Sailor Moon: World Rebirth -Part 1, The Gathering
Episode 2 'An Icy Addition'
Minako woke up to find herself attached to a wall by wrist clamps and the
pain of her broken leg. "W-Where am I?"
"You're on my ship. It's just as well you woke up as I was about to break
out of here." Minako looked to her left to see Haiku chained there.
"Why? What happened?"
"Apparently, they discovered my ship a little before we disabled their's.
They transported over here to investigate. When we appeared here they
captured us quickly. I expect that they're not to happy about the fact that
their base is no longer in the sky." Minako turned her head to the right,
expecting to see Setsuna there, but instead found an empty space.
"Where's Setsuna?"
"I ...don't know. When the ship entered the atmosphere, she wasn't
transported here. She probably went down with the ship...." They held their
heads down for a minute. "Let's go." Haiku placed her middle fingers on the
chain clamps and they shattered. Then she did the same for Minako and caught
her before she hit the ground. She laid her down on the floor.
"What good am I going to do to you like this?"
"Shhh. Just don't worry about it. I'll have you fixed up in a jiff." Haiku
slipped one hand in a pocket and one on Minako's leg. There was a slight
glow from her hand as she welded the bones back together. They were really
screwed up.
"Why didn't you stop them from capturing us with your magic?"
"I used a lot of energy on the magic I used in the fortress. I had to have a
rest. There. All done." Minako was surprised that she didn't feel any pain
anymore. She moved her leg back and forth to find it in perfect working
order.
"What did you do to it?"
"It wasn't hurt very badly. Just a crack. I used some of my magic to hold it
together. Now," she took Minako's hand and pulled her up to her feet,
"Follow me." They exited the very small room and entered a room with barely
enough room for the two of them. There were doors on all four sides. To the
left, Haiku pressed a button to the side and a compartment opened. Haiku
reached onto a shelf and picked up her sword. "Now, I'm ready."
Next she opened the door in front of them. The door split in the middle and
slid aside to reveal the cockpit. There were two shadows sitting in the
three chairs arguing over what to do next. But before they could turn around
their heads, or what was supposed to be their heads, were lying on the
floor. In a few seconds their remains shriveled up into nothing. "Have a
seat," Haiku offered.
"Where are we going now?" Minako asked.
"We're going home." Haiku clicked a couple of switches on the board in front
of them and and grabbed the controls. "First we have to get up to speed so
we can break out of this reality. I suggest putting on your seat belt." Just
as Minako strapped herself down she was thrown back in her seat. As the ship
gained speed she was pressed more and more against her seat until she passed
out. Just as the ship approached the speed of light with internal dampeners
running on full, Haiku pressed a button which directed her speed in a different
way and the ship flashed out of sight.
The ship appeared in a place which looked like where they were before, only
it was transparent. Minako woke up. "Where are we now?"
"We're in the void; a place which allows you to jump to any part of the
galaxy. Where we were, was so far away from home, its sun would be a
microscopic dot in our night sky."
"How did I get so far away from home?"
"I don't know. Maybe you were captured and sent there. Someday we'll know.
Okay, get ready. We're approaching the gate home."
"But our ship isn't moving."
"But everything else is. Here we go." Haiku tilted the ship to the left a
little bit and they were surrounded by a white glow. She clicked a switch
and their ship sped off across the universe. "We'll be home in a few
minutes."
"How do we get out of the void?"
"As we near our destination we tilt more and more into the regular universe.
When we get home we'll be there."
"What are we going to do then?"
"I don't know. Finding you was supposed to lead to the next senshi. Here we
are."
As the bright white light around them settled, a planet came into view in
front of them. Only it didn't look like a planet. It was a sphere half the
size of Earth, and there were points sticking out of it on 6 sides. "That,
is Earth?"
"Not anymore. Most people call it .....Hell."
"What!?"
"Just kidding. Call it whatever you like. Now, here's how the planet works:
Each of those Command Points (mountains) sticking out from the surface has a
magic generator at the top. With all of them on, they make it possible for
life on the planet. They generate the atmosphere, which keeps all of the
life-needful gases, and keeps them from floating away into space. Around
each point there is a different physical region: Forest, desert, plains,
mountains, volcanic, and arctic. Separating all of the physical regions are
channels of water, hundreds of kilometers wide. Next to each point there is
a technological city. The residents there have all of the luxuries of
technology before rebirth, plus advances that have been created in the past
2 years. All other technology, anywhere else in the world, has been
destroyed. All except Resistance's.
"What is Resistance?"
"A bunch of people who are against whoever changed the world. Right now they
can hardly do anything. But if they can get the Sailor Senshi.... Anyway,
the rest of the people left in the world all have to live without
technology, so that means that weapons are ..different. The only force that
people can use besides that is magic, and nobody can wield the magic except
the Sailor Senshi and a few gifted others."
"Wait a minute. I thought you said that I can't use magic. I'm a Sailor
Soldier."
"NOW ENTERING EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE," the ship's computer announced.
"You'll be able to, someday. You just have to learn to use the strands of
the world for now. When the world was remade, everything was made out of
magic. There are strands of magic running through everythi-"
Suddenly the ship jerked to the left and a red light started flashing.
"We're under attack!" Haiku quickly explained.
"I see it!" Minako said. "It came from that Command Point over there." From
one of the points a blast of energy sent the ship crashing again.
"We have to get out of the skies," Haiku said. "I'm going to head for
Resistance headquarters." The ship turned away from the Command Point.
Suddenly another shot was fired and the ship was spun around and aimed
towards the Point. "Damn! Main power's out. I'm going to have to land
manually." Haiku pressed a button and two wings slid out of the sides of the
ship. Then she pressed another and out of the top of the ship, came giant
glider wings. She used the winds of the planet to glide down to the ground.
Even though it was a fairly smooth flight to the surface, it was still a
crash landing.
Only after the ship had stopped moving, did Minako open her eyes. "Did we
make it?"
Haiku was already out of the cockpit. She went into the hallway and brought
out Minako's bow. She tossed it to her. "You're going to need it," Haiku
said as she disappeared back into the hallway.
Minako pressed a button that said 'cockpit' and the top of it slid open.
They were in a field, obviously in the plains region of the world. Haiku
came back out and tossed Minako a backpack. "Attach your bow to the side and
put it on." Minako did as she was told and got out of the ship. Haiku was
already wearing a similar one. Haiku looked off towards the Command Point.
"They're going to come looking for us. I'm going to hide the ship until we
can come back and fix it." Haiku lifted a panel on the side of the ship and
started flicking switches. First the wings and the glider folded back into
the ship. Then the cockpit top closed back up again, and the thruster
openings closed up. An energy field surrounded the entire ship and it sunk
into the ground. When it was done there was no sign of the ship ever being
there. The two girls walked off across the fields.
By evening they reached a farmhouse. "I hope they're nice," Minako said.
"Don't worry. They probably are. We're too far away from the city for them
to have any alliances with it, for it's all the way on the other side of the
point. Most people in the world now are nice, because they have no reason to
be mean." Haiku patted her sword. "And if it turns out that they are
ill-intentioned, I'm sure we can take care of it." Minako followed Haiku up
to a door and Haiku knocked. A woman with shoulder-lengh blue hair opened
the door. She was wearing a long light-blue dress with an apron.
"What can I do for you?" she asked. Haiku spoke.
"Please miss, we've been walking all day and we seek a place to spend the
night." The woman looked outside to the right and then the left.
"Well, I suppose you can come in."
"Thank you." The woman stepped back into the house. She led them through the
hall which led to the right from the doorway and then into a sitting room.
On the left wall there was doorway leading off into the kitchen, and further
down the wall of which they had entered through, a hallway led backwards,
probably into bedrooms. In front of them was a long padded bench, to the
left of it was a padded chair and a footstool, and the same on the right. In
the middle of the room was a table. Sitting on the bench was a man in his
mid-twenties.
"Visitors, my dear?" he said. "Well come on in, don't be shy." The woman sat
down on the bench beside the man, and Minako and Haiku sat at the sides.
"What do you seek? You must have some interesting stories. We don't get very
many visitors through these parts."
"We're just traveling the world. Just seeking adventure." It seemed that the
woman was bored with this silly talk.
"Bulls**t," she said. "You're not packed for traveling. If you were you'd
have horses. These plains go on forever, or at least they seem to. I know
this world too well. There's no way you could have gotten this far on foot."
The man became serious.
"Yes, I suppose so." he said. "My wife always knows how to ruin a friendly
conversation but she is right. No one passes through here without a reason,
for there is not much of anything here."
Minako was about to say something but Haiku began first. "How can we talk of
travels when we don't even know who you are, kind sir?"
"Yes. I'm sorry. I'm Sean Cradison and this is my wife-"
"Mizuno Ami," Minako interrupted.
"No," Sean corrected. "Kate."
"Who are you?" Kate asked curiously and suspiciously. Minako jumped up and
ran over to Kate. She wrapped her arms around her.
"Don't hide it. I know it's you Ami. I can see it in your eyes. You're
right. There was a reason for us to come through here."
"Kate, who is this woman? Why is she calling you Ami?"
"Don't worry Sean. This is ....Minako." Ami looked back at the girl hugging
her. "Mina? But you look so different. With your hair short and everything.
I didn't recognize you..."
"And you too Ami. Your hair is longer now."
"Oh I'm so glad to see you. I thought I had lost everyone, but now you're
here -so there's hope again." Ami was getting excited.
"Settle down dear. What is going on. Who is 'everyone'."
"Sorry Sean there's something I didn't tell you about my past. I wasn't just
another high school girl. And my name isn't Kate. My name is Ami. I was
Sailor Mercury, and I was there when 'it' happened. I was in the last line
of defence. After the first stages of rebirth I found myself all alone. I
thought I was stuck that way. But then you came along. I wanted to forget
everything that had happened; start a new life. And I did. It is wonderful.
This is Aino Minako, Sailor Venus, but I've never seen this other woman
before in my life. Is that better?" Sean was speechless, taking everything
in. Ami turned to Haiku. "But who are you?"
"I'm Haiku, for now. My mission is to have the senshi together by The
Gathering."
"You're going to have to go aren't you," Sean said aloud. Ami thought about
it for a minute.
"Yes I believe I'll have to."
"I understand. I'll always be behind you. It's getting late, I'll go call
Craig in." Sean got up and walked into the kitchen.
"Ami, who's Craig?" Minako asked.
"He's my son."
"In just two years!?"
"No, of course not. Craig is really Sean's son. His wife passed away during
the darkness."
"The darkness?" Minako asked.
Haiku pulled Minako away for a moment. Quietly she said to Minako, "The
darkness was the first 6 months after the world was reborn because it took
that long for the world to be rebuilt. Things were really hard because the
Earth's surface was always changing when the One was experimenting. Everyone
had to endure many hardships during that time. It's something people wish to
forget about."
"I see you've spent your spare time well," Haiku commented turning away from
Minako.
"What do you mean?" Ami asked.
"This," Haiku waved her hand and Ami started to glow light blue, but it
flickered.
"Oh that. My 'aura'. I've seen it. It wasn't very hard to figure out, but
it's very weak, and the backlash always wipes me out for days." Haiku stood
up and held her hand out to Ami and Ami took it. Haiku's aura started to
glow, but unlike Ami's, it was pink and glowing steady. Haiku closed her
eyes and her aura brightened. Ami's stabilized. They let go of each other's
hands and the auras faded.
"Did-did you fix my backlash problems?"
"No. Sorry. Backlash protection is a natural ability that you can be born
with, learn to develop over a long period of time, or adapt. I had to learn
over time. Let's just say....you're powers were in a hole and I threw down a
ladder."
Suddenly there was a scream from outside. "Oh dear," exclaimed Ami. The
three ran outside to find a party of 20 monsters using Craig to make Sean
talk to them.
"Retlocs," Haiku whispered for mostly Minako's benefit. "Demons formed at
the rebirth. They do the dirty work for the Creators." The retlocs looked
like a cross between a bull dog, a wolf, a vampire, and a man. They were
pretty dam ugly. "And if you're wondering, 'Creator' is the name that the
beings that control the Command Points have given themselves. No one has
ever seen a Creator, but there are plenty of stories about how they look and
act. Even Resistance has minimal information about them."
So far the retlocs hadn't noticed them yet. Mina strung her bow and Haiku
unsheathed her sword. Ami crouched down out of plain sight. By the time that
Haiku had taken her first strike, Mina had already dispatched three. Haiku
swung in a downwards, diagonal arc, slitting two stomachs. When the retlocs
were dispatched they burst into clouds of smoke. Ami tried to form a
fireball but just succeeded in burning a few of her fingers. Another retloc
fell to an arrow and another to a blade. By now the remaining retlocs had
realized they were in danger. The leader tried to send a mental message to
the Creator but got its head removed first.
The two that were holding Craig threw him to the ground. Sean ran over to him
Ami grabbed some strands of magic that passed them and formed a protective dome
around them. An idea sprung in her head and she began to weave strands together.
The narrator contacts you telepathically. In this world everything is
made up of magic. There are strands flowing everywhere and through
everything. People who have the gift, like the Sailor Senshi can grab these
strands and form them into temporary magical things like fireballs and
shields. This enables them to not to have to use their own energy up. The
only negative side to this is the backlash. Backlash is where the used
strands decide to go back to where they originated. Unfortunately, they have
to go back through the person who used them first and that causes physical
harm. If one of the senshi is transformed they feel nothing but if they
aren't, the backlash can be incredibly powerful, even enough to kill...
One of the retlocs shot a bolt of energy at Minako. She was fumbling with an
arrow and didn't see it coming. It hit her and she experienced a jolt of
extreme pain throughout her body.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh"
"Mina!" Haiku cried and looked towards her. It distracted her long enough
for a retloc to touch her. She got a shock and it lost its arm. Fortunately
she had a stronger resistance to magic than Minako and was only thrown to
the ground.
Ami was almost finished when Minako and Haiku fell. Haiku started to get
back up. "No. Stay down." Ami yelled to her and nearly lost her
concentration. Haiku was about to argue but when she saw the strain on Ami's
face and realized what Ami was about to try to do she stopped herself.
Instead she started to weave a few strands of magic of her own around
herself as she stayed low and dodged the retlocs. She didn't know how well
Ami's control was going to be, and she didn't want to take any chances with
that kind of power. Because she was trying to do two different things at the
same time, she didn't see the retloc charging her from the side. It burst
into a cloud of smoke in her face. Minako was back on her feet. Ami was
finished her spell and faced the remaining retlocs. Haiku threw up her
magical shield and plucked a strand that sent Minako flying back a few feet to the ground.
Ami released her delicate weaved magic and gave it an original name for old
times sake.
"Mercury Polar Ice Sheet FREEZE!!!"
A wave of ice shot in all directions away from Ami through the retlocs,
freezing them solid and everything around them.
The shields surrounding Haiku, Sean, and Craig were coated with
a couple inches of ice. Haiku was right about Ami's control because the ice wave
continued on and froze a barn. Then the strands of magic broke apart and
flung themselves back towards where they originated. Unfortunately, first
they had to go through Ami. Not wanting to face backlash that could very
well kill her, Ami threw up her arms to cover her face, and prayed that the
strands would stop. The magic stopped just outside of her body, and drew
itself all around her.
'Yes!' Haiku thought. 'She repelled it. Now come on Ami, finish the job.'
Ami fell to her knees, being crushed from the magic's powerful inward force.
Haiku's words about backlash repeated through her head. "It's a natural
force ...... you can either be born with it, learn to develop it, or adapt."
Adapt? Adapt to what? Isn't that the same as develop? Oh I get it! Adapt!
That's it!
Ami fed a little of the magic surrounding her body , into her body,
willfully, and kept it there. She smiled and was able to stand up, realizing
that she was right. She proceeded to absorb all of the magic into her body,
and not let it leave. Her aura appeared and was glowing very brightly; so
brightly that Haiku had to look away from it. A circle formed on the ground
around Ami, and then it shot up in the air as a seemingly endless beam of light,
engulfing Ami. The beam took on the illusion of it being a stream of water.
"Well, if we're going to alert the Creator," Haiku said to no one in
particular, "We might as well do a good job of it and make a good first
impression."
Ami held her arms out and she floated up to a couple of feet in the air
above the ground. Her clothes shredded and underneath she was wearing her
super sailor fuku. Her tiara shattered and the symbol of Mercury shined on
her forehead. First her skirt went white, and three lines drew themselves
across the bottom. Navy blue, light blue, and navy again. On her gloves blue
bracelets appeared at her wrists, (like eternal sailor moon) but the ends of
the gloves stayed at her elbows. Her collar went white when her skirt did
and had two lines running along the sides, one navy blue and the other light
blue. Both of her bows became a transparent light blue. The bottom sides of
her back bow lengthened until they were hanging just above her feet and
turned transparent. The top parts were left at about half of that length.
Her boots went white also and then had symbols of mercury at their tops.
There was a navy blue ribbon from her choker to the bottom of her skirt, and
then two more at her sides from the top of her skirt to just above the
ground.(Also kind of like ESM). The button in the middle of of her front bow
changed into a six pointed star. Her back button turned into a six pointed
star too. Her tiara didn't reform, and she was left with a blue symbol of
Mercury in the middle of her forehead. Eternal Sailor Mercury was born.
The beam of light which right now looked like water, shimmered back to a
beam of light, set Ami back on the ground, then burst, sending light blue
light flying for hundreds of miles around. The light subsided in a few
seconds. The shield around Craig and Sean dropped and they ran to Sailor
Mercury. Haiku took this as an opportunity to shatter the frozen retlocs.
The others were gaping at Ami's transformation. Sailor Mercury was quickly
explaining to Sean and Craig about how she had been a Sailor Senshi before
rebirth. Haiku came up to them. "Congratulations Ami," she said. "I knew you
could do it. Now, do you have any horses?"
"Horses? Why?"
"Well, maybe because we're all in extreme danger unless we get the hell away
from here. There was no way the Creator didn't notice that surge of energy.
It'll send demons that make retlocs look like teddy bears." Ami's sailor
fuku flashed and then she was wearing the same clothes she was before. She
took charge.
"Sure. We have plenty of horses. Sean, go choose five of our best horses.
Craig, you help your father, I'll go prepare our packs and change into
something appropriate for travelling. You two," she said pointing to the
others, "can help me pack and restore your own, and you can tell me how you
came to end up here."
An hour later they were all packed and ready to go. Ami took Sean to the
side. "Listen Sean, I need you and Craig to go to a neighbour's and just lay
low for a while. There are going to be people looking for us."
"Aren't we all going together?"
"No, sorry. I have a job to do. And when it's done, I'll come home." They
embraced.
"Alright. I understand. Good luck." They got on to their horses and Sean and
Craig rode off towards their nearest neighbour. It was getting dark now.
Minako pointed her horse towards the boundaries of the region and was about
take off when Haiku asked her where she was going.
"Aren't we getting out of here?" Minako asked.
"No, that's what the Creator will expect us to do. We're going to head
towards the city and find out what people thought about that blast. Come
on."
The three friends rode off towards the Command Point.
Episode 2 'An Icy Addition'
Minako woke up to find herself attached to a wall by wrist clamps and the
pain of her broken leg. "W-Where am I?"
"You're on my ship. It's just as well you woke up as I was about to break
out of here." Minako looked to her left to see Haiku chained there.
"Why? What happened?"
"Apparently, they discovered my ship a little before we disabled their's.
They transported over here to investigate. When we appeared here they
captured us quickly. I expect that they're not to happy about the fact that
their base is no longer in the sky." Minako turned her head to the right,
expecting to see Setsuna there, but instead found an empty space.
"Where's Setsuna?"
"I ...don't know. When the ship entered the atmosphere, she wasn't
transported here. She probably went down with the ship...." They held their
heads down for a minute. "Let's go." Haiku placed her middle fingers on the
chain clamps and they shattered. Then she did the same for Minako and caught
her before she hit the ground. She laid her down on the floor.
"What good am I going to do to you like this?"
"Shhh. Just don't worry about it. I'll have you fixed up in a jiff." Haiku
slipped one hand in a pocket and one on Minako's leg. There was a slight
glow from her hand as she welded the bones back together. They were really
screwed up.
"Why didn't you stop them from capturing us with your magic?"
"I used a lot of energy on the magic I used in the fortress. I had to have a
rest. There. All done." Minako was surprised that she didn't feel any pain
anymore. She moved her leg back and forth to find it in perfect working
order.
"What did you do to it?"
"It wasn't hurt very badly. Just a crack. I used some of my magic to hold it
together. Now," she took Minako's hand and pulled her up to her feet,
"Follow me." They exited the very small room and entered a room with barely
enough room for the two of them. There were doors on all four sides. To the
left, Haiku pressed a button to the side and a compartment opened. Haiku
reached onto a shelf and picked up her sword. "Now, I'm ready."
Next she opened the door in front of them. The door split in the middle and
slid aside to reveal the cockpit. There were two shadows sitting in the
three chairs arguing over what to do next. But before they could turn around
their heads, or what was supposed to be their heads, were lying on the
floor. In a few seconds their remains shriveled up into nothing. "Have a
seat," Haiku offered.
"Where are we going now?" Minako asked.
"We're going home." Haiku clicked a couple of switches on the board in front
of them and and grabbed the controls. "First we have to get up to speed so
we can break out of this reality. I suggest putting on your seat belt." Just
as Minako strapped herself down she was thrown back in her seat. As the ship
gained speed she was pressed more and more against her seat until she passed
out. Just as the ship approached the speed of light with internal dampeners
running on full, Haiku pressed a button which directed her speed in a different
way and the ship flashed out of sight.
The ship appeared in a place which looked like where they were before, only
it was transparent. Minako woke up. "Where are we now?"
"We're in the void; a place which allows you to jump to any part of the
galaxy. Where we were, was so far away from home, its sun would be a
microscopic dot in our night sky."
"How did I get so far away from home?"
"I don't know. Maybe you were captured and sent there. Someday we'll know.
Okay, get ready. We're approaching the gate home."
"But our ship isn't moving."
"But everything else is. Here we go." Haiku tilted the ship to the left a
little bit and they were surrounded by a white glow. She clicked a switch
and their ship sped off across the universe. "We'll be home in a few
minutes."
"How do we get out of the void?"
"As we near our destination we tilt more and more into the regular universe.
When we get home we'll be there."
"What are we going to do then?"
"I don't know. Finding you was supposed to lead to the next senshi. Here we
are."
As the bright white light around them settled, a planet came into view in
front of them. Only it didn't look like a planet. It was a sphere half the
size of Earth, and there were points sticking out of it on 6 sides. "That,
is Earth?"
"Not anymore. Most people call it .....Hell."
"What!?"
"Just kidding. Call it whatever you like. Now, here's how the planet works:
Each of those Command Points (mountains) sticking out from the surface has a
magic generator at the top. With all of them on, they make it possible for
life on the planet. They generate the atmosphere, which keeps all of the
life-needful gases, and keeps them from floating away into space. Around
each point there is a different physical region: Forest, desert, plains,
mountains, volcanic, and arctic. Separating all of the physical regions are
channels of water, hundreds of kilometers wide. Next to each point there is
a technological city. The residents there have all of the luxuries of
technology before rebirth, plus advances that have been created in the past
2 years. All other technology, anywhere else in the world, has been
destroyed. All except Resistance's.
"What is Resistance?"
"A bunch of people who are against whoever changed the world. Right now they
can hardly do anything. But if they can get the Sailor Senshi.... Anyway,
the rest of the people left in the world all have to live without
technology, so that means that weapons are ..different. The only force that
people can use besides that is magic, and nobody can wield the magic except
the Sailor Senshi and a few gifted others."
"Wait a minute. I thought you said that I can't use magic. I'm a Sailor
Soldier."
"NOW ENTERING EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE," the ship's computer announced.
"You'll be able to, someday. You just have to learn to use the strands of
the world for now. When the world was remade, everything was made out of
magic. There are strands of magic running through everythi-"
Suddenly the ship jerked to the left and a red light started flashing.
"We're under attack!" Haiku quickly explained.
"I see it!" Minako said. "It came from that Command Point over there." From
one of the points a blast of energy sent the ship crashing again.
"We have to get out of the skies," Haiku said. "I'm going to head for
Resistance headquarters." The ship turned away from the Command Point.
Suddenly another shot was fired and the ship was spun around and aimed
towards the Point. "Damn! Main power's out. I'm going to have to land
manually." Haiku pressed a button and two wings slid out of the sides of the
ship. Then she pressed another and out of the top of the ship, came giant
glider wings. She used the winds of the planet to glide down to the ground.
Even though it was a fairly smooth flight to the surface, it was still a
crash landing.
Only after the ship had stopped moving, did Minako open her eyes. "Did we
make it?"
Haiku was already out of the cockpit. She went into the hallway and brought
out Minako's bow. She tossed it to her. "You're going to need it," Haiku
said as she disappeared back into the hallway.
Minako pressed a button that said 'cockpit' and the top of it slid open.
They were in a field, obviously in the plains region of the world. Haiku
came back out and tossed Minako a backpack. "Attach your bow to the side and
put it on." Minako did as she was told and got out of the ship. Haiku was
already wearing a similar one. Haiku looked off towards the Command Point.
"They're going to come looking for us. I'm going to hide the ship until we
can come back and fix it." Haiku lifted a panel on the side of the ship and
started flicking switches. First the wings and the glider folded back into
the ship. Then the cockpit top closed back up again, and the thruster
openings closed up. An energy field surrounded the entire ship and it sunk
into the ground. When it was done there was no sign of the ship ever being
there. The two girls walked off across the fields.
By evening they reached a farmhouse. "I hope they're nice," Minako said.
"Don't worry. They probably are. We're too far away from the city for them
to have any alliances with it, for it's all the way on the other side of the
point. Most people in the world now are nice, because they have no reason to
be mean." Haiku patted her sword. "And if it turns out that they are
ill-intentioned, I'm sure we can take care of it." Minako followed Haiku up
to a door and Haiku knocked. A woman with shoulder-lengh blue hair opened
the door. She was wearing a long light-blue dress with an apron.
"What can I do for you?" she asked. Haiku spoke.
"Please miss, we've been walking all day and we seek a place to spend the
night." The woman looked outside to the right and then the left.
"Well, I suppose you can come in."
"Thank you." The woman stepped back into the house. She led them through the
hall which led to the right from the doorway and then into a sitting room.
On the left wall there was doorway leading off into the kitchen, and further
down the wall of which they had entered through, a hallway led backwards,
probably into bedrooms. In front of them was a long padded bench, to the
left of it was a padded chair and a footstool, and the same on the right. In
the middle of the room was a table. Sitting on the bench was a man in his
mid-twenties.
"Visitors, my dear?" he said. "Well come on in, don't be shy." The woman sat
down on the bench beside the man, and Minako and Haiku sat at the sides.
"What do you seek? You must have some interesting stories. We don't get very
many visitors through these parts."
"We're just traveling the world. Just seeking adventure." It seemed that the
woman was bored with this silly talk.
"Bulls**t," she said. "You're not packed for traveling. If you were you'd
have horses. These plains go on forever, or at least they seem to. I know
this world too well. There's no way you could have gotten this far on foot."
The man became serious.
"Yes, I suppose so." he said. "My wife always knows how to ruin a friendly
conversation but she is right. No one passes through here without a reason,
for there is not much of anything here."
Minako was about to say something but Haiku began first. "How can we talk of
travels when we don't even know who you are, kind sir?"
"Yes. I'm sorry. I'm Sean Cradison and this is my wife-"
"Mizuno Ami," Minako interrupted.
"No," Sean corrected. "Kate."
"Who are you?" Kate asked curiously and suspiciously. Minako jumped up and
ran over to Kate. She wrapped her arms around her.
"Don't hide it. I know it's you Ami. I can see it in your eyes. You're
right. There was a reason for us to come through here."
"Kate, who is this woman? Why is she calling you Ami?"
"Don't worry Sean. This is ....Minako." Ami looked back at the girl hugging
her. "Mina? But you look so different. With your hair short and everything.
I didn't recognize you..."
"And you too Ami. Your hair is longer now."
"Oh I'm so glad to see you. I thought I had lost everyone, but now you're
here -so there's hope again." Ami was getting excited.
"Settle down dear. What is going on. Who is 'everyone'."
"Sorry Sean there's something I didn't tell you about my past. I wasn't just
another high school girl. And my name isn't Kate. My name is Ami. I was
Sailor Mercury, and I was there when 'it' happened. I was in the last line
of defence. After the first stages of rebirth I found myself all alone. I
thought I was stuck that way. But then you came along. I wanted to forget
everything that had happened; start a new life. And I did. It is wonderful.
This is Aino Minako, Sailor Venus, but I've never seen this other woman
before in my life. Is that better?" Sean was speechless, taking everything
in. Ami turned to Haiku. "But who are you?"
"I'm Haiku, for now. My mission is to have the senshi together by The
Gathering."
"You're going to have to go aren't you," Sean said aloud. Ami thought about
it for a minute.
"Yes I believe I'll have to."
"I understand. I'll always be behind you. It's getting late, I'll go call
Craig in." Sean got up and walked into the kitchen.
"Ami, who's Craig?" Minako asked.
"He's my son."
"In just two years!?"
"No, of course not. Craig is really Sean's son. His wife passed away during
the darkness."
"The darkness?" Minako asked.
Haiku pulled Minako away for a moment. Quietly she said to Minako, "The
darkness was the first 6 months after the world was reborn because it took
that long for the world to be rebuilt. Things were really hard because the
Earth's surface was always changing when the One was experimenting. Everyone
had to endure many hardships during that time. It's something people wish to
forget about."
"I see you've spent your spare time well," Haiku commented turning away from
Minako.
"What do you mean?" Ami asked.
"This," Haiku waved her hand and Ami started to glow light blue, but it
flickered.
"Oh that. My 'aura'. I've seen it. It wasn't very hard to figure out, but
it's very weak, and the backlash always wipes me out for days." Haiku stood
up and held her hand out to Ami and Ami took it. Haiku's aura started to
glow, but unlike Ami's, it was pink and glowing steady. Haiku closed her
eyes and her aura brightened. Ami's stabilized. They let go of each other's
hands and the auras faded.
"Did-did you fix my backlash problems?"
"No. Sorry. Backlash protection is a natural ability that you can be born
with, learn to develop over a long period of time, or adapt. I had to learn
over time. Let's just say....you're powers were in a hole and I threw down a
ladder."
Suddenly there was a scream from outside. "Oh dear," exclaimed Ami. The
three ran outside to find a party of 20 monsters using Craig to make Sean
talk to them.
"Retlocs," Haiku whispered for mostly Minako's benefit. "Demons formed at
the rebirth. They do the dirty work for the Creators." The retlocs looked
like a cross between a bull dog, a wolf, a vampire, and a man. They were
pretty dam ugly. "And if you're wondering, 'Creator' is the name that the
beings that control the Command Points have given themselves. No one has
ever seen a Creator, but there are plenty of stories about how they look and
act. Even Resistance has minimal information about them."
So far the retlocs hadn't noticed them yet. Mina strung her bow and Haiku
unsheathed her sword. Ami crouched down out of plain sight. By the time that
Haiku had taken her first strike, Mina had already dispatched three. Haiku
swung in a downwards, diagonal arc, slitting two stomachs. When the retlocs
were dispatched they burst into clouds of smoke. Ami tried to form a
fireball but just succeeded in burning a few of her fingers. Another retloc
fell to an arrow and another to a blade. By now the remaining retlocs had
realized they were in danger. The leader tried to send a mental message to
the Creator but got its head removed first.
The two that were holding Craig threw him to the ground. Sean ran over to him
Ami grabbed some strands of magic that passed them and formed a protective dome
around them. An idea sprung in her head and she began to weave strands together.
The narrator contacts you telepathically. In this world everything is
made up of magic. There are strands flowing everywhere and through
everything. People who have the gift, like the Sailor Senshi can grab these
strands and form them into temporary magical things like fireballs and
shields. This enables them to not to have to use their own energy up. The
only negative side to this is the backlash. Backlash is where the used
strands decide to go back to where they originated. Unfortunately, they have
to go back through the person who used them first and that causes physical
harm. If one of the senshi is transformed they feel nothing but if they
aren't, the backlash can be incredibly powerful, even enough to kill...
One of the retlocs shot a bolt of energy at Minako. She was fumbling with an
arrow and didn't see it coming. It hit her and she experienced a jolt of
extreme pain throughout her body.
"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh"
"Mina!" Haiku cried and looked towards her. It distracted her long enough
for a retloc to touch her. She got a shock and it lost its arm. Fortunately
she had a stronger resistance to magic than Minako and was only thrown to
the ground.
Ami was almost finished when Minako and Haiku fell. Haiku started to get
back up. "No. Stay down." Ami yelled to her and nearly lost her
concentration. Haiku was about to argue but when she saw the strain on Ami's
face and realized what Ami was about to try to do she stopped herself.
Instead she started to weave a few strands of magic of her own around
herself as she stayed low and dodged the retlocs. She didn't know how well
Ami's control was going to be, and she didn't want to take any chances with
that kind of power. Because she was trying to do two different things at the
same time, she didn't see the retloc charging her from the side. It burst
into a cloud of smoke in her face. Minako was back on her feet. Ami was
finished her spell and faced the remaining retlocs. Haiku threw up her
magical shield and plucked a strand that sent Minako flying back a few feet to the ground.
Ami released her delicate weaved magic and gave it an original name for old
times sake.
"Mercury Polar Ice Sheet FREEZE!!!"
A wave of ice shot in all directions away from Ami through the retlocs,
freezing them solid and everything around them.
The shields surrounding Haiku, Sean, and Craig were coated with
a couple inches of ice. Haiku was right about Ami's control because the ice wave
continued on and froze a barn. Then the strands of magic broke apart and
flung themselves back towards where they originated. Unfortunately, first
they had to go through Ami. Not wanting to face backlash that could very
well kill her, Ami threw up her arms to cover her face, and prayed that the
strands would stop. The magic stopped just outside of her body, and drew
itself all around her.
'Yes!' Haiku thought. 'She repelled it. Now come on Ami, finish the job.'
Ami fell to her knees, being crushed from the magic's powerful inward force.
Haiku's words about backlash repeated through her head. "It's a natural
force ...... you can either be born with it, learn to develop it, or adapt."
Adapt? Adapt to what? Isn't that the same as develop? Oh I get it! Adapt!
That's it!
Ami fed a little of the magic surrounding her body , into her body,
willfully, and kept it there. She smiled and was able to stand up, realizing
that she was right. She proceeded to absorb all of the magic into her body,
and not let it leave. Her aura appeared and was glowing very brightly; so
brightly that Haiku had to look away from it. A circle formed on the ground
around Ami, and then it shot up in the air as a seemingly endless beam of light,
engulfing Ami. The beam took on the illusion of it being a stream of water.
"Well, if we're going to alert the Creator," Haiku said to no one in
particular, "We might as well do a good job of it and make a good first
impression."
Ami held her arms out and she floated up to a couple of feet in the air
above the ground. Her clothes shredded and underneath she was wearing her
super sailor fuku. Her tiara shattered and the symbol of Mercury shined on
her forehead. First her skirt went white, and three lines drew themselves
across the bottom. Navy blue, light blue, and navy again. On her gloves blue
bracelets appeared at her wrists, (like eternal sailor moon) but the ends of
the gloves stayed at her elbows. Her collar went white when her skirt did
and had two lines running along the sides, one navy blue and the other light
blue. Both of her bows became a transparent light blue. The bottom sides of
her back bow lengthened until they were hanging just above her feet and
turned transparent. The top parts were left at about half of that length.
Her boots went white also and then had symbols of mercury at their tops.
There was a navy blue ribbon from her choker to the bottom of her skirt, and
then two more at her sides from the top of her skirt to just above the
ground.(Also kind of like ESM). The button in the middle of of her front bow
changed into a six pointed star. Her back button turned into a six pointed
star too. Her tiara didn't reform, and she was left with a blue symbol of
Mercury in the middle of her forehead. Eternal Sailor Mercury was born.
The beam of light which right now looked like water, shimmered back to a
beam of light, set Ami back on the ground, then burst, sending light blue
light flying for hundreds of miles around. The light subsided in a few
seconds. The shield around Craig and Sean dropped and they ran to Sailor
Mercury. Haiku took this as an opportunity to shatter the frozen retlocs.
The others were gaping at Ami's transformation. Sailor Mercury was quickly
explaining to Sean and Craig about how she had been a Sailor Senshi before
rebirth. Haiku came up to them. "Congratulations Ami," she said. "I knew you
could do it. Now, do you have any horses?"
"Horses? Why?"
"Well, maybe because we're all in extreme danger unless we get the hell away
from here. There was no way the Creator didn't notice that surge of energy.
It'll send demons that make retlocs look like teddy bears." Ami's sailor
fuku flashed and then she was wearing the same clothes she was before. She
took charge.
"Sure. We have plenty of horses. Sean, go choose five of our best horses.
Craig, you help your father, I'll go prepare our packs and change into
something appropriate for travelling. You two," she said pointing to the
others, "can help me pack and restore your own, and you can tell me how you
came to end up here."
An hour later they were all packed and ready to go. Ami took Sean to the
side. "Listen Sean, I need you and Craig to go to a neighbour's and just lay
low for a while. There are going to be people looking for us."
"Aren't we all going together?"
"No, sorry. I have a job to do. And when it's done, I'll come home." They
embraced.
"Alright. I understand. Good luck." They got on to their horses and Sean and
Craig rode off towards their nearest neighbour. It was getting dark now.
Minako pointed her horse towards the boundaries of the region and was about
take off when Haiku asked her where she was going.
"Aren't we getting out of here?" Minako asked.
"No, that's what the Creator will expect us to do. We're going to head
towards the city and find out what people thought about that blast. Come
on."
The three friends rode off towards the Command Point.