By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
WEBCHAT APPLET LOADED- PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR NICKNAME:
Kaol
CONNECTING... REQUEST ACCEPTED
WELCOME TO SAILOR_MOON_IS_REAL ROOM
CURRENT USERS: Kaol, Yohann_DS, Commandante, Sonya-chan, Tiga
Yohann_DS of course not! Do you really believe that load of crap?
Tiga I saw some pics on TV, it was totally unbelievable!!!
Commandante The japanese governement does seems to be trying to
cover this up.
Kaol Hiya all. What`s happening?
Sonya-chan Hi Kaol. We`re talking about that huge firebird over
Tokyo from last night.
Yohann_DS yeah, and how the authorities are trying to deny it ever
happened, like most of the stuff that concerns Sailor Moon.
Tiga we all saw the images on TV, no way that was a gas explosion!
Commandante Gas doesn`t take precise shapes, and burning gas
doesn`t move down into a single point of a parking lot.
Kaol you seem to know what you`re talking about, commandante.
Commandante of course, I know someone who knows someone who... you
get the picture. There was a security guard at the mall who saw some
people there fighting...
Sonya-chan yeah? Who?
Commandante Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury (in one of those cool new
combat uniforms), a guy with a metal arm, two odd shaped women (a
mantis and a crab) and another guy in a gold battle armor.
Kaol a GOLD battle armor???
Commandante yup. sounds nice, huh?
Tiga sure does.
Yohann_DS why the special interest in the gold wearing knight,
Kaol? After all, that immense phoenix in the japanese sky seems like
a way more fascinating subject...
Commandante quite correct, my friend.
Sonya-chan she`s not answering, you think she`s caught in lag?
USER Kaol HAS LEFT THE CHAT
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 29
TRAGEDY AND APOLOGY
A few hours after the great phoenix summoned by the ultimate attack
of Sailor Mars who attained soul power in a burning blaze of
hellfire, scientists all over the globe scattered to try and
ascertain the sheer amount of energy unleashed in that all too short
instant in which Gingitsune came to his fiery death. Huge crowds
gathered around the area where the fierce battle had taken place,
hoping to catch a glimpse of the still smoking twenty feet wide
crater where the dark empire stood as he was being disintegrated by
the mighty firebird.
As a result of such large amounts of heat being unleashed at once,
the local temperature had increased spontaneously to the equivalent
of the sahara at high noon for a few minutes, slowly returning to
its more normal seasonal value of subzero biting cold, although it
was still mild enough to be comparable to a nice spring morning.
Among the large crowd were two young people whose heart was filled
with graver concerns than mere curiosity over something that had
crawled out of a psy-factor episode. Tsukino Shingo and his
girlfriend Laurella Hammerson, who were really Emerald Knight and
Sailor Jendra, were trying to look at the scene and figure out why
this seemingly needless battle had taken place.
As a result of the colliding weather patterns of blistering heat and
stinging cold, a rainstorm had started just a few moments earlier,
though it was not the dreadful thunderstorm that had announced the
inferno a few months before but rather a gentle downpour filled with
sorrows and grief.
"Rei`s tears..." whispered Laurella as she felt the warm rain soak
its way through her coat.
"I still can`t believe this... she was pregnant and none of us knew
about it." said Shingo.
"You should know Rei by now. Always showing us a strong face, never
letting through any signs of weakness... although I wouldn`t call
this a weakness, I mean, having a child should be the most beautiful
thing, and..."
Shingo put his finger to Laurella`s lips, stopping her as her
explanation increased in velocity and reduced in sense. He knew
exactly what she meant.
"Hush, my love. I understand, no need for words." he whispered.
"Thanks for being there, Kit, I wouldn`t want to be alone right
now..." she said.
Shingo silently agreed, as he knew just how much empathic his lover
was. Because she had known so much pain in her life, her sensitivity
for feeling the pain of others was that much more powerful. All too
often he had seen her loose herself in the sorrow of her friends, so
he had learned to become her anchor so she could always pull herself
up. He put his arm around his waist and whispered in her hear. "We
have nothing left to do here, let`s go find Ami at the hospital, she
can tell us more.
Laurella agreed, and the teenage couple slipped its way out of the
pressing crowd.
* * *
Once again a new enemy had struck those she loved. Once again she
was sitting next to a hospital bed where her wounded friend was lying
unconscious. Ami was feeling ready to explode.
"Rei will be sleeping for at least twenty hours from this sedative I
gave her." said doctor Mizuno to her daughter. "Physically, she will
bounce back from the trauma in very little time, she`s young and in
very good health. It`s the emotional trauma that concerns me..."
"I was completely shocked to find out about this... I never imagined
that she could be expecting a child." said Ami, remembering the
instant when she saw Rei bleeding, the terrible pain she felt as she
realized her child had died.
Mizune Akane was having a rather large problem now- she knew that Ami
would surely ask how her young patient had lost her baby, how she`d
been brought to the hospital and moreover what she was doing close
to this horrible battle in which the flaming phoenix had been invoked.
She began to sweat, although she wasn`t sure if it was from her
nerversnous or from the remainder of Manticide`s venom coursing
through her veins. It had been a few hours and she could move around,
but she still felt a bit foggy from the attack... not to mention that
her shoulder was bleeding a little and the bandage she covered the
wound with might become soaked at any moment, allowing the blood to
seep through her blouse.
Surely THAT would capture her daughter`s attention. No, she couldn`t
keep this secret from her anymore... Ami had to learn the truth, she
was old enough now and god knows she was mature enough to handle this.
"Rei looks so peaceful asleep... she shows none of the grief she felt
before you gave her these tranquilizers." oberved Ami, brushing Rei`s
raven hair off her face. The sleeping girl mumbled some inaudible
complaint, then fell deeper into her dreamless slumber.
"Ami, darling, there`s something I`ve been meaning to talk to you
about..." said Akane, her voice filled with hesitation.
"Yes, mom what about?"
"Tell me, you heard of Sailor Moon, right?" she asked.
"Oh dear god, could she know?" thought Ami. "Yes, like everybody..."
she answered.
"You know that she and her friends fight some evil beings from
another world to protect this one, I imagine..." added Akane.
"Oh no, I tried to hide it, but this time she knows!!!" thought the
panicked Ami. "There`s no need to say anything more, mom, I know
where this is going. I tried my best not to get you involved in my
battles, but things just caught up with you... I apologize deeply
for ever having you witness the destruction that follows me, but
sometimes destiny has a strange way of doing things. That`s what
Sailor Pluto says, anyhow." she said.
"Huh?" blurted out Akane.
"All I`m saying is... sorry if my being Sailor Mercury has caused
you any problems..." said Ami who noticed the confused expression of
her mother. "You have no idea what I`m talking about, do you???"
The young girl then noticed the blood stain forming on her
shoulder... at the exact same spot where that mysterious woman
fighter had been wounded by the youma Manticide.
"Mom... that wound... the warning you gave me about that weird man
last night... does... that... mean...?"
"And you... Sailor Mercury?!? My own daughter, a hero from the
golden age of the moon kingdom!"
"You know about the moon kingdom???" wondered Ami.
"I certainly do. I must tell you the truth, darling, and you should
brace yourself... how old do you think I am?"
"Thirty-eight years old, of course!" answered Ami with implacable
mathematical precision.
"I`m much older than that, darling. I`m over eleven hundred years
old." replied Akane. Ami`s mind was blown away. "I wasn`t always
called Mizuno Akane... my real name is Quartzite, I`m a former
warrior of a world called the dark kingdom. I was a lieutenant in
the army of the kingdom`s ruler, a twisted queen called Beryl."
"I know, mom, I fought her over three years ago."
"Did you? Well, I was a very dedicated warrior in her army, and I
contributed in the downfall of many civilizations, all in the name
of Beryl and Metalia." said Akane, stopping to ponder whether Ami
knew about Metalia. Ami guessed what her mother was going to ask,
and nodded to show that she did know.
"As dedicated and efficient as I was, I understood the politics of
power all too well and knew that further promotion could only come
through support from a superior officer, and it so happened that one
of them took a liking to me. I used this to my advantage, and my
skills of seduction were going to be the key to my advance in rank...
until I realized I was pregnant with you. It forced me to take a hard
look on my life, and I came to the conclusion that it would be wrong
to have you become what I was at that point. And so I fled, using
whatever powers I had to reach the earth. Although it had been locked
away a millenium before by Serenity`s silver crystal, I was able to
slip through and make a new life for myself." explained Akane.
"And dad... where does he fit in there?" wondered Ami.
"Oh yes... he`s s sweet, loving man I met when I arrived in Japan.
I fell in love with him immediately, and he returned my love
unconditionaly. That`s something I never could experience in the
dark kingdom, where you just use other people to your own ends. I
was afraid he`d leave me when he learned I was expecting you, but
he loved you as his own, never questioning who the real father was.
I simply told him I didn`t want to turn back to my past ever again,
and that was good enough for him."
"And my biological father... who was he?" asked Ami, afraid of the
answer.
"He was a high ranking officer of Beryl, a strikingly handsome and
very cunning man... his name was Jedite." answered Akane.
The name Jedite echoed in Ami`s hear, echoing back and forth in her
shocked mind. No, that was not possible!!! Not HIM, the evil man she
had fought when she discovered being Sailor Mercury, the same man who
had almost killed her and her friends a year later when he returned
from exile, it just couldn`t be, her mind wouldn`t accept it.
"Ami, are you all right???" asked Akane.
Her mother`s words of concern came in distorted just like the world
around her, as the hospital room spun faster and faster until all of
it fell into the inky black veil forming over her eyes.
She fainted.
* * *
Wrapping her arms around the waist of her newly found boyfriend,
Makoto kept her eyes closed while she was passionately kissing him.
In those moments of bliss, she never wanted the outside world to
intrude. That was a real shame, as she still wasn`t aware of the
extraordinary eventsthat had taken place during the night. Of
course, Xavier would have mentionned the phoenix, but Makoto had
insisted he did not sour her good mood with bad news, so he hadn`t
told her.
Of course, he couldn`t know about Rei either, could he? And so she
had spent the last hour exchanging her saliva with his. Her legs
were still paralyzed with no sign of ever improving, but right now
she didn`t care, and Xavier was happy to help her forget.
Breaking their non-stop marathon kiss, Xavier finally said something.
"I have to go to work, now." he said, smiling.
"Oh, must you???" she pleaded with her sparkling eyes.
"Yes, my boss simply can`t get anything done without me. I`m
surrounded by idiots, and one of them got fired just yesterday, so
I`ll have to pick up his slack to make up for the void he left."
he explained, getting off her bedside.
"Come back later tonight, won`t you?" she asked.
"Of course I will, see you later." he said, turning around and
walking out. Just as he was going through the door, he stopped and
looked at Makoto who still hadn`t taken her eyes off him.
"I love you." he said, then left.
Makoto couldn`t believe her ears. After all this time spent single,
all these jerks she dated, she finally found someone who REALLY loved
her! She would have gotten up and danced, if it hadn`t been for this
damn bullet she got in her spine...
Walking towards the nearest exit, Xavier crossed the path of a young
couple walking in, a young teenage girl with brown hair and a tall,
muscular boy who looked roughly her age holding her by the waist. As
he went by them, both himself and the young man had a strange feeling,
like a bolt of lightning linking them both for an instant. They
stopped and looked each other for a minute.
"Excuse me..." said Xavier, "...do I know you?"
"I don`t know... did you ever come visit Kino Makoto in
readaptation?" asked Shingo.
"Yes, we have been getting quite close ever since I have brought her
in after her... well, her accident."
"Are you Xavier?" wondered Shingo.
"Yes, I am. Did Makoto mention me?"
"Are you kidding? She can`t stop talking about you!" replied
Laurella.
"You`re friends of hers, I assume?" asked Xavier.
"You bet. I`m Shingo, this is Laurella."
"Glad to meet you two. Take good care of her while I`m gone, she`s a
wonderful woman." said Xavier.
"Of course!" said Laurella.
The couple then went back on their way. Makoto`s boyfriend thought
about this for a minute, then resumed his way back to the exit. He
smiled, then started thinking about the many orders of business his
work would require him to undertake that day.
A new one had just been added.
* * *
Inside a busy gymnasium, dozens of teenagers were involved in many
team sports, each one of them a member in one of that college`s
several sport clubs. The basketball team had won many trophies in
prestigious tournaments over the years and was favorite to win again
that year, although it was the volleyball team that was attracting
all the attention that morning.
The star player of the team was in top shape, serving ball after
ball with unmatched strength and deadly precision. Aino Minako was
always a great player, but today she had something more. She had a
killer instinct no one ever knew she possessed.
"Serve!" said the referee.
Minako threw the white leather ball up, then jumped and snapped it
forward with all her might. The spike was aimed directly at the girl
nearest to the net on the other side, and she was hit directly in
the face. She fell backwards, her thoughts scrambled by the vicious
serve.
"Point!" said the referee, who then ran straight to the girl whom
he noticed was hurt by that last spike.
Everyone on the court seemed concerned, except Minako who picked up
a spare volleyball and spun it fast on her right index, the same
finger she used to cast her soul crescent smasher. She looked very
pleased with her performance.
"What`s the matter with you, miss Aino? Don`t you see that girl is
hurt?" asked the referee with anger flaring in his voice. The team
coach noticed that Minako showed no remorse whatsoever and was very
displeased with his player.
"You did that on purpose, didn`t you?" he accused her.
"You can`t prove a thing. Besides, all she had to do was get out of
the way." argued Minako with a smug look on her face, her left hand
twirling her ever darkening mane of hair. It was now dark blonde
with many jet black streaks.
"That`s it, I`ve had enough of your attitude, young lady... you`re
off the team!!!" said the coach.
"What??? You can`t do that, I`m the best player you ever had!!!" she
said angrily.
"Be that as it may, your attitude stinks! Until you can show some
teamwork, you`re out of here. Hit the showers, now."
Minako stepped heavily as she went to the showers under the eyes of
everyone in the gym, and she violently punched a tennis racket rack
on her way out, sending all its content on the floor.
"Where do they get off telling me what to do? They have no idea the
kind of hell I`ve been through this year!!!" she mumbled as she
opened her locker and started removing her clothes to take a shower.
"Perhaps, but I do." said a familiar voice behind her.
"Setsuna? What the hell are you doing here?" asked Minako. She did
not seemed pleased to see the guardian of time show up at her school.
"Maybe this can give you an idea?!" said the serene woman, holding
the morning headlines.
FIVE MORE PRESUMED CRIMINALS FOUND WITH SEVERE LIMB FRACTURES:
SAILOR V STRIKES AGAIN
"Oh, THAT. Can`t a girl have a hobby?"
"You`re stepping over the line, here, and it must stop. NOW." said
Setsuna. Her face showed no emotion, but her eyes spoke volumes.
"Or else what, you`ll spank me?"
"What you`re doing is horribly wrong, you`ve taken the law in your
own hands and made yourself judge, jury and executionner!!!"
"Isn`t that what we always did, against Beryl and all the other
kooks? Made ourselves the police for who`s right and wrong on this
planet?"
"But we only fight those who would destroy humanity or bend it to
its will! Petty criminals are not our concern!" argued Setsuna.
"Yadda yadda yadda. Excuses, excuses, excuses. This city needs
policing, face it Sets! And if there`s anyone capable of doing it,
it`s Sailor V! Now bug off, unless you wish to fight me." said
Minako, a burning flame in her eyes. Setsuna could tell she was
serious.
"Just remember, your dark path will catch up with you one day...
when the bill comes due, the recovering agency wil be merciless."
said the guardian of time who left the sweat covered Minako to her
much needed shower.
"Good riddance!" she told to Setsuna.
She slammed her locker shut and entered the showers. On the way
there, she walked by a mirror and took a moment to look at her eyes.
They were almost comletely black just like her hair.
"Oh well, I guess it comes with the new powers." she thought,
shrugging off this dreadful feeling that had been looming over her
for a while now.
* * *
A dark portal opened in front of Aebonite`s throne and out of it
stepped one of his generals, the reptilian being Dokuryo. Advancing
towards his ruler, the toxic dragon made a gracious bow to salute
him.
"Welcome back, Dokuryo." said Aebonite, taking a long sip from his
glass of blood red wine. "I assume all went well on your operation?"
"Quite right, Lord Aebonite. The marine youma cohort provided by our
dear Thorelia did a superb job of placing those crystals near the
underwater volcanoes of the pacific rim... even as we speak, the
entire west of america and most of the small south pacific islands
are starting to feel a chill..." said Dokuryo, smiling wickedly.
"Welcome back, friend." said Ghangoroth who appeared out of nowhere
as he usually did. One of his many psionic abilities was to mask his
own presence, and the resulting appearances "out of thin air" were
something he rather enjoyed doing.
"So how are you doing today, my psychic ally?" wondered the reptile.
He had taken a liking to this man who had pulled him out of an
underground waste water dump in the Tokyo sewers to put him back in
action serving the heir of his former mistress Beryl.
"I`ve been busy with Aebonite extraction and purification." he
replied.
"Shouldn`t Gingitsune be here?" asked Dokuryo.
"You`ll need to be briefed on the latest events, spending so much
time out of touch has left a bit disconnected..." said Aebonite as
he proceeded to explain the battle of his doomed general and how he
was torched alive by a giant phoenix.
"Wow, that`s amazing... I guess we picked up a lot of energy from
that one!" commented the toxic dragon.
"No, unfortunately... the energy expended by Sailor Mars was much
too refined and usage specific to be captured by our aebonite
crystals. All this heat was lost to our effort." answered the evil
lord of the dark empire, running his fingers through the few strands
of dark blue hair not set in his ponytail that were loose in his
face.
"I`d like to offer a new initiative to the master plan, milord."
said Ghangoroth, the heatless flames surrounding his head moving in
waves as his breath disturbed their steady patterns.
"I`m listening..." replied Aebonite.
"As you know, the sailor senshi use a great amount of energy on a
daily basis, although it`s much too refined in its form to be usable
by our crystals. I have, however, come into something else which
will be good for us on two levels at once: provide us with vast
amounts of energy AND destabilize our opponents." suggested
Ghangoroth.
"I`m intrigued..." said his master.
"It will require us to spend a good amount of energy getting my plan
into motion, but the paybacks will be far greater than you could
possibly imagine!" explained the psionic man.
And so he gave the details of his plan to Aebonite and Dokuryo. Evil
laughter could be heard filling the throne room after he was done...
* * *
"Oh my god... she lost the child?!?" said Makoto, tears filling her
eyes.
"Yes, and this is what triggered her soul power ascension, and fueled
that huge phoenix that burned in the sky last night." said Laurella.
"And you knew she was pregnant? You allowed her to transform and
fight regardless???" asked Shingo, concerned about Makoto`s attitude.
"She swore me to secrecy, said she`d be careful about it... how was
I supposed to know she`d run around challenging cyborg freak jobs?
Besides, none of us really knows exactly what effect transforming
could have on an unborn child... it might be disastrous, or be the
greatest thing for him. There was no way to find out, and Rei`s not
the kind of girl to back off form a fight. I tried to convince her
to lay low with the Sailor Mars bit, but you know Rei..."
"She`s more hard headed than Ronmar with his helmet on." said Shingo.
He got crossed looks for that last remark. "Hey, it`s true, I met
him on the moon kingdom!"
"Anyway..." interrupted Laurella, trying to steer the conversation
away from the dread knight, "She`s under the care of Ami`s mother.
You can visit her if you like, but she`s knocked over with sleepers
right now. She`ll be out until tomorrow at least."
"I have a feeling you`ll be there to help her out the way you were
there for me and Usagi." suggested Makoto.
"Every fiber of my being wants to help her." answered Laurella, a
tear forming in her eye.
"Your heart is the most compassionate I know, Laurella, that`s why
I love you so much." said Shingo, kissing Laurella`s cheek. He
brought a smile to her lips.
"Thank you, Kit. Your love means everything to me." she replied.
"Oh, that`s soooooo beautiful!" thought Makoto, big hearts sparkling
in her eyes as she watched her friends hugging and kissing. "I can`t
wait until MY guy gets here!"
* * *
All alone in her pink colored room, the little girl who would one
day be Usagi`s daughter was considering the many events which had
influenced her existence ever since she`d returned from the 31st
century to train under the guidance of her young mother, the powerful
Sailor Moon.
She thought over her sudden rise in power as she used her new attack,
the flaming heart. How could a girl from the moon use fire based
powers, the obvious domain of mars? And those strange feelings of
guilt she`d been having over Shingo, Laurella and Rei... it made no
sense! She`d never done anything to hurt ANY of them! And what about
the dread knight, Ronmar? Why was he so adamant about protecting her,
about watching over her sleep as she`d caught him doing when he
thought she was asleep?
This simply made no sense, her short life had nothing even closely
related to those events... unless...
"OF COURSE!!!" yelled Chibi-Usa, suddenly realizing what she`d
overlooked all this time. "The answer is not in my present life...
it`s in my SOUL, my PREVIOUS LIFE!!!"
At this moment, the small lady felt a surge of raw power surged
within her soul, flooding her tiny body with more power than she
ever thought attainable without the help of the silver moon crystal.
She did not transform, however, as her immature body wasn`t ready
to receive this sort of energy yet.
"Chibi-Usa, dear, what`s happening?" asked Ikuko who heard her
granddaughter yell, and noticed the strange golden glow irradiating
from the open door.
"I`ve transcended, mommy Ikuko! I have soul power just like my mom!"
she said with pride, her small body surrounded by a swirling golden
aura.
"That`s incredible, my little rabbit! But, aren`t you a little young
to receive so much power?" asked Ikuko with her maternal concern.
"That`s why I`m glad you came... please hold on to this for a
while..." she asked Ikuko, handing her the moon prism given to her
by Queen Neoserenity. "...and please explain Usagi exactly what
happened here, and tell her I love her."
"But why, sweetheart? Why not tell her yourself?"
"Because I won`t be able to say anything for a while..." she said,
as the swirling in her new aura increased tenfold.
When the aura vanished, Ikuko couldn`t believe her eyes.
"Oh my god..."
* * *
Amidst a bizarre collection of half-human half-animal statues,
Ghangoroth couldn`t help it but let out a gasp of admiration before
the masterful work of Thorelia, the sculptress from hell.
"Admirable... simply admirable!" he whispered to himself.
"So you like, I take it?" asked Thorelia who moved from behind one
of the more massive statues to get into view of the psionic man.
"I love it. Your creativity is so much more than I remembered it to
be!" complimented the dark general Ghangoroth.
"I`ve always been this creative, but it hasn`t always shown, that`s
all." she replied.
"Why not?"
"Because every general I ever worked for had his own ideas on what
I should do. Jedite had no value for imagination, putting his faith
in function over form, favoring pure effiency over sheer creativity.
Kunzite was never very artistic, and came to me with his ideas well
defined and planned in detail to the last square inch. Nephryte had
his own ideas when it came to youma design, while Zoisite... well,
let`s just say he had the most god awful tastes this side of
creation." explained Thorelia.
"I understand... and your creativity will be put to the test again.
I need some more youma, with special requirements. Are you up to it,
old friend?"
"Just ask away. Chances are, I already made something fitting your
needs!"
"Wonderful... which of your fine creatures has the finest nose?"
"That would be Lupina. She could sniff out a piece of perfume laced
silk covered by a foot of molten lava!" boasted the sculptress,
pointing to one of her statues, a hideously strong wolf woman.
"Perfect. I`ll take her... and that one over there as well." said
Ghangoroth, pointing to a catwoman youma.
"Cathra... a very good choice. I`ll animate them right away."
"Good. My plan can start that much sooner." said the psionic warrior,
snickering.
* * *
Minako was fuming. She was frustrated, angered, enraged. How dare
Setsuna scold her like this? The holier-than-thou bitch had no
business telling her what to do. After all, hadn`t she been spending
the better part of the eon guarding some stupid door nobody would
ever even go through anyway? What did she know of the REAL world,
the one where the whole population lived?
The hot water running down her body and washing away the thin layer
of soap covering her skin did nothing to soothe her. It usually did,
but this time its effect was nonexistant.
"I need to blow off some steam..." she thought, as she walked out of
the gym shower and dried herself with a pink towel.
The funloving Minako everybody knew and loved would have chased the
blues away with shopping and a few games at the game center, but
that sweet girl was no more. She was now a cold and vicious predator,
the deadly Sailor V who terrorized the entire Tokyo underworld.
Minako smiled. Time for some bone crunching action again, she thought
while she got dressed.
* * *
Miss Haruna called the names of all present students one by one,
making sure who was there or not that day. As she drew nearer and
nearer to the bottom of the list, she was beginning the T`s when
the school uniform Shingo blasted in the classroom and sat at his
desk just in time for his teacher to call "Tsukino Shingo".
"Right... here..." he answered as he panted to catch his breath. I
gotta stop cutting it so close when I stop by the hospital to see
Makoto, he thought.
After the presence call, the day`s lesson began with geography.
However dull it was, it wasn`t the actual lesson that made Shingo
daydream. No, he had way too much on his mind to even pay any
attention to his teacher who going on and on about some big european
country or other.
The senshi were falling like flies, he thought. First Minako who
went wacko on them when she woke up, then Makoto who got shot by a
thug and now Rei. Even though Makoto wasn`t a senshi yet, he started
to refer to all the sailor soldiers as senshi, mostly because he
thought that scout was a stupid name; it always reminded him of
little girls in green suits selling cookies door to door.
And what about that guy she loved, why did it feel so weird meeting
him? It was almost like he felt some strange kind of power exchange
taking place between them when they passed each other. Something
felt terribly wrong, and he`d tell the girls at their next meeting.
He couldn`t wait until after the school day was over, because he met
Ami at the hospital that morning and she told him she`d have
something incredibly important to tell them all, but she wanted to
see all the gang at once since she wasn`t sure if she`d have the
strength to say it again later.
Ami had indeed seemed quite shaken, and whatever could make that
cool headed genius freak out had to be of the gravest importance.
"I wonder if Laurella arrived to class on time today?" he wondered,
looking out the window, trying to spot in which of the other windows
facing him she might be right now...
* * *
In the vast parking lot facing the hospital where Dr Mizuno was
taking active care of Makoto and Rei, many visitors were coming and
going, taking advantage of the visiting hours to see their sick loved
ones and their wounded friends. Out of this steady movement of people,
two strange women just stood there, looking lost. To the untrained
eye, they might have seemed to be looking for the spot where they
parked their car, but a more accurate observation revealed that they
had come in this place walking, and had not even entered the hospital
at all.
"I can smell it, he really was here!" said the first woman. She was
very tall, had very large and disproportionate muscles and her
squarish face had barely the minimum requirements to be considered
feminine at all. She had hair that was short and very stiff, one
could guess it was fur. Her actions were also quite odd, as she
sniffed the air around her like a bloodhound on the chase.
"My smelling is very sharp too, and all I smell here is gasoline
and bad aftershave from that fat guy over there." said the other
woman, with a sweet purring voice. This one, unlike her companion,
was totally feminine with a slim and slender figure, long and agile
arms and legs, eyes that could seduce any man caught in their glow
and she moved with graceful movements that had fluidity beyond human
ability.
"It`s not a physical smell I`m going for, Cathra. I`m sniffing out
an energy trace... it came through here, it`s so pure and raw, it
stands out like a bonfire in the middle of a starless night!" said
the hulking youma.
"So you can follow his track, then, Lupina?"
"Good thing too... can you imagine what Ghangoroth would do to us if
we failed?" asked Lupina, growling like a wolf.
"I`d rather think what he will do to me when we succeed!" said the
catlike youma, purring like a kitten.
"Do you only have sex on the brain, girl?" wondered the musclebound
youma.
"Is there anything else worth thinking about?" playfully answered
Cathra.
"You`re hopeless. Come, let`s go while this track is fresh."
* * *
In Rei`s room, the young fire priestess was sleeping deeply from the
massive dose of strong tranquilizers given to her by doctor Mizuno.
She was being fed intravenously a rich nutritive serum, and was
being given the best treatments modern medicine could muster.
For all the care she received, however, Akane knew that she couldn`t
do much to help Rei from a psychological standpoint. Rei would have
to come to terms with losing her child, and that would surely be an
excrutiatingly painful process for her.
"I`d like to help you, darling, but there`s only so much I can do..."
she whispered.
An acrid smell offended her nose at that moment. She wondered where
such a terrible smell could come from when she saw an opaque cloud
of dark smoke moving about the room; it slowly condensed into a
humanoid form, taking solid consistence and turning into a tall man
dressed all in dark black clothes. He also wore black shades to
protect his eyes from daylight. Sitting slowly in a chair with great
care, he held on to his chest, his face twisted from terrible pain.
"You... are you that knight who saved Rei Sailor Mars from that crab
creature last night?" asked Akane who recognized his smoke-morphing
ability.
"Yeah, I`m Ronmar... but please call me Mitchell Dreadborne when I`m
out of battle gear." said Ronmar, holding his wounded chest with
both arms.
"I saw you getting blasted by Gingitsune... you must have broken
ribs, let me tend that for you..." offered Akane.
"No, that won`t be necessary... I heal myself by melding with the
night. I was much worse off than you see me right now when that
silver bastard got me. But I heal fast in darkness."
"Why did you come here in this condition?" asked the doctor.
"Why else? To help Rei."
"There`s nothing anyone can do right now."
"Bear in mind I`m still a knightmare... I can sneak my presence in
her dreams, although it`ll be the first time I do it for a purpose
that`s not selfish or evil..."
"You can do that?"
"Sure can. I may not be able to move much now, but I don`t even need
to lift a finger to do this little trick." explained the dread knight.
Concentrating all his energies on the mind of the sleeping Rei,
Ronmar slowly began to enter the surface of her unconscious mind and
made his way to the place where dreams occured. He found none there,
but that mattered little. All he had to do was wait a little until a
dream would form. It was inevitable as the tides of the sea, one just
had to be patient enough. A few months ago, the mighty Sailor Moon
had taught him a harsh lesson in patience, destroying his previous
body after he went ahead with an ill-conceived vengence plan.
Floating in the darkness of his reincarnated daughter`s mind, the
dread knight was ready to wait as long as it took. Nothing was too
much to ask of him if it could help make up for the horrible fate
she knew in her last life.
In the meantime, this darkness around him would help him heal his
battle injuries.
* * *
With the cold weather patterns having snapped back from the immense
heat dumped in the Tokyo sky by Sailor Mars` infernal phoenix fire
attack, frozen winds were now blowing in full force again, cutting
the skin of whoever was outside with its blistering freeze.
Cathra hated every second of it, but her loyalty to Aebonite forbade
her to stay off her given mission, even though it meant remaining
with Lupina, the biggest killjoy this side of creation.
"This is boring. I don`t even get how you can follow this trail you
keep babbling about!" she complained, fixing the hair around her ear
with her forearm the same way a cat would.
"The trail is really there! The energy is so raw, so primal, it calls
to me, beckons me, taunts me to find its source!" said the beastlike
female monster. Raising her gaze from the sidewalk, she looked
straight ahead of her towards the source of the residual energy trail
she`d been following for a long time. "There!"
Cathra looked forward where Lupina was pointing. There she saw the
juuban high school.
"Let`s get to work." said Cathra. Lupina agreed.
* * *
"So can anyone tell me the answer to this algebra problem?" asked
Miss Haruna, looking for a student to give her the solution to the
quadratic equation on the blackboard. This was one of the more
difficult problems she had asked so far, and everybody dreaded
having to resolve it, so she was forced to "volunteer" a student
of her own choosing.
Staring at the many teenagers in uniform who did their best to avoid
making eye contact, the veteran teacher made her choice on her
favorite kind of victim: the student who`s not paying attention.
"Would you care to give us an answer, mister Tsukino?" she asked.
Snapping out of his daze, Shingo realized he`d been staring blankly
out the window for over fifteen minutes now and had no idea what he
was supposed to say.
"I... err... could you repeat the question, please?" he asked, using
a stalling technique his big sister had taught him for just such an
occasion.
"I was asking you to resolve the quadratic equation on the board, if
you please, and take care to explain in detail the way you..." said
Haruna, her question interrupted by the leaping shadow in the window
that violently entered the classroom by crashing its way through the
concrete wall, sending a shower of smashed pieces onto the cowering
class, raising a dust cloud so thick that it masked everything around
the monstrous figure. The seven feet tall lupine youma let out a
horrinle howl and screamed its challenge to all those unfortunate
enough to be there.
"Where is the Emerald Knight??? Bring him to me or die where you
stand!!!"
Taking advantage of the choking dust cloud arisen from the concrete
explosion, Shingo charged his hand with a pulsing ball of emerald
green Technum energy. Striking the floor with his fist, he sent a
rippling wave of raw power towards Lupina who was thrown back two
floors down to the high school`s courtyard as the wave of energy
detonated at her feet.
"Everybody out!" screamed Shingo. Stricken with fear, the panicked
classroom emptied itself of all students who ran down the stairs
towards the nearest emergency exit.
Shingo was the only one who didn`t go along with the crowd, running
the other way towards the gaping hole in the wall and jumping outside
as he began his transformation. As he landed in the courtyard, he
was ready to fight as the Emerald Knight.
"Finally we meet, hero, now we must fight!" said Lupina, baring her
drooling fangs.
"You disrupted class, you inconsiderate creature! You better have a
valid reason AND a hall pass signed by the school director!!!" said
the knight.
"Big talk from a man in a tin can suit." said the wolf woman, leaping
forward in a frenzied charge. The strenght of her impact knocked the
sword out of his hand, and he brutally landed on his back crushed
under the heavy youma. Having transformed into her full beast form,
Lupina now had more muscle mass than any human alive, which was more
than sufficient to keep the young warrior at a blaring disadvantage.
"Your blood will be mine!!!" growled the monster, using all her
strength to try and rip his throat apart, the Emerald Knight`s
rapidly weakening arms being the only thing standing between the
disproportionate jaws of the lupine creature and his soft neck.
"Laurella, where are you?" he wondered, his mind going into a
panicked rush.
As if on cue, a sparkling beam made of a thousand multicolored
specks of light struck the beast, throwing her off the knight who
jumped back on his feet and picked up his green sword.
"Having fun without me, Kit?" asked Sailor Jendra.
"What took you so long, love?"
"I had to get away from class discreetly, didn`t I? As soon as the
panic started, it wasn`t too hard to do." she explained, giving her
boyfriend a wink. "Now let`s finish this! PRISMATIC SEVEN..." started
Jendra, her special attack stopped by Cathra who trapped her ankles
with a skillful whip slash and pulled her down onto the snow covered
ground.
"Oh no you don`t!" said the seductive youma who then proceeded to
transform as well into her full beast form. A layer of short black
fur covered every inch of her body while her eyes and ears took
feline aspects as well. She also grew sharp claws like those of the
wolf youma, although she prefered using her whip in combat.
"JENDRA SPECTRUM WHIPLASH!!!" screamed Laurella, forming a pair of
color shifting tentacles that extended forward and gained in speed
as its color moved from red all the way to ultraviolet when it
struck Cathra in the head and stomach.
Emerald Knight rushed Lupina, trying to slash her repeatedly. He
grazed her slightly on the second swordslash, but the youma`s
inhuman speed kept her from receiving any serious harm.
"Is this the best you can do, little man? Come on, challenge me!" she
said, mocking him and licking the trickle of blood coming from her
forearm.
"Take THIS then!" responded the young warrior, focusing all his
Technum energy into his blade and striking forward with all his
might at the taunting beast. In his rage, he concentrated EVERYTHING
he had into this one single blow.
Lupina swiftly stepped sideways and he missed. Raising her knee in a
quick jerk, she struck his stomach as he rushed passed her,
sprawling him down. Through his metallic armor, he could fell the
cold sting of winter snow seeping inside the plating joints.
"You lose, Emerald boy." said Lupina and took a small piece of
glowing crystal from her belt and tossed it on the knight`s armor
where it stuck instantly, dumping a massive amount of electrical
current in his body. Letting out a loud shriek of pain, he collapsed
immediately.
"KIT!!!" screamed Laurella who lost sight of Cathra for a brief
instant. She received a violent slash in the back as a reminder that
in combat, there is no room for emotion. Falling down in the snow as
well, Jendra could feel her back ripping itself out from the whip
slash whose special characteristic it was to stimulate the pain
receptors of the human body.
Pointing towards a point near the slumped body of the armored
warrior, Cathra formed a black portal leading back to the youma`s
headquarters. Lupina grabbed the fallen warrior and lifted as though
he were no more than a sack of potatoes.
"Coming, sister?" asked Lupina, looking back to Cathra.
"Be there in a second, sis." she replied.
Laurella could do nothing as she saw her lover being helplessly
dragged away by the wolflike monster into the dark gate where they
both disappeared. She then felt a clawed hand pick her up by the
neck and pulling her without any regards to her well being.
"I`ll enjoy the time I`ll be spending with your boyfriend..."
whispered Cathra in Jendra`s ear. She then gave her a very tender
kiss against her will, mocking her even further. "I hope that the
Emerald Knight kisses as good as you do... among other things!!!"
she added. Dropping her limp body back into the snow, Cathra laughed
her head off and walked into the black portal that vanished
afterwards.
Painfully getting back up, Sailor Jendra stared blankly at the empty
spot where her lover had just been abducted from. Her head spun and
her temples throbbed, as the realization that he was really gone
began to sink in. Shock lead to denial, then to a wild of anger as
she screamed in total abandonment to hatred like she never knew
existed inside her being.
Hordes of teen students who`d spied on the battle from a distance
started to walk in hesitantly, unsure wether they should be there
or not. As Sailor Jendra collapsed on her knees and sobbed without
any regards as to who was watching her, a few girls decided to step
forward and console her. A couple of undying Sailor Jendra fans knelt
down besides her, and hugged her as they joined into her sadness.
They admired Emerald Knight as well, and were crushed to know that
he`d been captured by his enemies. The warrior in shining green armor
had come to represent an ideal of the perfect boyfriend for many of
them, and to Laurella he was just that.
And now he was gone.
* * *
EPILOGUE
Because her classes had finished much earlier than usual, Usagi had
come back home directly, and she brought home her classmate and
senshi sister Robin. The two of them had spent the whole way there
discussing the various merits of the mascara brands they each used.
All the darkness their lives had confronted them with required some
release, and meaningless chitchat often did the trick for the senshi
of the moon and saturn.
"Hiya mom, I`m home! And I brought a friend along!" said Usagi as
she and her friends took off their heavy wintercoats and boot.
"A... friend?" nervously asked Ikuko until she saw Robin. She then
felt relieved. "Oh, it`s you Robin."
"I`ve had warmer welcomes from the Prime, and he was trying to make
me his mindless puppet." replied sharply Robin with sarcasm that
could pierce through steel.
"I`m sorry dear, it`s just... Chibi-Usa, she..."
It then struck Usagi that her little spore of a daughter-to-be wasn`t
there to bug her, even though she had no school that day. She was
ALWAYS there to make fun of her every chance she got.
"Chibi-Usa, what happened to her? Where is she?!?" asked Usagi in
a panic.
"She`s in her room, but..." tried to say the distraught Ikuko, but
her daughter was already racing up the stairs followed by friend.
"CHIBI-USA!!!" screamed Usagi, blasting her way into the pink shaded
room. She was stunned by what she saw.
"Yo, Usagi, wait up!" urged Robin who couldn`t believe her own eyes.
"Oh god..." whispered Usagi.
"What... is that?" asked Robin.
The entire bedroom was stuck in a thick weblike arrangement of an
unidentifiable hardened matter that held three feet above the air a
thick protective coccoon in which rested the curled up Chibi-Usa.
"This is her own doing." said Ikuko, joining Usagi and Robin into
Chibi-Usa`s room. "She has attained her soul power, but her body was
too immature to contain such power. She has entered this coccoon so
she can mature into the body that she needs to join the ranks of the
senshi."
Usagi caressed the hard shell that encased her little angel, and a
tear formed in her eye.
"I`ll be waiting for you when you come out, sweetheart. I`ll protect
you until that moment comes, I promise.
TO BE CONTINUED...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
WEBCHAT APPLET LOADED- PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR NICKNAME:
Kaol
CONNECTING... REQUEST ACCEPTED
WELCOME TO SAILOR_MOON_IS_REAL ROOM
CURRENT USERS: Kaol, Yohann_DS, Commandante, Sonya-chan, Tiga
Yohann_DS of course not! Do you really believe that load of crap?
Tiga I saw some pics on TV, it was totally unbelievable!!!
Commandante The japanese governement does seems to be trying to
cover this up.
Kaol Hiya all. What`s happening?
Sonya-chan Hi Kaol. We`re talking about that huge firebird over
Tokyo from last night.
Yohann_DS yeah, and how the authorities are trying to deny it ever
happened, like most of the stuff that concerns Sailor Moon.
Tiga we all saw the images on TV, no way that was a gas explosion!
Commandante Gas doesn`t take precise shapes, and burning gas
doesn`t move down into a single point of a parking lot.
Kaol you seem to know what you`re talking about, commandante.
Commandante of course, I know someone who knows someone who... you
get the picture. There was a security guard at the mall who saw some
people there fighting...
Sonya-chan yeah? Who?
Commandante Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury (in one of those cool new
combat uniforms), a guy with a metal arm, two odd shaped women (a
mantis and a crab) and another guy in a gold battle armor.
Kaol a GOLD battle armor???
Commandante yup. sounds nice, huh?
Tiga sure does.
Yohann_DS why the special interest in the gold wearing knight,
Kaol? After all, that immense phoenix in the japanese sky seems like
a way more fascinating subject...
Commandante quite correct, my friend.
Sonya-chan she`s not answering, you think she`s caught in lag?
USER Kaol HAS LEFT THE CHAT
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 29
TRAGEDY AND APOLOGY
A few hours after the great phoenix summoned by the ultimate attack
of Sailor Mars who attained soul power in a burning blaze of
hellfire, scientists all over the globe scattered to try and
ascertain the sheer amount of energy unleashed in that all too short
instant in which Gingitsune came to his fiery death. Huge crowds
gathered around the area where the fierce battle had taken place,
hoping to catch a glimpse of the still smoking twenty feet wide
crater where the dark empire stood as he was being disintegrated by
the mighty firebird.
As a result of such large amounts of heat being unleashed at once,
the local temperature had increased spontaneously to the equivalent
of the sahara at high noon for a few minutes, slowly returning to
its more normal seasonal value of subzero biting cold, although it
was still mild enough to be comparable to a nice spring morning.
Among the large crowd were two young people whose heart was filled
with graver concerns than mere curiosity over something that had
crawled out of a psy-factor episode. Tsukino Shingo and his
girlfriend Laurella Hammerson, who were really Emerald Knight and
Sailor Jendra, were trying to look at the scene and figure out why
this seemingly needless battle had taken place.
As a result of the colliding weather patterns of blistering heat and
stinging cold, a rainstorm had started just a few moments earlier,
though it was not the dreadful thunderstorm that had announced the
inferno a few months before but rather a gentle downpour filled with
sorrows and grief.
"Rei`s tears..." whispered Laurella as she felt the warm rain soak
its way through her coat.
"I still can`t believe this... she was pregnant and none of us knew
about it." said Shingo.
"You should know Rei by now. Always showing us a strong face, never
letting through any signs of weakness... although I wouldn`t call
this a weakness, I mean, having a child should be the most beautiful
thing, and..."
Shingo put his finger to Laurella`s lips, stopping her as her
explanation increased in velocity and reduced in sense. He knew
exactly what she meant.
"Hush, my love. I understand, no need for words." he whispered.
"Thanks for being there, Kit, I wouldn`t want to be alone right
now..." she said.
Shingo silently agreed, as he knew just how much empathic his lover
was. Because she had known so much pain in her life, her sensitivity
for feeling the pain of others was that much more powerful. All too
often he had seen her loose herself in the sorrow of her friends, so
he had learned to become her anchor so she could always pull herself
up. He put his arm around his waist and whispered in her hear. "We
have nothing left to do here, let`s go find Ami at the hospital, she
can tell us more.
Laurella agreed, and the teenage couple slipped its way out of the
pressing crowd.
* * *
Once again a new enemy had struck those she loved. Once again she
was sitting next to a hospital bed where her wounded friend was lying
unconscious. Ami was feeling ready to explode.
"Rei will be sleeping for at least twenty hours from this sedative I
gave her." said doctor Mizuno to her daughter. "Physically, she will
bounce back from the trauma in very little time, she`s young and in
very good health. It`s the emotional trauma that concerns me..."
"I was completely shocked to find out about this... I never imagined
that she could be expecting a child." said Ami, remembering the
instant when she saw Rei bleeding, the terrible pain she felt as she
realized her child had died.
Mizune Akane was having a rather large problem now- she knew that Ami
would surely ask how her young patient had lost her baby, how she`d
been brought to the hospital and moreover what she was doing close
to this horrible battle in which the flaming phoenix had been invoked.
She began to sweat, although she wasn`t sure if it was from her
nerversnous or from the remainder of Manticide`s venom coursing
through her veins. It had been a few hours and she could move around,
but she still felt a bit foggy from the attack... not to mention that
her shoulder was bleeding a little and the bandage she covered the
wound with might become soaked at any moment, allowing the blood to
seep through her blouse.
Surely THAT would capture her daughter`s attention. No, she couldn`t
keep this secret from her anymore... Ami had to learn the truth, she
was old enough now and god knows she was mature enough to handle this.
"Rei looks so peaceful asleep... she shows none of the grief she felt
before you gave her these tranquilizers." oberved Ami, brushing Rei`s
raven hair off her face. The sleeping girl mumbled some inaudible
complaint, then fell deeper into her dreamless slumber.
"Ami, darling, there`s something I`ve been meaning to talk to you
about..." said Akane, her voice filled with hesitation.
"Yes, mom what about?"
"Tell me, you heard of Sailor Moon, right?" she asked.
"Oh dear god, could she know?" thought Ami. "Yes, like everybody..."
she answered.
"You know that she and her friends fight some evil beings from
another world to protect this one, I imagine..." added Akane.
"Oh no, I tried to hide it, but this time she knows!!!" thought the
panicked Ami. "There`s no need to say anything more, mom, I know
where this is going. I tried my best not to get you involved in my
battles, but things just caught up with you... I apologize deeply
for ever having you witness the destruction that follows me, but
sometimes destiny has a strange way of doing things. That`s what
Sailor Pluto says, anyhow." she said.
"Huh?" blurted out Akane.
"All I`m saying is... sorry if my being Sailor Mercury has caused
you any problems..." said Ami who noticed the confused expression of
her mother. "You have no idea what I`m talking about, do you???"
The young girl then noticed the blood stain forming on her
shoulder... at the exact same spot where that mysterious woman
fighter had been wounded by the youma Manticide.
"Mom... that wound... the warning you gave me about that weird man
last night... does... that... mean...?"
"And you... Sailor Mercury?!? My own daughter, a hero from the
golden age of the moon kingdom!"
"You know about the moon kingdom???" wondered Ami.
"I certainly do. I must tell you the truth, darling, and you should
brace yourself... how old do you think I am?"
"Thirty-eight years old, of course!" answered Ami with implacable
mathematical precision.
"I`m much older than that, darling. I`m over eleven hundred years
old." replied Akane. Ami`s mind was blown away. "I wasn`t always
called Mizuno Akane... my real name is Quartzite, I`m a former
warrior of a world called the dark kingdom. I was a lieutenant in
the army of the kingdom`s ruler, a twisted queen called Beryl."
"I know, mom, I fought her over three years ago."
"Did you? Well, I was a very dedicated warrior in her army, and I
contributed in the downfall of many civilizations, all in the name
of Beryl and Metalia." said Akane, stopping to ponder whether Ami
knew about Metalia. Ami guessed what her mother was going to ask,
and nodded to show that she did know.
"As dedicated and efficient as I was, I understood the politics of
power all too well and knew that further promotion could only come
through support from a superior officer, and it so happened that one
of them took a liking to me. I used this to my advantage, and my
skills of seduction were going to be the key to my advance in rank...
until I realized I was pregnant with you. It forced me to take a hard
look on my life, and I came to the conclusion that it would be wrong
to have you become what I was at that point. And so I fled, using
whatever powers I had to reach the earth. Although it had been locked
away a millenium before by Serenity`s silver crystal, I was able to
slip through and make a new life for myself." explained Akane.
"And dad... where does he fit in there?" wondered Ami.
"Oh yes... he`s s sweet, loving man I met when I arrived in Japan.
I fell in love with him immediately, and he returned my love
unconditionaly. That`s something I never could experience in the
dark kingdom, where you just use other people to your own ends. I
was afraid he`d leave me when he learned I was expecting you, but
he loved you as his own, never questioning who the real father was.
I simply told him I didn`t want to turn back to my past ever again,
and that was good enough for him."
"And my biological father... who was he?" asked Ami, afraid of the
answer.
"He was a high ranking officer of Beryl, a strikingly handsome and
very cunning man... his name was Jedite." answered Akane.
The name Jedite echoed in Ami`s hear, echoing back and forth in her
shocked mind. No, that was not possible!!! Not HIM, the evil man she
had fought when she discovered being Sailor Mercury, the same man who
had almost killed her and her friends a year later when he returned
from exile, it just couldn`t be, her mind wouldn`t accept it.
"Ami, are you all right???" asked Akane.
Her mother`s words of concern came in distorted just like the world
around her, as the hospital room spun faster and faster until all of
it fell into the inky black veil forming over her eyes.
She fainted.
* * *
Wrapping her arms around the waist of her newly found boyfriend,
Makoto kept her eyes closed while she was passionately kissing him.
In those moments of bliss, she never wanted the outside world to
intrude. That was a real shame, as she still wasn`t aware of the
extraordinary eventsthat had taken place during the night. Of
course, Xavier would have mentionned the phoenix, but Makoto had
insisted he did not sour her good mood with bad news, so he hadn`t
told her.
Of course, he couldn`t know about Rei either, could he? And so she
had spent the last hour exchanging her saliva with his. Her legs
were still paralyzed with no sign of ever improving, but right now
she didn`t care, and Xavier was happy to help her forget.
Breaking their non-stop marathon kiss, Xavier finally said something.
"I have to go to work, now." he said, smiling.
"Oh, must you???" she pleaded with her sparkling eyes.
"Yes, my boss simply can`t get anything done without me. I`m
surrounded by idiots, and one of them got fired just yesterday, so
I`ll have to pick up his slack to make up for the void he left."
he explained, getting off her bedside.
"Come back later tonight, won`t you?" she asked.
"Of course I will, see you later." he said, turning around and
walking out. Just as he was going through the door, he stopped and
looked at Makoto who still hadn`t taken her eyes off him.
"I love you." he said, then left.
Makoto couldn`t believe her ears. After all this time spent single,
all these jerks she dated, she finally found someone who REALLY loved
her! She would have gotten up and danced, if it hadn`t been for this
damn bullet she got in her spine...
Walking towards the nearest exit, Xavier crossed the path of a young
couple walking in, a young teenage girl with brown hair and a tall,
muscular boy who looked roughly her age holding her by the waist. As
he went by them, both himself and the young man had a strange feeling,
like a bolt of lightning linking them both for an instant. They
stopped and looked each other for a minute.
"Excuse me..." said Xavier, "...do I know you?"
"I don`t know... did you ever come visit Kino Makoto in
readaptation?" asked Shingo.
"Yes, we have been getting quite close ever since I have brought her
in after her... well, her accident."
"Are you Xavier?" wondered Shingo.
"Yes, I am. Did Makoto mention me?"
"Are you kidding? She can`t stop talking about you!" replied
Laurella.
"You`re friends of hers, I assume?" asked Xavier.
"You bet. I`m Shingo, this is Laurella."
"Glad to meet you two. Take good care of her while I`m gone, she`s a
wonderful woman." said Xavier.
"Of course!" said Laurella.
The couple then went back on their way. Makoto`s boyfriend thought
about this for a minute, then resumed his way back to the exit. He
smiled, then started thinking about the many orders of business his
work would require him to undertake that day.
A new one had just been added.
* * *
Inside a busy gymnasium, dozens of teenagers were involved in many
team sports, each one of them a member in one of that college`s
several sport clubs. The basketball team had won many trophies in
prestigious tournaments over the years and was favorite to win again
that year, although it was the volleyball team that was attracting
all the attention that morning.
The star player of the team was in top shape, serving ball after
ball with unmatched strength and deadly precision. Aino Minako was
always a great player, but today she had something more. She had a
killer instinct no one ever knew she possessed.
"Serve!" said the referee.
Minako threw the white leather ball up, then jumped and snapped it
forward with all her might. The spike was aimed directly at the girl
nearest to the net on the other side, and she was hit directly in
the face. She fell backwards, her thoughts scrambled by the vicious
serve.
"Point!" said the referee, who then ran straight to the girl whom
he noticed was hurt by that last spike.
Everyone on the court seemed concerned, except Minako who picked up
a spare volleyball and spun it fast on her right index, the same
finger she used to cast her soul crescent smasher. She looked very
pleased with her performance.
"What`s the matter with you, miss Aino? Don`t you see that girl is
hurt?" asked the referee with anger flaring in his voice. The team
coach noticed that Minako showed no remorse whatsoever and was very
displeased with his player.
"You did that on purpose, didn`t you?" he accused her.
"You can`t prove a thing. Besides, all she had to do was get out of
the way." argued Minako with a smug look on her face, her left hand
twirling her ever darkening mane of hair. It was now dark blonde
with many jet black streaks.
"That`s it, I`ve had enough of your attitude, young lady... you`re
off the team!!!" said the coach.
"What??? You can`t do that, I`m the best player you ever had!!!" she
said angrily.
"Be that as it may, your attitude stinks! Until you can show some
teamwork, you`re out of here. Hit the showers, now."
Minako stepped heavily as she went to the showers under the eyes of
everyone in the gym, and she violently punched a tennis racket rack
on her way out, sending all its content on the floor.
"Where do they get off telling me what to do? They have no idea the
kind of hell I`ve been through this year!!!" she mumbled as she
opened her locker and started removing her clothes to take a shower.
"Perhaps, but I do." said a familiar voice behind her.
"Setsuna? What the hell are you doing here?" asked Minako. She did
not seemed pleased to see the guardian of time show up at her school.
"Maybe this can give you an idea?!" said the serene woman, holding
the morning headlines.
FIVE MORE PRESUMED CRIMINALS FOUND WITH SEVERE LIMB FRACTURES:
SAILOR V STRIKES AGAIN
"Oh, THAT. Can`t a girl have a hobby?"
"You`re stepping over the line, here, and it must stop. NOW." said
Setsuna. Her face showed no emotion, but her eyes spoke volumes.
"Or else what, you`ll spank me?"
"What you`re doing is horribly wrong, you`ve taken the law in your
own hands and made yourself judge, jury and executionner!!!"
"Isn`t that what we always did, against Beryl and all the other
kooks? Made ourselves the police for who`s right and wrong on this
planet?"
"But we only fight those who would destroy humanity or bend it to
its will! Petty criminals are not our concern!" argued Setsuna.
"Yadda yadda yadda. Excuses, excuses, excuses. This city needs
policing, face it Sets! And if there`s anyone capable of doing it,
it`s Sailor V! Now bug off, unless you wish to fight me." said
Minako, a burning flame in her eyes. Setsuna could tell she was
serious.
"Just remember, your dark path will catch up with you one day...
when the bill comes due, the recovering agency wil be merciless."
said the guardian of time who left the sweat covered Minako to her
much needed shower.
"Good riddance!" she told to Setsuna.
She slammed her locker shut and entered the showers. On the way
there, she walked by a mirror and took a moment to look at her eyes.
They were almost comletely black just like her hair.
"Oh well, I guess it comes with the new powers." she thought,
shrugging off this dreadful feeling that had been looming over her
for a while now.
* * *
A dark portal opened in front of Aebonite`s throne and out of it
stepped one of his generals, the reptilian being Dokuryo. Advancing
towards his ruler, the toxic dragon made a gracious bow to salute
him.
"Welcome back, Dokuryo." said Aebonite, taking a long sip from his
glass of blood red wine. "I assume all went well on your operation?"
"Quite right, Lord Aebonite. The marine youma cohort provided by our
dear Thorelia did a superb job of placing those crystals near the
underwater volcanoes of the pacific rim... even as we speak, the
entire west of america and most of the small south pacific islands
are starting to feel a chill..." said Dokuryo, smiling wickedly.
"Welcome back, friend." said Ghangoroth who appeared out of nowhere
as he usually did. One of his many psionic abilities was to mask his
own presence, and the resulting appearances "out of thin air" were
something he rather enjoyed doing.
"So how are you doing today, my psychic ally?" wondered the reptile.
He had taken a liking to this man who had pulled him out of an
underground waste water dump in the Tokyo sewers to put him back in
action serving the heir of his former mistress Beryl.
"I`ve been busy with Aebonite extraction and purification." he
replied.
"Shouldn`t Gingitsune be here?" asked Dokuryo.
"You`ll need to be briefed on the latest events, spending so much
time out of touch has left a bit disconnected..." said Aebonite as
he proceeded to explain the battle of his doomed general and how he
was torched alive by a giant phoenix.
"Wow, that`s amazing... I guess we picked up a lot of energy from
that one!" commented the toxic dragon.
"No, unfortunately... the energy expended by Sailor Mars was much
too refined and usage specific to be captured by our aebonite
crystals. All this heat was lost to our effort." answered the evil
lord of the dark empire, running his fingers through the few strands
of dark blue hair not set in his ponytail that were loose in his
face.
"I`d like to offer a new initiative to the master plan, milord."
said Ghangoroth, the heatless flames surrounding his head moving in
waves as his breath disturbed their steady patterns.
"I`m listening..." replied Aebonite.
"As you know, the sailor senshi use a great amount of energy on a
daily basis, although it`s much too refined in its form to be usable
by our crystals. I have, however, come into something else which
will be good for us on two levels at once: provide us with vast
amounts of energy AND destabilize our opponents." suggested
Ghangoroth.
"I`m intrigued..." said his master.
"It will require us to spend a good amount of energy getting my plan
into motion, but the paybacks will be far greater than you could
possibly imagine!" explained the psionic man.
And so he gave the details of his plan to Aebonite and Dokuryo. Evil
laughter could be heard filling the throne room after he was done...
* * *
"Oh my god... she lost the child?!?" said Makoto, tears filling her
eyes.
"Yes, and this is what triggered her soul power ascension, and fueled
that huge phoenix that burned in the sky last night." said Laurella.
"And you knew she was pregnant? You allowed her to transform and
fight regardless???" asked Shingo, concerned about Makoto`s attitude.
"She swore me to secrecy, said she`d be careful about it... how was
I supposed to know she`d run around challenging cyborg freak jobs?
Besides, none of us really knows exactly what effect transforming
could have on an unborn child... it might be disastrous, or be the
greatest thing for him. There was no way to find out, and Rei`s not
the kind of girl to back off form a fight. I tried to convince her
to lay low with the Sailor Mars bit, but you know Rei..."
"She`s more hard headed than Ronmar with his helmet on." said Shingo.
He got crossed looks for that last remark. "Hey, it`s true, I met
him on the moon kingdom!"
"Anyway..." interrupted Laurella, trying to steer the conversation
away from the dread knight, "She`s under the care of Ami`s mother.
You can visit her if you like, but she`s knocked over with sleepers
right now. She`ll be out until tomorrow at least."
"I have a feeling you`ll be there to help her out the way you were
there for me and Usagi." suggested Makoto.
"Every fiber of my being wants to help her." answered Laurella, a
tear forming in her eye.
"Your heart is the most compassionate I know, Laurella, that`s why
I love you so much." said Shingo, kissing Laurella`s cheek. He
brought a smile to her lips.
"Thank you, Kit. Your love means everything to me." she replied.
"Oh, that`s soooooo beautiful!" thought Makoto, big hearts sparkling
in her eyes as she watched her friends hugging and kissing. "I can`t
wait until MY guy gets here!"
* * *
All alone in her pink colored room, the little girl who would one
day be Usagi`s daughter was considering the many events which had
influenced her existence ever since she`d returned from the 31st
century to train under the guidance of her young mother, the powerful
Sailor Moon.
She thought over her sudden rise in power as she used her new attack,
the flaming heart. How could a girl from the moon use fire based
powers, the obvious domain of mars? And those strange feelings of
guilt she`d been having over Shingo, Laurella and Rei... it made no
sense! She`d never done anything to hurt ANY of them! And what about
the dread knight, Ronmar? Why was he so adamant about protecting her,
about watching over her sleep as she`d caught him doing when he
thought she was asleep?
This simply made no sense, her short life had nothing even closely
related to those events... unless...
"OF COURSE!!!" yelled Chibi-Usa, suddenly realizing what she`d
overlooked all this time. "The answer is not in my present life...
it`s in my SOUL, my PREVIOUS LIFE!!!"
At this moment, the small lady felt a surge of raw power surged
within her soul, flooding her tiny body with more power than she
ever thought attainable without the help of the silver moon crystal.
She did not transform, however, as her immature body wasn`t ready
to receive this sort of energy yet.
"Chibi-Usa, dear, what`s happening?" asked Ikuko who heard her
granddaughter yell, and noticed the strange golden glow irradiating
from the open door.
"I`ve transcended, mommy Ikuko! I have soul power just like my mom!"
she said with pride, her small body surrounded by a swirling golden
aura.
"That`s incredible, my little rabbit! But, aren`t you a little young
to receive so much power?" asked Ikuko with her maternal concern.
"That`s why I`m glad you came... please hold on to this for a
while..." she asked Ikuko, handing her the moon prism given to her
by Queen Neoserenity. "...and please explain Usagi exactly what
happened here, and tell her I love her."
"But why, sweetheart? Why not tell her yourself?"
"Because I won`t be able to say anything for a while..." she said,
as the swirling in her new aura increased tenfold.
When the aura vanished, Ikuko couldn`t believe her eyes.
"Oh my god..."
* * *
Amidst a bizarre collection of half-human half-animal statues,
Ghangoroth couldn`t help it but let out a gasp of admiration before
the masterful work of Thorelia, the sculptress from hell.
"Admirable... simply admirable!" he whispered to himself.
"So you like, I take it?" asked Thorelia who moved from behind one
of the more massive statues to get into view of the psionic man.
"I love it. Your creativity is so much more than I remembered it to
be!" complimented the dark general Ghangoroth.
"I`ve always been this creative, but it hasn`t always shown, that`s
all." she replied.
"Why not?"
"Because every general I ever worked for had his own ideas on what
I should do. Jedite had no value for imagination, putting his faith
in function over form, favoring pure effiency over sheer creativity.
Kunzite was never very artistic, and came to me with his ideas well
defined and planned in detail to the last square inch. Nephryte had
his own ideas when it came to youma design, while Zoisite... well,
let`s just say he had the most god awful tastes this side of
creation." explained Thorelia.
"I understand... and your creativity will be put to the test again.
I need some more youma, with special requirements. Are you up to it,
old friend?"
"Just ask away. Chances are, I already made something fitting your
needs!"
"Wonderful... which of your fine creatures has the finest nose?"
"That would be Lupina. She could sniff out a piece of perfume laced
silk covered by a foot of molten lava!" boasted the sculptress,
pointing to one of her statues, a hideously strong wolf woman.
"Perfect. I`ll take her... and that one over there as well." said
Ghangoroth, pointing to a catwoman youma.
"Cathra... a very good choice. I`ll animate them right away."
"Good. My plan can start that much sooner." said the psionic warrior,
snickering.
* * *
Minako was fuming. She was frustrated, angered, enraged. How dare
Setsuna scold her like this? The holier-than-thou bitch had no
business telling her what to do. After all, hadn`t she been spending
the better part of the eon guarding some stupid door nobody would
ever even go through anyway? What did she know of the REAL world,
the one where the whole population lived?
The hot water running down her body and washing away the thin layer
of soap covering her skin did nothing to soothe her. It usually did,
but this time its effect was nonexistant.
"I need to blow off some steam..." she thought, as she walked out of
the gym shower and dried herself with a pink towel.
The funloving Minako everybody knew and loved would have chased the
blues away with shopping and a few games at the game center, but
that sweet girl was no more. She was now a cold and vicious predator,
the deadly Sailor V who terrorized the entire Tokyo underworld.
Minako smiled. Time for some bone crunching action again, she thought
while she got dressed.
* * *
Miss Haruna called the names of all present students one by one,
making sure who was there or not that day. As she drew nearer and
nearer to the bottom of the list, she was beginning the T`s when
the school uniform Shingo blasted in the classroom and sat at his
desk just in time for his teacher to call "Tsukino Shingo".
"Right... here..." he answered as he panted to catch his breath. I
gotta stop cutting it so close when I stop by the hospital to see
Makoto, he thought.
After the presence call, the day`s lesson began with geography.
However dull it was, it wasn`t the actual lesson that made Shingo
daydream. No, he had way too much on his mind to even pay any
attention to his teacher who going on and on about some big european
country or other.
The senshi were falling like flies, he thought. First Minako who
went wacko on them when she woke up, then Makoto who got shot by a
thug and now Rei. Even though Makoto wasn`t a senshi yet, he started
to refer to all the sailor soldiers as senshi, mostly because he
thought that scout was a stupid name; it always reminded him of
little girls in green suits selling cookies door to door.
And what about that guy she loved, why did it feel so weird meeting
him? It was almost like he felt some strange kind of power exchange
taking place between them when they passed each other. Something
felt terribly wrong, and he`d tell the girls at their next meeting.
He couldn`t wait until after the school day was over, because he met
Ami at the hospital that morning and she told him she`d have
something incredibly important to tell them all, but she wanted to
see all the gang at once since she wasn`t sure if she`d have the
strength to say it again later.
Ami had indeed seemed quite shaken, and whatever could make that
cool headed genius freak out had to be of the gravest importance.
"I wonder if Laurella arrived to class on time today?" he wondered,
looking out the window, trying to spot in which of the other windows
facing him she might be right now...
* * *
In the vast parking lot facing the hospital where Dr Mizuno was
taking active care of Makoto and Rei, many visitors were coming and
going, taking advantage of the visiting hours to see their sick loved
ones and their wounded friends. Out of this steady movement of people,
two strange women just stood there, looking lost. To the untrained
eye, they might have seemed to be looking for the spot where they
parked their car, but a more accurate observation revealed that they
had come in this place walking, and had not even entered the hospital
at all.
"I can smell it, he really was here!" said the first woman. She was
very tall, had very large and disproportionate muscles and her
squarish face had barely the minimum requirements to be considered
feminine at all. She had hair that was short and very stiff, one
could guess it was fur. Her actions were also quite odd, as she
sniffed the air around her like a bloodhound on the chase.
"My smelling is very sharp too, and all I smell here is gasoline
and bad aftershave from that fat guy over there." said the other
woman, with a sweet purring voice. This one, unlike her companion,
was totally feminine with a slim and slender figure, long and agile
arms and legs, eyes that could seduce any man caught in their glow
and she moved with graceful movements that had fluidity beyond human
ability.
"It`s not a physical smell I`m going for, Cathra. I`m sniffing out
an energy trace... it came through here, it`s so pure and raw, it
stands out like a bonfire in the middle of a starless night!" said
the hulking youma.
"So you can follow his track, then, Lupina?"
"Good thing too... can you imagine what Ghangoroth would do to us if
we failed?" asked Lupina, growling like a wolf.
"I`d rather think what he will do to me when we succeed!" said the
catlike youma, purring like a kitten.
"Do you only have sex on the brain, girl?" wondered the musclebound
youma.
"Is there anything else worth thinking about?" playfully answered
Cathra.
"You`re hopeless. Come, let`s go while this track is fresh."
* * *
In Rei`s room, the young fire priestess was sleeping deeply from the
massive dose of strong tranquilizers given to her by doctor Mizuno.
She was being fed intravenously a rich nutritive serum, and was
being given the best treatments modern medicine could muster.
For all the care she received, however, Akane knew that she couldn`t
do much to help Rei from a psychological standpoint. Rei would have
to come to terms with losing her child, and that would surely be an
excrutiatingly painful process for her.
"I`d like to help you, darling, but there`s only so much I can do..."
she whispered.
An acrid smell offended her nose at that moment. She wondered where
such a terrible smell could come from when she saw an opaque cloud
of dark smoke moving about the room; it slowly condensed into a
humanoid form, taking solid consistence and turning into a tall man
dressed all in dark black clothes. He also wore black shades to
protect his eyes from daylight. Sitting slowly in a chair with great
care, he held on to his chest, his face twisted from terrible pain.
"You... are you that knight who saved Rei Sailor Mars from that crab
creature last night?" asked Akane who recognized his smoke-morphing
ability.
"Yeah, I`m Ronmar... but please call me Mitchell Dreadborne when I`m
out of battle gear." said Ronmar, holding his wounded chest with
both arms.
"I saw you getting blasted by Gingitsune... you must have broken
ribs, let me tend that for you..." offered Akane.
"No, that won`t be necessary... I heal myself by melding with the
night. I was much worse off than you see me right now when that
silver bastard got me. But I heal fast in darkness."
"Why did you come here in this condition?" asked the doctor.
"Why else? To help Rei."
"There`s nothing anyone can do right now."
"Bear in mind I`m still a knightmare... I can sneak my presence in
her dreams, although it`ll be the first time I do it for a purpose
that`s not selfish or evil..."
"You can do that?"
"Sure can. I may not be able to move much now, but I don`t even need
to lift a finger to do this little trick." explained the dread knight.
Concentrating all his energies on the mind of the sleeping Rei,
Ronmar slowly began to enter the surface of her unconscious mind and
made his way to the place where dreams occured. He found none there,
but that mattered little. All he had to do was wait a little until a
dream would form. It was inevitable as the tides of the sea, one just
had to be patient enough. A few months ago, the mighty Sailor Moon
had taught him a harsh lesson in patience, destroying his previous
body after he went ahead with an ill-conceived vengence plan.
Floating in the darkness of his reincarnated daughter`s mind, the
dread knight was ready to wait as long as it took. Nothing was too
much to ask of him if it could help make up for the horrible fate
she knew in her last life.
In the meantime, this darkness around him would help him heal his
battle injuries.
* * *
With the cold weather patterns having snapped back from the immense
heat dumped in the Tokyo sky by Sailor Mars` infernal phoenix fire
attack, frozen winds were now blowing in full force again, cutting
the skin of whoever was outside with its blistering freeze.
Cathra hated every second of it, but her loyalty to Aebonite forbade
her to stay off her given mission, even though it meant remaining
with Lupina, the biggest killjoy this side of creation.
"This is boring. I don`t even get how you can follow this trail you
keep babbling about!" she complained, fixing the hair around her ear
with her forearm the same way a cat would.
"The trail is really there! The energy is so raw, so primal, it calls
to me, beckons me, taunts me to find its source!" said the beastlike
female monster. Raising her gaze from the sidewalk, she looked
straight ahead of her towards the source of the residual energy trail
she`d been following for a long time. "There!"
Cathra looked forward where Lupina was pointing. There she saw the
juuban high school.
"Let`s get to work." said Cathra. Lupina agreed.
* * *
"So can anyone tell me the answer to this algebra problem?" asked
Miss Haruna, looking for a student to give her the solution to the
quadratic equation on the blackboard. This was one of the more
difficult problems she had asked so far, and everybody dreaded
having to resolve it, so she was forced to "volunteer" a student
of her own choosing.
Staring at the many teenagers in uniform who did their best to avoid
making eye contact, the veteran teacher made her choice on her
favorite kind of victim: the student who`s not paying attention.
"Would you care to give us an answer, mister Tsukino?" she asked.
Snapping out of his daze, Shingo realized he`d been staring blankly
out the window for over fifteen minutes now and had no idea what he
was supposed to say.
"I... err... could you repeat the question, please?" he asked, using
a stalling technique his big sister had taught him for just such an
occasion.
"I was asking you to resolve the quadratic equation on the board, if
you please, and take care to explain in detail the way you..." said
Haruna, her question interrupted by the leaping shadow in the window
that violently entered the classroom by crashing its way through the
concrete wall, sending a shower of smashed pieces onto the cowering
class, raising a dust cloud so thick that it masked everything around
the monstrous figure. The seven feet tall lupine youma let out a
horrinle howl and screamed its challenge to all those unfortunate
enough to be there.
"Where is the Emerald Knight??? Bring him to me or die where you
stand!!!"
Taking advantage of the choking dust cloud arisen from the concrete
explosion, Shingo charged his hand with a pulsing ball of emerald
green Technum energy. Striking the floor with his fist, he sent a
rippling wave of raw power towards Lupina who was thrown back two
floors down to the high school`s courtyard as the wave of energy
detonated at her feet.
"Everybody out!" screamed Shingo. Stricken with fear, the panicked
classroom emptied itself of all students who ran down the stairs
towards the nearest emergency exit.
Shingo was the only one who didn`t go along with the crowd, running
the other way towards the gaping hole in the wall and jumping outside
as he began his transformation. As he landed in the courtyard, he
was ready to fight as the Emerald Knight.
"Finally we meet, hero, now we must fight!" said Lupina, baring her
drooling fangs.
"You disrupted class, you inconsiderate creature! You better have a
valid reason AND a hall pass signed by the school director!!!" said
the knight.
"Big talk from a man in a tin can suit." said the wolf woman, leaping
forward in a frenzied charge. The strenght of her impact knocked the
sword out of his hand, and he brutally landed on his back crushed
under the heavy youma. Having transformed into her full beast form,
Lupina now had more muscle mass than any human alive, which was more
than sufficient to keep the young warrior at a blaring disadvantage.
"Your blood will be mine!!!" growled the monster, using all her
strength to try and rip his throat apart, the Emerald Knight`s
rapidly weakening arms being the only thing standing between the
disproportionate jaws of the lupine creature and his soft neck.
"Laurella, where are you?" he wondered, his mind going into a
panicked rush.
As if on cue, a sparkling beam made of a thousand multicolored
specks of light struck the beast, throwing her off the knight who
jumped back on his feet and picked up his green sword.
"Having fun without me, Kit?" asked Sailor Jendra.
"What took you so long, love?"
"I had to get away from class discreetly, didn`t I? As soon as the
panic started, it wasn`t too hard to do." she explained, giving her
boyfriend a wink. "Now let`s finish this! PRISMATIC SEVEN..." started
Jendra, her special attack stopped by Cathra who trapped her ankles
with a skillful whip slash and pulled her down onto the snow covered
ground.
"Oh no you don`t!" said the seductive youma who then proceeded to
transform as well into her full beast form. A layer of short black
fur covered every inch of her body while her eyes and ears took
feline aspects as well. She also grew sharp claws like those of the
wolf youma, although she prefered using her whip in combat.
"JENDRA SPECTRUM WHIPLASH!!!" screamed Laurella, forming a pair of
color shifting tentacles that extended forward and gained in speed
as its color moved from red all the way to ultraviolet when it
struck Cathra in the head and stomach.
Emerald Knight rushed Lupina, trying to slash her repeatedly. He
grazed her slightly on the second swordslash, but the youma`s
inhuman speed kept her from receiving any serious harm.
"Is this the best you can do, little man? Come on, challenge me!" she
said, mocking him and licking the trickle of blood coming from her
forearm.
"Take THIS then!" responded the young warrior, focusing all his
Technum energy into his blade and striking forward with all his
might at the taunting beast. In his rage, he concentrated EVERYTHING
he had into this one single blow.
Lupina swiftly stepped sideways and he missed. Raising her knee in a
quick jerk, she struck his stomach as he rushed passed her,
sprawling him down. Through his metallic armor, he could fell the
cold sting of winter snow seeping inside the plating joints.
"You lose, Emerald boy." said Lupina and took a small piece of
glowing crystal from her belt and tossed it on the knight`s armor
where it stuck instantly, dumping a massive amount of electrical
current in his body. Letting out a loud shriek of pain, he collapsed
immediately.
"KIT!!!" screamed Laurella who lost sight of Cathra for a brief
instant. She received a violent slash in the back as a reminder that
in combat, there is no room for emotion. Falling down in the snow as
well, Jendra could feel her back ripping itself out from the whip
slash whose special characteristic it was to stimulate the pain
receptors of the human body.
Pointing towards a point near the slumped body of the armored
warrior, Cathra formed a black portal leading back to the youma`s
headquarters. Lupina grabbed the fallen warrior and lifted as though
he were no more than a sack of potatoes.
"Coming, sister?" asked Lupina, looking back to Cathra.
"Be there in a second, sis." she replied.
Laurella could do nothing as she saw her lover being helplessly
dragged away by the wolflike monster into the dark gate where they
both disappeared. She then felt a clawed hand pick her up by the
neck and pulling her without any regards to her well being.
"I`ll enjoy the time I`ll be spending with your boyfriend..."
whispered Cathra in Jendra`s ear. She then gave her a very tender
kiss against her will, mocking her even further. "I hope that the
Emerald Knight kisses as good as you do... among other things!!!"
she added. Dropping her limp body back into the snow, Cathra laughed
her head off and walked into the black portal that vanished
afterwards.
Painfully getting back up, Sailor Jendra stared blankly at the empty
spot where her lover had just been abducted from. Her head spun and
her temples throbbed, as the realization that he was really gone
began to sink in. Shock lead to denial, then to a wild of anger as
she screamed in total abandonment to hatred like she never knew
existed inside her being.
Hordes of teen students who`d spied on the battle from a distance
started to walk in hesitantly, unsure wether they should be there
or not. As Sailor Jendra collapsed on her knees and sobbed without
any regards as to who was watching her, a few girls decided to step
forward and console her. A couple of undying Sailor Jendra fans knelt
down besides her, and hugged her as they joined into her sadness.
They admired Emerald Knight as well, and were crushed to know that
he`d been captured by his enemies. The warrior in shining green armor
had come to represent an ideal of the perfect boyfriend for many of
them, and to Laurella he was just that.
And now he was gone.
* * *
EPILOGUE
Because her classes had finished much earlier than usual, Usagi had
come back home directly, and she brought home her classmate and
senshi sister Robin. The two of them had spent the whole way there
discussing the various merits of the mascara brands they each used.
All the darkness their lives had confronted them with required some
release, and meaningless chitchat often did the trick for the senshi
of the moon and saturn.
"Hiya mom, I`m home! And I brought a friend along!" said Usagi as
she and her friends took off their heavy wintercoats and boot.
"A... friend?" nervously asked Ikuko until she saw Robin. She then
felt relieved. "Oh, it`s you Robin."
"I`ve had warmer welcomes from the Prime, and he was trying to make
me his mindless puppet." replied sharply Robin with sarcasm that
could pierce through steel.
"I`m sorry dear, it`s just... Chibi-Usa, she..."
It then struck Usagi that her little spore of a daughter-to-be wasn`t
there to bug her, even though she had no school that day. She was
ALWAYS there to make fun of her every chance she got.
"Chibi-Usa, what happened to her? Where is she?!?" asked Usagi in
a panic.
"She`s in her room, but..." tried to say the distraught Ikuko, but
her daughter was already racing up the stairs followed by friend.
"CHIBI-USA!!!" screamed Usagi, blasting her way into the pink shaded
room. She was stunned by what she saw.
"Yo, Usagi, wait up!" urged Robin who couldn`t believe her own eyes.
"Oh god..." whispered Usagi.
"What... is that?" asked Robin.
The entire bedroom was stuck in a thick weblike arrangement of an
unidentifiable hardened matter that held three feet above the air a
thick protective coccoon in which rested the curled up Chibi-Usa.
"This is her own doing." said Ikuko, joining Usagi and Robin into
Chibi-Usa`s room. "She has attained her soul power, but her body was
too immature to contain such power. She has entered this coccoon so
she can mature into the body that she needs to join the ranks of the
senshi."
Usagi caressed the hard shell that encased her little angel, and a
tear formed in her eye.
"I`ll be waiting for you when you come out, sweetheart. I`ll protect
you until that moment comes, I promise.
TO BE CONTINUED...