By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
The three athletic silhouettes of young women warriors swiftly made
their way around the heavily guarded police lines around the junkyard
which the weakest blighted one of Black Baron used as a hideout for
a long time. Now, the place was almost deserted after the dark minion
of the evil shadow being commanded his hellish houndlike beasts to
murder every human being who happened to be working there.
The police had done their work for their inquiry now, and only the
stench of death remained to witness the vile monsters` cruelty.
"Was it him?" asked Sailor Star Maker.
"Not directly, but he was here. Whoever or whatever did this has his
stench all over." replied the strongly empathic Sailor Star Healer.
"Can you lead us to either of them?" wondered Sailor Star Fighter as
she repressed a shudder over the sheer brutality of the assault.
Whoever did this would pay in blood.
"I`ll try, but it`s not easy, you know. It`s not likely we`ll find
either of them unless they strike again- or until the princess
shows us where they are." said Healer.
"We`ll do our best in the meantime." said Maker.
They lept away in long superhuman bounds, following the faint track
of Black Baron and his sinister minion.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 38
PREPROGRAMMED RESPONSES
Minako stared out of the window, wondering how she would try and
explain her latest revelations to Robin. She`d been going over the
events that had happened over the past six months, and found a
pattern that was blatantly obvious to the path she was following.
She had come to accept herself for who she really was and had
overcome obstacles that would have broken a lesser woman to a empty,
hollow shell. It had been hell at times, but in the end she had
prevailed. The only problem was... how would she explain all this to
Robin? She had a big part to play in the matter, wether she realized
it or not, and her feelings on the subject were rather strong to say
the least.
A car horn blared out from the street, insistant and annoying.
"That`s Robin all right, I better go and face her." thought Minako.
"I`m going out with a friend, mom!" called the blonde girl as she
picked up her purse and ran down the stairs from her room to the
front door.
"Who are you going with?" wondered her mother.
"Robin, you met her at the christmas party." said Minako in her
usual chippy tone.
"Oh, and is she... interested?" wondered miss Aino.
"Oh come on, mom! She`s just a friend!" protested Minako. Ever since
her mother had accepted her homosexuality, she had effectively
stopped her relentless questionning about her daughter`s male
friends... only to redouble her third degree about Minako`s female
friends, especially since her breakup with Ami.
"That`s what you said about Ami, as I remember, until Makoto dropped
by and caught you making out with her!" she replied with a large
grin.
Minako blushed. "She`s got the biggest crush on Yaten, mom, I don`t
think she`d be interested in me or any other girl." said Minako.
"Well the Three Lights do have a way to make young girls swoon...
have a good evening, dear."
"Thanks, you too mom."
* * *
The stars shone brightly in the sky as a lonely dark figure appeared
out of thin air in a small glade in some seldom visited part of the
forests near mount Fuji. The deadly feminine knightmare Thanatora
formed her solid shape, revealing herself as the cold huntress whose
very appearance had spawned the myth of the grim reaper, her light
body armor cleverly hidden under a long black hooded cloak and a
large scythe in her hand. She also carried with her a little
something extra, a long stick with a large round shape on top
conceiled by a black veil.
"Looks like I`m first... again." said Thanatora, looking around and
seeing none of her kind.
She planted the stick firmly in the ground and sat atop a large
boulder until her kinsmen arrived.
"The stars are right... shouldn`t be too long now." she thought.
Another cloud arrived in the glad, this one burning hot like steam
and smelling of sulfur.
"Greetings, Behemoth." said Thanatora, hopping off the large rock
and regaining her composure.
The hot cloud condensed itself into an eight feet tall warrior in the
heaviest suit of crimson armor that has ever been forged in this
world or any other. His hands were as large as the chest of a normal
human being, and his large feet could easily crush the strongest of
the so-called champions of earth. In his left gauntlet he held the
largest battle axe that had been created in the forges of the third
sphere, which Behemoth still dwarfed with his immense size.
"Greetings sister knightmare. It`s a good night for the challenging,
isn`t it?" growled the huge warrior in a voice even deeper than
Ronmar`s.
"Quite, but it`s a shame that the nexus is in such an unfavorable
point in its cycle... it seems we might be the only contenders for
the title this time." sighed Thanatora, remembering the day when
Ronmar had gained the title of first knightmare of the spheres.
Dozens of the greater knightmares had taken part of to the
challenging, the traditionnal knightmare ceremony for the passing
of power among the dread knights. Hundreds more of the lesser ones
had attended, making Ronmar`s ascension to power a memorable event
indeed.
"No matter. We`ll make it something more intimate then." said
Behemoth, walking in impatient circles as he waited and shaking the
ground with every step.
"I have arrived." resounded a voice in a menacing tone, a strong
spicy smell filling the air.
"New smell, dread lord?" wondered Thanatora.
"New body, it affects you in many ways." replied Ronmar as he formed
his body, wearing proudly his golden full plate armor and bearing a
very large halberd of the same golden glint.
"Shall we start?" asked Behemoth.
"Ever the impatient one, heh my bulky friend? Yes, let us begin."
said Ronmar. "Thanatora, will you do the honors?"
"With pleasure." she said, then began to sing a magnificient lyric
poem relating her existence, battles and triumphs. Both male
knightmares stood enthralled by her perfect voice...
* * *
"Rei`s picked up something from her fire reading." said Robin to
Minako as she drove to Makoto`s place to pick her up. "The others
will meet us at the junkyard on the outskirts of town."
"Who else is coming?"
"Rei will be waiting for us at Makoto`s. Mamoru will give a lift to
Usagi and Usako. Laurella is trying to get in touch with Shingo right
now, but he`s out with friends so we may not be able to locate him
in time." said Robin.
Minako thought over her latest musings, and at the conclusion she had
come to. She had to tell Robin, to let her know how she felt.
"Robin... you... miss your father, don`t you?" she asked. Even though
she wasn`t empathic as Laurella, she still felt her friend`s heart
squeezing in her chest.
"Yeah... I miss him a lot. He gave me life, made me everything I am.
He once told me that his original intentions were not to attach
himself to me, not to feel anything so he wouldn`t have to feel any
pain if he lost me as he lost his student Hotaru."
"But... he couldn`t help but love you, could he?" said Minako,
completing her friend`s thought.
"Exactly. He risked everything to save my life, and lost his own in
the process. All because of Gallagher, of this bastard who ruined any
chance of my father finding a peaceful solution to our problems!"
added Robin, spewing her bottled up anger in a venomous rage.
"I don`t think he meant to hurt anyone, Robin. I understand now why
he did the things he did."
Robin found a parking space alongside the street and stopped the car.
She turned to Minako, her eyes burning with both confusion and anger.
"What the hell are you talking about? You of all people should have
reason to despise him, he almost KILLED you!" shouted Robin.
"Perhaps. But the words he said as he was beating me senseless still
ring in my hears... he said that my mind was weak, but burned with
the passion of war and needed only the hammer of truth to forge it
into a mighty weapon of justice." said Minako, remembering her brutal
encounter with the second soul half of the deceased Technuma Saturn.
She could feel her face hurt from the many savage blows he had given
her.
"What are you saying, exactly?"
"That without Gallagher, my mind would have been too weak to focus
and unleash my soul power. Let`s face it... without him, I wouldn`t
have ascended yet and we would have failed to summon the messiah at
D-point. Aebonite would have killed us all!" explained Minako in a
totally uncharacteristic display of logic.
Robin`s hands twitched and crushed the steering wheel as she squeezed
it in boiling anger.
"Don`t insult the memory of my father by saying Gallagher had good
intentions... my dad died because of him!!!" she screamed.
"Have you ever thought that his soul was just as incomplete as
Technuma`s... and because of that he suffered just the same?!?"
pleaded Minako, taking Robin`s hand in hers. "I found the strength
to forgive Gallagher, maybe you should too and move on..."
Robin started to cry. Thinking clearly over her entire life span
which covered a very short five months, she let go of all the pain
she had accumulated over that time.
"This... will take some time..." she said between her tears.
"I`ll be there for you, Robin. We all will." said Minako. She looked
at her friend and began feeling a little uncomfortable... she
actually felt herself attracted to her. Technuma had intended to
create the perfect woman to be his daughter, and she was inclined to
believe he had indeed attained his goal.
Finally, Minako cracked. She reached over and placed a soft kiss on
Robin`s lips. Robin was a little shocked from the sudden move, but
she didn`t pull away. This felt good somehow, very comforting...
"I`m sorry, Robin, I shouldn`t have done that." appologized Minako
as she broke the kiss and turned away.
"Don`t be sorry, Minako... I`ve always wondered how it felt when
Michiru kissed Haruka." said Robin, a smile returning to her lips.
"Now I know how wonderful it feels."
Turning the key to restart the engine, Robin left the parking space
and returned on her original course. On the sidewalk near the spot
where the young senshi`s car was momentarily parked stood a girl who
was the exact double of Aino Minako save for her dark black hair and
eyes. She had witnessed the entire conversation, even though she
could not hear it, but most of all she had seen the KISS. It burned
her inside that her template was finally getting her life together
while she failed over and over to get any amount of happiness.
If she couldn`t be happy herself... she`d destroy everything Minako
had.
* * *
She walked a bit uncertainly with her shining metal crutches in her
hands, but Makoto`s pride was preventing her from ever giving up on
hoping to be able to walk freely again in the near future. Her soul
power ascension had given her spine the boost she needed to begin
healing, and each subsequent transformation she made had repaired her
nervous system a few fibers at a time. She was well on her way to
complete recovery now, and was spending a lot of her time at home
as Sailor jupiter to speed up the process further.
Aside her personal physician Mizuno Akane who, as Makoto had
recently learned, knew of her being a senshi, the entire hospital
staff had been baffled by her miraculous recovery.
"Hi Makoto!" said Rei as she joined her friend who was walking out
of her appartment building.
"Hi, Rei. I got your message, what did you see in the fire that`s so
urgent?" she wondered.
"Something is on the move." she answered with a grim look on her
face.
"Black Baron?"
"Most likely, or one of his minions anyway."
"Michiru called those creatures by a weird name... what was it
again?" asked Makoto.
"While she was still bleeding spiritual energy, I heard her mumble
about a 'blighted one', it seems that those dark beings would be the
servants of Black Baron." replied Rei.
"Whatever they are... they`ll pay for Haruka and Michiru." said
Makoto through her clenched teeth, gritting them together in a rage
she could barely keep in check.
"Keep your cool for now, Makoto. You`ll get a chance to fight all
too soon." said Rei.
Robin`s car pulled up next to them a few moments later, taking them
to what was sure to be a very bloody battle.
* * *
The lights were faint, few and far apart in the long dark tunnel,
but the black clad weakling minion of Black Baron needed no light to
move around, and neither did his precious pets, over a dozen
hellspawned hounds. Their physical attributes looked like a patchwork
of bull, wolf, lion and panther body parts randomly selected and
assembled.
The evil red eyes of the hellhounds glowed brightly in the dark,
their murderous instincts driving them ever forward in serving the
blighted one whose greenish skin was a dreadful mess of cuts and
gashes seeping an acidlike yellow ooze. The improvised bandages on
his face and hands, the only parts of his body not hidden by his
long flowing clothes, did nothing to hide just how much miserable
his physionomy really was.
In his left hand, he help on tightly to one of Gallagher`s cards
given to him by his sinister master Black Baron, the image of his
next senshi target taunting his bloodshot yellow eyes with every
stare he took at it. He would make sure that her soul would get torn
apart just like the two previous targets that had already fallen.
A sign alongside the tunnel wall indicated that the subway station
was only a few hundred feet away now, so he would be reaching his
objective soon. A rumbling noise came from the distance, turning
into a loud thundering roll as it approached at great speed. The
blighted one and his pets quickly stepped aside and hugged the wall
closely as the subway cars screeched by at full speed, being come
and gone in a flash of blue metal and white shining light. With the
subway train past, they resumed their course as fast as the weak
body of the blighted one allowed him to walk.
This was going to be so easy.
* * *
The loud echoing voice of Behemoth filled the entire glade as his
rich baritone song of battles, wars and conquests entranced both
Ronmar and Thanatora. With the last verse of his lifetime
accomplishments recited, his singing came to a halt and both
knightmares regained their full awareness of their surroundings
again.
"That, my knightmare kin, is all." concluded Behemoth in his deep
voice.
"Impressive, Behemoth, as much as Thanatora. You are both superior
contenders and I deem you worthy of succession." said Ronmar.
"Then shall we proceed to the offerings?" asked Behemoth.
"Yes, the gift of war trophies shall determine the winner. Would you
like to go first, brother Behemoth?" replied Ronmar.
"I wouldn`t dream of it... please, ladies first." said the huge
warrior in a display of chivalry which Thanatora was sure hid some
sneaky plan. But she didn`t care... she had THE gift that would win
Ronmar over to her cause. Offering it first to the dread lord of
darkness would only serve her to further humiliate her opponent.
"Here, my lord, is my gift..." said Thanatora as she took her gift
and planted it in the ground. "I researched for something VERY
special tailored for your own taste!" she added as she pulled the
veil covering the spherical shape on top of the stick, revealing
nothing less than the severed head of Coran Demsy, the parasitic
telepath Psyche, whom Ronmar found himself allied to in a group
called the Triad.
Ronmar hated that man with a passion, and a wide grin formed on his
lips as he looked at his glassy eyes and terror stricken expression
forever frozen in death.
"I love it. Vortika once asked me what was my greatest wish, and
this was my answer... Psyche`s head on a spear!!!" said the dread
knight, making a little "hello there" wave to the dead man`s face.
"Grrmph. An easy target, Thanatora, I`m disappointed in you. I know
you could have done better than THAT." mocked Behemoth.
"Then let`s see what you have for me, then." said Ronmar.
"Yes... here it is." said Behemoth, opening a small bag attached to
his belt and pulling a small red gem which he placed in Ronmar`s
gauntlet. He removed one of his armored gloves and began inspecting
the rather crude looking crimson stone.
"What is so special about it? It looks free of imperfections, but it
still needs to be carved and polished..." commented Ronmar.
"Just wait a moment or two..." urged Behemoth.
A few seconds later, Ronmar began feeling his fingers getting sticky
for some reason. His eyes popped open when he realized that the
stone was oozing out blood!!!
"Is that... a blood ruby???" he asked, baffled.
"Believe it. Does it not bleed when in contact with your flesh?"
"WHERE did you get THAT?" asked Thanatora, stunned from shock.
"Where else? From inside the heart of magmawaste lavafiend!!! Killing
that sucker took over a week of non-stop fighting... but it was
worth it." bragged proudly Behemoth.
"My army was almost decimated by a mere lavafiend pup... a stone
this large could only come from an ADULT one! I am VERY pleased,
Behemoth!!!" said Ronmar, putting the stone in his covered hand so
that it would not be in contact with his skin and stop bleeding.
Thanatora`s head was spinning; she knew she was losing her
challenging and that another chance to grab the knightmare reigns
of power wouldn`t occur for hundreds of years.
"I have made my choice." said Ronmar. "Behemoth, first knightmare
of the third sphere will be my successor."
He placed his hand on the arm of Behemoth and waves of power began
swirling around the two of them. Tentacle-like strands of golden
energy formed from Ronmar`s body, encircling the two male knightmares
and entering Behemoth`s body. The golden glint of Ronmar`s armor
slowly faded to a dull flat black while the crimson armor of Behemoth
was being highlighted in the most eye pleasing combination of red and
gold. When the energy faded away, ronmar`s armor was now a deep black
color which seemed to be absorbing light around it, the same color it
originally had before he won his challenging to receive the mantle of
command from the greater lord Andreyis.
Behemoth arose his now golden axe in the air in triumph.
"And now as my final act as first knightmare... I declare the earth
and the silver millenium my protectorate!" declared Ronmar with
authority. "Let the conflicts of the knightmare kin never disturb my
final place of retirement!!!"
Both knightmares agreed to Ronmar`s final wish, and vaporized their
forms to leave the glade, getting ready to return to their own planes.
Ronmar dissolved his battle armor, leaving only his stylish black
clothes. He had finally retired himself of the internal conflicts of
dread knight society at long last... not only had he spared his
adoptive home of his terrible past, but he could now devote himself
to his newfound love, Mizuno Akane...
* * *
"HERE!!!" screamed Rei, pointing to a subway station entrance. Robin
slammed on the breaks, sending everyone in the car reeling forward.
"Thank god for safety belts..." thought Makoto who hit her head on
the headrest of the passenger seat in front of her.
"You`re sure???" asked Robin.
"Positive. It`s here!!!" replied Rei.
"I`ll call the others." said Minako, activating her communicator.
The four young warriors stepped out of the car, standing ready to go
into battle. They used a nearby dead end alley to transform, then ran
into the station as Sailor Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. They
received many cheers and lovestruck glances from the commutors as
they ran by, and Jupiter could have sworn hearing someone asking her
to marry him...
"Our popularity is growing every day!" noticed Saturn.
"Yeah, don`t you just LOVE it???" agreed Venus, a big smile on her
lips.
Running down the stairs, they arrived at the entrance wickets which
they proceeded to hop over and keep on running. Saturn slapped a
couple of thousand yen bills on the ticket office counter as she ran
after the other three, appologizing about it quickly without
stopping her frantic race.
"What do you think this means?" wondered one of the ticket office
clerks.
"I don`t know, but better call the cops. These girls always show up
where there`s trouble!" said the other, picking up the phone to call
the police.
They arrived on the subway boarding gate, at the first level of the
three level station. Several lines met at this point, and it would
make things harder for sure.
"It`s here somewhere, I feel the evil in the air!" said Mars, a
tingle going down her spine.
"Everybody get out of here, quickly, your lives are in danger!"
yelled Sailor Jupiter.
There were about thirty people on the three different levels of the
station, waiting for their subways to pick them up and switching
lines to reach their destination, and many of them looked at the
senshi in disbelief. What could be menacing them? Nobody reacted...
and this would only make matters worse.
"So what now? What are we supposed to do exactly?" wondered Venus.
The terrible answer to this question did not make any doubt to any
of the young women warriors as nine hellhounds of the blighted one
roared, running out of the top level of the station and seperated
into three groups. Six jumped down one level, after which three of
those jumped down one level further.
"Oh, that`s just great!" cursed Jupiter.
"Venus, you`re the quickest one of us, run down to the third level
down and stop those beasts! Saturn, you go down one level, Jupiter
and myself will stay here to contain any more that might come out
the same tunnel!" said Mars, taking control of the situation. The
other three silently agreed among themselves that if Usagi hadn`t
been fated to be their leader, Rei would have been the natural
choice. As it stood, she had the unofficial title of second in
command, Usagi often relying on her in moments of great need.
In three quick bounds across the safety railings, Venus was all the
way down among the fearful passengers who ran away from the ravenous
beasts, her sacred weapon Dreadbane in hand to face them. Saturn
summoned Soulstar while she ran the stairs down one level, charging
the three hellhounds that she was intent to destroy.
Jupiter and Mars called upon Mjolnir and Hellfire, steadying their
grip on their sacred weapon to battle the evil menace. Just as Mars
had predicted, four more of those creatures ran out of the top level
tunnel, growling and seeking for a victim.
"CHAAAAARGE!!!" screamed Sailor Mars, sounding the attack.
* * *
Standing outside the subway station, three athletic young women
dressed in very revealing black leather outfits were poised to take
their first direct move- and most likely tip their hand to their
enemies in the process. They had tried to delay this moment for
weeks now, but the instant of truth had arrived.
"I know you`re the empath among us, Healer, but the feeling of
dread is palpable here..." said Sailor Star Maker.
"It`s getting stronger everywhere in this town. It just feels more
impending around them." replied Healer, the shortest of the three as
she ran her fingers down her long silver ponytail.
"If only SHE was there... with us... she could help us so much."
sighed Sailor Star Fighter.
"For now we can only do one thing: fight the battle on our own
terms." observed Healer.
"Well said." replied Maker. Fighter nodded to mark his agreement.
* * *
"SOUL CRESCENT SMASHER!!!"
"FIRE SOUL!!!"
"SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!!!"
The special attacks of the sailor senshi detonated upon their
intended targets, the vile beasts of the blighted one. Four of them
exploded, burned, ripped apart and got shocked to death at once.
Panic seized the commuters who ran in all directions, trying
desperately to avoid the furious battle going on. Inevitably, a few
of them ended up too close to the hellhounds, but fortunately the
precision lightning blasts of Sailor Jupiter rescued them from the
savage onslaught of the reinforcements pouring in from the first
level subway tunnel. Along with the last of the demonlike monsters,
a thin man in long dark clothes similar to that of desert nomads
left the darkness of the tunnel to join his pets in combat.
"Kill them, boys, kill them all!!!" he said, obvious joy in his
voice.
"Hey, dark boy, is that thing yours?!?" yelled Jupiter to the dark
figure, grabbing the beast closest to her, swinging it around in
circles and letting it go flying like the same way she used to for
the hammer throw competition in high school. The beast whimpered as
its flight arc led it straight into the way of an incoming subway
train, tearing it to pieces as it got crushed to a bloody pulp.
"Impressive, tall one." he whispered, his sickly voice barely holding
out before he broke into a long fit of cough. "Let`s see you handle
THIS!" he finally managed to say, raising his hand up and releasing
a swirling mass of dark power that shook the floor with its powerful
shockwaves of pure force.
While the blighted one engaged the two senshi high above and Saturn
used her ruby glaive to kill the third beast on the floor just one
floor up, Venus was having trouble cleaning up her own part of the
battle. For all her soul powered speed and precision attacks, she
was still unsure with her double bladed broadsword and it showed.
She had badly wounded one of the hellhounds and still the other one
was barely scratched.
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!!!" she called out, catching one of the beasts
by the neck with her golden hearts energy chain. With a strong tug,
it ripped it right out of her hand, leaving her at a clear
disadvantage. She had trouble figuring out what happened next as she
widly slashed left and right to try and keep away from herself the
assault of claws and fangs. When she got her bearings back, her
yellow, amber and gold uniform was all torn up, her flesh marked
with many bleeding wounds. She was covered in blood, not all of it
hers.
She was horrified.
Her breathing stopped, she didn`t even notice the floor shaking
furiously under her feet from the battle going on above her head.
She had fought lots of youma, cardians, droids and other such
monsters in her lifetime of being Sailor Venus and Sailor V, but
the beasts she fought never bled. They fell to dust, crumbled into
rubble, burned to ash, turned to light... but this blood all over
her, dripping on her hands, seeping from her torn skin... it was
too much for her. She just started crying, her sweet and innocent
spirit wounded badly.
A dark presence behind her had been expecting this. Black Baron stood
out of a shadowy corner, pointing his hand to the traumatized young
girl, using his dark power to focus and pull out everything black
and evil within Aino Minako`s soul. As she screamed in abominable
pain, her dark splinter was forcefully extracted, the small piece of
jagged crystal flying to the shifting being`s hand. Yelling out her
soul tearing torture, Sailor Venus` senshi fuku vanished while her
sword Dreadbane shattered into a hundred shards of fractured topaze.
"Hey, stay away from her, you bastard!!!" screamed Saturn as she
realized what was happening to her friend. Black Baron looked up and
stared right at the young senshi who froze in place, suddenly knowing
what true fear meant. "Lucky for me I had this guard rail to prevent
me from falling down..." she thought as she realized that she was
leaning in a dangerous manner over what could be a very long fall if
she wasn`t careful.
Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, goes Murphy`s Law.
Pointing his hand to the balcony ramp, Black Baron used his dark
powers to destroy the concrete floor and metal handrail Robin held on
to, plunging her to a fifteen feet fall onto the lower level subway
rails where she brutally landed in an uncontrolled manner. Having
removed his target`s dark splinter, he contently vanished, leaving
the shivering Minako lying on the subway boarding ramp a crying mess,
a broken doll abandonned to its sad fate.
"Bastard..." mumbled Saturn as she figured what had happened. She
shook her head and noticed that her right hand was mere inches away
from the third rail... and certain death! "Okay, don`t panic, girl,
as long as you don`t move too fast, nothing can go wrong..." she
told herself, feeling a bit more reassured.
The ground began rumbling again under her sprawled body, but this
time it wasn`t the sudden and momentary shocks of the blighted one
attacking Mars and Jupiter two floors above her. This time it was
smoother, softer, more insistent and longer lasting. It was also
gradually increasing in strength, and a loud noise began to accompany
it, coming from the tunnel in front of her. Looking in the distance,
she saw two spots of light moving her way...
"You just had to open your big mouth, didn`t you, Robin?" she blasted
herself. No panic needed, it was still about ten seconds off. Nothing
a senshi like herself couldn`t handle, all she had to do was get to
her feet, leap up and...
Sailor Saturn screamed as she tried to pull herself up, her left
tibia having suffered a double fracture in her long fall down.
Collapsing back down on the cold metal subway rails, she just came
to understand she couldn`t move out of the way. With only seconds
before she was crushed under the wheels of the incoming machine,
Jupiter and Mars couldn`t help her as they were too busy fighting
the blighted one and his pets to even notice her plight. Not even
Minako could rescue her because of the crippling soul injury she had
just suffered. The headlights of the subway train blinded her as it
speeded her way on a trajectory of certain death. Bracing herself
for the impact, she closed her eyes and shed a tear.
"Wait for me, dad, I`ll be there soon..." was the last thing she
had time to whisper.
To be continued...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
Prologue...
The three athletic silhouettes of young women warriors swiftly made
their way around the heavily guarded police lines around the junkyard
which the weakest blighted one of Black Baron used as a hideout for
a long time. Now, the place was almost deserted after the dark minion
of the evil shadow being commanded his hellish houndlike beasts to
murder every human being who happened to be working there.
The police had done their work for their inquiry now, and only the
stench of death remained to witness the vile monsters` cruelty.
"Was it him?" asked Sailor Star Maker.
"Not directly, but he was here. Whoever or whatever did this has his
stench all over." replied the strongly empathic Sailor Star Healer.
"Can you lead us to either of them?" wondered Sailor Star Fighter as
she repressed a shudder over the sheer brutality of the assault.
Whoever did this would pay in blood.
"I`ll try, but it`s not easy, you know. It`s not likely we`ll find
either of them unless they strike again- or until the princess
shows us where they are." said Healer.
"We`ll do our best in the meantime." said Maker.
They lept away in long superhuman bounds, following the faint track
of Black Baron and his sinister minion.
* * *
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 38
PREPROGRAMMED RESPONSES
Minako stared out of the window, wondering how she would try and
explain her latest revelations to Robin. She`d been going over the
events that had happened over the past six months, and found a
pattern that was blatantly obvious to the path she was following.
She had come to accept herself for who she really was and had
overcome obstacles that would have broken a lesser woman to a empty,
hollow shell. It had been hell at times, but in the end she had
prevailed. The only problem was... how would she explain all this to
Robin? She had a big part to play in the matter, wether she realized
it or not, and her feelings on the subject were rather strong to say
the least.
A car horn blared out from the street, insistant and annoying.
"That`s Robin all right, I better go and face her." thought Minako.
"I`m going out with a friend, mom!" called the blonde girl as she
picked up her purse and ran down the stairs from her room to the
front door.
"Who are you going with?" wondered her mother.
"Robin, you met her at the christmas party." said Minako in her
usual chippy tone.
"Oh, and is she... interested?" wondered miss Aino.
"Oh come on, mom! She`s just a friend!" protested Minako. Ever since
her mother had accepted her homosexuality, she had effectively
stopped her relentless questionning about her daughter`s male
friends... only to redouble her third degree about Minako`s female
friends, especially since her breakup with Ami.
"That`s what you said about Ami, as I remember, until Makoto dropped
by and caught you making out with her!" she replied with a large
grin.
Minako blushed. "She`s got the biggest crush on Yaten, mom, I don`t
think she`d be interested in me or any other girl." said Minako.
"Well the Three Lights do have a way to make young girls swoon...
have a good evening, dear."
"Thanks, you too mom."
* * *
The stars shone brightly in the sky as a lonely dark figure appeared
out of thin air in a small glade in some seldom visited part of the
forests near mount Fuji. The deadly feminine knightmare Thanatora
formed her solid shape, revealing herself as the cold huntress whose
very appearance had spawned the myth of the grim reaper, her light
body armor cleverly hidden under a long black hooded cloak and a
large scythe in her hand. She also carried with her a little
something extra, a long stick with a large round shape on top
conceiled by a black veil.
"Looks like I`m first... again." said Thanatora, looking around and
seeing none of her kind.
She planted the stick firmly in the ground and sat atop a large
boulder until her kinsmen arrived.
"The stars are right... shouldn`t be too long now." she thought.
Another cloud arrived in the glad, this one burning hot like steam
and smelling of sulfur.
"Greetings, Behemoth." said Thanatora, hopping off the large rock
and regaining her composure.
The hot cloud condensed itself into an eight feet tall warrior in the
heaviest suit of crimson armor that has ever been forged in this
world or any other. His hands were as large as the chest of a normal
human being, and his large feet could easily crush the strongest of
the so-called champions of earth. In his left gauntlet he held the
largest battle axe that had been created in the forges of the third
sphere, which Behemoth still dwarfed with his immense size.
"Greetings sister knightmare. It`s a good night for the challenging,
isn`t it?" growled the huge warrior in a voice even deeper than
Ronmar`s.
"Quite, but it`s a shame that the nexus is in such an unfavorable
point in its cycle... it seems we might be the only contenders for
the title this time." sighed Thanatora, remembering the day when
Ronmar had gained the title of first knightmare of the spheres.
Dozens of the greater knightmares had taken part of to the
challenging, the traditionnal knightmare ceremony for the passing
of power among the dread knights. Hundreds more of the lesser ones
had attended, making Ronmar`s ascension to power a memorable event
indeed.
"No matter. We`ll make it something more intimate then." said
Behemoth, walking in impatient circles as he waited and shaking the
ground with every step.
"I have arrived." resounded a voice in a menacing tone, a strong
spicy smell filling the air.
"New smell, dread lord?" wondered Thanatora.
"New body, it affects you in many ways." replied Ronmar as he formed
his body, wearing proudly his golden full plate armor and bearing a
very large halberd of the same golden glint.
"Shall we start?" asked Behemoth.
"Ever the impatient one, heh my bulky friend? Yes, let us begin."
said Ronmar. "Thanatora, will you do the honors?"
"With pleasure." she said, then began to sing a magnificient lyric
poem relating her existence, battles and triumphs. Both male
knightmares stood enthralled by her perfect voice...
* * *
"Rei`s picked up something from her fire reading." said Robin to
Minako as she drove to Makoto`s place to pick her up. "The others
will meet us at the junkyard on the outskirts of town."
"Who else is coming?"
"Rei will be waiting for us at Makoto`s. Mamoru will give a lift to
Usagi and Usako. Laurella is trying to get in touch with Shingo right
now, but he`s out with friends so we may not be able to locate him
in time." said Robin.
Minako thought over her latest musings, and at the conclusion she had
come to. She had to tell Robin, to let her know how she felt.
"Robin... you... miss your father, don`t you?" she asked. Even though
she wasn`t empathic as Laurella, she still felt her friend`s heart
squeezing in her chest.
"Yeah... I miss him a lot. He gave me life, made me everything I am.
He once told me that his original intentions were not to attach
himself to me, not to feel anything so he wouldn`t have to feel any
pain if he lost me as he lost his student Hotaru."
"But... he couldn`t help but love you, could he?" said Minako,
completing her friend`s thought.
"Exactly. He risked everything to save my life, and lost his own in
the process. All because of Gallagher, of this bastard who ruined any
chance of my father finding a peaceful solution to our problems!"
added Robin, spewing her bottled up anger in a venomous rage.
"I don`t think he meant to hurt anyone, Robin. I understand now why
he did the things he did."
Robin found a parking space alongside the street and stopped the car.
She turned to Minako, her eyes burning with both confusion and anger.
"What the hell are you talking about? You of all people should have
reason to despise him, he almost KILLED you!" shouted Robin.
"Perhaps. But the words he said as he was beating me senseless still
ring in my hears... he said that my mind was weak, but burned with
the passion of war and needed only the hammer of truth to forge it
into a mighty weapon of justice." said Minako, remembering her brutal
encounter with the second soul half of the deceased Technuma Saturn.
She could feel her face hurt from the many savage blows he had given
her.
"What are you saying, exactly?"
"That without Gallagher, my mind would have been too weak to focus
and unleash my soul power. Let`s face it... without him, I wouldn`t
have ascended yet and we would have failed to summon the messiah at
D-point. Aebonite would have killed us all!" explained Minako in a
totally uncharacteristic display of logic.
Robin`s hands twitched and crushed the steering wheel as she squeezed
it in boiling anger.
"Don`t insult the memory of my father by saying Gallagher had good
intentions... my dad died because of him!!!" she screamed.
"Have you ever thought that his soul was just as incomplete as
Technuma`s... and because of that he suffered just the same?!?"
pleaded Minako, taking Robin`s hand in hers. "I found the strength
to forgive Gallagher, maybe you should too and move on..."
Robin started to cry. Thinking clearly over her entire life span
which covered a very short five months, she let go of all the pain
she had accumulated over that time.
"This... will take some time..." she said between her tears.
"I`ll be there for you, Robin. We all will." said Minako. She looked
at her friend and began feeling a little uncomfortable... she
actually felt herself attracted to her. Technuma had intended to
create the perfect woman to be his daughter, and she was inclined to
believe he had indeed attained his goal.
Finally, Minako cracked. She reached over and placed a soft kiss on
Robin`s lips. Robin was a little shocked from the sudden move, but
she didn`t pull away. This felt good somehow, very comforting...
"I`m sorry, Robin, I shouldn`t have done that." appologized Minako
as she broke the kiss and turned away.
"Don`t be sorry, Minako... I`ve always wondered how it felt when
Michiru kissed Haruka." said Robin, a smile returning to her lips.
"Now I know how wonderful it feels."
Turning the key to restart the engine, Robin left the parking space
and returned on her original course. On the sidewalk near the spot
where the young senshi`s car was momentarily parked stood a girl who
was the exact double of Aino Minako save for her dark black hair and
eyes. She had witnessed the entire conversation, even though she
could not hear it, but most of all she had seen the KISS. It burned
her inside that her template was finally getting her life together
while she failed over and over to get any amount of happiness.
If she couldn`t be happy herself... she`d destroy everything Minako
had.
* * *
She walked a bit uncertainly with her shining metal crutches in her
hands, but Makoto`s pride was preventing her from ever giving up on
hoping to be able to walk freely again in the near future. Her soul
power ascension had given her spine the boost she needed to begin
healing, and each subsequent transformation she made had repaired her
nervous system a few fibers at a time. She was well on her way to
complete recovery now, and was spending a lot of her time at home
as Sailor jupiter to speed up the process further.
Aside her personal physician Mizuno Akane who, as Makoto had
recently learned, knew of her being a senshi, the entire hospital
staff had been baffled by her miraculous recovery.
"Hi Makoto!" said Rei as she joined her friend who was walking out
of her appartment building.
"Hi, Rei. I got your message, what did you see in the fire that`s so
urgent?" she wondered.
"Something is on the move." she answered with a grim look on her
face.
"Black Baron?"
"Most likely, or one of his minions anyway."
"Michiru called those creatures by a weird name... what was it
again?" asked Makoto.
"While she was still bleeding spiritual energy, I heard her mumble
about a 'blighted one', it seems that those dark beings would be the
servants of Black Baron." replied Rei.
"Whatever they are... they`ll pay for Haruka and Michiru." said
Makoto through her clenched teeth, gritting them together in a rage
she could barely keep in check.
"Keep your cool for now, Makoto. You`ll get a chance to fight all
too soon." said Rei.
Robin`s car pulled up next to them a few moments later, taking them
to what was sure to be a very bloody battle.
* * *
The lights were faint, few and far apart in the long dark tunnel,
but the black clad weakling minion of Black Baron needed no light to
move around, and neither did his precious pets, over a dozen
hellspawned hounds. Their physical attributes looked like a patchwork
of bull, wolf, lion and panther body parts randomly selected and
assembled.
The evil red eyes of the hellhounds glowed brightly in the dark,
their murderous instincts driving them ever forward in serving the
blighted one whose greenish skin was a dreadful mess of cuts and
gashes seeping an acidlike yellow ooze. The improvised bandages on
his face and hands, the only parts of his body not hidden by his
long flowing clothes, did nothing to hide just how much miserable
his physionomy really was.
In his left hand, he help on tightly to one of Gallagher`s cards
given to him by his sinister master Black Baron, the image of his
next senshi target taunting his bloodshot yellow eyes with every
stare he took at it. He would make sure that her soul would get torn
apart just like the two previous targets that had already fallen.
A sign alongside the tunnel wall indicated that the subway station
was only a few hundred feet away now, so he would be reaching his
objective soon. A rumbling noise came from the distance, turning
into a loud thundering roll as it approached at great speed. The
blighted one and his pets quickly stepped aside and hugged the wall
closely as the subway cars screeched by at full speed, being come
and gone in a flash of blue metal and white shining light. With the
subway train past, they resumed their course as fast as the weak
body of the blighted one allowed him to walk.
This was going to be so easy.
* * *
The loud echoing voice of Behemoth filled the entire glade as his
rich baritone song of battles, wars and conquests entranced both
Ronmar and Thanatora. With the last verse of his lifetime
accomplishments recited, his singing came to a halt and both
knightmares regained their full awareness of their surroundings
again.
"That, my knightmare kin, is all." concluded Behemoth in his deep
voice.
"Impressive, Behemoth, as much as Thanatora. You are both superior
contenders and I deem you worthy of succession." said Ronmar.
"Then shall we proceed to the offerings?" asked Behemoth.
"Yes, the gift of war trophies shall determine the winner. Would you
like to go first, brother Behemoth?" replied Ronmar.
"I wouldn`t dream of it... please, ladies first." said the huge
warrior in a display of chivalry which Thanatora was sure hid some
sneaky plan. But she didn`t care... she had THE gift that would win
Ronmar over to her cause. Offering it first to the dread lord of
darkness would only serve her to further humiliate her opponent.
"Here, my lord, is my gift..." said Thanatora as she took her gift
and planted it in the ground. "I researched for something VERY
special tailored for your own taste!" she added as she pulled the
veil covering the spherical shape on top of the stick, revealing
nothing less than the severed head of Coran Demsy, the parasitic
telepath Psyche, whom Ronmar found himself allied to in a group
called the Triad.
Ronmar hated that man with a passion, and a wide grin formed on his
lips as he looked at his glassy eyes and terror stricken expression
forever frozen in death.
"I love it. Vortika once asked me what was my greatest wish, and
this was my answer... Psyche`s head on a spear!!!" said the dread
knight, making a little "hello there" wave to the dead man`s face.
"Grrmph. An easy target, Thanatora, I`m disappointed in you. I know
you could have done better than THAT." mocked Behemoth.
"Then let`s see what you have for me, then." said Ronmar.
"Yes... here it is." said Behemoth, opening a small bag attached to
his belt and pulling a small red gem which he placed in Ronmar`s
gauntlet. He removed one of his armored gloves and began inspecting
the rather crude looking crimson stone.
"What is so special about it? It looks free of imperfections, but it
still needs to be carved and polished..." commented Ronmar.
"Just wait a moment or two..." urged Behemoth.
A few seconds later, Ronmar began feeling his fingers getting sticky
for some reason. His eyes popped open when he realized that the
stone was oozing out blood!!!
"Is that... a blood ruby???" he asked, baffled.
"Believe it. Does it not bleed when in contact with your flesh?"
"WHERE did you get THAT?" asked Thanatora, stunned from shock.
"Where else? From inside the heart of magmawaste lavafiend!!! Killing
that sucker took over a week of non-stop fighting... but it was
worth it." bragged proudly Behemoth.
"My army was almost decimated by a mere lavafiend pup... a stone
this large could only come from an ADULT one! I am VERY pleased,
Behemoth!!!" said Ronmar, putting the stone in his covered hand so
that it would not be in contact with his skin and stop bleeding.
Thanatora`s head was spinning; she knew she was losing her
challenging and that another chance to grab the knightmare reigns
of power wouldn`t occur for hundreds of years.
"I have made my choice." said Ronmar. "Behemoth, first knightmare
of the third sphere will be my successor."
He placed his hand on the arm of Behemoth and waves of power began
swirling around the two of them. Tentacle-like strands of golden
energy formed from Ronmar`s body, encircling the two male knightmares
and entering Behemoth`s body. The golden glint of Ronmar`s armor
slowly faded to a dull flat black while the crimson armor of Behemoth
was being highlighted in the most eye pleasing combination of red and
gold. When the energy faded away, ronmar`s armor was now a deep black
color which seemed to be absorbing light around it, the same color it
originally had before he won his challenging to receive the mantle of
command from the greater lord Andreyis.
Behemoth arose his now golden axe in the air in triumph.
"And now as my final act as first knightmare... I declare the earth
and the silver millenium my protectorate!" declared Ronmar with
authority. "Let the conflicts of the knightmare kin never disturb my
final place of retirement!!!"
Both knightmares agreed to Ronmar`s final wish, and vaporized their
forms to leave the glade, getting ready to return to their own planes.
Ronmar dissolved his battle armor, leaving only his stylish black
clothes. He had finally retired himself of the internal conflicts of
dread knight society at long last... not only had he spared his
adoptive home of his terrible past, but he could now devote himself
to his newfound love, Mizuno Akane...
* * *
"HERE!!!" screamed Rei, pointing to a subway station entrance. Robin
slammed on the breaks, sending everyone in the car reeling forward.
"Thank god for safety belts..." thought Makoto who hit her head on
the headrest of the passenger seat in front of her.
"You`re sure???" asked Robin.
"Positive. It`s here!!!" replied Rei.
"I`ll call the others." said Minako, activating her communicator.
The four young warriors stepped out of the car, standing ready to go
into battle. They used a nearby dead end alley to transform, then ran
into the station as Sailor Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. They
received many cheers and lovestruck glances from the commutors as
they ran by, and Jupiter could have sworn hearing someone asking her
to marry him...
"Our popularity is growing every day!" noticed Saturn.
"Yeah, don`t you just LOVE it???" agreed Venus, a big smile on her
lips.
Running down the stairs, they arrived at the entrance wickets which
they proceeded to hop over and keep on running. Saturn slapped a
couple of thousand yen bills on the ticket office counter as she ran
after the other three, appologizing about it quickly without
stopping her frantic race.
"What do you think this means?" wondered one of the ticket office
clerks.
"I don`t know, but better call the cops. These girls always show up
where there`s trouble!" said the other, picking up the phone to call
the police.
They arrived on the subway boarding gate, at the first level of the
three level station. Several lines met at this point, and it would
make things harder for sure.
"It`s here somewhere, I feel the evil in the air!" said Mars, a
tingle going down her spine.
"Everybody get out of here, quickly, your lives are in danger!"
yelled Sailor Jupiter.
There were about thirty people on the three different levels of the
station, waiting for their subways to pick them up and switching
lines to reach their destination, and many of them looked at the
senshi in disbelief. What could be menacing them? Nobody reacted...
and this would only make matters worse.
"So what now? What are we supposed to do exactly?" wondered Venus.
The terrible answer to this question did not make any doubt to any
of the young women warriors as nine hellhounds of the blighted one
roared, running out of the top level of the station and seperated
into three groups. Six jumped down one level, after which three of
those jumped down one level further.
"Oh, that`s just great!" cursed Jupiter.
"Venus, you`re the quickest one of us, run down to the third level
down and stop those beasts! Saturn, you go down one level, Jupiter
and myself will stay here to contain any more that might come out
the same tunnel!" said Mars, taking control of the situation. The
other three silently agreed among themselves that if Usagi hadn`t
been fated to be their leader, Rei would have been the natural
choice. As it stood, she had the unofficial title of second in
command, Usagi often relying on her in moments of great need.
In three quick bounds across the safety railings, Venus was all the
way down among the fearful passengers who ran away from the ravenous
beasts, her sacred weapon Dreadbane in hand to face them. Saturn
summoned Soulstar while she ran the stairs down one level, charging
the three hellhounds that she was intent to destroy.
Jupiter and Mars called upon Mjolnir and Hellfire, steadying their
grip on their sacred weapon to battle the evil menace. Just as Mars
had predicted, four more of those creatures ran out of the top level
tunnel, growling and seeking for a victim.
"CHAAAAARGE!!!" screamed Sailor Mars, sounding the attack.
* * *
Standing outside the subway station, three athletic young women
dressed in very revealing black leather outfits were poised to take
their first direct move- and most likely tip their hand to their
enemies in the process. They had tried to delay this moment for
weeks now, but the instant of truth had arrived.
"I know you`re the empath among us, Healer, but the feeling of
dread is palpable here..." said Sailor Star Maker.
"It`s getting stronger everywhere in this town. It just feels more
impending around them." replied Healer, the shortest of the three as
she ran her fingers down her long silver ponytail.
"If only SHE was there... with us... she could help us so much."
sighed Sailor Star Fighter.
"For now we can only do one thing: fight the battle on our own
terms." observed Healer.
"Well said." replied Maker. Fighter nodded to mark his agreement.
* * *
"SOUL CRESCENT SMASHER!!!"
"FIRE SOUL!!!"
"SATURN WINGS OF FURY!!!"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!!!"
The special attacks of the sailor senshi detonated upon their
intended targets, the vile beasts of the blighted one. Four of them
exploded, burned, ripped apart and got shocked to death at once.
Panic seized the commuters who ran in all directions, trying
desperately to avoid the furious battle going on. Inevitably, a few
of them ended up too close to the hellhounds, but fortunately the
precision lightning blasts of Sailor Jupiter rescued them from the
savage onslaught of the reinforcements pouring in from the first
level subway tunnel. Along with the last of the demonlike monsters,
a thin man in long dark clothes similar to that of desert nomads
left the darkness of the tunnel to join his pets in combat.
"Kill them, boys, kill them all!!!" he said, obvious joy in his
voice.
"Hey, dark boy, is that thing yours?!?" yelled Jupiter to the dark
figure, grabbing the beast closest to her, swinging it around in
circles and letting it go flying like the same way she used to for
the hammer throw competition in high school. The beast whimpered as
its flight arc led it straight into the way of an incoming subway
train, tearing it to pieces as it got crushed to a bloody pulp.
"Impressive, tall one." he whispered, his sickly voice barely holding
out before he broke into a long fit of cough. "Let`s see you handle
THIS!" he finally managed to say, raising his hand up and releasing
a swirling mass of dark power that shook the floor with its powerful
shockwaves of pure force.
While the blighted one engaged the two senshi high above and Saturn
used her ruby glaive to kill the third beast on the floor just one
floor up, Venus was having trouble cleaning up her own part of the
battle. For all her soul powered speed and precision attacks, she
was still unsure with her double bladed broadsword and it showed.
She had badly wounded one of the hellhounds and still the other one
was barely scratched.
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!!!" she called out, catching one of the beasts
by the neck with her golden hearts energy chain. With a strong tug,
it ripped it right out of her hand, leaving her at a clear
disadvantage. She had trouble figuring out what happened next as she
widly slashed left and right to try and keep away from herself the
assault of claws and fangs. When she got her bearings back, her
yellow, amber and gold uniform was all torn up, her flesh marked
with many bleeding wounds. She was covered in blood, not all of it
hers.
She was horrified.
Her breathing stopped, she didn`t even notice the floor shaking
furiously under her feet from the battle going on above her head.
She had fought lots of youma, cardians, droids and other such
monsters in her lifetime of being Sailor Venus and Sailor V, but
the beasts she fought never bled. They fell to dust, crumbled into
rubble, burned to ash, turned to light... but this blood all over
her, dripping on her hands, seeping from her torn skin... it was
too much for her. She just started crying, her sweet and innocent
spirit wounded badly.
A dark presence behind her had been expecting this. Black Baron stood
out of a shadowy corner, pointing his hand to the traumatized young
girl, using his dark power to focus and pull out everything black
and evil within Aino Minako`s soul. As she screamed in abominable
pain, her dark splinter was forcefully extracted, the small piece of
jagged crystal flying to the shifting being`s hand. Yelling out her
soul tearing torture, Sailor Venus` senshi fuku vanished while her
sword Dreadbane shattered into a hundred shards of fractured topaze.
"Hey, stay away from her, you bastard!!!" screamed Saturn as she
realized what was happening to her friend. Black Baron looked up and
stared right at the young senshi who froze in place, suddenly knowing
what true fear meant. "Lucky for me I had this guard rail to prevent
me from falling down..." she thought as she realized that she was
leaning in a dangerous manner over what could be a very long fall if
she wasn`t careful.
Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, goes Murphy`s Law.
Pointing his hand to the balcony ramp, Black Baron used his dark
powers to destroy the concrete floor and metal handrail Robin held on
to, plunging her to a fifteen feet fall onto the lower level subway
rails where she brutally landed in an uncontrolled manner. Having
removed his target`s dark splinter, he contently vanished, leaving
the shivering Minako lying on the subway boarding ramp a crying mess,
a broken doll abandonned to its sad fate.
"Bastard..." mumbled Saturn as she figured what had happened. She
shook her head and noticed that her right hand was mere inches away
from the third rail... and certain death! "Okay, don`t panic, girl,
as long as you don`t move too fast, nothing can go wrong..." she
told herself, feeling a bit more reassured.
The ground began rumbling again under her sprawled body, but this
time it wasn`t the sudden and momentary shocks of the blighted one
attacking Mars and Jupiter two floors above her. This time it was
smoother, softer, more insistent and longer lasting. It was also
gradually increasing in strength, and a loud noise began to accompany
it, coming from the tunnel in front of her. Looking in the distance,
she saw two spots of light moving her way...
"You just had to open your big mouth, didn`t you, Robin?" she blasted
herself. No panic needed, it was still about ten seconds off. Nothing
a senshi like herself couldn`t handle, all she had to do was get to
her feet, leap up and...
Sailor Saturn screamed as she tried to pull herself up, her left
tibia having suffered a double fracture in her long fall down.
Collapsing back down on the cold metal subway rails, she just came
to understand she couldn`t move out of the way. With only seconds
before she was crushed under the wheels of the incoming machine,
Jupiter and Mars couldn`t help her as they were too busy fighting
the blighted one and his pets to even notice her plight. Not even
Minako could rescue her because of the crippling soul injury she had
just suffered. The headlights of the subway train blinded her as it
speeded her way on a trajectory of certain death. Bracing herself
for the impact, she closed her eyes and shed a tear.
"Wait for me, dad, I`ll be there soon..." was the last thing she
had time to whisper.
To be continued...