Sailor Moon: World Rebirth -Part 1, The Gathering
Episode 8 'Double Team: Powers Regained'
The only thing you could see besides sand, was the Control Point, and more
sand. Minako, Haiku and Rei were making pretty good time across the desert,
despite the fact that they didn't have any type of animal to ride on. Ami
was now making her way back to Kaipo. Haiku had wanted her to go back and
fix her ship, so currently they had no way to get off of this region. When
Ami reached Kaipo, she would send the ship back, along the threads of magic.
There was a chance that the attachment to the threads would give out before
it got back but the risk was necessary to take.
So the other three had spent the last few hours travelling towards the
Command Point of Akfzo. One might think that because there were six regions
in the world, and actually created by someone, that they would be evenly
shaped. Well, that was totally false. The land twisted and curved around the
command points. The senshi had taken the ship to the edge of the region that
was closest to the Command Point.
Suddenly the ground started to shake and a giant sand worm came out of the
ground and then went back into it. The thing was about five feet wide.
"Don't worry," Haiku said. "They're so big they'll leave us alone."
Minako started to run. "They might, but they WON'T!" she said pointing
behind her. Approaching the senshi were fifty or more sand worms, only they
were only one foot across each. Haiku and Rei ran after her. The smaller
worms couldn't really move all that fast but they slowly gained on the
senshi.
Rei pulled out her transformation stick. "I'm going to transform."
"You can't," Haiku said. "The desert conditions are too harsh. You'd use up
too much of your energy. There are way too many for us to handle." Running
away didn't really do much good as they were surrounded in about ten
minutes. All of the worms moved in at once.
"Mars Eter-" Suddenly they all started to drop dead. Someone was cutting
through them and in less than a minute all of the worms were lying there in
pieces, dead. It was a person, a woman, in a suit of white. Like the senshi,
her face was covered so they couldn't tell who she was.
"Safe journey." She bowed to them and disappeared into the sand. One second
she was there and the next second she wasn't.
"Who is she?" Rei asked.
"Probably someone who makes sure travellers between the harbour and the city
make it safely." Haiku answered. They turned back to the point but they
couldn't see it because of winds that had picked up. There was sand
everywhere.
"Which way is the point?" Minako asked.
"I think it's over there." Haiku pointed in a direction. She wasn't exactly
sure where the Command Point was but it sure wasn't where they were now.
They started off the in the direction Haiku pointed to.
After an hour they still hadn't reached the point and the winds weren't
letting up. Rei just stopped. "I think we're lost."
"Maybe we should set up some kind of camp and wait the storm out." Minako
offered.
"Oh, I don't know which way to go." Haiku said. She kept walking. "I wish
there was someone living out here that we could ask for directions."
Suddenly Haiku fell through the sand. Rei ran up to the spot and dropped to
her knees but there was just sand. There was no sinking sand or anything.
"Where'd she go?" Minako was frantic.
"I'm not sure." Rei answered. Rei put a foot out to the spot where Haiku
disappeared and her leg went right through. "She went down there."
"But what's keeping the sand there?"
"Magic." Rei jumped down through the sand. Minako jumped after her to find
herself dangling over a pit from Rei's hand. Rei was hanging on to an
outcrop. "I'm going to swing you over to that ledge down there, okay?"
Below them and a little to the right was a platform. "Okay." Rei swung back
and forth and sent Minako tumbling towards the platform. She landed on her
feet. Rei pulled herself up on to the ledge she was hanging on to. Rei
pulled the facecover of her suit down away from her mouth. "Mars Eternal,
Unite!"
Sailor Mars jumped off the ledge and grabbed Minako as she passed her. "Come
on." Sailor Mars and Minako fell down into the pit. It was so dark they
couldn't see anything. "Mars Flaming Inferno, BLAZE!" And blaze it did. A
stream of fire streamed down into the pit. The whole tunnel was lit up.
Right below them was a fork, and before they could react they fell down the
passage to the right. They dropped about another 20 feet and landed on the
ground, Sailor Mars helping to cushion Minako's fall. They were in a small
passage only about 7 feet high and 3 wide. As they moved on, the passage
widened out into a chamber. In the center of the chamber was a young girl
playing in the center of it with a doll.
As they entered she looked up. "Oh no. Strangers." She ran to the opposite
side of the room and through a very small hole. Sailor Mars and Minako ran
after her but there was no way for them to follow. There were no other
visible passages leaving the chamber besides this one and the one they came
in.
Sailor Mars began to run her hands along the walls. "There must be a hidden
passage. You take that side." Fifteen minutes later they were back in the
center of the room and still had no exit. Suddenly the ceiling of the room
disappeared and ten men with spears dropped down on all of their sides and
pointed the spears right at them.
Minako glanced at Sailor Mars who was preparing to attack. "No. Don't toast
them. We don't need more any more enemies," she whispered.
One of the men pricked Sailor Mars. "So these aren't our enemies?" Sailor
Mars said sarcastically.
"Just flame them if you need to."
"Define need."
One of the men took a box and pressed one of the buttons on it. The small
opening that the little girl had gone through opened up into a passage large
enough for them to pass through. Poking Minako and Sailor Mars a few times
the men led them down the passage. After they had travelled for a bit they
came to their destination.
It was a city completely underground. There were torches everywhere to keep
the place lit up. They were led to a building in the center, a little bigger
than the others and on sort of a little hill. There were people in the
houses around them peeking out of windows, pretending that no one could see
them. The houses were made of a mixture of rock and mud. Just inside the
front of the center house was a desk, with the rest of the house behind a
wall. There sat a man, in around his mid-thirties, looking at pieces of
paper and writing things on them.
He looked up in surprise from his work. "What's this? Even more spies?"
"More?" Minako asked.
"Yeah, right through the sand. Only unlike you, they went right down to the
pit. I don't know how you passed through the barrier, as only magic can
affect it, but your not going to stay here."
"Uh Sir, I think you've made a mistake. We're-"
"I know who you are!" The man yelled. "You people are not going to beat us!
Go join your friend." The man pressed a button on his desk and the ground
below Rei and Minako disappeared. They fell down into the dark.
"Rot in the Caverns of Shmyte," he called after them.
Rei and Minako fell about 20 feet and landed even deeper underground. They
were unhurt. They were in a tunnel that was lit up by an unknown source.
everything was a shade of a light purple. "All right." Rei exclaimed. "I've
had it. We're going right back up there and we're going to take care of
those people. The tips of her fingers were starting to glow red.
"No. Not yet," Minako pulled down Sailor Mars' hands. "We have to find Haiku
first.
"I know, I know. It's just ...,"
Minako pointed in the direction that Haiku would most likely be in. "Come
on. Let's go this way." After they had taken a few steps they could hear a
distant swishing noise, that was getting louder and louder. "Uh, I think we
better run," Minako said and took off. Rei stared down the tunnel for
another second and then ran after Minako. When next they checked behind
themselves the tunnel was filling with water. Luckily they were going up
hill so it was taking a little longer. It would be on them in another few
seconds. At the top of the hill the water was just about over their heads.
Just as they were going to fall down the other sides of the hill, which was
actually a cliff, they were pulled into another tunnel. "Haiku!" Minako said
happily. "You're okay."
Haiku pulled Minako and Rei to their feet. "Of course I'm okay. I think
you're a little wet. I was expecting you to follow me. How did you get into
that cave?"
"We," Rei was panting, catching her breath, "Went through the city and then
they dropped us down here."
"City? What city?" Haiku asked.
"The underground city that we just went through. You must have missed it.
There was fork back at that hole we fell down in the desert. You fell one
way and we fell the other."
"I didn't know there were people living in the Caverns of Shmyte. No one
ever said anything about them."
"I think that's because they want to stay hidden. They were convinced we
were spies from the Command City." Minako pointed out.
"Well," Haiku said. "We have to go back there." The way I came is blocked
off so we're going to have to get out of here the way you came in.
Rei pointed at the way she had come. "You mean we have to go back through
that?!"
"We can go that way, unless of course you want to go through the fire
caverns, and since we don't have Sailor Mercury with us we wouldn't last
long there. So your going to have to flame our way out of here."
"All right."
"Haiku, where exactly are we?" Minako asked.
"We're in the Caverns of Shmyte. They run completely underneath Akfzo. Each
tunnel has something in it to stop you from getting through. Everyone says
there is something is hidden here, but because of the diversity of the
tunnels, no one can get through more than one. Even the Creators. Right now
we're in a neutral point, which is where I found myself after I stopped
falling. Maybe with all of the senshi together we might have a chance of
getting through. Now we better get going."
Now the tunnel beside them was empty of water. "Now Rei, in about 5 seconds
into the tunnel, the water will be on us. It doesn't help that we'll be
running in the direction that they water will be coming but we don't really
have any choice." Sailor Mars led the way into the tunnel and they started
to run as fast as they could. When the sound of water was really loud Sailor
Mars held her hands out in front of them.
"Mars Flaming Inferno, BLAZE!" A sheet of fire just filled the tunnel in
front of them. Sailor Mars was like a giant flamethrower. The tunnel began to fill
with steam but they just kept on running. When they reached
the place where Rei and Minako had fallen into the tunnel, Sailor Mars
wasn't paying attention so Minako had to yank her to a stop by grabbing her
ribbons. The whole tunnel was a steam bath. Haiku used strands of magic to lift
them up into the hole in the ceilling. When she could see the top, she
formed a temporary platform below them. Sailor Mars colasped against the
side of the tunnel and changed back to Rei. "Can I go to sleep now?" she
asked.
"Good job Rei," Haiku said. "I'm sure that you won't have to use your fire
on the people in that village. Minako, will you help Rei up through the
hole?" Haiku reached up and tried to lift up the ceiling, but was
unsuccessful. After fiddling with it for a while, she was able to slide it
aside and hop up through the hole. The only person in the office was the
chief and he was facing away. Minako joined Haiku and together they helped
Rei. "Excuse me Sir," Haiku said.
As the man turned around in his seat he said, "Yes, what is is now." When he
didn't get an answer immediately he looked up from whatever he was reading.
"Who are you, how did you get in here?" Haiku pointed towards the hole in
the floor. "But that's, ...GUARDS!" Two men came running into the room.
"What would you like Sir!" It was a question, but said as if it was just a
statement.
"Restrain them." He said pointing to Haiku, Rei, and Minako. The guards
moved forward and reached for them.
"You will do no such thing," Haiku said and used strands of magic to send
the guards back to the entrance of the room and onto their butts. "We're not
your enemies."
Suddenly a siren sounded. A man ran into the room and up to the chief. "It's
the Creator. It's broken into the floor above the city. Our soldiers are
already on their way, but we don't have the magic to counter their magic. We
just have the warriors. We need to come up with a plan. Oh, what will we
do?"
The chief was stunned. He hadn't expected this battle to come so soon. "I,
uh."
Haiku walked towards the door. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll take care of
the magic."
"But how?"
"Rei, maybe you should stay here."
"No way! I'm not staying here while you're getting your butt kicked." Before
the men in the room could say anything, the girls were out the door. There
were people running from all over the place with weapons to two tunnels,
across from each other on two sides of the village.
"Rei, you go over there while Minako and I go this way."
"All right! Mars Eternal, Unite!"
They split up and ran towards the tunnels. Haiku wrapped herself in as many
strands of magic as she could. When she started to glow, people even got out
of her way. They hurried up a set of poorly made steps. When they reached
the top, they were amazed. In the center of the room was a black mist which
seemed to suck the light from the room. There was a giant hole in the
ceiling above it. All around it on the ground were retlocs and shadows
fighting with humans. The humans might have been winning but the black mist
kept whipping out and touching people. The touch killed instantly.
Haiku released her magic and surrounded the Creator with it. You could see a
rainbow of colour swirling around the black. Then the colours turned into a
crystal clear sphere around the Creator. Haiku struggled to keep it
contained even as soon as she was done. The Creator fought viciously, but
wasn't able to break through. Minako protected Haiku all through this.
Sailor Mars was using her powers to flame retlocs. Because the Creator
couldn't restore the retlocs and more humans kept on coming and coming, it
seemed like the humans might have won.
But then the Creator released a surprising amount of energy and its prison
shattered into nothing. From training, Haiku was able to stand a lot of
backlash, but this was still a lot. Her screams could be heard throughout
the room. She collapsed, crying, blood all over herself. The Creator began
to restore the retlocs and the humans began to lose again. The Creator had
seemed to tap into even more energy and people were dying very quickly.
Minako half carried, half dragged a semi-conscious Haiku to the side of the
room. Sailor Mars was very quickly getting tired because she had already
been pretty drained when she began.
Suddenly the person dressed in white who had rescued Haiku, Minako, and Rei
earlier dropped down through the hole in the ceiling and right through the
Creator. She then started to cut through the retlocs at an amazing speed.
Minako armed her bow and shot a retloc that tried to backstab the person.
The person stopped and stared at Minako. With this new stab in the Creator's
forces people started fighting even harder so Minako only got a glimpse of
the person.
Minako turned back to Haiku and tried to stop some of the bleeding without
success. Then she was pulled up to her feet. "Mina," the person said.
It was the woman in white. Only now they had their head cover off. "Makoto?"
Minako asked. "I'm so glad to see you." The two friends embraced.
"We have to release our powers."
"What do you mean?"
"You mean you don't remember?"
"Remember what? I remember little of what happened after I was blasted."
"After the battle, to ensure that we would live, and run in to each other
again, we looped our powers together. The only bad part was that in order to
regain our powers we would have to meet up."
"I think I remember a little now." Minako looked at the battle. There
weren't too many humans left, just the really good fighters who could evade
the Creator. "We can catch up later. Right now we have to beat the Creator.
Are you ready?"
"I've always been ready."
Minako and Makoto stood back to back and then clasped each other's hands.
"Venus Eternal..."
"Jupiter Eternal..."
"UNITE!"
Lightning and yellow strands of hearts began to swirl around Minako and
Makoto. They rose a couple feet off the ground. There was a lot of light and
the battle seemed to stop. Then the strands just circled around the person
they belonged to and their sailor fukus appeared. They were completely
white, and then in a flash had the new colours and other additions. They
settled back on the ground. "Whoa, big change in my suit," Jupiter
commented. "Let's rock."
"JUPITER LIGHTNING WAVE CAPTURE" Sailor Jupiter held her arms back and then
when she put them forward from all over the place behind her lightning
appeared out of nowhere and shot forward. It formed kind of a net and
surrounded the Creator. The Creator had already used up a lot of energy so
it couldn't break through Sailor Jupiter's bonds.
"My turn," Sailor Venus stated. "VENUS," she held her arms backwards,
"CRESCENT," she stuck out a finger and as she swung her arms forward two
crescent moons arced back from her fingers, "CROSS." Her fingers met in
front of her and then the two crescents swirled together and then formed a
cross. The cross spun and shot forward into the Creator. It disappeared into
the black.
"Umm, Minako, I think there's supposed to be a little more than that."
"There is. CRUSH!" From all around the Creator a sphere of orange energy
appeared and shot inwards, and then back out. When it came back out there
was a great explosion and the Creator was greatly damaged, but not
destroyed. The explosion was really impressive and everything that was
fighting just stopped.
Sailor Jupiter still had her hands held up and decided to add her attack.
"SHOCK!" The cage of lightning that was surrounding the Creator lit up so it
didn't look like a cage anymore and the top of it just dropped through the
Creator, shocking it, and then destroying the remaining retlocs. The Creator
shriveled up so that it was only about the size of a few people. It shot
back up through the hole and towards the Command Point.
The people who were still alive cheered. Sailor Jupiter and Venus hugged and
danced around in circles. "Yeah! We beat a Creator," the people cheered.
"We've got to help Haiku," Sailor Venus said. She ran over to Haiku and with
Sailor Jupiter's help was able to lift her up.
"Who is she?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"All I know is she calls herself Haiku. She's been travelling to gather all
of the senshi. She has a very good ability of using magic and for a moment
had the Creator trapped." Sailor Mars joined them and greeted Jupiter.
Sailor Mars was pale and was stumbling a little but otherwise alright.
"Tell the people in the village that you want to go to the quarters of the
desert guide. You'll find what you need to clean her up, there." Sailor
Jupiter ran off to go help people she knew. All around Sailor Venus and
Mars, people were asking questions and things but the two senshi just
ignored them and rushed Haiku back down to the village. They passed all
kinds of doctors and other people who were helping the wounded. When they
reached the village, Sailor Mars grabbed someone and got the directions to
Makoto's quarters. It was down a tunnel that branched off from the city.
Haiku had regained enough consciousness to help get herself there.
To keep their minds away from the situation, Sailor Venus explained to the
others how she had regained her powers. "Before all of us were separated
after we lost the battle, Makoto and I, under the suggestion of Sailor Pluto
linked our powers together and to the reality. I'm not even sure what we
did, but we did it so that it was guaranteed that we would survive through
the change of the world. The only downside to this was that in order to
transform we would have to come together again. It only would have worked
with two or more people, so we did it together. Unfortunately I wasn't
paying great attention to what I was doing and forgot about the act. The way
I remember, Sailor Mars and Mercury were doing it when they were washed away
by water."
At the end of the tunnel they were following, they found a cave beside a
running stream. Sailor Venus and Mars powered down and Minako went into the
cave. She came out carrying a cloth. Surprisingly, the water was warm, and
as Haiku slipped in and out of consciousness, Minako and Rei managed to get
her cleaned up. Haiku wasn't hurt as bad as it looked, there was just a lot
of blood. She had a few slashes on her back, chest, legs, and her face.
Otherwise she had just lost a lot of blood. The water was so nice that after
Haiku had gone to sleep inside the cave, Minako and Rei had a bath
themselves.
A little after they were finished and planning to return to the village,
Makoto showed up, carrying their packs which they had left in the chief's
office. "I figured these belonged to you. How is Haiku?"
"She's alright, just needs some rest. It's good to see you. We were about to
go back to the village."
"Don't bother. We'll all go in the morning. It's just about sunset now. I'll
cook us up a meal and you guys can fill me in on your adventures." Minako
and Rei followed Makoto into her home.
Makoto made a stew to eat. It didn't look that great but tasted terrific.
When Minako asked Makoto what was in it she said that it would be better if
she didn't know. Minako and Rei told Makoto all about what had happened to
them. From Haiku rescuing Minako from across the universe, to having a run
in with Michiru on the Island of Dohilne. In turn, Makoto told them about
herself.
"After the darkness, I found myself in a desert city. I lived there and
observed the happenings. There were always people traveling from the port to
the other City standing next to the Command Point, but it was a difficult
journey to take because of the sand worms. While observing the happenings
around me I learned to use the strands of magic to move quickly when I
fought."
"Having nothing better to do, I took up the job of helping travellers get to
the Command City and back by fighting the sand worms. Near the Command Point
there is some kind of mega oil vein. Almost an endless supply. So oil is
always being transported to places all over the world. It got me on the good
side of the people of the Command City so I kept on doing it. I would just
kill sand worms that threatened travellers like you guys and then vanish."
"Later, the people of the desert village found the Caverns of Shmyte. They
were found to be extremely dangerous, but after some exploring a group of
caves that weren't protected were found. The village was moved to there as
you saw earlier. Although it's completely underground, it provides safety
from the harsh conditions of the desert. I had given myself quite a
reputation by that point and the people of the city gave me this cave here,
that has a path that leads to a place on the surface, in between the harbour
and the Command City."
"Unfortunately, the people of the Command City decided that we shouldn't be
allowed to live here so they sent retlocs to run us out. Of course, we
fought back. But being at an alliance with the city, I just stayed out of
the way. Then the rulers of the Command City decided that they wanted me to
come live there. When I declined, it made them want to clear out the Caverns
of Shmyte even more."
"The people of the underground city realized that they were in danger so
they explored some more of the caverns. They found a way to use some kind of
magic to guard the village. We were able to fight off the Creator's initial
attacks but then as you saw, they got through. I was still on the surface
taking out the Creator's forces there and I had no idea you'd showed up, but
I'm glad you did."
That night they all slept well knowing that for the moment they were all
safe, and felt confident from their victory. In the morning after some
breakfast, they went back to the city. Haiku was filled in about Makoto's
past and with some help, was able to walk into the city with them. There
were people all over the place watching, and commenting on how good a job
that they did. The chief's whole family was with him.
"I must apologize for how I treated you earlier. Had I known; I'm ashamed.
If there's anything I can do to help, I would do so. Thank you for helping
us again Makoto."
"What will you do now?"
"We'll find who's still alive and recover. I think that the Creator has had
enough of us for a while."
"I'm going to be going," Makoto said.
"But why? We need you here in case the Creator does attack again."
"I have to go with my friends, in hope to defeat all of the Creators. Don't
worry, by the time the Creator has regained its power it will have a lot
more to worry about."
Haiku stepped forward. "Currently I am known as the Gatherer. I'm gathering
the Sailor Senshi, to fight the Creators. I need your people to come to
Crescent Island when the time is right."
"But how will we know? And where is Crescent Island?"
"The prophecy is: If you crave the old times, or something better, meet your
destiny at The Gathering. If your cause is true, when the sky turns green,
you will find your way to Crescent Island."
The next few days were spent helping the people of the village, and waiting
for Haiku to heal up. Haiku's wounds healed at an accelerated rate because
she used some strands of magic to help. (Or at least that what she said was
helping) Before they left, they discussed where they would go next.
"So where do you plan on taking us Haiku?" Makoto asked. Just like the
others, she felt that Haiku was familiar from somewhere, but she couldn't
remember where.
"Well, I figured we would go to the Command City and give my message. And we
need to track down Haruka. Then we'll be set."
"I was talking to Haruka just a little while back."
"What?! You mean she's alright?"
"Yeah, she said that she wanted to regain all of her power so she was going
after the artifact. Like Minako and I, to regain our powers and to guarantee
that we would survive, we used our powers to link ourselves to this world.
The outer senshi used their talismen. I don't know how it worked but she
said that she thought she knew where it was, and she would use the deep sea
mirror to find Michiru, something that you have already done. It's supposed
to be in the mountain region."
"But there's no way into that region."
"She said that she had found an underwater passage, and just needed to buy
the equipment. I take it you want to follow her."
"Do you know what this means," Minako said excitedly, "We've found all of
our senshi." She and Rei clapped hands. "We just need to go get Haruka."
"Yes," Haiku said. "In addition, tomorrow we'll go buy some diving gear, so
we can go after Haruka. The senshi WILL be reunited."
**********
Episode 8 'Double Team: Powers Regained'
The only thing you could see besides sand, was the Control Point, and more
sand. Minako, Haiku and Rei were making pretty good time across the desert,
despite the fact that they didn't have any type of animal to ride on. Ami
was now making her way back to Kaipo. Haiku had wanted her to go back and
fix her ship, so currently they had no way to get off of this region. When
Ami reached Kaipo, she would send the ship back, along the threads of magic.
There was a chance that the attachment to the threads would give out before
it got back but the risk was necessary to take.
So the other three had spent the last few hours travelling towards the
Command Point of Akfzo. One might think that because there were six regions
in the world, and actually created by someone, that they would be evenly
shaped. Well, that was totally false. The land twisted and curved around the
command points. The senshi had taken the ship to the edge of the region that
was closest to the Command Point.
Suddenly the ground started to shake and a giant sand worm came out of the
ground and then went back into it. The thing was about five feet wide.
"Don't worry," Haiku said. "They're so big they'll leave us alone."
Minako started to run. "They might, but they WON'T!" she said pointing
behind her. Approaching the senshi were fifty or more sand worms, only they
were only one foot across each. Haiku and Rei ran after her. The smaller
worms couldn't really move all that fast but they slowly gained on the
senshi.
Rei pulled out her transformation stick. "I'm going to transform."
"You can't," Haiku said. "The desert conditions are too harsh. You'd use up
too much of your energy. There are way too many for us to handle." Running
away didn't really do much good as they were surrounded in about ten
minutes. All of the worms moved in at once.
"Mars Eter-" Suddenly they all started to drop dead. Someone was cutting
through them and in less than a minute all of the worms were lying there in
pieces, dead. It was a person, a woman, in a suit of white. Like the senshi,
her face was covered so they couldn't tell who she was.
"Safe journey." She bowed to them and disappeared into the sand. One second
she was there and the next second she wasn't.
"Who is she?" Rei asked.
"Probably someone who makes sure travellers between the harbour and the city
make it safely." Haiku answered. They turned back to the point but they
couldn't see it because of winds that had picked up. There was sand
everywhere.
"Which way is the point?" Minako asked.
"I think it's over there." Haiku pointed in a direction. She wasn't exactly
sure where the Command Point was but it sure wasn't where they were now.
They started off the in the direction Haiku pointed to.
After an hour they still hadn't reached the point and the winds weren't
letting up. Rei just stopped. "I think we're lost."
"Maybe we should set up some kind of camp and wait the storm out." Minako
offered.
"Oh, I don't know which way to go." Haiku said. She kept walking. "I wish
there was someone living out here that we could ask for directions."
Suddenly Haiku fell through the sand. Rei ran up to the spot and dropped to
her knees but there was just sand. There was no sinking sand or anything.
"Where'd she go?" Minako was frantic.
"I'm not sure." Rei answered. Rei put a foot out to the spot where Haiku
disappeared and her leg went right through. "She went down there."
"But what's keeping the sand there?"
"Magic." Rei jumped down through the sand. Minako jumped after her to find
herself dangling over a pit from Rei's hand. Rei was hanging on to an
outcrop. "I'm going to swing you over to that ledge down there, okay?"
Below them and a little to the right was a platform. "Okay." Rei swung back
and forth and sent Minako tumbling towards the platform. She landed on her
feet. Rei pulled herself up on to the ledge she was hanging on to. Rei
pulled the facecover of her suit down away from her mouth. "Mars Eternal,
Unite!"
Sailor Mars jumped off the ledge and grabbed Minako as she passed her. "Come
on." Sailor Mars and Minako fell down into the pit. It was so dark they
couldn't see anything. "Mars Flaming Inferno, BLAZE!" And blaze it did. A
stream of fire streamed down into the pit. The whole tunnel was lit up.
Right below them was a fork, and before they could react they fell down the
passage to the right. They dropped about another 20 feet and landed on the
ground, Sailor Mars helping to cushion Minako's fall. They were in a small
passage only about 7 feet high and 3 wide. As they moved on, the passage
widened out into a chamber. In the center of the chamber was a young girl
playing in the center of it with a doll.
As they entered she looked up. "Oh no. Strangers." She ran to the opposite
side of the room and through a very small hole. Sailor Mars and Minako ran
after her but there was no way for them to follow. There were no other
visible passages leaving the chamber besides this one and the one they came
in.
Sailor Mars began to run her hands along the walls. "There must be a hidden
passage. You take that side." Fifteen minutes later they were back in the
center of the room and still had no exit. Suddenly the ceiling of the room
disappeared and ten men with spears dropped down on all of their sides and
pointed the spears right at them.
Minako glanced at Sailor Mars who was preparing to attack. "No. Don't toast
them. We don't need more any more enemies," she whispered.
One of the men pricked Sailor Mars. "So these aren't our enemies?" Sailor
Mars said sarcastically.
"Just flame them if you need to."
"Define need."
One of the men took a box and pressed one of the buttons on it. The small
opening that the little girl had gone through opened up into a passage large
enough for them to pass through. Poking Minako and Sailor Mars a few times
the men led them down the passage. After they had travelled for a bit they
came to their destination.
It was a city completely underground. There were torches everywhere to keep
the place lit up. They were led to a building in the center, a little bigger
than the others and on sort of a little hill. There were people in the
houses around them peeking out of windows, pretending that no one could see
them. The houses were made of a mixture of rock and mud. Just inside the
front of the center house was a desk, with the rest of the house behind a
wall. There sat a man, in around his mid-thirties, looking at pieces of
paper and writing things on them.
He looked up in surprise from his work. "What's this? Even more spies?"
"More?" Minako asked.
"Yeah, right through the sand. Only unlike you, they went right down to the
pit. I don't know how you passed through the barrier, as only magic can
affect it, but your not going to stay here."
"Uh Sir, I think you've made a mistake. We're-"
"I know who you are!" The man yelled. "You people are not going to beat us!
Go join your friend." The man pressed a button on his desk and the ground
below Rei and Minako disappeared. They fell down into the dark.
"Rot in the Caverns of Shmyte," he called after them.
Rei and Minako fell about 20 feet and landed even deeper underground. They
were unhurt. They were in a tunnel that was lit up by an unknown source.
everything was a shade of a light purple. "All right." Rei exclaimed. "I've
had it. We're going right back up there and we're going to take care of
those people. The tips of her fingers were starting to glow red.
"No. Not yet," Minako pulled down Sailor Mars' hands. "We have to find Haiku
first.
"I know, I know. It's just ...,"
Minako pointed in the direction that Haiku would most likely be in. "Come
on. Let's go this way." After they had taken a few steps they could hear a
distant swishing noise, that was getting louder and louder. "Uh, I think we
better run," Minako said and took off. Rei stared down the tunnel for
another second and then ran after Minako. When next they checked behind
themselves the tunnel was filling with water. Luckily they were going up
hill so it was taking a little longer. It would be on them in another few
seconds. At the top of the hill the water was just about over their heads.
Just as they were going to fall down the other sides of the hill, which was
actually a cliff, they were pulled into another tunnel. "Haiku!" Minako said
happily. "You're okay."
Haiku pulled Minako and Rei to their feet. "Of course I'm okay. I think
you're a little wet. I was expecting you to follow me. How did you get into
that cave?"
"We," Rei was panting, catching her breath, "Went through the city and then
they dropped us down here."
"City? What city?" Haiku asked.
"The underground city that we just went through. You must have missed it.
There was fork back at that hole we fell down in the desert. You fell one
way and we fell the other."
"I didn't know there were people living in the Caverns of Shmyte. No one
ever said anything about them."
"I think that's because they want to stay hidden. They were convinced we
were spies from the Command City." Minako pointed out.
"Well," Haiku said. "We have to go back there." The way I came is blocked
off so we're going to have to get out of here the way you came in.
Rei pointed at the way she had come. "You mean we have to go back through
that?!"
"We can go that way, unless of course you want to go through the fire
caverns, and since we don't have Sailor Mercury with us we wouldn't last
long there. So your going to have to flame our way out of here."
"All right."
"Haiku, where exactly are we?" Minako asked.
"We're in the Caverns of Shmyte. They run completely underneath Akfzo. Each
tunnel has something in it to stop you from getting through. Everyone says
there is something is hidden here, but because of the diversity of the
tunnels, no one can get through more than one. Even the Creators. Right now
we're in a neutral point, which is where I found myself after I stopped
falling. Maybe with all of the senshi together we might have a chance of
getting through. Now we better get going."
Now the tunnel beside them was empty of water. "Now Rei, in about 5 seconds
into the tunnel, the water will be on us. It doesn't help that we'll be
running in the direction that they water will be coming but we don't really
have any choice." Sailor Mars led the way into the tunnel and they started
to run as fast as they could. When the sound of water was really loud Sailor
Mars held her hands out in front of them.
"Mars Flaming Inferno, BLAZE!" A sheet of fire just filled the tunnel in
front of them. Sailor Mars was like a giant flamethrower. The tunnel began to fill
with steam but they just kept on running. When they reached
the place where Rei and Minako had fallen into the tunnel, Sailor Mars
wasn't paying attention so Minako had to yank her to a stop by grabbing her
ribbons. The whole tunnel was a steam bath. Haiku used strands of magic to lift
them up into the hole in the ceilling. When she could see the top, she
formed a temporary platform below them. Sailor Mars colasped against the
side of the tunnel and changed back to Rei. "Can I go to sleep now?" she
asked.
"Good job Rei," Haiku said. "I'm sure that you won't have to use your fire
on the people in that village. Minako, will you help Rei up through the
hole?" Haiku reached up and tried to lift up the ceiling, but was
unsuccessful. After fiddling with it for a while, she was able to slide it
aside and hop up through the hole. The only person in the office was the
chief and he was facing away. Minako joined Haiku and together they helped
Rei. "Excuse me Sir," Haiku said.
As the man turned around in his seat he said, "Yes, what is is now." When he
didn't get an answer immediately he looked up from whatever he was reading.
"Who are you, how did you get in here?" Haiku pointed towards the hole in
the floor. "But that's, ...GUARDS!" Two men came running into the room.
"What would you like Sir!" It was a question, but said as if it was just a
statement.
"Restrain them." He said pointing to Haiku, Rei, and Minako. The guards
moved forward and reached for them.
"You will do no such thing," Haiku said and used strands of magic to send
the guards back to the entrance of the room and onto their butts. "We're not
your enemies."
Suddenly a siren sounded. A man ran into the room and up to the chief. "It's
the Creator. It's broken into the floor above the city. Our soldiers are
already on their way, but we don't have the magic to counter their magic. We
just have the warriors. We need to come up with a plan. Oh, what will we
do?"
The chief was stunned. He hadn't expected this battle to come so soon. "I,
uh."
Haiku walked towards the door. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll take care of
the magic."
"But how?"
"Rei, maybe you should stay here."
"No way! I'm not staying here while you're getting your butt kicked." Before
the men in the room could say anything, the girls were out the door. There
were people running from all over the place with weapons to two tunnels,
across from each other on two sides of the village.
"Rei, you go over there while Minako and I go this way."
"All right! Mars Eternal, Unite!"
They split up and ran towards the tunnels. Haiku wrapped herself in as many
strands of magic as she could. When she started to glow, people even got out
of her way. They hurried up a set of poorly made steps. When they reached
the top, they were amazed. In the center of the room was a black mist which
seemed to suck the light from the room. There was a giant hole in the
ceiling above it. All around it on the ground were retlocs and shadows
fighting with humans. The humans might have been winning but the black mist
kept whipping out and touching people. The touch killed instantly.
Haiku released her magic and surrounded the Creator with it. You could see a
rainbow of colour swirling around the black. Then the colours turned into a
crystal clear sphere around the Creator. Haiku struggled to keep it
contained even as soon as she was done. The Creator fought viciously, but
wasn't able to break through. Minako protected Haiku all through this.
Sailor Mars was using her powers to flame retlocs. Because the Creator
couldn't restore the retlocs and more humans kept on coming and coming, it
seemed like the humans might have won.
But then the Creator released a surprising amount of energy and its prison
shattered into nothing. From training, Haiku was able to stand a lot of
backlash, but this was still a lot. Her screams could be heard throughout
the room. She collapsed, crying, blood all over herself. The Creator began
to restore the retlocs and the humans began to lose again. The Creator had
seemed to tap into even more energy and people were dying very quickly.
Minako half carried, half dragged a semi-conscious Haiku to the side of the
room. Sailor Mars was very quickly getting tired because she had already
been pretty drained when she began.
Suddenly the person dressed in white who had rescued Haiku, Minako, and Rei
earlier dropped down through the hole in the ceiling and right through the
Creator. She then started to cut through the retlocs at an amazing speed.
Minako armed her bow and shot a retloc that tried to backstab the person.
The person stopped and stared at Minako. With this new stab in the Creator's
forces people started fighting even harder so Minako only got a glimpse of
the person.
Minako turned back to Haiku and tried to stop some of the bleeding without
success. Then she was pulled up to her feet. "Mina," the person said.
It was the woman in white. Only now they had their head cover off. "Makoto?"
Minako asked. "I'm so glad to see you." The two friends embraced.
"We have to release our powers."
"What do you mean?"
"You mean you don't remember?"
"Remember what? I remember little of what happened after I was blasted."
"After the battle, to ensure that we would live, and run in to each other
again, we looped our powers together. The only bad part was that in order to
regain our powers we would have to meet up."
"I think I remember a little now." Minako looked at the battle. There
weren't too many humans left, just the really good fighters who could evade
the Creator. "We can catch up later. Right now we have to beat the Creator.
Are you ready?"
"I've always been ready."
Minako and Makoto stood back to back and then clasped each other's hands.
"Venus Eternal..."
"Jupiter Eternal..."
"UNITE!"
Lightning and yellow strands of hearts began to swirl around Minako and
Makoto. They rose a couple feet off the ground. There was a lot of light and
the battle seemed to stop. Then the strands just circled around the person
they belonged to and their sailor fukus appeared. They were completely
white, and then in a flash had the new colours and other additions. They
settled back on the ground. "Whoa, big change in my suit," Jupiter
commented. "Let's rock."
"JUPITER LIGHTNING WAVE CAPTURE" Sailor Jupiter held her arms back and then
when she put them forward from all over the place behind her lightning
appeared out of nowhere and shot forward. It formed kind of a net and
surrounded the Creator. The Creator had already used up a lot of energy so
it couldn't break through Sailor Jupiter's bonds.
"My turn," Sailor Venus stated. "VENUS," she held her arms backwards,
"CRESCENT," she stuck out a finger and as she swung her arms forward two
crescent moons arced back from her fingers, "CROSS." Her fingers met in
front of her and then the two crescents swirled together and then formed a
cross. The cross spun and shot forward into the Creator. It disappeared into
the black.
"Umm, Minako, I think there's supposed to be a little more than that."
"There is. CRUSH!" From all around the Creator a sphere of orange energy
appeared and shot inwards, and then back out. When it came back out there
was a great explosion and the Creator was greatly damaged, but not
destroyed. The explosion was really impressive and everything that was
fighting just stopped.
Sailor Jupiter still had her hands held up and decided to add her attack.
"SHOCK!" The cage of lightning that was surrounding the Creator lit up so it
didn't look like a cage anymore and the top of it just dropped through the
Creator, shocking it, and then destroying the remaining retlocs. The Creator
shriveled up so that it was only about the size of a few people. It shot
back up through the hole and towards the Command Point.
The people who were still alive cheered. Sailor Jupiter and Venus hugged and
danced around in circles. "Yeah! We beat a Creator," the people cheered.
"We've got to help Haiku," Sailor Venus said. She ran over to Haiku and with
Sailor Jupiter's help was able to lift her up.
"Who is she?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"All I know is she calls herself Haiku. She's been travelling to gather all
of the senshi. She has a very good ability of using magic and for a moment
had the Creator trapped." Sailor Mars joined them and greeted Jupiter.
Sailor Mars was pale and was stumbling a little but otherwise alright.
"Tell the people in the village that you want to go to the quarters of the
desert guide. You'll find what you need to clean her up, there." Sailor
Jupiter ran off to go help people she knew. All around Sailor Venus and
Mars, people were asking questions and things but the two senshi just
ignored them and rushed Haiku back down to the village. They passed all
kinds of doctors and other people who were helping the wounded. When they
reached the village, Sailor Mars grabbed someone and got the directions to
Makoto's quarters. It was down a tunnel that branched off from the city.
Haiku had regained enough consciousness to help get herself there.
To keep their minds away from the situation, Sailor Venus explained to the
others how she had regained her powers. "Before all of us were separated
after we lost the battle, Makoto and I, under the suggestion of Sailor Pluto
linked our powers together and to the reality. I'm not even sure what we
did, but we did it so that it was guaranteed that we would survive through
the change of the world. The only downside to this was that in order to
transform we would have to come together again. It only would have worked
with two or more people, so we did it together. Unfortunately I wasn't
paying great attention to what I was doing and forgot about the act. The way
I remember, Sailor Mars and Mercury were doing it when they were washed away
by water."
At the end of the tunnel they were following, they found a cave beside a
running stream. Sailor Venus and Mars powered down and Minako went into the
cave. She came out carrying a cloth. Surprisingly, the water was warm, and
as Haiku slipped in and out of consciousness, Minako and Rei managed to get
her cleaned up. Haiku wasn't hurt as bad as it looked, there was just a lot
of blood. She had a few slashes on her back, chest, legs, and her face.
Otherwise she had just lost a lot of blood. The water was so nice that after
Haiku had gone to sleep inside the cave, Minako and Rei had a bath
themselves.
A little after they were finished and planning to return to the village,
Makoto showed up, carrying their packs which they had left in the chief's
office. "I figured these belonged to you. How is Haiku?"
"She's alright, just needs some rest. It's good to see you. We were about to
go back to the village."
"Don't bother. We'll all go in the morning. It's just about sunset now. I'll
cook us up a meal and you guys can fill me in on your adventures." Minako
and Rei followed Makoto into her home.
Makoto made a stew to eat. It didn't look that great but tasted terrific.
When Minako asked Makoto what was in it she said that it would be better if
she didn't know. Minako and Rei told Makoto all about what had happened to
them. From Haiku rescuing Minako from across the universe, to having a run
in with Michiru on the Island of Dohilne. In turn, Makoto told them about
herself.
"After the darkness, I found myself in a desert city. I lived there and
observed the happenings. There were always people traveling from the port to
the other City standing next to the Command Point, but it was a difficult
journey to take because of the sand worms. While observing the happenings
around me I learned to use the strands of magic to move quickly when I
fought."
"Having nothing better to do, I took up the job of helping travellers get to
the Command City and back by fighting the sand worms. Near the Command Point
there is some kind of mega oil vein. Almost an endless supply. So oil is
always being transported to places all over the world. It got me on the good
side of the people of the Command City so I kept on doing it. I would just
kill sand worms that threatened travellers like you guys and then vanish."
"Later, the people of the desert village found the Caverns of Shmyte. They
were found to be extremely dangerous, but after some exploring a group of
caves that weren't protected were found. The village was moved to there as
you saw earlier. Although it's completely underground, it provides safety
from the harsh conditions of the desert. I had given myself quite a
reputation by that point and the people of the city gave me this cave here,
that has a path that leads to a place on the surface, in between the harbour
and the Command City."
"Unfortunately, the people of the Command City decided that we shouldn't be
allowed to live here so they sent retlocs to run us out. Of course, we
fought back. But being at an alliance with the city, I just stayed out of
the way. Then the rulers of the Command City decided that they wanted me to
come live there. When I declined, it made them want to clear out the Caverns
of Shmyte even more."
"The people of the underground city realized that they were in danger so
they explored some more of the caverns. They found a way to use some kind of
magic to guard the village. We were able to fight off the Creator's initial
attacks but then as you saw, they got through. I was still on the surface
taking out the Creator's forces there and I had no idea you'd showed up, but
I'm glad you did."
That night they all slept well knowing that for the moment they were all
safe, and felt confident from their victory. In the morning after some
breakfast, they went back to the city. Haiku was filled in about Makoto's
past and with some help, was able to walk into the city with them. There
were people all over the place watching, and commenting on how good a job
that they did. The chief's whole family was with him.
"I must apologize for how I treated you earlier. Had I known; I'm ashamed.
If there's anything I can do to help, I would do so. Thank you for helping
us again Makoto."
"What will you do now?"
"We'll find who's still alive and recover. I think that the Creator has had
enough of us for a while."
"I'm going to be going," Makoto said.
"But why? We need you here in case the Creator does attack again."
"I have to go with my friends, in hope to defeat all of the Creators. Don't
worry, by the time the Creator has regained its power it will have a lot
more to worry about."
Haiku stepped forward. "Currently I am known as the Gatherer. I'm gathering
the Sailor Senshi, to fight the Creators. I need your people to come to
Crescent Island when the time is right."
"But how will we know? And where is Crescent Island?"
"The prophecy is: If you crave the old times, or something better, meet your
destiny at The Gathering. If your cause is true, when the sky turns green,
you will find your way to Crescent Island."
The next few days were spent helping the people of the village, and waiting
for Haiku to heal up. Haiku's wounds healed at an accelerated rate because
she used some strands of magic to help. (Or at least that what she said was
helping) Before they left, they discussed where they would go next.
"So where do you plan on taking us Haiku?" Makoto asked. Just like the
others, she felt that Haiku was familiar from somewhere, but she couldn't
remember where.
"Well, I figured we would go to the Command City and give my message. And we
need to track down Haruka. Then we'll be set."
"I was talking to Haruka just a little while back."
"What?! You mean she's alright?"
"Yeah, she said that she wanted to regain all of her power so she was going
after the artifact. Like Minako and I, to regain our powers and to guarantee
that we would survive, we used our powers to link ourselves to this world.
The outer senshi used their talismen. I don't know how it worked but she
said that she thought she knew where it was, and she would use the deep sea
mirror to find Michiru, something that you have already done. It's supposed
to be in the mountain region."
"But there's no way into that region."
"She said that she had found an underwater passage, and just needed to buy
the equipment. I take it you want to follow her."
"Do you know what this means," Minako said excitedly, "We've found all of
our senshi." She and Rei clapped hands. "We just need to go get Haruka."
"Yes," Haiku said. "In addition, tomorrow we'll go buy some diving gear, so
we can go after Haruka. The senshi WILL be reunited."
**********