Sailor Moon: World Rebirth -Part 1, The Gathering
Episode 4 'Forest Ally'
The leaves on the trees waved back and forth, and up and down, welcoming
their new visitors. After a good night's sleep Haiku, Ami, and Minako were
ready to continue their journey, which was now mainly walking through the
forest. "So what exactly do we have to do?" asked Minako.
"Well, first we have to gather all of your friends," answered Haiku.
"How are we supposed to search the entire world for less than 10 people?"
"The world isn't really that big Mina," Ami said.
"The world is only about half the size it was, and over 80% of its surface
is water." Haiku continued. Ami stopped.
"Haiku, then wouldn't the gravity be lower or is that controlled with
magic?"
"Magic."
"Still, we can't barge into the command points whenever we want to travel to
a new region," Minako said.
"Someday, when things quiet down a little in Kaipo we'll go back and pick up
my ship. Until then ..." Haiku said.
"You know," Ami mentioned, "There are ships that travel from continent to
continent. We can always try to get aboard some of those." As they were
talking the forest began to get denser and denser. Eventually all that they
could see were the plants standing right in front of them.
"How are we supposed to find anything in this mess?" Minako whined. "We need
to find some kind of path. I don't even know which way is which and the bugs
are killing me." Minako slapped a big bug on her cheek and it splattered
blood all over her. "Yuck!"
A few minutes later they heard growling."W-What is that?" Minako asked.
"Oh I'm sure there are some creatures lurking in the forest wanting to eat
us," answered Haiku calmly. Minako got a worried look on her face.
"Stop scaring her, Haiku. I think I've found a path," Ami said. Haiku put an
innocent look on her face as Ami led them to the right a little where they
reached a path. It looked fairly well used, but it twisted so much it was
impossible to tell whether it travelled in a straight line or not. A couple
of hours later Haiku came up beside Ami and whispered in her ear.
"There's someone following us."
"I know. Ever since we started on the path. What do you think?"
"I'm not sure. It hasn't shown itself yet so maybe it isn't a threat."
"We can only hope..."
Our heroines followed the path for the rest of the day, just stopping to
rest and eat. It wasn't until that evening when the trouble started. They
were looking for a place to spend the night. Or at least Ami and Haiku were.
Minako was just complaining. "What makes you think we're going to find
someone in a forest like this?" She was basically talking to herself.
They were entering a bulge in the path when two creatures appeared at the
point where it narrowed back in. There were a couple more behind them too.
Haiku unsheathed her sword. Ami formed a barrier around Minako and herself.
The creatures had four legs and a ferocious mouth. That was all you needed
to know about them. Except the fact that they were a dark red colour.
Probably so that blood stains wouldn't show.
One of the front ones leapt at Haiku and she gave it a good deep gash across
its jaw which effectively stunned it for a moment. It was finished with an
arrow down the throat from Minako. The two creatures behind them just
crashed into Ami's barrier. Back in front where Haiku had slain one another
one just took its place. The dead one slouched to the ground.
"Haiku, help me." Haiku turned around to see the magic threads forming Ami's
shield disappearing. "I can't hold it." Ami didn't have enough threads to
last for much longer. The creatures seemed to be feeding off of the shield's
magical energy.
"Transform, Ami."
"But I don't have a stick."
"Touch your forehead." Haiku didn't have time to explain as she was
assaulted by both creatures in front of them at once. Ami touched her
forehead and the symbol of mercury appeared on it. A copy of it floated out
of her forehead and stopped in front of her face where she could see it. A
circle formed around it. The circle became a 3d block and a handle formed
below it. A six pointed star formed around the circle. The circle was a
light transparent blue with a white symbol of mercury on inside it. The star
was blue and so was the handle. A circle, a very simple symbol of eternity
formed around the sign of Mercury. She held it high.
"Mercury Eternal, Unite!" The transformation was the same as always except
when it reached the part where her suit formed and she was underwater, the
water froze, then shattered. The transformation continued, only her fuku had
the new adaptions. The magic barrier collapsed but a flash of light blinded
everything. "FREEZE!" When next anyone could see, the four creatures were
frozen solid. Haiku shattered them with her sword. Ten more of the creatures
appeared to their sides. Haiku grabbed Minako and lined her and herself up
infront of Sailor Mercury. Sailor Mercury held up her arms to the sides.
"Mercury Polar Ice Sheet FREEZE!" A wave of ice burst from each of Ami's
arms and froze all ten of the creatures. All it took was the planet's
gravity to shatter them. Unlike at the farm, this time only a little bit of
the surrounding area was frozen.
Then a new creature appeared above them, above all of the trees. As it
descended, any parts of the trees that touched it turned black and either
dissolved into dust or fell to the ground or both. It was about twelve feet
tall. The top half was a body, four arms and a head. The lower half was a
swirling mass of hundreds of tentacles. It was a pale green. It landed to
their side. "FREEZE!" A beam shot out of Sailor Mercury's finger and froze a
tentacle. The thing just shattered its own tentacle. Then it touched a tree
resulting in the tree turning black, and it grew a new tentacle.
"Mercury Polar Ice Sheet FREEZE!" When the wave of ice reached the creature
it just disappeared.
"No! Where did it go?" cried Minako. Ami dodged a tentacle being shot at
her.
"It must have been absorbed." She was able to dodge a few more before one
grabbed her. Haiku was able to chop off a few tentacles before one grabbed
her. Minako attempted to run away without success. The creature began
draining their energy. Ami's transformation reversed. It seemed like there
was no escape.
"BLAZE!" A beam shot out of some of the trees and shot right through all
three tentacles. The stubs remaining caught on fire and burned up. Haiku
looked towards where the beam came from but saw nothing. Then, when another
shot came she saw it. It was from some person crouched down at the edge of the
clearing. The colour of their clothes allowed them to blend in with the plants. "BLAZE!" The next shot
blew a hole through the creature's chest. It screamed in pain. The person
ran out of the forest and grabbed Haiku's hand. "Come on. We've got to get
out of here." Haiku saw that it was a girl about 17 or 18 years old. She
turned around and took one more shot at the creature. This time she shot a
hole through its head.
She pulled Haiku into the forest and Minako and Ami followed. Haiku was able
to get a good look at her now. She was wearing a suit that was the same
colour as the leaves of the bushes around them. She had black hair that was
done up in two ponytails near the top of her head. Then the two ponytails
had their ends going back up through her hairbands up and then hanging down
so that each one was a loop and then the end of the hair. It seemed like a
good way to keep long hair from getting in the way and getting caught on
things. She was also wearing a hankerchief over it the same colour as her
suit. "What was that?"
"It was a Nega-Essence. It drains life energy. It's practically impossible
to kill and can adapt to absorb all different kinds of energy. The blood
hounds are its scouts."
"Where are we going?" The girl looked back at Haiku and Haiku saw that she
was terrified.
"Run. Run and hope that it doesn't regenerate fast enough to chase us." This
girl must have faced this creature before.
"I think it has given up on us," Ami called from the back. Haiku had to stop
and pull to get the young woman to stop. "Thanks for saving us. What's your
name?"
"My ...name? I don't remember what my name is. Everyone calls me Miki though."
"Why don't you remember?"
"After the cataclysm,"
Haiku turned to the other two. "There's a name for it, cataclysm."
"I lost my memory of everything that ever happened to me. All I know is
what's happened to me since. Which is not very much I'll tell ya."
"Why, what happened to you?"
"Well, I don't usually talk to strangers but I feel I can trust you. After
that fateful day I found myself wandering in these forests. I didn't know
who I was, or where I was. The only thing I had that was a clue to who I was
was this." She held up a red stick that fit in her hand with just a
transparent red 3d block circle on the top. "I came across some other people
and we lived together here for about two months. That's when HE showed up.
He just waltzed up to us one day and said that now we all belonged to him.
He made a fortress temple appear in the middle of the fortress and said that
we were all now servants to him. Of course, we could do nothing to stop him.
Any who stood against him were killed by his death knights. If he didn't
have them we might have had a chance to fight back him. None of us have
weapons so we're no match for their blades. Someone killed one of the
knights though, a while back, and his life ended there. All HE did was make
another knight appear. Right out of nothing. He must have an endless supply.
And that's just about my life story. He calls us great servants but we're
nothing more than slaves. He calls himself the Lord protector of the Forests
of Toria. We're just allowed to leave the temple to hunt for him, and if we
don't bring back anything we get punished."
"You're a slave? That's awful."
"Yeah, it is. But I hope someday I'll get my memory back and be free again.
But until then... When I came across you guys I somehow recognized Sailor
Mercury and helping you seemed like the right thing to do."
"But how did you-"
"Shoot beams at that creature? I'm not completely sure; I used this." She
held up the stick she showed them earlier. "Since it's my only clue to what
my life was like and practically my only belonging I always keep it with me.
When I decided that I was going to help you, the knowledge of how to use it
in that way just came to me. I ju-" The young woman suddenly crumbled to the
ground in pain and a collar around her neck started to glow. It went on for
about a minute. The three senshi gathered around the young woman. When the
collar stopped glowing it looked like she would be all right.
"Are you okay?" Ami asked her, "What happened?"
"I... I've been gone for too long. My master wants me back with his dinner.
He gives me pain with this collar. I have to go." In a flash she was up and
she running into the forest. Haiku handed Minako a small crystal block that
was shaped like a three-sided pyramid.
"Go Minako. Follow her, and we'll follow you with this. When you reach this
temple she was talking about wait for us. One person can travel a lot faster
than three through this forest and we don't want to loose this girl." With
that, Minako was off in the direction that the woman went. Ami turned to
Haiku.
"So what do you think?"
"I think that I need to sit down."
"Okay, that would be a good start." Haiku and Ami sat down. "Now what do you
think about HER?" Ami asked.
"Well, she's obviously Rei, but all of her power she somehow locked into her
transformation want. That's where the energy blasts came from. From what I
can tell she's right on the verge of regaining her powers and her memory and
if she is exposed to the right things she might remember everthing." Ami
just nodded. The two of them just sat there for a minute, regaining their
strength. "You know," Haiku started, "You look different sitting there
without a book in your hands..."
"Yeah well, books are something that are pretty hard to get a hold of. And
its not as if I'm going to be a doctor or anything anymore. There's just one
thing I can't figure out."
"Mmm Hmm, what's that?"
"Who you are. Your age doesn't give me any clues to who you were."
"Well," Haiku stood up to leave and held a hand out to Ami. "You're just
going to have to keep on guessing. My identity will be revealed when it's
time." Haiku replied as she pulled Ami up to her feet. "Now come on. Minako
went this way.
Rei was not the easiest person to follow. She moved through the woods
leaving practically no trail. Most of the time Minako was running blindly
and only occasionally caught glimpses of her. Of course, it hadn't occurred
to her yet that it was Rei she was following. After about 20 minutes of hard
running she came to a clearing and stopped at the edge of the forest. She
just saw the woman running through some gates. She caught a quick glimpse of
the insides and it was just as the woman had said, that there was a temple
inside. Of course it was only a quick look and then the gates were closed.
She decided to scout the borders of the fortress.
It wasn't until over an hour later when Haiku and Ami showed up. They didn't
look so good. Then again, neither did Minako. They all needed to rest badly,
mostly because of the energy drain they experienced. They walked about a
quarter of a mile away from the fortress and found a part of the forest,
that looked like every other part of the forest. So they decided that they
might as well set up camp. Haiku pulled a pendant out of wherever she had
all of her gadgets and set it on the ground. She pressed down the top of the
pendant and a dome appeared over their heads. "Nice dome shelter," Minako
commented.
"It's not a dome," smiled Haiku. "It's a sphere, made of pure energy. Keeps
us in and everything else out. They pulled out of their packs their pathetic
little bedrolls that they had put together back at Ami's house and set them
up. "So Minako, what can you tell us about the fortress that we've come to?"
"Well, there's not a whole lot to tell. All we can basically get at is a
great big wall. The wall runs all the way around the temple with the only
entrance at the clearing at the front. In three other places there were
outlines where doors could have been, but they looked like they were only able to be
opened from the inside. Unlike the clearing where the entrance is,
the rest of the fortress is in the forest. Over the top of the enclosure is
something similar to the shelter we have here. It keeps any dangers of the
forest, out. And that's about it."
"Good job Minako, now let's get some sleep before we drop dead." She
received no protests.
When Minako woke up it was about the middle of the afternoon. Haiku and Ami
were still sleeping so she ate some of the little food she had. Haiku and
Ami didn't wake up until that evening. "It's about time you guys woke up."
Minako commented. "You slept the day away."
"Probably more that that," Haiku said. "Ami, check the clock on your
computer." Ami made her computer appear in her hand.
"You're right. We slept for almost 3 days!"
"I expected that much. We did after all get our energy drained from a
creature made up of negative energy. I expected it would take longer. Let's
see what we have for dinner." Haiku pressed the top of the pendant that was
forming the dome above them around them and the dome disappeared. There were
at least 5 dead creatures lying around the edge of where the dome would have
ended. Haiku grabbed what resembled a rabbit and restored the dome. "It
would be really helpful to have some Mars fire right about now. Here." She
tossed Minako and Ami the rabbit. "You have until it starts to get dark to
have this cooked. I'm going to go examine the shield guarding the fortress.
We'll move in on it when it's dark.
As Haiku left the camp she grabbed three of the animals by the side of the
dome and walked off in the direction of the fortress. Haiku thought.
When Haiku reached the clearing she circled around it until she found a tree
that was beside the wall of the fortress. Leaving two of the animals on the
ground she climbed the tree until she was next to the shield. She laid the
animal on a branch beside herself and reached into a pocket. She pulled out
a black box that fit in her palm. It was a perfect cube. She pressed certain
places on it and it split into two, then put the two pieces back together in
a T shape. Then, holding the top part of the T she put the long end through
the shield up to the top of the I. On the top of the T, the part of it she
could see, some controls lit up. There was a screen and a bunch of little
buttons. Immediately many numbers came up on the screen, but the largest was
one that said '100%'. That was the one that Haiku was paying attention to.
She took the animal, tied a rope to it, and tossed it onto the field. It was
being shocked with so much energy that it was glowing. The 100% was
gradually dropping, and in about a minute or so was at 0%. If Haiku hadn't
been holding on to the T it probably would have fallen through. But it only
stayed there for about three seconds and then it started climbing again.
This time it went all the way up to 200%. The energy was so great that the
animal disintegrated. Haiku pulled out the T and climbed down the tree. She
picked up the animals and continued along the wall until she reached another
tree next to it and climbed it. The reading was the same. It was still at
200%. So she decided to go to the original tree she was in. She climbed back
up and hung the dead animals from a really high branch. She sat down and got
comfortable and waited. It took about two hours but the shield did what she
was hoping it would do. The number returned to 100%.
Enlightened, Haiku jumped down from the tree and started running back to
where the others hopefully had dinner ready. Suddenly something jabbed into
her back and she was forced to the ground. She sent a thread of magic
running down her back and whatever it was was thown away from her. She swung up to find
a wolf staring back at her. She pulled out her sword. The next time the wolf
dove at her it found its head lying on the ground at her feet. But that
didn't stop it. It didn't stop moving until she had chopped all of its legs
off and hacked them to pieces. Haiku wiped her sword off on the ground and
stumbled off into the forest with blood running down her back.
When she reached the dome she could barely see where she was going and the
dome was very easy to miss. As soon as she had passed through the shield she
collapsed. "Haiku, what took you so long?" asked Minako. "We're almost done
cooking the food. Haiku? Haiku?" Minako walked over to Haiku with a lighted
stick. "Oh my, you're bleeding." Minako knelt down and shook Haiku. "Haiku?
Haiku? Are you awake? Ami, come help me. I think Haiku's unconscious."
Together, Ami and Minako moved Haiku into the center of the dome near the
fire. They removed her tunic and used the most of what little water they had
to clean Haiku's wounds. Fortunately, there were only two cuts and they
weren't that deep. In a short while Haiku regained consciousness. Before she
could say anything Ami was handing her food and telling her to eat it. The
food was really good.
"Excellent job on the meat," Haiku managed. No one spoke much until the meal
was done. "Now, I have a plan to get into the fortress.
"But you need to rest, Haiku. You're in no shape to move about a lot. We can
go tomorrow night." Cut in Ami.
"How?" Haiku reasoned. "We don't have the supplies to survive through
another day. We have no idea where the nearest water supply is. We have to
leave here and try to enter that fortress in about an hour."
"All right. What's your plan?"
**********
This episode is divided into a two-parter ^^
Episode 4 'Forest Ally'
The leaves on the trees waved back and forth, and up and down, welcoming
their new visitors. After a good night's sleep Haiku, Ami, and Minako were
ready to continue their journey, which was now mainly walking through the
forest. "So what exactly do we have to do?" asked Minako.
"Well, first we have to gather all of your friends," answered Haiku.
"How are we supposed to search the entire world for less than 10 people?"
"The world isn't really that big Mina," Ami said.
"The world is only about half the size it was, and over 80% of its surface
is water." Haiku continued. Ami stopped.
"Haiku, then wouldn't the gravity be lower or is that controlled with
magic?"
"Magic."
"Still, we can't barge into the command points whenever we want to travel to
a new region," Minako said.
"Someday, when things quiet down a little in Kaipo we'll go back and pick up
my ship. Until then ..." Haiku said.
"You know," Ami mentioned, "There are ships that travel from continent to
continent. We can always try to get aboard some of those." As they were
talking the forest began to get denser and denser. Eventually all that they
could see were the plants standing right in front of them.
"How are we supposed to find anything in this mess?" Minako whined. "We need
to find some kind of path. I don't even know which way is which and the bugs
are killing me." Minako slapped a big bug on her cheek and it splattered
blood all over her. "Yuck!"
A few minutes later they heard growling."W-What is that?" Minako asked.
"Oh I'm sure there are some creatures lurking in the forest wanting to eat
us," answered Haiku calmly. Minako got a worried look on her face.
"Stop scaring her, Haiku. I think I've found a path," Ami said. Haiku put an
innocent look on her face as Ami led them to the right a little where they
reached a path. It looked fairly well used, but it twisted so much it was
impossible to tell whether it travelled in a straight line or not. A couple
of hours later Haiku came up beside Ami and whispered in her ear.
"There's someone following us."
"I know. Ever since we started on the path. What do you think?"
"I'm not sure. It hasn't shown itself yet so maybe it isn't a threat."
"We can only hope..."
Our heroines followed the path for the rest of the day, just stopping to
rest and eat. It wasn't until that evening when the trouble started. They
were looking for a place to spend the night. Or at least Ami and Haiku were.
Minako was just complaining. "What makes you think we're going to find
someone in a forest like this?" She was basically talking to herself.
They were entering a bulge in the path when two creatures appeared at the
point where it narrowed back in. There were a couple more behind them too.
Haiku unsheathed her sword. Ami formed a barrier around Minako and herself.
The creatures had four legs and a ferocious mouth. That was all you needed
to know about them. Except the fact that they were a dark red colour.
Probably so that blood stains wouldn't show.
One of the front ones leapt at Haiku and she gave it a good deep gash across
its jaw which effectively stunned it for a moment. It was finished with an
arrow down the throat from Minako. The two creatures behind them just
crashed into Ami's barrier. Back in front where Haiku had slain one another
one just took its place. The dead one slouched to the ground.
"Haiku, help me." Haiku turned around to see the magic threads forming Ami's
shield disappearing. "I can't hold it." Ami didn't have enough threads to
last for much longer. The creatures seemed to be feeding off of the shield's
magical energy.
"Transform, Ami."
"But I don't have a stick."
"Touch your forehead." Haiku didn't have time to explain as she was
assaulted by both creatures in front of them at once. Ami touched her
forehead and the symbol of mercury appeared on it. A copy of it floated out
of her forehead and stopped in front of her face where she could see it. A
circle formed around it. The circle became a 3d block and a handle formed
below it. A six pointed star formed around the circle. The circle was a
light transparent blue with a white symbol of mercury on inside it. The star
was blue and so was the handle. A circle, a very simple symbol of eternity
formed around the sign of Mercury. She held it high.
"Mercury Eternal, Unite!" The transformation was the same as always except
when it reached the part where her suit formed and she was underwater, the
water froze, then shattered. The transformation continued, only her fuku had
the new adaptions. The magic barrier collapsed but a flash of light blinded
everything. "FREEZE!" When next anyone could see, the four creatures were
frozen solid. Haiku shattered them with her sword. Ten more of the creatures
appeared to their sides. Haiku grabbed Minako and lined her and herself up
infront of Sailor Mercury. Sailor Mercury held up her arms to the sides.
"Mercury Polar Ice Sheet FREEZE!" A wave of ice burst from each of Ami's
arms and froze all ten of the creatures. All it took was the planet's
gravity to shatter them. Unlike at the farm, this time only a little bit of
the surrounding area was frozen.
Then a new creature appeared above them, above all of the trees. As it
descended, any parts of the trees that touched it turned black and either
dissolved into dust or fell to the ground or both. It was about twelve feet
tall. The top half was a body, four arms and a head. The lower half was a
swirling mass of hundreds of tentacles. It was a pale green. It landed to
their side. "FREEZE!" A beam shot out of Sailor Mercury's finger and froze a
tentacle. The thing just shattered its own tentacle. Then it touched a tree
resulting in the tree turning black, and it grew a new tentacle.
"Mercury Polar Ice Sheet FREEZE!" When the wave of ice reached the creature
it just disappeared.
"No! Where did it go?" cried Minako. Ami dodged a tentacle being shot at
her.
"It must have been absorbed." She was able to dodge a few more before one
grabbed her. Haiku was able to chop off a few tentacles before one grabbed
her. Minako attempted to run away without success. The creature began
draining their energy. Ami's transformation reversed. It seemed like there
was no escape.
"BLAZE!" A beam shot out of some of the trees and shot right through all
three tentacles. The stubs remaining caught on fire and burned up. Haiku
looked towards where the beam came from but saw nothing. Then, when another
shot came she saw it. It was from some person crouched down at the edge of the
clearing. The colour of their clothes allowed them to blend in with the plants. "BLAZE!" The next shot
blew a hole through the creature's chest. It screamed in pain. The person
ran out of the forest and grabbed Haiku's hand. "Come on. We've got to get
out of here." Haiku saw that it was a girl about 17 or 18 years old. She
turned around and took one more shot at the creature. This time she shot a
hole through its head.
She pulled Haiku into the forest and Minako and Ami followed. Haiku was able
to get a good look at her now. She was wearing a suit that was the same
colour as the leaves of the bushes around them. She had black hair that was
done up in two ponytails near the top of her head. Then the two ponytails
had their ends going back up through her hairbands up and then hanging down
so that each one was a loop and then the end of the hair. It seemed like a
good way to keep long hair from getting in the way and getting caught on
things. She was also wearing a hankerchief over it the same colour as her
suit. "What was that?"
"It was a Nega-Essence. It drains life energy. It's practically impossible
to kill and can adapt to absorb all different kinds of energy. The blood
hounds are its scouts."
"Where are we going?" The girl looked back at Haiku and Haiku saw that she
was terrified.
"Run. Run and hope that it doesn't regenerate fast enough to chase us." This
girl must have faced this creature before.
"I think it has given up on us," Ami called from the back. Haiku had to stop
and pull to get the young woman to stop. "Thanks for saving us. What's your
name?"
"My ...name? I don't remember what my name is. Everyone calls me Miki though."
"Why don't you remember?"
"After the cataclysm,"
Haiku turned to the other two. "There's a name for it, cataclysm."
"I lost my memory of everything that ever happened to me. All I know is
what's happened to me since. Which is not very much I'll tell ya."
"Why, what happened to you?"
"Well, I don't usually talk to strangers but I feel I can trust you. After
that fateful day I found myself wandering in these forests. I didn't know
who I was, or where I was. The only thing I had that was a clue to who I was
was this." She held up a red stick that fit in her hand with just a
transparent red 3d block circle on the top. "I came across some other people
and we lived together here for about two months. That's when HE showed up.
He just waltzed up to us one day and said that now we all belonged to him.
He made a fortress temple appear in the middle of the fortress and said that
we were all now servants to him. Of course, we could do nothing to stop him.
Any who stood against him were killed by his death knights. If he didn't
have them we might have had a chance to fight back him. None of us have
weapons so we're no match for their blades. Someone killed one of the
knights though, a while back, and his life ended there. All HE did was make
another knight appear. Right out of nothing. He must have an endless supply.
And that's just about my life story. He calls us great servants but we're
nothing more than slaves. He calls himself the Lord protector of the Forests
of Toria. We're just allowed to leave the temple to hunt for him, and if we
don't bring back anything we get punished."
"You're a slave? That's awful."
"Yeah, it is. But I hope someday I'll get my memory back and be free again.
But until then... When I came across you guys I somehow recognized Sailor
Mercury and helping you seemed like the right thing to do."
"But how did you-"
"Shoot beams at that creature? I'm not completely sure; I used this." She
held up the stick she showed them earlier. "Since it's my only clue to what
my life was like and practically my only belonging I always keep it with me.
When I decided that I was going to help you, the knowledge of how to use it
in that way just came to me. I ju-" The young woman suddenly crumbled to the
ground in pain and a collar around her neck started to glow. It went on for
about a minute. The three senshi gathered around the young woman. When the
collar stopped glowing it looked like she would be all right.
"Are you okay?" Ami asked her, "What happened?"
"I... I've been gone for too long. My master wants me back with his dinner.
He gives me pain with this collar. I have to go." In a flash she was up and
she running into the forest. Haiku handed Minako a small crystal block that
was shaped like a three-sided pyramid.
"Go Minako. Follow her, and we'll follow you with this. When you reach this
temple she was talking about wait for us. One person can travel a lot faster
than three through this forest and we don't want to loose this girl." With
that, Minako was off in the direction that the woman went. Ami turned to
Haiku.
"So what do you think?"
"I think that I need to sit down."
"Okay, that would be a good start." Haiku and Ami sat down. "Now what do you
think about HER?" Ami asked.
"Well, she's obviously Rei, but all of her power she somehow locked into her
transformation want. That's where the energy blasts came from. From what I
can tell she's right on the verge of regaining her powers and her memory and
if she is exposed to the right things she might remember everthing." Ami
just nodded. The two of them just sat there for a minute, regaining their
strength. "You know," Haiku started, "You look different sitting there
without a book in your hands..."
"Yeah well, books are something that are pretty hard to get a hold of. And
its not as if I'm going to be a doctor or anything anymore. There's just one
thing I can't figure out."
"Mmm Hmm, what's that?"
"Who you are. Your age doesn't give me any clues to who you were."
"Well," Haiku stood up to leave and held a hand out to Ami. "You're just
going to have to keep on guessing. My identity will be revealed when it's
time." Haiku replied as she pulled Ami up to her feet. "Now come on. Minako
went this way.
Rei was not the easiest person to follow. She moved through the woods
leaving practically no trail. Most of the time Minako was running blindly
and only occasionally caught glimpses of her. Of course, it hadn't occurred
to her yet that it was Rei she was following. After about 20 minutes of hard
running she came to a clearing and stopped at the edge of the forest. She
just saw the woman running through some gates. She caught a quick glimpse of
the insides and it was just as the woman had said, that there was a temple
inside. Of course it was only a quick look and then the gates were closed.
She decided to scout the borders of the fortress.
It wasn't until over an hour later when Haiku and Ami showed up. They didn't
look so good. Then again, neither did Minako. They all needed to rest badly,
mostly because of the energy drain they experienced. They walked about a
quarter of a mile away from the fortress and found a part of the forest,
that looked like every other part of the forest. So they decided that they
might as well set up camp. Haiku pulled a pendant out of wherever she had
all of her gadgets and set it on the ground. She pressed down the top of the
pendant and a dome appeared over their heads. "Nice dome shelter," Minako
commented.
"It's not a dome," smiled Haiku. "It's a sphere, made of pure energy. Keeps
us in and everything else out. They pulled out of their packs their pathetic
little bedrolls that they had put together back at Ami's house and set them
up. "So Minako, what can you tell us about the fortress that we've come to?"
"Well, there's not a whole lot to tell. All we can basically get at is a
great big wall. The wall runs all the way around the temple with the only
entrance at the clearing at the front. In three other places there were
outlines where doors could have been, but they looked like they were only able to be
opened from the inside. Unlike the clearing where the entrance is,
the rest of the fortress is in the forest. Over the top of the enclosure is
something similar to the shelter we have here. It keeps any dangers of the
forest, out. And that's about it."
"Good job Minako, now let's get some sleep before we drop dead." She
received no protests.
When Minako woke up it was about the middle of the afternoon. Haiku and Ami
were still sleeping so she ate some of the little food she had. Haiku and
Ami didn't wake up until that evening. "It's about time you guys woke up."
Minako commented. "You slept the day away."
"Probably more that that," Haiku said. "Ami, check the clock on your
computer." Ami made her computer appear in her hand.
"You're right. We slept for almost 3 days!"
"I expected that much. We did after all get our energy drained from a
creature made up of negative energy. I expected it would take longer. Let's
see what we have for dinner." Haiku pressed the top of the pendant that was
forming the dome above them around them and the dome disappeared. There were
at least 5 dead creatures lying around the edge of where the dome would have
ended. Haiku grabbed what resembled a rabbit and restored the dome. "It
would be really helpful to have some Mars fire right about now. Here." She
tossed Minako and Ami the rabbit. "You have until it starts to get dark to
have this cooked. I'm going to go examine the shield guarding the fortress.
We'll move in on it when it's dark.
As Haiku left the camp she grabbed three of the animals by the side of the
dome and walked off in the direction of the fortress. Haiku thought.
When Haiku reached the clearing she circled around it until she found a tree
that was beside the wall of the fortress. Leaving two of the animals on the
ground she climbed the tree until she was next to the shield. She laid the
animal on a branch beside herself and reached into a pocket. She pulled out
a black box that fit in her palm. It was a perfect cube. She pressed certain
places on it and it split into two, then put the two pieces back together in
a T shape. Then, holding the top part of the T she put the long end through
the shield up to the top of the I. On the top of the T, the part of it she
could see, some controls lit up. There was a screen and a bunch of little
buttons. Immediately many numbers came up on the screen, but the largest was
one that said '100%'. That was the one that Haiku was paying attention to.
She took the animal, tied a rope to it, and tossed it onto the field. It was
being shocked with so much energy that it was glowing. The 100% was
gradually dropping, and in about a minute or so was at 0%. If Haiku hadn't
been holding on to the T it probably would have fallen through. But it only
stayed there for about three seconds and then it started climbing again.
This time it went all the way up to 200%. The energy was so great that the
animal disintegrated. Haiku pulled out the T and climbed down the tree. She
picked up the animals and continued along the wall until she reached another
tree next to it and climbed it. The reading was the same. It was still at
200%. So she decided to go to the original tree she was in. She climbed back
up and hung the dead animals from a really high branch. She sat down and got
comfortable and waited. It took about two hours but the shield did what she
was hoping it would do. The number returned to 100%.
Enlightened, Haiku jumped down from the tree and started running back to
where the others hopefully had dinner ready. Suddenly something jabbed into
her back and she was forced to the ground. She sent a thread of magic
running down her back and whatever it was was thown away from her. She swung up to find
a wolf staring back at her. She pulled out her sword. The next time the wolf
dove at her it found its head lying on the ground at her feet. But that
didn't stop it. It didn't stop moving until she had chopped all of its legs
off and hacked them to pieces. Haiku wiped her sword off on the ground and
stumbled off into the forest with blood running down her back.
When she reached the dome she could barely see where she was going and the
dome was very easy to miss. As soon as she had passed through the shield she
collapsed. "Haiku, what took you so long?" asked Minako. "We're almost done
cooking the food. Haiku? Haiku?" Minako walked over to Haiku with a lighted
stick. "Oh my, you're bleeding." Minako knelt down and shook Haiku. "Haiku?
Haiku? Are you awake? Ami, come help me. I think Haiku's unconscious."
Together, Ami and Minako moved Haiku into the center of the dome near the
fire. They removed her tunic and used the most of what little water they had
to clean Haiku's wounds. Fortunately, there were only two cuts and they
weren't that deep. In a short while Haiku regained consciousness. Before she
could say anything Ami was handing her food and telling her to eat it. The
food was really good.
"Excellent job on the meat," Haiku managed. No one spoke much until the meal
was done. "Now, I have a plan to get into the fortress.
"But you need to rest, Haiku. You're in no shape to move about a lot. We can
go tomorrow night." Cut in Ami.
"How?" Haiku reasoned. "We don't have the supplies to survive through
another day. We have no idea where the nearest water supply is. We have to
leave here and try to enter that fortress in about an hour."
"All right. What's your plan?"
**********
This episode is divided into a two-parter ^^