By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue
Emptiness. Nothing. Void.
Although he was bathed in total darkness, this was strangely peaceful
and soothing to the wounded soul of Technuma Saturn. All the hurt,
all the pain, all the sorrow of a millenium`s worth of tragedy was
being slowly healed in the comforting arms of the perpetual night he
floated in.
He was quite dead, he was aware of that. A weakened link still bound
him to his comatose body which lied in a Tokyo hospital, but... did
he really want to go back? A lifetime of scars was the only thing he
had to show for three thousand years of continued existence... well,
there WAS one reason to keep hanging on to his thread of life: his
daughter Robin, whom he left behind as his soul shard turned its
back on earthly life.
He wanted so very much to return to the source of all, the One in
All, the origin of reality. Being reunited with the whole was
tempting, but not if it meant abandoning his dear Robin to a world
that would destroy her if it could.
"Technuma..." whispered a voice through the void.
Technuma slowly arose its head out of his curled up foetal position.
He saw the silhouette of someone he knew well: his other soul half,
Gallagher. Unlike Technuma whose soul form wore no clothes
whatsoever, Gallagher had managed to carry a replica of his black
uniform, minus the gloves and mask. His cape floated behind him in
unexisting winds, but then it ocurred to the guardian that it was no
cape in Gallagher`s back... it was a pair a glimmering black wings.
Technuma remembered something he had been forced to forget by the
mind clouding power of the Prime: in the ancient saturnine language,
"Gallagher" meant "Redeemer".
The other half of the guardian held its hand forward in silence,
inviting its twin to come with him. Technuma hesitated.
"What will happen of Robin? I can`t let her stay behind alone!" he
argued.
"But she is not alone. She has her friends... and the messiah will
come to help her ascend, do you not remember?"
And Technuma did remember. It was clear now, that he was to reach a
higher level of existence until the wheel spun again in another
cycle. He held Gallagher`s hand, and the two halves were once again
reunited.
"Will we ever merge into one again?" whispered the guardian to his
soul brother.
"I don`t know... but nothing will ever be the same again, that I do
know."
The two soul shards disappeared, reaching a level of existence
attained only by those who have reached a greater spiritual
understanding of themselves.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 24
REBUILDING FROM ASHES
Sitting comfortably on their living room couch, Usagi and Chibi-Usa
took a long sip of their coffee in total synchronisation, leaving
Usagi`s parents hanging on their lips for more of the amazing story
that had become her life ever since a certain talking black cat had
entered it.
"...and what happened next?!?" asked Ikuko, eaten alive by the
suspense.
"Did you strike down Gallagher of the Prime???" asked Kenji.
Usagi put down her empty cup and resumed.
"I knew that Gallagher had been lying to me about the supposed
cloning, and that he hurt Minako, but also that he did all this for
a reason: the Prime wanted to become a god, and had crushed the
entire silver millenium in his attempt. That`s what the 'Queen`s
Gambit' file was holding: evidence that he betrayed my mother from
my previous incarnation, Serenity, by giving vital defense
information to Beryl knowing that they would destroy each other."
she said.
"The battle you told us about earlier, right?" asked Kenji.
"Right!" replied Chibi-Usa.
"So... you killed him?!?" wondered Ikuko.
"Yes... and then, as I tried to destroy his central computer core
to prevent him from regenerating himself, I discovered something
horrible..." said Usagi, holding back her tears. "He had...
mutilated her... Serenity..."
She couldn`t finish her story, her tears choking her painfully.
Chibi-Usa hugged her mother closely- she`d done a lot of that in the
past week, since Usagi had recovered that final missing piece of her
memory. No wonder she`d lost her ability to remember those events at
the time she returned to earth on an escape pod, this had been so
hard on her.
"Everything will be all right, my darling." said Ikuko as she
approached her daughter and hugged her as well.
"We`re there for you, honey. No matter what." added Kenji.
Usagi smiled a little. Her parents knowing her big secret had been
very helpful in her slow recovery.
"Thanks, you guys are the best!" she said with her tears smearing
her makeup.
* * *
Ami entered the long term care unit of the hospital. All of the
staff knew her by now, as she had been spending as much time as she
could afford by her girlfriend`s side, hoping that today, maybe just
today, she would wake up.
She sat down by the bed, looking at the sleeping Minako. Her hair
was all tangled up, and her nails were in serious need of a manicure.
The intravenous lines stuck in her arms were taking care of all her
nutritive needs, although she wasn`t in need of machine assistance
to breathe. The electroencephalogram electrodes strapped to her
forehead showed she still had brainwave activity, but it was growing
fainter and fainter every day.
"Hi, my love, I`m here." said Ami to her girlfriend. "Class was
interesting today, we studied the human nervous system in detail,
from its structure to how it uses neurotransmiters to function..."
She was going to get into more details, but then she stopped.
"Oh, silly me, I`m boring you to death, aren`t I? Fortunately, I
have something that`s more to your taste."
She looked through her purse and took a small romance novel that
she bought on her way over. It was one of those girl-meets-boy-
loses-boy-cries-her-heart-out-finds-boy-again type novels. Ami hated
those with every fiber of her being, but Minako loved them very much.
She started to read it out loud, wondering if Minako really could
hear her... but if she did hear her, then she certainly would enjoy
listening to one of those romance novels.
* * *
Her lungs needed no air, as she was swimming in an ocean unlike any
other, for it was in a dream realm of her own making. This water that
surrounded her and tingled her naked flesh was no more real than the
dolphins following her in a playful manner.
After spending so much time under water, she had finally crossed this
huge ocean.
Minako emerged from the water to see the beautiful sunlight shining
down on the beach where she stepped on. She removed as much water as
she could from her drenched hair, then noticed that there was
something lying at her feet. She picked it up and discovered it was
a beautiful red kimono. Feeling a bit self-conscious about being
naked for so long, she was glad to cover herself at last.
The cherry red kimono was made of light silk and embroidered with
intricate patterns of gold threads. It covered little more of her
legs than a very short skirt would have, and its short sleeves
wrapped her arms up to the elbows. Nonetheless, it was better than
the torn scout suit she had been forced to give up.
"This is nice." she said.
Minako walked again, following the beach under the deep blue sky,
gentle waves crashing softly on her bare feet.
* * *
Walking in the snow covered streets of Tokyo, a tall man with silver
hair was carefully trying to avoid attention. Fully dressed in warm
white winter gear, he also kept on some black shades to hide the fact
that his eyes were also colored of the same glithering silver.
"Of all the crappy assignments, why did it have to be ME??? Loyalty
can be such a pain at times..." he muttered to himself.
He looked down the end of the street and saw what he`d been searching
for: one of Tokyo`s many thermal electricity plants. Its many coal
powered reactor were running full strenght to provide the city with
the additional power it required to heat itself up.
Gingitsune then looked down at the sewer grating at his feet. It was
emitting a great amount of steam, as the overheated water used by the
plant was dumped in there by hundreds of gallons a day. There was not
an inch of snow around it for a two feet radius.
"Seems like a good place to look." he thought.
Quickly checking if no one was looking, he opened the grating and
went down. He hoped that THIS ONE was the good one- it was already
the third sewer sector he had been going into these past two weeks.
* * *
The beach eventually led Minako into a beautiful tropical jungle,
with huge trees, wild plants and more fragrant flowers than she ever
thought possible. She followed a small dirt path which seemed to
have been put there just for her.
On her way through this verdant jungle, she met a young girl who was
sitting on the branch of a nearby tree. Looking about twelve years
of age, she had the most beautiful honey blonde long hair and
shining blue eyes.
"Hello." said Minako, surprised to see someone there.
"Hi." said the shy young girl.
"What`s your name, sweetheart?" asked Minako who never could resist
the charm of a cute kid.
"Minako." she answered, hopping down to the ground.
"That`s my name too!" answered the older Minako.
"Then... call me little Mina, then!" said the cute little girl.
"Tell me, little Mina, where does this path lead?"
"To the truth about yourself. If you want to go home, you must
face it."
"Will you show me the way?" asked Minako.
"That`s what I`ve been waiting for all this time." said little Mina,
taking Minako`s hand and taking her along the winding jungle path.
* * *
Blasting gusts of heated, humid winds greeted Gingitsune at every
turn, not to mention the awful smell of long contained, stale waters
loaded with trash and bacteria. Just the kind of rathole he expected
to see absolutely no one, save the one person he was looking for.
"I know you`re here, Dokuryo! Show yourself!" he said in a
commanding voice.
A few bubbles rose to the surface of the water, announcing the
presence of a reptilian being hiding just beneath the surface. His
blue scales and livid yellow eyes peered through, the frightening
humanoid lizard showing himself to his former ally.
"What do you want?" grunted the reptile.
"Your loyalty towards the empire is once again required. You are
expected to return and serve those whom you pledged loyalty to."
explained the silver haired man.
"In case you hadn`t noticed, our mistress was killed by Sailor Moon
a few years ago. There is no more empire to serve, and I don`t
remember pledging loyalty to you. I`m afraid you`re on your own,
silverfox." observed the blue creature.
"Her legacy lives on through her heir." added Gingitsune.
The toxic dragon froze. The mere mention of his mistress`s daughter
brought fear into his heart.
"She`s ALIVE?" he asked.
"She certainly is. And she rules over the ashes of our former glory,
united with her bethrothed. We stand to recover all that was robbed
from us by those young girls. Are you with us... or against us?!?"
asked Gingitsune, standing ready to fight his old ally if need be.
"With you. I`m siding with those who can give me the power I
deserve." said Dokuryo as he crawled out of the water.
"You made the right choice." said Gingitsune, taking a small white
crystal from his coat pocket.
"What`s that?"
"The instrument of our triumph." answered the silver haired man,
showing the cold crystal to his old friend. "It will allow us to
succeed where others have failed."
Gingitsune threw the frost crystal into the boiling water pool near
the power plant`s used water drain pipe. The burning hot pool where
Dokuryo was resting froze almost instantly, redirecting the heat
energy towards some other, unforseable use.
"Incredible... these could gather a lot of energy in no time, if
put in the right places!" said the reptile.
"That`s the idea... why do you think winter came so soon this
year???" observed Gingitsune, laughing out loud.
The blue reptile man laughed along- both of them vanished in a dark
halo of evil black magic.
* * *
It took a while for Minako and little Mina to make it through the
lush jungle, but they finally emerged into a large glade where they
found something that blew Minako`s mind away: an ancient pyramid
of Aztec design... or was it Maya? Or Inca?
"Damn, I should have paid more attention to Ami`s lecture on
pre-columbian architecture." she thought.
Little Mina pointed to the pyramid and smiled.
"You have to go in there to leave." she said.
"Thank you my small friend." said Minako as she went on her way to
the immense structure.
"Wait!" said little Mina. "Remember that to leave, you`ll have to
face yourself!"
Minako wasn`t too sure what that meant, but went on anyway,
climbing the tall stone staircase.
* * *
Robin was sitting at home, brooding. She hadn`t been quite the same
since her father Technuma Saturn had fallen into a deep coma.
How ironic it was that the only Technum guardian whose nature made
him removed enough from the Prime would have suffered this fate...
She was trying so desperately to forget that Technuma would never
wake up, it only made her remember more. Why wouldn`t these sad
feelings go away? In her short existence, she had known no sorrow
before this Gallagher showed up. As it turned out, it was exacting
a heavy toll on her newborn soul to learn of the negative side of
emotions.
Fortunately, Robin had some friends who cared.
"Hey, girl, are you going to sit there and sulk all day like you
did yesterday?" asked Michiru who just walked in the living room
of their brand new house.
"I am going to visit dad later." she said without emotion.
"That`s all you`ve been doing! School and hospital! Come on, Robin,
even Ami takes some time off from Minako`s side to get her spirits
up." added Haruka who followed her fiancee, holding a biking uniform
not quite large enough for herself. She threw it to Robin. "Have you
ever felt the thrill of a real motorbike race?"
"Well... I do like new experiences..." said Robin, a faint smile
returning to her tired face.
"That`s the spirit!" said Michiru.
"Wait... isn`t the whole city under two feet of snow?" wondered
Robin, who was reverting to her enthusiast self. "We`ll never find
a track that`ll allow us to race!"
"Oh... you just have to know the right people!" said Haruka with a
wink. "Come on, girls, Laurella is waiting for us at her dad`s
corporation..."
* * *
Makoto had some stupid ideas in her life, but this one beat them
all hands down.
What the hell had she been thinking, trying to take a shortcut
across town through THIS neighbourhood of all places? The worst
place for a lonely girl to be, even for a child of Jupiter! Not a
day went by without a news report of another rapes and murders in
this area, and she was actually ALONE there!
"Oh man, why didn`t I take that bus when I had a chance?" she asked
herself, walking down the ever darkening alleys, the autumn sun
going down over the city much earlier than it did just a few weeks
before. The tall brunette was feeling a chill crawl up her spine as
she realized she was being followed, and it had nothing to do with
the creeping winter chill.
The silhouettes she caught with her last glance above her shoulder
was nothing to reassure her; she counted no less than six of them,
and she didn`t even look that long. Just enough to send her heart
beating strong enough to burst out of her chest. Not that she
couldn`t defend herself; she was, after all, Sailor Jupiter, but
she disliked using her powers on ordinary people... and the dark
alley gangs scared her like hell. It was really a sneaky phobia
that lurked in a hidden corner of her psyche, waiting to get the
drop on her unsuspecting mind.
They walked faster. She increased her pace. They did the same. She
ran. They chased her.
"Why am I so afraid of them?" asked herself the fear striken girl.
"I faced Beryl and the Wiseman, Rubeus and Prince Diamond!!!"
And yet she couldn`t control it. She ran in sheer terror, not paying
attention to her surroundings or to the way she was going. Makoto
turned a corner and entered a dead end alley.
"Where are you going, you tall beauty?" asked one of the more
muscular goons.
Looking at the brick wall blocking her way, Makoto`s fear slowly
turned into a pure rush of adrenaline. She was turning into a coiled
cobra ready to strike.
"Are you going to make this easy? `cause we don`t mind doing what
it takes to make you see things OUR way." said another, showing a
metal pipe he carried. The rest of them were also carrying clubs
and bats.
"BITE ME!" she screamed, springing forward and lashing out with all
her strenght. Her initial attack left three of them senseless on
the floor.
The surprise effect gone, the remaining seven hooligans dashed
forwards, quickly surrounding her and striking from all sides at
once. For each blow she struck, three more came in response. She was
rapidly losing ground, but she wouldn`t bow down. With a swift knee
kick and two uppercuts, it got down to only one thug and herself.
She bled from many cuts, but she was having such a rush beating
these clowns up that she barely noticed.
"`ts you `n me... now..." she mumbled, catching her breath before
finishing this off.
"And it ain`t gonna be me." said the short thug, pulling a gun from
his pocket.
Makoto barely had time to realize what was happening before she
heard a loud BANG and fell down in the thick layer of snow on the
ground, a burning pain tearing her stomach apart.
* * *
The inside of the ancient pyramid, for some unfathomable reason,
was much larger inside than it was on the outside.
"Cool." thought Minako when she noticed this architectural paradox.
Although it was so much bigger than she expected, it was otherwise
identical to the mental image she had of what an ancient south
american temple should look like from the inside. Huge statues of
forgotten deities were staring down at her from their granite
pedestals, seeming to be in perpetual fury from the gold and red
dancing lights of the blazing bonfires placed in strategic locations
for maximum effect.
Standing all the way across the dusty hall stood waiting an image of
someone she thought she`d left behind in England a long time ago.
"Long time no see." said coldly the passive Sailor V.
"I thought I`d never see you again." said Minako.
"That`s the problem you see. You always abandon everyone around you
when it suits your selfish purposes. Leaving your friends behind in
Japan when you moved to England, turning your back on Laurella when
she needed you most! Did you ever even bother to see if she was okay
when you returned to Tokyo?" said Sailor V.
"That`s a lie and you know it. I had no choice in the decision to
move!" argued Minako.
"And what about studying in Japan while your father remained in
Europe, that wasn`t your decision maybe? And not even writing to
Laurella, do you have someone to blame for that too? Would you hold
Usagi responsible for turning a blind eye to Laurella`s suicide
attempt???" said Sailor V accusingly.
Minako slapped her hard.
"How dare you accuse me like that?!? You don`t know the hell of
solitude I`ve faced! If it hadn`t been for Usagi and the others...
god knows where I`d be now." defended Minako.
"Dead, most likely... you were a loner as Sailor V, and a
headstrong fighter who didn`t know how to ask others for help."
said Sailor V, smiling for the first time.
"Why were you being so mean to me?" wondered Minako.
"You knew that you were lonely deep inside. I wanted you to realize
how much your friends were important to you, you know?"
"Yes, I do. Thank you." said Minako, holding her alter ego from the
past. "So how do I get out of this place?"
"Just follow the yellow brick road." said V, pointing to a path of
golden stones leading to a large door that seemed to have appeared
just now.
"A bit cliche, don`t you think?" wondered Minako.
"Don`t look at me! It`s YOUR dream!!!" replied Sailor V.
* * *
The lowest criminal elements loved to see blood, violence and a
brutal combat leading to the crushing defeat of a humiliated fighter.
That`s why the gambling never stopped in the old warehouse number 47
of the Tokyo docks, the best underworld pit fighting arena in town.
Gingitsune smiled as he took a peek at the fight in progress,
regretting not having any money to place a bet himself. His uncanny
ability to size up anyone and almost instantly detect any hidden
weaknesses was telling him that the tallest fighter had a congenital
kidney defect, and the first blow to land there would most likely
kill him on the spot.
"That`s not why you`re here, fox!" he told himself, then went past
through the bloodthirsty crowd in direction of the place where he
was awaited.
With the sound of the cheers dying down as he walked towards the
"office" of an old acquaintance from his former days of glory. He
knocked at the door to the adjacent building (which also doubled as
an escape exit) and entered the dark room devoid of furniture. The
silver haired man searched the wall for a light switch, but was
quickly ordered against it.
"Keep the lights down." said a voice in the dark.
"Ghangoroth?" asked Gingitsune.
A silhouette draped in total absence of light moved slightly, just
enough that his form could be detected against the darkness of the
empty room. A sudden burst of heatless flames engulfed the head of
Ghangoroth, both sending an ominous red glow around the room and
dissimulating his face in a dark shadow. Although he had no real
intention of using his psychic powers in his old friend`s presence,
he kept them on standby simply so that he could expend a little
mental energy. These cold flames surging around his skull were no
more than a waste byproduct of his unique abilities, but he had
learned to make them work to his advantage as an intimidation tool.
"Why are you here?" asked the ominous figure.
"To call on your oath to the empire that shall be reborn." he
answered.
"The Queen is dead. Slain. The ancient powers have fallen." said
Ghangoroth with no intonation in his monochord voice.
"The legacy lives on, my friend. The new blood calls upon our
service again."
Silence fell for several minutes as the most powerful psionic earth
had ever seen thought over these arguments, his cerebral fire
burning strongly along with his mental activity.
"I shall be there. Leave." said Ghangoroth.
Without a word, Gingitsune left the odd man alone in the renewed
darkness of his "office" as his psychic flames died down.
Reentering the arena area, he heard a horrible scream come from one
of the fighters. He had just been kicked to the right kidney, and
had collapsed immediately, dying seconds later.
"I knew I should have brought some cash." thought Gingitsune.
* * *
Minako wondered how long this road would be. It had taken her days
just to go through the grassy plain and weeks to swim across the
ocean even with the dolphins carrying her part of the way. Somehow,
it was much shorter than she would have thought. After barely a few
hours walk, she met the wizard waiting at the end of the yellow
brick road. It looked just like a certain white cat she knew so
well.
"Is there no door at the end of this road?" she asked the white cat
whose forehead bore a golden crescent moon.
"Yes, but only one that you can create yourself." said the cat.
"I don`t get it." she replied.
"Don`t you?" asked the cat. "You made this trip out of your own will
to discover yourself... did you learn anything?"
"Yes, plenty."
"And are you ready to return home at last, your soul healed and
stronger than before?"
"YES!!!" said Minako, with more resolve than she`d ever felt.
"Then go home, Minako, and bring back this knowledge you gained!"
Minako raised her arms in the air, and her soul form began to glow
in a radiant golden light. A huge portal opened in front of her and
she stepped through.
* * *
A blinding gold flash awoke Ami who had fallen asleep while reading
the cheap romance novel out loud to her comatose girlfriend. She
slightly opened her eyes, and witnessed a glorious sight: the fully
healed Minako stood before her, in a senshi fuku drawn in shades of
honey, gold and black, complete with the matching visor and metal
guards. She had a radiant smile on her face, the same kind of
happiness displayed by those who see the light of divine revelation.
On her right thigh were the characters for KOI NO SENSHI, warrior
of love.
"Minako... you`re awake!" said Ami, unable to contain tears of joy.
"Yes... and this time, nothing will tear us apart." she said. Minako
held Ami by the waist and hugged her tight, the better to give her a
passionate peach flavored kiss.
Both of them were ecstatic with unbridled joy.
* * *
A few floors up, a different awakening was preparing itself.
Makoto woke up in a familiar setting, although it was from a
different perspective completely. The hospital fluorescent lights
shone down upon her face, but it mattered little as the pain she
was feeling was nothing short of torture.
Then she remembered the fight. And the gun shot.
"My god, I was almost killed by a common thug with a saturday night
special!" she thought.
She tried moving, but the pain in her chest was excrutiating, but
oddly enough her stomach and lower back were totally pain free.
"Wow, these pain killers are fantastic." she thought. "I`m so numb
I don`t even feel my lower body!"
A tall blonde man entered her room, dressed in blue jeans and a
matching turtleneck. His green eyes sparkled with compassion.
"Hey, he looks like my old boyfriend." thought Makoto. Of course,
any man with mo major disfiguring scars looked like that to her.
"Hi, I`m Xavier. I found you in the alley, lying in your own
blood... I came as soon as I heard a gunshot and brought you here.
You had no wallet in your purse or identification of any kind, so
we had no idea how to join your family." said Xavier.
"I`m Kino Makoto, and I don`t have any family... except the family
me and my close friends form. I can give you phone numbers to join
them. And thanks for helping me..." she said, smiling faintly.
"Makoto... the doctors have told me about your injuries... you
should know the truth." Xavier said in a grave tone of voice.
"Oh yeah... speaking of that, would you thank them for the pain
killers? I don`t feel a thing where the shot hit me."
"That`s the problem. You have no drugs in your body at all. Your
lower spine was hit, it was shattered. The doctors say you...
you..." hesitated the cute tall man, holding Makoto in suspense.
"That I what?"
"...that you`ll never walk again." he finished, a tear running
down his cheek.
She was stunned. Xavier was awaiting anything from her, total denial,
burning anger, loud sobbing, anything. Instead, she just closed her
eyes and sobbed silently. Xavier held her hands in support, to let
her know he was there.
Makoto couldn`t believe that she`d finally met a really great guy
only because she`d been shot and lost total use of her legs. Life
was giving her something she always wanted, but only by taking away
something else she took for granted.
To be continued...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue
Emptiness. Nothing. Void.
Although he was bathed in total darkness, this was strangely peaceful
and soothing to the wounded soul of Technuma Saturn. All the hurt,
all the pain, all the sorrow of a millenium`s worth of tragedy was
being slowly healed in the comforting arms of the perpetual night he
floated in.
He was quite dead, he was aware of that. A weakened link still bound
him to his comatose body which lied in a Tokyo hospital, but... did
he really want to go back? A lifetime of scars was the only thing he
had to show for three thousand years of continued existence... well,
there WAS one reason to keep hanging on to his thread of life: his
daughter Robin, whom he left behind as his soul shard turned its
back on earthly life.
He wanted so very much to return to the source of all, the One in
All, the origin of reality. Being reunited with the whole was
tempting, but not if it meant abandoning his dear Robin to a world
that would destroy her if it could.
"Technuma..." whispered a voice through the void.
Technuma slowly arose its head out of his curled up foetal position.
He saw the silhouette of someone he knew well: his other soul half,
Gallagher. Unlike Technuma whose soul form wore no clothes
whatsoever, Gallagher had managed to carry a replica of his black
uniform, minus the gloves and mask. His cape floated behind him in
unexisting winds, but then it ocurred to the guardian that it was no
cape in Gallagher`s back... it was a pair a glimmering black wings.
Technuma remembered something he had been forced to forget by the
mind clouding power of the Prime: in the ancient saturnine language,
"Gallagher" meant "Redeemer".
The other half of the guardian held its hand forward in silence,
inviting its twin to come with him. Technuma hesitated.
"What will happen of Robin? I can`t let her stay behind alone!" he
argued.
"But she is not alone. She has her friends... and the messiah will
come to help her ascend, do you not remember?"
And Technuma did remember. It was clear now, that he was to reach a
higher level of existence until the wheel spun again in another
cycle. He held Gallagher`s hand, and the two halves were once again
reunited.
"Will we ever merge into one again?" whispered the guardian to his
soul brother.
"I don`t know... but nothing will ever be the same again, that I do
know."
The two soul shards disappeared, reaching a level of existence
attained only by those who have reached a greater spiritual
understanding of themselves.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 24
REBUILDING FROM ASHES
Sitting comfortably on their living room couch, Usagi and Chibi-Usa
took a long sip of their coffee in total synchronisation, leaving
Usagi`s parents hanging on their lips for more of the amazing story
that had become her life ever since a certain talking black cat had
entered it.
"...and what happened next?!?" asked Ikuko, eaten alive by the
suspense.
"Did you strike down Gallagher of the Prime???" asked Kenji.
Usagi put down her empty cup and resumed.
"I knew that Gallagher had been lying to me about the supposed
cloning, and that he hurt Minako, but also that he did all this for
a reason: the Prime wanted to become a god, and had crushed the
entire silver millenium in his attempt. That`s what the 'Queen`s
Gambit' file was holding: evidence that he betrayed my mother from
my previous incarnation, Serenity, by giving vital defense
information to Beryl knowing that they would destroy each other."
she said.
"The battle you told us about earlier, right?" asked Kenji.
"Right!" replied Chibi-Usa.
"So... you killed him?!?" wondered Ikuko.
"Yes... and then, as I tried to destroy his central computer core
to prevent him from regenerating himself, I discovered something
horrible..." said Usagi, holding back her tears. "He had...
mutilated her... Serenity..."
She couldn`t finish her story, her tears choking her painfully.
Chibi-Usa hugged her mother closely- she`d done a lot of that in the
past week, since Usagi had recovered that final missing piece of her
memory. No wonder she`d lost her ability to remember those events at
the time she returned to earth on an escape pod, this had been so
hard on her.
"Everything will be all right, my darling." said Ikuko as she
approached her daughter and hugged her as well.
"We`re there for you, honey. No matter what." added Kenji.
Usagi smiled a little. Her parents knowing her big secret had been
very helpful in her slow recovery.
"Thanks, you guys are the best!" she said with her tears smearing
her makeup.
* * *
Ami entered the long term care unit of the hospital. All of the
staff knew her by now, as she had been spending as much time as she
could afford by her girlfriend`s side, hoping that today, maybe just
today, she would wake up.
She sat down by the bed, looking at the sleeping Minako. Her hair
was all tangled up, and her nails were in serious need of a manicure.
The intravenous lines stuck in her arms were taking care of all her
nutritive needs, although she wasn`t in need of machine assistance
to breathe. The electroencephalogram electrodes strapped to her
forehead showed she still had brainwave activity, but it was growing
fainter and fainter every day.
"Hi, my love, I`m here." said Ami to her girlfriend. "Class was
interesting today, we studied the human nervous system in detail,
from its structure to how it uses neurotransmiters to function..."
She was going to get into more details, but then she stopped.
"Oh, silly me, I`m boring you to death, aren`t I? Fortunately, I
have something that`s more to your taste."
She looked through her purse and took a small romance novel that
she bought on her way over. It was one of those girl-meets-boy-
loses-boy-cries-her-heart-out-finds-boy-again type novels. Ami hated
those with every fiber of her being, but Minako loved them very much.
She started to read it out loud, wondering if Minako really could
hear her... but if she did hear her, then she certainly would enjoy
listening to one of those romance novels.
* * *
Her lungs needed no air, as she was swimming in an ocean unlike any
other, for it was in a dream realm of her own making. This water that
surrounded her and tingled her naked flesh was no more real than the
dolphins following her in a playful manner.
After spending so much time under water, she had finally crossed this
huge ocean.
Minako emerged from the water to see the beautiful sunlight shining
down on the beach where she stepped on. She removed as much water as
she could from her drenched hair, then noticed that there was
something lying at her feet. She picked it up and discovered it was
a beautiful red kimono. Feeling a bit self-conscious about being
naked for so long, she was glad to cover herself at last.
The cherry red kimono was made of light silk and embroidered with
intricate patterns of gold threads. It covered little more of her
legs than a very short skirt would have, and its short sleeves
wrapped her arms up to the elbows. Nonetheless, it was better than
the torn scout suit she had been forced to give up.
"This is nice." she said.
Minako walked again, following the beach under the deep blue sky,
gentle waves crashing softly on her bare feet.
* * *
Walking in the snow covered streets of Tokyo, a tall man with silver
hair was carefully trying to avoid attention. Fully dressed in warm
white winter gear, he also kept on some black shades to hide the fact
that his eyes were also colored of the same glithering silver.
"Of all the crappy assignments, why did it have to be ME??? Loyalty
can be such a pain at times..." he muttered to himself.
He looked down the end of the street and saw what he`d been searching
for: one of Tokyo`s many thermal electricity plants. Its many coal
powered reactor were running full strenght to provide the city with
the additional power it required to heat itself up.
Gingitsune then looked down at the sewer grating at his feet. It was
emitting a great amount of steam, as the overheated water used by the
plant was dumped in there by hundreds of gallons a day. There was not
an inch of snow around it for a two feet radius.
"Seems like a good place to look." he thought.
Quickly checking if no one was looking, he opened the grating and
went down. He hoped that THIS ONE was the good one- it was already
the third sewer sector he had been going into these past two weeks.
* * *
The beach eventually led Minako into a beautiful tropical jungle,
with huge trees, wild plants and more fragrant flowers than she ever
thought possible. She followed a small dirt path which seemed to
have been put there just for her.
On her way through this verdant jungle, she met a young girl who was
sitting on the branch of a nearby tree. Looking about twelve years
of age, she had the most beautiful honey blonde long hair and
shining blue eyes.
"Hello." said Minako, surprised to see someone there.
"Hi." said the shy young girl.
"What`s your name, sweetheart?" asked Minako who never could resist
the charm of a cute kid.
"Minako." she answered, hopping down to the ground.
"That`s my name too!" answered the older Minako.
"Then... call me little Mina, then!" said the cute little girl.
"Tell me, little Mina, where does this path lead?"
"To the truth about yourself. If you want to go home, you must
face it."
"Will you show me the way?" asked Minako.
"That`s what I`ve been waiting for all this time." said little Mina,
taking Minako`s hand and taking her along the winding jungle path.
* * *
Blasting gusts of heated, humid winds greeted Gingitsune at every
turn, not to mention the awful smell of long contained, stale waters
loaded with trash and bacteria. Just the kind of rathole he expected
to see absolutely no one, save the one person he was looking for.
"I know you`re here, Dokuryo! Show yourself!" he said in a
commanding voice.
A few bubbles rose to the surface of the water, announcing the
presence of a reptilian being hiding just beneath the surface. His
blue scales and livid yellow eyes peered through, the frightening
humanoid lizard showing himself to his former ally.
"What do you want?" grunted the reptile.
"Your loyalty towards the empire is once again required. You are
expected to return and serve those whom you pledged loyalty to."
explained the silver haired man.
"In case you hadn`t noticed, our mistress was killed by Sailor Moon
a few years ago. There is no more empire to serve, and I don`t
remember pledging loyalty to you. I`m afraid you`re on your own,
silverfox." observed the blue creature.
"Her legacy lives on through her heir." added Gingitsune.
The toxic dragon froze. The mere mention of his mistress`s daughter
brought fear into his heart.
"She`s ALIVE?" he asked.
"She certainly is. And she rules over the ashes of our former glory,
united with her bethrothed. We stand to recover all that was robbed
from us by those young girls. Are you with us... or against us?!?"
asked Gingitsune, standing ready to fight his old ally if need be.
"With you. I`m siding with those who can give me the power I
deserve." said Dokuryo as he crawled out of the water.
"You made the right choice." said Gingitsune, taking a small white
crystal from his coat pocket.
"What`s that?"
"The instrument of our triumph." answered the silver haired man,
showing the cold crystal to his old friend. "It will allow us to
succeed where others have failed."
Gingitsune threw the frost crystal into the boiling water pool near
the power plant`s used water drain pipe. The burning hot pool where
Dokuryo was resting froze almost instantly, redirecting the heat
energy towards some other, unforseable use.
"Incredible... these could gather a lot of energy in no time, if
put in the right places!" said the reptile.
"That`s the idea... why do you think winter came so soon this
year???" observed Gingitsune, laughing out loud.
The blue reptile man laughed along- both of them vanished in a dark
halo of evil black magic.
* * *
It took a while for Minako and little Mina to make it through the
lush jungle, but they finally emerged into a large glade where they
found something that blew Minako`s mind away: an ancient pyramid
of Aztec design... or was it Maya? Or Inca?
"Damn, I should have paid more attention to Ami`s lecture on
pre-columbian architecture." she thought.
Little Mina pointed to the pyramid and smiled.
"You have to go in there to leave." she said.
"Thank you my small friend." said Minako as she went on her way to
the immense structure.
"Wait!" said little Mina. "Remember that to leave, you`ll have to
face yourself!"
Minako wasn`t too sure what that meant, but went on anyway,
climbing the tall stone staircase.
* * *
Robin was sitting at home, brooding. She hadn`t been quite the same
since her father Technuma Saturn had fallen into a deep coma.
How ironic it was that the only Technum guardian whose nature made
him removed enough from the Prime would have suffered this fate...
She was trying so desperately to forget that Technuma would never
wake up, it only made her remember more. Why wouldn`t these sad
feelings go away? In her short existence, she had known no sorrow
before this Gallagher showed up. As it turned out, it was exacting
a heavy toll on her newborn soul to learn of the negative side of
emotions.
Fortunately, Robin had some friends who cared.
"Hey, girl, are you going to sit there and sulk all day like you
did yesterday?" asked Michiru who just walked in the living room
of their brand new house.
"I am going to visit dad later." she said without emotion.
"That`s all you`ve been doing! School and hospital! Come on, Robin,
even Ami takes some time off from Minako`s side to get her spirits
up." added Haruka who followed her fiancee, holding a biking uniform
not quite large enough for herself. She threw it to Robin. "Have you
ever felt the thrill of a real motorbike race?"
"Well... I do like new experiences..." said Robin, a faint smile
returning to her tired face.
"That`s the spirit!" said Michiru.
"Wait... isn`t the whole city under two feet of snow?" wondered
Robin, who was reverting to her enthusiast self. "We`ll never find
a track that`ll allow us to race!"
"Oh... you just have to know the right people!" said Haruka with a
wink. "Come on, girls, Laurella is waiting for us at her dad`s
corporation..."
* * *
Makoto had some stupid ideas in her life, but this one beat them
all hands down.
What the hell had she been thinking, trying to take a shortcut
across town through THIS neighbourhood of all places? The worst
place for a lonely girl to be, even for a child of Jupiter! Not a
day went by without a news report of another rapes and murders in
this area, and she was actually ALONE there!
"Oh man, why didn`t I take that bus when I had a chance?" she asked
herself, walking down the ever darkening alleys, the autumn sun
going down over the city much earlier than it did just a few weeks
before. The tall brunette was feeling a chill crawl up her spine as
she realized she was being followed, and it had nothing to do with
the creeping winter chill.
The silhouettes she caught with her last glance above her shoulder
was nothing to reassure her; she counted no less than six of them,
and she didn`t even look that long. Just enough to send her heart
beating strong enough to burst out of her chest. Not that she
couldn`t defend herself; she was, after all, Sailor Jupiter, but
she disliked using her powers on ordinary people... and the dark
alley gangs scared her like hell. It was really a sneaky phobia
that lurked in a hidden corner of her psyche, waiting to get the
drop on her unsuspecting mind.
They walked faster. She increased her pace. They did the same. She
ran. They chased her.
"Why am I so afraid of them?" asked herself the fear striken girl.
"I faced Beryl and the Wiseman, Rubeus and Prince Diamond!!!"
And yet she couldn`t control it. She ran in sheer terror, not paying
attention to her surroundings or to the way she was going. Makoto
turned a corner and entered a dead end alley.
"Where are you going, you tall beauty?" asked one of the more
muscular goons.
Looking at the brick wall blocking her way, Makoto`s fear slowly
turned into a pure rush of adrenaline. She was turning into a coiled
cobra ready to strike.
"Are you going to make this easy? `cause we don`t mind doing what
it takes to make you see things OUR way." said another, showing a
metal pipe he carried. The rest of them were also carrying clubs
and bats.
"BITE ME!" she screamed, springing forward and lashing out with all
her strenght. Her initial attack left three of them senseless on
the floor.
The surprise effect gone, the remaining seven hooligans dashed
forwards, quickly surrounding her and striking from all sides at
once. For each blow she struck, three more came in response. She was
rapidly losing ground, but she wouldn`t bow down. With a swift knee
kick and two uppercuts, it got down to only one thug and herself.
She bled from many cuts, but she was having such a rush beating
these clowns up that she barely noticed.
"`ts you `n me... now..." she mumbled, catching her breath before
finishing this off.
"And it ain`t gonna be me." said the short thug, pulling a gun from
his pocket.
Makoto barely had time to realize what was happening before she
heard a loud BANG and fell down in the thick layer of snow on the
ground, a burning pain tearing her stomach apart.
* * *
The inside of the ancient pyramid, for some unfathomable reason,
was much larger inside than it was on the outside.
"Cool." thought Minako when she noticed this architectural paradox.
Although it was so much bigger than she expected, it was otherwise
identical to the mental image she had of what an ancient south
american temple should look like from the inside. Huge statues of
forgotten deities were staring down at her from their granite
pedestals, seeming to be in perpetual fury from the gold and red
dancing lights of the blazing bonfires placed in strategic locations
for maximum effect.
Standing all the way across the dusty hall stood waiting an image of
someone she thought she`d left behind in England a long time ago.
"Long time no see." said coldly the passive Sailor V.
"I thought I`d never see you again." said Minako.
"That`s the problem you see. You always abandon everyone around you
when it suits your selfish purposes. Leaving your friends behind in
Japan when you moved to England, turning your back on Laurella when
she needed you most! Did you ever even bother to see if she was okay
when you returned to Tokyo?" said Sailor V.
"That`s a lie and you know it. I had no choice in the decision to
move!" argued Minako.
"And what about studying in Japan while your father remained in
Europe, that wasn`t your decision maybe? And not even writing to
Laurella, do you have someone to blame for that too? Would you hold
Usagi responsible for turning a blind eye to Laurella`s suicide
attempt???" said Sailor V accusingly.
Minako slapped her hard.
"How dare you accuse me like that?!? You don`t know the hell of
solitude I`ve faced! If it hadn`t been for Usagi and the others...
god knows where I`d be now." defended Minako.
"Dead, most likely... you were a loner as Sailor V, and a
headstrong fighter who didn`t know how to ask others for help."
said Sailor V, smiling for the first time.
"Why were you being so mean to me?" wondered Minako.
"You knew that you were lonely deep inside. I wanted you to realize
how much your friends were important to you, you know?"
"Yes, I do. Thank you." said Minako, holding her alter ego from the
past. "So how do I get out of this place?"
"Just follow the yellow brick road." said V, pointing to a path of
golden stones leading to a large door that seemed to have appeared
just now.
"A bit cliche, don`t you think?" wondered Minako.
"Don`t look at me! It`s YOUR dream!!!" replied Sailor V.
* * *
The lowest criminal elements loved to see blood, violence and a
brutal combat leading to the crushing defeat of a humiliated fighter.
That`s why the gambling never stopped in the old warehouse number 47
of the Tokyo docks, the best underworld pit fighting arena in town.
Gingitsune smiled as he took a peek at the fight in progress,
regretting not having any money to place a bet himself. His uncanny
ability to size up anyone and almost instantly detect any hidden
weaknesses was telling him that the tallest fighter had a congenital
kidney defect, and the first blow to land there would most likely
kill him on the spot.
"That`s not why you`re here, fox!" he told himself, then went past
through the bloodthirsty crowd in direction of the place where he
was awaited.
With the sound of the cheers dying down as he walked towards the
"office" of an old acquaintance from his former days of glory. He
knocked at the door to the adjacent building (which also doubled as
an escape exit) and entered the dark room devoid of furniture. The
silver haired man searched the wall for a light switch, but was
quickly ordered against it.
"Keep the lights down." said a voice in the dark.
"Ghangoroth?" asked Gingitsune.
A silhouette draped in total absence of light moved slightly, just
enough that his form could be detected against the darkness of the
empty room. A sudden burst of heatless flames engulfed the head of
Ghangoroth, both sending an ominous red glow around the room and
dissimulating his face in a dark shadow. Although he had no real
intention of using his psychic powers in his old friend`s presence,
he kept them on standby simply so that he could expend a little
mental energy. These cold flames surging around his skull were no
more than a waste byproduct of his unique abilities, but he had
learned to make them work to his advantage as an intimidation tool.
"Why are you here?" asked the ominous figure.
"To call on your oath to the empire that shall be reborn." he
answered.
"The Queen is dead. Slain. The ancient powers have fallen." said
Ghangoroth with no intonation in his monochord voice.
"The legacy lives on, my friend. The new blood calls upon our
service again."
Silence fell for several minutes as the most powerful psionic earth
had ever seen thought over these arguments, his cerebral fire
burning strongly along with his mental activity.
"I shall be there. Leave." said Ghangoroth.
Without a word, Gingitsune left the odd man alone in the renewed
darkness of his "office" as his psychic flames died down.
Reentering the arena area, he heard a horrible scream come from one
of the fighters. He had just been kicked to the right kidney, and
had collapsed immediately, dying seconds later.
"I knew I should have brought some cash." thought Gingitsune.
* * *
Minako wondered how long this road would be. It had taken her days
just to go through the grassy plain and weeks to swim across the
ocean even with the dolphins carrying her part of the way. Somehow,
it was much shorter than she would have thought. After barely a few
hours walk, she met the wizard waiting at the end of the yellow
brick road. It looked just like a certain white cat she knew so
well.
"Is there no door at the end of this road?" she asked the white cat
whose forehead bore a golden crescent moon.
"Yes, but only one that you can create yourself." said the cat.
"I don`t get it." she replied.
"Don`t you?" asked the cat. "You made this trip out of your own will
to discover yourself... did you learn anything?"
"Yes, plenty."
"And are you ready to return home at last, your soul healed and
stronger than before?"
"YES!!!" said Minako, with more resolve than she`d ever felt.
"Then go home, Minako, and bring back this knowledge you gained!"
Minako raised her arms in the air, and her soul form began to glow
in a radiant golden light. A huge portal opened in front of her and
she stepped through.
* * *
A blinding gold flash awoke Ami who had fallen asleep while reading
the cheap romance novel out loud to her comatose girlfriend. She
slightly opened her eyes, and witnessed a glorious sight: the fully
healed Minako stood before her, in a senshi fuku drawn in shades of
honey, gold and black, complete with the matching visor and metal
guards. She had a radiant smile on her face, the same kind of
happiness displayed by those who see the light of divine revelation.
On her right thigh were the characters for KOI NO SENSHI, warrior
of love.
"Minako... you`re awake!" said Ami, unable to contain tears of joy.
"Yes... and this time, nothing will tear us apart." she said. Minako
held Ami by the waist and hugged her tight, the better to give her a
passionate peach flavored kiss.
Both of them were ecstatic with unbridled joy.
* * *
A few floors up, a different awakening was preparing itself.
Makoto woke up in a familiar setting, although it was from a
different perspective completely. The hospital fluorescent lights
shone down upon her face, but it mattered little as the pain she
was feeling was nothing short of torture.
Then she remembered the fight. And the gun shot.
"My god, I was almost killed by a common thug with a saturday night
special!" she thought.
She tried moving, but the pain in her chest was excrutiating, but
oddly enough her stomach and lower back were totally pain free.
"Wow, these pain killers are fantastic." she thought. "I`m so numb
I don`t even feel my lower body!"
A tall blonde man entered her room, dressed in blue jeans and a
matching turtleneck. His green eyes sparkled with compassion.
"Hey, he looks like my old boyfriend." thought Makoto. Of course,
any man with mo major disfiguring scars looked like that to her.
"Hi, I`m Xavier. I found you in the alley, lying in your own
blood... I came as soon as I heard a gunshot and brought you here.
You had no wallet in your purse or identification of any kind, so
we had no idea how to join your family." said Xavier.
"I`m Kino Makoto, and I don`t have any family... except the family
me and my close friends form. I can give you phone numbers to join
them. And thanks for helping me..." she said, smiling faintly.
"Makoto... the doctors have told me about your injuries... you
should know the truth." Xavier said in a grave tone of voice.
"Oh yeah... speaking of that, would you thank them for the pain
killers? I don`t feel a thing where the shot hit me."
"That`s the problem. You have no drugs in your body at all. Your
lower spine was hit, it was shattered. The doctors say you...
you..." hesitated the cute tall man, holding Makoto in suspense.
"That I what?"
"...that you`ll never walk again." he finished, a tear running
down his cheek.
She was stunned. Xavier was awaiting anything from her, total denial,
burning anger, loud sobbing, anything. Instead, she just closed her
eyes and sobbed silently. Xavier held her hands in support, to let
her know he was there.
Makoto couldn`t believe that she`d finally met a really great guy
only because she`d been shot and lost total use of her legs. Life
was giving her something she always wanted, but only by taking away
something else she took for granted.
To be continued...