The wind blew across his serene features, tossing the blond
hair slightly. The sounds of boards breaking as Lita practiced
did not disturb him. Meditating, he was more calm now than he
had been the past month. Silently, Sage prayed that nothing
would break his deep meditation.
Unfortunately, his prayers were never heard...
"Oh, Sagey-chan!" Mina yelled.
Sage decided to ignore the Venus Princess.
"Shhh!" Pikachu told the Senshi, "He doesn't want to be
disturbed.
"Aww, I want to talk to Sagey-chan!" she pouted.
Does she always sound so... sickening? The Ronin
wondered.
"What's Sagey-chan doing?"
Unable to concentrate anymore, he went over to Lita and asked
her if she wanted to spar. The two instantly engaged in a
series of kicks and punches. The samurai was knocked off
balance and, as a reflex although showing no signs of courtesy,
grabbed her brown hair that flew by while she tried a kick.
They both tumbled to the ground.
Sage, now coming to his senses, realized that his opponent
was not well defended and punched her continuously until she landed
a severe blow and kicked him off, allowing her to stand up in a
fighting position. When the Ronin got up, Lita jump-kicked
him, sending him flying a couple dozen feet in the air. Sage
crashed with a hard thud.
By that time the three warlords, Dais, Kale, and Sekhmet made
it back, exhausted.
"What's wrong?" Pikachu asked them worriedly. It could
sense something wasn't right.
Mina ran up to them, "Where's Ami?"
"This is something best explained once," Dais said as they
proceeded to the door.
To Sekhmet's surprise, Sailor Moon was quiet the whole time,
well relatively quiet compared to her other outbursts. At
first, she yelled at Kale for letting them take her until Sage
explained that since the Lead Zealot had a knife at her throat and
didn't kill her, Ami's more valuable to the cult alive than
dead. The thought that Ami was a prisoner was still unsettling
and Serena sat down like a sullen teenager, shedding no tears.
"I can't believe this," she muttered.
"That cult's been trouble for as long as I can remember,"
Raye commented. "They're always speaking about this new era
where the entire Realm is ruled by the 'Messiah' and they want to
get rid of the governments and unify all the
territories."
"That isn't good," said Pikachu.
"There are cults in almost every territory," Kale began to
name a few, "Ninja Scroll, Rurouni Kenshin, Slayers, Flame of Recca,
the Gundam territories-"
"There's a cultist group in my territory," Pikachu
interrupted
Darien spoke, "The Animes have been seperated ever since the
Great War in order to prevent hostility and we're not isolated from
the other territories. There's plenty of open
communication."
How could I have not known about such an important event?
Sage wondered.
"So, what do they want in exchange for Ami?" Lita brought
them back to the crisis at hand.
Kale's face paled as his two comrades stared at him, "They,
um, they want your life. They want to kill you," he blurted
out quickly.
"THEY WHAT!?!?" Lita screamed
louder than Serena could ever hope to. Sage and the others
instantly sprang up to calm her down. She fumbled with her
words for a few minutes before finally asking, "Why?"
Kale's face turned a ghostly white as he was once again left
with the duty of telling her, "Because they believe you're a threat
to the Messiah."
"That isn't too much of an offer, is it?" asked Dais
nonchalantly.
"THE MESSIAH DOESN'T EVEN EXIST!!!!!!"
"Not yet..." Raye cautioned. Lita sent Raye an evil
glare. Raye, intimidated, "So, what are we going to do about
this, um, tricky situation?"
Dais set his mind to work, "We're going to give him what he
wants."
"In the form of an illusion."
"Oh," Lita was calm again. "That works."
"It would only be half of an illusion though. It is
easier to create an illusion over someone than to create a total
illusion of a living being," he paused to make sure everyone
understood, "The cult probably knows everyone in this group except
for Sage, so if we send Sage in Lita's place, disguised as Jupiter,
the cult will believe that everything is going according to their
plan since they can see everyone they know about."
"Huh? You want to send a man, this weakling, in my
place? Why don't I just go, diguised as myself?"
"Lita, that's too dangerous!" shouted Serena.
"She's right," Sekhmet agreed. "The cult will do
everything in their power to try and kill you. It would be
best if you stayed here out of danger."
"The cult's not that difficult to deal with!"
"You should've fought some of the cults in the Ninja Scroll
territory," Kale advised. "Every cult has its own little
militia."
Sage opened his mouth to speak, but Sekhmet stopped him,
"You're going to do it, Halo, whether you like it or not." It
was a no win situation for Sage and Lita.
The blindfold was greasy and unclean. Ami was aware of
two well-armored men who half-dragged her down the various hallways
which reeked of stale sweat. The Lead Fanatic, Durog, had
spoken to very little to the two men who followed him, only that,
"This is an important prisoner." Ami soon lost track of time
as it became meaningless. The stench of the place was
nauseating. She had no idea where they were taking her but,
wherever it was, it took a long time getting there.
Groggily lifting her head, she realized that the stench was
gone and replaced with wonderfully fragrant perfumes.
"What is it, Durog? Who is this woman?" boomed a
forceful feminine voice.
"She is a prisoner, Queen Dura."
"Yes, that is obvious. I asked who is she, not what is
she."
Queen Dura? Of the Dynasty?
Ami was tossed onto the neatly polished floor and her
blindfold was removed. The Senshi looked up at her enemy who
was sitting in a throne made of jewels, wearing nothing but jewels
that delicately covered her body. Her raven black hair was
braided, intertwined with emeralds and rubies. Her eye's were
like those of serpent's, cold and heartless.
"A Senshi," she said to herself musically. "Is she the
threat?"
"No, your highness. I have successfully determined that
it is Sailor Jupiter who is the threat to the Messiah's rule.
I have captured this Senshi and devised a plan to exterminate Sailor
Jupiter by means of hostage and ransom."
Dura was silent for a moment. "You have either
overlooked something or underestimated the Senshi, Durog. They
will never sacrifice another Senshi and will do everything in their
power to retrieve their missing comrade without losing
another. Has that thought not occured to you?"
Durog pondered the situation, "May I borrow a few legions of
soldiers for an attack?"
"Very well. Lock the prisoner in a cell
somewhere."
After the soldiers dragged Ami away to her cell, Dura was
once again in deep thought. I knew I would only be a
temporary queen, but perhaps my rule will sooner than I
thought... I can only hope that the Messiah will come and that
my efforts will not be in vain...
Because she suddenly felt dizzy and light-headed, the impact
of hitting the rough-cut stone floor did not hurt as much. Ami
coughed heavily and fought to stay conscious, half aware of the door
slamming and key turning, locking her inside. When her
coughing fit was over, she surveyed her new
surroundings.
The air was damp with the scents of mildew, rotten food,
dung... Only the Creator of the Samurai Trooper Anime knew
what else made this wretched cell stink so badly. There were a
few puddles here and there. She noticed flies picking on a few
dead rats underneath the beds and jumped up immediately. The
drip-drip of water slowly piqued her fear that multiplied itself
with every passing second...
Drip... drip... she was all alone... drip... the
walls felt like they were coming closer to trap her and squash
her! drip... drip... what should she do?! drip...
drip... so alone... drip... drip...
"Stay calm, Ami," she told herself outloud to confirm her own
existance. "I will be out of here soon, so all I have to do is
wait." She walked over to a stone bed that hung out from the
wall, sat down, pulled out her Henshin pen and wondered if she could
transform into Sailor Mercury and find a way to escape.
Probably not. She had heard that Nether Spirits can prevent a
person from summoning their armor. That might be the same with
the Henshin Pen and this place was sure to be full of Nether
Spirits. Ami sighed and stared intently at the pen, waiting
for this to be over.
The next day, they marched towards the exact same spot that
Ami was kidnapped. Lita was left behind with Seth, Sekhmet's
pet snake. She was ordered to "Remain inside at all costs and
cook" which were the Warlord of Venom's words. She promised
that she would beat him senseless when they returned.
Surprisingly, Sekhmet was undisturbed by the fact that Pikachu would
be accompanying them to "help fight if there is a fight" but that
should be unsurprising due to the fact that Sekhmet would rather
risk Pikachu's life than Seth's.
Sage was depressed and spoke very little. His furry
comrade never made even the slightest effort to cheer him up and
tried to make conversation with the other members of the
group. When they neared the junkyard, the scouts ran inside
and went their separate ways while Dais disguised Sage and Sailor
Jupiter using his illusions and went inside. For the Samurai,
it was the ultimate disgrace. Then, Kale pulled his sword out
and placed it at the Ronin's throat. Even though it was part
of the plan to trick the Zealot, Sage was sure that Kale enjoyed
having his former enemy in such a dangerous and deadly
position.
Durog groaned as he got up from his bed, tired of laying
there awake. The heavy sheets and bedspread made from various
animal skins were easy to move despite the fact that he detested
physical movement this early. The walls, aside from the
peeling brown paint which revealed rust-red bricks, were decorated
with numerous contracts and documents declaring trade, peace, use of
property, and general acknowledgement that the cult exists that the
Messiah-worshippers had made with certain parts in different
territories. The fanatic smiled as he gazed at a few.
Some of the Main Characters were finally begining to understand the
Messiah and the Messiah's wishes.
A Nether Spirit materialized in his room and instantly raised
the flute to its genderless lips and began to play a soft eerie
tune.
"Will you stop playing something so drab?" Durog
shouted. "Today's the big day! Today, we're going to
win! So, let's rejoice, not mourn." He waved his hand in
the air, creating a vision of the junkyard, showing Sailor Venus and
Mars already in position. Then, the vision showed Sekhmet,
Dais, Kamen, and Sailor Moon waiting in the piles of junk. So,
they're all getting ready for an attack... I suppose Queen
Dura was correct in her judgement... The image changed to show
Kale holding a sword close to a brown-haired woman's throat.
The woman, however, looked dull, lifeless and bulged slightly with
each movement as though something was inside of it, causing it to
move...
"Bah! It's an illusion! Spirit, can you tell me
who is inside the illusion?"
"We are unable to find out who that person is," the spirit
replied, in a fluid, genderless tone, indicating other spirits were
helping in this task, "but we can tell that the person inside the
illusion is a person of great importance."
"Is the person important to a territory or to the
Realm?"
"We are unable to find that out."
"Will this person be for the Messiah or against the
Messiah?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're no Magia, so you really
can't find anything out. Durog sighed,
Something good
better come out of this, I hope...
Pikachu had separated itself completely from the group
without anyone to guide it to the proper location. There was
no problem however. It could easily follow their scents.
Never in Pikachu's life |
had it expected to travel with the great Sage of Halo and end
up in the Sailor Moon Territory, helping the Senshi and Warlords
fight the Dynasty. Though Pikachu probably wouldn't fight the
Dynasty any time soon, considering the turn of events. It
expected to live out its life in its native territory without
visiting any others. Although people, Main and Common, can
travel freely between territories, most people, especially the Main
Characters, live out their entire lives in their own
territory. Satoshi would be so envious!
"Nanda kanda to kikaretara," came a strangely familar
feminine Japanese voice.
"Kotaete ageru yo no nasake." Pikachu smelled
roses.
"Sekai no hakai o fusegu tame." Pikachu spun around to
see who was giving the speech.
"Ah! It's the Rocket Gang!" Pikachu interrupted
the last half of James's line and the
first half of Jessie's next line.
"RABURII CHAAMII na katakiyaku." Then, they prepared
for their silly poses.
"Ginga o kakeru ROCKETTO-dan no futari ni wa."
"HOWAITO HOORU. Shiroi ashita ga
matteruze."
And last, but not least, Meowth jumped up and yelled his most
famous Japanese line,
Pikachu stood there, not knowing whether to back away or
not. Team Rocket
almost never used their Japanese speech ever since they
obtained an American one. "Um... You're not going to try and
capture me again, are you?"
"Of course, we are!" yelled Jessie.
James/Kojiro, however, was silent and thoughtful.
Jessie looked at him uneasily, "Um, right, James?"
"Musashi," Kojiro spoke in his Japanese voice, "we're
supposed to steal this pikachu from Ash, but Satoshi's on the other
side of the continent almost. I don't see the point in
capturing this pikachu outside of our native
territory."
"This isn't really a good time to try and get me anyway,"
Pikachu told them. "I have to go help Sekhmet and Sailor Venus
and the others fight a Messiah cult."
"Those cults are so annoying," Musashi/Jessie
commented.
"Go ahead and fight them!" Meowth/Nyase told the pokemon, "We
won't stop you!"
"Thanks!" Pikachu ran away to catch up with the
others.
Musashi promptly slapped Kojiro as soon as the mouse-like
pokemon was out of sight. "Why'd you have to say that
for!?!?"
"Well, I was only speaking my opinion," he lasped once again
into the accent the Americans gave him, "Besides it's Meowth who
told Pikachu to run off, not me!"
"Hey, Sailor Mars, are you okay?" Sailor Venus called out to
her comrade who had begun to climb the junkwall that surrounded the
proper location after accidentally grabbing onto a loose piece and
falling to the ground.
"Yeah!" She made it to the top and looked behind her to the
spot where she had fallen. With Tuxedo Kamen's help, Usagi was
climbing at a pace slower than a snail could ever hope to achieve,
muttering about her fear of heights after every five baby snail
steps.
Sekhmet shook his head in disgust, "What a pathetic
woman..."
Sailor Mars looked around for Dais. Not finding him,
she figured he was probably disguised in one of his illusions.
The other two Samurai were also nowhere to be seen. "Do you
see Sage and Kale?" she asked Sailor Venus.
"Yeah," Sailor Venus pointed to where they were. The
illusion was so perfect that it was impossible for anyone to suspect
anything else! Mina was worried on whether or not she should
continue to flirt with Sage after this incident. Once she had
him she would be the envy of every girl in the entire Realm, but
what if she got him and everyone found out that he... that for a few
moments he... that he looked like... that... that... Mina bit
her lip. She might be disgraced if someone found out!
Then, Mina remembered the Starlights... When the other
territories found out that the Starlights were men who transformed
into women, the Senshi came close to becoming a laughingstock
throughout the Realm. Well, at least it's just an
illusion... Sailor Venus was going to get Sage of Halo even if
she would have him only for a short time and no mercy would come to
any woman who dares to stand in her way...
The door creaked loudly, causing the woman to raise her head
and neck which were stiff from leaning in an unnatural position
against her Henshin pen. She squited as the light touched her
eyes for what seemed like the first time in centries. "It's
time" was all the man said. Ami put the pen back in her pocket
and stood up.
Sage clenched his teeth and lowered his head. He felt
being very unwise and saying a few things that lacked courtesy as
the sun began to set and they neared the battlefield, telling
himself that each step was a step towards the end of the day in
which some semblance of normalcy would hopefully come after this
tragic event was over. Kale's nodatchi was still being held
around his throat.
"Okay, Halo. We're here." They stopped walking
and Kale surveyed the area from where he stood, still keeping Sage
'captive'.
The Lead Fanatic appeared seemingly out of thin air with his
hostage. Ami was on her knees and made no attempt to escape
although there were no weapons aimed at her. Durog allowed no
emotion to pass through his eyes and facial features. Kale
eyed the man with black pearls of malice. Silently, he lifted
what appeared to be Lita's head by her hair, signifing that the
ransom had been fulfilled. Durog smiled, eyes still
expressionless, pulled a gun out of a baggy pocket and aimed it at
Ami's head.
"Tell Rajura to get rid of the useless, pathetic illusion,"
he ordered.
If he knows about the illusion, then what else does he
know? "Very well," Kale said coldly and yelled for Dais and
stepped back a few steps as the image of Lita disappeared, revealing
Sage in full-armor, sword already in hand.
Durog's eyes bulged and face paled to a ghostly white.
Thoughts raced and crashed in his mind violently through his mind
and he tried to stop them, somehow succeeding. In his efforts
to calm his panicking mind, he dropped the forgotten gun. His
throat clenching tightly, preventing him from speaking.
Everyone glanced at everyone else's expression, confusion
renewed, wondering if the other person was just as bewildered or if
the other person knew what was going on. No one had a
clue.
Ami scuttled to safety and yanked out her Henshin pen.
Durog noticing her actions and recovering his wits, yelled out,
"Warriors!"
Pikachu heard the war cries and ran as fast as it could to
help fight. Something began to collapse on top of the furry
pokemon, twisting and turning, then with a few more twists and turns
the creature was no longer on top of the Pokemon. Pikachu
breathed in a deep sigh of relief as the weight was lifted.
"Hey, you should be more considerate of your fellow Anime
characters!" Pikachu snapped, "Don't you know that smaller
characters generally have weakers backs! You could've broken
something! How would you feel if someone larger stepped on
your back, hm?" The human with long brown hair started to
stir. "Oh, Lita! I'm so sorry! Are you all
right?"
Sailor Jupiter stood up, brushing away the dust on her skin
and shaking off the dizzy headache. "Yeah. Where's Sage
and the others?"
"I dunno, but I can hear fighting..." Pikachu's hearing
is better than a human's.
There were startled shouts from their allies in hiding as
Dynasty soldiers began to surround them and the battle began.
Ami was transforming into Sailor Mercury while Sage and Kale
advanced towards the zealot who picked up the gun and shot at them,
only to have the bullets bounce off their armor. The two
Samurai changed their battle strategy to slashing everything in
sight as soldiers blocked their path.
Durog considered the situation for two section for two
seconds and decided to escape while he had the opportunity.
Sage and Kale would be too busy eliminating the soldiers to chase
him. Unfortunately, he was hit from the side by one of
Mercury's various water attacks and crashed into a junkwall.
As the water subsided, he took in a deep lungful of air and forced
back the oncoming wave of dizziness. The zealot pulled out a
knife to defend himself from the right side of his boot and looked
behind him. Sailor Mercury's attack wiped out all the soldiers
that separated him from Sage and Kale. Not good. The
fanatic fled, hoping that Rajura was still too occupied with the
soldiers to create another illusion as Sailor Mercury and the two
samurai gave chase.
Tuxedo Kamen effortlessly dodged yet another spear.
That soldier and many others were easily destroyed by the combined
attacks of Sekhmet and Sailor Venus, but still more came
Suddenly, he spun around, hearing his beloved scream in
fright.
A Dynasty soldier had her pinned against the door of a
dented, faded blue car, holding the blade of its kusari-gama at her
throat. "Tell me where Sailor Jupiter is," the soldier
growled.
"I don't know! I honestly don't know!" Knowing
Lita, she might have ran off to join the fight. The soldier
leaned the scythe closer, putting her in an even more uncomfortable
position, but at least no blood was being drawn. "What do you
want with Sailor Jupiter anyway, you creep?" she
demanded.
The soldier felt something hard tap against its left shoulder
and turned to see who wanted it. Tuxedo Kamen shoved his cane
straight through the soldier's eye, penetrating the brain and
killing the creature instantly.
"Whoa, did you see that, Sailor Mars?" Sailor Venus asked her
comrade. The two had watched the entire incident. He
didn't throw a rose!
"Yeah, he's never done that before. Do you think the
warlords are begining to influence him?"
Sailor Venus shuddered at the thought.
Durog stopped to breathe. He lost his three pursuers,
but knew that they would soon find him again. It would be
impossible for him to teleport back in his breathless
condition. He winced and let out a silent gasp of agony as the
small cuts that joined him from Sailor Mercury's attack and
collision made their presence known. Slowly he reached over to
the side of his head a little between left eye and ear and pulled
out a piece of blood-drenched glass. Hearing approaching
footsteps, he ran off again and put the glass in his pocket so that
they wouldn't find it and be able to follow him.
He stopped yet again, but this time he heard voices from
behind one of the various walls.
"What are you doing here?" Sage, demanding, holding back
anger.
"Well, I was worried about you and the others and since they
had Ami, I figured that you might need all the help you can get,
right?" Female, slightly nervous, but doing a fairly good job
of sounding smooth and calm.
"Are you crazy? Not only are the cults after you, but
the Dynasty as well!"
Hm, so that must be Sailor Jupiter. Should I escape
or try to kill her?
"What? How-" She let it drop there, unable to
make her brain work on a sentence.
"Remember what Kale said about every cult having it's own
militia? Well, Dynasty Soldiers are part of this group's
militia. I don't know anything else about how they're
connected."
Pikachu spoke, "Hey, Sage? Someone's behind that
wall."
Sailor Jupiter volunteered to find out who it was and
appeared in his line of sight. Durog inhaled a rush of
excitement and adrenaline. His enemy was right in front of
him, but won't be for long. Haste was of the utmost
importance. Without much thought, he flung the knife towards
the brown-haired Senshi!
Well, at least I took the opportunity... The zealot
teleported to safety before Jupiter could attack.
The battle was over. Sage used his armor's powers to
heal everyone's wounds and they returned to their temporary
stronghold where Ami did her best to explain how the cult and
Dynasty were connected. The cult was working for the Dynasty
and that meant there would be spies everywhere.
"We should have nothing to worry about," said Sekhmet,
petting Seth and keeping a wary eye on the hungry
Pikachu.
"You still believe brute force can solve everything?"
Dais mocked disbelief. |
Dais let out a silent sigh. In every case -
yes. It's that way of thinking that got us in this mess and
allowed Dura to get control.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Mina.
"We do what we've been doing I guess," said Pikachu, "Only
more cautious."
After awhile everyone returned to what they were doing the
day before - practicing and talking. Ami went upstairs to work
on the portal. Sekhmet made a comment about food which
reminded Lita to give him a severe beating for all those chauvinist
comments and a fight ensued. It began verbally and ended with
them both supporting various cuts and bruises. The damage to
Sekhmet's ego hurt more than the wounds. Sage and Ami refused
to treat their injuries and Kale didn't feel like convincing the two
to heal them.
"You lost?" Dura's voice was a cup filled with scorn.
It was more of a statement than a question.
The queen sighed, clearly displaying her comtempt for the
man. "It is just as I had feared. You underestimated the
Senshi and lost your captive in the process."
"I have gathered some information during the battle
today. Sage of Halo is with them."
"Sage of Halo? Korin no Seiji?"
Dura was once again deep in thought. So, it appears
that my rule will be shorter than I expected. It seems that
the random fates that haunt us until the Messiah's arrival are
against me... |
|
