By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
Fifteen years ago...
The blue and red twin stars set slowly over the horizon of the
Delriad planet`s capital city, Fiorina. It had been twenty-six hours
since it had done so the previous day, as the days there were
slightly longer than what humans have grown accustomed to on earth.
A whole day had gone by without a single motion taking place, without
a word uttered, without a breath taken.
This once beautiful city-state of art and culture had been torn down
into smoking ruins and cold ashes by the merciless armies of the
dreaded Queen Beryl in her insane lust for more power. Hundreds of
slaughtered men and women laid dead, many huddled over the lifeless
corpses of the children they died trying vainly to protect.
Yet another world had fallen to the servant of the almighty Metalia.
Many more would follow. The forces of darkness were on the rise, and
few could withstand their power.
Amidst the ruins and the slain bodies, two figures embodying this
very evil strode slowly, avoiding the strewn corpses and abandonned
weapons. They walked around searching for something they felt but
could not define. Try as they might, they couldn`t put their finger
on it.
"Why are we here?" wondered Zoisite. He felt slightly nauseous at
the odor of decay that began to rise from the corpses starting to
rot after a day and a half.
"I`m not sure myself." said Kunzite. "You felt it too, this strange
aura of power emanating from this dead battlefield."
"Yes, it`s true. I felt it vaguely before the battle, but the large
amount of people gathered in this city hid it from us." admitted
Zoisite.
"And now, we can feel it to its fullest... but what is it??? A
weapon? A spell cast on this place? An artifact left behind??? We
must know, for the glory of our dark kingdom!" said Kunzite.
"I`m curious to find out... and I can`t wait to leave this wasteland
too. This blood soaked dirt is going to destroy my boots!" complained
the effiminate Zoisite.
Kunzite laughed in a barely audible voice.
"Ever concerned about your beauty, are you my love?"
"That`s just who I am." said the general, twirling his long blonde
ponytail playfully.
Just as he was going to give his lover a witty reply, Kunzite heard
something he never would have expected there: the faint sobbing of
a lone survivor. The two generals of the dark kingdom moved towards
the weakened child who`d been crying over the dead body of his
mother; she`d obviously died to save his life during the desperate
struggle of Fiorina.
"I don`t believe this..." said Kunzite.
The child was a little boy, no more than a year old. His ice blue
eyes were swollen by crying for over a day, and his dark blue hair
was stained by the blood of those who died around him. His pure white
clothes were equally stained, and his strenght was runing out.
Despite the aura of power he radiated, he would die off rapidly in
this forsaken world.
"This child... is the source of this power? Can you imagine how
strong he is, that we felt him all the way from our orbiting ship???"
asked Kunzite.
Zoisite knelt next to him, looking at the desperate child. Seeing
the feminine looking warrior, the small boy leapt into his arms,
hugging him tight. He felt secure in his arms.
"Look at him... I think he likes me." said Zoisite.
"Yes, indeed." agreed Kunzite.
"So what do we do?"
"Let`s return to Queen Beryl. She asked us to find the source of
this power, and we have."
"All right. Come with us, little one... hey, we don`t even know his
name!" observed Zoisite.
"We`ll just have to give him a new one... how about Azurite?"
suggested Kunzite.
"No, it`s no good! Hey, I know... AEBONITE!" said Zoisite with
conviction.
"I know better than to argue with you, darling..." concluded
Kunzite.
They kissed and returned to their master, bringing back the orphan
child.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 28
EVIL IN SMALL DOSES
"No, please, don`t hurt me Sailor V! I was just hired to protect him
from his enemies!!!" pleaded a large hulking brute as he wriggled on
the floor, his broken nose bleeding a lot.
"You were there taking part, you collected blood money for your
services and you hurt many people doing your corrupt work! No mercy
for the guilty!" she said, pointing in his direction and walking
toward him to inflict more bodily harm to him despite his desperate
plea.
A loud scream echoed in the filthy appartment building corridor,
covering up the sound of the insane senshi breaking his arms.
Yet another frontline for Sailor V!
Setsuna looked over the front page of the Maiasa Shimbun, wondering
if she should feel sad or angry at Minako. After finishing her cup
of tea, she decided that anger was the way to go.
"What`s happened to that girl?!? Ever since she woke up, she`s been
on that vigilante bloody rampage!" she said.
"Somebody should tell her that when she comes tonight!" said Michiru
in total agreement.
"No luck tonight I`m afraid. None of us could get a hold of her...
I`ll bet she`s busy making tomorrow`s headlines by now." said Rei.
"Sadly enough, I`m afraid Rei`s right. She`s totally lost her kind
heart we all loved so much." added Usagi. "We won`t be seeing her at
the meetings any time soon."
"Speaking of missing persons, shouldn`t Ami be here by now?" asked
Robin as she reached forward for one of the mint chocolate cookies
that Ikuko had brought them. She`d never tasted mint cookies before
and was very pleased with its fresh taste.
"Yeah, it`s not like her to be late anywhere... especially when she
sets things up!" said Haruka as she tapped her fingers in growing
impatience.
A rapping came at the front door. "I`ll get it!" said Kenji who was
close by. "Hello, Ami, your friends are waiting for you in the
living room." they heard him say.
Ami took off her boots and coat and ran to the living room, dropping
her backpack to the floor and sitting in front of the low table and
opening her laptop there. Immediately numbers and charts began
flashing across the lit screen as the Sailor Mercury Bubble Blast
screen saver disappeared.
"The dark empire is on the move again... I just fought a youma near
my home." she said.
"WHAT???" was the general reaction.
"Don`t worry, I prevailed... after I got my own soul power! I have
a sapphire bow, now, it`s called Deadshot. A real beauty, it takes
me back to the days where I practiced tradional archery!" she added.
"COOL! One more gets more power!" said Usagi, excited to hear that.
"It`s not all good news I`m afraid." said Ami. "I`m sorry to say I
had to use my ultimate attack to neutralize the youma, and besides
the obvious attention it drew, there is more to them as well..."
The senshi looked at each other, wondering what she might mean.
"Does this have anything to do with my tsunami crusher not working
against those youmas at the hot springs?" asked Michiru.
"Yeah, my seraphim wings refused to work too." observed Robin.
Ami took off her glasses and looked at them both. "It`s got
EVERYTHING to do with that." she said dramatically.
The girls all stared at the computer, but no one other than Ami
herself could make sense of the wild shower of numbers there. Try
as they might, the numbers meant nada.
"Ami, help us out here!" pleaded Haruka, her head pounding already.
"Fair enough..." agreed the brainy girl. "This is data regarding our
special powers, more accurately the amount we use when we perform
them. As you see, some are more power intensive than others, from
my bubble blast at a mere 2 percent all the way to Haruka`s world
shacking at a whopping 74 percent!!!"
Usagi could already feel a huge headache soaring her way.
"These percentages you speak of, what do they mean?" wondered
Michiru.
"Excuse me, I forgot to explain! They represent the fraction of the
total Technum available at the location where the attack is used.
The flow of this raw energy tends to vary with several factors such
as geography, time, other attacks already used..." said Ami.
"Long story short, please." snapped Laurella.
"Err... These numbers vary, but these are pretty much reliable as
they are based on averages I calculated over time..." started Ami
who was interrupted by Haruka.
"Hey, why is my world shacking the strongest? No way it beats my
heaven`s blade erradicator!!!" she protested. "Or Michiru`s tsunami
crusher!!!"
"I was getting to that..." replied Ami, scolding the impatient
Haruka with her eyes. "Bear in mind that 100 percent represents the
TOTAL amount of available Technum at any given moment..."
She punched a button and a list appeared on the screen, overimposing
the previous one. It contained a total list of all ultimate attacks
used so far and their respective ratio of energy consumption. The
girls` eyes popped open as the energy levels were displayed.
ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE: 378%
DEEP WATER TSUNAMI CRUSHER: 356%
HEAVEN`S BLADE ERRADICATOR: 406%
SERAPHIM WINGS OF WRATH: 347%
"This isn`t possible!!!" yelled Rei when she saw those numbers.
"We actually used more than three times the available energy?!?"
uttered Laurella, baffled.
"It seems that achieving soul power brought us this energy boost...
because when these attacks were used, the localised Technum drain
factor registered as zero percent! We didn`t use ANY technum AT ALL
when doing the ultimate!!! It all came from US directly!" concluded
Ami, putting her glasses back on.
"So our soul power somehow supercharged us?" asked Usagi.
"Yes, in a nutshell." agreed Ami.
Everyone was shocked that for once, she of all people would get this
right.
"So why can`t we do this again? Recharge ourselves all over???"
wondered Michiru.
"Unfortunately, there is a mystical component to these powers I can`t
quantify... sorry, there`s nothing more I can do here." appologized
Ami.
"And this mystical component... might it have anything to do with the
messiah???" wondered Usagi.
"That`s it, she lost it." snapped Rei.
"I`m serious. Gallagher told me a prophecy about her, and the Prime
was convinced it was Robin, but she has to around SOMEWHERE! Could
she hold the missing piece of the puzzle there." argued Usagi.
"You told us that poem about her already... isn`t she supposed to
resurrect to fight this so-called *Lord of Wynter*???" asked Ami.
"Have you looked outside lately?" said the blonde tomboy, pointing
to the frozen outside.
No one could argue with the cold weather spell. It had seized Japan
in a tight fist of snow and ice. Not only was the land of the rising
sun caught in the coldest fall in history, but temperature was
beginning to wane in other countries too.
"I always figured it would have been Hotaru... but the poor angel
died..." said Michiru, a tear flowing down her cheek. She quickly
brushed it away before someone noticed.
"And the Prime isn`t there to resurrect her besides. What if it was
someone else?" suggested Robin.
"So where would we even look?" asked Setsuna. Even she was at a loss
over that one.
"Pity Gallagher`s not around, we could have asked him directly... I
think he knew." said Usagi.
The mere mention of Technuma`s other soul half enraged Robin, yet it
seemed to make sense. It was unfortunate that was dead as well. This
left the sailor soldiers with a big gap in their plan of action.
"So... what now?" asked Laurella.
"As I see it, all we can do is try and help Minako." said Ami.
The meeting was ajourned with this suggestion.
* * *
Within the shadowy halls of the dark empire fortress, the greatest
such hall was surely the throne room with its gigantic statue of
Metalia which was also the throne sculpted for the use of Queen
Beryl. Now that she was dead, it was used by her two successors,
although only one of them used it with regularity.
A tall slim man stepped out of the multiple shadows of the room,
revealing his slender build and long dark blue hair tied in a
ponytail that reached all the way down his back. His eyes were ice
blue and his stare as cold as his heart. He wore a uniform
practically identical to Kunzite`s, except his had several
decorations of pure aebonite mineral. For all the cold and hard
features his face carried, it still looked exactly as it would for
a sixteen year old.
Holding on nonchalantly to a glass of white wine, he suavely sat on
his throne and went about the daily business.
"What`s the first order today, milord?" asked a youma who knelt in
front of him. She was very tall and even more so she was slim; like
her limbs were slightly too long for her body. Her eyes were also
unnervingly wide for her narrow face.
"Go get me Gingitsune, his operation must be complete by now." he
ordered.
"Yes, milord." she replied. She then left.
Now alone in his throneroom, Aebonite summoned a huge crystal slab
that appeared floating in front of him, to the left of his seat. The
rough yet flat piece of crystal illuminated itself at Aebonite`s
will and acted as a viewscreen.
"Hello my lady." he said to the feminine silhouette that appeared
there.
"Good morning my husband." she replied, her features masked in
darkness.
"You do love to bask in darkness, do you not?" he asked, smiling.
"Oh yes, it is my friend and sister." she replied, coughing
afterwards.
"Do not overexert yourself, dear. Let Fenris help you move around."
he urged her.
"Of course, he watches over me always." she said. A deep growling
beast roar responded to her last comment, and it made her giggle.
"Oh yes, you`re a big howling lummox, aren`t you? You just love
growling for your mistress Crystallite, don`t you?"
"I`ll see you later darling." he said as he switched channel to an
image of Ghangoroth. He was busy supervising the refining process
of some aebonite crystals.
"How goes the process old friend?" asked Aebonite.
"Very good, except for one piece which is refusing to purify."
replied Ghangoroth, the flames around his head shifting as his lips
and jaw moved. The viewscreen really gave the dark empire ruler a
good close-up view of this rather odd psychic phenomenon.
"Keep me posted on your progress." said Aebonite. He switched to the
image of a deep underwater crevice in the ocean. All the way down
there was two fishlike youma followed by Dokuryo, the toxic dragon
whose special skills include underwater breathing. He carried a
heavy piece of aebonite crystal, which he placed in the middle of an
underwater volcano. The volcano cooled down almost immediately as
the crystal drained all its geothermal energy and redirected it
towards the dark empire`s main energy gathering system.
Aebonite smiled and switched the image to another one. It was that
of the earth, but not the beautiful blue gem that humanity knew it
as, but as the frozen wasteland Aebonite wanted it to become. He
looked at the dead planet and laughed wickedly.
"You destroyed us once, Sailor Moon, condemned our world... now the
rebirth of our world will come through the death of your own!!!" he
yelled. His mad screams echoed in the empty hall, no one other than
him being there to hear them.
"DO YOU HEAR ME SAILOR MOON??? YOUR MISERABLE PLANET SHALL
PERISH!!!"
* * *
Gingitsune could feel the painful throbbing in his shoulder, it was
spreading to his chest at an increasing rate as the drugs wore off.
The surgeon, provided courtesy of his dark master, had assured him
that he wouldn`t feel a thing... but then again, he also said that
the new replacement for his left arm would match his remaining right
one. The silverfox tried to move his arm, and to his horror noticed
that the tearing feeling in his shoulder was increased by ten. He
wanted to get up from the operating table, but wouldn`t be able, for
now at least.
"Oh hell, this is even worse than I imagined..." he muttered in gut
wrenching pain.
I`ll just stay here a while longer, he thought, until he`d feel
better. Until he could move without praying for death to claim him
that very instant. He turned his eyes to the left as much as he
could; he tried not to move his neck. He caught a glint of shining
metal where is left arm was before Sailor Mercury trashed his youma
Ganeshya with her infernal freezing attack.
She`d pay for that, not only for putting him in this situation, but
also for killing the only good-looking youma he had in his service.
Gingitsune really liked the tigress centaur.
"Gingitsune..." whispered a sweet feminine voice behind him. He froze
in fear as he recognized it.
"What the hell do you want, Manticide?" he snarled, not caring to
show his feelings to this frightning creature. Although her true
nature was conceiled under human appearance, he could just tell what
would happen if he got TOO close to her. Unlike Ganeshya, this one
was interested in him for... other reasons.
"Our lord Aebonite has work for us..." she said, getting closer to
him and caressing his face with one of her very long fingers.
"I`m working with you, Manticide, but that`s all. Don`t get any wild
ideas about replacing Ganeshya in her *special* duties." snarled the
general.
The youma felt rage in her heart as her superior scorned her advances.
She didn`t say anything, but brutally crushed his freshly repaired
shoulder in her viselike grip. Ripping a sharp yell of pain out of
him, she felt somewhat avenged. With a smug smile, she turned back
and returned to the throne room. "Are you coming or what?" she
snarled, waiting in the doorway for the silverfox to follow.
"Yeah, yeah, I`m coming." he said with difficulty, getting up from
the bloodstained table. He was able to move a bit more, now, and in
a little while would regain full mobility. He came along with
Manticide, moving his new metal arm in small circles to get used to
the new limb.
* * *
"Hi mom, I`m home!" said the exhausted Minako as she entered her
house. She could barely move her stiff muscles, but she was
satisfied. The criminal element of Tokyo was terrified of her, as
well it should be. Sailor V made the law now, and her rules were
written in blood.
"Hello, Minako darling! Where were you this time?" she asked her.
"To the movies with a friend." she lied. She snickered as she
remembered how she was really breaking more bones in a maffia
hideout.
"You haven`t seen Ami in a while, she`s been calling a lot lately...
and so have your friends Rei, Robin and especially Usagi..."
"Ami and I have broken up... she thinks I`m not the same, and she
still hangs a lot around them. I just don`t want to bump into her
just yet." she said quite truthfully.
"Well, we all change over time, don`t we? It`s like that new hair
color you have been using this week. It`s making you look more
mature, this darker shade of blonde. I like it!" said her mom.
Minako looked in the lobby mirror and noticed it for the first time.
Her honey gold hair was now a more subdued blonde with auburn
highlights. This scared her, as this change had occured all by
itself... and since her hair was darkening, maybe she didn`t imagine
her sailor fuku shifting towards a more sinister color scheme as
well!
"You should rest more, my dear. You look tired!" said Minako`s
mother, with heartfelt concern.
"Yeah, I should..." she agreed. She went to bed, wondering what was
happening to her.
* * *
"Hello Makoto, how are you feeling this evening?" asked Dr.Mizuno to
her patient. Makoto smiled.
"Much better. Getting to use a wheelchair is tough, but I`m getting
the hang of it." she replied.
This middle aged woman looked so beautiful, thought the teenager.
She`d always dreaded getting older, but seeing this doctor who
seemed so youthful despite her long working hours was very
encouraging.
"Dr.Mizuno, may I ask you a question?" she said.
"Sure, Makoto, ask away."
"How can I make sure to look as good as you when I start aging?" she
said, a little afraid to anger her doctor with an age related
question.
The doctor smiled. "Just make sure you take good care of yourself,
that`s all. There`s no real secret other than that." she explained.
"Is it for that cute guy who helped you get here that you want to
stay beautiful?"
Makoto flushed and looked down.
"So it is, it seems... but you don`t have to fear for losing your
looks, darling, you`re still so very young!" she said, placing her
hands on her patient`s shoulder. "Get some sleep, now, you want to
look your best to see your boyfriend tomorrow morning when he comes
in first thing as he does every day."
"Thanks." whispered Makoto. "Would you lower my bed for the night?"
"Sure thing." said the doctor, turning the handle on the hospital
bed until it was totally horizontal and Makoto could be in a good
sleeping position. "Sleep well now." she said and left.
The tall girl proded her legs again before she closed her eyes. Still
no feeling whatsoever.
"If it hadn`t been for Xavier, I`d be dead now..." she thought. It
suddenly struck her how her life had almost ended so stupidly with
a bullet in a dead end alley, after all the odds she`d beaten so far.
A quote from an old batman comic came to her mind...
"I don`t know how it will end for me... maybe the Scarecrow, the
Joker... or simply a lucky thug with a handgun."
Damn. When did her life turn into a manga?!? With that thought, she
fell asleep.
* * *
Partly from respect and partly out of fear, Gingitsune knelt to his
master Aebonite, despite the tearing pain it caused him. Manticide
imitated him, and both awaited his signal to get back up.
With a smooth motion, Aebonite pushed out of his face the dozen or
so long hair that weren`t tied in his ponytail and looked at them
with an emotionless gaze. He enjoyed their humiliating posture for
a while, then motionned them to their feet.
"I have a mission for you, Gingitsune. Two, actually." explained
Aebonite.
"I live to serve." he replied.
"First of all, you will contact another one of our allies which
served under Beryl... she hid herself even better than Thorelia and
Ghangoroth, but we tracked her down. You will remind her of her oath
of loyalty to her mistress and have her return to us."
"Consider it done. And the second part?"
"You will take Manticide and a few youma in addition to her... take
this block of aebonite mineral with you and wait in a Tokyo public
spot of my choosing." explained the ice cold ruler, materializing a
medium sized chunk of his crystal namesake. The crystal floated to
Gingitsune who grabbed it using is right hand, still a bit
uncomfortable using his left one. The metal replacement was not
only akward, is was also slightly mismatched to his other one as
well...
"This one? Isn`t it the one that failed the refining process?" asked
Manticide.
"Precisely." answered Aebonite. "It absorbs no energy, but instead
emits a signature radiation many times more powerful than a piece
half its size."
"Isn`t that going to attract the attention of the human warrior
girls?" wondered the silverfox.
"Oh yes, that it certainly will." answered Aebonite, grinning
wickedly.
"Oh, I understand." replied Gingitsune.
"Bring me back as many corpses as you can, that is your mission."
"Yes, my lord." said the general of the dark empire, turning around
to leave.
"Gingitsune, one last thing before you leave..."
"Yes, milord?"
"Come back victorious... or don`t bother returning at all."
The warning couldn`t be clearer.
* * *
The girls were leaving the concluded meeting, and pondering the
words of Ami.
"So we only get one shot of those extreme power attacks..." said
Setsuna as she entered Haruka`s car. "This is very problematic."
"Yeah, I already used mine!" added Haruka as she hit the steering
wheel in frustration.
"I used mine too, but I consider rescuing Minako from Gallagher a
good use of it." said Michiru, trying to calm her girlfriend down.
"Even after what she`s been doing lately?" asked Haruka with sarcasm,
turning the key and starting her engine.
Michiru lowered her eyes, feeling a bit embarassed. "She`ll turn
around, I know her better than that." she whispered.
"Let`s hope so... before she starts killing people instead of just
maiming them." mumbled Robin.
While their car left the driveway and brought the four outer
warriors women, Rei ran outside to catch up with Ami as she walked
home by herself.
"Wait up! There`s something we have to talk about..." she said,
panting to catch her breath after catching up to her friend. "Can
we talk somewhere private? It`s really important!"
"Okay, but we have to stop at the hospital first. I have to meet
mom there before I go home." said Ami.
"Sure, do what you have to." said Rei. She was glad to drop by the
hospital, as she wanted to get an appointment with doctor Mizuno
soon. This would be a great occasion to do it.
While Rei and Ami went their own way, Shingo walked Laurella out
and offered to walk her home.
"It`s so cold outside, too bad you couldn`t take your motorbike
here." he commented.
"Yeah, that`s true. I`ll have to leave it in the garage for the
winter now. But I don`t mind walking if it`s with you..." said
Laurella, taking her boyfriend`s arm. "So why do you put up with
me, mighty knight?" she asked in a hushed whisper.
"Because I love you, I always did. Ever since I was a little boy, I
saw in my dreams a gorgeous warrior dressed in a suit silver and
white... I knew you were out there, and that knowledge has always
conforted me." he replied.
Laurella cuddled to Shingo, a large smile on her face. "I love you
too, kit. I would die for our love, never doubt it for an instant."
she whispered.
"I never did doubt that." he whispered back.
* * *
Doctor Mizuno finished her last round of patients, completing their
charts for the hospital`s records. It was tedious thing to do, but a
vital task nonetheless to ensure proper care for the many patients
under her auspices. She took great care for the utmost accuracy in
her reports.
"See you tomorrow, doctor!" said the last evening nurse who was
going back home for the night.
"See you tomorrow, Natsumi." she answered, not even looking up from
her work.
The old battery operated clock ticking relentlessly above the long
term care unit reception was fast approaching nine o`clock, its worn
hands moving ever so regularly in a noisy fashion as the seconds
elapsed, but the middle-aged doctor did not hear it. She had learned
to tune it out, pouring all of her attention on the task at hand.
As she filled out one of her many forms, a man approached the desk
in a silent and creepy, almost inhuman way. Once again, she didn`t
even lift her eyes to see who was there.
"Visiting hours are over, I`m afraid, please come back tomorrow
morning at nine." she said in a polite tone.
"It`s you I came to see." said the man.
Her pen snaped in her hand as she clenched it much too hard. THAT
VOICE! No, it couldn`t be...
"Gingitsune?!?" she uttered, fear grasping her throat as she reeled
from the shock of surprise.
"I`m happy to see you too, Quartzite. Or should I call you Mizuno
Akane? That is the name you go by these days, as it`s my
understanding." said the silver haired man, smiling wickedly.
"Don`t you ever call me Quartzite again, you evil freak! Those days
are behind me, now." she said, cringing her teeth as she spoke. Her
entire body language screamed "leave me alone".
"You shouldn`t be ashamed of your desertion, old friend. Aebonite has
decreed an amnesty for all the deserters who return to serve the new
dark empire. Which remind me... WHY did you ever leave in the first
place??? You were Jedite`s top lieutenant eighteen years ago, Beryl
valued you above all the other servants of her generals, you might
even have made it as a general yourself with your deceitful cunning!
Tell me, what made you disappear from our ranks?"
"First off, it`s none of your damn business. Second, I wouldn`t
serve Beryl today let alone one of her bratty heirs, and lastly...
BITE ME, SILVERFREAK!!!" she snapped.
Gingitsune was a bit disappointed, but not completely defeated yet.
Okay, he thought, go to plan B.
"I`ll let you think this over, Quartzite. This world is dying, and
you might not want to stay behind when it turns into a frozen
hellhole and the dark empire leaves into the sunset."
With that, he turned around and left.
When she was finally alone, Akane threw away her broken pen and
clipboard, trying hard not to cry. All those years she had managed
to stay one step ahead of Beryl`s spies and now her old allies had
finally found her out.
"Damn you all, I`m not coming back!" she thought in strong resolve.
"Mom?" sounded a voice from the other end of the corridor.
"Ami darling?"
"Are you okay?" she said as she picked up her mother`s clipboard
and set it on the reception`s counter.
Feeling that Ami and her mom had some kind of problem to work out,
Rei decided to keep a little distance. Keeping to a badly lit part
of the corridor, she nonetheless managed to see all that was going
on. She`d meet them only if her friend invited her over.
"What`s the matter?" asked Ami. She knew her mother well, and could
tell she was trying to suppress something.
"Nothing, my dear." she lied. "I just want you to know I love you
more than anything in the world and nothing can ever make me leave
you."
"I know, mom, I feel this way too." said Ami. Although emotional
situations were somewhat of a touchy matter to her, she never had
any trouble communicating with her mother for some reason. As if
she reserved her more emotional expressions for her. She hugged
her tight. "I love you mom." she said.
"I haven`t seen your girlfriend much lately, dear... tell me, is
anything wrong between you two?" asked her mother.
"Right now we`re... keeping a little distance." she replied.
"So, you are having some difficulties."
"It`s like she`s a completely different person now. She`s so cold
and distant... she`s not the same Minako I fell in love with!" she
explained, trying to contain her emotions like she`d always seen her
mother do.
"Don`t worry my darling, you`ll work this out. You`re a smart girl,
and you always find a way."
Rei smiled as she saw this touching moment between Ami and her
mother. Shewished her own mother was still alive, she`d left her
when she was so young... but then she noticed someone else watching
them from the shadows, a vile presence with an evil aura. A silver
haired man she remembered from her vision.
"Hey, you!" she called out.
Visibly surprised, Gingitsune fled. He was satisfied, having what he
wanted: he now knew why Quartzite had defected from the dark kingdom,
to protect her unborn child who was now a young woman. The silverfox
had information that would serve his master well, and the first part
of his mission was a success even though Mizuno Akane had refused to
follow him. He could blackmail her later, he thought.
Rei ran in hot pursuit, following him closely.
"What was that?" wondered Akane who heard Rei calling out to her
enemy.
"I don`t know..." answered Ami. She then noticed the faint beeping
sound from her backpack; her laptop was emitting the specific alert
chime she`d programmed to warn her of detected aebonite radiation
in the vicinity. It had been beeping for a few minutes now, but
she`d just noticed it.
"It`s my beeper, mom, I have to go now..." she lied, and ran off
after Rei.
Akane had the feeling that her daughter was running right into
trouble. She hated doing this, but she dropped everything she was
doing to follow as well.
* * *
Standing in the darkest corner of Chibi-Usa`s room, Ronmar stood
vigilant watch over the little girl who`d been his daughter Celeste
in her previous incarnation. He loved this little girl with all his
heart, and for a knightmare this was quite an accomplishment. He
would kill to protect her, and would gladly lay down his life for
her.
Right now, however, his other reincarnated daughter was in trouble,
he could feel it. Taking a quick look at the peacefully resting
small lady, he decided that she was safe for now; he could leave a
while to help Rei.
That he did. Turning into a small cloud of acrid smoke, he slipped
out the bedroom window and became the night, floating silently to
the place where he`d fing Sailor Mars.
Smelling something weird in the air, Chibi-Usa woke up. She saw
nothing around her but her moonlit room, but she had the very strong
feeling SOMEONE was there just a second ago.
"Who`s there?" she asked.
Seeing no one, she crawled back under her covers and went back to
sleep. Just as she was going back to the land of dreams, she
whispered a single word that seemed to bring her confort whenever
she pronounced it.
"Ronmar..."
* * *
"Take a good look at this, Thorelia, as this is the final chance for
Gingitsune to redeem his worthless hide." said Aebonite as he called
his ally to look into his viewscreen. "You wouldn`t know where
Ghangoroth is right now, would you?"
"Sorry to say no, milord." said the sculptress as she approached
her master`s throne and sat at his feet to enjoy the upcoming battle.
Aebonite looked at her face and was pleased to notice how beautiful
it looked.
"You seem quite adept at molding this new synthetic material I
provided you." he observed.
"Thank you for that, lord Aebonite, it lasts much longer than the
other one I used before. My masks can last up to three days now
until my face starts to reject them." she said, smiling. "But it
still doesn`t beat human flesh, I`m afraid."
"Speaking of which, have you decided on a human`s face you`d like
to have for yourself?" asked the tall and slim leader of the forces
of evil.
"Yes, I have." replied Thorelia. "Here she is." she said, handing
over a small photograph to Aebonite. He took it and agreed with
her choice.
"A very nice face indeed, we`ll make sure that this young warrior
girl doesn`t get her lovely traits smashed in combat." he said.
"But enough with this, let`s see if Gingitsune can make use of this
new arm he was given, not to mention those youmas you crafted so
carefully." he added, making the small photograph disappear in a
quick sleight of hand motion.
"Yes, I can hardly wait to see Manticide and Cancera in a real
battle!" said Thorelia like a proud mother.
* * *
"Damn!" thought Rei, looking left and right for any trace of
Gingitsune who somehow managed to slip away from her. "Where did
that snake go to?"
The streets were rather crowded at this time, and the late shoppers
moving up and down the busy streets were providing a great cover for
anyone trying to be discreet. Where should she look? The stores were
an endless supply of great hiding spots and searching them all could
take hours.
"Wait... up!" said Ami, running up to Rei and panting hard to catch
her breath. I really have to spend more time in a gym, thought the
brainy girl.
"You`re too late, Ami, I lost him." said Rei, sighing loudly. "He
got away I`m afraid."
"Not quite..." replied Ami, opening her laptop and showing Rei her
aebonite mineral readings. "I got them pinned down over there, at
this big mall three blocks down. This signal seems a bit obvious,
though, I smell a trap."
"I don`t care, I`m not letting him escape me!" snapped Rei who ran
towards the spot that Ami had indicated.
"Wait for me, Rei, I`m coming, remember?" replied Ami. Too late, she
was already gone. Hiding into a close by phone cabin, Ami called the
others on her communicator- there was trouble ahead, and she`d need
reinforcements for sure. She only had time to reach Laurella and
Usagi when her mother surprised her and pulled her out of the cabin.
"Mom?!? Shouldn`t you still be at the hospital?" she asked.
"Yes, and you shouldn`t be chasing around for people like
Gingitsune!" she replied.
"What?"
"Do you think I didn`t notice you were running after that man spying
on us? You musn`t get involved with dangerous criminals like him!"
she ordered her daughter.
"But how do you know that he`s a..."
"Don`t argue with me, young lady, just go home and forget all about
him, let the police handle that!" she said forcefully.
Ami was stunned. She never heard her mother get angry like this, or
give her any orders before.
"Go home, Ami. NOW." she repeated herself.
"Err... okay." conceded Ami. She turned back and headed home,
watching over her shoulder to see if her mother would follow. Sure
enough, she turned around and sprinted in Rei`s direction.
"Mom, why are you concerned with this?" she silently wondered. She
quickly changed direction and followed her mother.
* * *
"Do you think they`ll come?" wondered the short and stout youma
called Cancera. Sitting down on a small briefcase containing the
flawed aebonite crystal. She flexed her bulging biceps in an attempt
to fight her boredom.
"History has shown that the girl fighters attacked us at every turn,
appearing out of nowhere and being there to stop us in even our most
secretive missions. This piece of crystal is sending such an obvious
signal to track, it`s very unlikely they`ll pass it up." replied the
tall and eerily slender youma Manticide who practiced a few martial
arts moves to warm herself up.
A dark portal opened up in front of the two vile creatures, allowing
the evil Gingitsune to reach his two acolytes who were waiting out
for their battle to begin. Set in the middle of the mall`s huge
parking lot, there`d be plenty of room to maneuver, just as the dark
empire general liked it.
"I`ve attracted some attention to myself as I tried to get Quartzite
to rejoin our cause, and that can mean only one thing." he said.
"The sailor warriors are on their way." guessed Manticide.
"Correct. Their usual pattern, as the records of Beryl`s encounters
with them has shown." he replied.
"All right! Finally I can smash some skulls!!!" said Cancera, getting
to her feet and bashing her fist into her palm in feverish
anticipation.
"You know the plan, girls... I need to know the weaknesses of
whichever girls show up first, so I`ll study them from a distance
while you get things rolling." said their leader.
A silhouette entered the neon lit concrete area and made her way
across the numerous cars that were parked in neat rows while their
owners were inside shopping. The youmas looked at each other while
Gingitsune backed away slowly, eager to get things going to warm
themselves up.
The girl coming their way was Sailor Mars. They had NO idea how
things would soon get...
"Who are you?" asked Manticide who stepped in front of her master
as he slipped out of harm`s way.
"I am a defender of love and justice, keeper of the sacred fire,
Sailor Mars!" said the scout of mars, taking the most dramatic pose
she could muster. Her temper was burning as brightly as the flame
of her devotion to the fire god, and that was not a good thing as
it seriously impaired her judgement. She should have waited for
reinforcements, but had charged ahead anyway.
"We`ll see how good you are, mars!" said Cancera, rushing forward
toward Rei. She nimbly jumped over the dashing youma and landed in
front of Manticide. Avoiding her serie of swift punches, she gave
the second youma a solid kick to the waist and an elbow punch to the
jaw. The slender youma fell down like a rag doll, knocked senseless
by the pain.
Running back towards Mars, Cancera took her by surprise this time.
She slammed into her, body slamming Sailor Mars to the snow covered
ground. She used all her weight as they fell down to crush the earth
defender and wound her as much as possible. Rei didn`t appreciate
this.
"You`ll pay for this!" she thought as she placed her hands on
Cancera`s face. "FIRE SOUL!!!" she screamed, her palms filling with
scorching fire. The youma threw herself back, holding her scalded
face in her hands. She screamed out in pain, swearing loudly enough
to make a dead nun blush.
"You`ll pay for that!!!" screamed Cancera. In a flash, her body took
a more bulky appearance, covering her chest, head and limbs in a soft
red armor and replacing her hands with crablike pincers. She was now
a huge crustacean warrior ready to take heavy punishment without
blinking.
"We`ll rip you apart, you bitch!" said Manticide who got off the
ground. Rei turned around and saw that the other youma had taken her
true form, a preying mantis human hybrid. Her hands had extended into
serrated third arm segments, her mouth twisted into sharp mandibules
and her whole body was a veritable fighting machine of unearthly
insect agility.
"Oh hell..." thought Sailor Mars. She tried to think of what to do
next, but the two youma attacked simultaneously. The heavy blows of
Cancera and the swift strikes of Manticide sent her down in no more
than an instant. Using their twisted limbs, the youma gave each
other a high five.
"Score one for the dark empire!!!" they shouted.
"You two are a disgrace to your master." said a sweet feminine voice
coming from a very short distance- looking to find the source, the
youma looked up and saw a woman standing atop the electric light pole
closest to them. Dressed in red and black, she wore a black face mask
that was somewhat reminiscent of early hockey goalkeeper masks. "You
have no grace, no style and no honor." she added.
"Hey, you`re not one of the sailor girls!" said Cancera.
"Wow, you`re very smart!" said Quartzite. She pointed her hand
towards the crab youma and a surge of blue lightning surged from
Quartzite, hitting the youma head on. Suddenly, the bulky youma`s
weight increased tenfold as the pull of gravity increased around
her; she collapsed immediately, unable to stand up with so much
pressure exerted on her back.
Quartzite shot another blast at Manticide, but the nimble youma
dodged easily before returning fire: she pointed her serrated pincers
to the intruding fighter and fired a serie of deadly darts in her
direction. Most of them missed the leaping warrior, but a few of
them hit her left arm, drawing blood.
"Well, this is getting interesting." thought Gingitsune as he
analyzed his opponents and sized up their weaknesses.
This new warrior that`d just shown up looked strange, thought Mars,
but at least she`s fighting the youma. For now she seemed to be on
her side, and she could use all the help she could get.
"BURNING MANDALA!!!" screamed Sailor Mars, summoning a great circle
of fire that created twelve individual small circlets of burning
flame; she aimed at Manticide, cutting her down mere seconds before
the youma could skewer the wounded Quartzite.
"Are you all right?" she asked to her unexpected ally. She took a
look at her shoulder and saw it was pierced with several darts made
of Manticide`s armored hide. Rei wanted to pull them out, but the
masked fighter objected.
"If you remove them, it could cause a hemorrage. Leave them in for
now." she said, her eyes showing clear sides of supressed pain.
"I have to take you to a doctor!" Mars objected.
"Don`t worry... I know a good one." said Quartzite, giggling.
This felt so weird. This strange woman had powers whose energy gave
her shudders, so much that they could only be evil in nature- yet
so gentle and kind hearted she was that Rei`s intuition told her she
could be trusted.
"Can you move?" asked Rei.
"I can walk... but these darts are venemous I`m afraid, it`s
knocking my strenght out. I can`t fight anymore." answered Quartzite.
A loud scream came from the street several dozens feet away, it was
Sailor Mercury in her brand new senshi outfit. "MARS! BEHIND YOU!!!"
The soldier of mars turned around, but was too slow. Her body was
trapped under the heavy youma Cancera who pinned her down helplessly.
"When Manticide comes around, she`ll be VERY disappointed that I
didn`t save any of you for her to rip apart!" screamed the burned
youma, holding up her pincer to tear Mars` throat open. Mars
panicked, as she was completely immobilized and Mercury was too far
to help.
Cancera was about to strike, but she suddenly froze up as a strange
acrid smell offended Rei`s nose. The crablike monster fell down
besides Sailor Mars, her backside torn open by the large L-shaped
blade of Ronmar`s battle axe. The dread knight swung his axe up and
rested it on his shoulder as he offered his other hand to help Mars
get back on her feet.
"I`m not too late, am I?" asked the dread knight, his red eyes
glowing under the visor of his shining golden armor.
"N... no..." said the shaken Mars. "I`m glad you came when you did."
"Anything for my girls."
"Okay, playtime`s over." taunted Gingitsune as he came back under
the electric glow of the parking`s neon lighting, removing his winter
coat to reveal his muscled chest... and his brand new left arm, which
was both stronger and mismatched to his right one. It was made of a
silvery material, and a somewhat appropriate look considering his
name. He firmly planted his feet in the packed snow and awaited his
opponents. "IT`S SHOWTIME!!!"
The wounded Manticide stood up, her thick insect hide scarred by the
fire attack and her many antennas melted beyond recognition. "I`m
with you, master..." she whispered.
"You better step away, hum... what`s your name?" asked Mars.
"Quartzite." answered the masked woman who slowly staggered from the
battleground.
"Let her go." whispered Gingitsune to Manticide. "We`ll deal with
her later."
In a bright flash of sapphire light, Deadshot appeared in the hands
of Sailor Mercury who joined her allies Sailor Mars and Ronmar;
Gingitsune looked silently at Manticide who "smiled" back at him
with her mantis mandibules and multi-faceted eyes. They were ready
to fight as well.
* * *
"Am I late for the big fight?" asked the psionic Ghangoroth to
Thorelia and Aebonite who were intensely staring at the crystal
viewscreen which was transmitting the battle of Gingitsune live
from Tokyo.
"You missed the warmup, but the main action is yet to start, my
friend." replied his master.
"Where were you anyway?" asked Thorelia. "Your last assignement at
the aebonite refinement plant was done hours ago!" she noticed.
"I had some personal business to attend to. Let`s leave it at that."
he answered, showing not the slightest trace of emotion as was his
usual manner.
Aebonite wondered what was going on in his general`s head- he wished
that for once, HE was the one with the telepathic gift.
"You don`t want that, milord, trust me." said Ghangoroth. "Knowing
everything about everyone without even having to ask, it gets old
really fast. Let`s watch the show, now, shall we?"
* * *
The clash was brutal, as Mars, Mercury and Ronmar charged with all
their strenght at their two enemies- Manticide did her best to stop
their assault, but three quick ice arrows from Deadshot silenced her
quickly, leaving only Gingitsune... who was silently laughing as they
rushed him.
With a single outburst of kinetic energy, the silver haired man
raised a powerful forcefield around himself, blockcing the axe,
arrow and firebolt soaring his way. The three attacks hit the
glowing shield with unimaginable force, though they did nothing as
the energy these blows delivered was readily absorbed by the dark
empire general and redirected right back to its source. All three
attackers were thrown back with force, landing six feet behind.
They were grateful for the thick layer of packed snow covering the
concrete parking lot, as it prevented them from being seriously
injured.
"Now it`s time to show you what I`m capable of!" said the twisted
warrior. From the edge of his forcefield, an energy buildup appeared
and swirled around the surface of the shield, gathering and focusing
into a single spot. With a mighty punch, Gingitsune hit his shield
from the inside on that very spot to create a powerful blast of
kinetic force- having spotted Ronmar`s recent chest wounds, he
aimed his beam right there. Ronmar was blown away by the exploding
bolt of force, and his barely healed ribs were smashed right away.
He had no choice but to dissolve back into smoke until he could have
regenerated himself to health.
"The dread knight makes one." mocked Gingitsune. "Who`s next?"
"Let`s combine our forces!" suggested Mercury.
"Right!" agreed Mars. "FIRE SOOOOOOUUUUL!" she screamed, a small
fireball forming at her fingertips, soaring towards her enemy;
Mercury shot an ice arrow at the same moment so that the two shots
would meet- they formed a flaming bolt of cold fire going straight
towards the forcefield. The screeching attack made contact,
detonated in a blazing temperature shock... and did absolutely
nothing.
"I don`t believe this..." uttered Mercury.
"Believe it." replied Gingitsune, sending a second volley towards
Mercury who was hit squarely in the head, sending her down in total
disorientation and disabling her temporarily. Before Mars could
react, the dark empire general quickly glanced at her and aimed his
next shot at the weakest part of her body- the blow struck her
straight in her lower stomach, knocking her down on her back.
When she tried to get back up, only two sensations were
distinguishable from this pain that tore her insides... the evil
laughing echoing through the air, and the warm, sticky blood
trickling along her tight from underneath her skirt. Her mind
clearing from the fog that had seized her when she was hit, Rei
realized to her horror WHERE this blood was coming from and WHY she
was bleeding- putting her hands to her stomach, she could no longer
feel the tiny spark of life that had been there for almost three
months now.
As Sailor Mars began to scream, Gingitsune stopped laughing. He
recognized this look on her face and the sound of her scream, for
he`d seen it a thousand years before on Queen Serenity`s face. It
was the pain of a mother loosing her child.
A spark of light clicked deep in Rei`s soul, as a response to her
distress. In an instant, she was bathed in hellfire which burned up
her scout uniform to replace it with a full senshi fuku bright red
as the flames of hell itself, along with the visor and metal guards
that the other senshi had also received. The hellfire then shot
upwards, amplifying itself a thousandfold and screaming along with
Rei, their two voices blending together the calls of suffering and
of fiery retribution that took the form of a blazing phoenix.
As the phoenix soared into the Tokyo sky and grew to an unimaginable
wingspan of more than a thousand feet, Gingitsune panicked.
He knew he was going to die.
The huge phoenix illuminated the entire town with the strength of a
dozen suns, burning up the air with the power of the hottest heat
wave, turning the icy winter into blasting summer for a few moments.
Gingitsune ran, but he didn`t even know why. That firebird was so
large, he`s have to run for an hour just so he would not be directly
underneath it. With the cries of pain from Mars still ringing in his
ears, he looked up at the blinding form. As all the snow around him
melted and cold water seeped inside his boots, he could have sworn
the phoenix was staring straight at him.
With tears running down her face, Sailor Mars screamed the words
that sealed the fate of her unborn child`s murderer.
"INFERNAL PHOENIX FIRE!!!"
The phoenix plunged down from the sky, lunging forward towards
Gingitsune and concentrating all its infernal heat into a single
beam of scorching death. The general quickly raised his forcefield
back up, but the might of the fiery doom outside was too much to
endure; the air inside his protective bubble soon boiled, drying his
lungs in a second and silencing his screams of pain from the third
degree burns forming all over his body. As his replacement arm
melted and his skin cracked and crumbled, his shield gave away to
the flaming onslaught and the entire blast of fire formed a ten feet
wide ball of oblivion around him.
When the flames died down, the twenty feet wide smoking crater
surrounded by incinerated car wrecks and piles of twisted metal
lodged inside cooling puddles of molten concrete were all that
remained of the once mighty Gingitsune.
Throughout Tokyo, there was awe-inspired silence. Nobody could have
possibly missed THAT.
Everyone was silent, except for the now soul powered Rei who cried
the loss of her child.
Sailor Mercury joined her and knelt besides her, holding the wounded
senshi in her arms.
"I`m so sorry Rei, I had no idea..." she said, silently crying along
with her friend.
"Why did this have to happen, Ami? I lost what was most important to
me, all for those damned powers I never even asked for!!!" she said,
crying her heart out.
"Come with me, Rei, you need help." said Ami. Her head still hurt
like hell, but right now she couldn`t care less. Her friend needed
help, and her mother was the best doctor in this town to do that.
Providing she hadn`t been hurt in all this confusion... why DID she
come here anyway, Ami wondered, she distinctly remembered seeing her
head this way...
* * *
"Well it seems that the faith placed in Gingitsune was misplaced
after all. He not only screwed up his mission but also made one of
our enemies even stronger now." commented Aebonite.
"Too bad. We could have used his ability to find weaknesses."
commented Ghangoroth.
"Regardless, our plan goes on. We`ll take advantage of this flashy
display of power as a smokescreen to our second phase. Victory shall
yet be ours." said Aebonite with pride. "The death of this planet
shall ensure the rebirth of our own world!!!"
TO BE CONTINUED...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
Fifteen years ago...
The blue and red twin stars set slowly over the horizon of the
Delriad planet`s capital city, Fiorina. It had been twenty-six hours
since it had done so the previous day, as the days there were
slightly longer than what humans have grown accustomed to on earth.
A whole day had gone by without a single motion taking place, without
a word uttered, without a breath taken.
This once beautiful city-state of art and culture had been torn down
into smoking ruins and cold ashes by the merciless armies of the
dreaded Queen Beryl in her insane lust for more power. Hundreds of
slaughtered men and women laid dead, many huddled over the lifeless
corpses of the children they died trying vainly to protect.
Yet another world had fallen to the servant of the almighty Metalia.
Many more would follow. The forces of darkness were on the rise, and
few could withstand their power.
Amidst the ruins and the slain bodies, two figures embodying this
very evil strode slowly, avoiding the strewn corpses and abandonned
weapons. They walked around searching for something they felt but
could not define. Try as they might, they couldn`t put their finger
on it.
"Why are we here?" wondered Zoisite. He felt slightly nauseous at
the odor of decay that began to rise from the corpses starting to
rot after a day and a half.
"I`m not sure myself." said Kunzite. "You felt it too, this strange
aura of power emanating from this dead battlefield."
"Yes, it`s true. I felt it vaguely before the battle, but the large
amount of people gathered in this city hid it from us." admitted
Zoisite.
"And now, we can feel it to its fullest... but what is it??? A
weapon? A spell cast on this place? An artifact left behind??? We
must know, for the glory of our dark kingdom!" said Kunzite.
"I`m curious to find out... and I can`t wait to leave this wasteland
too. This blood soaked dirt is going to destroy my boots!" complained
the effiminate Zoisite.
Kunzite laughed in a barely audible voice.
"Ever concerned about your beauty, are you my love?"
"That`s just who I am." said the general, twirling his long blonde
ponytail playfully.
Just as he was going to give his lover a witty reply, Kunzite heard
something he never would have expected there: the faint sobbing of
a lone survivor. The two generals of the dark kingdom moved towards
the weakened child who`d been crying over the dead body of his
mother; she`d obviously died to save his life during the desperate
struggle of Fiorina.
"I don`t believe this..." said Kunzite.
The child was a little boy, no more than a year old. His ice blue
eyes were swollen by crying for over a day, and his dark blue hair
was stained by the blood of those who died around him. His pure white
clothes were equally stained, and his strenght was runing out.
Despite the aura of power he radiated, he would die off rapidly in
this forsaken world.
"This child... is the source of this power? Can you imagine how
strong he is, that we felt him all the way from our orbiting ship???"
asked Kunzite.
Zoisite knelt next to him, looking at the desperate child. Seeing
the feminine looking warrior, the small boy leapt into his arms,
hugging him tight. He felt secure in his arms.
"Look at him... I think he likes me." said Zoisite.
"Yes, indeed." agreed Kunzite.
"So what do we do?"
"Let`s return to Queen Beryl. She asked us to find the source of
this power, and we have."
"All right. Come with us, little one... hey, we don`t even know his
name!" observed Zoisite.
"We`ll just have to give him a new one... how about Azurite?"
suggested Kunzite.
"No, it`s no good! Hey, I know... AEBONITE!" said Zoisite with
conviction.
"I know better than to argue with you, darling..." concluded
Kunzite.
They kissed and returned to their master, bringing back the orphan
child.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 28
EVIL IN SMALL DOSES
"No, please, don`t hurt me Sailor V! I was just hired to protect him
from his enemies!!!" pleaded a large hulking brute as he wriggled on
the floor, his broken nose bleeding a lot.
"You were there taking part, you collected blood money for your
services and you hurt many people doing your corrupt work! No mercy
for the guilty!" she said, pointing in his direction and walking
toward him to inflict more bodily harm to him despite his desperate
plea.
A loud scream echoed in the filthy appartment building corridor,
covering up the sound of the insane senshi breaking his arms.
Yet another frontline for Sailor V!
Setsuna looked over the front page of the Maiasa Shimbun, wondering
if she should feel sad or angry at Minako. After finishing her cup
of tea, she decided that anger was the way to go.
"What`s happened to that girl?!? Ever since she woke up, she`s been
on that vigilante bloody rampage!" she said.
"Somebody should tell her that when she comes tonight!" said Michiru
in total agreement.
"No luck tonight I`m afraid. None of us could get a hold of her...
I`ll bet she`s busy making tomorrow`s headlines by now." said Rei.
"Sadly enough, I`m afraid Rei`s right. She`s totally lost her kind
heart we all loved so much." added Usagi. "We won`t be seeing her at
the meetings any time soon."
"Speaking of missing persons, shouldn`t Ami be here by now?" asked
Robin as she reached forward for one of the mint chocolate cookies
that Ikuko had brought them. She`d never tasted mint cookies before
and was very pleased with its fresh taste.
"Yeah, it`s not like her to be late anywhere... especially when she
sets things up!" said Haruka as she tapped her fingers in growing
impatience.
A rapping came at the front door. "I`ll get it!" said Kenji who was
close by. "Hello, Ami, your friends are waiting for you in the
living room." they heard him say.
Ami took off her boots and coat and ran to the living room, dropping
her backpack to the floor and sitting in front of the low table and
opening her laptop there. Immediately numbers and charts began
flashing across the lit screen as the Sailor Mercury Bubble Blast
screen saver disappeared.
"The dark empire is on the move again... I just fought a youma near
my home." she said.
"WHAT???" was the general reaction.
"Don`t worry, I prevailed... after I got my own soul power! I have
a sapphire bow, now, it`s called Deadshot. A real beauty, it takes
me back to the days where I practiced tradional archery!" she added.
"COOL! One more gets more power!" said Usagi, excited to hear that.
"It`s not all good news I`m afraid." said Ami. "I`m sorry to say I
had to use my ultimate attack to neutralize the youma, and besides
the obvious attention it drew, there is more to them as well..."
The senshi looked at each other, wondering what she might mean.
"Does this have anything to do with my tsunami crusher not working
against those youmas at the hot springs?" asked Michiru.
"Yeah, my seraphim wings refused to work too." observed Robin.
Ami took off her glasses and looked at them both. "It`s got
EVERYTHING to do with that." she said dramatically.
The girls all stared at the computer, but no one other than Ami
herself could make sense of the wild shower of numbers there. Try
as they might, the numbers meant nada.
"Ami, help us out here!" pleaded Haruka, her head pounding already.
"Fair enough..." agreed the brainy girl. "This is data regarding our
special powers, more accurately the amount we use when we perform
them. As you see, some are more power intensive than others, from
my bubble blast at a mere 2 percent all the way to Haruka`s world
shacking at a whopping 74 percent!!!"
Usagi could already feel a huge headache soaring her way.
"These percentages you speak of, what do they mean?" wondered
Michiru.
"Excuse me, I forgot to explain! They represent the fraction of the
total Technum available at the location where the attack is used.
The flow of this raw energy tends to vary with several factors such
as geography, time, other attacks already used..." said Ami.
"Long story short, please." snapped Laurella.
"Err... These numbers vary, but these are pretty much reliable as
they are based on averages I calculated over time..." started Ami
who was interrupted by Haruka.
"Hey, why is my world shacking the strongest? No way it beats my
heaven`s blade erradicator!!!" she protested. "Or Michiru`s tsunami
crusher!!!"
"I was getting to that..." replied Ami, scolding the impatient
Haruka with her eyes. "Bear in mind that 100 percent represents the
TOTAL amount of available Technum at any given moment..."
She punched a button and a list appeared on the screen, overimposing
the previous one. It contained a total list of all ultimate attacks
used so far and their respective ratio of energy consumption. The
girls` eyes popped open as the energy levels were displayed.
ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE: 378%
DEEP WATER TSUNAMI CRUSHER: 356%
HEAVEN`S BLADE ERRADICATOR: 406%
SERAPHIM WINGS OF WRATH: 347%
"This isn`t possible!!!" yelled Rei when she saw those numbers.
"We actually used more than three times the available energy?!?"
uttered Laurella, baffled.
"It seems that achieving soul power brought us this energy boost...
because when these attacks were used, the localised Technum drain
factor registered as zero percent! We didn`t use ANY technum AT ALL
when doing the ultimate!!! It all came from US directly!" concluded
Ami, putting her glasses back on.
"So our soul power somehow supercharged us?" asked Usagi.
"Yes, in a nutshell." agreed Ami.
Everyone was shocked that for once, she of all people would get this
right.
"So why can`t we do this again? Recharge ourselves all over???"
wondered Michiru.
"Unfortunately, there is a mystical component to these powers I can`t
quantify... sorry, there`s nothing more I can do here." appologized
Ami.
"And this mystical component... might it have anything to do with the
messiah???" wondered Usagi.
"That`s it, she lost it." snapped Rei.
"I`m serious. Gallagher told me a prophecy about her, and the Prime
was convinced it was Robin, but she has to around SOMEWHERE! Could
she hold the missing piece of the puzzle there." argued Usagi.
"You told us that poem about her already... isn`t she supposed to
resurrect to fight this so-called *Lord of Wynter*???" asked Ami.
"Have you looked outside lately?" said the blonde tomboy, pointing
to the frozen outside.
No one could argue with the cold weather spell. It had seized Japan
in a tight fist of snow and ice. Not only was the land of the rising
sun caught in the coldest fall in history, but temperature was
beginning to wane in other countries too.
"I always figured it would have been Hotaru... but the poor angel
died..." said Michiru, a tear flowing down her cheek. She quickly
brushed it away before someone noticed.
"And the Prime isn`t there to resurrect her besides. What if it was
someone else?" suggested Robin.
"So where would we even look?" asked Setsuna. Even she was at a loss
over that one.
"Pity Gallagher`s not around, we could have asked him directly... I
think he knew." said Usagi.
The mere mention of Technuma`s other soul half enraged Robin, yet it
seemed to make sense. It was unfortunate that was dead as well. This
left the sailor soldiers with a big gap in their plan of action.
"So... what now?" asked Laurella.
"As I see it, all we can do is try and help Minako." said Ami.
The meeting was ajourned with this suggestion.
* * *
Within the shadowy halls of the dark empire fortress, the greatest
such hall was surely the throne room with its gigantic statue of
Metalia which was also the throne sculpted for the use of Queen
Beryl. Now that she was dead, it was used by her two successors,
although only one of them used it with regularity.
A tall slim man stepped out of the multiple shadows of the room,
revealing his slender build and long dark blue hair tied in a
ponytail that reached all the way down his back. His eyes were ice
blue and his stare as cold as his heart. He wore a uniform
practically identical to Kunzite`s, except his had several
decorations of pure aebonite mineral. For all the cold and hard
features his face carried, it still looked exactly as it would for
a sixteen year old.
Holding on nonchalantly to a glass of white wine, he suavely sat on
his throne and went about the daily business.
"What`s the first order today, milord?" asked a youma who knelt in
front of him. She was very tall and even more so she was slim; like
her limbs were slightly too long for her body. Her eyes were also
unnervingly wide for her narrow face.
"Go get me Gingitsune, his operation must be complete by now." he
ordered.
"Yes, milord." she replied. She then left.
Now alone in his throneroom, Aebonite summoned a huge crystal slab
that appeared floating in front of him, to the left of his seat. The
rough yet flat piece of crystal illuminated itself at Aebonite`s
will and acted as a viewscreen.
"Hello my lady." he said to the feminine silhouette that appeared
there.
"Good morning my husband." she replied, her features masked in
darkness.
"You do love to bask in darkness, do you not?" he asked, smiling.
"Oh yes, it is my friend and sister." she replied, coughing
afterwards.
"Do not overexert yourself, dear. Let Fenris help you move around."
he urged her.
"Of course, he watches over me always." she said. A deep growling
beast roar responded to her last comment, and it made her giggle.
"Oh yes, you`re a big howling lummox, aren`t you? You just love
growling for your mistress Crystallite, don`t you?"
"I`ll see you later darling." he said as he switched channel to an
image of Ghangoroth. He was busy supervising the refining process
of some aebonite crystals.
"How goes the process old friend?" asked Aebonite.
"Very good, except for one piece which is refusing to purify."
replied Ghangoroth, the flames around his head shifting as his lips
and jaw moved. The viewscreen really gave the dark empire ruler a
good close-up view of this rather odd psychic phenomenon.
"Keep me posted on your progress." said Aebonite. He switched to the
image of a deep underwater crevice in the ocean. All the way down
there was two fishlike youma followed by Dokuryo, the toxic dragon
whose special skills include underwater breathing. He carried a
heavy piece of aebonite crystal, which he placed in the middle of an
underwater volcano. The volcano cooled down almost immediately as
the crystal drained all its geothermal energy and redirected it
towards the dark empire`s main energy gathering system.
Aebonite smiled and switched the image to another one. It was that
of the earth, but not the beautiful blue gem that humanity knew it
as, but as the frozen wasteland Aebonite wanted it to become. He
looked at the dead planet and laughed wickedly.
"You destroyed us once, Sailor Moon, condemned our world... now the
rebirth of our world will come through the death of your own!!!" he
yelled. His mad screams echoed in the empty hall, no one other than
him being there to hear them.
"DO YOU HEAR ME SAILOR MOON??? YOUR MISERABLE PLANET SHALL
PERISH!!!"
* * *
Gingitsune could feel the painful throbbing in his shoulder, it was
spreading to his chest at an increasing rate as the drugs wore off.
The surgeon, provided courtesy of his dark master, had assured him
that he wouldn`t feel a thing... but then again, he also said that
the new replacement for his left arm would match his remaining right
one. The silverfox tried to move his arm, and to his horror noticed
that the tearing feeling in his shoulder was increased by ten. He
wanted to get up from the operating table, but wouldn`t be able, for
now at least.
"Oh hell, this is even worse than I imagined..." he muttered in gut
wrenching pain.
I`ll just stay here a while longer, he thought, until he`d feel
better. Until he could move without praying for death to claim him
that very instant. He turned his eyes to the left as much as he
could; he tried not to move his neck. He caught a glint of shining
metal where is left arm was before Sailor Mercury trashed his youma
Ganeshya with her infernal freezing attack.
She`d pay for that, not only for putting him in this situation, but
also for killing the only good-looking youma he had in his service.
Gingitsune really liked the tigress centaur.
"Gingitsune..." whispered a sweet feminine voice behind him. He froze
in fear as he recognized it.
"What the hell do you want, Manticide?" he snarled, not caring to
show his feelings to this frightning creature. Although her true
nature was conceiled under human appearance, he could just tell what
would happen if he got TOO close to her. Unlike Ganeshya, this one
was interested in him for... other reasons.
"Our lord Aebonite has work for us..." she said, getting closer to
him and caressing his face with one of her very long fingers.
"I`m working with you, Manticide, but that`s all. Don`t get any wild
ideas about replacing Ganeshya in her *special* duties." snarled the
general.
The youma felt rage in her heart as her superior scorned her advances.
She didn`t say anything, but brutally crushed his freshly repaired
shoulder in her viselike grip. Ripping a sharp yell of pain out of
him, she felt somewhat avenged. With a smug smile, she turned back
and returned to the throne room. "Are you coming or what?" she
snarled, waiting in the doorway for the silverfox to follow.
"Yeah, yeah, I`m coming." he said with difficulty, getting up from
the bloodstained table. He was able to move a bit more, now, and in
a little while would regain full mobility. He came along with
Manticide, moving his new metal arm in small circles to get used to
the new limb.
* * *
"Hi mom, I`m home!" said the exhausted Minako as she entered her
house. She could barely move her stiff muscles, but she was
satisfied. The criminal element of Tokyo was terrified of her, as
well it should be. Sailor V made the law now, and her rules were
written in blood.
"Hello, Minako darling! Where were you this time?" she asked her.
"To the movies with a friend." she lied. She snickered as she
remembered how she was really breaking more bones in a maffia
hideout.
"You haven`t seen Ami in a while, she`s been calling a lot lately...
and so have your friends Rei, Robin and especially Usagi..."
"Ami and I have broken up... she thinks I`m not the same, and she
still hangs a lot around them. I just don`t want to bump into her
just yet." she said quite truthfully.
"Well, we all change over time, don`t we? It`s like that new hair
color you have been using this week. It`s making you look more
mature, this darker shade of blonde. I like it!" said her mom.
Minako looked in the lobby mirror and noticed it for the first time.
Her honey gold hair was now a more subdued blonde with auburn
highlights. This scared her, as this change had occured all by
itself... and since her hair was darkening, maybe she didn`t imagine
her sailor fuku shifting towards a more sinister color scheme as
well!
"You should rest more, my dear. You look tired!" said Minako`s
mother, with heartfelt concern.
"Yeah, I should..." she agreed. She went to bed, wondering what was
happening to her.
* * *
"Hello Makoto, how are you feeling this evening?" asked Dr.Mizuno to
her patient. Makoto smiled.
"Much better. Getting to use a wheelchair is tough, but I`m getting
the hang of it." she replied.
This middle aged woman looked so beautiful, thought the teenager.
She`d always dreaded getting older, but seeing this doctor who
seemed so youthful despite her long working hours was very
encouraging.
"Dr.Mizuno, may I ask you a question?" she said.
"Sure, Makoto, ask away."
"How can I make sure to look as good as you when I start aging?" she
said, a little afraid to anger her doctor with an age related
question.
The doctor smiled. "Just make sure you take good care of yourself,
that`s all. There`s no real secret other than that." she explained.
"Is it for that cute guy who helped you get here that you want to
stay beautiful?"
Makoto flushed and looked down.
"So it is, it seems... but you don`t have to fear for losing your
looks, darling, you`re still so very young!" she said, placing her
hands on her patient`s shoulder. "Get some sleep, now, you want to
look your best to see your boyfriend tomorrow morning when he comes
in first thing as he does every day."
"Thanks." whispered Makoto. "Would you lower my bed for the night?"
"Sure thing." said the doctor, turning the handle on the hospital
bed until it was totally horizontal and Makoto could be in a good
sleeping position. "Sleep well now." she said and left.
The tall girl proded her legs again before she closed her eyes. Still
no feeling whatsoever.
"If it hadn`t been for Xavier, I`d be dead now..." she thought. It
suddenly struck her how her life had almost ended so stupidly with
a bullet in a dead end alley, after all the odds she`d beaten so far.
A quote from an old batman comic came to her mind...
"I don`t know how it will end for me... maybe the Scarecrow, the
Joker... or simply a lucky thug with a handgun."
Damn. When did her life turn into a manga?!? With that thought, she
fell asleep.
* * *
Partly from respect and partly out of fear, Gingitsune knelt to his
master Aebonite, despite the tearing pain it caused him. Manticide
imitated him, and both awaited his signal to get back up.
With a smooth motion, Aebonite pushed out of his face the dozen or
so long hair that weren`t tied in his ponytail and looked at them
with an emotionless gaze. He enjoyed their humiliating posture for
a while, then motionned them to their feet.
"I have a mission for you, Gingitsune. Two, actually." explained
Aebonite.
"I live to serve." he replied.
"First of all, you will contact another one of our allies which
served under Beryl... she hid herself even better than Thorelia and
Ghangoroth, but we tracked her down. You will remind her of her oath
of loyalty to her mistress and have her return to us."
"Consider it done. And the second part?"
"You will take Manticide and a few youma in addition to her... take
this block of aebonite mineral with you and wait in a Tokyo public
spot of my choosing." explained the ice cold ruler, materializing a
medium sized chunk of his crystal namesake. The crystal floated to
Gingitsune who grabbed it using is right hand, still a bit
uncomfortable using his left one. The metal replacement was not
only akward, is was also slightly mismatched to his other one as
well...
"This one? Isn`t it the one that failed the refining process?" asked
Manticide.
"Precisely." answered Aebonite. "It absorbs no energy, but instead
emits a signature radiation many times more powerful than a piece
half its size."
"Isn`t that going to attract the attention of the human warrior
girls?" wondered the silverfox.
"Oh yes, that it certainly will." answered Aebonite, grinning
wickedly.
"Oh, I understand." replied Gingitsune.
"Bring me back as many corpses as you can, that is your mission."
"Yes, my lord." said the general of the dark empire, turning around
to leave.
"Gingitsune, one last thing before you leave..."
"Yes, milord?"
"Come back victorious... or don`t bother returning at all."
The warning couldn`t be clearer.
* * *
The girls were leaving the concluded meeting, and pondering the
words of Ami.
"So we only get one shot of those extreme power attacks..." said
Setsuna as she entered Haruka`s car. "This is very problematic."
"Yeah, I already used mine!" added Haruka as she hit the steering
wheel in frustration.
"I used mine too, but I consider rescuing Minako from Gallagher a
good use of it." said Michiru, trying to calm her girlfriend down.
"Even after what she`s been doing lately?" asked Haruka with sarcasm,
turning the key and starting her engine.
Michiru lowered her eyes, feeling a bit embarassed. "She`ll turn
around, I know her better than that." she whispered.
"Let`s hope so... before she starts killing people instead of just
maiming them." mumbled Robin.
While their car left the driveway and brought the four outer
warriors women, Rei ran outside to catch up with Ami as she walked
home by herself.
"Wait up! There`s something we have to talk about..." she said,
panting to catch her breath after catching up to her friend. "Can
we talk somewhere private? It`s really important!"
"Okay, but we have to stop at the hospital first. I have to meet
mom there before I go home." said Ami.
"Sure, do what you have to." said Rei. She was glad to drop by the
hospital, as she wanted to get an appointment with doctor Mizuno
soon. This would be a great occasion to do it.
While Rei and Ami went their own way, Shingo walked Laurella out
and offered to walk her home.
"It`s so cold outside, too bad you couldn`t take your motorbike
here." he commented.
"Yeah, that`s true. I`ll have to leave it in the garage for the
winter now. But I don`t mind walking if it`s with you..." said
Laurella, taking her boyfriend`s arm. "So why do you put up with
me, mighty knight?" she asked in a hushed whisper.
"Because I love you, I always did. Ever since I was a little boy, I
saw in my dreams a gorgeous warrior dressed in a suit silver and
white... I knew you were out there, and that knowledge has always
conforted me." he replied.
Laurella cuddled to Shingo, a large smile on her face. "I love you
too, kit. I would die for our love, never doubt it for an instant."
she whispered.
"I never did doubt that." he whispered back.
* * *
Doctor Mizuno finished her last round of patients, completing their
charts for the hospital`s records. It was tedious thing to do, but a
vital task nonetheless to ensure proper care for the many patients
under her auspices. She took great care for the utmost accuracy in
her reports.
"See you tomorrow, doctor!" said the last evening nurse who was
going back home for the night.
"See you tomorrow, Natsumi." she answered, not even looking up from
her work.
The old battery operated clock ticking relentlessly above the long
term care unit reception was fast approaching nine o`clock, its worn
hands moving ever so regularly in a noisy fashion as the seconds
elapsed, but the middle-aged doctor did not hear it. She had learned
to tune it out, pouring all of her attention on the task at hand.
As she filled out one of her many forms, a man approached the desk
in a silent and creepy, almost inhuman way. Once again, she didn`t
even lift her eyes to see who was there.
"Visiting hours are over, I`m afraid, please come back tomorrow
morning at nine." she said in a polite tone.
"It`s you I came to see." said the man.
Her pen snaped in her hand as she clenched it much too hard. THAT
VOICE! No, it couldn`t be...
"Gingitsune?!?" she uttered, fear grasping her throat as she reeled
from the shock of surprise.
"I`m happy to see you too, Quartzite. Or should I call you Mizuno
Akane? That is the name you go by these days, as it`s my
understanding." said the silver haired man, smiling wickedly.
"Don`t you ever call me Quartzite again, you evil freak! Those days
are behind me, now." she said, cringing her teeth as she spoke. Her
entire body language screamed "leave me alone".
"You shouldn`t be ashamed of your desertion, old friend. Aebonite has
decreed an amnesty for all the deserters who return to serve the new
dark empire. Which remind me... WHY did you ever leave in the first
place??? You were Jedite`s top lieutenant eighteen years ago, Beryl
valued you above all the other servants of her generals, you might
even have made it as a general yourself with your deceitful cunning!
Tell me, what made you disappear from our ranks?"
"First off, it`s none of your damn business. Second, I wouldn`t
serve Beryl today let alone one of her bratty heirs, and lastly...
BITE ME, SILVERFREAK!!!" she snapped.
Gingitsune was a bit disappointed, but not completely defeated yet.
Okay, he thought, go to plan B.
"I`ll let you think this over, Quartzite. This world is dying, and
you might not want to stay behind when it turns into a frozen
hellhole and the dark empire leaves into the sunset."
With that, he turned around and left.
When she was finally alone, Akane threw away her broken pen and
clipboard, trying hard not to cry. All those years she had managed
to stay one step ahead of Beryl`s spies and now her old allies had
finally found her out.
"Damn you all, I`m not coming back!" she thought in strong resolve.
"Mom?" sounded a voice from the other end of the corridor.
"Ami darling?"
"Are you okay?" she said as she picked up her mother`s clipboard
and set it on the reception`s counter.
Feeling that Ami and her mom had some kind of problem to work out,
Rei decided to keep a little distance. Keeping to a badly lit part
of the corridor, she nonetheless managed to see all that was going
on. She`d meet them only if her friend invited her over.
"What`s the matter?" asked Ami. She knew her mother well, and could
tell she was trying to suppress something.
"Nothing, my dear." she lied. "I just want you to know I love you
more than anything in the world and nothing can ever make me leave
you."
"I know, mom, I feel this way too." said Ami. Although emotional
situations were somewhat of a touchy matter to her, she never had
any trouble communicating with her mother for some reason. As if
she reserved her more emotional expressions for her. She hugged
her tight. "I love you mom." she said.
"I haven`t seen your girlfriend much lately, dear... tell me, is
anything wrong between you two?" asked her mother.
"Right now we`re... keeping a little distance." she replied.
"So, you are having some difficulties."
"It`s like she`s a completely different person now. She`s so cold
and distant... she`s not the same Minako I fell in love with!" she
explained, trying to contain her emotions like she`d always seen her
mother do.
"Don`t worry my darling, you`ll work this out. You`re a smart girl,
and you always find a way."
Rei smiled as she saw this touching moment between Ami and her
mother. Shewished her own mother was still alive, she`d left her
when she was so young... but then she noticed someone else watching
them from the shadows, a vile presence with an evil aura. A silver
haired man she remembered from her vision.
"Hey, you!" she called out.
Visibly surprised, Gingitsune fled. He was satisfied, having what he
wanted: he now knew why Quartzite had defected from the dark kingdom,
to protect her unborn child who was now a young woman. The silverfox
had information that would serve his master well, and the first part
of his mission was a success even though Mizuno Akane had refused to
follow him. He could blackmail her later, he thought.
Rei ran in hot pursuit, following him closely.
"What was that?" wondered Akane who heard Rei calling out to her
enemy.
"I don`t know..." answered Ami. She then noticed the faint beeping
sound from her backpack; her laptop was emitting the specific alert
chime she`d programmed to warn her of detected aebonite radiation
in the vicinity. It had been beeping for a few minutes now, but
she`d just noticed it.
"It`s my beeper, mom, I have to go now..." she lied, and ran off
after Rei.
Akane had the feeling that her daughter was running right into
trouble. She hated doing this, but she dropped everything she was
doing to follow as well.
* * *
Standing in the darkest corner of Chibi-Usa`s room, Ronmar stood
vigilant watch over the little girl who`d been his daughter Celeste
in her previous incarnation. He loved this little girl with all his
heart, and for a knightmare this was quite an accomplishment. He
would kill to protect her, and would gladly lay down his life for
her.
Right now, however, his other reincarnated daughter was in trouble,
he could feel it. Taking a quick look at the peacefully resting
small lady, he decided that she was safe for now; he could leave a
while to help Rei.
That he did. Turning into a small cloud of acrid smoke, he slipped
out the bedroom window and became the night, floating silently to
the place where he`d fing Sailor Mars.
Smelling something weird in the air, Chibi-Usa woke up. She saw
nothing around her but her moonlit room, but she had the very strong
feeling SOMEONE was there just a second ago.
"Who`s there?" she asked.
Seeing no one, she crawled back under her covers and went back to
sleep. Just as she was going back to the land of dreams, she
whispered a single word that seemed to bring her confort whenever
she pronounced it.
"Ronmar..."
* * *
"Take a good look at this, Thorelia, as this is the final chance for
Gingitsune to redeem his worthless hide." said Aebonite as he called
his ally to look into his viewscreen. "You wouldn`t know where
Ghangoroth is right now, would you?"
"Sorry to say no, milord." said the sculptress as she approached
her master`s throne and sat at his feet to enjoy the upcoming battle.
Aebonite looked at her face and was pleased to notice how beautiful
it looked.
"You seem quite adept at molding this new synthetic material I
provided you." he observed.
"Thank you for that, lord Aebonite, it lasts much longer than the
other one I used before. My masks can last up to three days now
until my face starts to reject them." she said, smiling. "But it
still doesn`t beat human flesh, I`m afraid."
"Speaking of which, have you decided on a human`s face you`d like
to have for yourself?" asked the tall and slim leader of the forces
of evil.
"Yes, I have." replied Thorelia. "Here she is." she said, handing
over a small photograph to Aebonite. He took it and agreed with
her choice.
"A very nice face indeed, we`ll make sure that this young warrior
girl doesn`t get her lovely traits smashed in combat." he said.
"But enough with this, let`s see if Gingitsune can make use of this
new arm he was given, not to mention those youmas you crafted so
carefully." he added, making the small photograph disappear in a
quick sleight of hand motion.
"Yes, I can hardly wait to see Manticide and Cancera in a real
battle!" said Thorelia like a proud mother.
* * *
"Damn!" thought Rei, looking left and right for any trace of
Gingitsune who somehow managed to slip away from her. "Where did
that snake go to?"
The streets were rather crowded at this time, and the late shoppers
moving up and down the busy streets were providing a great cover for
anyone trying to be discreet. Where should she look? The stores were
an endless supply of great hiding spots and searching them all could
take hours.
"Wait... up!" said Ami, running up to Rei and panting hard to catch
her breath. I really have to spend more time in a gym, thought the
brainy girl.
"You`re too late, Ami, I lost him." said Rei, sighing loudly. "He
got away I`m afraid."
"Not quite..." replied Ami, opening her laptop and showing Rei her
aebonite mineral readings. "I got them pinned down over there, at
this big mall three blocks down. This signal seems a bit obvious,
though, I smell a trap."
"I don`t care, I`m not letting him escape me!" snapped Rei who ran
towards the spot that Ami had indicated.
"Wait for me, Rei, I`m coming, remember?" replied Ami. Too late, she
was already gone. Hiding into a close by phone cabin, Ami called the
others on her communicator- there was trouble ahead, and she`d need
reinforcements for sure. She only had time to reach Laurella and
Usagi when her mother surprised her and pulled her out of the cabin.
"Mom?!? Shouldn`t you still be at the hospital?" she asked.
"Yes, and you shouldn`t be chasing around for people like
Gingitsune!" she replied.
"What?"
"Do you think I didn`t notice you were running after that man spying
on us? You musn`t get involved with dangerous criminals like him!"
she ordered her daughter.
"But how do you know that he`s a..."
"Don`t argue with me, young lady, just go home and forget all about
him, let the police handle that!" she said forcefully.
Ami was stunned. She never heard her mother get angry like this, or
give her any orders before.
"Go home, Ami. NOW." she repeated herself.
"Err... okay." conceded Ami. She turned back and headed home,
watching over her shoulder to see if her mother would follow. Sure
enough, she turned around and sprinted in Rei`s direction.
"Mom, why are you concerned with this?" she silently wondered. She
quickly changed direction and followed her mother.
* * *
"Do you think they`ll come?" wondered the short and stout youma
called Cancera. Sitting down on a small briefcase containing the
flawed aebonite crystal. She flexed her bulging biceps in an attempt
to fight her boredom.
"History has shown that the girl fighters attacked us at every turn,
appearing out of nowhere and being there to stop us in even our most
secretive missions. This piece of crystal is sending such an obvious
signal to track, it`s very unlikely they`ll pass it up." replied the
tall and eerily slender youma Manticide who practiced a few martial
arts moves to warm herself up.
A dark portal opened up in front of the two vile creatures, allowing
the evil Gingitsune to reach his two acolytes who were waiting out
for their battle to begin. Set in the middle of the mall`s huge
parking lot, there`d be plenty of room to maneuver, just as the dark
empire general liked it.
"I`ve attracted some attention to myself as I tried to get Quartzite
to rejoin our cause, and that can mean only one thing." he said.
"The sailor warriors are on their way." guessed Manticide.
"Correct. Their usual pattern, as the records of Beryl`s encounters
with them has shown." he replied.
"All right! Finally I can smash some skulls!!!" said Cancera, getting
to her feet and bashing her fist into her palm in feverish
anticipation.
"You know the plan, girls... I need to know the weaknesses of
whichever girls show up first, so I`ll study them from a distance
while you get things rolling." said their leader.
A silhouette entered the neon lit concrete area and made her way
across the numerous cars that were parked in neat rows while their
owners were inside shopping. The youmas looked at each other while
Gingitsune backed away slowly, eager to get things going to warm
themselves up.
The girl coming their way was Sailor Mars. They had NO idea how
things would soon get...
"Who are you?" asked Manticide who stepped in front of her master
as he slipped out of harm`s way.
"I am a defender of love and justice, keeper of the sacred fire,
Sailor Mars!" said the scout of mars, taking the most dramatic pose
she could muster. Her temper was burning as brightly as the flame
of her devotion to the fire god, and that was not a good thing as
it seriously impaired her judgement. She should have waited for
reinforcements, but had charged ahead anyway.
"We`ll see how good you are, mars!" said Cancera, rushing forward
toward Rei. She nimbly jumped over the dashing youma and landed in
front of Manticide. Avoiding her serie of swift punches, she gave
the second youma a solid kick to the waist and an elbow punch to the
jaw. The slender youma fell down like a rag doll, knocked senseless
by the pain.
Running back towards Mars, Cancera took her by surprise this time.
She slammed into her, body slamming Sailor Mars to the snow covered
ground. She used all her weight as they fell down to crush the earth
defender and wound her as much as possible. Rei didn`t appreciate
this.
"You`ll pay for this!" she thought as she placed her hands on
Cancera`s face. "FIRE SOUL!!!" she screamed, her palms filling with
scorching fire. The youma threw herself back, holding her scalded
face in her hands. She screamed out in pain, swearing loudly enough
to make a dead nun blush.
"You`ll pay for that!!!" screamed Cancera. In a flash, her body took
a more bulky appearance, covering her chest, head and limbs in a soft
red armor and replacing her hands with crablike pincers. She was now
a huge crustacean warrior ready to take heavy punishment without
blinking.
"We`ll rip you apart, you bitch!" said Manticide who got off the
ground. Rei turned around and saw that the other youma had taken her
true form, a preying mantis human hybrid. Her hands had extended into
serrated third arm segments, her mouth twisted into sharp mandibules
and her whole body was a veritable fighting machine of unearthly
insect agility.
"Oh hell..." thought Sailor Mars. She tried to think of what to do
next, but the two youma attacked simultaneously. The heavy blows of
Cancera and the swift strikes of Manticide sent her down in no more
than an instant. Using their twisted limbs, the youma gave each
other a high five.
"Score one for the dark empire!!!" they shouted.
"You two are a disgrace to your master." said a sweet feminine voice
coming from a very short distance- looking to find the source, the
youma looked up and saw a woman standing atop the electric light pole
closest to them. Dressed in red and black, she wore a black face mask
that was somewhat reminiscent of early hockey goalkeeper masks. "You
have no grace, no style and no honor." she added.
"Hey, you`re not one of the sailor girls!" said Cancera.
"Wow, you`re very smart!" said Quartzite. She pointed her hand
towards the crab youma and a surge of blue lightning surged from
Quartzite, hitting the youma head on. Suddenly, the bulky youma`s
weight increased tenfold as the pull of gravity increased around
her; she collapsed immediately, unable to stand up with so much
pressure exerted on her back.
Quartzite shot another blast at Manticide, but the nimble youma
dodged easily before returning fire: she pointed her serrated pincers
to the intruding fighter and fired a serie of deadly darts in her
direction. Most of them missed the leaping warrior, but a few of
them hit her left arm, drawing blood.
"Well, this is getting interesting." thought Gingitsune as he
analyzed his opponents and sized up their weaknesses.
This new warrior that`d just shown up looked strange, thought Mars,
but at least she`s fighting the youma. For now she seemed to be on
her side, and she could use all the help she could get.
"BURNING MANDALA!!!" screamed Sailor Mars, summoning a great circle
of fire that created twelve individual small circlets of burning
flame; she aimed at Manticide, cutting her down mere seconds before
the youma could skewer the wounded Quartzite.
"Are you all right?" she asked to her unexpected ally. She took a
look at her shoulder and saw it was pierced with several darts made
of Manticide`s armored hide. Rei wanted to pull them out, but the
masked fighter objected.
"If you remove them, it could cause a hemorrage. Leave them in for
now." she said, her eyes showing clear sides of supressed pain.
"I have to take you to a doctor!" Mars objected.
"Don`t worry... I know a good one." said Quartzite, giggling.
This felt so weird. This strange woman had powers whose energy gave
her shudders, so much that they could only be evil in nature- yet
so gentle and kind hearted she was that Rei`s intuition told her she
could be trusted.
"Can you move?" asked Rei.
"I can walk... but these darts are venemous I`m afraid, it`s
knocking my strenght out. I can`t fight anymore." answered Quartzite.
A loud scream came from the street several dozens feet away, it was
Sailor Mercury in her brand new senshi outfit. "MARS! BEHIND YOU!!!"
The soldier of mars turned around, but was too slow. Her body was
trapped under the heavy youma Cancera who pinned her down helplessly.
"When Manticide comes around, she`ll be VERY disappointed that I
didn`t save any of you for her to rip apart!" screamed the burned
youma, holding up her pincer to tear Mars` throat open. Mars
panicked, as she was completely immobilized and Mercury was too far
to help.
Cancera was about to strike, but she suddenly froze up as a strange
acrid smell offended Rei`s nose. The crablike monster fell down
besides Sailor Mars, her backside torn open by the large L-shaped
blade of Ronmar`s battle axe. The dread knight swung his axe up and
rested it on his shoulder as he offered his other hand to help Mars
get back on her feet.
"I`m not too late, am I?" asked the dread knight, his red eyes
glowing under the visor of his shining golden armor.
"N... no..." said the shaken Mars. "I`m glad you came when you did."
"Anything for my girls."
"Okay, playtime`s over." taunted Gingitsune as he came back under
the electric glow of the parking`s neon lighting, removing his winter
coat to reveal his muscled chest... and his brand new left arm, which
was both stronger and mismatched to his right one. It was made of a
silvery material, and a somewhat appropriate look considering his
name. He firmly planted his feet in the packed snow and awaited his
opponents. "IT`S SHOWTIME!!!"
The wounded Manticide stood up, her thick insect hide scarred by the
fire attack and her many antennas melted beyond recognition. "I`m
with you, master..." she whispered.
"You better step away, hum... what`s your name?" asked Mars.
"Quartzite." answered the masked woman who slowly staggered from the
battleground.
"Let her go." whispered Gingitsune to Manticide. "We`ll deal with
her later."
In a bright flash of sapphire light, Deadshot appeared in the hands
of Sailor Mercury who joined her allies Sailor Mars and Ronmar;
Gingitsune looked silently at Manticide who "smiled" back at him
with her mantis mandibules and multi-faceted eyes. They were ready
to fight as well.
* * *
"Am I late for the big fight?" asked the psionic Ghangoroth to
Thorelia and Aebonite who were intensely staring at the crystal
viewscreen which was transmitting the battle of Gingitsune live
from Tokyo.
"You missed the warmup, but the main action is yet to start, my
friend." replied his master.
"Where were you anyway?" asked Thorelia. "Your last assignement at
the aebonite refinement plant was done hours ago!" she noticed.
"I had some personal business to attend to. Let`s leave it at that."
he answered, showing not the slightest trace of emotion as was his
usual manner.
Aebonite wondered what was going on in his general`s head- he wished
that for once, HE was the one with the telepathic gift.
"You don`t want that, milord, trust me." said Ghangoroth. "Knowing
everything about everyone without even having to ask, it gets old
really fast. Let`s watch the show, now, shall we?"
* * *
The clash was brutal, as Mars, Mercury and Ronmar charged with all
their strenght at their two enemies- Manticide did her best to stop
their assault, but three quick ice arrows from Deadshot silenced her
quickly, leaving only Gingitsune... who was silently laughing as they
rushed him.
With a single outburst of kinetic energy, the silver haired man
raised a powerful forcefield around himself, blockcing the axe,
arrow and firebolt soaring his way. The three attacks hit the
glowing shield with unimaginable force, though they did nothing as
the energy these blows delivered was readily absorbed by the dark
empire general and redirected right back to its source. All three
attackers were thrown back with force, landing six feet behind.
They were grateful for the thick layer of packed snow covering the
concrete parking lot, as it prevented them from being seriously
injured.
"Now it`s time to show you what I`m capable of!" said the twisted
warrior. From the edge of his forcefield, an energy buildup appeared
and swirled around the surface of the shield, gathering and focusing
into a single spot. With a mighty punch, Gingitsune hit his shield
from the inside on that very spot to create a powerful blast of
kinetic force- having spotted Ronmar`s recent chest wounds, he
aimed his beam right there. Ronmar was blown away by the exploding
bolt of force, and his barely healed ribs were smashed right away.
He had no choice but to dissolve back into smoke until he could have
regenerated himself to health.
"The dread knight makes one." mocked Gingitsune. "Who`s next?"
"Let`s combine our forces!" suggested Mercury.
"Right!" agreed Mars. "FIRE SOOOOOOUUUUL!" she screamed, a small
fireball forming at her fingertips, soaring towards her enemy;
Mercury shot an ice arrow at the same moment so that the two shots
would meet- they formed a flaming bolt of cold fire going straight
towards the forcefield. The screeching attack made contact,
detonated in a blazing temperature shock... and did absolutely
nothing.
"I don`t believe this..." uttered Mercury.
"Believe it." replied Gingitsune, sending a second volley towards
Mercury who was hit squarely in the head, sending her down in total
disorientation and disabling her temporarily. Before Mars could
react, the dark empire general quickly glanced at her and aimed his
next shot at the weakest part of her body- the blow struck her
straight in her lower stomach, knocking her down on her back.
When she tried to get back up, only two sensations were
distinguishable from this pain that tore her insides... the evil
laughing echoing through the air, and the warm, sticky blood
trickling along her tight from underneath her skirt. Her mind
clearing from the fog that had seized her when she was hit, Rei
realized to her horror WHERE this blood was coming from and WHY she
was bleeding- putting her hands to her stomach, she could no longer
feel the tiny spark of life that had been there for almost three
months now.
As Sailor Mars began to scream, Gingitsune stopped laughing. He
recognized this look on her face and the sound of her scream, for
he`d seen it a thousand years before on Queen Serenity`s face. It
was the pain of a mother loosing her child.
A spark of light clicked deep in Rei`s soul, as a response to her
distress. In an instant, she was bathed in hellfire which burned up
her scout uniform to replace it with a full senshi fuku bright red
as the flames of hell itself, along with the visor and metal guards
that the other senshi had also received. The hellfire then shot
upwards, amplifying itself a thousandfold and screaming along with
Rei, their two voices blending together the calls of suffering and
of fiery retribution that took the form of a blazing phoenix.
As the phoenix soared into the Tokyo sky and grew to an unimaginable
wingspan of more than a thousand feet, Gingitsune panicked.
He knew he was going to die.
The huge phoenix illuminated the entire town with the strength of a
dozen suns, burning up the air with the power of the hottest heat
wave, turning the icy winter into blasting summer for a few moments.
Gingitsune ran, but he didn`t even know why. That firebird was so
large, he`s have to run for an hour just so he would not be directly
underneath it. With the cries of pain from Mars still ringing in his
ears, he looked up at the blinding form. As all the snow around him
melted and cold water seeped inside his boots, he could have sworn
the phoenix was staring straight at him.
With tears running down her face, Sailor Mars screamed the words
that sealed the fate of her unborn child`s murderer.
"INFERNAL PHOENIX FIRE!!!"
The phoenix plunged down from the sky, lunging forward towards
Gingitsune and concentrating all its infernal heat into a single
beam of scorching death. The general quickly raised his forcefield
back up, but the might of the fiery doom outside was too much to
endure; the air inside his protective bubble soon boiled, drying his
lungs in a second and silencing his screams of pain from the third
degree burns forming all over his body. As his replacement arm
melted and his skin cracked and crumbled, his shield gave away to
the flaming onslaught and the entire blast of fire formed a ten feet
wide ball of oblivion around him.
When the flames died down, the twenty feet wide smoking crater
surrounded by incinerated car wrecks and piles of twisted metal
lodged inside cooling puddles of molten concrete were all that
remained of the once mighty Gingitsune.
Throughout Tokyo, there was awe-inspired silence. Nobody could have
possibly missed THAT.
Everyone was silent, except for the now soul powered Rei who cried
the loss of her child.
Sailor Mercury joined her and knelt besides her, holding the wounded
senshi in her arms.
"I`m so sorry Rei, I had no idea..." she said, silently crying along
with her friend.
"Why did this have to happen, Ami? I lost what was most important to
me, all for those damned powers I never even asked for!!!" she said,
crying her heart out.
"Come with me, Rei, you need help." said Ami. Her head still hurt
like hell, but right now she couldn`t care less. Her friend needed
help, and her mother was the best doctor in this town to do that.
Providing she hadn`t been hurt in all this confusion... why DID she
come here anyway, Ami wondered, she distinctly remembered seeing her
head this way...
* * *
"Well it seems that the faith placed in Gingitsune was misplaced
after all. He not only screwed up his mission but also made one of
our enemies even stronger now." commented Aebonite.
"Too bad. We could have used his ability to find weaknesses."
commented Ghangoroth.
"Regardless, our plan goes on. We`ll take advantage of this flashy
display of power as a smokescreen to our second phase. Victory shall
yet be ours." said Aebonite with pride. "The death of this planet
shall ensure the rebirth of our own world!!!"
TO BE CONTINUED...