Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Mega Man X or SailorMoon. They are the sole property of there respective owners and creators.
Author's Notes: I admit not much really happens in this chapter but I thought it would be a good time to slow things down a bit and take stock. The next Mega Man chapter will be treated in the same way. Also for those of you who haven't noticed this stroy does take place after Stars, and I have also matured the senshi a little bit especially Usagi. I've noticed that during each season of Moon Usagi seems to get more mature and more attuned to her role, I would think at this point in the series her level of clumsiness and ditziness would be at an all-time low what with the creation of Crystal Tokyo mere centuries away.
A mass of energy appears out of nowhere. It swirls and morphs and takes the shape, or more precisely shapes, of the once and future royalty of an age of glory and prosperity. But at the sight that beholds them, that thought is the last thing on there minds.
"My god........." were the only words that could escape Minako's lips, but they voiced the Senshi's collective thought. Before them lay a burning, charred wasteland. Collapsed buildings, uprooted water and power lines, and that was only the border of the holocaust. A massive crater lay in the center of the devastation, not a single structure or living being in sight.
"What in the world happened here. It looks like Hiroshima all over again, but on a much smaller scale.........." Makoto commented.
"According to my scanners, I'm detecting high levels of some kind of radiation. I've never seen a signature like it before so I can't be sure of its effects on humans." Ami reported, the only one keeping a calm head.
"Do you detect any life signs whatsoever?" Usagi asked.
"None so far. But I highly doubt anyone could've survived such a blast. But from the reports a majority of the area was already vacated for some unknown reason........."
"What is that............" Rei murmured to herself but still caught the attention of the rest.
"What is what?" Minako asked trying to follow her gaze.
"I think I see something shiny. Near ground zero." she replied squinting to try and make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
"Hold on. I'll see." Mercury engaged the magnification on her visor to 10x. "I definitely see something. Its no small object either, its glowing a shade of purple."
"Okay then. Venus, Mercury and I will check out whatever that is. Mars and Jupiter will stay behind and continue to look for survivors anyway. There may not be a big chance but we have to make sure. Everyone keep in contact at all times, got it?" Everyone stared at Usagi for several seconds before snapping back to there senses and carrying out there orders. Mercury, Venus and Moon took off toward the center of the blast crater while Mars and Jupiter began there sift through the rubble.
"Wow. I am impressed, I do believe you've started to grow into my old postion." Venus commented
"I learn from the best."
My eyes opened and the first thing I saw was the crystal purple sky. I immediately thought that I was in heaven. Thats when I realized how much everything hurt, and that I was very much alive.
"What happened........." I groaned to myself. The headache I was developing didn't feel like it was going to go away anytime soon. "Wait a minute.........purple sky?" I surveyed my surroundings immediately, I found Michiru and Haruka both unconscious but thankfully alive. Then I found Hotaru, struggling to stand and stay conscious while keeping the shield up.
"Is......everyone.........okay.........." she managed to get out.
"Yes everyone's fine Hotaru." I rushed over to catch her from collapsing to the ground. The shield dissipated, and Hotaru was breathing heavily. I was amazed she was able to keep it up for as long as she did. "Just rest Hotaru, everything's over now."
"SETSUNA!" I heard someone call my name from a distance. It was three of the Inners, I breathed a sigh of relief. There would be no way I could handle this all by myself.
"What in the world happened here........." Ami said in complete shock as she finished looking over Haruka.
"I wish I could tell you. For the first time I'm at a complete loss as to how to explain all this." Setsuna admitted.
"I see. I don't think blood loss is too much of a problem, luckily Hotaru stopped the bleeding in time. But I can't say how Haruka will take the shock that she now only has one arm........" She explained standing up. "And Hotaru just seems to be suffering from fatigue. She'll be fine." she indicated the young girl's sleeping form in Setsuna's arms.
"You said you think it was two men in armor?" Usagi asked trying to better grasp the situation.
"Yes. They were unlike any enemy we've fought before."
"How so....?"
"The first indication was that they went straight for us, they completely ignored the surrounding public. And secondly, when they had the perfect opportunity to finish us off, they fled."
"This is completely bizarre. We've never faced an enemy this wanton in there power, if mass destruction on this scale is one of there methods of operation we could have an extremely dangerous situation on our hands." Minako commented.
"Usagi. I think you better see this, we've found a survivor." Usagi's attention was temporarily diverted as Makoto's telepathic voice whispered in her mind
"We'll be right there. We found something ourselves." Everyone had already turned to see what the news was about. "They've found a survivor which means were going to have to carry these two with us."
"Don't worry we've called for help. I'll have you out in a minute." Makoto's said trying to calm the victim down. He was around 20 and he was trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed building.
"Just hurry! I don't know how long I can stay in here!!" he screamed obviously hyperventilating and claustrophobic
"Just back away a few feet." she instructed as she moved to get some distance. A ball of electrical power shot from her hands and the rubble blasted away with ease. The dust had only slightly settled when the man came crawling out as fast as he could.
"I... I can't believe I'm still alive........." he said still breathing heavily.
"Are you okay? Do you need to see a doctor?" Rei asked trying to bring the man to some semblence of calm.
"N...No I'm fine I think. H...How can I ever repay you?!" he asked frantically still.
"Were just doing our job I guess. Now get out of here, this place is still very dangerous." she warned, that was all she needed to say before he started running for his life back to civilization.
The remaining Senshi arrived in time to see him scurry away.
"Thats very strange........." Ami muttered to herself.
"What is?" Minako asked. She gave a grunt as she repositioned the load on her back, as elegant as she was Michiru wasn't light.
"Its just that I didn't detect any life-signs whatsoever. I don't how I could have missed him."
"Maybe all the rock he was buried under blocked you from finding him?"
"Maybe............"
"Alright so what do we know?" Ami snapped back to reality as she realized they had reached there two teammates. Usagi had since laid down Haruka and was questioning everybody including Setsuna.
"From what readings I have picked up to and from finding the Outers, a bomb didn't neccesarily go off. There was a massive discharge of some kind of energy that I can't discern, which is evident by the high amount of radiation in this area. Why it doesn't seem to be effecting us is unknown."
"Okay. What about you Setsuna, did you or the other Outers notice anything before this happened?"
"Yes. Right before the destruction I felt as if time itself was being strained, pushed to its limits. I am still in tune with the time stream even though I am in this reality, and I could feel something extremely powerful trying to tears its way back into normal space." Setsuna remembered as she cringed at the pain she experienced.
"Okay so here's how it goes. The Outers have an encounter with some new enemy whose tactics don't match the normal M.O. of all the other evils we've fought. Then Setsuna feels something trying to enter our reality, and from the look on her face when she described it I don't think it was a pleasant experience." Usagi added at the end. Setsuna was forced to agree. "Whatever it was succeeded in penetrating our reality and caused the wide-spread destruction you see here. Now what I don't understand is why those two left, is it possible they knew what was coming?" the question was once again aimed toward the olive haired Outer. And once again Usagi amazed the others by her new found grasp of her role of leader, which was apparent by her careful observations.
"From what I observed, at least one of them was keeping tabs on it. I believe it was the one in red. I think the reason they retreated was a combination of two things, one was the approaching phenomenon and second was that just after tragedy befell Haruka, Michiru regressed into a state of rage with which I have never seen in her."
"I didn't think it was possible for Michiru to be truly pissed off at anything........What happened?" Makoto interjected with the question.
"We all share something in common as senshi whether Outer or Inner. We all possess power, which if left uncontrolled, has the potential to rip apart and entire planet. We have all trained and growed in order to control this surging energy within us, but at that moment........obviously due to what happened to Uranus........she slipped. Even though it was just a fraction more she let loose it was enough to incapacitate one of them."
"I see. Well it seems were going to watch ourselves again. And here I thought our problems were all over with Galaxia, so much for wishful thinking." Usagi mumbled.
"Uhhhhhh........." a groan caught everyone's attention as the Outer senshi of the sea began to stir, along with the youngest senshi of destruction.
"It looks they'll be fine. Haruka is still out though." Minako said finding it hard to look at the still unconscious Uranus who had a stump where her arm should be.
"Where am I........" I groaned to myself. I was finding it hard to wake up, my entire body was sore and the idea of moving was not registering with any of my limbs.
"You shouldn't move. You've been unconscious for a while." I heard a familiar voice, then I opened my eyes and a saw a familiar face. It was that Inner girl named Ami.
"What happened.........." I managed to get out a bit hoarsely.
"There was an explosion. The shock of it knocked you out. Everyone else is just fine."
"Fine...........H....Haruka, Where's Haruka?!" I was suddenly frantic, I knew she couldn't be fine by what I saw happen.
"Haruka you have to calm down! Haruka is fine I swear!" Setsuna was there now trying to calm me down. She helped me stand slowly and brought me over to her. She looked so peaceful asleep like that, but it was obvious she was going to be having nightmares about this particular battle.
We all detransformed and even though Haruka was in no danger of losing her life we took her to a hospital anyway, the most difficult part was explaining how she lost her arm in the first place and how the wound had sealed itself so quickly. We credited the explosion that rocked Tokyo for the loss of her arm, as for it being cauterized, we explained that she was probably close to a fire of some sort and through shear luck it burned her wound closed. We all knew the doctors wouldn't believe it, but thankfully they decided not to probe the issue further after seeing how uncomfortable it was making us. They gave us the same answer Ami did, she was going to be fine but the mental trauma suffered was still unknown. That same trauma was probably contributing to the fact that she hadn't woke up yet.
Setsuna, Hotaru, and myself exited her room. I wanted so much to break down right there, but I knew in her absence I would have to lead the Outers and that meant I had to stay in control if I was going to think clearly.
"How is she?" Usagi asked.
"She still hasn't woken up yet." I said quieter than usual.
"I can tell on all your faces that your tempted to go find those two. But you can't do that on your own, you said yourself you had a hard enough time when you were all together but now your down one. What I'm trying to say is that maybe you try and ask for our help." It was a good offer and it made sense. But what Hotaru said next voiced what all three of us were thinking.
"They hurt Papa. And now we'll hurt them........" I'm not afraid to admit that sometimes Hotaru scares me, mainly when she is truly angry like she is now. Those two would pay. Even if it cost us our lives, I will hunt down and destroy every single one of there kind. I swear it.
To Be Continued............