They were of course early. That the way Ami had wanted it. They were at the Crystal Taverns half an hour early which gave them time to scope out the area and to come to terms with their fears.
"Well we're here, no one else is, maybe we should leave!" Serena said turning around and walking away. She was abruptly grabbed by her sleeve and forcefully yanked back.
"I don't think so." Rei said dragging her back. Suddenly before them was a spiraling mass of purple smoke that grew larger and larger with each rotation. A funnel began to form as this smoke reach out to the ground.
"This doesn't seem good! What is it Ami?" Lita yelled, shielding her eyes from the upkicked dust.
"My computer seems to not be functioning at its optimum level. I think this is a large cloud of smoke that emits EMP charges. That would explain my computer's failure. But that's all the information I can offer you!" Ami said nearly being blown off her feet.
"Did you check the batteries?" Mina screamed grabbing onto a large stone.
"MINA! This is no time for jokes!" Darien said holding Serena as close as he could without having them both being blown away. And as suddenly as it had started, the cloud disappeared. In it's place stood 5 silhouettes of young women who were walking towards Serena and the gang.
"WHO ARE YOU?" Rei screamed out to them already taking up her defensive guard.
"Quiet now Mars, the walls are made of crystal. If you scream to loud they will emit a high pitched ring that will leave us all deaf." One of the girls said stepping forward. She looked exactly like Sailor Mars. Her eyes were a different color and shape and her fuku was different but there was an almost identical likeness to them.
"Holy Shit!" Ami said, which caused a few of them to gasp, as she came face to face with her twin. Mina and Lita both gasped when they saw their "twins." But it was Serena, who couldn't seem to react at all, when she found herself face to face with the mirror image of herself. The only difference being that this girl had pitch black, midnight hair, quite like Darien's.
"Serena." Was all the girl said. She reached out a hand to touch the Serena's face. Most likely to check to see if she were real. When her hand touched flesh, she pulled back as if she were burned.
"Serena, what the hell is going on here?!" Darien asked, looking from one girl to the next.
"Oh come now Darien, haven't you figured it out?" A new voice asked. Stepping out of the still lingering dust was a man who resembled Darien in every way accept his hair was blue. "We are you of course."
"I don't believe you." Serena said circling her counterpart.
"Do you have reason to not believe him?" The Serena-look-alike questioned.
"Start from the beginning, maybe they'll get it then." Ami's twin said retreating to the Serena who was obviously their leader. The others soon followed.
"Gather round children I have a story to tell you, one that tells of life, death, and suffering. Not to mention love and hate and injustice. This of course would be the story of our lives. Maybe we should introduce ourselves. No, I think I will save that till after the story. Yes that would be wise." The leader stated loudly. "You of course know of your life previous to the ones you have now. The ones on the moon. Now don't go playing dumb, there's no use trying to hide it. Like Dar-- like he said, we are you. When Beryl attacked the earth, you were all killed, and you knew that. But Queen Serenity willed you back to life, to be reborn in the future. But of course you could not go on living with all the soul you had once before, so she made you be reborn with only part of your souls intact. Leaving behind just enough to not be noticed or missed. That is why you do not have all of your memories. That is why you were not reborn with the same princess and prince air you had on the moon. That is how we were made.
"When a person dies, their souls are judged for a short period of time, and while the person waits they are sent to a waiting room type place. When Queen Serenity resurrected you all, and pieces of you were left behind, we were what was left. But a soul can only be judged if it is whole. With only a partial being we were cast aside to live for all eternity on a planet so sinister and vile every enemy you have come up against wouldn't survive a day there. We were sent to the Dark World, a main division to the Dark Kingdom, which you know so much about. All the evil things that haunt you in your sleep, that give you nightmares in the broad of day, are the souls of those trying to escape the Dark World.
"In all actuality it's not an actual planet, more like a subspace in an alternate dimension, accessible from any other dimension, but hidden all the same. The Dark World is indescribable to you, you would have to see it for yourself. Which you will in due time.
"Not a long time ago, you defeated Nephernia, daughter to Espasia queen of the Dark World, and last heir to the throne. You killed the last heir to the throne, Serena. This in chance makes you queen of the Dark World. Now before you go and get the wrong idea let me continue.
"The pieces of you that were left over eventually had to reclaim our holds on life if we were to survive in the Dark World. We formed and we eventually came to be what we are today. We are mirror images of you in almost everyway, accept for the pieces that were missing. Pieces of us that cannot be replaced. It's just little changes, little things that are different. But we have the same capabilities as you, Princess. We too are Sailor Scouts, but of a different nature. While you fight for love, justice, and peace, we fight for honor, survival, and chaos. Love and peace mean nothing to us, because we experienced none of this on our planet. So while you are Sailor Scouts, we are the Dark Sailor Scouts. Now I think it's time we introduced ourselves." She motioned for Rei's twin to approach her counterpart.
Rei and her twin looked eachother in the eye. Finally after a moment of silence, the twin bowed and spoke.
"My name is Shay. I am Sailor Dark Mars, and if you're anything like me, you're more than pissed off right now at finding some one else prancing around using your face and body and a portion of your soul. So let me start off by apologizing. And even though you won't trust me, pretty much ever, I am not here to cause you any harm." Shay said stepping back and joining her group.
It was Ami's twin turn to introduce herself.
"Hello! My name is Emi! I am Sailor Dark Mercury, and you were of course right. Our Mutus cloud, which is one of the clouds surrounding Dark World, does emit an Electric Magnetic Pulse which of course shorted out your computer. It should be working fine now." And without another thing being said, Emi turned around and walked back to her group.
It was now Mina's turn to be introduced to.
"Hello Mina, my name is Mika. I am Sailor Dark Venus. Not really the Sailor of Love, but I have done a few matchmaking in my days." She smiled at Mina, and in return Mina smiled back. They looked like they might grow to like eachother, even if they were enemies.
"I'm LeAnne." Lita's twin only said before returning to the group.
"What I don't get an explanation! You owe me that much!" Lita exclaimed.
"I owe you nothing. It's because of that stupid blonde right there that we were stuck where we were for over a thousand years. And it may have seemed like a blur to you, but we had to live out everyday of it! So it's not me who owes you anything. Oh no! It's you who owes us something!" LeAnne screamed back.
"You act as if she had a choice!" Rei jumped in.
"Quiet!" Ami and Emi screamed simultaneously. The crystals around them seemed to give off a warning ring, before they silenced. This gave everyone a little start, and brought them back to reality.
"Darien, how you been. Damn, if I look anything like you, I'm one sexy guy." The man said loudly, appraising himself, and making Darien extremely uncomfortable. "Relax, like you have your little bunny, I have mine. My name is Darius. I am of course Tuxedo Dark Knight, which is kind of a mix of your two alter egos and what not." Darius went as far as to try and shake Darien's hand, and he in return felt obligated to shake it back, so their hands clasped under a sign of truce. Darius retreated and the last scout advanced.
"Oh the suspense is killing you isn't it? My name is Selena, I am the leader of the Dark Scouts and ex-princess to the Moon Kingdom, current Ruler of the Dark Kingdom, and of course Super Sailor Dark Moon. That was a lot of breath. And you my dear have a new destiny to fulfill. You must help us overthrow the new government of the Dark World so we can take back the planet that is rightfully ours. If you don't, you will soon be assassinated and be forced to rule in the afterlife. The choice is yours, but I already know what choice you will make."
