Chapter 8 - SMG
* * * * *
The six girls, the cats and Mamoru sat on two park benches and tried to figure out what had happened in that last fight. Things had happened very quickly and they needed to sit and think on events for a bit.
"Ok, lets go in order of events, ok?" suggested Rei. The others nodded so Rei started, "We were all trying to spot that lady. Shade had said she was named Gallia I think. None of us were having much luck until Shade sent us the illusionary message telling where he found out something was up."
Usagi nodded and said, "Yup. We had to run over there real quick, but we luckily met up first after Mamo-chan took Chibi-Usa to a different spot. We came in and spotted Gallia confronting what had seemed to be Shade. We asked her to not attack him but she summoned those Sprites."
Ami continued from where Usagi left off and said, "The Sprites attacked us and we had to maneuver out of the way. Gallia discovered along with us that she was dealing with only an illusion of Shade. She then summoned the fifth Sprite, which was made of ice. Shade directed a distraction however the dispatched the ice Sprite using the element of surprise. Then we all took on the remaining Sprites."
"And during that fight I let one of the Sprites trick me," Makoto said sourly, "I still can't believe it managed to do that." She shook her head before she went on reluctantly, "One of the Sprites made me to accidentally hit Shade." She then paused for a moment then continued, "He got hurt then a Sprite blasted him to where Gallia was waiting. She then did some kind of magic on him and took him away."
Minako nodded to what Makoto said and she followed up with, "I wonder if she was the girl he said he was having trouble with. Back to the fight though. After Gallia stole Shade the Sprites managed to back us into a corner."
Chibi-Usa cut in and said, "But Tuxedo Kamen and I came in and saved the day! Those Sprites got beat all because of us!"
"Something like that," Mamoru responded with a smile at Chibi-Usa. He then frowned and said, "However we are worse off then before, with less help in a foreign city."
Usagi nodded and said, "I guess all we can do is split up and try to spot Gallia."
Rei got a mischievous smile on her face and replied, "Sure, Mamoru-kun can come with me and Ami-chan if you want to split up Usagi."
"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Usagi complained.
"Uh uh. I'm just going by what you said, dumplinghead," said Rei as she grinned.
Usagi then grabbed onto Mamoru's arm and declared, "He's mine!"
Rei waved off Usagi and teased, "You really react to easy."
Usagi let go of Mamoru indignantly and countered, "I do not."
Rei said back, "Do too." Soon she and Usagi were in a Do Not and Do Too match.
The others just sweat-dropped and sighed, but at least they felt a little more light-hearted as they listened to the two friends argue like they always did.
* * * * *
He sat in the corner of a large room. He just sat there and did not seem to be doing much of anything. In his mind he thought the numbers, '1, 2, 3.."
The room was made of a strange stone that had the colors of dark blue and dark purple with black. There were four columns of the stone to help hold up the heavy ceiling which was the only uncut part of the room and still had some of the original stalactites from when it had been first moved into. The room was not all stone and in fact had several pieces of furniture, including chairs, a sofa, a bed, a wardrobe, and other amenities. He never had noticed though and just kept his mental counting, '..10, 11, 12..'
Gallia appeared out of no where and after putting a crystal down on a chair she looked at him and said, "You are still resisting aren't you?"
He had no answer for her so he just continued to count in his mind, '..19, 20, 21..'
Gallia just shook her head and said, "You can't beat it. You should give up trying. I don't know why I'm bothering to try to make it easier on you. You only seem to listen to orders anyhow." She shrugged, smiled and said, "You are mine now, so there is nothing for me to care about."
'..28, 29, 30,' he counted. Upon reaching 30 he inhaled then exhaled before beginning the count again.
Gallia muttered, "I didn't mean concentrate on breathing literally. You were supposed to do something other then resisting." She then looked directly at him and ordered, "Shade, forget my order on breathing and deal with it as you were before."
Shade nodded and responded almost mechanically, "Yes, Master."
Gallia nodded and seemed satisfied with that. She pondered aloud, "Now what can I do to distract you?" She then got an almost dangerous smile and said, "I know. This could be fun too," as she looked down at Shade.
Without warning a knocking sound echoed throughout the room. Gallia cursed softly and tried to ignore it. The knocking came once more however. Gallia muttered, "Great timing." She then turned away from Shade and announced loudly, "You may come in, Actin."
Actin appeared in the center of the room in a flash of light and raised an eyebrow as he asked, "How did you know it was me?"
Gallia rolled her eyes and replied, "I only know of two people who do such nonsense like knocking to enter a room with no doors and the other one was already here."
Actin nodded and said, "Oh," with little interest, "I have something I wish to discuss with you. Is there someplace where we can talk away from unintended ears?" He gestured in Shade's general direction.
"Here should be fine," Gallia responded, then added with some measure of disgust, "He seems pretty much brain dead anyhow. Now if what you want to talk about interests me, well that remains to be seen." She then smirked at Actin and feigned disinterest in the conversation.
"Very well," said Actin then with a quick gesture he raised a wall of fire around both Gallia and himself. The fire did not give off smoke nor singe anything nearby. "We question the wisdom of you keeping the traitor around," Actin told Gallia.
Gallia frown at the fire, made a little uneasy, and responded, "He is under my control. Besides if he is with me how can we lose? Now stop with the fire." She muttered under her breath about pyromaniacs.
Actin looked at Gallia sternly and told her, "You know very well my fire will only hurt you if you did something to earn it. Now I suggest you kill Shade and join me. Together we will be Lord Agate's only champions, bringing him glory and victory. It is not worth the risk that you could lose control of the Grey One."
Gallia smirked at Actin, then with no obvious gesture summoned forth water to douse the fires around them both, looked back at Actin and said, "He is mine, and always will be. You are just jealous of the power I now have by controlling him totally. Go away and let me continue my plans to capture the next Shard."
Actin nodded and said, "Very well." He half-saluted Gallia and vanished in another flash of light.
Gallia just shook her head again and commented, "Pompous fool." She then walked over to where Shade was. She cupped his chin with her hand and tilted his head to look at her and muttered, "Now if you would just stop resisting it would make both our lives easier and more pleasurable." She let go of his head which immediately fell back to it's previous position.
Gallia then turned away from him and walked to a full-length mirror and looked at herself in it. She smiled and turned slightly to see herself at another angle. Her uniform changed magically into an outfit with a black shirt, purple mini-skirt and purple coat, with sunglasses appearing over her eyes. She idly said to Shade, "Change to your other form you used among the humans. We have a Shard to snare."
Shade slowly stood up. His cloak faded away and soon Shen stood where Shade had been, wordlessly following her command. He didn't say that he felt something deep within his subconscious slowly making it's way to the surface, something that had never surfaced before, nor did he fear it. He wasn't told too. He did what he was told, and nothing more.
* * * * *
The 17-year-old guy stood quietly in the shadows of a warehouse near the docks. He nervously looked around then down at a piece of paper he held that had the scent of some perfume. He thought this is where he was asked to come but he wasn't sure. Asking those young Japanese tourists' questions did help either, they seemed to look at him funny, but he wanted to meet that pretty lady once more so waited where her letter asked him too.
He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw her turn around a corner, dressed in a nice purple and black outfit. She smiled when she saw him and approached. He started walking towards her but stopped as another fellow followed behind her, wearing a blank face.
Gallia walked up to him and hugged him, causing him to blink in surprise for a moment. She smiled and said, "Hello Will, I'm so glad you came." She paused and followed his gaze beyond her and reassured him, "Oh that's just Shen, my body guard. A girl can never be too careful. Don't worry, he won't be a problem. He's just some hired help, and replaceable. You aren't."
Will nodded and smiled. "Cool, I was worried I'd have to fight him for you or something. I wouldn't want to hurt him," replied Will, acting a little cocky.
"Well, it's hard to find good help so I wouldn't want you doing that now," Gallia replied. She then asked, "Now before we have that little trip on my private ship, I was wondering if you could do one little insie weenie favor for me, cutie?" with a winning smile.
Will smiled back at her and simply nodded, almost willing to do anything.
Gallia smiling even more at that and told him, "Oh I knew you would be willing to listen. Actually what I wanted to do was for you too. You see I saw that little mark on your arm, that white discoloration, and well I think you'd look better without it. I know how to get rid of it easy and painlessly sometime if you will let me do it. Can I?"
Will nodded and was just about to voice his answer when there was a shout to the side.
Sailor Moon shouted, "It's cruel to manipulate people to get what you want."
Sailor Venus continued, "We are the beautiful sailor suited senshi."
"We fight for love and justice," shouted Sailor Jupiter.
"In the name of our planets," said Sailor Mercury, somewhat quieter then the rest.
"We will punish you!" finished Sailor Mars.
Gallia turned from Will and laughed and commented, "You Sailor Sillies are so pathetic." She then gestured to Shen as Will watched wide eyed, "Shade, get rid of them."
Shen nodded and started walking towards the senshi, though his movements were jerky almost like he was a puppet being moved by someone else. Sailor Venus said, "Shade, fight it! Don't listen to her. She must have warped your mind or something!"
Shen ignored Sailor Venus and kept approaching the senshi. Sailor Mars told the others quietly, "We better stop him before he can change to Shade and say his attacks. We have to work..*"
Shen quickly interrupted them. In a faction of a second he was suddenly Shade and he punched his first forward, wordlessly attacking with his force strike, knocking the senshi backwards.
Gallia laughed at that and said, "Very good my pet." She then turned to Will and asked again, "Now who are you going to trust, a bunch of girls is weird outfits or me? Will you let me remove that mark from you?" as she smiled darkly at him. He didn't answer immediately, seeming to try to make up his mind so Gallia gestured towards the water. "To help you make a decision," she said as a huge wave started rising in the water in the distance, "Maybe this will help. Say no or nothing and this area will be swamped. Say yes and you won't need to worry yourself about that."
Sailor Mars shot a stream of fire at Shade's feet which he ignored, as Sailor Venus tried to jump kick him and knock him out. He simply shifted to the side and she crashed to the ground. Meanwhile Sailor Mercury turned to look at the rising wave with her visor down and announced, "It's another elemental," as Sailor Moon threw her tiara at Shade. It hit him but he shrugged off the injury it caused.
The wave quickly rose higher and the viewers quickly knew it would be higher then the building behind them when finally would hit. There were shouts from nearby from people fleeing the area. "Come on Will, say yes. You know you want to. It'll be so much nicer for you," Gallia whispered in Will's ear.
Will looked at Gallia and she smiled at him. He said, "Ok, do what you want. Take it."
Gallia laughed and suddenly her outfit changed, becoming the uniform once more and as the wave still approached she made a gesture and summoned forth the Shard of Light from the teenager. He looked at it wide eyed as it seemed to come out of him and float in the air. Gallia smirked in victory and grabbed the crystal, before glancing at Shade as he fought the senshi and she told him, "Try not to get yourself hurt you twit. Come on, it's time to go. Let the wave take..*" It was Gallia's turn to be interrupted.
As the wave approached, now towering over the group, ready to crash to the ground at any moment, engulfing them, white energy suddenly released from the crystal Gallia held, in a horizontal arc towards the wave. It struck the wave and suddenly the wave was frozen solid. Everyone stared at it for a moment before something inside of the wave shattered and made cracks appear throughout it, but instead of falling straight down the pieces fell backwards and into the water with huge splashes. Gallia cursed darkly.
As the teenager slumped to the ground, having fainted then senshi used the surprise from defeat of the youma before it could even do anything and tried once again to knock Shade unconscious. Sailor Jupiter even ran beyond Shade and tried to zap Gallia. However Gallia turned away from her defeated creature and looked back in time to dodge Sailor Jupiter's attack. She then hit Sailor Jupiter with a spout of water that sent Sailor Jupiter flying into the ocean, hitting one of the floating clunks of ice, making her lose her breath.
Shade dodged an attack from Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. He then sent a grey energy shot at Sailor Moon but his jerky movements warned of the attack. Sailor Mercury however was able to hit him with a cold attack slowing him down somewhat for Sailor Venus to get a kick in against his head stunning him for a moment.
Gallia frowned fiercely and shouted, "That's it senshi, you are toast. Since I have the Shard of Light I can use my Shard of Darkness to complete the process. Shade, catch this and use it!" Gallia then threw her Shard of Darkness to Shade. Both Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus tried to jump for it but it seemed to avoid them. A rose flew down from the roof of the warehouse where Tuxedo Kamen stood and struck the crystal, but the rose disintegrated instantly, not affecting the Shard. As Sailor Jupiter finally climbed out of the water, Shade caught the Shard of Darkness effortlessly.
As Shade held the Shard black energy came out of it and tried to wrap itself around him. Shade's eyes then glowed grey for a moment and he instinctively tried to resist the dark energy as the other's watched, Gallia smiling triumphantly. The energy curled and twisted about Shade as grey energy appeared every so often to try to counter it. Gallia's smile faded as he lasted far longer then she thought he would, and she wondered if he might somehow be able to defeat it, but no sooner then the thought came to her, Shade suddenly stopped fighting and stood up straight. The black energy still twirled around him, fighting a one sided battle, Shade no longer resisting. It then faded into him and all went silent, all eyes watching for something to happen.
Gallia grew tired of waiting then said, "Well, do something Shade!"
Shade turned his head to look at Gallia for a moment, his movements more smooth. He then nodded before he looked at the others once more and whispered, "You see a color because all light but that color is absorbed. Darkness is the absorption of all colors."
The others just looked at Shade with confused looks on their faces. He continued quietly as grey fog started to rise around him, "Colors stand out from darkness but darkness within darkness cannot be seen." As the fog thickened and hid him from the view of all except for a vague, shadowy silhouette. His voice carried out of the localized fog and he asked, "My form is of the lack of all color, therefore darkness, yet I can be seen if I so choose.. Is that.. Paradox?" the last words spoken as his voice started to change tone. Soon laughter was heard which gradually deepened into a large reptilian roar. The silhouette began to change shape as it increased in size and grew a long tail, becoming more reptilian, like some kind of strange dinosaur. Then wings sprouted from it's back and upon reaching full size, it flapped those wings, blowing away the fog and revealed a very dark grey dragon, which surveyed the area.
Those present, even Gallia, just stared at the dragon in silence. Finally Sailor Jupiter spoke up and asked, "Just what ARE you?"
The dragon turned it's head towards Sailor Jupiter and spoke, "An intelligent question. You might think I am but an illusion but as a famous person from this country once said, 'Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.' In some ways I am real yet unreal, but I exist enough here to effect this world. I am a dragon like none other even in places where dragons are common. I am Paradokkusu, Paradoxe, Paradoksi, Paradaxon, Paradoja and Paradossale, but I also answer to.. Paradox."
Gallia smiled triumphantly and looked up at the dragon. She commented, "Magnificent. Perhaps you have finally reached your full power, my handsome dragon." She grinned darkly at the others and said, "Now get them my pet!"
Paradox turns his head back to Gallia and responded, "Of course.. master.." in a tone that troubled Gallia slightly, but only for a moment as Paradox attacked. Without even turning he swung his tail at the senshi forcing them to duck, jump or dodge it, with Tuxedo Kamen jumping down to sweep Sailor Moon out of the way. The tail ended up crashing into the warehouse causing it to shake.
Sailor Chibi-Moon cried in fear as the building shook. She had also been on the roof with Tuxedo Kamen but had not jumped down, and with the three cats, fell flat on the roof to stop falling. The cries caused Paradox to lift his head to gaze over the side of the roof. Sailor Chibi-Moon cried, "Tuxedo Kamen!" and got up and started backpedaling with Diana jumping on her head. Meanwhile Luna and Artemis stood near the edge. Both tried to face Paradox and grab his attention as Sailor Chibi-Moon and Diana made it away.
Paradox felt a sharp rose stem hit him but it was no worse then a fly bite might be. He looked at Luna and Artemis for a moment as they stood at the railing, and in a sudden movement he bit into the building and engulfed some brick and roofing along with the two brave cats whole. He seemed to swallow for a moment before he spit the building material into the ocean, but gave no sign of Luna or Artemis. Diana meowed pitifully at the sight, as Sailor Chibi-Moon stared wide-eyed, before finally reaching a ladder down the other side. Paradox then turned his attention to the others.
Sailor Venus cried, "Artemis! You swallowed him! Venus Love Me Chain!" and pointed at Paradox. He made no move to dodge and the chain tried to wrap itself around him but could not seem to fully encircle him.
Sailor Moon pulled out the spiral heart moon rod and shouted a moment after Sailor Venus, "Rainbow Moon Heart Ache!" A large heart, made of positive energy, materialized but Paradox just grabbed it in his claws before it could reach any significant size and crushed it with little effort.
Gallia shouted at Paradox, "What are you going to do? Just sit there taking their attacks? Do something!"
Paradox looked down at the senshi for a moment then said, "As you wish.. master. I will do.. something." He then leaped up in the air and flapped his wings, which sent him flying straight up in the sky.
Gallia blinked and cursed as suddenly she was left by herself with senshi and muttered, "How annoying," but her attention was captured as a large dark grey form nose-dived towards the earth.
The senshi looked up and saw the diving form. The scattered, ducking into the warehouse, jumping into the water, or just getting away. Paradox plunged straight down to where they had been, but he didn't pull out of his dive. He instead vanished into the ground, leaving behind a form-fitting gateway, to the place of varied greys, which collapsed momentarily after he vanished.
Gallia muttered again, "Great. Now I have to track him down and show him who is boss." She then looked up as the senshi climbed back on their feet and grouped together again to face her, and told them, "I don't have time to deal with you. Next time Sailor Sissies, I will reign supreme. Paradox is mine, and with him I shall rule!" Her form then wavered for a moment and vanished as she teleported away.
Sailor Chibi-Moon quietly walked up to the others next to Tuxedo Kamen and asked, "What just happened?" a little stunned by the events.
Tuxedo Kamen answered, "I don't know Chibi-Moon, I don't know."
* * * * *
The six girls, the cats and Mamoru sat on two park benches and tried to figure out what had happened in that last fight. Things had happened very quickly and they needed to sit and think on events for a bit.
"Ok, lets go in order of events, ok?" suggested Rei. The others nodded so Rei started, "We were all trying to spot that lady. Shade had said she was named Gallia I think. None of us were having much luck until Shade sent us the illusionary message telling where he found out something was up."
Usagi nodded and said, "Yup. We had to run over there real quick, but we luckily met up first after Mamo-chan took Chibi-Usa to a different spot. We came in and spotted Gallia confronting what had seemed to be Shade. We asked her to not attack him but she summoned those Sprites."
Ami continued from where Usagi left off and said, "The Sprites attacked us and we had to maneuver out of the way. Gallia discovered along with us that she was dealing with only an illusion of Shade. She then summoned the fifth Sprite, which was made of ice. Shade directed a distraction however the dispatched the ice Sprite using the element of surprise. Then we all took on the remaining Sprites."
"And during that fight I let one of the Sprites trick me," Makoto said sourly, "I still can't believe it managed to do that." She shook her head before she went on reluctantly, "One of the Sprites made me to accidentally hit Shade." She then paused for a moment then continued, "He got hurt then a Sprite blasted him to where Gallia was waiting. She then did some kind of magic on him and took him away."
Minako nodded to what Makoto said and she followed up with, "I wonder if she was the girl he said he was having trouble with. Back to the fight though. After Gallia stole Shade the Sprites managed to back us into a corner."
Chibi-Usa cut in and said, "But Tuxedo Kamen and I came in and saved the day! Those Sprites got beat all because of us!"
"Something like that," Mamoru responded with a smile at Chibi-Usa. He then frowned and said, "However we are worse off then before, with less help in a foreign city."
Usagi nodded and said, "I guess all we can do is split up and try to spot Gallia."
Rei got a mischievous smile on her face and replied, "Sure, Mamoru-kun can come with me and Ami-chan if you want to split up Usagi."
"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Usagi complained.
"Uh uh. I'm just going by what you said, dumplinghead," said Rei as she grinned.
Usagi then grabbed onto Mamoru's arm and declared, "He's mine!"
Rei waved off Usagi and teased, "You really react to easy."
Usagi let go of Mamoru indignantly and countered, "I do not."
Rei said back, "Do too." Soon she and Usagi were in a Do Not and Do Too match.
The others just sweat-dropped and sighed, but at least they felt a little more light-hearted as they listened to the two friends argue like they always did.
* * * * *
He sat in the corner of a large room. He just sat there and did not seem to be doing much of anything. In his mind he thought the numbers, '1, 2, 3.."
The room was made of a strange stone that had the colors of dark blue and dark purple with black. There were four columns of the stone to help hold up the heavy ceiling which was the only uncut part of the room and still had some of the original stalactites from when it had been first moved into. The room was not all stone and in fact had several pieces of furniture, including chairs, a sofa, a bed, a wardrobe, and other amenities. He never had noticed though and just kept his mental counting, '..10, 11, 12..'
Gallia appeared out of no where and after putting a crystal down on a chair she looked at him and said, "You are still resisting aren't you?"
He had no answer for her so he just continued to count in his mind, '..19, 20, 21..'
Gallia just shook her head and said, "You can't beat it. You should give up trying. I don't know why I'm bothering to try to make it easier on you. You only seem to listen to orders anyhow." She shrugged, smiled and said, "You are mine now, so there is nothing for me to care about."
'..28, 29, 30,' he counted. Upon reaching 30 he inhaled then exhaled before beginning the count again.
Gallia muttered, "I didn't mean concentrate on breathing literally. You were supposed to do something other then resisting." She then looked directly at him and ordered, "Shade, forget my order on breathing and deal with it as you were before."
Shade nodded and responded almost mechanically, "Yes, Master."
Gallia nodded and seemed satisfied with that. She pondered aloud, "Now what can I do to distract you?" She then got an almost dangerous smile and said, "I know. This could be fun too," as she looked down at Shade.
Without warning a knocking sound echoed throughout the room. Gallia cursed softly and tried to ignore it. The knocking came once more however. Gallia muttered, "Great timing." She then turned away from Shade and announced loudly, "You may come in, Actin."
Actin appeared in the center of the room in a flash of light and raised an eyebrow as he asked, "How did you know it was me?"
Gallia rolled her eyes and replied, "I only know of two people who do such nonsense like knocking to enter a room with no doors and the other one was already here."
Actin nodded and said, "Oh," with little interest, "I have something I wish to discuss with you. Is there someplace where we can talk away from unintended ears?" He gestured in Shade's general direction.
"Here should be fine," Gallia responded, then added with some measure of disgust, "He seems pretty much brain dead anyhow. Now if what you want to talk about interests me, well that remains to be seen." She then smirked at Actin and feigned disinterest in the conversation.
"Very well," said Actin then with a quick gesture he raised a wall of fire around both Gallia and himself. The fire did not give off smoke nor singe anything nearby. "We question the wisdom of you keeping the traitor around," Actin told Gallia.
Gallia frown at the fire, made a little uneasy, and responded, "He is under my control. Besides if he is with me how can we lose? Now stop with the fire." She muttered under her breath about pyromaniacs.
Actin looked at Gallia sternly and told her, "You know very well my fire will only hurt you if you did something to earn it. Now I suggest you kill Shade and join me. Together we will be Lord Agate's only champions, bringing him glory and victory. It is not worth the risk that you could lose control of the Grey One."
Gallia smirked at Actin, then with no obvious gesture summoned forth water to douse the fires around them both, looked back at Actin and said, "He is mine, and always will be. You are just jealous of the power I now have by controlling him totally. Go away and let me continue my plans to capture the next Shard."
Actin nodded and said, "Very well." He half-saluted Gallia and vanished in another flash of light.
Gallia just shook her head again and commented, "Pompous fool." She then walked over to where Shade was. She cupped his chin with her hand and tilted his head to look at her and muttered, "Now if you would just stop resisting it would make both our lives easier and more pleasurable." She let go of his head which immediately fell back to it's previous position.
Gallia then turned away from him and walked to a full-length mirror and looked at herself in it. She smiled and turned slightly to see herself at another angle. Her uniform changed magically into an outfit with a black shirt, purple mini-skirt and purple coat, with sunglasses appearing over her eyes. She idly said to Shade, "Change to your other form you used among the humans. We have a Shard to snare."
Shade slowly stood up. His cloak faded away and soon Shen stood where Shade had been, wordlessly following her command. He didn't say that he felt something deep within his subconscious slowly making it's way to the surface, something that had never surfaced before, nor did he fear it. He wasn't told too. He did what he was told, and nothing more.
* * * * *
The 17-year-old guy stood quietly in the shadows of a warehouse near the docks. He nervously looked around then down at a piece of paper he held that had the scent of some perfume. He thought this is where he was asked to come but he wasn't sure. Asking those young Japanese tourists' questions did help either, they seemed to look at him funny, but he wanted to meet that pretty lady once more so waited where her letter asked him too.
He heaved a sigh of relief as he saw her turn around a corner, dressed in a nice purple and black outfit. She smiled when she saw him and approached. He started walking towards her but stopped as another fellow followed behind her, wearing a blank face.
Gallia walked up to him and hugged him, causing him to blink in surprise for a moment. She smiled and said, "Hello Will, I'm so glad you came." She paused and followed his gaze beyond her and reassured him, "Oh that's just Shen, my body guard. A girl can never be too careful. Don't worry, he won't be a problem. He's just some hired help, and replaceable. You aren't."
Will nodded and smiled. "Cool, I was worried I'd have to fight him for you or something. I wouldn't want to hurt him," replied Will, acting a little cocky.
"Well, it's hard to find good help so I wouldn't want you doing that now," Gallia replied. She then asked, "Now before we have that little trip on my private ship, I was wondering if you could do one little insie weenie favor for me, cutie?" with a winning smile.
Will smiled back at her and simply nodded, almost willing to do anything.
Gallia smiling even more at that and told him, "Oh I knew you would be willing to listen. Actually what I wanted to do was for you too. You see I saw that little mark on your arm, that white discoloration, and well I think you'd look better without it. I know how to get rid of it easy and painlessly sometime if you will let me do it. Can I?"
Will nodded and was just about to voice his answer when there was a shout to the side.
Sailor Moon shouted, "It's cruel to manipulate people to get what you want."
Sailor Venus continued, "We are the beautiful sailor suited senshi."
"We fight for love and justice," shouted Sailor Jupiter.
"In the name of our planets," said Sailor Mercury, somewhat quieter then the rest.
"We will punish you!" finished Sailor Mars.
Gallia turned from Will and laughed and commented, "You Sailor Sillies are so pathetic." She then gestured to Shen as Will watched wide eyed, "Shade, get rid of them."
Shen nodded and started walking towards the senshi, though his movements were jerky almost like he was a puppet being moved by someone else. Sailor Venus said, "Shade, fight it! Don't listen to her. She must have warped your mind or something!"
Shen ignored Sailor Venus and kept approaching the senshi. Sailor Mars told the others quietly, "We better stop him before he can change to Shade and say his attacks. We have to work..*"
Shen quickly interrupted them. In a faction of a second he was suddenly Shade and he punched his first forward, wordlessly attacking with his force strike, knocking the senshi backwards.
Gallia laughed at that and said, "Very good my pet." She then turned to Will and asked again, "Now who are you going to trust, a bunch of girls is weird outfits or me? Will you let me remove that mark from you?" as she smiled darkly at him. He didn't answer immediately, seeming to try to make up his mind so Gallia gestured towards the water. "To help you make a decision," she said as a huge wave started rising in the water in the distance, "Maybe this will help. Say no or nothing and this area will be swamped. Say yes and you won't need to worry yourself about that."
Sailor Mars shot a stream of fire at Shade's feet which he ignored, as Sailor Venus tried to jump kick him and knock him out. He simply shifted to the side and she crashed to the ground. Meanwhile Sailor Mercury turned to look at the rising wave with her visor down and announced, "It's another elemental," as Sailor Moon threw her tiara at Shade. It hit him but he shrugged off the injury it caused.
The wave quickly rose higher and the viewers quickly knew it would be higher then the building behind them when finally would hit. There were shouts from nearby from people fleeing the area. "Come on Will, say yes. You know you want to. It'll be so much nicer for you," Gallia whispered in Will's ear.
Will looked at Gallia and she smiled at him. He said, "Ok, do what you want. Take it."
Gallia laughed and suddenly her outfit changed, becoming the uniform once more and as the wave still approached she made a gesture and summoned forth the Shard of Light from the teenager. He looked at it wide eyed as it seemed to come out of him and float in the air. Gallia smirked in victory and grabbed the crystal, before glancing at Shade as he fought the senshi and she told him, "Try not to get yourself hurt you twit. Come on, it's time to go. Let the wave take..*" It was Gallia's turn to be interrupted.
As the wave approached, now towering over the group, ready to crash to the ground at any moment, engulfing them, white energy suddenly released from the crystal Gallia held, in a horizontal arc towards the wave. It struck the wave and suddenly the wave was frozen solid. Everyone stared at it for a moment before something inside of the wave shattered and made cracks appear throughout it, but instead of falling straight down the pieces fell backwards and into the water with huge splashes. Gallia cursed darkly.
As the teenager slumped to the ground, having fainted then senshi used the surprise from defeat of the youma before it could even do anything and tried once again to knock Shade unconscious. Sailor Jupiter even ran beyond Shade and tried to zap Gallia. However Gallia turned away from her defeated creature and looked back in time to dodge Sailor Jupiter's attack. She then hit Sailor Jupiter with a spout of water that sent Sailor Jupiter flying into the ocean, hitting one of the floating clunks of ice, making her lose her breath.
Shade dodged an attack from Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars. He then sent a grey energy shot at Sailor Moon but his jerky movements warned of the attack. Sailor Mercury however was able to hit him with a cold attack slowing him down somewhat for Sailor Venus to get a kick in against his head stunning him for a moment.
Gallia frowned fiercely and shouted, "That's it senshi, you are toast. Since I have the Shard of Light I can use my Shard of Darkness to complete the process. Shade, catch this and use it!" Gallia then threw her Shard of Darkness to Shade. Both Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus tried to jump for it but it seemed to avoid them. A rose flew down from the roof of the warehouse where Tuxedo Kamen stood and struck the crystal, but the rose disintegrated instantly, not affecting the Shard. As Sailor Jupiter finally climbed out of the water, Shade caught the Shard of Darkness effortlessly.
As Shade held the Shard black energy came out of it and tried to wrap itself around him. Shade's eyes then glowed grey for a moment and he instinctively tried to resist the dark energy as the other's watched, Gallia smiling triumphantly. The energy curled and twisted about Shade as grey energy appeared every so often to try to counter it. Gallia's smile faded as he lasted far longer then she thought he would, and she wondered if he might somehow be able to defeat it, but no sooner then the thought came to her, Shade suddenly stopped fighting and stood up straight. The black energy still twirled around him, fighting a one sided battle, Shade no longer resisting. It then faded into him and all went silent, all eyes watching for something to happen.
Gallia grew tired of waiting then said, "Well, do something Shade!"
Shade turned his head to look at Gallia for a moment, his movements more smooth. He then nodded before he looked at the others once more and whispered, "You see a color because all light but that color is absorbed. Darkness is the absorption of all colors."
The others just looked at Shade with confused looks on their faces. He continued quietly as grey fog started to rise around him, "Colors stand out from darkness but darkness within darkness cannot be seen." As the fog thickened and hid him from the view of all except for a vague, shadowy silhouette. His voice carried out of the localized fog and he asked, "My form is of the lack of all color, therefore darkness, yet I can be seen if I so choose.. Is that.. Paradox?" the last words spoken as his voice started to change tone. Soon laughter was heard which gradually deepened into a large reptilian roar. The silhouette began to change shape as it increased in size and grew a long tail, becoming more reptilian, like some kind of strange dinosaur. Then wings sprouted from it's back and upon reaching full size, it flapped those wings, blowing away the fog and revealed a very dark grey dragon, which surveyed the area.
Those present, even Gallia, just stared at the dragon in silence. Finally Sailor Jupiter spoke up and asked, "Just what ARE you?"
The dragon turned it's head towards Sailor Jupiter and spoke, "An intelligent question. You might think I am but an illusion but as a famous person from this country once said, 'Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.' In some ways I am real yet unreal, but I exist enough here to effect this world. I am a dragon like none other even in places where dragons are common. I am Paradokkusu, Paradoxe, Paradoksi, Paradaxon, Paradoja and Paradossale, but I also answer to.. Paradox."
Gallia smiled triumphantly and looked up at the dragon. She commented, "Magnificent. Perhaps you have finally reached your full power, my handsome dragon." She grinned darkly at the others and said, "Now get them my pet!"
Paradox turns his head back to Gallia and responded, "Of course.. master.." in a tone that troubled Gallia slightly, but only for a moment as Paradox attacked. Without even turning he swung his tail at the senshi forcing them to duck, jump or dodge it, with Tuxedo Kamen jumping down to sweep Sailor Moon out of the way. The tail ended up crashing into the warehouse causing it to shake.
Sailor Chibi-Moon cried in fear as the building shook. She had also been on the roof with Tuxedo Kamen but had not jumped down, and with the three cats, fell flat on the roof to stop falling. The cries caused Paradox to lift his head to gaze over the side of the roof. Sailor Chibi-Moon cried, "Tuxedo Kamen!" and got up and started backpedaling with Diana jumping on her head. Meanwhile Luna and Artemis stood near the edge. Both tried to face Paradox and grab his attention as Sailor Chibi-Moon and Diana made it away.
Paradox felt a sharp rose stem hit him but it was no worse then a fly bite might be. He looked at Luna and Artemis for a moment as they stood at the railing, and in a sudden movement he bit into the building and engulfed some brick and roofing along with the two brave cats whole. He seemed to swallow for a moment before he spit the building material into the ocean, but gave no sign of Luna or Artemis. Diana meowed pitifully at the sight, as Sailor Chibi-Moon stared wide-eyed, before finally reaching a ladder down the other side. Paradox then turned his attention to the others.
Sailor Venus cried, "Artemis! You swallowed him! Venus Love Me Chain!" and pointed at Paradox. He made no move to dodge and the chain tried to wrap itself around him but could not seem to fully encircle him.
Sailor Moon pulled out the spiral heart moon rod and shouted a moment after Sailor Venus, "Rainbow Moon Heart Ache!" A large heart, made of positive energy, materialized but Paradox just grabbed it in his claws before it could reach any significant size and crushed it with little effort.
Gallia shouted at Paradox, "What are you going to do? Just sit there taking their attacks? Do something!"
Paradox looked down at the senshi for a moment then said, "As you wish.. master. I will do.. something." He then leaped up in the air and flapped his wings, which sent him flying straight up in the sky.
Gallia blinked and cursed as suddenly she was left by herself with senshi and muttered, "How annoying," but her attention was captured as a large dark grey form nose-dived towards the earth.
The senshi looked up and saw the diving form. The scattered, ducking into the warehouse, jumping into the water, or just getting away. Paradox plunged straight down to where they had been, but he didn't pull out of his dive. He instead vanished into the ground, leaving behind a form-fitting gateway, to the place of varied greys, which collapsed momentarily after he vanished.
Gallia muttered again, "Great. Now I have to track him down and show him who is boss." She then looked up as the senshi climbed back on their feet and grouped together again to face her, and told them, "I don't have time to deal with you. Next time Sailor Sissies, I will reign supreme. Paradox is mine, and with him I shall rule!" Her form then wavered for a moment and vanished as she teleported away.
Sailor Chibi-Moon quietly walked up to the others next to Tuxedo Kamen and asked, "What just happened?" a little stunned by the events.
Tuxedo Kamen answered, "I don't know Chibi-Moon, I don't know."