*~*Dark Nightmares*~*
*~*Dark Nightmares*~*

"He deserves to live his dream… not dream his life."

-Catalina, Space Cases

I wish Fanfiction.net were actually working, so I could post all these chapters… and a couple others for the other stories I've started… Shona C: have I told you how pretty you look in that Sailor Fuku, today? No you cannot borrow money or write yourself into the next story… darn…

Chapter 8:      Nemesis

A sudden blast swept through the air as the Sailor Scouts fell to the ground. The Scouts got up, slightly disoriented, and looked to their new surroundings. There was no sky, all there was to see was limitless space. The Earth could be seen

"Are we on the moon?" asked Minako. She rubbed her forehead, and gasped when she pulled her hand away to reveal blood. Makoto looked at it for a second, and found a small cut just below her hairline. "Guess I hit my head harder that I thought." She commented as Makoto cleaned up the cut.

"Yes. We're definitely on the moon." Ami said. "But did you feel that blast? My computer's picking up negative energies all over the place."

"Yeah, I can definitely sense something evil here. But who could it be? It's not the Negaverse, I know that, but who?" Rei said, concentrating deeply.

"Well, Setsuna and Hotaru should be here soon, they might know what's going on."

*****

A large explosion swept through the vortex that Sailor Saturn and Sailor Pluto walked through to return to Earth.  Saturn and Pluto were thrown to the ground, and a dark shadow appeared over their bodies. It hovered above Saturn's body as she struggled to get up. When she finally stood, the Shadow took the form of a body, and grabbed Saturn's neck. The Shadow lifted her off her feet by the neck and laughed.  'This was the opponent he was destined to face? This 90-pound weakling of a girl was the dreaded Sailor Scout of Death and Ruin?' Saturn struggled and tried to pry the fingers away from her neck. The shadow looked into her eyes, and smiled menacingly at the thin waif. He opened his mouth and began to inhale. A black star appeared on her forehead and began to glow a deep black. Saturn could feel the energy being drained out of her, followed by darkness. Evil, dark thoughts all swam around in her head, and memories of when she was Mistress 9 surfaced. Saturn lost her powers as Sailor Saturn and reverted to Hotaru. The Shadow sucked the star from her head into his mouth. She was almost overwhelmed by the hatred and pain stabbing into her head, and screamed for help.

Suddenly, A powerful, commanding voice yelled something incomprehensible out from the darkness and a green light shot towards Hotaru and her attacker. The black shadow screamed out in pain as the light played across it's surface before a black portal opened and a hand dragged him through. Pluto stopped her attack and rushed up to Hotaru. Hotaru had bruises on her neck, and a nasty gash on her thigh, but no other main physical injuries to be seen. Pluto was more worried that Hotaru was unconscious.  More Shadows formed from the new black Vortex, and Pluto picked Hotaru up and created a warp point to escape. If they stayed and fought, they would quickly lose.

*****

The Sailors looked up when they saw a portal open above them and about 200 meters away. Not knowing whom it could be, they took up fighting stances to prepare for any unwelcome guests. They recoiled and shielded their eyes as a fiery explosion shot out of it.  As they looked back to it, the explosion dispersed, and a figure in a sailor fuku jumped out of it, holding a young teen that looked unconscious. The figure landed and placed the girl on the ground, and quickly turned back to the portal. She raised her staff and slammed it against the ground, commanding the portal to close, before any one else could follow.

The Senshi ran up to the pair of travellers, to confirm their suspicions. The tall woman turned away from where the portal was and returned to the girl, cradling her head in her lap.

"Pluto!" Haruka yelled to the pair as soon as she saw whom it was. She gasped when she saw the wounds on Hotaru. Along with a gash on her thigh, she had numerous cuts and scrapes, as well as a very bruised and slightly swollen neck. She ripped a piece of cloth from her sleeve and placed it on the deep cut to her leg. Applying pressure to the wound, she checked for a pulse, albeit a weak one.  "What happened to you guys? Looks like you got hit pretty hard…"

"I'm not really sure. We were going back to Earth, but we got attacked and had to stop here…" Pluto tried to explain.

"Who was it that attacked you, though?  Was it a youma?" Mamoru asked, as he looked at a cut on Setsuna's arm.

 

"I'm not sure who it was… it happened so fast, that I didn't recognise the enemy… all I saw was a shadow… it grabbed Hotaru… and then it looked like it was absorbing her, or her memories or something, because she said something about Mistress 9… and then she started screaming…" Setsuna's eyes started welling up with tears. "She looked terrified, and the… thing… just kept laughing…" Michiru wrapped her arm around Setsuna. Never, in all the years she had known the Guardian of time, had she seen her this upset. She could feel the fear emanating from the pair. When she tried to sense anything from Hotaru, she got… fear, and pain. She closed her eyes and tried to probe her mind for memories of Mistress 9, but she found… none. Nothing at all.

"In all of Neptune's seas… All her memories of Mistress 9 are… gone. Completely vanished." Michiru said. The Senshi looked at Michiru.

 

"Gone? Where would they go?" Makoto asked.

"Do you think that the Shadow… stole them? Maybe that's why she said Mistress 9…" Ami said, as she looked down at the sleeping frame of Hotaru.