Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack

Chapter 9: Closing the Circle

"This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

- Winston Churchill



Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, whose creative talents far exceed my most humble own. Distribution and other rights to Sailor Moon belong to lots of different companies that I do not own. I make or imply no claim to ownership of Sailor Moon or its characters. However, the text of this fanfic is mine, and should not be used without permission. Thank you.


And there was silence. But only for a few, precious moments. Then a cheer came from the massed ranks of the invaders from the north. Units that had moments before been ready to break stiffened, then surged forward, colliding with their momentarily disheartened foes. The clash of battle once more filled the air, followed moments later by the screams of the wounded and dying.

In the center of the battlefield, surrounded by an oasis of quiet, the two leaders faced each other. Jadeite, self-proclaimed King of the Dark Kingdom, stared at the massive, serpentine form of his opponent. "I do hope that you do not expect me to be impressed," he said, smirking.

Mordrangar laughed harshly. "No, little human," he said, mouth settling into a fanged grin. "I expect you to die. Slowly." With these words, Mordrangar's claw swept forward to impale Jadeite. The former general leapt out of the way, narrowly dodging the attack.

As he landed, Jadeite formed a ball of pure flame between his hands. With a wordless yell, he sent the rapidly expanding fireball at the Dragon, who with a snort swatted it out of the air, sending it to tear a massive hole in Jadeite's front line.

"Pathetic," the Dragon of Earth commented as he surged forward, nearly crushing the impudent human underneath his scaled coils.

Jadeite stumbled backwards as the Dragon pulled itself to its full height, towering over the battlefield like a colossus. He lightly tapped the ground before him, whispering, "Rolling Inferno." The wave of flame and explosions sped towards the Dragon, which tried to get out of the way, its massive bulk for once a liability.

However, Jadeite knew the attack was nowhere near strong enough to seriously harm the beast. Clenching the Flame Diamond tightly in one gloved fist, he kept up the offensive, rushing forward behind a screen of white-hot fire, which seemed to do nothing more than irritate the Dragon.

A quick swipe from one of its claws sent Jadeite to the ground, grasping at his pierced, nearly shattered shoulder. The Dragon loomed over the human, poised for the killing blow. "You were not as challenging as I expected," Mordrangar said, confident that he could impale the human with one of his claws faster than Jadeite could get off a spell that could hurt him. "I almost pity you."

At this, Jadeite smiled, even as he clutched the bloody mess the Dragon had made of his shoulder. Rolling onto his back, he stared up at the gargantuan serpentine chest hanging directly over his head. "Save your pity... for yourself," he gasped, opening his fist to reveal the glowing Diamond. "Hellfire!"

Even as the Dragon's eyes widened in anger at its mistake, a pillar of flame launched up from Jadeite's palm, rapidly expanding and slamming into the Dragon's scales. Contained by Mordrangar's bulk, it expended its excess energy on the Dragon.

The Dragon's roars of pain brought another brief pause to the battle that surrounded the duel. This time, it was Jadeite's forces which took heart and rallied, while Mordrangar's army fell back. The Dragon stumbled away from Jadeite, momentarily stunned by the force of the attack.

Jadeite rose to his feet, muttering a spell of healing that, while not completely removing the injury he had suffered, managed to numb the pain and restore function to that arm. Jadeite looked up as a low growl was released from his opponent's throat.

"That... hurt," the Dragon stated, glaring down at Jadeite. "It has been more than ten thousand years since a mortal managed to injure me. For that, your soul will be sentenced to an eternity of torment."

Flames already gathering in his hands, Jadeite smirked once more. "You'll have to defeat me first." With that the battle was joined once more.



Shoju smiled as Mamoru asked Michiru the final question on their list. It was awfully convenient that he and Tamori had known her, as it had made the project significantly easier. Most of the other groups were still attempting to come up with a subject for their project.

It was also good to be spending some time with the two of them. Mamoru was always a bit of a loner, but Tamori had also been rather scarce the past few weeks, as had Ikawa and Motoki. Shoju sighed inwardly for a moment. Things had gotten pretty boring at times without his friends to hang out with. However, he knew that these things went in cycles, and that probably in a month or so he'd be seeing them so often he'd get sick of them.

As the interview came to an end, Shoju joined his fellow students in rising and thanking Michiru. A few minutes later the four were walking down the street towards campus, planning to spend a few hours dividing up the remainder of the project between themselves. Hoshi, the only member of the group that Shoju had not known previously, was prattling on about some girl he'd met last night, and managing to thoroughly bore his companions.

Across the street, Urawa Meno nodded as he glanced back towards the screen of his computer. He had located the energy source fairly quickly this time. Poseidon was ready to awaken, and now all he had to do was figure out which member of the foursome it was. Tamori obviously wasn't it, but it could be any of the other three.

Meno followed the group for a while, hoping that they would split up and therefore allow him to determine which was the cause of the faint signal. However, it quickly became obvious that they were not planning to disperse for some time. A pity, but not a major problem.

As the group headed into one of the dorms, Meno settled onto a nearby bench and prepared to work on refining his scan. If he was lucky, in a handful of hours, he'd have Poseidon's identity. Then he would find Hades. After that, there was a war to win.



Overlord Asphara, consort to General Ishamanar, smiled as she lurked in the shadows of Beryl's palace. That was how everyone still thought of it. For as long as it existed, it would be remembered as Beryl's, not Jadeite's, nor as a possession of whoever would take it after him.

The court was in a fair bit of chaos at the moment. In the space of a day, a no-name Overlord had been made General, given the prestigious post of commanding operations against Terra, and died. All this in the middle of the Earth Dragon's invasion.

Of course, the court had hardly known anything but chaos since Jadeite's sudden return. Many of the most powerful Overlords had fallen, either to the Senshi or to their new ruler. One moment the Mountains of Desolation were a vassal; the next they were a deadly enemy.

Asphara liked the chaos. In her mind, chaos meant opportunities. Her consort's ascension was an opportunity, as was whatever he was plotting with Nyxan. The war itself was an opportunity; Asphara had no doubt that she would weather it, whatever outcome it might have, and emerge the stronger for it. And the current lack of any authority over Terran matters was an opportunity as well.

Asphara looked up as a centaur-like creature with the hindquarters of some sort of reptile approached her. "Greetings, Overlord Gorhan," she said, her smile widening.

"Greetings to you as well," Gorhan rasped out in his rough voice. "Why have you requested my presence?"

"Why, I was merely thinking... since that Hakar died, isn't it the case that no one is in charge of Terra?"

Gorhan laughed briefly. "I see where you are going with that thought. A successful raid now could improve one's standing in our lord's eyes, would it not?"

Asphara nearly laughed as well. This would be easier than she expected. "Exactly. Now, I have not the servants to launch such a raid, and my consort's youma are at the front. But what I do have is energy... enough to send a sizable force across."

"And my personal guard is present." Gorhan stated. "But what is in it for you?"

"Replacement for the energy I expend, and a quarter of whatever profit remains. And... an up-and-coming Overlord who owes me a favor," Asphara replied.

Gorhan nodded. "Agreed. Come, let us plan this further."



"You're canceling it?" Uji asked in disbelief as he glanced down the busy street near the park where he had taken the photos in question.

"No, I'm not," Sachiko said irately. "Like I said, I'm delaying the article... I don't know when it will be ready." She paused a moment to look at her watch; she had a meeting shortly.

Uji frowned. "I thought you said the article was ready to go."

Sachiko sighed. "I thought so too. But, I've decided there's a lot of changes that need to be made. I need to think about it some more... this is a much bigger issue than it was when you gave me the photos."

"I know." Uji looked up at the sky for a moment, then shook his head. "I guess you're right. But keep me informed, all right? And don't you still need to let me have a look at the article? We were supposed to do it last night, after all." He resisted the urge to apologize again for having to miss that meeting.

Sachiko nodded, relieved. "All right. How about we meet down at the press room in an hour or so? I've got a meeting I have to run to right now."

"Oh?" Uji asked, curious. "Who with?"

"Just a few witnesses of some more of the Senshi battles," Sachiko said. "I'm going to see if I can get some quotes." Sachiko smiled. She had come up with that excuse in advance.

"Mind if I tag along?" Uji inquired. "I don't really have anything to do right now."

Sachiko nearly groaned. "Um... they're... kind of private people. They probably wouldn't appreciate it." She quickly departed, not giving Uji a chance to ask another question.

Uji frowned at Sachiko's retreating figure. She was acting... evasive. That was unusual for her, he knew, even though the two were not particularly close. Something was up... and Uji was quite curious as to what it was. With a sigh, Uji headed off towards campus, wondering how he was going to kill an hour.



Usagi raced down the sidewalk, ignoring everyone in her path. Rei was going to kill her! She had been meaning to make it to the meeting on time, but there had been that sale at the ice cream store... and that new game at the Crown Arcade... and she'd thought she'd seen Mamoru... and then there was...

She sighed, already hearing Rei's voice. This would not be pleasant. At least the Haruka and Michiru weren't going to be there today... the quiet disappointment in their eyes was even worse than Rei's more vocal expression of the same emotion.

She raced up the steps of the Hikawa Shrine, shouting a quick greeting to Grandfather Hino as she sped towards Rei's room. The next minute or so was spent in the much anticipated ritual combat between the Moon Princess and the Senshi of Fire, but after that the meeting managed to get down to something resembling business.

Ami was, as usual, the first to speak. "I spoke with Haruka this morning, and apparently, while we were fighting the youma at the Tomoe place, a new Champion appeared."

The others responded to this with a chorus of groans. The Champions were already hard enough to fight, and a new one only meant an even more difficult struggle. Makoto grumbled, "How many of them are there?"

Ami replied, "It seems logical to assume that there would be as many of them as there are of us. I've been trying to get more concrete information but -" Ami gestured towards her computer and sighed. "The records are full of gaps. All I can find are clues... and not very many of those."

Minako sighed and lightly petted Artemis. "I suppose we're going to have to deal with what information we have. It's better than what we've had on some of our previous enemies."

"Speaking of which," Ami began, "I've located something that might explain why Jadeite has shown up after so long." She activated her computer, accessing the proper entry in the databases. She jumped slightly when a beep issued from the device, and quickly punched in a sequence of keys, frowning.

"What was that?" Usagi asked.

"Nothing," Ami said, trailing off. She paused for a moment, then continued. "Just a false alarm. Anyway, look at this."

The Senshi quickly clustered behind Ami, so they could see the small image of a crystal displayed on the screen. "This is an Eternal Sleep crystal. As long as its caster is alive, it will contain a person in stasis indefinitely."

Rei frowned. "You're implying that Jadeite was put in one of those by -"

"Beryl," Ami stated. "What records I can recover indicate that she was fond of using them on those she felt had failed her. Once she died, the crystal would have begun to weaken -"

"Eventually freeing Jadeite," Makoto interrupted. "At least that's explained."

"Not quite, Ami said. "Apparently, though the crystal does weaken... it would still be impossible to escape one without powerful aid from the outside. At least, if not more, powerful than the caster."

"More powerful than Beryl," whispered Minako. And for some time, there was silence.



Sachiko nervously knocked on the apartment door. This was to be her first real meeting with the others, as last night had hardly been an appropriate time for pleasantries. After a moment, the door cracked open, reveling a familiar face. "Gladian," Sachiko said.

The man nodded and opened the door. "Furuhata Motoki, now, actually."

"Kudo Sachiko," was her reply. She smiled and entered the room. A few moments later, introductions were complete, and the business of the meeting had begun.

Motoki glanced around the room and spoke. "We are now missing only two of our number. The time when we can try to deal with Saturn, and maybe end this war for once and for all is quickly approaching."

Sachiko glanced briefly in Ikawa's direction before speaking. "What is being done to find Aqoran and Teritan?"

Meno smiled, pulling out his computer. "I have been scanning for energy patterns characteristic to them... and I believe I have found Aqoran." A press of a button caused a hologram of a young man's face to be displayed in the center of the room.

"Hoshi!" Tamori explained. He blinked and then shook his head. "The coincidence is amazing."

"You know him?" Ikawa asked.

"Not really," responded Tamori. "He's in one of my classes... we've been working on a project together."

"Do you know where he would be about now? If so, we can try to Awaken him," Meno said.

"Do you know it will work without Sailor Neptune?" interjected Unazuki.

Meno shrugged. "It's based on what I used to awaken Tamori. It worked then."

"Yes, but he was already Awakening," Unazuki replied. "We just hastened the -" Unazuki trailed off, glancing at Tamori and frowning. "Where would you have encountered Saturn's energy?"

Ikawa blinked. "We certainly hadn't seen her yet," he commented.

"I don't know," replied Tamori. "It probably wasn't Saturn at all... maybe it was some of the work I've been doing with Professor Tomoe."

A silence filled the room, until it was shattered by a beep from Meno's computer. Meno smiled and punched out a quick sequence of commands. "What was that?" Sachiko asked.

"Nothing really," Meno said. "Just the results of a little side project of mine. Anyway, what about Hoshi, Tamori?"

Tamori frowned for a moment, then replied. "He should be in his dorm room. I can lead you there."

Meno nodded. "Let's go then. Just the two of us... any more might scare him off."



Aihara Hoshi slowly opened his door. He hadn't been expecting visitors... probably they were looking for his roommate. He blinked as he recognized Tamori's visage. "What's up, Tamori?" he asked, perplexed. His visitor had just left an hour or so ago. "Did you forget something?"

Tamori smiled nervously. "Can we come in for a moment?"

Hoshi blinked, noticing Tamori's companion for the first time. "You are?"

"Urawa Meno. I have something I need to talk to you about. It's important."

Hoshi glanced to Tamori, who nodded. Hoshi slowly nodded as well. "All right," he said, pulling his door fully open. "Come in." This was weird.

When the three were settled, an extremely uncomfortable silence dominated for some time. Finally, Hoshi spoke. "What is it?" He wracked his mind to try and remember whether this Meno had been the victim of one of his practical jokes... or was he that girl from last night's boyfriend? Or worse, overprotective brother?

Hoshi's two guests glanced at each other, and Meno pulled out a small object, some sort of palmtop. "This should explain everything," Meno said, hitting a button.

The next Hoshi knew, he was standing. And in his hands was, of all things, a sword! Had he blacked out? This was too weird for words... and to top it all off he had somehow acquired a nasty headache. Tamori and Meno were looking at him expectantly. Hoshi blinked, and finally stuttered out, "Wh... what the...?"

Meno frowned. "Aqoran?"

"What? My name is Hoshi! Is this some type of joke? Cause if so it's not very funny." Hoshi dropped the sword, not noticing that it vanished as soon as it left his fingers.

Meno and Tamori glanced at each other again. Tamori spoke first. "Maybe we have to -" He trailed off as Meno nodded.

A moment later, Hoshi suffered a second shock as the two pulled swords out of nowhere, and were promptly replaced by figures Hoshi had only seen on the evening news. "What's going on?" he asked nervously. This had to be a joke. But he was damned if he knew how they were carrying it out... or what the punchline was going to be.

The blue clad one... Meno... though Hermes would be a better name now, frowned even more deeply than before. "Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?!" Hoshi asked, nearly shouting.

Another silent consultation passed between the two Champions, and they promptly detransformed. "Our apologies," Tamori said, glaring at Meno. "We had... mistaken you for a friend of ours. We would appreciate it if you do not speak of this again."

Hoshi nearly growled out his reply. "Get out. I don't know what game you two are playing, but I'm no part of it. If you're lucky I won't call the police."

"But," Meno started, only to be silenced by Tamori.

Tamori glanced towards Hoshi. "We're sorry." He quickly ushered his friend out of the dorm building, than turned towards him. "What the hell was that?! You messed up, and now we've let a civilian in on our identities!"

Meno shook his head angrily. "You don't understand... he has to be Poseidon! He had the sword!"

Tamori slowly contained his anger. "Then what went wrong?"

Meno let out a long sigh. "I don't know."



Hoshi's breathing slowly became less rapid as he leaned against the wall of his dorm room. A sigh escaped his lips. That had to have been some sort of joke. It had to have been. Already his mind was beginning to recover, searching out possible, rational explanations for the recent events.

Unfortunately, those did not appear to be exactly racing to be discovered. Hoshi opened his eyes and began to search the room for the sword he half-remembered appearing in his hands, for some sign that he wasn't going insane and that what had just occurred wasn't some hallucination.

After a few moments of searching, Hoshi winced as the dull pain in his head suddenly escalated, searing his mind. Foreign images flickered, and were forgotten even as they faded, their only remnant a new beat of the drum that had taken up residence in Hoshi's mind.

"...all are one..."

Hoshi shook his head. The sword wasn't here. Was only his imagination? His body shuddered as the headache returned for a third time with new force. Was he having some sort of seizure? Hoshi slumped to the floor as another wave of pain consumed him.

After an eternity, the pain subsided. With a groan, Hoshi came to his feet, leaning against the wall once again. He had to get out of here. Get some fresh air. Or something. Find somewhere quiet, where he could think.

"...bind all of us..."

Hoshi found himself standing outside the Crown Cafe. As good as anywhere, he supposed. He walked into the cafe, ignoring the smiles of the waitress and the new proprietor. As he shook his head to try and clear out the fog that still enwrapped it, he caught a glimpse of familiar aqua hair out of the corner of his eye.

The owner of the hair had apparently glimpsed him as well, as she waved and gestured him over to her table. Hoshi complied, and forced a smile. "Nice to see you, Ms. Kaiou," he said.

"Please," responded the woman with a smile, "just Michiru." She turned to her companion. "This is one of Tamori's partners, Aihara Hoshi if I remember correctly."

"Tenou Haruka," the blond-haired woman stated. "Pleased to meet you."

Hoshi smiled and mouthed his own pleasantries. His headache seemed to be coming back... but at the moment it was only a dull roar. Suddenly -

"...no choice but war..."

"Are you all right?" Michiru asked as Hoshi seemed to nearly pass out. The man was slumped over their table, clutching his head.

Hoshi slowly started to rise, and opened his mouth, not sure how to respond.

Then the front wall of the Crown exploded.



The youma burst into the cafe, draining energy as they went. All in their path slumped over, unconscious. They did not kill their victims, for that would be a waste of time and effort. Living, they would recover, and become a source for later energy drains as well.

The youma themselves were scaled beasts that walked on four legs. Long tongues occasionally flickered out of their mouths as they absorbed the abundant energy and sent it on its way to the storage their master had prepared. The smoke that now filled the Crown made it difficult to tell their number, even if any were in a position to count.

Whatever their number, it was soon one less, as a youma head went flying, removed from its body by deft application of a glowing sword. Aphrodite smiled as the youma corpse dissolved to dust, and began to search for her next target.

On the other side of the room, two warriors displayed their own skill as a threesome of youma were removed from the world. Sailor Uranus, hearing noise nearby, readied a World Shaking, only to be stopped by her partner's restraining hand.

"With all this smoke, we don't know if its a youma or not," Sailor Neptune said.

Uranus nodded as the golden ball of energy faded away. "Right, we'll have to stick to melee."

"Exactly," a third voice said.

Startled, Uranus whirled around. "Pluto! Where'd you... never mind." She quickly produced and unsheathed her Talisman. "Let's go."

Her two companions nodded, and the Senshi were soon cutting through the youma strike force like a whirlwind, leaving none in their path standing. Few of the youma even knew their slayers, as the smoke which hid them also hid their foes.

Across the cafe turned battlefield, Aphrodite and Zeus were also doing their own part to defend the Earth. The telltale glow of Aphrodite's weapon attracted youma to them, and the pair fought back to back, surrounded by an ever dwindling number of youma.

In a relatively quiet corner of the cafe, Aihara Hoshi lay forgotten. He clutched his head, the incredible pain making all that had come before seem trivial. Had he been coherent enough to form the thought, he might have wished for an energy drain to send him into the blissful darkness of sleep.

Familiar images that he had never seen before flashed through his mind, though he was in no state to decipher them. Alien thoughts and concepts paraded through his consciousness, and Hoshi found himself struggled to maintain his sanity in the flood of madness that had engulfed him.

Who was he?



Sachiko smiled at Uji as she swiped her ID card through the electronic lock on the press room. "Sorry I was late," she said. "The meeting took a bit longer than I anticipated." It had taken so long that Gladian and Azala... no... Motoki and Unazuki had left before... Tamori and Meno could return, pleading that their break was up and they had to return to work. And the discussion that ensued when Tamori and Meno had returned had been long as well.

"No problem," Uji replied. "How did the interview go?"

Sachiko blinked, then remembered the excuse she had given the inquisitive photographer. "Um... not that well actually. They really didn't provide that much of a new perspective."

"Too bad," Uji replied simply as Sachiko pushed open the door. He followed her into the press room, as always surprised at the sheer chaos of the room. How a paper could ever come out regularly and on time out of such a place was a small mystery to him.

Sachiko strode over to one of the computers. She punched the power button, and with a sigh waited for the outdated machine to boot. It was a pity that her requests for budget extensions to upgrade the school paper's equipment were ignored.

Uji glanced around the room. "Mind if I turn on that radio?" he asked, already moving to do so.

"Of course not," Sachiko said as she cleared away from the mousepad a pile of notebooks that had been left there by the last person to use the computer. A moment later, the room was filled by the quiet noise of the radio.

After a short wait, Sachiko sighed as the computer finished booting. "All right," she said. "I'll have the draft article up in just a moment. Bear in mind that I'm probably going to change a lot of it."

Uji hastened over to her side, only to halt as the music came to a sudden stop. Both people in the room turned quizzically to the radio.

"We interrupt our normal programming to report that there has been an explosion in the Juuban District. Witness report that several Senshi have been seen on the scene." The report went on the rattle off the address of the incident and to pass on a warning from the police department for all pedestrians and motorists to avoid the area.

Sachiko blinked. The address was nearby. She had to get down there and see what was going on. If the Senshi were involved, it couldn't be good.

"Shame I left my camera at home," muttered Uji.

"Um... Uji," Sachiko began. "I'm really sorry, but I have to run. Wait here, and I'll be back as soon as I can." Without waiting for a reply, she raced out of the room.

Uji blinked several times. This was most... odd. Uji frowned. Could Sachiko be... no, that was ludicrous. But whatever was up, it had something to do with that explosion. Uji quickly made up his mind, and soon the press room was empty once more.



The torrent of flames failed to halt the Dragon's rush, and Jadeite was forced to roll out of the way of Mordrangar's charge. "Soul Flame Barrage!" he growled out, sending another firestorm at the Dragon.

The Dragon ignored the insignificant attack, instead choosing to take the offensive, forcing Jadeite back with swipes of its powerful claws. Jadeite stumbled away, dodging each strike as best he could. Realizing that this situation would quickly lead to defeat, Jadeite summoned forth the power of the Flame Diamond once again.

The intoxicating power felt like the white-hot flames it summoned, burning away in Jadeite's spirit. For a moment, Jadeite struggled to maintain control, and came far too close to eliminating himself in an orgy of destruction. But he managed to tame the wild power once again, and with a loud cry he released his largest firebolt yet.

The white beam sped towards the Dragon, its sheer heat causing the air to shimmer and the ground beneath it to liquefy. Mordrangar summoned what protective magics he could, but they failed him, as the firebolt stuck the Dragon of the North midway between its brown eyes.

Rearing back and releasing another roar of pain, the Dragon ceased its assault, giving Jadeite a moment to rest. But only a moment, as a few seconds later the molten rock that lay in between the two combatants rose into the air and flew towards the ruler of the Dark Kingdom, propelled by Mordrangar's power.

Panicking, Jadeite reacted instinctively, summoning a wall of flames in between himself and the threat. However, this instinct failed him, as the magma passed through the flames, becoming even more dangerous as the fire raised its temperature to new heights.

This time it was Jadeite's turn to scream, as the wave of molten rock slammed into to him, searing his flesh and introducing him to new meanings of the word pain. The Flame Diamond fell from Jadeite's nerveless fingers, quickly rolling out of sight. An ordinary human would have died instantly, but Jadeite as far from normal. Nonetheless, it was still a potentially crippling strike.

Behind the former General, a loud chorus of groaning rock heralded the opening of a rapidly widening chasm. The river of magma flowed into the abyss, carrying Jadeite along with it. Jadeite barely managed to grab the lip of the chasm, preventing himself from falling to his doom.

This was only a momentary reprieve, for the chasm quickly began to close as rapidly as it had opened, putting Jadeite in danger of being crushed by tons of solid rock. Had he been unwounded, it would have been a trivial matter to escape, but the dark lord was hanging on the consciousness by a measure even slimmer than that with which he was hanging onto the canyon wall and was in no condition to summon the strength necessary to escape.

The Dragon smiled as he neared the closing abyss, savoring the imminent destruction of the man who thought he could replace Beryl. With this victory he would gain more strength than ever, and even the other Dragons united would be unable to challenge him. One by one, they would submit, and with each triumph his power would grow.

Behind the Dragon, a small figure stepped out from behind a large boulder. An overbold member of Mordrangar's army stepped forward as well, and was swatted aside like a tiny insect. The figure raised one taloned hand. "Shadow Bolt!"

A beam of pure darkness sped from the youma's hand and impacted on the Dragon's flank. Mordrangar whirled around with surprising speed, facing its new opponent. "You wish to challenge me again, 'General' Nyxan?"

Nyxan smiled, another bolt of dark energy growing in its hands. "Not particularly." The youma Overlord released his attack, then vanished. The bolt of shadow did little more than irritate the Dragon, but the firebolt that arrived from the opposite direction did more damage.

Mordrangar turned around once more, to face the barely recognizable form of Jadeite, who had taken advantage of Mordrangar's momentary distraction to recover his wits and escape from the chasm. His face was a mass of burns, and his clothing was nearly nonexistent. However, thanks to the General's powerful magic, the wounds were already beginning to heal. Jadeite smiled and prepared his counterattack.



The smoke had cleared. The youma were gone, destroyed or returned to the twisted hell they originated from. Now, however, a new battle seemed to be about the begin.

Three Senshi and two Champions stared at each other across the cafe. The silent staring that seemed to precede all such conflicts stretched out, neither side willing to be the first to attack. The few bystanders remaining conscious were fleeing the battleground, though the cafe's owner, Allana Farrell, remained huddled against the back wall, paralyzed with fear.

"We don't need to fight," Zeus said. "Not now."

"Why not?" Sailor Pluto began, only to be silenced by a glare from Uranus.

The blond Senshi glanced at the Champions, then nodded, sheathing her Space Sword. "All right," she said simply.

Pluto gave her a worried look, but Neptune merely nodded and her own Talisman vanished. At this, Zeus smiled and took a step back. It looked as though the new policy of avoiding conflict with the Senshi would actually bear fruit for once.

What happened next was probably an accident. Aphrodite's sword made a slight movement, one that was, in retrospect, nearly certainly an unintentional action or the beginning of lowering it. But, at the time, suspicious minds were able to see it as the beginning of a treacherous attack.

"Deep Submerge!" The quick attack sent the unprepared Champions slamming into the wall. This preemptive strike was followed a moment later by a World Shaking.

Zeus struggled to his feet, face set into a grimace. The Senshi obviously could not be trusted, if they couldn't even hold a truce for a handful of seconds. "Thunder Bolt!"

The blast of lightning did not hit the Senshi, but it forced them to take cover behind an overturned table. Behind this they would be safe until they could launch a counter-assault. Or so they thought.

"Excuse me, ladies," came a rather pleasant voice from behind them. The three sets of eyes soon latched onto the form of a man clad in aqua plate armor, with the symbol of Neptune displayed on the breastplate. "Tidal Wave!"

Though they were battered by the attack, the Senshi quickly regrouped while the Champions recovered and formed a battle line.

"Poseidon," Zeus said with a smile. "So Hermes managed to Awaken you?"

"Not exactly," replied the newly discovered Champion. "I'll tell you later. We have business now."

"Right," Zeus said with a nod, and the three Champions returned their attention to the Senshi.

But the Senshi were now ready for them, and they easily avoided the Champion's attacks. Pluto rolled to the side, beneath another of Zeus's bolts of lightning, and readied her staff.

"Dead Scream."



Uji was in a state of mild shock. He had known that something was up with Sachiko, but this... this was impossible. But he had seen the evidence with his own eyes. Three simple words, and Sachiko became a Champion. He didn't recognize her armor, so he assumed she was a recent recruit.

It quickly became obvious that they were nearing the scene of the battle, what with the fleeing crowds and such. Uji now really wished he had not left his camera behind. He shoved his way through the crowd, wondering why he was not joining them in fleeing. There was nothing he could do at the scene of the battle.

But something inside him, perhaps that 'photographer's instinct' some of the paper's more regular contributors spoke of, told him that he absolutely had to get a clear view of the battle. Uji blinked as he got his first glimpse of the battleground. The Crown Cafe was barely recognizable, its whole front shattered. Bodies were everywhere, though whether they were dead or unconscious he could not tell. He sincerely hoped the latter would prove to be the truth.

He glanced about, quickly noting Sachiko's form, hiding behind a pile of rubble from whatever was in the room. He nodded as she suddenly raced to another set of cover. She was obviously trying to sneak around behind someone... or something, without her presence being noticed.

Uji frowned and began to thread his own path through the rubble. Even though he couldn't photograph anything, he had to know what exactly was going on. A few moment's crawl later, he was cautiously peeking over a pile of rubble that had probably been the front wall of the Crown.

Inside the cafe, the Champions and Senshi were facing off. And there was another new Champion! Uji wondered where they were all coming from. He thought he spied a glimpse of Sachiko's armor across the room, but it was impossible to tell for sure. He was considering moving to try and get a better view, when something else attracted his attention.

"Dead Scream."

It was as though a dam he had never known existed had been destroyed. Everything was suddenly so clear. New memories were open to him, memories of an ancient time, of another civilization. Power flowed through and around, a dark power that was his to command. With three words, similar to those with which Sachiko had shocked him a brief time ago, he summoned that power to battle.

His armor was black like the void of space, relieved only by the bone white sigil that declared his planet. A grim smile appeared on his face as Hades rose, sword in hand, and joined the battle.

At some point since he had last looked, Medea had attacked, and now the Senshi were surrounded, searching for a escape route. Hades fought the urge to laugh at the expressions of dismay that appeared on their faces as he rose.

The other Champions made space for him in their ranks, and the five warriors were certain that soon their foes would fall. And with the most dangerous Senshi save only Serenity herself and Saturn out of the equation, victory would be near assured.

But they would never know, as at that instant the familiar sirens of the police sounded outside. Voices called for the combatants to emerge with their hands up, but none of them had any intention of following that order. However, neither did they have any desire for a conflict with the police.

A silent message passed between the warriors on both sides, as well as a silent agreement. The Champions quickly departed, and soon the Senshi followed suit. This battle would have to wait for another time... but it would come. It would come.

And, forgotten behind the cafe's counter, a shaking Allana Farrel slowly calmed herself.



Mordrangar growled as Jadeite's firebolts spattered harmlessly off his scaled hide. "Your efforts only delay your defeat, human. You are nearly dead, and I am completely unharmed. Beg for mercy, and maybe I will grant it."

Jadeite took a few steps forward, until he stood only a few feet from the Dragon. "Mercy is for the weak," he replied. "Inferno!" A raging whirlwind of flame obscured the former general for a moment, forcing the Dragon back, but when the flames died down, Jadeite had fallen to one knee from the effort.

Mordrangar stared down at his opponent for a moment. "Then... you will die." He opened his fanged mouth wide and prepared for the final strike. A torrent of acid spewed from the Dragon's mouth, hissing and steaming as it was exposed to the air for the first time.

Beneath the Dragon, Jadeite smiled, and with a new burst of strength summoned forth another wall of fire, this one far more successful than the first. The acid exploded into flame as it struck Jadeite's defensive magic, sending both combatants flying.

Mordrangar was first to recover, shaking his head. "Fool! I will destroy you!" The ground heaved beneath Jadeite, sending him flying once again.

Jadeite smiled, and, feigning unconsciousness, used a tiny bit a magic to adjust his flight path. His opponent laughed as he noticed the direction of Jadeite's travel, and opened his mouth wide once more. The eyes of both armies were fixed on the struggle, which now seemed about to end.

At the last possible moment before he fell into Mordrangar's maw, Jadeite acted. He shot upward like an arrow, a sword of flame forming in his hands. Mordrangar had a moment to realize his mistake before the fiery blade plunged into his right eye. Mordrangar's head shook from side to side rapidly, as the Dragon attempted to dislodge Jadeite. The Dark Kingdom's ruler was not moved however, and channeled the last elements of his power through his blade... and into the Dragon.

The explosion sent Jadeite into the air once more, and left the right half of Mordrangar's face a bloody ruin... and the Dragon dead. The serpentine corpse shuddered a few more times, then slowly faded into nothingness. Jadeite rose to his feet, and was soon joined by Nyxan and Ishamanar. The now unchallenged king raised his fiery sword high. His magically amplified voice echoed throughout the entire battlefield. "Surrender... or be destroyed."

The forces of the Mountains of Desolation hesitated, and then one by one they lowered their banners and dropped their weapons. Jadeite's army surged forward, shouts of victory filling the air. Jadeite himself turned towards his Generals, and smiled as his sword vanished. "Victory," he half-whispered, savoring the word.

The war in the Dark Kingdom was over.



Author's Random Revised Ramblings

1) Almost entirely cosmetic changes this time, and not many of them. Feel free to listen to One Winged Angel from the FFVII soundtrack during all the Jadeite/Mordrangar fight scenes, even if it isn't part of the "official" Shades of Gray Soundtrack. After all, that's what those scenes were written to.

2) Credit goes to Angus MacSpon, Rebecca Nowack, and Chaeotica for their prereading of the original version. Brian Randall and Miashara gave post-prereading comments, so thanks go to them as well. Brian also awarded me the Tin Shinji Humility Award for the original author's notes to this chapter.

3) Any and all comments are always welcomed.

Released: January 17, 2002

Revised: October 15, 2003

Final: December 30, 2003