By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
Chibi-Usa was curled in a tight little ball, sleeping soundly in her
bed. A lot of things had happened to the little rabbit over these
past few months, including going through a demon invasion, seeing
her mother suffer a complete nervous breakdown and fight many
monsters the likes of which she would`t dare imagine in her
nightmares.
But for now, she felt safe. Her mom Usagi had gained soul power as
had many of her friends. It seemed that a new enemy was on the rise
once again, but she felt safe somehow. Sailor Moon was there to
protect her, and so were Prince Endymion, Emerald Knight and the
rest of the scouts and senshi.
Even so, she felt more secure than usual. Like someone was watching
over her, and she liked this warm feeling.
In the corridor, behind the bedroom door, Rei was talking with Usagi.
They were chatting about what should be done about this aebonite
mineral situation. Since Usagi`s parents knew all about her secret
identity as Sailor Moon, they could talk freely now.
The meeting had been a long one that night, and Rei had volunteered
to help Usagi bring home the exhausted small lady, and Rei asked if
she could see the little one while she slept one more time before
going home.
"Sure." said Usagi who headed down to the kitchen for a late night
snack.
Rei opened the door silently and peered inside. The bright moonlight
flooded the room, bathing Chibi-Usa in silver light. She smiled and
came closer, sitting on the bed and admiring the sleeping girl in all
her beauty.
"So it did take a long time to heal, didn`t it? A millenium has
passed, and you returned to me your fragile soul mended and your
scars vanished." whispered Rei.
"She is a wonderful child, isn`t she?" whispered a deep voice in the
darkest corner of the bedroom.
"I had a feeling I`d find you here, Ronmar." said Rei, turning her
head around. She saw a black silhouette standing there, keeping
watch.
"So you finally understand, then." replied Ronmar.
"I do have a question, though."
"Of course, Rei, ask me anything."
"While we faced the Triad... why did you put me under that dreadful
curse???" asked Rei.
"Because I was trying to keep you away from the end we had prepared
for you and your friends. It was a bad strategic decision to choose
you for the morphing curse, but I wanted you to escape with your
life. I made this error willingly simply because I wanted you, Rei,
not to be hurt."
"I thought it might be that when I dreamed of my past life on mars...
and remembered you were my father back then." said Rei.
Ronmar moved out of the shadows, getting closer to the bed. He smiled
and watched at Chibi-Usa.
"After all this time, my darling Celeste has reincarnated. I sware I
will protect both her and you, Rei, her soul sister."
Rei stood up and hugged Ronmar. He had been a wonderful father in her
previous life and her dad was always so busy with his political
career... the dread knight was the closest thing shehad to a father
figure in her life, not counting her old grandfather of course.
"Ronmar..." she whispered.
"Yes, Rei?"
"How would you feel to know you might become a grandfather sometime
next year?"
"I`d be thrilled... if you chose to keep that budding life in your
womb. Have you made your decision?" asked Ronmar.
"How did you know???" asked Rei.
"I can feel all life around me. It`s a dread knight thing."
Rei giggled as she looked at the little pink haired girl and smiled.
Being in her past life`s father`s arm so close to her soul sister...
she was happy.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 27
DRAWN BATTLELINES
Amidst the looming shadows of the shrine to Metalia that was the
ancient throne of Queen Beryl, Gingitsune stared up at the monstrous
physical representation of the pure evil force whose very existence
had forever soiled reality.
"Is this what my life has come to?" he wondered. "Am I just going to
repeat the mistakes of the past?"
"Not unless you learned from them." answered a cold, emotionless
voice.
"Ghangoroth? Was I thinking out loud again?"
"No. I just read this from your surface thoughts." replied the fire
headed psionic, illuminating his suroundings with his psychic fire
light. "Having regrets?"
"Of course, everyone does." said Gingitsune. "What`s yours?"
"Mine?"
Ghangoroth was surprised, and that`s difficult to do to a man with
mental powers like his.
"Well... I did love someone once... she died while I was away on a
mission for her majesty Beryl. I always did regret not being there
with her in the terminal phase of her disease." said the psionic,
hinting emotion to his ally. "What about you?"
Gingitsune lowered his eyes to the ground.
"It was at the battle of the moon kingdom. I must have butchered
twenty moon guards in less than half an hour that day, and I felt
nothing. Not joy, not anger, nothing. I was a perfect soldier
serving loyally under general Kunzite, and I was content with that.
But when the princess died, something felt wrong. When I saw Queen
Serenity`s expression, I knew I had done something truly wrong. It
was a terrible mix of anger, pain and sorrow, a face I`ll never
forget as long as I live. The pain only a mother can feel..."
"Will this stop you from completing your mission?" asked Ghangoroth.
"It never stopped me before. I may not sleep at night, but I get the
job done." said the silverfox.
"And a good thing too." said a smooth masculine voice entering the
throne room, sitting in the shadows of the enormous Metalia statue.
"I need you to go check up on a few prospects for the next aebonite
crystals... we only have a few more to place until we know if the
Japan experiment is a viable one. If it works as planned, we will
begin... expanding our horizons."
"Couldn`t we just send a few youmas instead???" argued Gingitsune.
"They need supervision, as you know. Ghangoroth and Dokuryo will get
another assignment as well, so feel not unfairly treated. After all,
you were nothing but a lieutenant until last year... a lieutenant
alone in smoking ruins. Now go, take a few youmas from Thorelia`s
latest batch and get the results I expect." said the sinister figure.
"Your wish is my command, Lord Aebonite." he said, bowing to his
master. He left to the art studio that had been created for their
ally inside the newly rebuilt earth fortress of the dark kingdom,
now renamed the dark empire. He teleported himself away there, not
feeling like walking all the way to the youma creation room.
Aebonite turned to Ghangoroth and asked him what he thought of
Gingitsune`s loyalty, not bothering to actually pronounce his
question, knowing well that the psionic was ever listening to the
floating surface thoughts around him.
"Quite true, Lord Aebonite, I hear all thought." he said.
"Gingitsune is a man of principle, one who believes in his actions
and their consequences... but he sees that your service is an
opportunity to recreate something greater than himself, an empire
he can proudly serve. You can implicitly trust him."
And may I ask of your loyalty, Ghangoroth, thought Aebonite. Where
were you last week when the silverfox and the Delta triad youma were
fighting our ancient enemies.
"I was handling some personal business. I had a few loose ends to
tie in my old neighbourhood." he replied.
"Be careful of how you handle the female fighters, you might find
that you painted yourself in a corner someday." suggested Aebonite.
"I`ll keep that in mind."
* * *
Waiting to meet his buyer, a relatively unsuspicious drug dealer
fiddled nervously with the handle of his black leather briefcase.
Large sweatdrops trickled along his forehead, regardless of the
sub-zero temperature outside.
"Stop being so nervous, man, you`re starting to make me paranoid!"
said his associate.
"I have very good reasons to be afraid." said the nervewracked man.
"What do you mean... oh geeze, don`t tell me you believe that Sailor
V crap???"
"She is out there, Lyle. Waiting. Watching. Hunting down those like
us."
"She`s just a fake story created to sell more newspaper, like Sailor
Moon and that demon chick from last summer!!!"
"And what do you suppose happened to Goro? Did both his arms broke
themselves up???"
"Oh, just shut up."
Just as the short nervous man completed his phrase, the door to the
dirty appartment he rented for all his business transactions was
blown apart, his prospective client flung through in an uncontrolled
belly landing approach.
"Oh hell!" screamed the disbelieving drug trafficker as he saw the
silhouette of Sailor V standing in the door.
"There`s no room for scum in my city. I`ll take you all out like
the others before you." she coldly said, pointing the both of them.
With the well trained reflexes of hardened criminals, they instantly
reached for their automatic guns and opened fire, pelting the
entryway with a dozen rounds in less than two seconds. They were too
slow, missing the quick as lightning shadow of the avenging senshi.
With two perfectly aimed kicks, the two criminals went down. With
two more kicks, she broke an arm and a shoulder blade. Both men
were now screaming in pain from their respective fractures.
"SOUL CRESCENT SMASHER!"
A point of light formed onto her index, turning into a blazing beam
of energy that destroyed the drug filled suitcase in a large
explosion of golden fire.
Sailor V struck again.
* * *
Sitting at her dining room table which was covered with books, Ami
was totally oblivious to the outside world. She was immersing
herself in study, but that was not unusual, as she`d done that her
entire life, her ultimate goal of being a great doctor pushing her
ever forward in her path of learning.
She had been doing it more than usual, however. A lot more. Between
her classes and her personal study, she had been doing little else.
One might say she was shuting out the rest of the world on purpose,
retreating inside a turtlelike shell.
"Ami darling, you have a visitor, it`s your friend Usagi!" said her
mother.
Ami didn`t even lift her eyes as she answered. "Just send her in."
Usagi approached the dinner table and felt an invisible barrier
surrounding her friend, a "leave me alone" forcefield, sending out
waves of subconscious hostility.
"Ami, why aren`t you showing up at my house for our meetings? You
know mom allows us to use the living room now that she knows... we
miss you." said Usagi.
"I`ve been busy." replied Ami, still consummed by her algebra book.
"Too busy to even care that Minako is going around smashing legs and
breaking arms?!?"
At the mention of her ex-girlfriend, Ami tensed up and dropped her
book, fire burning in her eyes. Usagi struck a sensitive nerve, and
it showed.
"She and I are through, period. She`s not the sweet caring girl we
met while we fought Beryl, and her bloody rampage is proof to that.
Anything she does now is no longer my concern."
"She`s our friend, of course she`s our concern!!!" argued Usagi. "I
know that you`ve been affected the most despite your nonchalant
attitude... help us get her home, Ami!!!"
Ami looked down at the table. She said nothing more.
"We can`t do this without you." said Usagi.
"I`ll... see what I can do." replied Ami.
"Thank you." said the blonde girl.
"Usagi, you better get the girls together fast. I think I figured
something important about this new soul power... something the
senshi MUST know."
"I`ll do it quickly." said Usagi.
* * *
The dark caves had indeed provided the inspiration needed to
Thorelia`s work. She had been quite active, many statues of humanoid
beings with warped features stood there, scattered left and
right. Gingitsune was impressed with the quality of her work.
"Quite fearsome creatures you created my friend." he said as he
caressed the hard granite statue representing a female centaur whose
lower body was that of a tigress. "I love this one, it is so bestial
yet sophisticated. I want this one for my mission."
"Ganeshya, good choice. I`m proud of her myself." said Thorelia,
coming out of the shadows. She wore a full face ebony mask to cover
her lack of features. "I`ve so busy... no time to craft myself a
facial mask."
"We`ll take care of this soon. I have brought you this data crystal.
We have gathered this information painstakingly, and you may use it
to choose yourself a fitting face... maybe one of them has a face
you`d like?" asked the silver haired man, handing her over a small
bluish piece of quartz.
"I`ll take a look at it later, thank you. It is a pleasure to work
with someone who holds to the terms of their agreements." said the
sculptress. Her tone of voice displayed noticeable satisfaction.
"You were about to animate these, I believe."
"Correct!" said Thorelia. "This will use a certain amount of energy,
but their performance will more than make up for it as you well
know."
"Yes, youma creation has been a staple of dark kingdom tactics for a
long time, their efficiency has been proven time and again."
A huge sphere of crystal set at the zenith of the dome shaped ceiling
began to glow with a bright blue color, filling itself on the large
amount of geothermal energy stolen from the whole of Japan by the
aebonite crystals scattered there by the dark empire. Slowly, long
streams of glowing light emerged from the sphere, reaching to the
statues like greedy fingers, wrapping them, caressing them gently,
breathing life into the soon to be living youma horde.
The stone soon became flesh, cracking the thin layer of peeling rock
like a snake shedding its old skin. Roars and growls came from the
newborn monsters as they breathed for the first time.
"I never get tired of seeing this." said Gingitsune.
* * *
Haruka hung up the phone after talking to Usagi. Her friend had told
her of an urgent meeting for which all soul powered senshi had to
attend. This meant, in this case, that Michiru and Robin would be
coming there with her necessarily, had they had received their power
several days before she had.
"Michiru, Ami has discovered something about our new powers. We have
to meet her at Usagi`s." said the tomboy to her fiancee. She seemed
out of it a bit, daydreaming as she watched the stars twinkling in
the winter sky. "What`s the matter, my love?"
"I was wondering what it would be like to have a child... seeing
Usagi and Chibi-Usa together, so happy, I`m finding myself a little
jealous." she said.
"You, jealous? I`m surprised!"
"Yes... it`s true, I envy what they have, this connection, this
bond." she said. She looked at Haruka, staring straight into her
eyes. "I want a child too." she whispered.
"You`d be a fantastic mother, I`ve always known it. Because neither
of us is a man, it`ll be a bit more difficult than for most
couples... but it WILL happen, trust me." replied Haruka.
Michiru hugged Haruka, resting her head on her chest.
"I love so much!!!" she said.
"The others are waiting for us." said Haruka. "Robin`s in her room,
let`s go get her and join the others."
* * *
"Over there." said Gingitsune to the cute chinese looking girl who
was walking alongside him, hanging from his arm like an overly
expressive lover. He was pointing to an area of Tokyo where many of
the most luxurious apparment rises had been constructed.
"Wow!" she said in a purring voice. Even through their thick winter
clothes, Gingitsune could feel her shivering from pleasure at the
sight of this wonderful neighbourhood. "I`d love to live here!"
"Remember that we`re here to test a theory. You know what to do,
don`t you?" asked the man.
"Yes, I do." answered the cute Ganeshya, pointing to the small shard
of aebonite crystal that was incrusted in her earring. "I have to
plant this inside one of these buildings to test the efficiency of
aebonite in relation to its size. These buildings have powerful
central heating systems, and this is where you want it placed."
"Correct, darling. By placing small shards in many inocuous spots,
we could reap more energy in a discreet fashion. Not to mention save
on the amount of aebonite we use..." explained Gingitsune.
"You`re so clever, master Gingitsune!"
"Go now, I`ll be waiting for your return in this restaurant." said
the man, pointing to a chic french place. "I have a reservation for
two."
Ganeshya smiled and left, though not before giving her master a
quick peck on the cheek and run away giggling.
"She`s nice. I can`t wait to see how far her devotion goes." he
thought, smiling widely. Out of his pocket, he produced a small
crystal disk, with one of the side polished to perfection. "It
should be fun watching her in action." he thought as he walked in
the restaurant to sit at his reserved place, ordering a nice bottle
of wine.
* * *
Entering the appartment building was surprisingly easy to Ganeshya.
The boiler room of the central heating system was unbelievably warm,
as it might be expected from the unusually cold weather spell Japan
had fallen under recently.
Ganeshya removed her earring and threw it right onto the huge boiler
where it stuck. The small aebonite crystal immediately began its
work, draining thermal energy and sending it towards the dark empire.
"I hope you`re watching me from a distance, Gingitsune. And hearing
what I`m whispering..." said the youma.
* * *
"Here`s your wine, sir. Shall I open it for you?" asked the waiter
in a very noticeable french accent.
"Not yet, my date hasn`t arrived." he said, staring subtly at the
crystal disk in his hand. Through a telepathic effect, he could hear
everything that happened around Ganeshya, as well as all she said...
the dark empire general blushed suddenly, turning as red as the
satin fabric of the tablecloth.
"Sir, are you all right?!?" asked the waiter, concerned for his
customer.
"Yes, I am." said Gingitsune, smiling like never before. "I just
can`t wait for my date to arrive!"
* * *
Getting her things together and throwing a few books in her backpack,
Ami picked up her blue laptop just as it started to buzz. One of her
old weather monitoring programs had gone off.
"This is weird." she thought, seeing that the sudden temperature
change monitor she created to warn of impending monsoons had been
triggered in winter. She opened it and located the event to be
located entirely in the basement of her appartment rise!
"I have to check this out... it feels so dead wrong!"
She slung her backpack over her shoulder and ran to the elevator.
She almost never went down there but this time it was an exceptional
case.
As the doors of the elevator opened to the boiler room, she was
shocked to feel the blast of cold air rushing in the elevator cabin.
What was going on here? Normally this place should be too hot to
stay more than a few minutes at a time!
"Hello young lady." said a strange chinese lady who walked towards
her, going to the elevator. "I came here because my appartment was
starting to get cold and no heat was coming in." she lied.
"Obviously it`s not working!" replied Ami.
"I know... I called the repairman, no need to hang around in the
cold." said the human looking youma, smiling in a friendly fashion.
"I`ll take a look for myself if you don`t mind."
"Suit yourself honey." said Ganeshya, taking the elevator back up.
As soon as she was gone, Ami opened her laptop and confirmed her
suspicions: that woman was a youma, and she`d just left a small
aebonite fragment onto the heating system. She picked it up and
enclosed it in a small shielded container of her own design; she`d
study it later, a more pressing matter requiring her full attention
right now.
"MERCURY STAR POWER MAKEUP!"
After turning into Sailor Mercury, she ran after that strange woman.
* * *
Walking back to the restaurant, Ganeshya felt something happen. The
energy stream that was coming from the small aebonite splinter she
left behind to the larger aebonite stud adorning the leather collar
around her throat.
"Damn, those girls my master told me about... it`s gotta be them!"
she thought.
"Stay where you are!!!" said Sailor Mercury as she ran towards her.
"And who might you be, girlie?"
"I am Sailor Mercury!!!" screamed the scout.
"Aren`t you feeling a little cold in this short little skirt?"
wondered Ganeshya.
"I have the power of water and ice, cold doesn`t affect me."
"You`re out of luck, sister, because me neither!" boasted the youma.
She extended her nails into long sharp claws, ready to be used as
lethal weapons.
* * *
Still looking at his tiny crystal, Gingitsune sipped on his glass of
water.
"Sailor Mercury, huh? This is going to be interesting." he thought.
* * *
Ganeshya slashed wildly left and right with speed and dexterity which
taxed even the nimble reflexes of the outmatched Mercury. She wanted
desperatly to call for help, but any release of her concentration
would mean her enemy would get a chance to give the fatal blow.
Slightly slipping on a treacherously hidden ice patch, the youma lost
balance for an instant, time enough for Mercury to place in a counter
attack!
"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!!!" she yelled, unleashing the power of icy
water upon her opponent.
It struck her dead on, but with little result other than slow her
down a few seconds.
"I told you it was useless." said Ganeshya, smiling wickedly. In an
instant, her clothes ripped out as her tigress centaur body revealed
its true form. The only clothing she had now was a light breastplate
of black metal and her leather collar. She was a stunning sight, the
striped deep orange fur now covering her whole body. "Let`s REALLY
rumble now!" she purred.
Not giving Mercury a chance to recover from her surprise, she jumped
her immediately, knocking her down with her front legs and pinning
her down in the snow. She bent over and clasped her strong hands
around her neck, squeezing as hard as she could.
"Die, little girl!"
Outclassed and alone, Ami feared that this would truly be the end of
her life.
"NO!" she thought. "Not after all I went through!"
She tried to struggle but it was useless. The centaur youma was much
too heavy, resting all her weight on Mercury`s chest, both
restraining her and preventing her from breathing.
After fighting their way through Beryl, the dark moon, the triad,
Daemonfang and Gallagher... all these monsters that had disrupted
her life over and over again... she was feeling so angry that her
life wasn`t under HER control, that these fiends were deciding where
her existance was headed, how and when it would end...
"Don`t worry, it`s almost over, sugar!" whispered Ganeshya into her
hear as her face was turning blue.
Sailor Mercury`s carefully stacked barriers of logic around her
emotions began to break down. Anger flared up, along with fear,
hatred and disgust at the neverending flow of evil that made her
life so difficult. No more! She wouldn`t stand for that bullshit
anymore!!!
"ENOUGH!!!" she yelled as a golden glow blasting out of her body
threw Ganeshya away a good ten feet. As the glow faded away while
Mercury got up, it was now apparent that she`d be an equal match
for the tigress centaur... and so much more.
She now wore a skin tight ice blue senshi fuku, with metal guards
on her calves and forearms just like all her senshi sisters, as
well as a transparent visor identical to the one that came with the
laptop given by Luna when she was revealed as Sailor Mercury all
those years ago. On her right tight were the japanese characters
for KOORI NO SENSHI, soldier of ice. In her hands she held Deadshot,
her sacred bow carved of pure sapphire.
The centaur growled and jumped again, but two quick arrows of ice
took her down and left her screaming in pain, although they did no
real damage to the youma. It gave the newly revealed senshi enough
time to unleash her wrath upon the monster who tried to strangle her.
"You think yourself strong by your evil power, but you are nothing!"
said Mercury, extending her hands in front of her, a six inch wide
magnetic shield sphere forming in between her palms.
"I fight for justice, knowledge and science, three forces unstoppable
when put together!!!" she said, as a strong vacuum emptied the
magnetic sphere of all air and matter but a single molecule of water.
The air then superheated itself all around them in a wide area as the
water molecule cooled itself toward the absolute zero temperature,
the theoretical point where atoms and molecules should reach total
immobilization, the loss of any vibration or rotation movements.
Science had never been able to create this theoretical state of
molecular stasis, yet Sailor Mercury had attained this within her
trembling grasp. The super hot air in the immediate vicinity
created strong whirlwinds with the surrounding winter air and
melted the snow at her feet. The scene had a surreal feeling of
absolute power.
"ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE!!!" she screamed, propelling the magnetic
shielding sphere containing the zero Kelvin degree towards the
centaur. Upon contact with the youma, it broke apart and the absolute
zero water molecule touched her- within a second, she was totally
frozen into an ice statue whose temperature did not exceed that of
liquid helium. Then, the surrounding hot air immediately created a
temperature shock with the frozen monster who detonated into a
thousand cold shards as a supercold shockwave was created, frosting
over the entire area under half an inch of solid ice.
* * *
Disappointed in Ganeshya`s failure, Gingitsune pocketed the small
crystal disk. He poured himself a glass of wine and slammed it down.
"At least we know the crystal works no matter what its size." he
commented.
He then left.
* * *
"Wow, that was brutal." commented Ami as she cracked out of her thin
icy shell. "I hope I won`t be late to the meeting because of this."
She ran off to Usagi`s home, transforming back to her regular clothes
as soon as she got the chance.
"I can`t believe I used my ultimate attack already... I`ll have to
warn the others!!!" she thought.
* * *
As Gingitsune reappeared in the throne room of the north pole
fortress of the dark empire, the master of the silverfox was
waiting for him.
"You failed and lost a youma." he said coldly.
"Err... yes I have." admitted Gingitsune.
"But regardless of that, you did prove the effectiveness of smaller
aebonite crystals." added the shadowy figure on the throne.
"That I have!" replied his general, relieved that this success would
stave off his possible execution.
Out of nowhere, two strong youma warriors grabbed him and laid him
down on the ground face down, holding out his left arm outstretched.
The female monsters smashed their knees on his back and elbow,
ensuring he couldn`t budge an inch.
"What are you doing???" screamed Gingitsune, afraid of what would
happen next.
"You still lost a precious youma, you know. Thorelia is heartbroken
because of you. And you left one of our enemies alive, which I cannot
tolerate. I`d create a precedent if I left you go without a
punishment." explained his master.
From behind the throne came a third youma who wielded a large black
axe, very sharp at that.
"Which part, Lord Aebonite?" she asked, grinning insanely.
"His left arm, sweetie. Make it a clean cut." ordered the figure.
Gingitsune screamed, but no one who cared was there to listen. And
so went dark empire justice.
To be continued...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
Chibi-Usa was curled in a tight little ball, sleeping soundly in her
bed. A lot of things had happened to the little rabbit over these
past few months, including going through a demon invasion, seeing
her mother suffer a complete nervous breakdown and fight many
monsters the likes of which she would`t dare imagine in her
nightmares.
But for now, she felt safe. Her mom Usagi had gained soul power as
had many of her friends. It seemed that a new enemy was on the rise
once again, but she felt safe somehow. Sailor Moon was there to
protect her, and so were Prince Endymion, Emerald Knight and the
rest of the scouts and senshi.
Even so, she felt more secure than usual. Like someone was watching
over her, and she liked this warm feeling.
In the corridor, behind the bedroom door, Rei was talking with Usagi.
They were chatting about what should be done about this aebonite
mineral situation. Since Usagi`s parents knew all about her secret
identity as Sailor Moon, they could talk freely now.
The meeting had been a long one that night, and Rei had volunteered
to help Usagi bring home the exhausted small lady, and Rei asked if
she could see the little one while she slept one more time before
going home.
"Sure." said Usagi who headed down to the kitchen for a late night
snack.
Rei opened the door silently and peered inside. The bright moonlight
flooded the room, bathing Chibi-Usa in silver light. She smiled and
came closer, sitting on the bed and admiring the sleeping girl in all
her beauty.
"So it did take a long time to heal, didn`t it? A millenium has
passed, and you returned to me your fragile soul mended and your
scars vanished." whispered Rei.
"She is a wonderful child, isn`t she?" whispered a deep voice in the
darkest corner of the bedroom.
"I had a feeling I`d find you here, Ronmar." said Rei, turning her
head around. She saw a black silhouette standing there, keeping
watch.
"So you finally understand, then." replied Ronmar.
"I do have a question, though."
"Of course, Rei, ask me anything."
"While we faced the Triad... why did you put me under that dreadful
curse???" asked Rei.
"Because I was trying to keep you away from the end we had prepared
for you and your friends. It was a bad strategic decision to choose
you for the morphing curse, but I wanted you to escape with your
life. I made this error willingly simply because I wanted you, Rei,
not to be hurt."
"I thought it might be that when I dreamed of my past life on mars...
and remembered you were my father back then." said Rei.
Ronmar moved out of the shadows, getting closer to the bed. He smiled
and watched at Chibi-Usa.
"After all this time, my darling Celeste has reincarnated. I sware I
will protect both her and you, Rei, her soul sister."
Rei stood up and hugged Ronmar. He had been a wonderful father in her
previous life and her dad was always so busy with his political
career... the dread knight was the closest thing shehad to a father
figure in her life, not counting her old grandfather of course.
"Ronmar..." she whispered.
"Yes, Rei?"
"How would you feel to know you might become a grandfather sometime
next year?"
"I`d be thrilled... if you chose to keep that budding life in your
womb. Have you made your decision?" asked Ronmar.
"How did you know???" asked Rei.
"I can feel all life around me. It`s a dread knight thing."
Rei giggled as she looked at the little pink haired girl and smiled.
Being in her past life`s father`s arm so close to her soul sister...
she was happy.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 27
DRAWN BATTLELINES
Amidst the looming shadows of the shrine to Metalia that was the
ancient throne of Queen Beryl, Gingitsune stared up at the monstrous
physical representation of the pure evil force whose very existence
had forever soiled reality.
"Is this what my life has come to?" he wondered. "Am I just going to
repeat the mistakes of the past?"
"Not unless you learned from them." answered a cold, emotionless
voice.
"Ghangoroth? Was I thinking out loud again?"
"No. I just read this from your surface thoughts." replied the fire
headed psionic, illuminating his suroundings with his psychic fire
light. "Having regrets?"
"Of course, everyone does." said Gingitsune. "What`s yours?"
"Mine?"
Ghangoroth was surprised, and that`s difficult to do to a man with
mental powers like his.
"Well... I did love someone once... she died while I was away on a
mission for her majesty Beryl. I always did regret not being there
with her in the terminal phase of her disease." said the psionic,
hinting emotion to his ally. "What about you?"
Gingitsune lowered his eyes to the ground.
"It was at the battle of the moon kingdom. I must have butchered
twenty moon guards in less than half an hour that day, and I felt
nothing. Not joy, not anger, nothing. I was a perfect soldier
serving loyally under general Kunzite, and I was content with that.
But when the princess died, something felt wrong. When I saw Queen
Serenity`s expression, I knew I had done something truly wrong. It
was a terrible mix of anger, pain and sorrow, a face I`ll never
forget as long as I live. The pain only a mother can feel..."
"Will this stop you from completing your mission?" asked Ghangoroth.
"It never stopped me before. I may not sleep at night, but I get the
job done." said the silverfox.
"And a good thing too." said a smooth masculine voice entering the
throne room, sitting in the shadows of the enormous Metalia statue.
"I need you to go check up on a few prospects for the next aebonite
crystals... we only have a few more to place until we know if the
Japan experiment is a viable one. If it works as planned, we will
begin... expanding our horizons."
"Couldn`t we just send a few youmas instead???" argued Gingitsune.
"They need supervision, as you know. Ghangoroth and Dokuryo will get
another assignment as well, so feel not unfairly treated. After all,
you were nothing but a lieutenant until last year... a lieutenant
alone in smoking ruins. Now go, take a few youmas from Thorelia`s
latest batch and get the results I expect." said the sinister figure.
"Your wish is my command, Lord Aebonite." he said, bowing to his
master. He left to the art studio that had been created for their
ally inside the newly rebuilt earth fortress of the dark kingdom,
now renamed the dark empire. He teleported himself away there, not
feeling like walking all the way to the youma creation room.
Aebonite turned to Ghangoroth and asked him what he thought of
Gingitsune`s loyalty, not bothering to actually pronounce his
question, knowing well that the psionic was ever listening to the
floating surface thoughts around him.
"Quite true, Lord Aebonite, I hear all thought." he said.
"Gingitsune is a man of principle, one who believes in his actions
and their consequences... but he sees that your service is an
opportunity to recreate something greater than himself, an empire
he can proudly serve. You can implicitly trust him."
And may I ask of your loyalty, Ghangoroth, thought Aebonite. Where
were you last week when the silverfox and the Delta triad youma were
fighting our ancient enemies.
"I was handling some personal business. I had a few loose ends to
tie in my old neighbourhood." he replied.
"Be careful of how you handle the female fighters, you might find
that you painted yourself in a corner someday." suggested Aebonite.
"I`ll keep that in mind."
* * *
Waiting to meet his buyer, a relatively unsuspicious drug dealer
fiddled nervously with the handle of his black leather briefcase.
Large sweatdrops trickled along his forehead, regardless of the
sub-zero temperature outside.
"Stop being so nervous, man, you`re starting to make me paranoid!"
said his associate.
"I have very good reasons to be afraid." said the nervewracked man.
"What do you mean... oh geeze, don`t tell me you believe that Sailor
V crap???"
"She is out there, Lyle. Waiting. Watching. Hunting down those like
us."
"She`s just a fake story created to sell more newspaper, like Sailor
Moon and that demon chick from last summer!!!"
"And what do you suppose happened to Goro? Did both his arms broke
themselves up???"
"Oh, just shut up."
Just as the short nervous man completed his phrase, the door to the
dirty appartment he rented for all his business transactions was
blown apart, his prospective client flung through in an uncontrolled
belly landing approach.
"Oh hell!" screamed the disbelieving drug trafficker as he saw the
silhouette of Sailor V standing in the door.
"There`s no room for scum in my city. I`ll take you all out like
the others before you." she coldly said, pointing the both of them.
With the well trained reflexes of hardened criminals, they instantly
reached for their automatic guns and opened fire, pelting the
entryway with a dozen rounds in less than two seconds. They were too
slow, missing the quick as lightning shadow of the avenging senshi.
With two perfectly aimed kicks, the two criminals went down. With
two more kicks, she broke an arm and a shoulder blade. Both men
were now screaming in pain from their respective fractures.
"SOUL CRESCENT SMASHER!"
A point of light formed onto her index, turning into a blazing beam
of energy that destroyed the drug filled suitcase in a large
explosion of golden fire.
Sailor V struck again.
* * *
Sitting at her dining room table which was covered with books, Ami
was totally oblivious to the outside world. She was immersing
herself in study, but that was not unusual, as she`d done that her
entire life, her ultimate goal of being a great doctor pushing her
ever forward in her path of learning.
She had been doing it more than usual, however. A lot more. Between
her classes and her personal study, she had been doing little else.
One might say she was shuting out the rest of the world on purpose,
retreating inside a turtlelike shell.
"Ami darling, you have a visitor, it`s your friend Usagi!" said her
mother.
Ami didn`t even lift her eyes as she answered. "Just send her in."
Usagi approached the dinner table and felt an invisible barrier
surrounding her friend, a "leave me alone" forcefield, sending out
waves of subconscious hostility.
"Ami, why aren`t you showing up at my house for our meetings? You
know mom allows us to use the living room now that she knows... we
miss you." said Usagi.
"I`ve been busy." replied Ami, still consummed by her algebra book.
"Too busy to even care that Minako is going around smashing legs and
breaking arms?!?"
At the mention of her ex-girlfriend, Ami tensed up and dropped her
book, fire burning in her eyes. Usagi struck a sensitive nerve, and
it showed.
"She and I are through, period. She`s not the sweet caring girl we
met while we fought Beryl, and her bloody rampage is proof to that.
Anything she does now is no longer my concern."
"She`s our friend, of course she`s our concern!!!" argued Usagi. "I
know that you`ve been affected the most despite your nonchalant
attitude... help us get her home, Ami!!!"
Ami looked down at the table. She said nothing more.
"We can`t do this without you." said Usagi.
"I`ll... see what I can do." replied Ami.
"Thank you." said the blonde girl.
"Usagi, you better get the girls together fast. I think I figured
something important about this new soul power... something the
senshi MUST know."
"I`ll do it quickly." said Usagi.
* * *
The dark caves had indeed provided the inspiration needed to
Thorelia`s work. She had been quite active, many statues of humanoid
beings with warped features stood there, scattered left and
right. Gingitsune was impressed with the quality of her work.
"Quite fearsome creatures you created my friend." he said as he
caressed the hard granite statue representing a female centaur whose
lower body was that of a tigress. "I love this one, it is so bestial
yet sophisticated. I want this one for my mission."
"Ganeshya, good choice. I`m proud of her myself." said Thorelia,
coming out of the shadows. She wore a full face ebony mask to cover
her lack of features. "I`ve so busy... no time to craft myself a
facial mask."
"We`ll take care of this soon. I have brought you this data crystal.
We have gathered this information painstakingly, and you may use it
to choose yourself a fitting face... maybe one of them has a face
you`d like?" asked the silver haired man, handing her over a small
bluish piece of quartz.
"I`ll take a look at it later, thank you. It is a pleasure to work
with someone who holds to the terms of their agreements." said the
sculptress. Her tone of voice displayed noticeable satisfaction.
"You were about to animate these, I believe."
"Correct!" said Thorelia. "This will use a certain amount of energy,
but their performance will more than make up for it as you well
know."
"Yes, youma creation has been a staple of dark kingdom tactics for a
long time, their efficiency has been proven time and again."
A huge sphere of crystal set at the zenith of the dome shaped ceiling
began to glow with a bright blue color, filling itself on the large
amount of geothermal energy stolen from the whole of Japan by the
aebonite crystals scattered there by the dark empire. Slowly, long
streams of glowing light emerged from the sphere, reaching to the
statues like greedy fingers, wrapping them, caressing them gently,
breathing life into the soon to be living youma horde.
The stone soon became flesh, cracking the thin layer of peeling rock
like a snake shedding its old skin. Roars and growls came from the
newborn monsters as they breathed for the first time.
"I never get tired of seeing this." said Gingitsune.
* * *
Haruka hung up the phone after talking to Usagi. Her friend had told
her of an urgent meeting for which all soul powered senshi had to
attend. This meant, in this case, that Michiru and Robin would be
coming there with her necessarily, had they had received their power
several days before she had.
"Michiru, Ami has discovered something about our new powers. We have
to meet her at Usagi`s." said the tomboy to her fiancee. She seemed
out of it a bit, daydreaming as she watched the stars twinkling in
the winter sky. "What`s the matter, my love?"
"I was wondering what it would be like to have a child... seeing
Usagi and Chibi-Usa together, so happy, I`m finding myself a little
jealous." she said.
"You, jealous? I`m surprised!"
"Yes... it`s true, I envy what they have, this connection, this
bond." she said. She looked at Haruka, staring straight into her
eyes. "I want a child too." she whispered.
"You`d be a fantastic mother, I`ve always known it. Because neither
of us is a man, it`ll be a bit more difficult than for most
couples... but it WILL happen, trust me." replied Haruka.
Michiru hugged Haruka, resting her head on her chest.
"I love so much!!!" she said.
"The others are waiting for us." said Haruka. "Robin`s in her room,
let`s go get her and join the others."
* * *
"Over there." said Gingitsune to the cute chinese looking girl who
was walking alongside him, hanging from his arm like an overly
expressive lover. He was pointing to an area of Tokyo where many of
the most luxurious apparment rises had been constructed.
"Wow!" she said in a purring voice. Even through their thick winter
clothes, Gingitsune could feel her shivering from pleasure at the
sight of this wonderful neighbourhood. "I`d love to live here!"
"Remember that we`re here to test a theory. You know what to do,
don`t you?" asked the man.
"Yes, I do." answered the cute Ganeshya, pointing to the small shard
of aebonite crystal that was incrusted in her earring. "I have to
plant this inside one of these buildings to test the efficiency of
aebonite in relation to its size. These buildings have powerful
central heating systems, and this is where you want it placed."
"Correct, darling. By placing small shards in many inocuous spots,
we could reap more energy in a discreet fashion. Not to mention save
on the amount of aebonite we use..." explained Gingitsune.
"You`re so clever, master Gingitsune!"
"Go now, I`ll be waiting for your return in this restaurant." said
the man, pointing to a chic french place. "I have a reservation for
two."
Ganeshya smiled and left, though not before giving her master a
quick peck on the cheek and run away giggling.
"She`s nice. I can`t wait to see how far her devotion goes." he
thought, smiling widely. Out of his pocket, he produced a small
crystal disk, with one of the side polished to perfection. "It
should be fun watching her in action." he thought as he walked in
the restaurant to sit at his reserved place, ordering a nice bottle
of wine.
* * *
Entering the appartment building was surprisingly easy to Ganeshya.
The boiler room of the central heating system was unbelievably warm,
as it might be expected from the unusually cold weather spell Japan
had fallen under recently.
Ganeshya removed her earring and threw it right onto the huge boiler
where it stuck. The small aebonite crystal immediately began its
work, draining thermal energy and sending it towards the dark empire.
"I hope you`re watching me from a distance, Gingitsune. And hearing
what I`m whispering..." said the youma.
* * *
"Here`s your wine, sir. Shall I open it for you?" asked the waiter
in a very noticeable french accent.
"Not yet, my date hasn`t arrived." he said, staring subtly at the
crystal disk in his hand. Through a telepathic effect, he could hear
everything that happened around Ganeshya, as well as all she said...
the dark empire general blushed suddenly, turning as red as the
satin fabric of the tablecloth.
"Sir, are you all right?!?" asked the waiter, concerned for his
customer.
"Yes, I am." said Gingitsune, smiling like never before. "I just
can`t wait for my date to arrive!"
* * *
Getting her things together and throwing a few books in her backpack,
Ami picked up her blue laptop just as it started to buzz. One of her
old weather monitoring programs had gone off.
"This is weird." she thought, seeing that the sudden temperature
change monitor she created to warn of impending monsoons had been
triggered in winter. She opened it and located the event to be
located entirely in the basement of her appartment rise!
"I have to check this out... it feels so dead wrong!"
She slung her backpack over her shoulder and ran to the elevator.
She almost never went down there but this time it was an exceptional
case.
As the doors of the elevator opened to the boiler room, she was
shocked to feel the blast of cold air rushing in the elevator cabin.
What was going on here? Normally this place should be too hot to
stay more than a few minutes at a time!
"Hello young lady." said a strange chinese lady who walked towards
her, going to the elevator. "I came here because my appartment was
starting to get cold and no heat was coming in." she lied.
"Obviously it`s not working!" replied Ami.
"I know... I called the repairman, no need to hang around in the
cold." said the human looking youma, smiling in a friendly fashion.
"I`ll take a look for myself if you don`t mind."
"Suit yourself honey." said Ganeshya, taking the elevator back up.
As soon as she was gone, Ami opened her laptop and confirmed her
suspicions: that woman was a youma, and she`d just left a small
aebonite fragment onto the heating system. She picked it up and
enclosed it in a small shielded container of her own design; she`d
study it later, a more pressing matter requiring her full attention
right now.
"MERCURY STAR POWER MAKEUP!"
After turning into Sailor Mercury, she ran after that strange woman.
* * *
Walking back to the restaurant, Ganeshya felt something happen. The
energy stream that was coming from the small aebonite splinter she
left behind to the larger aebonite stud adorning the leather collar
around her throat.
"Damn, those girls my master told me about... it`s gotta be them!"
she thought.
"Stay where you are!!!" said Sailor Mercury as she ran towards her.
"And who might you be, girlie?"
"I am Sailor Mercury!!!" screamed the scout.
"Aren`t you feeling a little cold in this short little skirt?"
wondered Ganeshya.
"I have the power of water and ice, cold doesn`t affect me."
"You`re out of luck, sister, because me neither!" boasted the youma.
She extended her nails into long sharp claws, ready to be used as
lethal weapons.
* * *
Still looking at his tiny crystal, Gingitsune sipped on his glass of
water.
"Sailor Mercury, huh? This is going to be interesting." he thought.
* * *
Ganeshya slashed wildly left and right with speed and dexterity which
taxed even the nimble reflexes of the outmatched Mercury. She wanted
desperatly to call for help, but any release of her concentration
would mean her enemy would get a chance to give the fatal blow.
Slightly slipping on a treacherously hidden ice patch, the youma lost
balance for an instant, time enough for Mercury to place in a counter
attack!
"SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!!!" she yelled, unleashing the power of icy
water upon her opponent.
It struck her dead on, but with little result other than slow her
down a few seconds.
"I told you it was useless." said Ganeshya, smiling wickedly. In an
instant, her clothes ripped out as her tigress centaur body revealed
its true form. The only clothing she had now was a light breastplate
of black metal and her leather collar. She was a stunning sight, the
striped deep orange fur now covering her whole body. "Let`s REALLY
rumble now!" she purred.
Not giving Mercury a chance to recover from her surprise, she jumped
her immediately, knocking her down with her front legs and pinning
her down in the snow. She bent over and clasped her strong hands
around her neck, squeezing as hard as she could.
"Die, little girl!"
Outclassed and alone, Ami feared that this would truly be the end of
her life.
"NO!" she thought. "Not after all I went through!"
She tried to struggle but it was useless. The centaur youma was much
too heavy, resting all her weight on Mercury`s chest, both
restraining her and preventing her from breathing.
After fighting their way through Beryl, the dark moon, the triad,
Daemonfang and Gallagher... all these monsters that had disrupted
her life over and over again... she was feeling so angry that her
life wasn`t under HER control, that these fiends were deciding where
her existance was headed, how and when it would end...
"Don`t worry, it`s almost over, sugar!" whispered Ganeshya into her
hear as her face was turning blue.
Sailor Mercury`s carefully stacked barriers of logic around her
emotions began to break down. Anger flared up, along with fear,
hatred and disgust at the neverending flow of evil that made her
life so difficult. No more! She wouldn`t stand for that bullshit
anymore!!!
"ENOUGH!!!" she yelled as a golden glow blasting out of her body
threw Ganeshya away a good ten feet. As the glow faded away while
Mercury got up, it was now apparent that she`d be an equal match
for the tigress centaur... and so much more.
She now wore a skin tight ice blue senshi fuku, with metal guards
on her calves and forearms just like all her senshi sisters, as
well as a transparent visor identical to the one that came with the
laptop given by Luna when she was revealed as Sailor Mercury all
those years ago. On her right tight were the japanese characters
for KOORI NO SENSHI, soldier of ice. In her hands she held Deadshot,
her sacred bow carved of pure sapphire.
The centaur growled and jumped again, but two quick arrows of ice
took her down and left her screaming in pain, although they did no
real damage to the youma. It gave the newly revealed senshi enough
time to unleash her wrath upon the monster who tried to strangle her.
"You think yourself strong by your evil power, but you are nothing!"
said Mercury, extending her hands in front of her, a six inch wide
magnetic shield sphere forming in between her palms.
"I fight for justice, knowledge and science, three forces unstoppable
when put together!!!" she said, as a strong vacuum emptied the
magnetic sphere of all air and matter but a single molecule of water.
The air then superheated itself all around them in a wide area as the
water molecule cooled itself toward the absolute zero temperature,
the theoretical point where atoms and molecules should reach total
immobilization, the loss of any vibration or rotation movements.
Science had never been able to create this theoretical state of
molecular stasis, yet Sailor Mercury had attained this within her
trembling grasp. The super hot air in the immediate vicinity
created strong whirlwinds with the surrounding winter air and
melted the snow at her feet. The scene had a surreal feeling of
absolute power.
"ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE!!!" she screamed, propelling the magnetic
shielding sphere containing the zero Kelvin degree towards the
centaur. Upon contact with the youma, it broke apart and the absolute
zero water molecule touched her- within a second, she was totally
frozen into an ice statue whose temperature did not exceed that of
liquid helium. Then, the surrounding hot air immediately created a
temperature shock with the frozen monster who detonated into a
thousand cold shards as a supercold shockwave was created, frosting
over the entire area under half an inch of solid ice.
* * *
Disappointed in Ganeshya`s failure, Gingitsune pocketed the small
crystal disk. He poured himself a glass of wine and slammed it down.
"At least we know the crystal works no matter what its size." he
commented.
He then left.
* * *
"Wow, that was brutal." commented Ami as she cracked out of her thin
icy shell. "I hope I won`t be late to the meeting because of this."
She ran off to Usagi`s home, transforming back to her regular clothes
as soon as she got the chance.
"I can`t believe I used my ultimate attack already... I`ll have to
warn the others!!!" she thought.
* * *
As Gingitsune reappeared in the throne room of the north pole
fortress of the dark empire, the master of the silverfox was
waiting for him.
"You failed and lost a youma." he said coldly.
"Err... yes I have." admitted Gingitsune.
"But regardless of that, you did prove the effectiveness of smaller
aebonite crystals." added the shadowy figure on the throne.
"That I have!" replied his general, relieved that this success would
stave off his possible execution.
Out of nowhere, two strong youma warriors grabbed him and laid him
down on the ground face down, holding out his left arm outstretched.
The female monsters smashed their knees on his back and elbow,
ensuring he couldn`t budge an inch.
"What are you doing???" screamed Gingitsune, afraid of what would
happen next.
"You still lost a precious youma, you know. Thorelia is heartbroken
because of you. And you left one of our enemies alive, which I cannot
tolerate. I`d create a precedent if I left you go without a
punishment." explained his master.
From behind the throne came a third youma who wielded a large black
axe, very sharp at that.
"Which part, Lord Aebonite?" she asked, grinning insanely.
"His left arm, sweetie. Make it a clean cut." ordered the figure.
Gingitsune screamed, but no one who cared was there to listen. And
so went dark empire justice.
To be continued...