`t agree with our view of what should be done."
she explained.
"Any more good news?" asked Mars with cynicism.
"To my best estimate, we only have until sunset to find and destroy
this device. Otherwise, we`d better get used to being ruled by
demons." said Mercury.
"We should split up, cover as much ground as possible; the first one
who finds this location calls the others. Simple elimination!"
suggested Minako. All the scouts agreed.
"Just keep in mind that Daemonfang is not likely to leave this
control system unguarded; you can expect entire batallions to be
waiting there. Whatever you do, don`t try anything on your own, any
of you! You`d be overwhelmed in a second." added Mercury.
They all split up, each running in a different direction for one
of the many possible locations where Daemonfang might be keeping her
portal generating system. Tokyo is a very large place, and the five
of them could only cover so much of it.
* * *
Darkness surrounding her all around, Usagi stood alone inside a
thick beam of light coming from somewhere above her, though she
couldn`t tell where exactly. How she got there, she had no idea
either. Her familiar Sailor Moon uniform taken away from her, she
reminisced about all the battles she went through, all the impossible
odds stacked against her she`d beaten over the years. She wished
she could wear that uniform again and knew that she never would.
Another beam of light appeared from distance from Usagi, revealing
the mighty Sailor Mars.
"The sailor scout of the moon is no more." she said solemnly.
Then, another beam of light revealed Sailor Mercury right next to
Mars.
"She has faded into history, passed into the memory of those she has
touched." she added.
Another one, next to Mercury, revealed Sailor Jupiter.
"She has crossed over into the unknown lands of destiny, into the
merciful hands of fate." she said.
Another beam, another scout. Sailor Venus appeared next to Mars.
"She has become something greater, yet she does not understand
it..." she said.
From out of the surrounding darkness, Sailor Jendra walked straight
into Usagi`s beam. She smiled and made her a heartfelt request. "Will
you teach us what you learned so that we may follow you?"
"But I`ve learned nothing, I lost all that I had!" protested Usagi.
"How can I lead any of you down a path that destroyed everything I
was?"
A sixth voice echoed from the darkness, from a presence that was
close but unseen, soothing Usagi with words of encouragement. "Not
all that is old is necessarily good, sometimes the obsolete must
be destroyed to leave room for what is to be built in its place...
we`re all counting on you, rabbit of the moon."
With these final words, Usagi woke up to find herself lying down on
a dusty desk in what looked like a deserted office.
"Where am I?" she wondered.
"The managing office of the former Club Crystal. Mamoru brought
you here after you came back to life. Artemis and I have been
keeping an eye on you." said Luna.
"This near death experience left you in a pretty bad shape, not
even the thunderstorm outside could stop you from sleeping."
commented Artemis.
"Lightning doesn`t scare me anymore." said Usagi. "When I held
Storm Seeker, I felt a kinship with thunder that..." she explained,
but was interrupted by the defeaning crash of thunder. "WHAAAAA!!!"
she screamed in terror.
"So much for her newfound courage." observed Luna.
* * *
Searching the loading docks on her own, Sailor Jupiter mustered all
of her strenght to remain calm and not show her fear; not that she`d
ever admit to being scared. The last time she came here, she didn`t
feel that fear, but she wasn`t alone to fight off Zoisite and
Kunzite at the time. Her trek had been uneventful so far, meeting
only a few panicked citizens who were running back to their homes
or to some other place where they thought would be safe. News of
the invasion was spreading fast, and soon everyone in town knew.
She had no luck finding anyone or anything, though.
"If they were here, I`d have found them by now." she thought,
turning around and running to another part of town. On her way back,
she chose to cut through a building construction site in order to
save some time.
Unknown to her, a portal had been opened on the other side of the
very same site in order to dispatch a kitling patrol to ensure that
nobody was hiding in this part of town. Standing behind a large pile
of concrete bags, they remained concealed from her sight until she
walked right by them. Face to face with their leader Ithzhanh, she
didn`t know how to react.
To say that she was surprised to meet three dozen kitlings as they
were receiving orders from Ithzhanh himself is quite an
understatement. She froze in stupor as she saw the monsters, as did
they. Sailor Jupiter had expected to see a lot of evil creatures as
she ventured in town, but certainly not from so close as to actually
smell Ithzhanh`s foul stench! Surprise can only last so long,
however, and Jupiter gave the foul little beast the strongest punch
she could before she turned back and ran like hell. Picking himself
from the muddy ground, the sickening beast screamed at his troops
who just stood there, staring at their leader.
"Catch her, you idiots! Surround her!" screamed the demon, massaging
his hurting jaw.
Knowing well she couldn`t outrun an entire squadron of these
monsters, she jumped as high as she could, landing on the first floor
of the tall building`s unfinished structure. Her frantic climb would
buy her some time, at least not to mention try out something she
always wanted to do...
"Catch her for your mistress, your overseer commands it!!!" yelled
Ithzhanh, joining in the climb using his powerful limbs to give him
speed, while his claws easily punched holes in the metallic
structure to provide handholes; he couldn`t really fly like his
mother did, but that didn`t stop him from keeping up with his nimble
kitling troops.
Jupiter hoped her plan would work; once she had reached the top of
the structure, she`d be stuck there without any options. A single
bolt of her lightning would kill her as well as them if she missed
and hit the steel beams...
"That`s it, kitties, come to me." she thought, as she heard the
rumbling in the sky above her. She looked down and saw, ten stories
underneath, a large pool of still liquid cement. Well, it LOOKED
liquid from where she stood. "There`s a chance I`ll have to take,
and aim carefully, too..." she thought.
With only a few more feet to go until his soldiers caught the tall
fighter, Ithzhanh jubilated. "Nowhere left to go, you might as well
surrender right now!" he screamed.
"Wanna bet? JUPITER THUNDER..." began to shout Sailor Jupiter as
she plunged down in a superb angel dive. "...CRASH!!!" she completed
as she soared down; a lightning bolt shot from her tiara and hit
directly the central pillar of the metal structure, utterly failing
to strike any of the monsters. Upon reaching the ground, her fall
was broken by the splashing liquid cement which had just the right
consistence for this kind of stunt. She was bruised all over her
body, but her fall had been broken instead of her neck.
Ithzhanh laughed as he thought the girl was actually trying to
shoot him and missed. Actually, she was aiming for the middle pillar
itself, wich was now electrically charged into a huge lightning
rod. Thunder struck almost instantly at the large structure, frying
to a crisp the entire kitling squadron and their leader who all
fell down like moths after burning themselves on a hot lightbulb.
"I can`t believe that really worked... what`s Jackie Chan got that I
don`t?" thought Jupiter, cleaning the cement from her clothes and
hair in the pouring rain. She then left without noticing that the
stubborn Ithzhanh was simply refusing to die.
"I`ll kill you myself, you tall bitch, I swear I will!" he whispered,
rolling himself in the cold muddy puddles to cool down his smoldering
skin. His entire body was covered with horribly painful second and
third degree burns.
* * *
"PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!" screamed Sailor Jendra who sent flying
seven razor sharp boomerangs with lethal accuracy; they carved
mercilessly a trio of knightmare that was trying to round up a group
of high schoool students.
The teenagers were quite relieved to see the knightmares defeated,
though they all ran away without putting their gratitude into words.
"You`re welcome." she said sarcastically. Sailor Jendra was tired
from all this running around and fighting evil monsters. She didn`t
care what the others would say if they saw he; she was going to take
a minute to smoke one before her nerves tangled up in a little ball.
Taking solace from the driving rain inside a bus stop shelter, she
took a cigarette and light it, feeling her tension ease up as she
inhaled the soothing blue smoke.
"You really shouldn`t do that, you know, it`s bad for your lungs."
said a familiar voice behind her.
"Now Mamoru`s getting on my case, too?" thought Sailor Jendra. She
turned around to give him a witty reply she kept in reserve for just
such an occasion, but she couldn`t as much as move her lips. Her
cigarette fell from her limp mouth straight into a large puddle at
her feet where its fire was doused off with a hiss.
IT had Mamoru`s voice. IT had Mamoru`s face. IT was not Mamoru, but
an abomination the likes of which she could only imagine in
nightmares, and she fancied herself an expert in that department.
"Yes, I know, most people react this way when they see me for the
first time." said Akuma Kamen. He threw a punch right through the
shelter`s glass wall and sent Sailor Jendra flying in the air to
land in the middle of the street.
The demon walked towards her, but was disapointed to see her hurt
her too badly to allow her to keep on fighting.
"Tsk tsk. These champions of justice are just not what they`re
cracked up to be." he said, contemplating the large cut on her
forehead. He dragged his finger through the dripping blood and
tasted it. "Not at all what we need." he thought.
"What are you?" she said softly, trying to keep awake.
"I am light and dark combined, day and night fused together into
a permanent eclipse of the soul... I am Akuma Kamen, the instrument
of your doom." he said menacingly. Like all demons, he truly enjoyed
gloating.
"You leave her alone." said a feminine voice coming from the
distance.
"Who said that?" asked the demon.
"I did." said a young fighter who seemed to have appeared out of
nowhere; dressed in a crimson and white scout uniform, it struck
Akuma that this was not one of his wife`s enemies.
"I`ve never seen you before, who are you?"
"I am Sailor Saturn brought back to life; it is one of your ilk who
murdered my predecessor, for wich you will pay!" she said, fire
burning in her eyes. "You will be the first one to receive
retribution for the crimes of your kind. Let`s fight, you and me,
right here!"
"Don`t mind if I do!" said the demon. "So this is your first fight,
is it? I will take pleasure in giving you your very first beating...
and most likely your last."
Sailor Saturn lifted her arms in the air, charging them with
powerful Technum energy that took the shape of beautiful wings.
"SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!" she screamed, unleashing a flurry of sharp
feather shaped crimson projectiles.
Akuma Kamen dodged them easily with his demonic agility by jumping
high in the air, bearing down on her wings open into a massive dive
attack.
While these two fought valiantly, Sailor Jendra managed to use her
communicator and call for help; she pushed buttons at random, so she
didn`t really know who she called exactly; all she knew was that
someone on the other end of the line had promised to come quickly.
Then she fainted.
* * *
"Wake up, Laurella!" she heard through the darkness. When she opened
her eyes, Sailor Jendra saw the sweet face of Sailor Venus and...
and... HIM!!! She screamed her head off while Mamoru tried to calm
her down.
"Whoa, stop it! It`s just me, Tuxedo Kamen, stop yelling..." he
pleaded, until Jendra slowly stopped screaming; she looked at him,
then began telling of what she saw.
"HE looked just like you!!!" she said over and over whenever she was
asked about the demon. "He said he was Akuma Kamen, he had your voice
and your face!" she finally managed to say.
"And who was the girl looking over you when we arrived? She left
before we could see exactly who she was." said Sailor Venus.
"I`m not really sure, but I think she`s... Sailor Saturn." answered
Jendra.
"I thought she was dead!" said Tuxedo Kamen.
"So did I." replied Venus.
* * *
Instead of running without a plan, Sailor Mercury had asked herself
how she could spot Daemonfang`s base of operation on this side of
the nexus faster.
"She will need lots of soldiers to guard herself from our assault.
Where could this kind of gathering be held?".
It had to be a place concealed from view as well as very large to
accomodate huge amounts of knightmares and other beasts. It didn`t
take her long to think of one place that was likely to be used by
Daemonfang: the baseball stadium. It was indeed one of the sites
of intense portal activity; it was also easily within her reach.
Sneaking her way inside, she carefully made her way to the playing
field where she saw what she was looking for: hundreds of monsters
guarding a strange magical cube in the middle of the field, and
eight smaller cubes placed all around. The smaller cubes radiated a
strong green energy field wich flowed into the central, larger cube.
Near that magical relic was the leader of all forces demonic: Lady
Daemonfang. She was speaking to another demon next to her, but was
much too far away to figure out what they could be talking about,
not to mention that their conversation was totally drowned by the
knightmares` very loud songs of victory.
Satisfied by her discovery, she sneaked away in one of the maze of
corridors that lead to the outside of the stadium.
* * *
"Ithzhanh barely managed to drag himself through the portal; he`s in
the healers` care right now, clinging on to life with every ounce of
strenght he has." said Daemonfang to Akuma Kamen.
"That scout really did a number on him." said Akuma, letting out a
faint snicker. "I was beaten by one myself, but at least I got away
with my skin intact. Did you know that another one has joined their
ranks? She fought really well, too, chased me as long as she could.
If it wasn`t for that portal I ducked in, she`d still be on my
tail."
"It matters not that you lost, or how many they are. As long as they
find their way here, we`ll be able to get what we need for the final
phase or our plan." said Daemonfang.
"What if they don`t come?" wondered her husband, knowing well the
effects of a fizzled ritual of this magnitude.
"They will come, trust me. It`s their nature, and it`s also their
most reliable weakness." said Daemonfang who was beginning to wish
that the stadium had a roof. As it stood, she was starting to find
this downpour rather annoying.
* * *
"I should have thought about it!" said Sailor Mars to Mercury over
the comm line.
"Just come as soon as you can, there`s not much time to sunset!"
pleaded Mercury. Her words did not reach Sailor Mars who suddenly
found herself attacked by a horde of kitlings.
"BURNING MANDALA!" she yelled, forming her trusted rings of fire; she
managed to cut down most of them, but one remained; she wanted to
fry him as well, unfortunately her body didn`t agree. The fatigue
she`d been carrying for the past few days had finally caught up with
her, immobilizing her stiff muscles instantly.
Helpless and believing she`d be dead in a second, Mars closed her
eyes, awaiting to be ripped open by the raging beast. That never did
happen; a heart-shaped ball of fire soared through the air and hit
the kitling in the chest, consuming the beast in mere seconds.
"What... happened?" she wondered.
"I did it! I did it!" said Sailor Chibi-Moon, happy to have helped
her friend Sailor Mars. Along with her was the reincarnated
Kitechnum Jendra.
"You learn fast, little warrior." complimented Kitechnum.
"I learned from the best teachers in the world." said the small
lady.
"Come on, let`s go finish this once and for all." said Mars,
mustering all her strenght to get moving.
* * *
"Yeah, Mercury, I`m feeling much better now. Thanks for asking."
said Usagi through her communicator, one of the rare pieces of
evidence remaining that she had ever been Sailor Moon. Now that
she couldn`t transform anymore, it felt like all of her previous
battles were no more than an old dream fading away.
"This should be over soon, stay hidden until we managed to take down
Daemonfang and her goons. It`s way too dangerous outside right now,
we don`t want you getting hurt." said Sailor Mercury. She signed
off afterwards.
"You know, Luna, it doesn`t really matter that I don`t have any
powers left- I should be out there with them, not stuck in here with
a pair of babysitters!" protested Usagi.
"You heard Ami, it`s too dangerous. Besides, I don`t think of
Artemis and I as babysitters." said Luna. The black cat noticed
Usagi was using a hair pin to open her watch and tinker with
the mechanism. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Ami wouldn`t tell me where the scouts were going, but I remember
her doing this.. if I do it right, I`ll be able to tap into their
mutual radio signals AND track its source. I`ll know what they say
to each other and where they are!" explained Usagi. "Hang around a
genius long enough, you learn a thing or two."
"Wait a minute, you can`t go out there! You were clinicly dead just
an hour ago, do you want the freaks to complete the job this time?!?"
protested Artemis. As usual, Usagi wouldn`t hear of it. "What do we
do now?" he asked Luna as Usagi left through the door.
"Follow her, and hope she won`t get herself killed again." said the
exasperated Luna.
* * *
Taking shelter from the rain in the stadium`s parking, the scouts
got together along with their allies Tuxedo Kamen and Kitechnum
Jendra. Using a few empty soda cans and cigarette packs from a
nearby trash can, Mercury began assembling a small visual display
of what Daemonfang`s setup in the playing field looked like.
"This," she explained, "is the central cube wich is currently
charging up from the smaller cubes placed all around the field."
she said, placing small wads of rolled up paper on the appropriate
locations.
"What`s this?" asked Venus, pointing to the many pebbles strewn all
about the display.
"A rough demonstration of how many troops she`s got surrounding the
place. Each pebble is worth ten to fifty soldiers, more or less."
she said.
"That`s gonna be rough." said Jupiter. "What`s that, on the side?"
she then asked.
"That`s a chocolate wrapper." said Mercury, picking up and tossing
away the silver foil ball. "What we must do is surround the place
and destroy all the small cubes at once. The backlash should destroy
the bigger cube and turn the portals into an invert particule
charge..."
Mercury looked at the stares of confusion of the other fighters.
Once again, she was giving more details than they needed.
"The portals should suck back all the demons into their world,
leaving the population of Tokyo untouched." she said. This time,
it was simple enough so that everyone got it.
"There is a problem, Mercury- there`s EIGHT cubes to blow and we
don`t have Sailor Moon anymore, remember? Tuxedo Kamen`s roses will
require Sailor Chibi-Moon`s energy as a backup to be effective
against those things, that leaves us one person short" observed
Mars.
"Then let me lend you my strenght." said Sailor Saturn, whom no one
had noticed sneak her way near.
"Sailor Saturn, so you really DO exist! I was beginning to wonder
if I hadn`t imagined you or something..." said Jendra.
"There`s a lot I want to ask you, but we don`t have much time left.
Formal introductions will have to wait." observed Mercury.
"Everybody take a spot around the field, hide in the corridors until
we have a clean shot; I`ll monitor the situation and give the signal
when there`s an opportunity to strike. Let`s move out!"
* * *
Listening in to her rigged-up communicator, Usagi was able to get
all the information she needed. Despite the two cats trying to stop
her, she had ran through the thunderstorm to the stadium.
"Please, Usagi, don`t do this... you can`t possibly join this battle
and live!" said Artemis.
"You don`t know how much it hurt to see you die a thousand years
ago... we don`t want it to happen again." said Luna.
"I understand, Luna my friend." she said. "But I also have an
obligation to fulfill, even if it takes my life." said Usagi as
she pulled out of her pocket a small object of delicately carved
pink crystal, the luna pen, the only weapon she had left which
didn`t require Sailor Moon`s energy to work.
"Luna pen... transform me into the champion of love and justice,
SAILOR MOON!" she said as she raised the crystal into the air. A
blinding flash of light later, she was turned into Sailor Moon...
in appearance only, for the luna pen was incapable of granting any
power, save that of disguise..
"I think I know what my friends want to do, I don`t think they can
do it without some kind of distraction." she said.
Sailor Moon entered the stadium courageously for her final battle
against the invasion forces.
* * *
Hiding behind a row of seats located near one of the eight small
cubes, Sailor Mercury monitered the movements of the knightmare
forces charged to protect them. There was much more of them than
the first time she sneaked in the stadium; this surplus of forces
was throwing off her plan, as destroying the energy devices would
take several seconds of intense bombardment. Several seconds was
all that these highly trained knightmares required to kill anyone,
especially since there was so many of them.
The green energy glow from the small cubes to the large one was
rapidly intensifying; time was running out. If the evil soldiers
didn`t relent from their positions quickly, then a single desperate
option remained: a suicide rush forward, one that would hopefully
succeed altough it would cost every single one of their lives.
Just as Mercury was about to give the signal to charge despite the
massive number of soldiers between them and their targets, a miracle
occured. All of the knightmares began to look away, their attention
drawn by something that none of them could believe, something so
incredible that not even Sailor Mercury trusted her eyes when she
realized what it was.
The crowd of knightmare opened up like the red sea at Moses` command
to let through the sailor scout who had died at Lady Daemonfang`s
hands earlier that day. Sailor Moon walked forward slowly towards
Daemonfang and Akuma Kamen who couldn`t believe that someone had
been slain by the chains of Mephistofeles and lived to tell about
it.
A ghastly silence fell, a frightning moment of uncertainty where
no one was quite too sure about what should be done.
"She`s dead!" was heard being whispered somewhere.
"The chains killed her!" said another.
"That`s impossible!" said another.
So bewildered were the knightmares that none dared stand in Sailor
Moon`s way as she walked towards the two demons lords. She stopped
in front of them, staring silently without as much as blinking. In
that one moment of unflinching determination, there was more power
in her eyes than she had ever used with her tiara and scepter put
together.
"And so she comes, a girl who would not stand down for all the evil
thrown in her way, who refused to stop fighting even when death
itself called her name. Welcome, hero, we have been waiting for
you." said Daemonfang, speaking softly and choosing each word she
used carefully; this moment would be written down in her world`s
history, and she wanted to make every phrase she spoke to become
wisdom for the ages. "Your power did not stop my chains from
crushing the life in your body, nor will it stop me from claiming
your lifeblood... the final ingredient in my plane transferrance
spell."
"My blood isn`t as powerful as you believe. Being a hero is not
about power, nor is it about fighting evil fiends such as
yourself..." said Sailor Moon, "it`s about standing up for what you
believe in, and putting your life on the line time and time again
to protect something greater than yourself!!!"
Snapping out of her trance, the hidden Sailor Mercury discreetly
gave the signal to the champions of earth; not a single one of the
soldiers in bronze armor was paying any attention to the energy
cubes!
"Indeed, your life is what you will lose. By finding the courage to
face my army and come to me, you`ve just proven yourself to be a
true hero!" said Daemonfang, moving her hand ever so slightly in
Sailor Moon`s direction. Akuma Kamen jumped forward in a wild charge
that knocked her down; the she-demon noticed something falling out
of Sailor moon`s hand.
"What do we have here?" she wondered, picking up the luna pen.
"She`s much weaker than before!" said Akuma Kamen. "She can barely
resist me; clearly, this isn`t the mighty warrior who required the
chains to be destroyed."
"It doesn`t matter how much power she has." explained Daemonfang,
crushing the luna pen in her fist; Usagi`s Sailor Moon disguised
disappeared immediately. "As our little friend just said, it`s her
heart that makes her a hero, not her ability to throw fireballs, or
lack thereof. Her blood will be potent enough to complete our ritual;
only the blood of a true hero can allow us to rip this city from the
ground and take it home to my realm. I`ll enjoy slicing her up..."
she added with an evil grin.
Eight beams of energy surged suddenly, hitting the cubes which were
badly shaken up. The beams pounded the small artifacts heavily,
cracking them severely. The knightmares realized that they`d been
tricked, but it was too late. The cubes exploded in a huge green
flash which reverberated into the large cube; it too cracked and
disintegrated into nothingness, disrupting the carefully balanced
energy flow of the huge portal being created.
"No, it`s not possible that you won again! I won`t allow it!"
screamed Daemonfang as the ground started shaking violently; huge
gusts of wind came out of nowhere and random portals began forming
everywhere in Tokyo, sucking in whatever creature it was that
belonged in the tenth sphere. Akuma Kamen yelled madly as he was
blown back into his homeworld along with the hundreds of
knightmares around him, but Daemonfang held on- she grabbed on to
Usagi, using her as an anchor.
"Either you keep me here or you come back with me!" growled the
she-demon with anger enough to stop a charging bull dead in its
tracks. Usagi was too light to provide much support to the hulking
beast, however, and was being dragged into the uncontrolled silver
portal along with her nemesis.
"I`ll save you, my love!" thought Tuxedo Kamen who saw his sweetheart
being taken into the demon world; without any hesitation, he produced
one of his trademark rose projectiles and threw it towards the
demon`s hand with wich she was holding on to Usagi`s arm.
The red blurry streak soared through the air, flying in direction
of its target... and missed by less than an inch.
"NO!" he screamed as he witnessed helplessly his fiancee being taken
through the portal; after both she and the demon where sucked in, it
closed down. Calm returned to Tokyo as the invasion had been
thwarted at last, but peace of mind was not something that Tuxedo
Kamen would regain any time soon.
He just couldn`t believed he lost her.
To be continued...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
The story so far...
The nexus, the barrier separating the infinite parallel worlds of
the omniverse, is about to go into a recessive phase wich will make
any portals from the tenth sphere into the earth dimension impossible
for a very long time. Eager to take vengence on the sailor scouts
before this happens, the demon lord Lady Daemonfang lures Sailor
Moon into a trap; she fights the pretty soldier in a one on one
battle at the end of wich she unleashes an ancient weapon upon
Sailor Moon, the chains of Mephistofeles. They attain their goal
successfully, killing the champion of the moon regardless of the
other scouts` attempt to free her of the dark steel chains.
Meeting the spirit of her previous incarnation`s deceased father,
she manages to come back to life, at a terrible price: never again
will she be a sailor scout.
As her friends realize the sacrifice she made, a hundred portals
open throughout Tokyo; Daemonfang`s invasion of the city has begun.
And now, part II...
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 15
DESCENT INTO DARKNESS, PART 2: ONE LAST SHOT AT GLORY
Take a huge blue planet with a thick atmosphere and cover four
fifths of its surface with water. Then, heat it unevenly, giving a
warm climate at the equator and polar temperatures at the poles.
You`ll get a planet where the weather is at best unpredictable, not
to say totally chaotic.
The huge masses of cold and warm air colliding, the large masses
of water vapor and the occasional geothermal activity will make it
virtually impossible to tell if the sun will really shine tomorrow.
Should magic make its way into this volatile equilibrium, all hell
will break loose.
Litteraly.
"I`m afarid, Shingo!" said Chibi-Usa to Usagi`s brother, the man
who would one day be her uncle. "I know that mommy is out there
somewhere, she`s in danger, I just know it!"
"I know, but I can`t go out there and leave you here alone. What
if one of those monsters I saw came here while you`re all by
yourself?" said Shingo. He could feel the unnatural energy flowing
through the air; it clashed silently with the natural Technum of
the earth, rushing a surge of raw power through his veins.
"I want to go help her, please come with me to find her!" she
pleaded.
"Are you sure? It`ll be hell out there!"
"Yes, I`ll do anything to help Sailor Moon!" courageously said
Chibi-Usa.
"Okay then... I`ll go upstairs get my uniform, transform before we
leave the house." said Shingo, racing up the stairs to fetch his
emerald green costume.
Lightning tore the sky, revealing the shadows of many demons flying
left and right throughout the town; Chibi-Usa was going to help fix
this situation as Sailor Chibi-Moon.
* * *
A blinking light had been flashing on the comm-screen of the saturn
station beta`s medical bay for well over an hour now, but Technuma
Saturn was much too busy with dermoregenerator maintenance to even
notice it. In the end, Ramatech Jupiter went there himself to tell
of the latest energy readings over Tokyo.
"Didn`t you pay any attention to the calls we sent you?" asked the
massive guardian.
"I need all my focus on my job. You wouldn`t want your life support
to fail while you`re floating in one of these pods, would you?"
replied Technuma. "So, what`s happening that I should have taken
notice of?"
"Energy readings from earth, they show a massive transdimensional
breach that`s getting stronger steadily."
"I`ll definitely have to keep an eye on that. My girl is down there,
after all." said Technuma.
"Aren`t you going to do anything about it?"
"I already did all I could. If I were a religious person, I`d pray."
simply replied the pragmatic guardian.
"I sincerely hope you prepared her adequately." commented Ramatech.
"So do I."
* * *
Their fur drenched by the pouring rain, Luna and Artemis moved
through the streets to reach the spot where the scouts where
heading; their little legs were racing fast as they tried to avoid
the panicked crowds as well as the monsters running everywhere.
"This is awful, we have to find out from the girls just what is
happening!" said Luna.
"This is far worse than anything I could have ever imagined, and
it`s not likely to improve soon!" added Artemis.
Bouncing over walls, through holes in fences and taking every
shortcut they knew, they finally caught up with Tuxedo Kamen; he was
walking alone down an alley, carrying the sleeping Usagi in his
arms; she was wrapped up in his cape, though it was now just as
soaked as Usagi`s wet, cold clothes.
"What happened? Why isn`t she in uniform???" asked Luna.
"It`s bad, Luna. She fought Daemonfang alone... and lost. She was
dead for a few minutes, and when she came back to life, her costume
vanished, and so did the silver crystal. Usagi is an ordinary girl
again, as she was before she met you for the first time." he
explained.
"She looks terrible, we must find a spot to let her rest for a
while." said Artemis.
"I know. That`s what I was looking for when I met you two." said
Tuxedo Kamen. He looked around and saw an open door nearby; he went
in and noticed that he had stumbled into the remains of the former
"Club Crystal" discotheque.
"She`ll be safe in here. It`s totally deserted and abandonned."
observed Luna.
"I never imagined something good would come out of this place."
said Artemis.
"Neither did I. What matters is that Usagi can rest." said Tuxedo
Kamen as he brought Usagi in the manager`s office and placed her
delicately in the comfortable (although dusty) chair.
"You can leave her in our care, no one will come in here. The city
needs your help right now." said Artemis. Luna agreed with her.
"I don`t like this, but... I believe you`re right. I`ll come back
later to check on Usagi." said Tuxedo Kamen. He turned around and
left the relative comfort of the abandonned club for the cruelty of
the thunderstorm.
* * *
The ancient gargoyles growled menacingly when they saw the steel
doors of their sanctuary open; they quickly calmed down, however,
when they realized that it was Lady Daemonfang`s allies, Ithzhanh
and Akuma Kamen, who carried the chest wich contained the sleeping
chains of Mephistofeles. They silently observed the demons as they
placed the chest back in its place, in the middle of the circle of
gargoyles.
"I must admit that these chains are impressive. I never would have
thought that any weapon could have single handedly defeat the
champion of earth." said Akuma Kamen.
"Did you doubt my mother, Akuma? Or were you hoping that Sailor
Moon would defeat her, maybe?" whispered Ithzhanh.
"Silence, little maggot!" he growled back, his eyes glowing bright
red. "Doubt my loyalty just one more time and I`ll have my wife,
your mother, send you to the ore mines!".
This was no small threat, as the guards who motivated the prisoners
working there were recruited among the prisoners who managed to live
more than ten years despite the cruel and viscious treatment given
by the other guards. By becoming guards themselves, the former
prisoners took their vengence for their ten years of abuse by being
brutal themselves. This vicious cycle ensured both merciless guards
and productive prisoners (as long as they managed to remain alive).
"Like she`d listen to you! I`m the royal overseer in this kingdom,
you`re nothing more than a glorified sex toy!" taunted the
disgusting little demon.
"Precisely." said Akuma Kamen, a wide smile drawing upon his lips.
"All I have to do is give her an orgasm and whisper in her ear what
I`d like her to do for me."
Ithzhanh shivered as he heard these words and realized he was right.
"Let`s go back to the surface." ordered the seductive demon to the
ugly one. "Our lord mistress awaits our return for the next phase of
the plan."
* * *
"So, Mercury, what`s the plan?" asked Sailor Jupiter, nervously
impatient to pound some demons into the ground.
"Our first step is to find their central area of operations within
the city. So many portals require some kind of controlling device.
If my computer can`t keep track of so many portals, a magician`s
mind couldn`t possibly be expected to do that either." she explained.
"There`s something more to these portals... transporting these
troops should only require about ten to twenty portals,
strategically located in the city, and besides, since the nexus
shuts off her world from ours in a few days, this invasion would be
pointless unless..."
"Unless she plans to take the entire city back to her own world?"
completed Sailor Jendra before Mercury could complete her sentence.
The others looked at her in disbelief. "It was just a wild guess."
she said in self-defense.
"A wild guess that is right nonetheless. If we can find her control
system and destroy it, all portals linked to it should backfire and
close, most likely sucking the demons back in at the same time."
continued Mercury.
"So what`s the catch?" wondered Mars.
"The portal activity is too intense to allow me to pinpoint the
precise location. We`ll have to go through the entire city to find
it, and let`s not forget the hordes of evil beasts roaming the
streets who won`t agree with our view of what should be done."
she explained.
"Any more good news?" asked Mars with cynicism.
"To my best estimate, we only have until sunset to find and destroy
this device. Otherwise, we`d better get used to being ruled by
demons." said Mercury.
"We should split up, cover as much ground as possible; the first one
who finds this location calls the others. Simple elimination!"
suggested Minako. All the scouts agreed.
"Just keep in mind that Daemonfang is not likely to leave this
control system unguarded; you can expect entire batallions to be
waiting there. Whatever you do, don`t try anything on your own, any
of you! You`d be overwhelmed in a second." added Mercury.
They all split up, each running in a different direction for one
of the many possible locations where Daemonfang might be keeping her
portal generating system. Tokyo is a very large place, and the five
of them could only cover so much of it.
* * *
Darkness surrounding her all around, Usagi stood alone inside a
thick beam of light coming from somewhere above her, though she
couldn`t tell where exactly. How she got there, she had no idea
either. Her familiar Sailor Moon uniform taken away from her, she
reminisced about all the battles she went through, all the impossible
odds stacked against her she`d beaten over the years. She wished
she could wear that uniform again and knew that she never would.
Another beam of light appeared from distance from Usagi, revealing
the mighty Sailor Mars.
"The sailor scout of the moon is no more." she said solemnly.
Then, another beam of light revealed Sailor Mercury right next to
Mars.
"She has faded into history, passed into the memory of those she has
touched." she added.
Another one, next to Mercury, revealed Sailor Jupiter.
"She has crossed over into the unknown lands of destiny, into the
merciful hands of fate." she said.
Another beam, another scout. Sailor Venus appeared next to Mars.
"She has become something greater, yet she does not understand
it..." she said.
From out of the surrounding darkness, Sailor Jendra walked straight
into Usagi`s beam. She smiled and made her a heartfelt request. "Will
you teach us what you learned so that we may follow you?"
"But I`ve learned nothing, I lost all that I had!" protested Usagi.
"How can I lead any of you down a path that destroyed everything I
was?"
A sixth voice echoed from the darkness, from a presence that was
close but unseen, soothing Usagi with words of encouragement. "Not
all that is old is necessarily good, sometimes the obsolete must
be destroyed to leave room for what is to be built in its place...
we`re all counting on you, rabbit of the moon."
With these final words, Usagi woke up to find herself lying down on
a dusty desk in what looked like a deserted office.
"Where am I?" she wondered.
"The managing office of the former Club Crystal. Mamoru brought
you here after you came back to life. Artemis and I have been
keeping an eye on you." said Luna.
"This near death experience left you in a pretty bad shape, not
even the thunderstorm outside could stop you from sleeping."
commented Artemis.
"Lightning doesn`t scare me anymore." said Usagi. "When I held
Storm Seeker, I felt a kinship with thunder that..." she explained,
but was interrupted by the defeaning crash of thunder. "WHAAAAA!!!"
she screamed in terror.
"So much for her newfound courage." observed Luna.
* * *
Searching the loading docks on her own, Sailor Jupiter mustered all
of her strenght to remain calm and not show her fear; not that she`d
ever admit to being scared. The last time she came here, she didn`t
feel that fear, but she wasn`t alone to fight off Zoisite and
Kunzite at the time. Her trek had been uneventful so far, meeting
only a few panicked citizens who were running back to their homes
or to some other place where they thought would be safe. News of
the invasion was spreading fast, and soon everyone in town knew.
She had no luck finding anyone or anything, though.
"If they were here, I`d have found them by now." she thought,
turning around and running to another part of town. On her way back,
she chose to cut through a building construction site in order to
save some time.
Unknown to her, a portal had been opened on the other side of the
very same site in order to dispatch a kitling patrol to ensure that
nobody was hiding in this part of town. Standing behind a large pile
of concrete bags, they remained concealed from her sight until she
walked right by them. Face to face with their leader Ithzhanh, she
didn`t know how to react.
To say that she was surprised to meet three dozen kitlings as they
were receiving orders from Ithzhanh himself is quite an
understatement. She froze in stupor as she saw the monsters, as did
they. Sailor Jupiter had expected to see a lot of evil creatures as
she ventured in town, but certainly not from so close as to actually
smell Ithzhanh`s foul stench! Surprise can only last so long,
however, and Jupiter gave the foul little beast the strongest punch
she could before she turned back and ran like hell. Picking himself
from the muddy ground, the sickening beast screamed at his troops
who just stood there, staring at their leader.
"Catch her, you idiots! Surround her!" screamed the demon, massaging
his hurting jaw.
Knowing well she couldn`t outrun an entire squadron of these
monsters, she jumped as high as she could, landing on the first floor
of the tall building`s unfinished structure. Her frantic climb would
buy her some time, at least not to mention try out something she
always wanted to do...
"Catch her for your mistress, your overseer commands it!!!" yelled
Ithzhanh, joining in the climb using his powerful limbs to give him
speed, while his claws easily punched holes in the metallic
structure to provide handholes; he couldn`t really fly like his
mother did, but that didn`t stop him from keeping up with his nimble
kitling troops.
Jupiter hoped her plan would work; once she had reached the top of
the structure, she`d be stuck there without any options. A single
bolt of her lightning would kill her as well as them if she missed
and hit the steel beams...
"That`s it, kitties, come to me." she thought, as she heard the
rumbling in the sky above her. She looked down and saw, ten stories
underneath, a large pool of still liquid cement. Well, it LOOKED
liquid from where she stood. "There`s a chance I`ll have to take,
and aim carefully, too..." she thought.
With only a few more feet to go until his soldiers caught the tall
fighter, Ithzhanh jubilated. "Nowhere left to go, you might as well
surrender right now!" he screamed.
"Wanna bet? JUPITER THUNDER..." began to shout Sailor Jupiter as
she plunged down in a superb angel dive. "...CRASH!!!" she completed
as she soared down; a lightning bolt shot from her tiara and hit
directly the central pillar of the metal structure, utterly failing
to strike any of the monsters. Upon reaching the ground, her fall
was broken by the splashing liquid cement which had just the right
consistence for this kind of stunt. She was bruised all over her
body, but her fall had been broken instead of her neck.
Ithzhanh laughed as he thought the girl was actually trying to
shoot him and missed. Actually, she was aiming for the middle pillar
itself, wich was now electrically charged into a huge lightning
rod. Thunder struck almost instantly at the large structure, frying
to a crisp the entire kitling squadron and their leader who all
fell down like moths after burning themselves on a hot lightbulb.
"I can`t believe that really worked... what`s Jackie Chan got that I
don`t?" thought Jupiter, cleaning the cement from her clothes and
hair in the pouring rain. She then left without noticing that the
stubborn Ithzhanh was simply refusing to die.
"I`ll kill you myself, you tall bitch, I swear I will!" he whispered,
rolling himself in the cold muddy puddles to cool down his smoldering
skin. His entire body was covered with horribly painful second and
third degree burns.
* * *
"PRISMATIC SEVEN SLASHER!" screamed Sailor Jendra who sent flying
seven razor sharp boomerangs with lethal accuracy; they carved
mercilessly a trio of knightmare that was trying to round up a group
of high schoool students.
The teenagers were quite relieved to see the knightmares defeated,
though they all ran away without putting their gratitude into words.
"You`re welcome." she said sarcastically. Sailor Jendra was tired
from all this running around and fighting evil monsters. She didn`t
care what the others would say if they saw he; she was going to take
a minute to smoke one before her nerves tangled up in a little ball.
Taking solace from the driving rain inside a bus stop shelter, she
took a cigarette and light it, feeling her tension ease up as she
inhaled the soothing blue smoke.
"You really shouldn`t do that, you know, it`s bad for your lungs."
said a familiar voice behind her.
"Now Mamoru`s getting on my case, too?" thought Sailor Jendra. She
turned around to give him a witty reply she kept in reserve for just
such an occasion, but she couldn`t as much as move her lips. Her
cigarette fell from her limp mouth straight into a large puddle at
her feet where its fire was doused off with a hiss.
IT had Mamoru`s voice. IT had Mamoru`s face. IT was not Mamoru, but
an abomination the likes of which she could only imagine in
nightmares, and she fancied herself an expert in that department.
"Yes, I know, most people react this way when they see me for the
first time." said Akuma Kamen. He threw a punch right through the
shelter`s glass wall and sent Sailor Jendra flying in the air to
land in the middle of the street.
The demon walked towards her, but was disapointed to see her hurt
her too badly to allow her to keep on fighting.
"Tsk tsk. These champions of justice are just not what they`re
cracked up to be." he said, contemplating the large cut on her
forehead. He dragged his finger through the dripping blood and
tasted it. "Not at all what we need." he thought.
"What are you?" she said softly, trying to keep awake.
"I am light and dark combined, day and night fused together into
a permanent eclipse of the soul... I am Akuma Kamen, the instrument
of your doom." he said menacingly. Like all demons, he truly enjoyed
gloating.
"You leave her alone." said a feminine voice coming from the
distance.
"Who said that?" asked the demon.
"I did." said a young fighter who seemed to have appeared out of
nowhere; dressed in a crimson and white scout uniform, it struck
Akuma that this was not one of his wife`s enemies.
"I`ve never seen you before, who are you?"
"I am Sailor Saturn brought back to life; it is one of your ilk who
murdered my predecessor, for wich you will pay!" she said, fire
burning in her eyes. "You will be the first one to receive
retribution for the crimes of your kind. Let`s fight, you and me,
right here!"
"Don`t mind if I do!" said the demon. "So this is your first fight,
is it? I will take pleasure in giving you your very first beating...
and most likely your last."
Sailor Saturn lifted her arms in the air, charging them with
powerful Technum energy that took the shape of beautiful wings.
"SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!" she screamed, unleashing a flurry of sharp
feather shaped crimson projectiles.
Akuma Kamen dodged them easily with his demonic agility by jumping
high in the air, bearing down on her wings open into a massive dive
attack.
While these two fought valiantly, Sailor Jendra managed to use her
communicator and call for help; she pushed buttons at random, so she
didn`t really know who she called exactly; all she knew was that
someone on the other end of the line had promised to come quickly.
Then she fainted.
* * *
"Wake up, Laurella!" she heard through the darkness. When she opened
her eyes, Sailor Jendra saw the sweet face of Sailor Venus and...
and... HIM!!! She screamed her head off while Mamoru tried to calm
her down.
"Whoa, stop it! It`s just me, Tuxedo Kamen, stop yelling..." he
pleaded, until Jendra slowly stopped screaming; she looked at him,
then began telling of what she saw.
"HE looked just like you!!!" she said over and over whenever she was
asked about the demon. "He said he was Akuma Kamen, he had your voice
and your face!" she finally managed to say.
"And who was the girl looking over you when we arrived? She left
before we could see exactly who she was." said Sailor Venus.
"I`m not really sure, but I think she`s... Sailor Saturn." answered
Jendra.
"I thought she was dead!" said Tuxedo Kamen.
"So did I." replied Venus.
* * *
Instead of running without a plan, Sailor Mercury had asked herself
how she could spot Daemonfang`s base of operation on this side of
the nexus faster.
"She will need lots of soldiers to guard herself from our assault.
Where could this kind of gathering be held?".
It had to be a place concealed from view as well as very large to
accomodate huge amounts of knightmares and other beasts. It didn`t
take her long to think of one place that was likely to be used by
Daemonfang: the baseball stadium. It was indeed one of the sites
of intense portal activity; it was also easily within her reach.
Sneaking her way inside, she carefully made her way to the playing
field where she saw what she was looking for: hundreds of monsters
guarding a strange magical cube in the middle of the field, and
eight smaller cubes placed all around. The smaller cubes radiated a
strong green energy field wich flowed into the central, larger cube.
Near that magical relic was the leader of all forces demonic: Lady
Daemonfang. She was speaking to another demon next to her, but was
much too far away to figure out what they could be talking about,
not to mention that their conversation was totally drowned by the
knightmares` very loud songs of victory.
Satisfied by her discovery, she sneaked away in one of the maze of
corridors that lead to the outside of the stadium.
* * *
"Ithzhanh barely managed to drag himself through the portal; he`s in
the healers` care right now, clinging on to life with every ounce of
strenght he has." said Daemonfang to Akuma Kamen.
"That scout really did a number on him." said Akuma, letting out a
faint snicker. "I was beaten by one myself, but at least I got away
with my skin intact. Did you know that another one has joined their
ranks? She fought really well, too, chased me as long as she could.
If it wasn`t for that portal I ducked in, she`d still be on my
tail."
"It matters not that you lost, or how many they are. As long as they
find their way here, we`ll be able to get what we need for the final
phase or our plan." said Daemonfang.
"What if they don`t come?" wondered her husband, knowing well the
effects of a fizzled ritual of this magnitude.
"They will come, trust me. It`s their nature, and it`s also their
most reliable weakness." said Daemonfang who was beginning to wish
that the stadium had a roof. As it stood, she was starting to find
this downpour rather annoying.
* * *
"I should have thought about it!" said Sailor Mars to Mercury over
the comm line.
"Just come as soon as you can, there`s not much time to sunset!"
pleaded Mercury. Her words did not reach Sailor Mars who suddenly
found herself attacked by a horde of kitlings.
"BURNING MANDALA!" she yelled, forming her trusted rings of fire; she
managed to cut down most of them, but one remained; she wanted to
fry him as well, unfortunately her body didn`t agree. The fatigue
she`d been carrying for the past few days had finally caught up with
her, immobilizing her stiff muscles instantly.
Helpless and believing she`d be dead in a second, Mars closed her
eyes, awaiting to be ripped open by the raging beast. That never did
happen; a heart-shaped ball of fire soared through the air and hit
the kitling in the chest, consuming the beast in mere seconds.
"What... happened?" she wondered.
"I did it! I did it!" said Sailor Chibi-Moon, happy to have helped
her friend Sailor Mars. Along with her was the reincarnated
Kitechnum Jendra.
"You learn fast, little warrior." complimented Kitechnum.
"I learned from the best teachers in the world." said the small
lady.
"Come on, let`s go finish this once and for all." said Mars,
mustering all her strenght to get moving.
* * *
"Yeah, Mercury, I`m feeling much better now. Thanks for asking."
said Usagi through her communicator, one of the rare pieces of
evidence remaining that she had ever been Sailor Moon. Now that
she couldn`t transform anymore, it felt like all of her previous
battles were no more than an old dream fading away.
"This should be over soon, stay hidden until we managed to take down
Daemonfang and her goons. It`s way too dangerous outside right now,
we don`t want you getting hurt." said Sailor Mercury. She signed
off afterwards.
"You know, Luna, it doesn`t really matter that I don`t have any
powers left- I should be out there with them, not stuck in here with
a pair of babysitters!" protested Usagi.
"You heard Ami, it`s too dangerous. Besides, I don`t think of
Artemis and I as babysitters." said Luna. The black cat noticed
Usagi was using a hair pin to open her watch and tinker with
the mechanism. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Ami wouldn`t tell me where the scouts were going, but I remember
her doing this.. if I do it right, I`ll be able to tap into their
mutual radio signals AND track its source. I`ll know what they say
to each other and where they are!" explained Usagi. "Hang around a
genius long enough, you learn a thing or two."
"Wait a minute, you can`t go out there! You were clinicly dead just
an hour ago, do you want the freaks to complete the job this time?!?"
protested Artemis. As usual, Usagi wouldn`t hear of it. "What do we
do now?" he asked Luna as Usagi left through the door.
"Follow her, and hope she won`t get herself killed again." said the
exasperated Luna.
* * *
Taking shelter from the rain in the stadium`s parking, the scouts
got together along with their allies Tuxedo Kamen and Kitechnum
Jendra. Using a few empty soda cans and cigarette packs from a
nearby trash can, Mercury began assembling a small visual display
of what Daemonfang`s setup in the playing field looked like.
"This," she explained, "is the central cube wich is currently
charging up from the smaller cubes placed all around the field."
she said, placing small wads of rolled up paper on the appropriate
locations.
"What`s this?" asked Venus, pointing to the many pebbles strewn all
about the display.
"A rough demonstration of how many troops she`s got surrounding the
place. Each pebble is worth ten to fifty soldiers, more or less."
she said.
"That`s gonna be rough." said Jupiter. "What`s that, on the side?"
she then asked.
"That`s a chocolate wrapper." said Mercury, picking up and tossing
away the silver foil ball. "What we must do is surround the place
and destroy all the small cubes at once. The backlash should destroy
the bigger cube and turn the portals into an invert particule
charge..."
Mercury looked at the stares of confusion of the other fighters.
Once again, she was giving more details than they needed.
"The portals should suck back all the demons into their world,
leaving the population of Tokyo untouched." she said. This time,
it was simple enough so that everyone got it.
"There is a problem, Mercury- there`s EIGHT cubes to blow and we
don`t have Sailor Moon anymore, remember? Tuxedo Kamen`s roses will
require Sailor Chibi-Moon`s energy as a backup to be effective
against those things, that leaves us one person short" observed
Mars.
"Then let me lend you my strenght." said Sailor Saturn, whom no one
had noticed sneak her way near.
"Sailor Saturn, so you really DO exist! I was beginning to wonder
if I hadn`t imagined you or something..." said Jendra.
"There`s a lot I want to ask you, but we don`t have much time left.
Formal introductions will have to wait." observed Mercury.
"Everybody take a spot around the field, hide in the corridors until
we have a clean shot; I`ll monitor the situation and give the signal
when there`s an opportunity to strike. Let`s move out!"
* * *
Listening in to her rigged-up communicator, Usagi was able to get
all the information she needed. Despite the two cats trying to stop
her, she had ran through the thunderstorm to the stadium.
"Please, Usagi, don`t do this... you can`t possibly join this battle
and live!" said Artemis.
"You don`t know how much it hurt to see you die a thousand years
ago... we don`t want it to happen again." said Luna.
"I understand, Luna my friend." she said. "But I also have an
obligation to fulfill, even if it takes my life." said Usagi as
she pulled out of her pocket a small object of delicately carved
pink crystal, the luna pen, the only weapon she had left which
didn`t require Sailor Moon`s energy to work.
"Luna pen... transform me into the champion of love and justice,
SAILOR MOON!" she said as she raised the crystal into the air. A
blinding flash of light later, she was turned into Sailor Moon...
in appearance only, for the luna pen was incapable of granting any
power, save that of disguise..
"I think I know what my friends want to do, I don`t think they can
do it without some kind of distraction." she said.
Sailor Moon entered the stadium courageously for her final battle
against the invasion forces.
* * *
Hiding behind a row of seats located near one of the eight small
cubes, Sailor Mercury monitered the movements of the knightmare
forces charged to protect them. There was much more of them than
the first time she sneaked in the stadium; this surplus of forces
was throwing off her plan, as destroying the energy devices would
take several seconds of intense bombardment. Several seconds was
all that these highly trained knightmares required to kill anyone,
especially since there was so many of them.
The green energy glow from the small cubes to the large one was
rapidly intensifying; time was running out. If the evil soldiers
didn`t relent from their positions quickly, then a single desperate
option remained: a suicide rush forward, one that would hopefully
succeed altough it would cost every single one of their lives.
Just as Mercury was about to give the signal to charge despite the
massive number of soldiers between them and their targets, a miracle
occured. All of the knightmares began to look away, their attention
drawn by something that none of them could believe, something so
incredible that not even Sailor Mercury trusted her eyes when she
realized what it was.
The crowd of knightmare opened up like the red sea at Moses` command
to let through the sailor scout who had died at Lady Daemonfang`s
hands earlier that day. Sailor Moon walked forward slowly towards
Daemonfang and Akuma Kamen who couldn`t believe that someone had
been slain by the chains of Mephistofeles and lived to tell about
it.
A ghastly silence fell, a frightning moment of uncertainty where
no one was quite too sure about what should be done.
"She`s dead!" was heard being whispered somewhere.
"The chains killed her!" said another.
"That`s impossible!" said another.
So bewildered were the knightmares that none dared stand in Sailor
Moon`s way as she walked towards the two demons lords. She stopped
in front of them, staring silently without as much as blinking. In
that one moment of unflinching determination, there was more power
in her eyes than she had ever used with her tiara and scepter put
together.
"And so she comes, a girl who would not stand down for all the evil
thrown in her way, who refused to stop fighting even when death
itself called her name. Welcome, hero, we have been waiting for
you." said Daemonfang, speaking softly and choosing each word she
used carefully; this moment would be written down in her world`s
history, and she wanted to make every phrase she spoke to become
wisdom for the ages. "Your power did not stop my chains from
crushing the life in your body, nor will it stop me from claiming
your lifeblood... the final ingredient in my plane transferrance
spell."
"My blood isn`t as powerful as you believe. Being a hero is not
about power, nor is it about fighting evil fiends such as
yourself..." said Sailor Moon, "it`s about standing up for what you
believe in, and putting your life on the line time and time again
to protect something greater than yourself!!!"
Snapping out of her trance, the hidden Sailor Mercury discreetly
gave the signal to the champions of earth; not a single one of the
soldiers in bronze armor was paying any attention to the energy
cubes!
"Indeed, your life is what you will lose. By finding the courage to
face my army and come to me, you`ve just proven yourself to be a
true hero!" said Daemonfang, moving her hand ever so slightly in
Sailor Moon`s direction. Akuma Kamen jumped forward in a wild charge
that knocked her down; the she-demon noticed something falling out
of Sailor moon`s hand.
"What do we have here?" she wondered, picking up the luna pen.
"She`s much weaker than before!" said Akuma Kamen. "She can barely
resist me; clearly, this isn`t the mighty warrior who required the
chains to be destroyed."
"It doesn`t matter how much power she has." explained Daemonfang,
crushing the luna pen in her fist; Usagi`s Sailor Moon disguised
disappeared immediately. "As our little friend just said, it`s her
heart that makes her a hero, not her ability to throw fireballs, or
lack thereof. Her blood will be potent enough to complete our ritual;
only the blood of a true hero can allow us to rip this city from the
ground and take it home to my realm. I`ll enjoy slicing her up..."
she added with an evil grin.
Eight beams of energy surged suddenly, hitting the cubes which were
badly shaken up. The beams pounded the small artifacts heavily,
cracking them severely. The knightmares realized that they`d been
tricked, but it was too late. The cubes exploded in a huge green
flash which reverberated into the large cube; it too cracked and
disintegrated into nothingness, disrupting the carefully balanced
energy flow of the huge portal being created.
"No, it`s not possible that you won again! I won`t allow it!"
screamed Daemonfang as the ground started shaking violently; huge
gusts of wind came out of nowhere and random portals began forming
everywhere in Tokyo, sucking in whatever creature it was that
belonged in the tenth sphere. Akuma Kamen yelled madly as he was
blown back into his homeworld along with the hundreds of
knightmares around him, but Daemonfang held on- she grabbed on to
Usagi, using her as an anchor.
"Either you keep me here or you come back with me!" growled the
she-demon with anger enough to stop a charging bull dead in its
tracks. Usagi was too light to provide much support to the hulking
beast, however, and was being dragged into the uncontrolled silver
portal along with her nemesis.
"I`ll save you, my love!" thought Tuxedo Kamen who saw his sweetheart
being taken into the demon world; without any hesitation, he produced
one of his trademark rose projectiles and threw it towards the
demon`s hand with wich she was holding on to Usagi`s arm.
The red blurry streak soared through the air, flying in direction
of its target... and missed by less than an inch.
"NO!" he screamed as he witnessed helplessly his fiancee being taken
through the portal; after both she and the demon where sucked in, it
closed down. Calm returned to Tokyo as the invasion had been
thwarted at last, but peace of mind was not something that Tuxedo
Kamen would regain any time soon.
He just couldn`t believed he lost her.
To be continued...