By Yohann DeSabrais
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 49
AND THE MASKS FELL OFF
"And this, is one of our highly advanced bioengineering labs to your
right." explained the security guard who led the young couple in
their grand tour of the Poldzer Triangle. "It`s one of our most
sought after services, our customers ranging from pharmaceutical
corporations to research hospitals dealing in genetic defects and
hereditary diseases. As you will surely understand, this is also
one of our highest security areas."
"Of course." agreed Shingo. Distracting the guard for a moment with
a very pertinent question regarding the equipments used by the labs,
he allowed Laurella to reach into her purse and grab a tiny
electronic gadget which she swiftly planted in an unseen place
underneath a photocopy machine where it could operate without being
noticed.
That`s another one, she thought. This was going very smoothly indeed,
the two first towers of the Poldzer triangle already seeded with over
thirty such miniature detectors supplied to her by her genius friend
Ami. With the tour of the plaza almost over, the main building now
only required a detector or two in a few other areas to complete
Usagi`s master plan.
To turn the entire Poldzer Triangle into a radar for evil beings
and dark forces which they could use to flush out Black Baron and
destroy him for good.
The guard`s cell phone rang- answering it, he gave the young
visitors the message his boss had just told him, and the one Shingo
and Laurella had been waiting for.
"Vice president Cathryn Neko is ready to see you now." he said.
They smiled.
* * *
Sneaking her way around a security guard station, Sailor Moon deftly
took advantage of every shadow she found, each obstacle that could
conceil her from view. She looked up and saw the ghastly silhouette
of the three towers of the Poldzer Triangle ripping through the sky,
tearing itself a place among the dark clouds in the most unnatural
manner.
"I think I`m there." whispered Sailor Moon in her wrist communicator,
holding on tight to the walkman-sized piece of hardware she`d been
sent to put into place.
"Yes, you`re right on target." replied the voice of Sailor Mercury
through the tiny communicator. "Hold your position until we`re ready
to go."
"Okay, but hurry! I don`t know how long I can remain here, we don`t
know precisely what routes the guards take when they make their
rounds." replied Sailor Moon.
"Not to worry. Pluto just reached her location and assured me that no
security guards would disturb us for the whole operation." said
Mercury with confidence.
"And did she also say that no blighted ones, or worse, would sneak up
on us?" wondered Sailor Moon. The silence at the end of the
communication line did nothing to reassure her. "Remember that she
doesn`t let us know of EVERYTHING she foresees."
"We have to trust her judgement at some point. She does what she
does for the best of reasons, and for the good of us all. Mercury
out."
"Sometimes I wonder..." mumbled Usagi after she turned off her wrist
radio.
Usagi felt a bit uncomfortable with the whole situation. Everything
was going without a single hitch, a little too well to her own taste.
By now she`d gotten used to sudden reversals and unexpected returns,
so this flawless execution was getting her nervous. Setsuna being
once again cryptic certainly didn`t help her.
"The others should be in place around the plaza by now." thought
Usagi as she took a look at her watch. She was right of course,
Sailor Pluto, Jupiter, Terra and Saturn having hidden themselves
around the plaza with four more transmitter relays similar to the
one she was nervously fidgetting right now.
The wait was killing her.
* * *
"So what happens now?" asked Umino as he looked over Sailor
Mercury`s shoulder to her laptop which she had set on a crate of
obsolete 100 megabytes hard drives. Well hidden in the old warehouse
Shingo had spotted for them, Ami, Umino, Naru and Endymion were
awaiting for their friends to be done in their respective tasks.
"We have to wait until Laurella sets the last detector. We can`t
function to full efficiency without a complete network of those.
Even worse, we might not get any results at all." explained Mercury.
"We have to be patient." added Naru who hugged Umino. "Things will
happen fast enough once we`re done, trust me."
"This waiting is eating me alive." complained Umino. "Can`t we do
anything in the meantime?"
"We can actually." replied Mercury, punching a button on her
keyboard. Instantly, the laptop speakers began transmitting the
conversation of Shingo, Laurella and Cathryn Neko. "Laurella left
her transmitter on so we could monitor the situation at all times."
"This should be interesting..." said Umino out loud.
"Yeah, we`ll know exactly what`s going on!" added Naru.
"And be ready to intervene if things go wrong for them." thought
Ami, nervously fidgetting with the zoom-in feature of her visor.
"I`m right here if that happens." concluded Endymion, stroking the
handle of the sword held in the sheath at his belt.
* * *
"As I said the other night, miss Moonrabbit, I`m deeply sorry about
ruining your blouse with my glass of red wine." said Cathra as she
wrote a check to cover Laurella`s expenses in replacing her stained
blouse. "I do appologize for the inconvenience."
Laurella took the check and put it in her purse, grabbing the last
detector at the same time. Now all she needed was one final
distraction to set it up.
"It was a really great tour you provided for us, miss Neko. And I
must say your office has an amazing view on the surrounding area."
observed Shingo who was standing next to the window and looking
outside.
"One of the many advantages of having a high position in a large
corporation, my friend!" she said, suddenly taking notice of how well
shaped Shingo`s body was. Laurella took notice and quickly set the
detector in place.
"So you like the view?" asked Cathra as she stood up from her desk
and walked over to Shingo. Oh yes, she thought, he`s REALLY nice.
"I love it. You can see really far away from this height.... I
really like what I can see from here" replied Shingo, not noticing
how the human looking youma was checking him out.
"So do I." whispered Cathra with a smile. "Tell me something, my
young friend... you`re so young, vibrant and attractive... what
are you doing wasting your time with a girl who obviously has no
emotions for you?"
Shingo snapped back to reality, looking at her in shock. Had she
really just insulted his girlfriend?
"You can do much better than a cold fish like her. I for one think
we could have a lot of fun together." she added, licking her lips
seductively.
"Stay away from me." Shingo said in a cold voice that barely hid
his rage. Walking away from her, he took Laurella by the arm and
led her out of the office. "We`re leaving now, darling, I think we
overstayed our welcome."
Cathra felt her anger flaring once again as the young couple left.
Who was that man to dare reject her? To turn away her animal
magnetism, her feminine wiles, her unmatched sex appeal? This was
no ordinary man for sure, as Fenris had been the only male before
that to resist her powerful youma charm.
"Wait a minute... that knight who was protecting Sailor Jendra,
who seemed to be obviously in love with her... it had to be HIM!"
she thought. "Well... I guess he`ll be killed along with the rest
of the senshi when they find Black Baron. I get to kill that guy
and avenge myself against him without even having to lift a finger!
Oh, how sweet that`s going to be."
Cathra thought long and hard about what would happen next. She knew
that since the fallen senshi and her knightly boyfriend were leaving
the Poldzer Triangle now, they had certainly finished whatever
scouting mission they had been sent to do. They would find that the
entire place reaked with Black Baron`s stench, and make a frontal
attack to force his hand, thus pulling Crystallite in the conflict
at the same time. After this battle of titans would come to an end,
it wouldn`t matter who wins anyway, because once the dust will
settle, whoever remains standing would be too late to stop her from
taking her rightful place as ruler of this wretched world.
Cathra knew she was meant for better things, her creator Thorelia
had always told her so. The faceless sculptress had always been so
kind to her, so full of compliments and attentions. She had even
gotten her this special assignment as Fenris` aide, thus sparing
her fate of being canon fodder at the battle at Osaka where dozens
of youma had met a grisly death at the hands of the sailor senshi.
Thorelia... her creator... her mother... that bastard Black Baron
had killed her along with Dokuryo, the reptile man who had fallen
in love with the cursed artist. She had come to see them as her
parents, two people who loved her genuinely. The only people she
had loved... and she had never even told them how she felt before
the grandmaster of darkness burned them alive in black hellfire.
Cathra felt heavy tears flow from her eyes, and she wiped them off
immediately.
Black Baron would die for what he had done. Was he even alive,
anyhow? It didn`t matter. She`d see him get torn apart and shredded
to nothingness. If the senshi couldn`t do it themselves... she`d do
it in person with the complete black crystal that she would steal
from Crystallite.
Revenge upon the Emerald Knight, Fenris and Black Baron... that
would be a nice addition to total world domination.
"I just love being on the side of the string that does the pulling."
she thought out loud. Pushing down her sadness and swallowing her
pain, she laughed maniacally.
* * *
"What`s happening?" wondered Haruka when she saw Michiru bolting to
her feet with a confused look on her face, relaxing in her couch
deep in her reading only seconds before.
"I`m getting a strange feeling of immense power!" she uttered.
"Where? Is Black Baron about to attack the others?!?" asked Haruka.
"No... it`s not that... the power is not evil, and it`s... very
near..." she said, running up the stairs and heading without
hesitation to little Hotaru`s room. Haruka followed her in a hurry,
worried that Michiru`s intuitions were usually right about these
things.
What they saw shocked them out of their minds; instead of seing a
young baby in Hotaru`s crib, they saw a fully grown young teenage
girl with the glowing sigil of Saturn burning bright on her
forehead. She had grown so suddenly as to tear apart her baby
clothes, and she had nothing more than her small wool sheet to
cover her naked body.
"What... happened?" said Haruka through her disbelief.
"The danger is close at hand. The silence may yet come to us." said
Hotaru, calm and composed despite the sheer gravity of her words.
"What danger?" asked Michiru.
"The evil one`s minions have almost succeeded in their mad quest,
and will complete it before this day finishes and the next one
begins. There will be no tomorrow if this happens." calmly explained
Hotaru.
"Can we do anything to stop this? Even without our powers?" asked
Haruka.
"This is not about power. It`s about light, darkness and the
intricate link between the two. There is still much that none of
you understands as of yet, and without that knowledge I will be
forced to bring the great destruction myself." said Hotaru. Raising
her hand in the air, she silently transformed into the fully powered
Sailor Saturn, her soul power fuku totally black and not reflecting
any light. In her hands formed her sacred weapon, the obsidian
glaive of the silent messiah, the mighty and lethal Silence.
"Gather all the senshi, it matters not that their powers have
fainted. Without each one of them present in the final confrontation
to come, I will have no choice but to destroy this world myself."
said Hotaru with disturbing calmness in her expression.
"I`ll call them right away." said Michiru. "Get the car ready Haruka,
we`re going to the Poldzer Triangle right now."
* * *
Black Baron`s form shimmered and appeared in between two warehouses
of the Poldzer Plaza area. Next to him were two powerful blighted
ones, the short swordsman with the sword too large for his dwarflike
stature, as well as the mysterious Velasquez who`d been given his
name back by his master just recently, the greatest reward a blighted
one can aspire to.
"Are you ready to follow the plan?" asked the ungodly voice of Black
Baron to Velasquez.
"Which one? There seems to be many!" he replied as a matter of fact.
Black Baron gave off a snicker. "Indeed there are. Just do as you
were told." he instructed to his agents before waning into a shadow
and disappearing again.
"You heard him, go now. You`ve been waiting for this a long time, and
now it`s your chance to prove what you can do." instructed Velasquez.
"Finally! It`s about time!" grunted the short warrior who ran to the
warehouse where he knew he`d find a senshi, the messiah and her
boyfriend. More senshi would follow soon after he made himself known
to them of course, but that was just the way he was hoping things
would turn out.
* * *
"I can`t believe that BITCH!!!" fumed Sailor Moon who was listening
in on the communicators left open to allow everyone in the team to
know what was going on. "How dare she insult my friend like that?
Laurella saved me from myself when I almost drowned in my own
sorrow... and she made things worse by making a sleazy pass at my
brother! I can`t believe her NERVE!!!"
"Usagi, calm down." came Mercury`s voice on the channel. "I know
what she said, but there`s nothing we can do about it. She`s only a
woman, and right now it`s darkness itself we`re fighting... you
have to keep perspective."
"Yeah, you`re right..." agreed Sailor Moon, calming down somewhat.
"But if I ever run into her in a restaurant, I just MIGHT trip and
spill my coffee by 'accident', if you know what I mean." she added
with a sly grin.
"I knew you`d see things my way, Usagi. Now activate the unit, I`m
ready to form the detecnet with the sensors your brother and
Laurella seeded all over the place. Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn, Terra,
the same applies to you all as well."
"Got it." replied Sailor Moon.
"Activated!" came Saturn`s voice.
"Online." said Pluto.
"Ready here!" said Jupiter.
"Lock and load!" concluded Terra.
* * *
With all five detector relays in place and activated, data began
being sent at ultra high speed to Mercury`s laptop. She put her
special programs into place, and the powerful computer used all
available ressources to analyze the influx of data into a coherent
display.
"It`s almost ready. You can return now, gang." said Mercury into
the small microphone attached to her blue visor. She was feeling
nervous, hoping that her system would work. So much effort had been
deployed by so many people, she would never forgive herself any
failure that might occur... but that would not be the case.
"It`s working!!!" yelled Umino when he saw the map of the
surrounding area forming and showing the flow of dark energies in
the city.
"Hum... isn`t it a bit strong around the Poldzer Triangle?"
wondered Naru.
"A little too much if you ask me... I`m not sure yet, but I think
that Black Baron might be right..." started Mercury when a loud
crashing noise interrupted her.
Naru and Umino turned around, feeling their heart stop for just a
second when they heard the heavy metal doors of the warehouse being
forcefully swung open. Endymion pulled his sword out swiftly, ready
to fight with the reflexes of a trained fighter. Sailor Mercury
wasn`t surprised because the laptop data, which her superior
intellect had interpreted before it was even fully converted to
graphic form, had warned her of the blighted one`s arrival.
What really frightened her was that Black Baron was out there,
moving in on one of her friends.
* * *
"This thing certainly seems a bit tighter every time I strap it on."
thought out loud Mizuno Akane as she put on her old leather battle
uniform colored in black and shades of deep red. She then slipped on
the matching black mask, and concentrated a few instants to feel her
powers flow through her body again.
Sparks of blue power surged from her chest, radiating in her arms
and shooting down her legs. Lifting her hands, she spread apart her
fingers and shot small arcs of dark blue lighting which stuck various
objects in her bedroom. Suddenly defying gravity, they began floating
around freely. Waving her hands around like an orchestra conductor,
she directed their flight into a circular vortex of gliding
knick-knacks.
"Feels good to have the mojo flowing in my veins again." she thought
out loud.
"So you`re not going to heed my warnings regarding Black Baron`s power,
are you?" came a deep voice at her bedroom door.
Akane looked behind her and saw the silhouette of Mitchell Dreadborne
standing there in the shadows... her new boyfriend Ronmar, former
dread lord of darkness. He was wearing his usual selection of black
clothes and unnecessary dark shades.
"I`m not about to stand idly by as my only child gets slaughtered. I
don`t care if I must die tonight, I`m not letting Black Baron
hurting my daughter!" said Akane without unlocking her jaw, her
fists clenched tight.
"I expected nothing less of you, Akane... or should I say Quartzite?"
replied Ronmar, a faint smile gracing his lips. He simply loved to
see his girlfriend be so determined, ready to give her life to
protect her child.
"If you`re here to stop me, Mitchell, you`re not going to convince
me. You`ll have to physically restrain me to keep me from going
there." she said in a calm, measured voice, sparks of blue energy
surging from her hands for added effect.
"I`m not here to stop you." told her the dread knight. "I think I
finally understand the nature of my former mentor`s powers of
darkness now... I just might be able to help you."
Akane smiled under her mask. With her eyes, she silently thanked him
and showed him just how much she loved him, running in his arms and
embracing him tenderly. Resting her head on his chest, she sighed
and hoped everything would turn out all right in the end.
"Let`s go help your daughter now." whispered Ronmar in her ear.
Before she could ask him which one of their cars they should take,
she felt something strange- not only was Ronmar`s form shimmering
and melting into a thick fog with a very spicy smell, she was
transforming into fog as well. Her consciousness remained intact
as her body faded completely, but she knew she wasn`t alone.
"What`s happening?" she asked mentally, having no lungs, throat
or tongue to speak with.
"When a knightmare is close enough to someone, he can take that
person along when he shifts into fog- we`ll be there much faster
this way." she heard him answer her by telepathy. In this form,
their minds were linked.
"Thank you for doing this with me, Mitchell. It means a lot to me."
she told him. When she told him how she felt, she became suddenly
aware that in this form she could feel her boyfriend`s emotions
with crystal clarity. She was taken aback at how much he cared
for her.
"It means a lot to me too." he replied.
Silently, the smoke cloud seeped through the window and disappeared
into the sky.
* * *
"Stand back!" yelled Sailor Mercury as she used her sapphire bow to
block a sword slash from the blighted one. Although his loose
clothes conceiled much of his body, his short stumpy stature was
still quite obvious to Amy who quickly noticed that she was fighting
someone who was actually shorter than herself. Endymion joined her
in, but found that the black clad warrior was just as skillful
blocking the attacks of two fighters as of those of a single one.
"Don`t worry about me, Mercury, I can fight after all." replied Naru,
changing her clothes into the dress fuku of the messiah, complete
with the glaive Ouroboros in her hands, its coiled snake engravings
twirling into a lethal blade at the end.
"I feel kinda useless right now." commented Umino, a bit awkward as
he was the only one in the group without powers.
"Don`t say that, honey, I`ll always be glad to have you around...
I`d do anything for you, even give you my life if you asked me to."
said Naru, putting her arm around Umino`s shoulders and giving him
a long kiss. She then turned around and firmly grasped her weapon
with both hands. "NOW LET`S KICK SOME ASS!!!" she screamed, rushing
the evil dwarf. Umino sighed at the sight of her, beautiful,
courageous and so compassionate to others. He truly loved her with
all his heart. Left alone as the other three fought the monster hand
to hand, he manned the laptop to ensure that the detecnet formed
properly.
Even with the messiah`s blade, the prince of earth`s sword and a
steady stream of ice arrows coming his way, the dark warrior was a
sight to behold, swinging his tall blade as easily as if it were
made of light styrofoam despite the fact that it was taller than
he was.
"This isn`t working, he`s too good with his blade!" observed Naru.
"I`ve never fought anyone so talented!" observed Endymion.
"Good observation! Keep him busy while I attack him with a solid
shot!" replied Mercury.
Naru let out a loud battle yell, and swung her glaive with all her
might, locking blades with her enemy who pushed back against her
weapon, neither warrior budging an inch. They stared into each
other`s eyes with fierce determination, going into a staring match
at the same time. With the blighted one distracted, Sailor Mercury
lowered her bow and flung it across her shoulder, freeing her hands
for the senshi attack she would unleash. Seeing Mercury getting
ready, Endymion stood out of her way not to be caught in crossfire.
Pointing a finger in the air, she summoned a single dropplet of water
which splashed down in a hundred ripples of sheer force that flew
towards the two fighters.
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!"
The messiah dodged just in time and avoided the blast which hit
the short fighter directly, sending him flying against the solid
concrete wall. The Technum based water ripples faded away
in the air, but not without leaving behind a heavy smell of humidity
and drenching the surrounding area.
"Great shot!" commented Naru.
"Not really." said Mercury, pointing to the blighted one who got
right back up, his clothes still dripping with water. He lifted
his sword back up, having held on to it during his short flight
in mid-air and subsequent landing.
"Oh, that`s just beautiful." snapped Naru, tightening her grip
on her weapon.
* * *
Running back to the warehouse where Mercury was operating, Sailor
Moon ran into Saturn and Terra. Both were going there as well, as
fast as their bodies would allow.
"Why did Mercury sever communications?" asked Saturn, who was
beginning to be short of breath.
"Something happened, I can just feel it!" said Terra, a dreadful
look on her face. "I`ll bet it has something to do with Black
Baron!"
"I can feel too, it`s something evil, I just know it." added
Sailor Moon.
And she was quite right. When they finally reached the warehouse,
they were greeted by sounds of battle and the sight of the two
senshi and their ally going head to head against the stumpy
blighted one. The three girls almost laughed at the sight of
him, but his unmatched skill with a sword was too frightful
to be funny.
"This doesn`t look good." commented Sailor Moon.
"Let me help, mom..." suggested Sailor Terra.
"Be my guest!" replied Sailor Moon.
Taking a step forward, Sailor Terra produced a small wand identical
to the one she used in her old scout form of Sailor Chibi-Moon.
Holding it up, she stood ready to use it to attack.
"Oh my god, don`t tell me she`s going to use the..." mumbled Sailor
Moon.
"PINK SUGAR HEARTS..." yelled Sailor Terra, a rapid fire of cute
pink hearts shooting from the wand and connecting with the blighted
one, blinding him as the hearts melting in his face.
"...NAPALM!!!" she screamed, completing her power words. As she
said the final word, the melted hearts suddenly ignited, the thick
sticky liquid burning horribly the dark warrior who yelled in pain
as the pink flames chewed through his skin.
"What were you saying, mother dear?" said Terra smugly, blowing on
her wand in the way a cowboy blows the powder off his gun after
using it. All present were mesmerized by the pink fire engulfing
the blighted one, but the flames quickly died down, leaving the
warrior almost unscathed.
As the blaze stopped, something strange occured. The blighted one
curled himself in a foetal position for an instant, then stood
straight up to his maximum height, which was now over six feet
tall!!! The girls quickly realized that the blighted one had been
absorbing the power sent to him, using it to further his own
growth.
"Damn! Well, isn`t that just prime!" cursed Terra. She got a
crossed look from Sailor Saturn for that last remark. "Sorry, I
just had to say that." she appologized.
"Weapons in hand, everyone, the only way we can beat this monster
is to best him with skill and finesse!" commanded Sailor Moon,
summoning her crystal two-handed sword Avenger.
"Got it!" said Terra, summoning her lethal jet scythe Harbinger.
"Right on!" followed Saturn as her Ruby glaived Soulstar
materialized in her hands.
"More lambs to the slaughter." dryly commented the now much taller
blighted one whose body was more akin to that of a dread knight
than it was mere moments before. Skillfully spinning his long blade
with a single hand, he pulled back his hood and removed his black
face mask to reveal a long, thin face whose features were
reminiscent of an eagle. "Please do not hold back, and attack me
all at once. There would be no challenge in facing a single opponent
at a time..." he taunted them.
"Then let`s not keep him waiting." replied Sailor Moon.
* * *
She did not run.
Not that she didn`t know exactly what was going on, she always did.
But right now, there was something of more dire importance than the
mere presence of yet another blighted one fighting the senshi. She
knew exactly what would happen next- and nothing more than that.
This was one of the few times where Sailor Pluto knew little of
events to come, besides that they were of critical importance and
incredibly dangerous to all those concerned.
That was where she was going, yet something was bothering her.
Something that she didn`t like at all, yet she couldn`t put her
finger on it.
Whatever it was, she would face it head on.
"Hang on, Jupiter, I`ll be there in a moment." whispered Sailor
Pluto. She thought of what was just about to happen- and it made
her feel like crying.
* * *
"Somebody`s watching me." thought Jupiter as she walked back to the
warehouse where Sailor Mercury and the others were supposed to meet.
She looked back over her shoulder but saw no one there.
Sailor Jupiter resumed walking at a steady pace, but felt the
presence again. She turned around, but saw no one. Nobody there...
this was strange. At this time of day, when the working day is
finished for all the employees of Nightwolf Corporation, there
should have been more people walking around. Security guards, at
the very least... this was rather disturbing.
She kept on walking, slower, looking left and right... she felt
IT, getting closer...
Catching a glimpse of a dark figure out of the corner of her eye,
she jumped to the side and rolled out of the way of a silent beam
of dark power shooting straight towards her, avoiding the deadly
attack which detonated on a nearby warehouse wall. She got showered
with small pellets of broken concrete, receiving many cuts and
bruises, but she was made of sterner stuff than most people- she
was a sailor senshi, one of the chosen few fighting to put an end
to all evil.
Jupiter didn`t even flinch as she stood up, brushing off the dust on
her senshi fuku and looking directly in the eyes of her assailant
who stood immobile before her.
Immobile was a rather vague word in this case, as his roughly
humanoid shape shimmered and rippled constantly in a dreadful
manner, his burning red eyes the only truly stable feature of his
entire body, if he had a true body at all.
"Black Baron..." whispered Sailor Jupiter, recognizing immediately
this menacing fiend from Rei`s vivid description.
"Indeed." replied a loud growling voice whose source was as
uncertain as the shape of its owner.
"I`ve been waiting a long time to take a shot at you. You hurt my
friends, in body and in soul, and I`m putting a stop to that here
and now." declared Jupiter proudly as her sacred weapon Mjolnir
formed in her hands. She menacingly held up the superb jade
warhammer, adding even more weight to her words. "We received a
lot of pain from you, and I`m here to demonstrate that it`s better
to give than to receive."
There was no response from Black Baron, save for the large black
cypher forming in his right hand from his own shadowy substance.
Silently, he lifted his left hand and made a "come over here" motion
to the female warrior standing in front of him. Sailor Jupiter
readily accepted this invitation and stood up to the challenge,
screaming at the top of her lungs with her warhammer lifted up, she
ran to him and swung it down upon the vile fiend who blocked her
lunge with a swift move.
Her enemy was quite solid as she could feel. Good, she thought,
she`d be able to crush his body to a bloody pulp for all the harm
he`d commited.
* * *
The blighted one looked around. Six young warriors at the top of
their skill were trying to catch their breath, their bodies covered
in mostly superficial slashes, although he`d gotten a few good hits
on Sailor Terra and Endymion. They looked at him with anger burning
in their eyes, and he loved it. He contemptously spun his now blood
stained blade around some more, showing off his skill in a boastful
manner.
"Thank you for watching me, I so rarely get an audience that doesn`t
die in less than thirty seconds." he mocked them.
"How much power do you think he can take?" whispered Saturn to
Moon.
"All we can give him, isn`t it obvious?" she replied.
"No, I mean... without bursting like an overinflated balloon!" said
Saturn.
"You mean like that arabian night tale of the djinn who was dared
to drink all the water of an ocean?" asked Terra.
"Yeah... KABLOOIE!!!" went Saturn, vividly acting out the image of
the water-bloated djinn bursting out from the immense pressure of
his full stomach.
"I say we go for it!" approved Sailor Moon. "Okay everybody...
all at once!"
The girls smiled as they gathered their strength to activate their
devastating attacks, powering up to use their senshi special moves.
Endymion wished he had an attack capable of joining in the effort,
but he was stuck as a spectator for this all-out onslaught.
Sailor Moon gathered silvery energy within her hands, which she
unleashed in a single bolt of pure force.
"LUNAR SOUL POWER!!!"
Sailor Mercury summoned energy on her hands to form a small harp
of power, delicately stroking its perfectly harmonic strings to
create a blast of icy bubbles.
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!"
Sailor Terra pooled from the ancestral memories of her predecessor
to use a fiery attack which was once directed at Sailor Mars, but
now was used again in the quest for truth and justice, a circle of
fire forming around the blighted one`s feet and soaring up in a
scorching pillar of flame.
"MARS INFERNAL FIRESTORM BLAZE!!!"
Sailor Saturn felt a new surge of power going through her body as
she discovered a new height of strength brought on by her newly
gained soul ascension. Massive reptilian wings of golden light
formed on her back and shielded her entire body while a globe of
power formed between her hands, building in power until she opened
her wings and unleashed an incinerating streak of incredible
destructive force.
"DRAGON WINGS NUCLEAR FLARE!!!"
Although she had no special shapes or names to her attacks, the
messiah was no less powerful than her friends and she charged her
glaive with all the power she could muster, swinging it in a swift
move and sending forward a slashing wave like those she`d seen in
all the anime videos she had watched with Usagi.
Watching the five warriors activating all their powers at once,
Umino freaked. He`d been following the battle closely and keeping
tabs on the computer readouts on Mercury`s laptop, and he found
out something the others had missed.
As far as absorbing energy went, the blighted one had no limits,
period.
"NO, DON'T..." he tried to yell, but his warning was cut short by
the speed at which the senshi activated their attacks.
The evil warrior just stood there laughing his head off as his body
was repeatedly slammed by wave after wave of elemental Technum which
he greedily drank. His cackling only grew louder and louder as his
body increased in size, seemingly without limits, his head and
shoulders crashing through the warehouse`s ceiling and bringing the
whole place down around the senshi who ran outside as fast as they
could.
"This is so not good..." yelled Sailor Moon as she ran and dodged
falling debris.
"Remind me to slap you one behind the head, Robin!" said Sailor
Terra.
"I owe you one too, little miss wings!!!" added Naru who ran
surprisingly fast despite the many folds of her lavish dress fuku
which was now ripped in a few places.
"I don`t know how we`re going to defeat this one, guys!" said
Mercury loud enough to be heard over the noise of the crumbling
warehouse.
Barely making it out alive, Umino came out last carrying Mercury`s
computer under his arm.
"What now?" he said, looking back at the fiend who now stood over
twenty feet tall, his huge two-handed sword now a mere fruit carving
knife in comparison to his immense stature.
"I`ll figure something... I hope." replied Mercury.
* * *
"I don`t believe this..." whispered Laurella as she looked at the
blighted one in the distance. Despite the large distance separating
her from the battle ground, the dark warrior was now easy to see due
to his immense size.
"I know... I can`t believe I used to watch Ultraman movies and
complain that 'nothing like THAT could ever happen." said Shingo.
"The others must be fighting that abomination. I should be there with
them." said Laurella, sighing in her helpless despair.
Shingo wanted to join the battle too, but he couldn`t. He had to
stay close to Laurella and protect her from any potential dangers
that might arise. The words of his older sister Usagi still echoed
in his mind: "Laurella has saved my life many times, she`s a friend,
a confidante, a sister even. You are NOT to leave Laurella no matter
what happens, not if we run into a blighted one, not if we meet
Black Baron again, not even if Metalia herself should show up
there!!!"
Shingo wanted to help his sister and her friends, but he had given
his solemn oath that he`d protect Laurella with his life. He loved
his sister too much to let her down. Even more, he loved Laurella too
much to let anything happen to her.
"We have to stay aside. You`re in no condition to fight today." he
replied to Laurella, hugging her tenderly and kissing her softly on
her forehead. Although she did not resist his display of emotion,
she did not respond in any way to it. Once again, Shingo felt a
little more hurt by his girlfriend`s condition. He hoped that she
could recover from it, because she had so much love to give, not
only to him but to all those she knew. She had this generosity in
her compassion that allowed her to unconditionaly love all those she
met, a trait he had seen only in his sister before he met this
wonderful girl. Despite her terribly painful past, she had healed
her scarred soul and was now helping others heal as well... until
she had crossed paths with Black Baron.
"And yet fight she must." came a soft female voice behind them.
Looking back, the young couple saw their friends Haruka, Michiru,
Minako and Rei walking up to them along with a sailor senshi whom
they had never met before, dressed all in black, ominous portent of
imminent doom. "Or else all may be doomed." added the young girl who
looked no older than fourteen, her short black hair matching her
fuku and obsidian glaive Silence to perfection.
"Who are you?" asked Shingo, wary of this unknown senshi.
"You`ve met her before, Shingo, just not in this form." answered
Haruka. "This... is Hotaru, the original Sailor Saturn."
"The dark messiah." added Michiru.
Laurella and Shingo felt a chill go down their spine. They knew what
the dark messiah`s presence could only mean that she might be
required to destroy the world if the senshi could not fulfill their
duty to stop whatever evil they were meant to face.
"What can we do?" asked Laurella.
"Come with me. You may yet prove victorious by the day`s end." said
Sailor Saturn as the setting sun bathed her in a gloomy crimson
light. She pointed her glaive up to the dark clouds swirling atop
the Poldzer Triangle which were getting thicker and darker by the
hour. "The evil is almost here, but its triumph is not written as
of yet."
* * *
"I think it`s possible to defeat this monster." said Sailor Mercury,
looking at her laptop screen, fighting off the urge to look up at
the monstrous being.
"All right!" went the others, cheering their brainy friend who had
found a solution to their problems so many times in the past.
"Problem is... we don`t have enough power to pull it off." she then
added.
The cheers came to a screeching halt, silence setting in until the
blighted one walked their way. His body had settled itself after its
intense shifting process, stabilizing at thirty five feet high. He
was something out of a Godzilla movie now, and the senshi were up
to the point of fleeing like extras.
"What do you mean, not enough power?!? What about our ultimates?!?"
argued Saturn.
"In your case, Saturn, it`s too narrowly focused on a man-sized
target, or the most several normal sized ones. You couldn`t do a
thing against a monster that large, and besides... my cumulative
data shows that many ultimates used at once could adversely affect
each other and reduce their individual power to less than a regular
attack. We have to use ALL our attacks at once to pull this off."
explained Mercury, jumping aside to avoid the immense fist of the
blighted one trying to crush her like a bug and carving a huge
crater in the ground at the point of impact.
"Great, just great!!!" snapped off Sailor Terra who dodged a
stomping attack and narrowly evaded a crushing death worthy of a
mere insect.
"We`re only five against that monster right now! Where are Jupiter
and Pluto anyway?" asked Naru, concerned that something might have
happened to her friends.
"I`m afraid they have enough trouble of their own right now. Besides,
two senshi only wouldn`t do it, even with all their power- we need
something more than that, something more akin to cosmic forces I`d
say..." evaluated Mercury, dividing her attention equally between
analyzing her computer data and staying alive.
"Back away, Umino, you`ll only get killed staying here!" ordered
Naru to her boyfriend who stayed with them despite his total lack
of superhuman powers.
"No way, I`m here to help and I`m not abandonning you..." he said,
dodging some flying rubble less than gracefully, but effectively
nonetheless. All his years of running away from musclebound bullies
and dodging the projectiles they threw his way were finally paying
off. Endymion was rather impressed with his friend`s prowess in
avoiding getting killed by either the blighted one himself or the
surrounding damage he caused.
Then, out of nowhere, three points of light came soaring through the
air, crossing the line of sight of the gargantuan warrior and
detonating in a blinding burst of silver light. Taken aback by this
unexpected reversal of situation, he screamed out loud holding his
face in his hands and falling over on his back. All he could see was
swirling dots of colors, and he proved beyond a doubt the old saying
"the bigger they are, the harder they fall".
"That was a 4.5 on the Richter scale, I`d say." observed Sailor
Terra.
"Who did that, anyway?" wondered Sailor Moon.
"Someone who came back to honor her promise." answered Sailor
Mercury, a beautiful smile on her lips as she looked up to a
nearby building where she estimated those three bursts of light
had originated from- there she saw three familiar silhouettes,
young women warriors in sailor fukus of black leathers adorned with
star emblems on their tops.
"I always stay true to my word." said Sailor Star Maker after
leaping down and joining her sister senshi in the middle of the
ravaged battle area. Sailor Star Healer and Star Fighter joined her,
sleek and graceful in every one of their movements like a trio of
cats.
"Is this a private party?" wondered Healer.
"Everybody`s invited!" replied Mercury with a cute giggle, shining
stars twinkling in her eyes. She only had eyes for Star Maker,
although the others were too caught up in the situation to even
notice.
"We better warn you that if Healer comes to your party, she`s sure
to eat all the chips before... OW!" said Fighter, rudely interrupted
by a slap behind the head courtesy of Healer.
"Shut your yap and live up to your name! We`re here to fight, not
take cheap shots." she told her.
"What`s your plan, Mercury?" asked Maker.
"Okay... here`s what I found..." she said, pointing to her computer
and explaining her detailed findings to Maker using technical jargon
and high-tech mumbo-jumbo that only the two of them understood.
While they had their little impromptu conference, the others got
nervous. Unlike Gulliver, they had no ropes to tie down the huge
warrior to the ground, and he was beginning to regain his bearings.
* * *
"Are you going to go down, monster?!?" screamed Jupiter as she
managed to find a hole in Black Baron`s agile defense and hit him
hard- to no avail. He did not respond at all to physical assaults,
and his own quick attacks would not allow her to unleash the power
of lightning upon him.
"No." responded the shadowy being. In one dizzyingly fast swipe,
her knocked her warhamer clear out of her hands and caught her leg
with the flat of his blade, sending her down to the ground like a
puppet whose strings got severed.
"Haven`t you learned by now that violence is not the way to solve
your problems, or anybody else`s for that matter?" said Black
Baron, pointing his cypher in her direction and lightly touching
her chest with the tip of the blade. She felt an unearthly chill
spread in her body through mere contact with the dark weapon.
"Violence demands more violence. Revenge only begets further
vengence."
Jupiter tried to move, wanted to fight back, but she felt her
soul invaded by despair. She suddenly realized how futile all
her strong handed ways had been all those years, how beating up
the guys who had mocked her only turned away even more people who
heard about her fights.
The karate maniac. These words rang in her mind, hurting her more
with every iteration. She had driven away so many people away from
her, pushed too many possible friendships with her brash attitude
and quick flaring anger.
She started to cry, she didn't want to, but she couldn`t help it.
The others had warned her about not listening to the lies woven by
Black Baron, but he wasn`t telling her lies, only the truth. The
terrible truth that her lifetime of pain was her own doing.
"So you do believe me, now..." whispered Black Baron. He smiled,
if a being such as himself could do such a thing. He had her right
where he wanted her, and her dark splinter was ready to be taken
away.
"Stop it!" came the voice of Sailor Pluto. Black Baron looked in
the direction of this outburst and saw the senshi of time holding
her garnet battle staff Eternity pointed in his direction, the
time orb on its tip charged with a blast of energy ready to be
fired.
"You`re just in time." replied the shadow.
"Leave her alone, or else..." started Pluto.
"Or else what, you`ll change the flow of time and alter fate itself?"
asked her the grandmaster of the arts of darkness, gripping Sailor
Jupiter by her fuku and putting the blade against her throat.
"You have no idea who you`re up against, monster." said Pluto,
looking back and forth between Black Baron and Jupiter, who was
now helpless in her suffering, barely aware of the events
transpiring around her.
"And I suppose you would pretend to know yourself, guardian of
time?" asked her the displaced voice of the shadow.
Pluto hesitated, not knowing what he meant by that.
"Face it, Sailor Pluto, you have never felt helpless from the
knowledge of the future you possess regardless of what you would
have others believe. Despite your knowledge of events that cannot
be changed, you are not sadder for it still." he slowly pointed
out, catching Pluto off guard.
"You`re lying, I do feel pain over events that must happen. I feel
a pain no one who does not have temporal awareness can ever feel."
she argued.
"You do feel something all right, but it`s not pain. Why else would
you keep watching events unfold without ever trying to change them?"
counter argued Black Baron.
"The sacred duty of the guardian of time does not allow me to change
the timeline!"
"Keep repeating it, one day you might believe it..." responded the
dark being. "But in the meantime, you like the thrill you get from
this unmatched knowledge. I think you even feel a sadistic pleasure
in watching your friends suffer just like you predicted they
would..." he added, dropping down his cypher which disappeared in
a puff of black smoke. Raking his fingers along the face of Sailor
Jupiter, he tore a loud scream of pain out of her as a swirl of
dark energy came out of her body, materializing into a dark
splinter of pure crystal.
She couldn`t take it. Sailor Pluto would not let this monster hurt
her friend and spread his lies despite what she knew what would
happen next- her self-fulfilling prophecy indeed came to pass just
as she had predicted it would, her upset state of mind leaving her
wide open to the dark powers of Black Baron.
"DEAD SCREAM!!!" she yelled as her staff fired a large sphere of
purple light.
The shadow merely had to step aside to avoid the incoming blast,
holding up his open hand as something happened to Pluto; her soul
felt like it was ripping itself apart, and it was doing just that.
Her dark splinter left her soul, flying into Black Baron`s hand
along with Jupiter`s.
Amidst the maniac laughter of Black Baron, both girls depowered
immediately, their powers unusable, their fukus vanishing in a
burst of dull yellow light. They were left defenseless in their
regular clothes once again, both their sacred weapons shattering
in a hundred sharp pieces.
* * *
"When I give the signal, everybody strike the blighted one with
your strongest attack, but stay off the ultimates though."
instructed Mercury.
"Wait just one minute! Last time we did that, we turned dwarf boy
into Blightzilla!!!" argued Sailor Saturn who didn`t want her
earlier mistake repeated.
"Trust me, now I know what we did wrong the first time, it can
work- but it`ll need split second timing to pull it off. Umino,
watch for the power levels of the blighted one and tell me when
his power conversion rate spikes!" Mercury told Umino as she
pointed to the screen and showed him what to look out for.
"Okay..." he said, hoping his genius friend knew what she was
doing.
"Fighter, Healer, her plan is going to work, but we`ll need your
full power for this as well!" said Maker to her sisters who nodded
and got ready to strike.
Endymion gave a hand to Sailor Terra whose bleeding had stopped by
now, though she was still a bit shaky from the wound she`d received
from the blighted one`s sword. Endymion himself was suffering
terribly from the slash he`d taken, but he didn`t let it show,
keeping a strong face to inspire his daughter.
"Are you going to be able to take part?" he asked her.
"You bet, I wouldn`t miss this for the world!" she answered, smiling
faintly.
"That`s my girl!"
Just as all the senshi and the Starlights were ready to put their
plan into action, the gigantic blighted one stood back up, his sight
returned to him after the effects of the blind flash of the
Starlights had worn off.
"I`ll crush you all to jelly for this!!!" he screamed, his voice
making the ground shake under their feet.
"Everyone, NOW!" urged Mercury. Seven senshi strikes surged all
at once.
"LUNAR SOUL POWER!!!"
"FLAMING HEART ATTACK!!!"
"DRAGON WINGS NUCLEAR FLARE!!!"
"STAR GENTLE YUTRACE!!!"
"STAR SIRIUS LASER!!!"
"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!!"
The messiah`s silent blast of power joined in with the other six,
melding them all into a single bolt of immeasurable power.
Connecting with the huge monster, it was instantly absorbed into
his body which started to shimmer and shift once again.
"You fools! You only give me MORE POWER this way!" mocked them the
blighted one.
The defenders of earth nervously awaited for whatever was to come
next, looking over at Sailor Mercury who herself stared at Umino.
His attention focused to the laptop screen, he lifted his hand
slowly, hesitating to give the signal for the precise moment he
was asked to be on the alert for. And that moment came, a strong
spike forming in the power conversion rate of the blighted one as
his internal power was transforming energy into body mass.
"NOW!!!" yelled Umino, throwing his hand in the air.
Sailor Mercury lifted her sapphire bow, aiming right at the blighted
one as the air around her began to overheat. A small magnetic
shielding sphere formed on the tip of the ice arrow she was
preparing to fire, all of the heat energy within this sphere warming
up the ambient air while the inside of the sphere grew colder and
colder. Within an instant, the magnetic sphere contained a single
water molecule held at the point of zero potential and kinetic
energy where molecules stopped moving completely, absolute zero.
"ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE!!!" she screamed as her fingers released
the string of her bow and sent the deadly arrow soar to its target,
easily connecting.
In less than one full second, the entire body of the blighted one
was brought down to the temperature of liquid helium, freezing
solid into an ice statue of a size never attempted before by any
ice sculptor in history.
"HIT THE DECK EVERYONE, HE`S GOING TO..." screamed Star Maker, but
his warning didn`t make it across before the overheated air and the
nearly-absolute zero body of the monster reacted in an explosive
temperature shock, blowing everyone flat on their back.
It took a few minutes for everyone to free themselves of the thick
layer of ice which now coated every single person and object within
a seven hundred yards area. No trace of the defeated blighted one
remained, save for a pieces of ice that looked like they had been
used as a die-cast mold used to create him.
"WHY did it work THIS TIME?" asked Saturn as she used her glaive`s
blade to carve some ice off her shoulder pads and breastplate.
"Simple." answered Mercury. "When he converts our energy into mass,
he has to divert part of his own power to do it. We gave him so much
energy this time that he had to use ALL of his power to convert it
into body mass."
"By waiting for the precise moment where his power was diverted,
Sailor Mercury had an opening to deal him some ACTUAL damage, rather
than just feed him." added Star Maker.
"Brilliant!" observed Endymion.
"We expected nothing less of you, Mercury!" said Terra.
Star Fighter coughed, bringing attention to herself and her
sisters.
"And you too, Sailor Starlights, you really pulled our butts out
of the fire once again!" said Sailor Moon with a large smile.
"We`ll always be glad to know you`re there!"
"Yes... always..." said Mercury, who embraced Star Maker, kissing
her passionately. Maker obviously enjoyed the kiss, and so did their
friends who cheered them loudly.
"Together, nothing can stop us!!!" said Saturn, lifting her weapon
in the air in a sign of victory.
"Don`t be so sure..." came the deep echoing voice of Black Baron
who materialized near the group, holding a dark splinter in each
hand. "Jupiter and Pluto were certainly powerless to stop me
despite their immense strength."
"Oh my god..." whispered Naru when she understood what had just
happened to the two senshi.
"And it`s your turn now!" he yelled in contempt, lifting his hands
as he infused the two powerful dark splinters with great amounts of
black energy. In a second, a huge vortex formed around him, swirling
at mind-boggling speed and sucking in everyone present, lifting them
off the ground and twirling them in the air like mere rag dolls.
"The power of the dark has nearly reached its peak." said Black
Baron, standing in the eye of the vortex, looking up to the senshi
and their allies spinning out of control.
"There is nothing more any one of you pathetic fools can do to stop
me from gathering that which belongs to the dark." he added, holding
out his hands and pointing to the senshi. Three of them began
writhing in pain, Sailor Mercury, Saturn and Terra screaming as they
felt their soul being torn assunder by the powers of their enemy.
Three dark splinters left their owners.
Sailor Mercury became Mizuno Ami.
"I don`t believe it, it`s her..." thought Star Maker as she saw the
senshi of ice turn into the genius girl he saw at school every day.
Sailor Saturn returned to Robin Redwing.
"Robin... she`s Sailor Saturn? I can`t believe it!" thought Star
Healer as she tried to fight the vortex`s power to try and reach Robin.
Sailor Terra depowered into Tsukino Usako.
"Oh stars... Sailor Terra is... my precious Usako?" thought Star
Fighter, shocked to discover that the woman he loved was so much
more than she ever imagined.
Black Baron gave off a piercing maniac laugh as he picked up the
three dark splinters and made them float around him with the other
two in a dreadful dance of evil. He looked up to the still spinning
senshi caught in his twister of darkness, flies in his deadly web.
"And now for the final piece, the last shard, the ultimate artifact
of power... the dark splinter of Sailor Moon... COME NOW
ARMAGEDDON!!!" he yelled as a horrid pain invaded Sailor Moon`s
body, tearing an equally horrible scream of pain from the helpless
senshi who could do nothing else than spin out of control like all
the others.
This is it, she thought, we failed, and all of humanity will pay
for it.
To be continued...
a.k.a. Technuma Saturn
CYCLES OF LIFE: EPISODE 49
AND THE MASKS FELL OFF
"And this, is one of our highly advanced bioengineering labs to your
right." explained the security guard who led the young couple in
their grand tour of the Poldzer Triangle. "It`s one of our most
sought after services, our customers ranging from pharmaceutical
corporations to research hospitals dealing in genetic defects and
hereditary diseases. As you will surely understand, this is also
one of our highest security areas."
"Of course." agreed Shingo. Distracting the guard for a moment with
a very pertinent question regarding the equipments used by the labs,
he allowed Laurella to reach into her purse and grab a tiny
electronic gadget which she swiftly planted in an unseen place
underneath a photocopy machine where it could operate without being
noticed.
That`s another one, she thought. This was going very smoothly indeed,
the two first towers of the Poldzer triangle already seeded with over
thirty such miniature detectors supplied to her by her genius friend
Ami. With the tour of the plaza almost over, the main building now
only required a detector or two in a few other areas to complete
Usagi`s master plan.
To turn the entire Poldzer Triangle into a radar for evil beings
and dark forces which they could use to flush out Black Baron and
destroy him for good.
The guard`s cell phone rang- answering it, he gave the young
visitors the message his boss had just told him, and the one Shingo
and Laurella had been waiting for.
"Vice president Cathryn Neko is ready to see you now." he said.
They smiled.
* * *
Sneaking her way around a security guard station, Sailor Moon deftly
took advantage of every shadow she found, each obstacle that could
conceil her from view. She looked up and saw the ghastly silhouette
of the three towers of the Poldzer Triangle ripping through the sky,
tearing itself a place among the dark clouds in the most unnatural
manner.
"I think I`m there." whispered Sailor Moon in her wrist communicator,
holding on tight to the walkman-sized piece of hardware she`d been
sent to put into place.
"Yes, you`re right on target." replied the voice of Sailor Mercury
through the tiny communicator. "Hold your position until we`re ready
to go."
"Okay, but hurry! I don`t know how long I can remain here, we don`t
know precisely what routes the guards take when they make their
rounds." replied Sailor Moon.
"Not to worry. Pluto just reached her location and assured me that no
security guards would disturb us for the whole operation." said
Mercury with confidence.
"And did she also say that no blighted ones, or worse, would sneak up
on us?" wondered Sailor Moon. The silence at the end of the
communication line did nothing to reassure her. "Remember that she
doesn`t let us know of EVERYTHING she foresees."
"We have to trust her judgement at some point. She does what she
does for the best of reasons, and for the good of us all. Mercury
out."
"Sometimes I wonder..." mumbled Usagi after she turned off her wrist
radio.
Usagi felt a bit uncomfortable with the whole situation. Everything
was going without a single hitch, a little too well to her own taste.
By now she`d gotten used to sudden reversals and unexpected returns,
so this flawless execution was getting her nervous. Setsuna being
once again cryptic certainly didn`t help her.
"The others should be in place around the plaza by now." thought
Usagi as she took a look at her watch. She was right of course,
Sailor Pluto, Jupiter, Terra and Saturn having hidden themselves
around the plaza with four more transmitter relays similar to the
one she was nervously fidgetting right now.
The wait was killing her.
* * *
"So what happens now?" asked Umino as he looked over Sailor
Mercury`s shoulder to her laptop which she had set on a crate of
obsolete 100 megabytes hard drives. Well hidden in the old warehouse
Shingo had spotted for them, Ami, Umino, Naru and Endymion were
awaiting for their friends to be done in their respective tasks.
"We have to wait until Laurella sets the last detector. We can`t
function to full efficiency without a complete network of those.
Even worse, we might not get any results at all." explained Mercury.
"We have to be patient." added Naru who hugged Umino. "Things will
happen fast enough once we`re done, trust me."
"This waiting is eating me alive." complained Umino. "Can`t we do
anything in the meantime?"
"We can actually." replied Mercury, punching a button on her
keyboard. Instantly, the laptop speakers began transmitting the
conversation of Shingo, Laurella and Cathryn Neko. "Laurella left
her transmitter on so we could monitor the situation at all times."
"This should be interesting..." said Umino out loud.
"Yeah, we`ll know exactly what`s going on!" added Naru.
"And be ready to intervene if things go wrong for them." thought
Ami, nervously fidgetting with the zoom-in feature of her visor.
"I`m right here if that happens." concluded Endymion, stroking the
handle of the sword held in the sheath at his belt.
* * *
"As I said the other night, miss Moonrabbit, I`m deeply sorry about
ruining your blouse with my glass of red wine." said Cathra as she
wrote a check to cover Laurella`s expenses in replacing her stained
blouse. "I do appologize for the inconvenience."
Laurella took the check and put it in her purse, grabbing the last
detector at the same time. Now all she needed was one final
distraction to set it up.
"It was a really great tour you provided for us, miss Neko. And I
must say your office has an amazing view on the surrounding area."
observed Shingo who was standing next to the window and looking
outside.
"One of the many advantages of having a high position in a large
corporation, my friend!" she said, suddenly taking notice of how well
shaped Shingo`s body was. Laurella took notice and quickly set the
detector in place.
"So you like the view?" asked Cathra as she stood up from her desk
and walked over to Shingo. Oh yes, she thought, he`s REALLY nice.
"I love it. You can see really far away from this height.... I
really like what I can see from here" replied Shingo, not noticing
how the human looking youma was checking him out.
"So do I." whispered Cathra with a smile. "Tell me something, my
young friend... you`re so young, vibrant and attractive... what
are you doing wasting your time with a girl who obviously has no
emotions for you?"
Shingo snapped back to reality, looking at her in shock. Had she
really just insulted his girlfriend?
"You can do much better than a cold fish like her. I for one think
we could have a lot of fun together." she added, licking her lips
seductively.
"Stay away from me." Shingo said in a cold voice that barely hid
his rage. Walking away from her, he took Laurella by the arm and
led her out of the office. "We`re leaving now, darling, I think we
overstayed our welcome."
Cathra felt her anger flaring once again as the young couple left.
Who was that man to dare reject her? To turn away her animal
magnetism, her feminine wiles, her unmatched sex appeal? This was
no ordinary man for sure, as Fenris had been the only male before
that to resist her powerful youma charm.
"Wait a minute... that knight who was protecting Sailor Jendra,
who seemed to be obviously in love with her... it had to be HIM!"
she thought. "Well... I guess he`ll be killed along with the rest
of the senshi when they find Black Baron. I get to kill that guy
and avenge myself against him without even having to lift a finger!
Oh, how sweet that`s going to be."
Cathra thought long and hard about what would happen next. She knew
that since the fallen senshi and her knightly boyfriend were leaving
the Poldzer Triangle now, they had certainly finished whatever
scouting mission they had been sent to do. They would find that the
entire place reaked with Black Baron`s stench, and make a frontal
attack to force his hand, thus pulling Crystallite in the conflict
at the same time. After this battle of titans would come to an end,
it wouldn`t matter who wins anyway, because once the dust will
settle, whoever remains standing would be too late to stop her from
taking her rightful place as ruler of this wretched world.
Cathra knew she was meant for better things, her creator Thorelia
had always told her so. The faceless sculptress had always been so
kind to her, so full of compliments and attentions. She had even
gotten her this special assignment as Fenris` aide, thus sparing
her fate of being canon fodder at the battle at Osaka where dozens
of youma had met a grisly death at the hands of the sailor senshi.
Thorelia... her creator... her mother... that bastard Black Baron
had killed her along with Dokuryo, the reptile man who had fallen
in love with the cursed artist. She had come to see them as her
parents, two people who loved her genuinely. The only people she
had loved... and she had never even told them how she felt before
the grandmaster of darkness burned them alive in black hellfire.
Cathra felt heavy tears flow from her eyes, and she wiped them off
immediately.
Black Baron would die for what he had done. Was he even alive,
anyhow? It didn`t matter. She`d see him get torn apart and shredded
to nothingness. If the senshi couldn`t do it themselves... she`d do
it in person with the complete black crystal that she would steal
from Crystallite.
Revenge upon the Emerald Knight, Fenris and Black Baron... that
would be a nice addition to total world domination.
"I just love being on the side of the string that does the pulling."
she thought out loud. Pushing down her sadness and swallowing her
pain, she laughed maniacally.
* * *
"What`s happening?" wondered Haruka when she saw Michiru bolting to
her feet with a confused look on her face, relaxing in her couch
deep in her reading only seconds before.
"I`m getting a strange feeling of immense power!" she uttered.
"Where? Is Black Baron about to attack the others?!?" asked Haruka.
"No... it`s not that... the power is not evil, and it`s... very
near..." she said, running up the stairs and heading without
hesitation to little Hotaru`s room. Haruka followed her in a hurry,
worried that Michiru`s intuitions were usually right about these
things.
What they saw shocked them out of their minds; instead of seing a
young baby in Hotaru`s crib, they saw a fully grown young teenage
girl with the glowing sigil of Saturn burning bright on her
forehead. She had grown so suddenly as to tear apart her baby
clothes, and she had nothing more than her small wool sheet to
cover her naked body.
"What... happened?" said Haruka through her disbelief.
"The danger is close at hand. The silence may yet come to us." said
Hotaru, calm and composed despite the sheer gravity of her words.
"What danger?" asked Michiru.
"The evil one`s minions have almost succeeded in their mad quest,
and will complete it before this day finishes and the next one
begins. There will be no tomorrow if this happens." calmly explained
Hotaru.
"Can we do anything to stop this? Even without our powers?" asked
Haruka.
"This is not about power. It`s about light, darkness and the
intricate link between the two. There is still much that none of
you understands as of yet, and without that knowledge I will be
forced to bring the great destruction myself." said Hotaru. Raising
her hand in the air, she silently transformed into the fully powered
Sailor Saturn, her soul power fuku totally black and not reflecting
any light. In her hands formed her sacred weapon, the obsidian
glaive of the silent messiah, the mighty and lethal Silence.
"Gather all the senshi, it matters not that their powers have
fainted. Without each one of them present in the final confrontation
to come, I will have no choice but to destroy this world myself."
said Hotaru with disturbing calmness in her expression.
"I`ll call them right away." said Michiru. "Get the car ready Haruka,
we`re going to the Poldzer Triangle right now."
* * *
Black Baron`s form shimmered and appeared in between two warehouses
of the Poldzer Plaza area. Next to him were two powerful blighted
ones, the short swordsman with the sword too large for his dwarflike
stature, as well as the mysterious Velasquez who`d been given his
name back by his master just recently, the greatest reward a blighted
one can aspire to.
"Are you ready to follow the plan?" asked the ungodly voice of Black
Baron to Velasquez.
"Which one? There seems to be many!" he replied as a matter of fact.
Black Baron gave off a snicker. "Indeed there are. Just do as you
were told." he instructed to his agents before waning into a shadow
and disappearing again.
"You heard him, go now. You`ve been waiting for this a long time, and
now it`s your chance to prove what you can do." instructed Velasquez.
"Finally! It`s about time!" grunted the short warrior who ran to the
warehouse where he knew he`d find a senshi, the messiah and her
boyfriend. More senshi would follow soon after he made himself known
to them of course, but that was just the way he was hoping things
would turn out.
* * *
"I can`t believe that BITCH!!!" fumed Sailor Moon who was listening
in on the communicators left open to allow everyone in the team to
know what was going on. "How dare she insult my friend like that?
Laurella saved me from myself when I almost drowned in my own
sorrow... and she made things worse by making a sleazy pass at my
brother! I can`t believe her NERVE!!!"
"Usagi, calm down." came Mercury`s voice on the channel. "I know
what she said, but there`s nothing we can do about it. She`s only a
woman, and right now it`s darkness itself we`re fighting... you
have to keep perspective."
"Yeah, you`re right..." agreed Sailor Moon, calming down somewhat.
"But if I ever run into her in a restaurant, I just MIGHT trip and
spill my coffee by 'accident', if you know what I mean." she added
with a sly grin.
"I knew you`d see things my way, Usagi. Now activate the unit, I`m
ready to form the detecnet with the sensors your brother and
Laurella seeded all over the place. Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn, Terra,
the same applies to you all as well."
"Got it." replied Sailor Moon.
"Activated!" came Saturn`s voice.
"Online." said Pluto.
"Ready here!" said Jupiter.
"Lock and load!" concluded Terra.
* * *
With all five detector relays in place and activated, data began
being sent at ultra high speed to Mercury`s laptop. She put her
special programs into place, and the powerful computer used all
available ressources to analyze the influx of data into a coherent
display.
"It`s almost ready. You can return now, gang." said Mercury into
the small microphone attached to her blue visor. She was feeling
nervous, hoping that her system would work. So much effort had been
deployed by so many people, she would never forgive herself any
failure that might occur... but that would not be the case.
"It`s working!!!" yelled Umino when he saw the map of the
surrounding area forming and showing the flow of dark energies in
the city.
"Hum... isn`t it a bit strong around the Poldzer Triangle?"
wondered Naru.
"A little too much if you ask me... I`m not sure yet, but I think
that Black Baron might be right..." started Mercury when a loud
crashing noise interrupted her.
Naru and Umino turned around, feeling their heart stop for just a
second when they heard the heavy metal doors of the warehouse being
forcefully swung open. Endymion pulled his sword out swiftly, ready
to fight with the reflexes of a trained fighter. Sailor Mercury
wasn`t surprised because the laptop data, which her superior
intellect had interpreted before it was even fully converted to
graphic form, had warned her of the blighted one`s arrival.
What really frightened her was that Black Baron was out there,
moving in on one of her friends.
* * *
"This thing certainly seems a bit tighter every time I strap it on."
thought out loud Mizuno Akane as she put on her old leather battle
uniform colored in black and shades of deep red. She then slipped on
the matching black mask, and concentrated a few instants to feel her
powers flow through her body again.
Sparks of blue power surged from her chest, radiating in her arms
and shooting down her legs. Lifting her hands, she spread apart her
fingers and shot small arcs of dark blue lighting which stuck various
objects in her bedroom. Suddenly defying gravity, they began floating
around freely. Waving her hands around like an orchestra conductor,
she directed their flight into a circular vortex of gliding
knick-knacks.
"Feels good to have the mojo flowing in my veins again." she thought
out loud.
"So you`re not going to heed my warnings regarding Black Baron`s power,
are you?" came a deep voice at her bedroom door.
Akane looked behind her and saw the silhouette of Mitchell Dreadborne
standing there in the shadows... her new boyfriend Ronmar, former
dread lord of darkness. He was wearing his usual selection of black
clothes and unnecessary dark shades.
"I`m not about to stand idly by as my only child gets slaughtered. I
don`t care if I must die tonight, I`m not letting Black Baron
hurting my daughter!" said Akane without unlocking her jaw, her
fists clenched tight.
"I expected nothing less of you, Akane... or should I say Quartzite?"
replied Ronmar, a faint smile gracing his lips. He simply loved to
see his girlfriend be so determined, ready to give her life to
protect her child.
"If you`re here to stop me, Mitchell, you`re not going to convince
me. You`ll have to physically restrain me to keep me from going
there." she said in a calm, measured voice, sparks of blue energy
surging from her hands for added effect.
"I`m not here to stop you." told her the dread knight. "I think I
finally understand the nature of my former mentor`s powers of
darkness now... I just might be able to help you."
Akane smiled under her mask. With her eyes, she silently thanked him
and showed him just how much she loved him, running in his arms and
embracing him tenderly. Resting her head on his chest, she sighed
and hoped everything would turn out all right in the end.
"Let`s go help your daughter now." whispered Ronmar in her ear.
Before she could ask him which one of their cars they should take,
she felt something strange- not only was Ronmar`s form shimmering
and melting into a thick fog with a very spicy smell, she was
transforming into fog as well. Her consciousness remained intact
as her body faded completely, but she knew she wasn`t alone.
"What`s happening?" she asked mentally, having no lungs, throat
or tongue to speak with.
"When a knightmare is close enough to someone, he can take that
person along when he shifts into fog- we`ll be there much faster
this way." she heard him answer her by telepathy. In this form,
their minds were linked.
"Thank you for doing this with me, Mitchell. It means a lot to me."
she told him. When she told him how she felt, she became suddenly
aware that in this form she could feel her boyfriend`s emotions
with crystal clarity. She was taken aback at how much he cared
for her.
"It means a lot to me too." he replied.
Silently, the smoke cloud seeped through the window and disappeared
into the sky.
* * *
"Stand back!" yelled Sailor Mercury as she used her sapphire bow to
block a sword slash from the blighted one. Although his loose
clothes conceiled much of his body, his short stumpy stature was
still quite obvious to Amy who quickly noticed that she was fighting
someone who was actually shorter than herself. Endymion joined her
in, but found that the black clad warrior was just as skillful
blocking the attacks of two fighters as of those of a single one.
"Don`t worry about me, Mercury, I can fight after all." replied Naru,
changing her clothes into the dress fuku of the messiah, complete
with the glaive Ouroboros in her hands, its coiled snake engravings
twirling into a lethal blade at the end.
"I feel kinda useless right now." commented Umino, a bit awkward as
he was the only one in the group without powers.
"Don`t say that, honey, I`ll always be glad to have you around...
I`d do anything for you, even give you my life if you asked me to."
said Naru, putting her arm around Umino`s shoulders and giving him
a long kiss. She then turned around and firmly grasped her weapon
with both hands. "NOW LET`S KICK SOME ASS!!!" she screamed, rushing
the evil dwarf. Umino sighed at the sight of her, beautiful,
courageous and so compassionate to others. He truly loved her with
all his heart. Left alone as the other three fought the monster hand
to hand, he manned the laptop to ensure that the detecnet formed
properly.
Even with the messiah`s blade, the prince of earth`s sword and a
steady stream of ice arrows coming his way, the dark warrior was a
sight to behold, swinging his tall blade as easily as if it were
made of light styrofoam despite the fact that it was taller than
he was.
"This isn`t working, he`s too good with his blade!" observed Naru.
"I`ve never fought anyone so talented!" observed Endymion.
"Good observation! Keep him busy while I attack him with a solid
shot!" replied Mercury.
Naru let out a loud battle yell, and swung her glaive with all her
might, locking blades with her enemy who pushed back against her
weapon, neither warrior budging an inch. They stared into each
other`s eyes with fierce determination, going into a staring match
at the same time. With the blighted one distracted, Sailor Mercury
lowered her bow and flung it across her shoulder, freeing her hands
for the senshi attack she would unleash. Seeing Mercury getting
ready, Endymion stood out of her way not to be caught in crossfire.
Pointing a finger in the air, she summoned a single dropplet of water
which splashed down in a hundred ripples of sheer force that flew
towards the two fighters.
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!!!"
The messiah dodged just in time and avoided the blast which hit
the short fighter directly, sending him flying against the solid
concrete wall. The Technum based water ripples faded away
in the air, but not without leaving behind a heavy smell of humidity
and drenching the surrounding area.
"Great shot!" commented Naru.
"Not really." said Mercury, pointing to the blighted one who got
right back up, his clothes still dripping with water. He lifted
his sword back up, having held on to it during his short flight
in mid-air and subsequent landing.
"Oh, that`s just beautiful." snapped Naru, tightening her grip
on her weapon.
* * *
Running back to the warehouse where Mercury was operating, Sailor
Moon ran into Saturn and Terra. Both were going there as well, as
fast as their bodies would allow.
"Why did Mercury sever communications?" asked Saturn, who was
beginning to be short of breath.
"Something happened, I can just feel it!" said Terra, a dreadful
look on her face. "I`ll bet it has something to do with Black
Baron!"
"I can feel too, it`s something evil, I just know it." added
Sailor Moon.
And she was quite right. When they finally reached the warehouse,
they were greeted by sounds of battle and the sight of the two
senshi and their ally going head to head against the stumpy
blighted one. The three girls almost laughed at the sight of
him, but his unmatched skill with a sword was too frightful
to be funny.
"This doesn`t look good." commented Sailor Moon.
"Let me help, mom..." suggested Sailor Terra.
"Be my guest!" replied Sailor Moon.
Taking a step forward, Sailor Terra produced a small wand identical
to the one she used in her old scout form of Sailor Chibi-Moon.
Holding it up, she stood ready to use it to attack.
"Oh my god, don`t tell me she`s going to use the..." mumbled Sailor
Moon.
"PINK SUGAR HEARTS..." yelled Sailor Terra, a rapid fire of cute
pink hearts shooting from the wand and connecting with the blighted
one, blinding him as the hearts melting in his face.
"...NAPALM!!!" she screamed, completing her power words. As she
said the final word, the melted hearts suddenly ignited, the thick
sticky liquid burning horribly the dark warrior who yelled in pain
as the pink flames chewed through his skin.
"What were you saying, mother dear?" said Terra smugly, blowing on
her wand in the way a cowboy blows the powder off his gun after
using it. All present were mesmerized by the pink fire engulfing
the blighted one, but the flames quickly died down, leaving the
warrior almost unscathed.
As the blaze stopped, something strange occured. The blighted one
curled himself in a foetal position for an instant, then stood
straight up to his maximum height, which was now over six feet
tall!!! The girls quickly realized that the blighted one had been
absorbing the power sent to him, using it to further his own
growth.
"Damn! Well, isn`t that just prime!" cursed Terra. She got a
crossed look from Sailor Saturn for that last remark. "Sorry, I
just had to say that." she appologized.
"Weapons in hand, everyone, the only way we can beat this monster
is to best him with skill and finesse!" commanded Sailor Moon,
summoning her crystal two-handed sword Avenger.
"Got it!" said Terra, summoning her lethal jet scythe Harbinger.
"Right on!" followed Saturn as her Ruby glaived Soulstar
materialized in her hands.
"More lambs to the slaughter." dryly commented the now much taller
blighted one whose body was more akin to that of a dread knight
than it was mere moments before. Skillfully spinning his long blade
with a single hand, he pulled back his hood and removed his black
face mask to reveal a long, thin face whose features were
reminiscent of an eagle. "Please do not hold back, and attack me
all at once. There would be no challenge in facing a single opponent
at a time..." he taunted them.
"Then let`s not keep him waiting." replied Sailor Moon.
* * *
She did not run.
Not that she didn`t know exactly what was going on, she always did.
But right now, there was something of more dire importance than the
mere presence of yet another blighted one fighting the senshi. She
knew exactly what would happen next- and nothing more than that.
This was one of the few times where Sailor Pluto knew little of
events to come, besides that they were of critical importance and
incredibly dangerous to all those concerned.
That was where she was going, yet something was bothering her.
Something that she didn`t like at all, yet she couldn`t put her
finger on it.
Whatever it was, she would face it head on.
"Hang on, Jupiter, I`ll be there in a moment." whispered Sailor
Pluto. She thought of what was just about to happen- and it made
her feel like crying.
* * *
"Somebody`s watching me." thought Jupiter as she walked back to the
warehouse where Sailor Mercury and the others were supposed to meet.
She looked back over her shoulder but saw no one there.
Sailor Jupiter resumed walking at a steady pace, but felt the
presence again. She turned around, but saw no one. Nobody there...
this was strange. At this time of day, when the working day is
finished for all the employees of Nightwolf Corporation, there
should have been more people walking around. Security guards, at
the very least... this was rather disturbing.
She kept on walking, slower, looking left and right... she felt
IT, getting closer...
Catching a glimpse of a dark figure out of the corner of her eye,
she jumped to the side and rolled out of the way of a silent beam
of dark power shooting straight towards her, avoiding the deadly
attack which detonated on a nearby warehouse wall. She got showered
with small pellets of broken concrete, receiving many cuts and
bruises, but she was made of sterner stuff than most people- she
was a sailor senshi, one of the chosen few fighting to put an end
to all evil.
Jupiter didn`t even flinch as she stood up, brushing off the dust on
her senshi fuku and looking directly in the eyes of her assailant
who stood immobile before her.
Immobile was a rather vague word in this case, as his roughly
humanoid shape shimmered and rippled constantly in a dreadful
manner, his burning red eyes the only truly stable feature of his
entire body, if he had a true body at all.
"Black Baron..." whispered Sailor Jupiter, recognizing immediately
this menacing fiend from Rei`s vivid description.
"Indeed." replied a loud growling voice whose source was as
uncertain as the shape of its owner.
"I`ve been waiting a long time to take a shot at you. You hurt my
friends, in body and in soul, and I`m putting a stop to that here
and now." declared Jupiter proudly as her sacred weapon Mjolnir
formed in her hands. She menacingly held up the superb jade
warhammer, adding even more weight to her words. "We received a
lot of pain from you, and I`m here to demonstrate that it`s better
to give than to receive."
There was no response from Black Baron, save for the large black
cypher forming in his right hand from his own shadowy substance.
Silently, he lifted his left hand and made a "come over here" motion
to the female warrior standing in front of him. Sailor Jupiter
readily accepted this invitation and stood up to the challenge,
screaming at the top of her lungs with her warhammer lifted up, she
ran to him and swung it down upon the vile fiend who blocked her
lunge with a swift move.
Her enemy was quite solid as she could feel. Good, she thought,
she`d be able to crush his body to a bloody pulp for all the harm
he`d commited.
* * *
The blighted one looked around. Six young warriors at the top of
their skill were trying to catch their breath, their bodies covered
in mostly superficial slashes, although he`d gotten a few good hits
on Sailor Terra and Endymion. They looked at him with anger burning
in their eyes, and he loved it. He contemptously spun his now blood
stained blade around some more, showing off his skill in a boastful
manner.
"Thank you for watching me, I so rarely get an audience that doesn`t
die in less than thirty seconds." he mocked them.
"How much power do you think he can take?" whispered Saturn to
Moon.
"All we can give him, isn`t it obvious?" she replied.
"No, I mean... without bursting like an overinflated balloon!" said
Saturn.
"You mean like that arabian night tale of the djinn who was dared
to drink all the water of an ocean?" asked Terra.
"Yeah... KABLOOIE!!!" went Saturn, vividly acting out the image of
the water-bloated djinn bursting out from the immense pressure of
his full stomach.
"I say we go for it!" approved Sailor Moon. "Okay everybody...
all at once!"
The girls smiled as they gathered their strength to activate their
devastating attacks, powering up to use their senshi special moves.
Endymion wished he had an attack capable of joining in the effort,
but he was stuck as a spectator for this all-out onslaught.
Sailor Moon gathered silvery energy within her hands, which she
unleashed in a single bolt of pure force.
"LUNAR SOUL POWER!!!"
Sailor Mercury summoned energy on her hands to form a small harp
of power, delicately stroking its perfectly harmonic strings to
create a blast of icy bubbles.
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!!!"
Sailor Terra pooled from the ancestral memories of her predecessor
to use a fiery attack which was once directed at Sailor Mars, but
now was used again in the quest for truth and justice, a circle of
fire forming around the blighted one`s feet and soaring up in a
scorching pillar of flame.
"MARS INFERNAL FIRESTORM BLAZE!!!"
Sailor Saturn felt a new surge of power going through her body as
she discovered a new height of strength brought on by her newly
gained soul ascension. Massive reptilian wings of golden light
formed on her back and shielded her entire body while a globe of
power formed between her hands, building in power until she opened
her wings and unleashed an incinerating streak of incredible
destructive force.
"DRAGON WINGS NUCLEAR FLARE!!!"
Although she had no special shapes or names to her attacks, the
messiah was no less powerful than her friends and she charged her
glaive with all the power she could muster, swinging it in a swift
move and sending forward a slashing wave like those she`d seen in
all the anime videos she had watched with Usagi.
Watching the five warriors activating all their powers at once,
Umino freaked. He`d been following the battle closely and keeping
tabs on the computer readouts on Mercury`s laptop, and he found
out something the others had missed.
As far as absorbing energy went, the blighted one had no limits,
period.
"NO, DON'T..." he tried to yell, but his warning was cut short by
the speed at which the senshi activated their attacks.
The evil warrior just stood there laughing his head off as his body
was repeatedly slammed by wave after wave of elemental Technum which
he greedily drank. His cackling only grew louder and louder as his
body increased in size, seemingly without limits, his head and
shoulders crashing through the warehouse`s ceiling and bringing the
whole place down around the senshi who ran outside as fast as they
could.
"This is so not good..." yelled Sailor Moon as she ran and dodged
falling debris.
"Remind me to slap you one behind the head, Robin!" said Sailor
Terra.
"I owe you one too, little miss wings!!!" added Naru who ran
surprisingly fast despite the many folds of her lavish dress fuku
which was now ripped in a few places.
"I don`t know how we`re going to defeat this one, guys!" said
Mercury loud enough to be heard over the noise of the crumbling
warehouse.
Barely making it out alive, Umino came out last carrying Mercury`s
computer under his arm.
"What now?" he said, looking back at the fiend who now stood over
twenty feet tall, his huge two-handed sword now a mere fruit carving
knife in comparison to his immense stature.
"I`ll figure something... I hope." replied Mercury.
* * *
"I don`t believe this..." whispered Laurella as she looked at the
blighted one in the distance. Despite the large distance separating
her from the battle ground, the dark warrior was now easy to see due
to his immense size.
"I know... I can`t believe I used to watch Ultraman movies and
complain that 'nothing like THAT could ever happen." said Shingo.
"The others must be fighting that abomination. I should be there with
them." said Laurella, sighing in her helpless despair.
Shingo wanted to join the battle too, but he couldn`t. He had to
stay close to Laurella and protect her from any potential dangers
that might arise. The words of his older sister Usagi still echoed
in his mind: "Laurella has saved my life many times, she`s a friend,
a confidante, a sister even. You are NOT to leave Laurella no matter
what happens, not if we run into a blighted one, not if we meet
Black Baron again, not even if Metalia herself should show up
there!!!"
Shingo wanted to help his sister and her friends, but he had given
his solemn oath that he`d protect Laurella with his life. He loved
his sister too much to let her down. Even more, he loved Laurella too
much to let anything happen to her.
"We have to stay aside. You`re in no condition to fight today." he
replied to Laurella, hugging her tenderly and kissing her softly on
her forehead. Although she did not resist his display of emotion,
she did not respond in any way to it. Once again, Shingo felt a
little more hurt by his girlfriend`s condition. He hoped that she
could recover from it, because she had so much love to give, not
only to him but to all those she knew. She had this generosity in
her compassion that allowed her to unconditionaly love all those she
met, a trait he had seen only in his sister before he met this
wonderful girl. Despite her terribly painful past, she had healed
her scarred soul and was now helping others heal as well... until
she had crossed paths with Black Baron.
"And yet fight she must." came a soft female voice behind them.
Looking back, the young couple saw their friends Haruka, Michiru,
Minako and Rei walking up to them along with a sailor senshi whom
they had never met before, dressed all in black, ominous portent of
imminent doom. "Or else all may be doomed." added the young girl who
looked no older than fourteen, her short black hair matching her
fuku and obsidian glaive Silence to perfection.
"Who are you?" asked Shingo, wary of this unknown senshi.
"You`ve met her before, Shingo, just not in this form." answered
Haruka. "This... is Hotaru, the original Sailor Saturn."
"The dark messiah." added Michiru.
Laurella and Shingo felt a chill go down their spine. They knew what
the dark messiah`s presence could only mean that she might be
required to destroy the world if the senshi could not fulfill their
duty to stop whatever evil they were meant to face.
"What can we do?" asked Laurella.
"Come with me. You may yet prove victorious by the day`s end." said
Sailor Saturn as the setting sun bathed her in a gloomy crimson
light. She pointed her glaive up to the dark clouds swirling atop
the Poldzer Triangle which were getting thicker and darker by the
hour. "The evil is almost here, but its triumph is not written as
of yet."
* * *
"I think it`s possible to defeat this monster." said Sailor Mercury,
looking at her laptop screen, fighting off the urge to look up at
the monstrous being.
"All right!" went the others, cheering their brainy friend who had
found a solution to their problems so many times in the past.
"Problem is... we don`t have enough power to pull it off." she then
added.
The cheers came to a screeching halt, silence setting in until the
blighted one walked their way. His body had settled itself after its
intense shifting process, stabilizing at thirty five feet high. He
was something out of a Godzilla movie now, and the senshi were up
to the point of fleeing like extras.
"What do you mean, not enough power?!? What about our ultimates?!?"
argued Saturn.
"In your case, Saturn, it`s too narrowly focused on a man-sized
target, or the most several normal sized ones. You couldn`t do a
thing against a monster that large, and besides... my cumulative
data shows that many ultimates used at once could adversely affect
each other and reduce their individual power to less than a regular
attack. We have to use ALL our attacks at once to pull this off."
explained Mercury, jumping aside to avoid the immense fist of the
blighted one trying to crush her like a bug and carving a huge
crater in the ground at the point of impact.
"Great, just great!!!" snapped off Sailor Terra who dodged a
stomping attack and narrowly evaded a crushing death worthy of a
mere insect.
"We`re only five against that monster right now! Where are Jupiter
and Pluto anyway?" asked Naru, concerned that something might have
happened to her friends.
"I`m afraid they have enough trouble of their own right now. Besides,
two senshi only wouldn`t do it, even with all their power- we need
something more than that, something more akin to cosmic forces I`d
say..." evaluated Mercury, dividing her attention equally between
analyzing her computer data and staying alive.
"Back away, Umino, you`ll only get killed staying here!" ordered
Naru to her boyfriend who stayed with them despite his total lack
of superhuman powers.
"No way, I`m here to help and I`m not abandonning you..." he said,
dodging some flying rubble less than gracefully, but effectively
nonetheless. All his years of running away from musclebound bullies
and dodging the projectiles they threw his way were finally paying
off. Endymion was rather impressed with his friend`s prowess in
avoiding getting killed by either the blighted one himself or the
surrounding damage he caused.
Then, out of nowhere, three points of light came soaring through the
air, crossing the line of sight of the gargantuan warrior and
detonating in a blinding burst of silver light. Taken aback by this
unexpected reversal of situation, he screamed out loud holding his
face in his hands and falling over on his back. All he could see was
swirling dots of colors, and he proved beyond a doubt the old saying
"the bigger they are, the harder they fall".
"That was a 4.5 on the Richter scale, I`d say." observed Sailor
Terra.
"Who did that, anyway?" wondered Sailor Moon.
"Someone who came back to honor her promise." answered Sailor
Mercury, a beautiful smile on her lips as she looked up to a
nearby building where she estimated those three bursts of light
had originated from- there she saw three familiar silhouettes,
young women warriors in sailor fukus of black leathers adorned with
star emblems on their tops.
"I always stay true to my word." said Sailor Star Maker after
leaping down and joining her sister senshi in the middle of the
ravaged battle area. Sailor Star Healer and Star Fighter joined her,
sleek and graceful in every one of their movements like a trio of
cats.
"Is this a private party?" wondered Healer.
"Everybody`s invited!" replied Mercury with a cute giggle, shining
stars twinkling in her eyes. She only had eyes for Star Maker,
although the others were too caught up in the situation to even
notice.
"We better warn you that if Healer comes to your party, she`s sure
to eat all the chips before... OW!" said Fighter, rudely interrupted
by a slap behind the head courtesy of Healer.
"Shut your yap and live up to your name! We`re here to fight, not
take cheap shots." she told her.
"What`s your plan, Mercury?" asked Maker.
"Okay... here`s what I found..." she said, pointing to her computer
and explaining her detailed findings to Maker using technical jargon
and high-tech mumbo-jumbo that only the two of them understood.
While they had their little impromptu conference, the others got
nervous. Unlike Gulliver, they had no ropes to tie down the huge
warrior to the ground, and he was beginning to regain his bearings.
* * *
"Are you going to go down, monster?!?" screamed Jupiter as she
managed to find a hole in Black Baron`s agile defense and hit him
hard- to no avail. He did not respond at all to physical assaults,
and his own quick attacks would not allow her to unleash the power
of lightning upon him.
"No." responded the shadowy being. In one dizzyingly fast swipe,
her knocked her warhamer clear out of her hands and caught her leg
with the flat of his blade, sending her down to the ground like a
puppet whose strings got severed.
"Haven`t you learned by now that violence is not the way to solve
your problems, or anybody else`s for that matter?" said Black
Baron, pointing his cypher in her direction and lightly touching
her chest with the tip of the blade. She felt an unearthly chill
spread in her body through mere contact with the dark weapon.
"Violence demands more violence. Revenge only begets further
vengence."
Jupiter tried to move, wanted to fight back, but she felt her
soul invaded by despair. She suddenly realized how futile all
her strong handed ways had been all those years, how beating up
the guys who had mocked her only turned away even more people who
heard about her fights.
The karate maniac. These words rang in her mind, hurting her more
with every iteration. She had driven away so many people away from
her, pushed too many possible friendships with her brash attitude
and quick flaring anger.
She started to cry, she didn't want to, but she couldn`t help it.
The others had warned her about not listening to the lies woven by
Black Baron, but he wasn`t telling her lies, only the truth. The
terrible truth that her lifetime of pain was her own doing.
"So you do believe me, now..." whispered Black Baron. He smiled,
if a being such as himself could do such a thing. He had her right
where he wanted her, and her dark splinter was ready to be taken
away.
"Stop it!" came the voice of Sailor Pluto. Black Baron looked in
the direction of this outburst and saw the senshi of time holding
her garnet battle staff Eternity pointed in his direction, the
time orb on its tip charged with a blast of energy ready to be
fired.
"You`re just in time." replied the shadow.
"Leave her alone, or else..." started Pluto.
"Or else what, you`ll change the flow of time and alter fate itself?"
asked her the grandmaster of the arts of darkness, gripping Sailor
Jupiter by her fuku and putting the blade against her throat.
"You have no idea who you`re up against, monster." said Pluto,
looking back and forth between Black Baron and Jupiter, who was
now helpless in her suffering, barely aware of the events
transpiring around her.
"And I suppose you would pretend to know yourself, guardian of
time?" asked her the displaced voice of the shadow.
Pluto hesitated, not knowing what he meant by that.
"Face it, Sailor Pluto, you have never felt helpless from the
knowledge of the future you possess regardless of what you would
have others believe. Despite your knowledge of events that cannot
be changed, you are not sadder for it still." he slowly pointed
out, catching Pluto off guard.
"You`re lying, I do feel pain over events that must happen. I feel
a pain no one who does not have temporal awareness can ever feel."
she argued.
"You do feel something all right, but it`s not pain. Why else would
you keep watching events unfold without ever trying to change them?"
counter argued Black Baron.
"The sacred duty of the guardian of time does not allow me to change
the timeline!"
"Keep repeating it, one day you might believe it..." responded the
dark being. "But in the meantime, you like the thrill you get from
this unmatched knowledge. I think you even feel a sadistic pleasure
in watching your friends suffer just like you predicted they
would..." he added, dropping down his cypher which disappeared in
a puff of black smoke. Raking his fingers along the face of Sailor
Jupiter, he tore a loud scream of pain out of her as a swirl of
dark energy came out of her body, materializing into a dark
splinter of pure crystal.
She couldn`t take it. Sailor Pluto would not let this monster hurt
her friend and spread his lies despite what she knew what would
happen next- her self-fulfilling prophecy indeed came to pass just
as she had predicted it would, her upset state of mind leaving her
wide open to the dark powers of Black Baron.
"DEAD SCREAM!!!" she yelled as her staff fired a large sphere of
purple light.
The shadow merely had to step aside to avoid the incoming blast,
holding up his open hand as something happened to Pluto; her soul
felt like it was ripping itself apart, and it was doing just that.
Her dark splinter left her soul, flying into Black Baron`s hand
along with Jupiter`s.
Amidst the maniac laughter of Black Baron, both girls depowered
immediately, their powers unusable, their fukus vanishing in a
burst of dull yellow light. They were left defenseless in their
regular clothes once again, both their sacred weapons shattering
in a hundred sharp pieces.
* * *
"When I give the signal, everybody strike the blighted one with
your strongest attack, but stay off the ultimates though."
instructed Mercury.
"Wait just one minute! Last time we did that, we turned dwarf boy
into Blightzilla!!!" argued Sailor Saturn who didn`t want her
earlier mistake repeated.
"Trust me, now I know what we did wrong the first time, it can
work- but it`ll need split second timing to pull it off. Umino,
watch for the power levels of the blighted one and tell me when
his power conversion rate spikes!" Mercury told Umino as she
pointed to the screen and showed him what to look out for.
"Okay..." he said, hoping his genius friend knew what she was
doing.
"Fighter, Healer, her plan is going to work, but we`ll need your
full power for this as well!" said Maker to her sisters who nodded
and got ready to strike.
Endymion gave a hand to Sailor Terra whose bleeding had stopped by
now, though she was still a bit shaky from the wound she`d received
from the blighted one`s sword. Endymion himself was suffering
terribly from the slash he`d taken, but he didn`t let it show,
keeping a strong face to inspire his daughter.
"Are you going to be able to take part?" he asked her.
"You bet, I wouldn`t miss this for the world!" she answered, smiling
faintly.
"That`s my girl!"
Just as all the senshi and the Starlights were ready to put their
plan into action, the gigantic blighted one stood back up, his sight
returned to him after the effects of the blind flash of the
Starlights had worn off.
"I`ll crush you all to jelly for this!!!" he screamed, his voice
making the ground shake under their feet.
"Everyone, NOW!" urged Mercury. Seven senshi strikes surged all
at once.
"LUNAR SOUL POWER!!!"
"FLAMING HEART ATTACK!!!"
"DRAGON WINGS NUCLEAR FLARE!!!"
"STAR GENTLE YUTRACE!!!"
"STAR SIRIUS LASER!!!"
"STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!!!"
The messiah`s silent blast of power joined in with the other six,
melding them all into a single bolt of immeasurable power.
Connecting with the huge monster, it was instantly absorbed into
his body which started to shimmer and shift once again.
"You fools! You only give me MORE POWER this way!" mocked them the
blighted one.
The defenders of earth nervously awaited for whatever was to come
next, looking over at Sailor Mercury who herself stared at Umino.
His attention focused to the laptop screen, he lifted his hand
slowly, hesitating to give the signal for the precise moment he
was asked to be on the alert for. And that moment came, a strong
spike forming in the power conversion rate of the blighted one as
his internal power was transforming energy into body mass.
"NOW!!!" yelled Umino, throwing his hand in the air.
Sailor Mercury lifted her sapphire bow, aiming right at the blighted
one as the air around her began to overheat. A small magnetic
shielding sphere formed on the tip of the ice arrow she was
preparing to fire, all of the heat energy within this sphere warming
up the ambient air while the inside of the sphere grew colder and
colder. Within an instant, the magnetic sphere contained a single
water molecule held at the point of zero potential and kinetic
energy where molecules stopped moving completely, absolute zero.
"ABSOLUTE ZERO DEEP FREEZE!!!" she screamed as her fingers released
the string of her bow and sent the deadly arrow soar to its target,
easily connecting.
In less than one full second, the entire body of the blighted one
was brought down to the temperature of liquid helium, freezing
solid into an ice statue of a size never attempted before by any
ice sculptor in history.
"HIT THE DECK EVERYONE, HE`S GOING TO..." screamed Star Maker, but
his warning didn`t make it across before the overheated air and the
nearly-absolute zero body of the monster reacted in an explosive
temperature shock, blowing everyone flat on their back.
It took a few minutes for everyone to free themselves of the thick
layer of ice which now coated every single person and object within
a seven hundred yards area. No trace of the defeated blighted one
remained, save for a pieces of ice that looked like they had been
used as a die-cast mold used to create him.
"WHY did it work THIS TIME?" asked Saturn as she used her glaive`s
blade to carve some ice off her shoulder pads and breastplate.
"Simple." answered Mercury. "When he converts our energy into mass,
he has to divert part of his own power to do it. We gave him so much
energy this time that he had to use ALL of his power to convert it
into body mass."
"By waiting for the precise moment where his power was diverted,
Sailor Mercury had an opening to deal him some ACTUAL damage, rather
than just feed him." added Star Maker.
"Brilliant!" observed Endymion.
"We expected nothing less of you, Mercury!" said Terra.
Star Fighter coughed, bringing attention to herself and her
sisters.
"And you too, Sailor Starlights, you really pulled our butts out
of the fire once again!" said Sailor Moon with a large smile.
"We`ll always be glad to know you`re there!"
"Yes... always..." said Mercury, who embraced Star Maker, kissing
her passionately. Maker obviously enjoyed the kiss, and so did their
friends who cheered them loudly.
"Together, nothing can stop us!!!" said Saturn, lifting her weapon
in the air in a sign of victory.
"Don`t be so sure..." came the deep echoing voice of Black Baron
who materialized near the group, holding a dark splinter in each
hand. "Jupiter and Pluto were certainly powerless to stop me
despite their immense strength."
"Oh my god..." whispered Naru when she understood what had just
happened to the two senshi.
"And it`s your turn now!" he yelled in contempt, lifting his hands
as he infused the two powerful dark splinters with great amounts of
black energy. In a second, a huge vortex formed around him, swirling
at mind-boggling speed and sucking in everyone present, lifting them
off the ground and twirling them in the air like mere rag dolls.
"The power of the dark has nearly reached its peak." said Black
Baron, standing in the eye of the vortex, looking up to the senshi
and their allies spinning out of control.
"There is nothing more any one of you pathetic fools can do to stop
me from gathering that which belongs to the dark." he added, holding
out his hands and pointing to the senshi. Three of them began
writhing in pain, Sailor Mercury, Saturn and Terra screaming as they
felt their soul being torn assunder by the powers of their enemy.
Three dark splinters left their owners.
Sailor Mercury became Mizuno Ami.
"I don`t believe it, it`s her..." thought Star Maker as she saw the
senshi of ice turn into the genius girl he saw at school every day.
Sailor Saturn returned to Robin Redwing.
"Robin... she`s Sailor Saturn? I can`t believe it!" thought Star
Healer as she tried to fight the vortex`s power to try and reach Robin.
Sailor Terra depowered into Tsukino Usako.
"Oh stars... Sailor Terra is... my precious Usako?" thought Star
Fighter, shocked to discover that the woman he loved was so much
more than she ever imagined.
Black Baron gave off a piercing maniac laugh as he picked up the
three dark splinters and made them float around him with the other
two in a dreadful dance of evil. He looked up to the still spinning
senshi caught in his twister of darkness, flies in his deadly web.
"And now for the final piece, the last shard, the ultimate artifact
of power... the dark splinter of Sailor Moon... COME NOW
ARMAGEDDON!!!" he yelled as a horrid pain invaded Sailor Moon`s
body, tearing an equally horrible scream of pain from the helpless
senshi who could do nothing else than spin out of control like all
the others.
This is it, she thought, we failed, and all of humanity will pay
for it.
To be continued...