By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
PROLOGUE
One thousand years ago...
"It`s ready." said Technara Mars as she stepped out of the starship
Pegasus.
"Did you take care of everything?" asked Ramatech Jupiter as he
exited after her, carrying a boxful of disassembled drive parts.
"Yes, I did. Stardrive, controls, thrusters, navigational computer...
this ship is no more than a twenty tons paperweight now." she
replied.
"Then all that`s missing is the 'passenger'." commented Ramatech.
"Go tell Noratech that all is in place, please... and would you find
out if Technuma is recovering properly? I`ve seen him yesterday and
quite frankly, I think the regeneration has affected him somehow."
asked Technara.
"Sure." said Ramatech as he dropped the box among the dozen others
filled with many more dismantled system parts. He left Technara,
knowing she was skilled enough to take care of final system settings.
She opened a panel and accessed the ship`s core memory, writing the
system protocol for its long term space journey. No one would ever
change these settings again.
"Technara..." she heard someone whisper. She turned around to see
one of the moon kingdom`s royal guards. He wore the traditional
golden armor and carried a matching halberd.
"Ronmar? You shouldn`t be here. This has been difficult enough for
you already, why do you insist on witnessing this as well?" asked
Technara to the obviously distraught man.
"How could you, Technara? How could you let her become what she
became???" he asked, furious.
"I did not let her become anything! If anything, maybe you should
ask yourself if your daughter really was the woman you thought she
was." replied Technara, an accusating look in her eyes.
"I trusted you, Technara! I always heard of the Technum guardians as
trustworthy allies, yet my beloved daughter commited the most
horrible act in your name, because she felt that her victims did not
live up to your expectations!!! You destroyed her life, Technara...
YOU killed her!" screamed Ronmar, raising his weapon to strike down
the guardian.
His blow never even had a chance to land, a powerful bolt of Technum
energy surging from the guardian`s hand and hitting Ronmar squarely
in the chest, catapulting him a few feet away where he landed on his
back. His armor had been blackened and twisted at the impact point,
smoking slightly.
"Don`t ever try anything like that again, Ronmar. If you step out
of line just one more time, you`ll see exactly what I can do to
you... no nightmare can equal the violence I am capable of if pushed
into a corner."
Ronmar painfully got back up on his feet, struggling to breathe.
"I`ll show you nightmares..." he whispered. "You`ll regret what
you`ve done, and so will your little protegees."
The wounded soldier limped away, never to be seen again by the moon
kingdom before it fell.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 21
CHOOSING YOUR SIDE
Usagi was feeling much better now. A few days of rest had done her a
world of good physically, her skin and muscles having fully
recovered from the wounds inflicted by the record cold that had
wrapped Japan these past few weeks.
Her mind was recovering nicely as well, the events having lead her
to this uncomfortable situation returning to her one piece at a time.
She was recalling more each day, although she wasn`t quite sure if
she liked what she did remember.
Now she remembered something that was making her shiver: for some
reason, Gallagher`s words had been making some kind of sense to her
after she`d spoken with him. That scared her a lot. But who could
she talk to about this? For all she knew, she might have betrayed
her friends and not remember about it... if she indeed had sided
with Gallagher, she would only betray herself by speaking openly
about it.
She was going to have to recall more.
Usagi entered the cramped hospital shower, wishing to get herself
clean before breakfast. The warm water flowing to her skin felt
heavenly, washing away her worries if only for a few minutes. She
wrapped a towel around her body then left the shower to get dressed.
As she was slipping on her jeans and shirt, she heard a knock at
the door.
"Hiya, Usagi, can I come in?" asked a familiar voice.
"Robin?!? I didn`t expect you`d come!" said Usagi, hugging her good
friend.
"Last time I came by, you were knocked out cold by the sleeping
pills... you were in a really bad shape, girl." said Robin.
"Sorry I was such a lousy friend to visit, I wish I could have said
something." said Usagi.
"I`m used to it." said Robin. "It`s the same when I visit my dad..."
said Robin, tears forming in her eyes.
"Your dad`s here?" asked Usagi with concern.
Robin nodded and pointed to the bed next to Usagi`s. The blonde girl
then realized that she still hadn`t looked on the other side of the
green curtain separating the room in two. She pulled the curtain and
was in for a shock: plugged into a life support system was Robin`s
father... Technuma Saturn!!!
"HE`s your FATHER?!?" she said in total astonishment.
"Yeah, don`t you remember?" asked Robin.
"Then if he`s your father... does that mean..."
"Yup. I`m Sailor Saturn." said Robin as though it was no big deal.
"Robin... there`s something you should know..." said Usagi,
hesitating.
"You`re Sailor Moon, your fiancee is Prince Endymion, your brother`s
the Emerald Knight and your friends are the scouts and senshi. I know
all about that, dad programmed that knowledge in my brain when he
created me."
"Dear god, how did he end up here?" asked Usagi.
"You still don`t remember that part?"
"Not a clue, Robin."
"Well, maybe we can discuss this over coffee." said Robin.
"Isn`t that going to be painful for you?" wondered Usagi.
"Probably. But it`s something I`m learning to live with."
"Hey... why did you refer to my brother as Emerald Knight? And to
Mamoru as Prince Endymion?"
"It`s a long story. Pack your stuff and let`s go get something to
eat." suggested Robin.
* * *
"It`s confirmed, Technuma did leave the station onboard the Avatar
Mark II. I couldn`t stop him." said Litechnae to Noratech.
"This is not good. We have to do something quick... have you erased
that encrypted file yet?" asked Noratech.
"No, I... I couldn`t find it."
"WHAT? What do you mean, couldn`t find it?"
"It just... vanished, swallowed whole by the central core main
archive! It makes no sense, it just came to the surface last night
and sank right back in!" said Litechnae.
"This is all falling apart. Technuma is out of control and he could
infect the others too. Okay, here`s what we`ll do: I`ll handle the
Technuma situation, while you take care of isolating the others. If
I fail to contain Saturn, at least he won`t contaminate the rest of
the guardians." explained Noratech.
"Where do you think he is?" asked Litechnae.
"Earth. Where else would he go?"
* * *
The Avatar Mark II screeched towards the earth at full speed.
Technuma hadn`t been able to decrypt his file on the station, but he
was sure that somehow the answer laid in the hands of the sailor
girls.
He just wasn`t sure exactly which one.
* * *
Gallagher stood atop a small, unremarkable mountain in the the
country several dozen miles outside of Tokyo. He knew well how there
was a piece of his sword Heresy hidden underneath the huge piece of
rock. He also knew that a group of teenagers was picking it up even
now.
He knew it all too well, he could feel the presence of Sailor
Neptune. Her soul power was singing to him, delicious sounds of a
mind elevated to the greatest peaks of human perfection. Gallagher
looked at his cards. The images of Sailor Moon and Neptune were
glowing on two of them, while a third fuzzy image was starting to
appear slowly on another.
He could easily swoop down with all of his power flaring in a
surprise strike against them, but he wasn`t going to do that. The
battle for this new piece of Heresy wouldn`t be won through violence
this time.
The red sports car speeded away in the distance. Gallagher let it
go. He`d get the fractured piece in the end. The call of Heresy
would be heeded and the Philistine would arise to meet its destiny.
* * *
"Okay, so what do you think?" asked Mamoru to Shingo.
"Yeah, I`ve been thinking of doing something like that myself. You
already have the Endymion persona to fall back on, but I`ll have to
come up with something original." agreed Shingo.
"So it`s decided then. We upgrade our own appearances to be more up
to date with the girl`s new looks?"
"It`s agreed."
Standing watch over Makoto`s room was a bit boring to the two young
men, so they had gotten into the idea of changing their alternate
identity`s appearances. Kitechnum Jendra was severely out of date
by over a millenium and Tuxedo Kamen was a bit corny, to say the
least.
"Any ideas?" asked Mamoru.
"It`s a coin toss between GREEN AVENGER or EMERALD KNIGHT."
"Sailor Moon`s sword is named Avenger." observed Mamoru.
"Then Emerald Knight it is."
A splitting headache struck Shingo again. This one wasn`t quite as
bad as the others, but what it lacked in pain it made for in range,
reverberating throughout his whole skull and into the base of his
neck.
"Are having another one of those migraines? This can`t be good for
you." said Mamoru.
"Can`t help it. Whenever my powers increase, I get one of those.
Each time I use my powers a lot, I get one too. Sometimes it just
happens for no reason." said Shingo, but he was lying. He knew that
something inside his head was trying to get out, to resurface. He
felt that whatever this was, it had been buried for a reason and
fought it hard with all he had, hence the migraine.
Fighting these resurging memories had been getting harder ever
since that Gallagher had shown up...
* * *
Back at Haruka and Michiru`s place, Usagi met with her friends who`d
just returned from their succesful expedition.
"Between Rei`s intuition and Umino`s computer smarts, it wasn`t hard
to find." said Naru.
"Can I see it?" asked Usagi to Naru.
"Of course." she said. She opened her shoulder bag and took out a
heavy metal piece wrapped in a silk scarf of Michiru`s.
The dark metal glinted in an ominous fashion under the sunlight. It
fascinated Usagi.
"It`s incredible. That Gallagher would do so many evil acts just to
get his hands on it." she said.
"There`s something I still don`t get. What does he plan to do with
this sword? It`s not like he could conquer the world or destroy it.
And if it`s killing us he wants... he already has the power to do
it." said Michiru.
"Here, Usagi, hide it somewhere safe." said Haruka, closing
rewrapping the sword fragment and handing it over to Usagi.
"Thank you. I`ll take care of it." she said.
Deep down inside, Usagi knew that this would help her get the
answers she wanted so badly.
"If you`ll excuse me, I have to go meet my friend Robin... I`ve let
her down already because of this mess, I`d hate to leave her hanging
again." she said, putting the piece of Heresy in her backpack.
"Be careful out there." said Naru.
"Thanks Naru, but I think this whole situation is beyond careful."
replied Usagi. She left.
"Don`t you think Usagi has been acting... strangely?" whispered
Haruka to Michiru.
"Yes, she has... I believe we might do well to see where she`s
going." replied Michiru.
* * *
High atop a large appartment building he bought several months
before, Technuma Saturn landed his cloaked starship on the highly
reinforced roof. Although his actual penthouse appartment only
occupîed a single floor, he`d bought the whole building so that he
could land his ship without being worried about other tenants
feeling the vibrations of his landings and takeoffs.
Technuma stepped out of the ship and took a look around, admiring
the Tokyo landscape under the sunset light.
"I love this place. I`m glad my dear Robin lives here." he thought.
He opened the door leading to the staircase, and walked down towards
the fifth floor. Technuma felt weird; like the answer he sought was
close at hand. He started running down the stairs, in a real hurry
to find out what he`d been missing all that time.
At the door of his penthouse, he found his daughter curled up in a
ball shivering in fear.
"Robin? What`s going on, honey?" he asked.
Trembling, she looked at him with her terrified gaze.
"Inside, dad... there`s someone... you have to see..." she said,
holding on to Technuma.
"I`ll go see..." he said, worried. His daughter had faced demons,
knightmares and kitlings already, who could possibly scare her that
much?
He opened the door and looked inside. Near total darkness greeted
him, but he dared not turn on the lights for fear of giving out his
presence too soon to whoever was there. He made his way to the living
room where he thought he heard the crackling sound of his leather
sofas.
Indeed, through what little light he had, the mighty guardian could
see the silhouette of a man wearing black clothes sitting
comfortably, his feet resting on the coffee table right next to a
delicately carved chess set.
"All too many people disregard the importance of the queen`s gambit
tactic." said the stranger. "They feel that the price is too great
in regards to the potential benefits. I disagree. For achieving
victory, no price is too great."
Technuma approached him carefully, feeling that maybe this man could
help him as well. He stared at his eyes, the only part of his face
not covered by his mask.
"Who are you?"
The masked man smiled under his mask.
"I`m Gallagher." he said. "Let`s talk."
* * *
"Whoa, wait a minute... you mean to tell me that this Gallagher
actually had business with Technuma Saturn?!?" asked Usagi to Robin.
"They certainly did. I don`t know how long they talked like that
before I ran off looking for you." explained Robin.
"You already knew about me and the scouts, did you?"
"Like I said, dad programmed me subconsciously while I was growing
in the bioengineering tank. I knew all about the scouts and the moon
kingdom before I was even born."
"I was just on my way to see you, if I remember this well... hey,
it is coming back, isn`t it?" commented Usagi.
"I have no idea what they spoke about, but I don`t think that it
was very amicable because the following events were less than
peaceful." continued Robin.
* * *
Usagi walked along towards her friend Robin`s place unaware of being
followed by two of her friends. Maybe it was because it was getting
dark and the street lights hadn`t kicked in just yet. Maybe it was
because Haruka and Michiru were so talented at shadowing people
after months of tracking pure hearts for talismans that were part
of the holy grail.
It was neither. Her mind was so absorbed with hesitation and
self-doubt that she was totally oblivious to anything going on
around her. She couldn`t see them if they had been wearing bells
and tossing firecrackers in her direction.
Ever since she acquired her soul powers, Usagi hadn`t been the same.
Her personality had been slowly changing towards something unlike
anything she`d ever been before. From the chirpy, easy-going, fun
loving teenager everyone knew, she was turning rapidly into a
sullen, sulking and broody curmudgeon. No one had really noticed
at first, but the recent conflict against Gallagher had brought out
the worst in her- her mental transformation had accelerated beyond
what any psychiatrist would consider to be a normal evolution
process.
Things were pretty bad at this point- Haruka was even beginning to
question Usagi`s loyalty. Michiru did not doubt it, however, as she
couldn`t bear the thought of such a kind hearted girl betraying her
friends... and the whole of humanity.
"Usagi!!! I need your help right away!!!" yelled Robin who was
running down towards Usagi from the opposite direction.
Usagi snapped out of her dazed state and ran to meet her friend.
"What`s going on?" she asked.
"My dad`s in trouble, I need your help defending him!" answered
Robin, shacking like a leaf.
"Shouldn`t you call the police? I`m just a teenage girl like you!"
"That`s what I`m counting on... Sailor Moon!" whispered Robin.
"Gallagher`s found out where my dad lives while he`s residing in
Tokyo... he needs us right now!!!"
The shock of Robin knowing about both her being Sailor Moon and of
Gallagher`s existence were more than enough to silence Usagi from
the sheer surprise. She let herself get dragged into a frantic race
by Robin who crushed her wrist in a steel grip born of her excessive
stress.
"How do you know so much?" finally asked Usagi. "And who`s your
dad, anyway?"
Usagi got her answer when the two girls (and the two shadowing
figures behind them) arrived at the front door of the luxurious
appartment building where Robin lives. An explosion of dark blue
energy ripped most of its front wall as two fighting men were
propelled into the air along with a shower of concrete and metal
shards.
The blonde girl didn`t take too long to put two and two together:
Gallagher was fighting no other than Technuma Saturn- and winning.
"DAD! I`m not going to let that bastard kill you!!!" screamed Robin.
This could only mean one thing, thought Usagi. If Technuma Saturn was
Robin`s father, then...
"SATURN STAR POWER MAKEUP!" yelled Robin, producing a small
transformation pen marked with the symbol of saturn. Her silk shirt
and skirt were torn apart and replaced with the uniform of Sailor
Saturn.
"...YOU`RE SAILOR SATURN?!?" said Usagi in total astonishment.
"Are you gonna transform yet, or do you need an invitation?" asked
Saturn.
"Oh yeah, right... MOON SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!" yelled Usagi; a
golden glow radiated from her whole body, shredding her clothes and
covering her with the full senshi fuku, then adding the visor,
shin guards and forearm guards.
"Let`s finish this right here, Gallagher!" taunted Saturn.
"Close your eyes, little Saturn." said Gallagher as he painfully got
back to his feet alongside Technuma.
"What...?" she started to ask, barely having enough time to ward off
the sudden burst of flashing light emitted by Gallagher`s hand.
Robin was the only one not blinded by the flash, thus averting the
inevitable seizure that would have struck her. Even the charging
Sailor Uranus and Neptune were caught off guard.
"The end is near- the call will be answered!" said Gallagher as he
struck Technuma with his sword, shoving the incomplete Heresy deep
within his left shoulder.
"You bastard... SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!" yelled Robin as crimson
wings of energy formed under her arms and sent a flurry of feather
shaped projectiles towards the man who wounded her father. The masked
man was hit full force, flying back several feet. Getting back up,
he stared Robin in the eyes... and fled.
"You`re not getting away from me!!!" she said as she sprinted in
pursuit.
Sailor Moon rushed over to the bleeding guardian, as well as Sailor
Uranus and Neptune. At this point, she didn`t even want to know HOW
they knew where to find her. These two lovebirds had a knack of
always being at the right place at the right time, Sailor Moon had
learned to accept this without question.
"Don`t stick around here, Saturn will get killed all by herself!!!"
pleaded Sailor Moon.
"Don`t worry, we`ll help her out!" said Neptune.
"Yeah, I have an axe to grind with that basic black bastard!!!"
added Uranus in an increasing blood fury.
"Why... don`t you just... go join them?" said Technuma, breathing
heavily.
"You need me to pull that out of your shoulder... besides, I know
more than you realize. I can help you beat Gallagher at his own
game!" she whispered, as she grabbed the handle of Heresy and pulled.
Dark energy surged through the broken dark metal sword, shocking both
the young senshi and the wounded guardian. When she finally managed
to pull it out, the energy subsided.
"Geez, no wonder Gallagher is ready to kill to get his hands on that
gizmo!" commented Usagi, dropping the sword down in a loud clanking
noise to massage her cramped arms. Technuma ripped one of his
sapphire blue uniform sleeves to improvise a bandage.
A strong bone chilling wind arose suddenly, freezing both of them on
the spot.
"Whoa, that`s cold for late october!" commented Usagi as she helped
Technuma up.
"Wouldn`t know. Spend most of my time on the station." replied
Technuma.
"Funny you should mention that place, that`s where we`re going right
now." said Sailor Moon, a grin forming on her face.
The senshi dragged Technuma into the war-torn building to reach the
top floor where the guardian kept his cloaked ship.
From a distance, the jittery Noratech Neptune looked at them leave.
He let them as he had more pressing matters to attend to. Coming to
earth, his original idea had been to convince his collegue to return
to the station without making a fuss. Saturn was doing that on his
own.
Then, he had seen him. The rebel. The traitor. He couldn`t see his
face because of the mask, but he knew it was HIM, he could feel his
raw energy, it had a certain feel to it he remembered from tracking
it down a thousand years before. It had been a long time since, but
having to hunt and kill one of his own was not something he would
ever forget.
And now he`d have to do it all over again, except that this time
he`d be returning with a corpse in a body bag rather than just DNA
scraps.
* * *
The way home was a long one indeed. Minako had been walking
tirelessly for what seemed like years now. The endlees plains did
in fact come to an end, only to make way for a deep blue ocean that
stretched all the way into the horizon. The horizon... that`s where
she needed to go, ever forward where the heavens met the earth...
she heard that somewhere in a poem or a song, she couldn`t remember
which one exactly.
All she knew is that she needed to go there, to become more that
she was.
She plunged into the surprisingly warm waters and swam. Her torn
scout uniform finally gave way, ripping off her now naked body. This
felt wonderful to Minako, and she went deeper and deeper in the
crystal clear waters, feeling no need to breathe...
* * *
Returning from the hospital along with Mamoru, Shingo`s migraine
was getting worse and worse.
"What`s happening to me?" he thought, holding his head in his hands
as the pain tore it apart.
"Something`s wrong, you need help right now!!!" said Mamoru, holding
him from collapsing.
"Someone needs help all right... Technuma is here, and Gallagher`s
closeby!!!" he said, flashes of lightning going across his eyesight.
"Are you sure???"
"Yeah, they`re not too far... can you drive over to Robin`s place?"
* * *
Pressing his hand to the hull`s lock control, the Avatar Mark II`s
door opened with a soft whirring sound. Sailor Moon helped Technuma
inside where she lead him into the cockpit. The guardian crashed
heavily into the pilot seat, a raging storm of pain tearing his
shoulder.
"Okay, head for Saturn Station Beta." ordered Sailor moon.
"Aren`t you going to step off the ship before I do?"
"No. You do want to stop Gallagher from getting the last piece to
THIS, don`t you?" she replied, showing him the incomplete Heresy.
As a silent response, Technuma started the engines of his ship and
fired the thrusters; within seconds, the starship was soaring
through the atmosphere and out of earth`s orbit, heading towards
saturn.
"What`s your plan?" asked Technuma, replacing his improvised bandage
with a compact dermal generator patch whose design he came up with
over sixteen hundred years ago. Some classics just never died.
"Simple. We go in and get the last piece." she explained.
"Are you telling me that the last piece of that sword... of the only
weapon more powerful than the Prime himself... is actually hidden
RIGHT NEXT TO HIM???"
"Hidden right under the guardians` collective noses. Not a bad
hiding place, wouldn`t you say?" asked Sailor Moon.
"That still doesn`t explain why you absolutely insisted on going all
the way over just to tell me that... couldn`t you have told me while
we were still down there, save you the trouble of hauling yourself
halfway across the system?!?" asked Technuma.
As he finished asking his question, Technuma felt Sailor Moon`s arm
grasping his head firmly while the cold sharp crystal blade of
Avenger was being placed against his throat.
"Because I want answers and I want them now!!!" said Sailor Moon in
a commanding voice. "For starters, how the hell did you convince
Technuma to go along with your intricate plan, Gallagher darling?"
The expression on the guardian`s face changed radically... from the
smooth, calculating Technuma, the man held in respect by Sailor
Moon`s sacred weapon took on the menacing grin of the mysterious man
who so much enjoyed talking in apocalyptic verses.
"It`s wasn`t too complicated, seeing how our souls are the shards of
the same fractured spirit... why do you think me and Technuma have
the same face?!?" answered Gallagher, smiling like a maniac. "How
about you let me go so that I can dock into station, little senshi?"
To be continued...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
PROLOGUE
One thousand years ago...
"It`s ready." said Technara Mars as she stepped out of the starship
Pegasus.
"Did you take care of everything?" asked Ramatech Jupiter as he
exited after her, carrying a boxful of disassembled drive parts.
"Yes, I did. Stardrive, controls, thrusters, navigational computer...
this ship is no more than a twenty tons paperweight now." she
replied.
"Then all that`s missing is the 'passenger'." commented Ramatech.
"Go tell Noratech that all is in place, please... and would you find
out if Technuma is recovering properly? I`ve seen him yesterday and
quite frankly, I think the regeneration has affected him somehow."
asked Technara.
"Sure." said Ramatech as he dropped the box among the dozen others
filled with many more dismantled system parts. He left Technara,
knowing she was skilled enough to take care of final system settings.
She opened a panel and accessed the ship`s core memory, writing the
system protocol for its long term space journey. No one would ever
change these settings again.
"Technara..." she heard someone whisper. She turned around to see
one of the moon kingdom`s royal guards. He wore the traditional
golden armor and carried a matching halberd.
"Ronmar? You shouldn`t be here. This has been difficult enough for
you already, why do you insist on witnessing this as well?" asked
Technara to the obviously distraught man.
"How could you, Technara? How could you let her become what she
became???" he asked, furious.
"I did not let her become anything! If anything, maybe you should
ask yourself if your daughter really was the woman you thought she
was." replied Technara, an accusating look in her eyes.
"I trusted you, Technara! I always heard of the Technum guardians as
trustworthy allies, yet my beloved daughter commited the most
horrible act in your name, because she felt that her victims did not
live up to your expectations!!! You destroyed her life, Technara...
YOU killed her!" screamed Ronmar, raising his weapon to strike down
the guardian.
His blow never even had a chance to land, a powerful bolt of Technum
energy surging from the guardian`s hand and hitting Ronmar squarely
in the chest, catapulting him a few feet away where he landed on his
back. His armor had been blackened and twisted at the impact point,
smoking slightly.
"Don`t ever try anything like that again, Ronmar. If you step out
of line just one more time, you`ll see exactly what I can do to
you... no nightmare can equal the violence I am capable of if pushed
into a corner."
Ronmar painfully got back up on his feet, struggling to breathe.
"I`ll show you nightmares..." he whispered. "You`ll regret what
you`ve done, and so will your little protegees."
The wounded soldier limped away, never to be seen again by the moon
kingdom before it fell.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 21
CHOOSING YOUR SIDE
Usagi was feeling much better now. A few days of rest had done her a
world of good physically, her skin and muscles having fully
recovered from the wounds inflicted by the record cold that had
wrapped Japan these past few weeks.
Her mind was recovering nicely as well, the events having lead her
to this uncomfortable situation returning to her one piece at a time.
She was recalling more each day, although she wasn`t quite sure if
she liked what she did remember.
Now she remembered something that was making her shiver: for some
reason, Gallagher`s words had been making some kind of sense to her
after she`d spoken with him. That scared her a lot. But who could
she talk to about this? For all she knew, she might have betrayed
her friends and not remember about it... if she indeed had sided
with Gallagher, she would only betray herself by speaking openly
about it.
She was going to have to recall more.
Usagi entered the cramped hospital shower, wishing to get herself
clean before breakfast. The warm water flowing to her skin felt
heavenly, washing away her worries if only for a few minutes. She
wrapped a towel around her body then left the shower to get dressed.
As she was slipping on her jeans and shirt, she heard a knock at
the door.
"Hiya, Usagi, can I come in?" asked a familiar voice.
"Robin?!? I didn`t expect you`d come!" said Usagi, hugging her good
friend.
"Last time I came by, you were knocked out cold by the sleeping
pills... you were in a really bad shape, girl." said Robin.
"Sorry I was such a lousy friend to visit, I wish I could have said
something." said Usagi.
"I`m used to it." said Robin. "It`s the same when I visit my dad..."
said Robin, tears forming in her eyes.
"Your dad`s here?" asked Usagi with concern.
Robin nodded and pointed to the bed next to Usagi`s. The blonde girl
then realized that she still hadn`t looked on the other side of the
green curtain separating the room in two. She pulled the curtain and
was in for a shock: plugged into a life support system was Robin`s
father... Technuma Saturn!!!
"HE`s your FATHER?!?" she said in total astonishment.
"Yeah, don`t you remember?" asked Robin.
"Then if he`s your father... does that mean..."
"Yup. I`m Sailor Saturn." said Robin as though it was no big deal.
"Robin... there`s something you should know..." said Usagi,
hesitating.
"You`re Sailor Moon, your fiancee is Prince Endymion, your brother`s
the Emerald Knight and your friends are the scouts and senshi. I know
all about that, dad programmed that knowledge in my brain when he
created me."
"Dear god, how did he end up here?" asked Usagi.
"You still don`t remember that part?"
"Not a clue, Robin."
"Well, maybe we can discuss this over coffee." said Robin.
"Isn`t that going to be painful for you?" wondered Usagi.
"Probably. But it`s something I`m learning to live with."
"Hey... why did you refer to my brother as Emerald Knight? And to
Mamoru as Prince Endymion?"
"It`s a long story. Pack your stuff and let`s go get something to
eat." suggested Robin.
* * *
"It`s confirmed, Technuma did leave the station onboard the Avatar
Mark II. I couldn`t stop him." said Litechnae to Noratech.
"This is not good. We have to do something quick... have you erased
that encrypted file yet?" asked Noratech.
"No, I... I couldn`t find it."
"WHAT? What do you mean, couldn`t find it?"
"It just... vanished, swallowed whole by the central core main
archive! It makes no sense, it just came to the surface last night
and sank right back in!" said Litechnae.
"This is all falling apart. Technuma is out of control and he could
infect the others too. Okay, here`s what we`ll do: I`ll handle the
Technuma situation, while you take care of isolating the others. If
I fail to contain Saturn, at least he won`t contaminate the rest of
the guardians." explained Noratech.
"Where do you think he is?" asked Litechnae.
"Earth. Where else would he go?"
* * *
The Avatar Mark II screeched towards the earth at full speed.
Technuma hadn`t been able to decrypt his file on the station, but he
was sure that somehow the answer laid in the hands of the sailor
girls.
He just wasn`t sure exactly which one.
* * *
Gallagher stood atop a small, unremarkable mountain in the the
country several dozen miles outside of Tokyo. He knew well how there
was a piece of his sword Heresy hidden underneath the huge piece of
rock. He also knew that a group of teenagers was picking it up even
now.
He knew it all too well, he could feel the presence of Sailor
Neptune. Her soul power was singing to him, delicious sounds of a
mind elevated to the greatest peaks of human perfection. Gallagher
looked at his cards. The images of Sailor Moon and Neptune were
glowing on two of them, while a third fuzzy image was starting to
appear slowly on another.
He could easily swoop down with all of his power flaring in a
surprise strike against them, but he wasn`t going to do that. The
battle for this new piece of Heresy wouldn`t be won through violence
this time.
The red sports car speeded away in the distance. Gallagher let it
go. He`d get the fractured piece in the end. The call of Heresy
would be heeded and the Philistine would arise to meet its destiny.
* * *
"Okay, so what do you think?" asked Mamoru to Shingo.
"Yeah, I`ve been thinking of doing something like that myself. You
already have the Endymion persona to fall back on, but I`ll have to
come up with something original." agreed Shingo.
"So it`s decided then. We upgrade our own appearances to be more up
to date with the girl`s new looks?"
"It`s agreed."
Standing watch over Makoto`s room was a bit boring to the two young
men, so they had gotten into the idea of changing their alternate
identity`s appearances. Kitechnum Jendra was severely out of date
by over a millenium and Tuxedo Kamen was a bit corny, to say the
least.
"Any ideas?" asked Mamoru.
"It`s a coin toss between GREEN AVENGER or EMERALD KNIGHT."
"Sailor Moon`s sword is named Avenger." observed Mamoru.
"Then Emerald Knight it is."
A splitting headache struck Shingo again. This one wasn`t quite as
bad as the others, but what it lacked in pain it made for in range,
reverberating throughout his whole skull and into the base of his
neck.
"Are having another one of those migraines? This can`t be good for
you." said Mamoru.
"Can`t help it. Whenever my powers increase, I get one of those.
Each time I use my powers a lot, I get one too. Sometimes it just
happens for no reason." said Shingo, but he was lying. He knew that
something inside his head was trying to get out, to resurface. He
felt that whatever this was, it had been buried for a reason and
fought it hard with all he had, hence the migraine.
Fighting these resurging memories had been getting harder ever
since that Gallagher had shown up...
* * *
Back at Haruka and Michiru`s place, Usagi met with her friends who`d
just returned from their succesful expedition.
"Between Rei`s intuition and Umino`s computer smarts, it wasn`t hard
to find." said Naru.
"Can I see it?" asked Usagi to Naru.
"Of course." she said. She opened her shoulder bag and took out a
heavy metal piece wrapped in a silk scarf of Michiru`s.
The dark metal glinted in an ominous fashion under the sunlight. It
fascinated Usagi.
"It`s incredible. That Gallagher would do so many evil acts just to
get his hands on it." she said.
"There`s something I still don`t get. What does he plan to do with
this sword? It`s not like he could conquer the world or destroy it.
And if it`s killing us he wants... he already has the power to do
it." said Michiru.
"Here, Usagi, hide it somewhere safe." said Haruka, closing
rewrapping the sword fragment and handing it over to Usagi.
"Thank you. I`ll take care of it." she said.
Deep down inside, Usagi knew that this would help her get the
answers she wanted so badly.
"If you`ll excuse me, I have to go meet my friend Robin... I`ve let
her down already because of this mess, I`d hate to leave her hanging
again." she said, putting the piece of Heresy in her backpack.
"Be careful out there." said Naru.
"Thanks Naru, but I think this whole situation is beyond careful."
replied Usagi. She left.
"Don`t you think Usagi has been acting... strangely?" whispered
Haruka to Michiru.
"Yes, she has... I believe we might do well to see where she`s
going." replied Michiru.
* * *
High atop a large appartment building he bought several months
before, Technuma Saturn landed his cloaked starship on the highly
reinforced roof. Although his actual penthouse appartment only
occupîed a single floor, he`d bought the whole building so that he
could land his ship without being worried about other tenants
feeling the vibrations of his landings and takeoffs.
Technuma stepped out of the ship and took a look around, admiring
the Tokyo landscape under the sunset light.
"I love this place. I`m glad my dear Robin lives here." he thought.
He opened the door leading to the staircase, and walked down towards
the fifth floor. Technuma felt weird; like the answer he sought was
close at hand. He started running down the stairs, in a real hurry
to find out what he`d been missing all that time.
At the door of his penthouse, he found his daughter curled up in a
ball shivering in fear.
"Robin? What`s going on, honey?" he asked.
Trembling, she looked at him with her terrified gaze.
"Inside, dad... there`s someone... you have to see..." she said,
holding on to Technuma.
"I`ll go see..." he said, worried. His daughter had faced demons,
knightmares and kitlings already, who could possibly scare her that
much?
He opened the door and looked inside. Near total darkness greeted
him, but he dared not turn on the lights for fear of giving out his
presence too soon to whoever was there. He made his way to the living
room where he thought he heard the crackling sound of his leather
sofas.
Indeed, through what little light he had, the mighty guardian could
see the silhouette of a man wearing black clothes sitting
comfortably, his feet resting on the coffee table right next to a
delicately carved chess set.
"All too many people disregard the importance of the queen`s gambit
tactic." said the stranger. "They feel that the price is too great
in regards to the potential benefits. I disagree. For achieving
victory, no price is too great."
Technuma approached him carefully, feeling that maybe this man could
help him as well. He stared at his eyes, the only part of his face
not covered by his mask.
"Who are you?"
The masked man smiled under his mask.
"I`m Gallagher." he said. "Let`s talk."
* * *
"Whoa, wait a minute... you mean to tell me that this Gallagher
actually had business with Technuma Saturn?!?" asked Usagi to Robin.
"They certainly did. I don`t know how long they talked like that
before I ran off looking for you." explained Robin.
"You already knew about me and the scouts, did you?"
"Like I said, dad programmed me subconsciously while I was growing
in the bioengineering tank. I knew all about the scouts and the moon
kingdom before I was even born."
"I was just on my way to see you, if I remember this well... hey,
it is coming back, isn`t it?" commented Usagi.
"I have no idea what they spoke about, but I don`t think that it
was very amicable because the following events were less than
peaceful." continued Robin.
* * *
Usagi walked along towards her friend Robin`s place unaware of being
followed by two of her friends. Maybe it was because it was getting
dark and the street lights hadn`t kicked in just yet. Maybe it was
because Haruka and Michiru were so talented at shadowing people
after months of tracking pure hearts for talismans that were part
of the holy grail.
It was neither. Her mind was so absorbed with hesitation and
self-doubt that she was totally oblivious to anything going on
around her. She couldn`t see them if they had been wearing bells
and tossing firecrackers in her direction.
Ever since she acquired her soul powers, Usagi hadn`t been the same.
Her personality had been slowly changing towards something unlike
anything she`d ever been before. From the chirpy, easy-going, fun
loving teenager everyone knew, she was turning rapidly into a
sullen, sulking and broody curmudgeon. No one had really noticed
at first, but the recent conflict against Gallagher had brought out
the worst in her- her mental transformation had accelerated beyond
what any psychiatrist would consider to be a normal evolution
process.
Things were pretty bad at this point- Haruka was even beginning to
question Usagi`s loyalty. Michiru did not doubt it, however, as she
couldn`t bear the thought of such a kind hearted girl betraying her
friends... and the whole of humanity.
"Usagi!!! I need your help right away!!!" yelled Robin who was
running down towards Usagi from the opposite direction.
Usagi snapped out of her dazed state and ran to meet her friend.
"What`s going on?" she asked.
"My dad`s in trouble, I need your help defending him!" answered
Robin, shacking like a leaf.
"Shouldn`t you call the police? I`m just a teenage girl like you!"
"That`s what I`m counting on... Sailor Moon!" whispered Robin.
"Gallagher`s found out where my dad lives while he`s residing in
Tokyo... he needs us right now!!!"
The shock of Robin knowing about both her being Sailor Moon and of
Gallagher`s existence were more than enough to silence Usagi from
the sheer surprise. She let herself get dragged into a frantic race
by Robin who crushed her wrist in a steel grip born of her excessive
stress.
"How do you know so much?" finally asked Usagi. "And who`s your
dad, anyway?"
Usagi got her answer when the two girls (and the two shadowing
figures behind them) arrived at the front door of the luxurious
appartment building where Robin lives. An explosion of dark blue
energy ripped most of its front wall as two fighting men were
propelled into the air along with a shower of concrete and metal
shards.
The blonde girl didn`t take too long to put two and two together:
Gallagher was fighting no other than Technuma Saturn- and winning.
"DAD! I`m not going to let that bastard kill you!!!" screamed Robin.
This could only mean one thing, thought Usagi. If Technuma Saturn was
Robin`s father, then...
"SATURN STAR POWER MAKEUP!" yelled Robin, producing a small
transformation pen marked with the symbol of saturn. Her silk shirt
and skirt were torn apart and replaced with the uniform of Sailor
Saturn.
"...YOU`RE SAILOR SATURN?!?" said Usagi in total astonishment.
"Are you gonna transform yet, or do you need an invitation?" asked
Saturn.
"Oh yeah, right... MOON SOUL POWER TRANSFORM!" yelled Usagi; a
golden glow radiated from her whole body, shredding her clothes and
covering her with the full senshi fuku, then adding the visor,
shin guards and forearm guards.
"Let`s finish this right here, Gallagher!" taunted Saturn.
"Close your eyes, little Saturn." said Gallagher as he painfully got
back to his feet alongside Technuma.
"What...?" she started to ask, barely having enough time to ward off
the sudden burst of flashing light emitted by Gallagher`s hand.
Robin was the only one not blinded by the flash, thus averting the
inevitable seizure that would have struck her. Even the charging
Sailor Uranus and Neptune were caught off guard.
"The end is near- the call will be answered!" said Gallagher as he
struck Technuma with his sword, shoving the incomplete Heresy deep
within his left shoulder.
"You bastard... SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!" yelled Robin as crimson
wings of energy formed under her arms and sent a flurry of feather
shaped projectiles towards the man who wounded her father. The masked
man was hit full force, flying back several feet. Getting back up,
he stared Robin in the eyes... and fled.
"You`re not getting away from me!!!" she said as she sprinted in
pursuit.
Sailor Moon rushed over to the bleeding guardian, as well as Sailor
Uranus and Neptune. At this point, she didn`t even want to know HOW
they knew where to find her. These two lovebirds had a knack of
always being at the right place at the right time, Sailor Moon had
learned to accept this without question.
"Don`t stick around here, Saturn will get killed all by herself!!!"
pleaded Sailor Moon.
"Don`t worry, we`ll help her out!" said Neptune.
"Yeah, I have an axe to grind with that basic black bastard!!!"
added Uranus in an increasing blood fury.
"Why... don`t you just... go join them?" said Technuma, breathing
heavily.
"You need me to pull that out of your shoulder... besides, I know
more than you realize. I can help you beat Gallagher at his own
game!" she whispered, as she grabbed the handle of Heresy and pulled.
Dark energy surged through the broken dark metal sword, shocking both
the young senshi and the wounded guardian. When she finally managed
to pull it out, the energy subsided.
"Geez, no wonder Gallagher is ready to kill to get his hands on that
gizmo!" commented Usagi, dropping the sword down in a loud clanking
noise to massage her cramped arms. Technuma ripped one of his
sapphire blue uniform sleeves to improvise a bandage.
A strong bone chilling wind arose suddenly, freezing both of them on
the spot.
"Whoa, that`s cold for late october!" commented Usagi as she helped
Technuma up.
"Wouldn`t know. Spend most of my time on the station." replied
Technuma.
"Funny you should mention that place, that`s where we`re going right
now." said Sailor Moon, a grin forming on her face.
The senshi dragged Technuma into the war-torn building to reach the
top floor where the guardian kept his cloaked ship.
From a distance, the jittery Noratech Neptune looked at them leave.
He let them as he had more pressing matters to attend to. Coming to
earth, his original idea had been to convince his collegue to return
to the station without making a fuss. Saturn was doing that on his
own.
Then, he had seen him. The rebel. The traitor. He couldn`t see his
face because of the mask, but he knew it was HIM, he could feel his
raw energy, it had a certain feel to it he remembered from tracking
it down a thousand years before. It had been a long time since, but
having to hunt and kill one of his own was not something he would
ever forget.
And now he`d have to do it all over again, except that this time
he`d be returning with a corpse in a body bag rather than just DNA
scraps.
* * *
The way home was a long one indeed. Minako had been walking
tirelessly for what seemed like years now. The endlees plains did
in fact come to an end, only to make way for a deep blue ocean that
stretched all the way into the horizon. The horizon... that`s where
she needed to go, ever forward where the heavens met the earth...
she heard that somewhere in a poem or a song, she couldn`t remember
which one exactly.
All she knew is that she needed to go there, to become more that
she was.
She plunged into the surprisingly warm waters and swam. Her torn
scout uniform finally gave way, ripping off her now naked body. This
felt wonderful to Minako, and she went deeper and deeper in the
crystal clear waters, feeling no need to breathe...
* * *
Returning from the hospital along with Mamoru, Shingo`s migraine
was getting worse and worse.
"What`s happening to me?" he thought, holding his head in his hands
as the pain tore it apart.
"Something`s wrong, you need help right now!!!" said Mamoru, holding
him from collapsing.
"Someone needs help all right... Technuma is here, and Gallagher`s
closeby!!!" he said, flashes of lightning going across his eyesight.
"Are you sure???"
"Yeah, they`re not too far... can you drive over to Robin`s place?"
* * *
Pressing his hand to the hull`s lock control, the Avatar Mark II`s
door opened with a soft whirring sound. Sailor Moon helped Technuma
inside where she lead him into the cockpit. The guardian crashed
heavily into the pilot seat, a raging storm of pain tearing his
shoulder.
"Okay, head for Saturn Station Beta." ordered Sailor moon.
"Aren`t you going to step off the ship before I do?"
"No. You do want to stop Gallagher from getting the last piece to
THIS, don`t you?" she replied, showing him the incomplete Heresy.
As a silent response, Technuma started the engines of his ship and
fired the thrusters; within seconds, the starship was soaring
through the atmosphere and out of earth`s orbit, heading towards
saturn.
"What`s your plan?" asked Technuma, replacing his improvised bandage
with a compact dermal generator patch whose design he came up with
over sixteen hundred years ago. Some classics just never died.
"Simple. We go in and get the last piece." she explained.
"Are you telling me that the last piece of that sword... of the only
weapon more powerful than the Prime himself... is actually hidden
RIGHT NEXT TO HIM???"
"Hidden right under the guardians` collective noses. Not a bad
hiding place, wouldn`t you say?" asked Sailor Moon.
"That still doesn`t explain why you absolutely insisted on going all
the way over just to tell me that... couldn`t you have told me while
we were still down there, save you the trouble of hauling yourself
halfway across the system?!?" asked Technuma.
As he finished asking his question, Technuma felt Sailor Moon`s arm
grasping his head firmly while the cold sharp crystal blade of
Avenger was being placed against his throat.
"Because I want answers and I want them now!!!" said Sailor Moon in
a commanding voice. "For starters, how the hell did you convince
Technuma to go along with your intricate plan, Gallagher darling?"
The expression on the guardian`s face changed radically... from the
smooth, calculating Technuma, the man held in respect by Sailor
Moon`s sacred weapon took on the menacing grin of the mysterious man
who so much enjoyed talking in apocalyptic verses.
"It`s wasn`t too complicated, seeing how our souls are the shards of
the same fractured spirit... why do you think me and Technuma have
the same face?!?" answered Gallagher, smiling like a maniac. "How
about you let me go so that I can dock into station, little senshi?"
To be continued...