In Memory Of

In Memory Of

Part III

Forget Me Not

The memory maimer looked down at Neo Moon, who was lying on a sterile table.  They were running some tests on her to see what went wrong and why it messed up the maimer's programming.

"What," the maimer said pleadingly, "what did you do to me?" her voice sounded almost human.  The maimer just looked at her as if she really expected for the unconscious sailor scout to answer. 

Deep within herself, in another place, Neo Moon was floating around in a dark black nothingness.  Her eyes were closed and when she opened them, she saw nothing and for moment and she thought that she had gone blind. 

Where am I? She wondered to herself.  What's going on?  Without warning, she stopped floating and began to fall down the pit of nothingness.  She saw flashes of faces of people she did not know and heard voices that were unfamiliar.  I don't know anything.  Who are these people?  Wait, who, who am I?

"Go away!" she shouted.

She was falling and there was no way she could stop.  No one could save her.  Except her own self, if only she would remember who she was.

"What's happening to me!" she cried.

*************************************************

"Where could Rini be?" Serena paced the living room.

"Relax, Serena, she'll be fine," Darien said as he stopped her pacing and offered her some hot chocolate.

Rowen stood up, "excuse me for a minute." He decided that it would be best if didn't hang around while they were talking about it.  It unnerved him just to see Serena look at Darien, though Rowen knew that she loved him now.  Speaking of future daughters, I'd better go find mine…

Ryo was with Raye watching her read the fire so she could find away to find Rini.  Lita and Sage were with Sai and Ami, as Ami was looking something up information on the computer about anything that could be helpful.  Mia and Kento just tried to cheer everyone up.

"Hey, Yuli, have you seen Rowena?"  Rowen asked, knocking on his bedroom door.  It shocked him and he jumped up

"I swear, it just happened!"  Yuli shouted.

"What?"  Rowen mumbled.

"I didn't' mean to kiss Rowena," Yuli said, "we were just talkin' and…"

Rowen smiled, "Kiss, what kiss?  I just wanted to know where Rowena was…but now that we're on that subject, tell me, when did you kiss my daughter?"

"Oh, crap…" Yuli moaned.

"And I know you've also been kissing Rini," Rowen said, "So you're going to have to talk to Darien too…"

"She's outside!" Yuli blurted, "I don't know what she's doing and I didn't kiss her, she kissed me!"

"Well, let me ask her that…" Rowen turned around.

Dear God, I'm dead! Yuli thought, biting his nails.

Rowena was outside like Yuli said.  She was in her armor of the Strata Moon standing in the back yard.  It seemed like she was trying to be one with her armor.  Rowen thought back when he was doing the same.  Breathing deeply and saying a silent prayer, she pulled a moon arrow of life force out of her quiver and placed it on her bow.  She looked up at the sky, closed her eyes and opened them.  "Arrow Shock Sky Scratching!" she unleashed the arrow into the sky and the sky rumbled like thunder.  For a moment, the sky looked like it was coming apart.  Then it was the same as before.

Rowen started clapping, "that's my girl!"

Surprised, she turned around, "Rowen--I mean, Dad!  Hi!  I didn't know you were here."

"You're pretty good with that thing," he mentioned, nodding to her bow.

"Well, I take after you," Rowena said, "you know."

"Wanna do it together?" he asked. 

"Sure."

He called upon his armor and he stood next to her holding his own bow.  "Ready?"

"Yeah," they both pulled on their strings and sent their attacks into the sky.  It was the coolest father-daughter moment that they ever shared together.

"Not bad," Rowen commented as he placed his hand on her head, "you sure did earn that armor, didn't ya?"

"Thanks," Rowena smiled and blushed. 

"Now tell me," Rowen said, "why did you kiss Yuli when you know he likes your sister?"

Rowena gasped, "I didn't kiss him!  He kissed me!  And how did you know about that kiss?"  She smiled and looked all innocent, "I mean what kiss??..."

Rowen folded his arms and cocked his head with that "give me the truth," look.

 "Oh boy…" she sighed, "Okay, we kinda sorta kissed each other.  It meant nothing!"

"Well, okay," Rowen said, "but in the future, I just might ground you for something like this!"

"Yes, Daddy," she moaned.

"What if Rini saw you?" he demanded.

"Are you done yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, I suppose so," he said, "now go to your room!"

She groaned as she started dragging herself back to the house, "but it was just a small, tiny kiss…I didn't even like it!"  Yes I did, she thought.  She stopped walking and ran to the front yard.

"Rowena, where are you going?" he demanded as he went after her.

Rowena looked at the ground, feeling some odd sensation.  What is that?  What is that?  It was coming from underground and it felt so strange and creepy. 

"I think I know where Rini is," she said, turning around and looked up in his eyes. 

"You sure?" Rowen asked.

"I don't know but I hope I'm right," she looked back at the ground.

Rowen ran back into the house and everyone was wondering why he was in his armor.  Ignoring their funny looks, he blurted, "Rowena knows where Rini is!  Come on!"

They followed him outside where Rowena was waiting for them.

"Rowena, you know where Rini is?" Serena asked.

"For her sake," Rowena said, "I'd better be right."

"Well, where?" she demanded.

Rowena lowered her eyes.

"Dammit, where?!"

"There."

"What?"

Rowena cleared her throat and raised her voice, half-angry, half-excited.  "There!" she pointed to the ground, "She's underground somewhere!"

"Why would she be?…" Serena trailed off.

She was feeling sensations from the ground again and they were leading down the street.  Rowena began to run and the rest followed her.  She led them to the parking lot of electronic supplies.

"Okay, Rowena," Rowen said, "just try to be one with your armor.  You can do it."

She nodded and took an arrow out of her quiver.  "Please guide my arrow to my sister," she said to it and aimed it the ground. She unleashed it at the arrow tunneled through the ground.  "Now all we have to do is just follow the arrow."

"Nicely done," Rowen smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Let's go, sailors!" Serena said, "Moon Armor Power!"

"Mercury Armor Power!"

"Mars Armor Power!"

"Jupiter Armor Power!"

"Venus Armor Power!"

"Armor of Wildfire, Tao Jin!"

"Armor of Halo, Tao Chi!"

"Armor of Hardrock, Tao Gi!"

"Armor of Torrent, Toa Shin!"

The girls became armored sailors and the guys became the ronin warriors.  They were surprised when they saw Yuli looked different.  Darien became Tuxedo Mask.

"Whoa, nice duds, Yuli," Kento commented.

"Thank Rowena," he said, giving her a smile then looked down when he saw the glare in Rowen's eye.  He fiddled with his silver kendo sword.  "Come on, I'm worried about Rini."

***********************************

"Do you know why the human's memories tapped with your programming?" another maimer, in the form of Molly, asked the maimer in Rini's form.

"Something about her memories," she replied in Rini's sweet voice, "they were pure and sweet…just too sweet. Didn't the memories of the human you took do something to you?  At all?  Is there something that you keep thinking about?"

"I do not understand," she said.

"I can't seem to get her memories out of my head," she said, "I keep seeing images of a white flying horse, and a man with white hair, many girls laughing together and just so many faces, so many memories!" again, her programming went crazy and she fell down, clutching her head.  "Get them out of my head," she groaned.

"We may have to terminate the human," a memory maimer in the form of a man said.

"No," she said, shaking her head, "we can't."

"What is wrong with you?"

"Can't you see that?" the maimer said, "can't you tell that something strange has happened to me?  I'm starting to have feelings.  I feel the desire for things."

"That it is impossible," other maimers noted.  "We are only supposed to take their memories."

"But memories are more than just data!" she cried, "they are special, they are pure.  Some are bad memories and some are wonderful.  There are memories that make you laugh and some that make you cry."

"We can't cry nor laugh," maimers said.

"Don't you realize what we're doing is wrong?" the pink-haired Rini look-alike memory maimer demanded.  "I have to return her memories now, I can't keep them from her anymore!  They belong to her!"  She ran to where Rini lay and began to return the memories when a giant surge of energy zapped her and she fell.

"How dare you!" their master bellowed, "this is not why I told you to bring the human with you!" he looked at the others, "let this be a lesson to you.  If I find any of you try to return the memories back to the humans, I will take them away and rip them in little pieces and I will throw you in the incinerator! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes, master," they all replied.

The maimer couldn't help it.  She was becoming more and more like Rini.  She was becoming a human.  She wasn't a robot anymore.  She started to have feelings and desires and wants. Some memories were so vivid, that she could actually smell the air or taste whatever it was what Rini was eating.  When Rini kissed Helios and Yuli, the maimer could actually feel their lips on her own.  But they weren't her lips and she placed her fingers on them.  They weren't her memories.  Those faces, those feelings, those memories belonged to Rini and the memory maimer had no right to have them in her possession.  She realized that soon after she took the memories from her.  The same went to the other memory maimers.  Those memories belonged to the humans and they needed them, like they needed air to breathe.

"Stop!" Rowena of the Strata Moon shouted.  "Thought you could hide under ground from me, didn't you?"

"Who are you?" the Memory Maimer Master demanded.

"I am Rowena of the Strata Moon!" she replied, "and I have come to return the memories back to everyone and one of those people happen to be my sister!"

The armored sailor scouts and warriors stepped up behind her and looked the base over. 

Yuli saw the memory maimer who he thought was Rini on the ground.  "Sailor Neo Moon!" he shouted.

The maimer looked up at him and again, Neo Moon's memories flowed through her cybernetic mind.  All the sweet and pure memories Rini and Yuli shared, even the ones that were not very sweet.  Like the sad ones when Yuli's soul was stolen and Rini felt so bad.  There were many memories of Rini and Yuli together.

"Rini, are you hurt?" he started to run to her but Rowena stopped him.

"No, Yuli," she said, "That's not Neo."

"Of course it is," he said.  "Look."

"I know it looks like Neo Moon," she said, "but it's not.  It's a memory maimer.  Remember how I said Neo Moon's memories were gone and I can tell the difference between humans and maimers?"

"I don't care," he groaned, "I just have to get to her," he pushed Rowena away.  He knew Rowena was right but there was something about the way the maimer was looking at him.

"Go away," the maimer said, "I'm not who you think I am."

"Neo Moon, don't worry, everything will be fine," he helped her up.

"I'm not Neo Moon," she pushed him back slightly, "she's--augh!"

"Hey!" Yuli cried when the memory maimers' master put a shocker at her neck and she fell down. 

Sparks were buzzing around her body.  "No," she groaned.

"Foolish robot," he said.  "And foolish humans," he looked at the ronin warriors, "I don't care how you found my base but you have outstayed your welcome!  I am Murdock, the creator of the Memory Maimers."

"You are sick!" Rowena shouted.  "Why would you create memory maimers to take away people's memories?"

Murdock had dark eyes and black long hair.  He was only a man but he acted just like his robots at times.  He wore a black jumpsuit and a dark blue trench coat.  "Because humans are stupid."

"Look who's talking!" Yuli shouted.

"I'm more than a man," he said, "I'm a god."

"What's wrong with you?" Sailor Moon demanded with a sneer.  "How dare you play god and make robots to take human's memories!"

"I do not have time for this," he said, "destroy them!" he ordered his memory maimers.

Yuli thwacked his silver Kendo stick across one of the robots and Rowena fired an arrow straight at Murdock.  He grabbed the arrow and broke it.

"Stop, my comrades!" the memory maimer gasped and pulled herself up.

"How many times must I short circuit you until you finally die?" Murdock demanded with a growl.

"I still have her memories in my head," she said, "and I wont' die until they go back to hers!"

"Then you destroy them," he said and pointed at the scouts and warriors, "starting with this one."  He grabbed Yuli and pushed him in front of her.  "Eliminate him."

"I can't," she mumbled.

"Go, Yuli," Rowena urged.  "Just…"

"I can't do it either," he said, "she looks just like Rini and she has her memories.  If I destroy her then maybe Neo Moon will never get her memories back."

"She loves him," the memory maimer noted, "I can't."

"I command you to terminate him! Do it!"

"I'm sorry," she sniffed and raised her hand to Yuli.  It changed into a ray gun. 

Yuli closed his eyes and froze, "I understand," he whispered.

Rowena loaded an arrow to her bow and aimed it at the maimer, waiting for her to fire at Yuli.

The maimer stayed there with her gun level. She couldn't do it.  She was starting to love Yuli herself.  "No!  I won't!" she turned and fired at her master.  "If I'm going to kill any human, I'm going to kill you!"

"Traitor!" he shouted and groaned in pain.  "I created you!"

The other maimers looked at him and back at Memory Maimer 0002.  (The one that looks like Rini.)  "0002 is right," Memory Maimer 0001 said (Molly) and aimed her gun at him, "this is wrong.  You created us to steal their precious memories.  They don't belong to us."

They finally realized that he was only using them as puppets.  The humans' memories flashed back into their heads.

"I'm returning the memories back to the child," Memory Maimer 0001 said, "If I am to have any memories at all, they will be my own."

"No, you fool!" Murdock shouted.  "You return those memories then you will self destruct!"

"Then that's a sacrifice I'm wiling to make," she said and used the last of her strength to hobble to Neo Moon. She placed her hands back on Neo Moon's head.  "Please, take your memories back."

Rini heard a voice that sounded much like hers.  But she was still falling down the pit.  Someone, help me.  She saw faces again and she looked at them.  Something told her that she knew them but she didn't know how.

She heard some familiar neighing. "What?" she mumbled.  Suddenly, she wasn't falling anymore and it seemed like she was flying.  She was laying on something soft.  She looked down and saw the white soft hair of a horse.  "Who, who are you?"

"Don't you remember me?" the horse asked.  "It's me, Pegasus."

Neo Moon touched the large feathered wings, "Pegasus, I don't remember."

"Try," he said.

There were bubbles floating around them.  Inside the bubbles were her memories.  Pegasus landed in their special dreamland and he changed into Helios.

"Sailor Neo Moon," he breathed and knelt down in front of her.  He took her hand. And kissed it and she changed to Small Lady but the difference was she wasn't small anymore, "my Pure Lady."

Rini now called Pure Lady stepped back and gasped, "wait a minute," she moaned.  Her mind wasn't empty anymore.  She remembered everything for as the memory maimer returned the memories back to her, "Helios?"

Helios nodded.

Pure Lady smiled and threw her arms around him; "I thought I'd never see you again!" she started laughing the cute little laugh that stole Helios' heart.

"I'm afraid that this is only a dream," he said sadly.  "And it is time you wake up from it."

"No, Helios," she mumbled.  "Don't go."

"You still have people that love and worry about you," he told her, "and I have people who are counting on me."

"Elysion," she said.

"Yes."

"Will I ever see you again?" she asked. 

"Oh, Pure Lady," Helios smiled and cupped her face, "of course, as long as you dare to dream, I'll be there waiting to carry you."

"Thank you, Helios."  They embraced and he disappeared.

"It's finished," Memory Maimer 0002 sighed and fell to her knees.  Neo Moon changed to Pure Lady for a moment and the others gazed upon her.  Rowena looked at herself, noticing that she too was wearing a white gown and so was Sailor strata Moon.  Then she changed back to Neo Moon, still unconscious.  But thanks to Memory Maimer 0002, she had her memories back.

"Wait," Yuli ran to her and knelt down in front of her, holding her face up.  He smiled, "thank you."

"Of all the memories I saw," she gasped, "you were my favorite…. and hers too.  She loves you more than life itself and I can love no better than she can."

"I will never forget what you did for us," he said, "You want a memory of your own?"

"More than anything," she moaned.

"Then remember this," he kissed her forehead slightly and thanked her again.

Memory Maimer 0002 collapsed in his arms and shut down forever, with a content smile upon her face.  The rest of the maimers followed suit.  They returned the memories differently than the way 0002 did.  They sent them away telepathically and changed to their formless state. Without their 'data' they were useless to Murdock and they had no purpose to go on.  Murdock stood up.

"Cowards!" he growled.

"Your maiming days are over, Murdock!" Sailor Moon shouted.

"I still have some maimers left," he said and clicked his fingers and twelve maimers stepped out.  They looked like Yuli, Rowena, the scouts and ronins.

"They're us!" Rowena cried.

"Take their memories and eliminate them!" Murdock commanded.

"Arrow Moon Shock Wave!" Rowena sent her attack to her counterpart.  It was pushed back but then it took her power and sent the power back.  Rowena got down.

Sailor Moon reached her hands up and a pair of the moon swords appeared in them (remember from my other story Adventure of a Lifetime?  I decided to put the old weapons in here.  Except she had only one sword and here two.  Kind of like Lady Kayura's star swords and Mia's sun swords.  I just really love their weapons!)  "Moon Sword Eclipse!"   (That attack wasn't in there thought…man, has a cool ring to it, doesn't it?) She waved them around and she brought them together like an eclipse and sent her attack to her look-alike maimer, who only absorbed it.

"Mercury Hammer Ice Chiller!" Mercury sent a blast of freezing cold ice blocks but then the counterpart Mercury held up its hammer and put a shield of ice around her.

"Mars Arrow Seek and Destroy!" she sent her fire arrow to the Mars Maimer but it grabbed the arrow and the fire added onto her.

"Jupiter Lightning Fence!" she put a fence of lightning around her opponent but she simply jumped out of it.

"Venus Chain Whip Snap!"  Venus snapped her whip at the mirror image of herself only to have it wrap around her arm and snagged away.

"Our powers do nothing!" Jupiter snarled.  The guys tried doing their attacks on the others and the same happened to them.

Yuli whirled his silver kendo stick and whacked his opponent in the head.  It fell down but he put it back in place.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Mars said, "Mercury, think of something!"

"Me?" she mumbled, "well, I don't know!" she put on her visor but she got no signs of anything that could help, "they're us, that's why our powers have no effect!"

Neo Moon sat up and groaned, oh my head, she thought and focused on the others, "oh no!" she jumped to her feet, "Moon Beam Rose Aim!" she sent her attack down the others and it didn't do anymore than tickle them.  "What?" she looked at her wand, "now you won't work for me?!"

She heard Pegasus neighing and she changed back to Pure Lady.  "Huh?"

"Rini," Yuli mumbled, "you look so…"

Rowena stepped up and the same dress appeared upon her.  She was called Fancy Lady (I couldn't' think of anything…I thought maybe calling Rini "Pink Lady" and Rowena "Blue Lady," but then I thought that was stupid…got any ideas?)  Sailor Moon became Princess Serenity.

"Murdock," Fancy Lady said, "Take my memories."

"Yours?" he said.

"Rowena, what are you doing?" Rowen shouted.

"I can tell who is a human and who is not," she said, "so take them. Spare my friends."

"Don't be crazy," Yuli said.

"So be it," Murdock agreed and nodded for the maimer in Rowena's form to come to her and take her memories.

When it placed her hands on Fancy Lady's head, she bared her teeth, pushed her hand into her face, "How do my memories look?" she growled and poked her eyes.

"Gaaah!"

  Pure Lady, Fancy Lady, and Princess Serenity held their hands up in the air to reveal a shiny crystal of memories.  Beams and waves shined around, messing with the maimers' programming and destroying them.

"No!"  Murdock growled.

"Still call yourself a god?" Fancy Lady demanded.  She changed to Strata Moon and Pure Lady to Neo Moon.

"Let's do it, Sailor Strata Moon," Neo Moon said.

"Yeah," the held their scepters together, "Full Moon Glow Penetration!"  They sent their combined attack to Murdock and pink and blue beams shot out of his eyes, fingers and toes at it raised him up.  He started to glow like a neon sign. He screamed and then there was nothing left of him.

"Let's get out of here," Yuli said, "the place is going to cave in!" he wrapped an arm around Neo Moon.

"Yuli," she mumbled, "where did you get…?"

"I'll explain later, okay?" he said and they ran out of the underground base before they were buried alive.  They climbed back up to the surface.

"For robots that took away humans' memories," Mercury said, "they weren't' all bad.  They were only puppets."  She shook her head at the thought.

"I'm surprised that they returned the memories back," Sai added, "but that was the greatest thing I ever saw in my life."

"She saved Rini," Yuli said.  "That Memory Maimer remembered me."

Sailor Neo Moon looked up at the sky, thank you, Helios.

"Yuli, that was some kiss you gave Rowena," Kento blurted.

"How did you know about that?" Yuli demanded.

"I saw you guys," he replied.

"What?" Rowen shouted, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Shh, shut up!" Sailor Strata Moon snapped.

"Kiss?" Neo Moon mumbled, "You're not hiding anything from me, are you?"

"Okay, I confess!" Strata Moon cried, "It was just a tiny kiss. We didn't mean for it to happen.  I didn't even like it!"

"Yeah," Yuli said.  "It meant--," he looked at Rowena, "what do you mean, you didn't' like it?"

She blushed, "Oh man…"

Sailor Neo Moon shrugged it off, "that's alright, and just never let that happen again, okay?"

"Wow," Yuli and Strata Moon exchanged glances, "I'm surprised she didn't yell at us!"

"Could you guys give us a moment?" Sailor Neo Moon asked.

Tuxedo Mask folded his arms and Sailor Moon tugged on his ear.  "Oh, come on."  Kento gave Yuli a "go for it, dude!" look and winked at him.  The guys walked away but Sailor Strata Moon stayed behind, wanting to catch the moment.  Rowen sighed and picked her up.

"Hey, Daddy!" she cried.

"Come on," he said, "I swear you are just like your mother!"

Neo Moon giggled as she watched her sister be dragged away.  "Tell me everything, okay?" Strata Moon cried, "I want to know everything!"

"Okay, Strata Moon," Neo Moon smiled and waved at her.

Yuli sighed and shook his head.  "Look, Rini, I really didn't mean to kiss Rowena, okay?"

"Shut up," she said and wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him the biggest kiss in the world.  Surprised, his eyes widened but then he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

When it ended, Yuli said, "wow, I'll never forget that kiss."

Neo Moon smiled, "you look very strong in that armor, Yuli," she commented, "You came to help me, didn't you?"

He nodded, "I wanted to do something to help you.  I couldn't' just stay at home wondering if you were going to be okay or not."  He stroked her cheek, "if anything happened to you, I wouldn't be able to bare it.  I love you so much."

Neo Moon laid her head upon his chest, "oh, Yuli," she moaned.  He held her tight.  "I love you too."

"I'll never forget how much you mean to me," he told her.

"Never forget me," she begged.

"I could never forget you," he said as began stroking her hair.  "I'm thinking of you the whole time."

They shared another deep kiss, one that neither of them would forget.

@-----,------`----- A rose for all.

The End.  Thanks for reading! Review!!! Hey, I've been thinking of writing a story where Mia and Darien have a kid, should I write it?   It's going to be a boy for certain reasons…. I'm having trouble of thinking of a name and or if I should make him "Neo Tuxedo Mask" or giving him some powers.  Tuxedo Mask had powers…all I know he's going to be very smart since both his parents are/were college students.