Ios sat on the concrete edge of the pond.
"You see…" he said "…What we need to do is
go to the future, the wrong future I know…" his voice trailed off "…But we can
get hold of something to loosen Lekiel's power"
"How's that?" Ami asked, stretching in
the warm evening air.
"Have you heard of the Thanatos device?"
Serena and Ami gave him the blankest of
blank looks.
"I'll take that as a no then" Ios sighed,
and sat up "This device was essentially what allows Lekiel to change the time
stream, what allows him to travel – Everything"
"So…" Serena said, excitedly "If we can
get hold of this gizmo, we can destroy it, right?"
"Uh…" Ios looked a little hesitant
"Not…exactly…"
"So how?" Ami asked.
Serena leaned forward, eyebrows raised.
"Yeah, how?"
"The Thanatos device can only be
destroyed by something of equal power, specifically…"
"…Another Thanatos device?" Ami asked,
nodding as she began to understand what Ios was getting at.
Ios brought his hand down on the
concrete.
"What I have in mind is, that we travel
to the future, seize his Thanatos device from that time, and then travel back
to the exact point where he makes his first time journey – If we can ambush him
then, and fight him off just so that we can get hold of his own device, which
he keeps around his neck, we can put the two together…and boom"
"Boom? Game Over?" Serena asked,
hopefully.
"Right on" Ios said, smiling "But first
we need to achieve this"
Ami and Serena looked at each other.
"The future" Ami said "We went there
once before…but only the once"
"Things will have changed" Ios advised
"It may come as something of a shock"
Serena and Ami nodded, understanding.
"Right…" Ios said, standing up "Let's
go"
Serena turned to Ami.
"How's about it Ami? You ready?"
Ami grinned.
"Sure am, Serena…Sailor Moon"
Serena smiled tenderly at this.
"To me, you still are Sailor Moon" Ami
added, smiling again.
Serena have her a brief hug, before
they turned to Ios.
"We're ready" Serena said, firmly
"Now…let's go kick some serious upholstered Lekiel butt!"
Ios rolled his eyes.
Ami giggled.
Ios pulled out his device, and keyed in
the dates.
"Synchronise watches, ladies" he said
"We're off to the future"
Their watches beeped responsively as Ami,
and Serena after a little effort, set their watches.
Ios pressed a button.
The air was still, but only for a second.
Soon, the air around them began to pick up, spinning into a tornado. Serena was
aware of feeling as if her body had exploded and imploded at once as lightning
crackled off her skin in the electric gale that now engulfed the three of them.
Serena felt the blinding white explosion around her, and that now familiar
sensation of falling…even if it was longer, into that deep blue infinity.
"….yaaaaaaah!!!" Serena wailed as she
landed. Awkward paradigm setting by Ios had dropped them off four feet above
the surface of the ground, and all of them ended up in a struggling heap.
"Amy? You there? I can't see anything!"
Serena groaned as she lay face down in the soft, warm blackness…soft and warm?
"That's because you're sitting on me"
Ios mumbled, as Serena apologetically scrambled off onto the tarmacked surface.
Amy took her foot off Ios's neck, and clambered down onto the cold, wet ground.
Serena looked down. The ground was smooth, but it was covered in puddles, and
the smell of oil was persistent where they had landed.
As Serena looked around, she realised
that they were in an alley. A slender, black gap between two buildings which
looked as their respective walls had received more than their fair share of
abuse over what was obviously years. Graffiti, smoke-stains…nothing appeared to
have not given this place its mark.
Rubbish littered the ground, waste paper
blew in the soft breeze, sending it dancing across the surface of the ground.
At the end, where the darkness seemed to
end, was some light. Glowing pinks, greens and blues shone tackily in the world
outside, cars hammered down the road from all directions, sluicing through
puddles and spraying oily-water into the air.
Serena was shocked as to how different
it was from Neo Crystal Tokyo.
"Its…horrible…" Amy said, slowly.
"Yes" Ios remarked, coldly "Isn't it
just?"
They all stared into the street, at the
shops, the hundreds of people – People walking the streets, all seemingly
normal people…and other people, lying in groups at the edges of street corners,
with dark uniformed law-enforcers shouting at them, directing traffic and standing
by the sides of the roads looking dangerous.
"What has he done to my kingdom?"
Serena said, wonderingly as her blue eyes stared out at the dystopia she saw.
"It is worse" Ios said "So much worse"
He turned to Serena and Amy.
"Disguise yourselves. You must remain incognito"
Serena pulled out the pen. She faltered.
"Uh…what do I say?"
"Disguise yourselves as…street kids of
this age, that'll do" Ios replied.
"Um…okay"
Serena raised the pen.
"Diguise me and Amy as…street kids of this age I think!" she
said.
In a flare of light, Amy and Serena
disappeared for a moment, before returning. They were dressed in leather
jackets and uncomfortably short skirts, strange necklaces around their necks
and quite thick layers of make-up. They also wore boots, and blackish tights.
"Ugh" Serena said in disgust, looking
her self over "I can't say much for futuristic fashion!"
"Me too!" Ami agreed, even if their
taste in clothes was completely different.
"The make-up should help" Ios remarked
"You'll be more difficult to spot"
He turned to them.
"This…." He said, waving in the
direction of the street "…Is the future. Currently. A totalitarian society run
by Lekiel, where the people are controlled and easily duped into believing in
this hell"
Amy and Serena nodded.
"It's worse" he said "When your
fellow scouts learned of your criminal actions, they set out to save you and
your future. But Lekiel got to them first"
"Oh no…" Serena gasped "He
didn't…kill them, did he?"
"No. But in a magical trap, he forced
them over to his side. They're physically on his side, but their memories or
beliefs haven't changed. It's their punishment for opposing him"
Serena and Amy looked shocked. The
scouts punished? They were now on Lekiel's side, even if they knew they
didn't want to be?
"Why…haven't they quit?" Amy asked,
softly.
"Because their friends and relatives
are threatened with death should they disobey any of his commands"
"What do they do?" Serena asked,
weakly.
"Because they are good people, he
has been able to control their moves with blackmail and threats of death, and
he is ruthlessly efficient at that. Rei Hino controls the police force, Mina
Aino is the propaganda officer of the state and Lita Kino is the agricultural
secretary, essentially in control of food distribution and other economical
matters"
"I…I see" Serena whispered, on the
verge of tears.
"If we can achieve our objective, we
can save them from this ghastly fate" Ios said "Now take these"
He handed them both small, folded up
pieces of paper.
"These are detailed maps of the town.
I'm going to get some rooms at a hotel for us, which I have marked on the map.
I have also marked our start position so you can know where to go back. Stay
out of trouble" he said, turning away "See you at the hotel in an hour"
Serena and Ami didn't know what to say.
They looked into their new and hellish
world.
"This…" Serena muttered "Is
Neo-Tokyo?"
"I don't want to believe it" Ami said,
shaking her head "But…I've got to. WE'VE got to"
They walked out onto the street into
the bitter cold night, both holding their jackets closely to themselves…what
had happened to this world that had been a utopia, but was now something
approaching hell?
Serena looked across the road, to
where two bums were being brutally hounded out of a shop doorway. Rei wouldn't
have stood for that, Serena reflected, Rei may be stubborn and argumentative
but she's got a heart…I bet she's really suffering. What about Lita and
Mina? All part of this dreadful world…
"It's awful" Ami whispered, turning
away so that Serena couldn't see the tears gathering in her eyes.
Serena comforted her friend.
"Ami, don't worry; I think we'll
pull through" Serena said, with more confidence than she really felt.
Ami wiped her eyes.
"Yes…you're right" Ami said "It
will be okay"
"MOVE ALONG!!" A voice bellowed.
Serena and Ami turned in irritation
to see a burly officer in dark blue uniform, tapping his baton against his
thigh impatiently.
"Why can't we stand here?" Ami
asked.
"Because it is not a designated
zone" the man replied, brusquely.
"Then where is the designated
zone?" Serena asked, coolly.
"Over there!" the officer pointed
to a position somewhere down the road.
Ami furrowed her eyebrows.
"That's half a mile away!" she
pointed out.
"Give the girl a prize" the man
sneered sarcastically "Now MOVE!"
"No!" Serena stormed, folding her
arms petulantly.
The officer suddenly grabbed them each by the scruff of the neck,
and pulled them off down the road.
"You're coming to the station; to
meet Commander Hino!" he barked.
"Commander Hino?!" Ami asked, but
the officer was no longer listening to them, and so they allowed themselves to
be dragged to the Police station.
The stationhouse was noisy, grimy and
full of people. Whether it be drunks, dangerous tattooed types or young women
whose demeanour and dress suggested they were prostitutes.
Serena and Ami, handcuffed, were
escorted in and forced to sit in the waiting room.
"Wait here" the officer snarled at
them, and strolled off into the offices, where Ami and Serena could see all
kinds of typists, telephone operators and cops of both sexes on their night
rounds; some at coffee machines and laughing loudly.
Ami shook her head.
"I can't say I'm too impressed with
the law-keepers in this city so far"
"Me neither; I mean that guy handled
us like a Gorilla with a bad temper!" Serena huffed.
Then the officer came back in.
"Commander Hino wants to see you" the
man said "Stand up"
They did so, and allowed themselves to
be led down a variety of linoleum-paved corridors before they were pushed into
an office door…and they stared.
Seated at the desk was Rei. She wasn't
looking at them, she appeared immersed in her paperwork. She was as beautiful
as ever, but there was a certain weariness that sat on her shoulders, and a
strange sadness. She was dressed in an immaculate uniform, and her Raven black
hair hung loosely behind her back.
"Ma'am? The troublemaking youths you
requested be brought here?" the officer asked.
Rei looked up, wearily. Her eyes widened.
She blinked. It was obvious that she was having a lot of trouble grasping the
fact that Serena and Ami, two of her best friends were standing in front of
her, plain as day!
Rei stood up. She was a good deal
taller and shapelier than before, but this was hidden well by her uniform.
"Leave us alone, officer" Rei said,
softly.
The man nodded, bowed, and left,
closing the door behind them.
Rei sighed, and smiled.
"Sorry about that…it's just that…you
remind me of some people I once knew"
"Rei…" Ami said "…it's us!"
Rei blinked.
"I don't follow" she replied, a little
confused.
"Serena and Ami!" Serena replied
cheerfully "Us! You know, Ami the brainbox, I'm meatball head!"
Rei looked them both in the eyes to
see if they were telling the truth. In the moment she realised they were, her
face softened drastically. Even then, Ami and Serena saw the tears trickling
down her face.
"Oh my….it…it can't be…but it is…"
Rei murmured.
"It's us Rei!" Ami replied "We came from the past to save the
future"