THE PERSON I LOOK UP TO
Chapter 11: "Inner Strength"
A Neo-Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
"Danro!" Sailor Eichi gasped.
Instantly Sailor Moon moved in front of Queen Serenity. She took a defensive position, the Crescent Moon Wand appearing in her hand. Serenity wanted to protest, but held her tongue. She knew that her daughter was doing her job and didn't need to be distracted by her concerns and worries.
She was too weak anyway.
"You still stand with our enemies, Sailor Eichi?" Danro asked as he walked into the room. He had a confidence to his gait, born of his powerful physical stature and his abilities as Kamen Irori, but there was a sadness to him at facing a former ally. Serenity sensed that he didn't want to fight Eichi.
"I stand with what's right, Danro," Eichi replied. "Shinrin is obsessed with her beliefs and obsessed with her power. She's committing evil in the name of good. I've told you that before. If that makes us enemies, then it's her fault, not mine."
"I don't want to fight you," Danro appealed to her. "I don't want to fight any of you. If only you could see what she sees. She is on a much higher plane than any of us. She sees truths that we can't hope to see."
"You used to be a man of logic!" Eichi retorted. "A man of thought! Is your love for her so strong that it's blinded you to what she's doing?"
"Perhaps. I want to believe in her," he said softly. "I do believe in her! She is communicating with The Mother Forest! She has been touched by greatness!" His features hardened. "Submit to her vision or you'll be swept aside."
"That just proves she doesn't see the forest for the trees!" Sailor Moon growled. "Moon Healing Escalation!"
"Usa," Sailor Moon heard her mother whisper as she projected her pink-tinted power out from the wand. "Clear your mind of anger. If you fight angry, you sap your power."
Sailor Moon felt herself burn with shame. She knew that. She shouldn't have to be told, and yet her mother had to tell her. When was this ever going to become easy for her?
At once, Sailor Moon focused on the threat speeding toward her. Three leaves, launched by the suddenly cat-like Danro Ganjou, were speeding toward her stem first. If one could incapacitate her mother, what would three do to her? She was about to find out because the senshi realized that she'd never move out of the way in time.
"Mind's Eye Winds!" Sailor Eichi suddenly shouted.
Without warning, the leaves were swatted from the air by an invisible hand. Sailor Moon glanced toward Eichi, but the senshi was already moving to avoid the swift charge of Danro. Sailor Moon brought the wand to bear, trying to hit Danro with its calming, healing effect, but the man was just too fast. Fighting him in closed quarters was becoming a disadvantage. His reflexes were phenomenal and any attack they made on him just seemed to give him the opportunity to counterattack.
Suddenly Danro tripped on something unseen. Hazarding a glance, Sailor Moon saw her mother gesturing. She'd tripped Danro with what little power she could muster. But it was a costly move, for Serenity stumbled back against the far wall clutching her head. Turning back to the battle, the girl found Danro already up and crouched, ready to attack at any time from any direction.
"Mind's Eye Winds!" Sailor Eichi shouted again.
Several stone objects rose up into the air, then launched at Danro. Sailor Moon gaped for a single second.
"She's a telekinetic, like Pallas!" Sailor Moon realized.
She watched the missiles speed toward Danro. He seemed to be targeted perfectly, but at the last moment his fantastic strength and reflexes allowed him to avoid the projectiles. Even as he dodged, Danro launched two move leaves at Eichi. The woman threw up her hands and the leaves struck an invisible shield, bouncing away.
This was going too long. Sailor Moon wished she still had her tiara. It might be a more effective attack against Danro than her wand. The best her wand might be able to do was pacify Danro. If she had time, she might be able to focus enough energy through the wand to use to defeat him. That was looking less and less like a possibility.
The wand tracked Danro as he and Eichi bounded around the room seeking to launch their own attacks and avoid the other's. If she could just get one good shot in.
"Aahhhhhhh!" Sailor Moon gasped in surprise. Out of nowhere, a leaf projectile whizzed past her, striking the wand and ripping it out of her hand. The wand clattered along the floor toward the far wall. Sailor Moon immediately turned and pursued the wand, oblivious to how vulnerable she might now be.
Danro recognized it instantly.
As she ran across the floor, Sailor Moon glanced behind her when she heard the alarmed cry of her mother. Danro was almost on top of her, his eyes as cold and as merciless as when he killed the rampaging Ceelot. Suddenly Sailor Moon realized that she'd just screwed up badly.
And then he wasn't there. Sailor Moon didn't see where he went, but heard a thud and an impact of bodies. She lunged for the Crescent Moon Wand, knowing that it was her only defense against Danro. Turning back, she saw Sailor Eichi had intercepted him, tackling Danro and sending them both tumbling. Eichi was flung away from Danro by the man's superior strength. She rolled along the floor and up into a defensive crouch, ready to attack.
But Danro was faster. No sooner had Eichi reached her knees than a leaf buried itself
stem first into her chest with uncanny accuracy. The impact threw Eichi back against the wall.
Grimacing out loud from the combined force of the leaf and the impact, the woman stiffened,
then sagged to the floor barely conscious.
Breathing hard from his exertion, but nonetheless still a threat, Danro stood up and faced his remaining quarry. Serenity was backed into a corner. It was all she could do to keep her feet. Just skidding to a protective position in front of her was Sailor Moon. The girl hunched her shoulders, planted her feet and stuck the wand out before her like it was a sword.
"Leave my mother alone," Sailor Moon warned. There was no anger in her voice. There was resolution. Danro would not pass as long as she breathed.
"You have a great deal of potential, young warrior," Danro said, advancing on them, "but you're in over your head."
The sun was setting in the west over the horizon. Crystal Tokyo would, for a few fleeting moments, be cast in hues of red and orange and have an unnatural fire to it. Then the argon fusion lighting would take over and recolor the city in a neon yellow-white brilliance.
Haruka peered out of the hatch leading to the aero-pad. She was looking for a particular firefly this night and she found her. Hotaru was braced against the wall, sitting next to Rei on the aero-pad. The pair gazed up into the heavens, their trepidation buried under a layer of enforced patience. The Asteroids had long since gone inside. A pang pricked Haruka's heart. She was sad that her precious little firefly had to know such fear and trepidation. How unfair, o life, to bring such melancholy to such a tender, innocent spirit.
The pretentiousness of the thought brought a smile to Haruka's face.
"You going to wait out here all night?" Haruka asked, cautiously ambling over. Rei glanced at her with neutral acknowledgment.
"Yes," Hotaru replied. Then her resolve faded. "If it's all right," she added.
"Suppose there's worse places you could be," Haruka shrugged. "But if you're going to sit out here on this windy pad all night, get a blanket. I don't want you getting sick."
"Yes, Papa," Hotaru whispered. The girl got up and walked into the palace.
"If things get too cold, I can always make a fire," Rei replied.
"I understand her," Haruka said, kneeling down next to Rei. "She's a kid and kids get emotionally strung out about a lot of things. But you? I figure you of all people would have more faith."
"I don't let faith blind me," Rei glanced at Haruka, "like some people. I know Serenity's powerful and Usa's a lot more competent than anyone gives her credit for, and Endymion's on the way, too. But I also know that there's a million different dangers in the universe and someday fortune is going to run out for Serenity or Usa or both of them. How close did we come to losing Usa to those plant things?" Rei set her jaw and returned her gaze to the sky. "I have to know they're safe. I can't rest until I do."
"Then maybe you should go after them," Haruka shrugged. "If it was Michiru or Hotaru and I was worried about them, I'd go after them."
"And if Endymion expressly forbade you?"
Haruka looked Rei squarely in the eye, maintaining her detached manner.
"I'd tell him where he could leap and go anyway," Haruka replied.
"That's why you've never 'worked and played well with others'," Rei smirked knowingly.
"Beats sitting around worrying," Haruka countered.
"And if you made things worse?"
"Then if the gods are merciful, we'll die together."
"That's a pleasant thought."
"I'd rather die with Michiru and Hotaru than bury them."
"How many centuries have we had this debate?" Rei asked.
"I never bothered to count," Haruka smirked. "They'll come home, Rei."
"You know this for a fact?"
"Yeah." Haruka glanced at Hotaru, returning with a blanket under her arms. "Because Serenity knows better than to make my little Firefly sad."
When Hotaru reached them, Haruka bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Don't do anything desperate," she told Hotaru. "Usa and Serenity will come home safe."
"Thank you for letting me stay up here, Papa," Hotaru said.
"Hey, no problem. If you're up here, then I know you're not with 'that boy'," Haruka tossed over her shoulder.
"PAPA!" fumed Hotaru. Rei tried to smother a laugh.
"Moon Healing," Sailor Moon began, earnestly willing everything she had through the jewel affixed to the Crescent Moon Wand.
Her mother saw it first. With a whipping motion, Danro Ganjou threw a leaf at Sailor Moon, seeking to disable her before she could get her power phrase out. The queen tried to erect a shield in front of them, but nothing came. Her brain hurt and she was so dizzy and confused. And just as suddenly the leaf wasn't there. Had she imagined it? No, the downward motion of Sailor Moon's arm swatted the leaf away with the wand itself.
"Escalation!" Sailor Moon finished, flashing Danro a quick smirk of triumph. An energy barrier sprang up between them and Danro's follow up leaves glanced harmlessly away.
"Well countered," Danro replied. There was a lack of frustration in the man that was at once infuriating and scary. Sailor Moon's eyes darted around, trying to see what she was missing.
Without warning, a walking staff appeared in Danro's hand. It was a weathered old tree limb, honed and hardened into a solid, if slightly gnarled, staff. Danro continued to approach. His aura, already impressive from his physical power, grew in size with the appearance of the staff. The staff balanced effortlessly between Danro's two hands. Sailor Moon gritted her teeth and poured everything she could muster into the energy barrier being projected by the Wand.
"You have power," Danro said.
Suddenly the staff lashed out with the speed of a cobra strike. Sailor Moon moved the wand and the barrier it projected to intercept. With amazing speed, Danro countered and swung the staff down, Sailor Moon caught it at the last moment.
"And you have some skill," Danro continued.
Instantly he delivered three quick blows with the ends of the staff, to her other knee, to her opposite shoulder and to her mid-section. Each time Sailor Moon caught the blow on her energy barrier - - barely. Thank goodness for those self-defense classes Makoto taught. But he wasn't letting her get set to mount any kind of counterattack. And the feedback was like bumblebees buzzing incessantly in her ears.
"And a great deal of courage," Danro continued calmly, as if he were teaching a class. "I suspect some of that courage is born from defending family."
The staff swung up and then down like an ax. Sailor Moon caught it at the last moment, but it didn't linger on her shield. The staff changed course immediately. The senshi couldn't move in time to parry and felt the stinging impact of the staff across her right knee. Hissing in pain, her right knee buckling, Sailor Moon sank down to one knee.
"USA!" Serenity gasped out.
"But you've taken on far too great a task," Danro said dispassionately.
A blow to the head was blocked by her wand's shield. A whip-like blow to the side was not. Suddenly blows were coming at the girl from all directions. Some she caught, some she didn't. There were so many and they were so fast. It was like Danro had two staffs or three. For every two she caught, a third would get through and exact a heavy toll in pain. Her right knee was numb from the blow it took. Her left side was on fire and there were ugly welts on her thigh and calf. Still the blows kept coming, moving as fast as she could block, moving faster than she could think. There had to be something she could do, some way to put Danro on the defensive. If things kept up like this for very much longer, he would overwhelm her and her mother would be defenseless.
Danro's shoulder dipped. It was the only warning she had before the staff whipped across her ankles and swept her feet out from under her. Sailor Moon landed in an awkward heap between Danro and Serenity. She looked up, trying to see the finishing blow and somehow deflect it. She had to keep fighting. Her mother was depending upon her. All the innocents on this world were depending upon her.
But Danro's stance wasn't aimed at delivering the final blow to her. His staff cocked, prepared to deliver a killing stroke to Serenity. For her part, Serenity extended a feeble hand,perhaps trying to use her powers, perhaps merely to fend off the blow everyone knew she was too weak to fend off. It was just a second, and in that second Sailor Moon figuratively glimpsed the future: Her mother dead, herself broken and defeated, innocents wailing in torment under the theocratic heel of Queen Shinrin. The killing blow to her mother seemed to loop over and over again in her mind's eye.
"NO!" Sailor Moon wailed, wailed like she hadn't wailed since she was five and face to face with an attacking Dark Moon Sister Petz. A crescent moon mark appeared on her forehead, vibrating with power, and a column of light shot up from her into the air and through the roof.
Amazed, Danro stumbled back, shielding his face from the sudden burst of power. Through the blue-white glare, he saw Sailor Moon levitate to her feet. Her hands were crossed over her chest and her head tilted back in a rapture. Seeing that she was vulnerable in this position, Danro swung the staff with a killing stroke. The staff struck the energy column and snapped off.
Stunned into silence and inaction, Danro, Serenity and the barely conscious Sailor Eichi looked as Sailor Moon hovered six inches off the floor of the shelter. Her long trails of pink hair fluttered in a direct vertical line to the ceiling. Her short skirt whipped immodestly away from her hips and up her torso. Throughout it all, Sailor Moon seemed oblivious to everyone and everything around her. It was as if she was communicating with someone or something not of this plane of reality. Of all the witnesses, only Queen Serenity realized what it was.
Slowly, delicately, the princess touched down onto the floor again. The energy column dissipated. Her hair and skirt dropped back down, in gravity's control once more. Her head bowed and her hands remained crossed over her chest. The only thing different was that the Crescent Moon Wand was gone, replaced by a new weapon.
"The Moon Scepter," Serenity realized. "She's ascended to the next level!"
Shaking his surprise off, Danro raised the remnant of his staff up, ready to impale Sailor Moon with it.
"Usa!" Serenity choked out. "Say 'Moon Princess Halation'!"
"Moon Princess Halation!" Sailor Moon called out, mechanically extending the Moon Scepter in front of her.
Pink tendrils shot out from the scepter and seized Danro. They quickly wrapped around him and forced him to drop the staff. Danro was lifted off the floor and into the air, straining hopelessly against the pink bands that gripped him. All the while Sailor Moon stood as if in a trance, her long trails of hair moving slightly in an unfelt breeze. Danro fought, fought for all he was worth to break free of the binding tendrils. Then suddenly he stiffened. A deep sigh escaped his throat and the man went limp. The tendrils gently brought him to rest on the floor. There he slept, a smile of contentment etched on his handsome face.
"Sailor Moon?" Serenity asked, fighting through the haze that still gripped her to see to her child.
Sailor Moon's shoulders sagged and she seemed to slip back into reality. For a moment she seemed disoriented. She looked at Serenity and at once everything came flooding back. The girl burst into tears and collapsed against her mother's shoulder. Serenity managed enough strength to fold her arms around her baby girl.
"Oh, Mom!" sobbed Sailor Moon. "I was so scared he was going to kill you!"
"So was I, honey," Serenity whispered in her ear as she stroked Sailor Moon's hair. "But he didn't. You saved me."
A presence tickled the back of her mind and Serenity looked over to the door. Endymion stood framed by it, ready to act to save the two women he loved more than anything. Serenity gave him a grateful smile and extended a shaky hand to him. He was across the floor in a second and both women fell into familiar positions against his chest.
"What happened?" he asked.
"We ran into a little trouble," Serenity told him. "Sailor Moon handled it. She was very brave, Endymion. And she's taken the next step, all by herself. You should have seen her."
Sailor Moon could only snuffle her agreement. Endymion gripped her tighter and kissed the top of her head. And hidden from his view, the edges of a tiny pink mouth curled with contentment.
Serenity's grunt of pain brought Endymion out of his reverie. He pulled back and saw the leaf, its stem embedded in his wife's chest. Reflexively he reached for it.
"No, don't, Pop!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. "If you try to pull it out, it'll only hurt her worse. I couldn't get it before. Maybe I can now."
"No, honey, I think I can handle it now," Serenity told her.
She extended her hand to Endymion and he automatically took it. Sailor Moon stepped back and saw their auras flare up, the gold of her father's mixing with the silver of her mother's. Serenity seemed to swoon into Endymion's arms, but they kept holding hands the entire time. The aura flared up, then receded. Endymion eased Serenity to her feet.
The leaf was gone.
"Well that certainly feels much better," exclaimed Serenity. Instantly she turned to Sailor Eichi and knelt down next to the senshi. Meanwhile Endymion's hand sought out his daughter's cheek and caressed it.
"You did a good job," Endymion told her. Sailor Moon's gaze dropped shyly, but he caught the happy grin on her face. "And you didn't want to go."
"Don't rub it in, Pop," Sailor Moon grumbled peevishly.
"We still have work to do, Endymion," Serenity said, helping the newly cured Sailor Eichi to her feet. "The ascended senshi on this world has gone berserk." Guilt drove the queen's gaze to the floor. "And it's all my fault."
Continued in Chapter 12
