RETURN OF THE SOVERIGN PROTECTORATE
I do not own any of the main characters in this story except for Gilded Rose. They are owned by someone in Japan. However, with the exception of Serena Campbell and Amy Anderson, I do own the Americanized names of the characters, as well as many of the supporting characters and villians. To make things easy, we'll just say that anything that has appeared in the manga or anime version of Sailor Moon is owned by someone in Japan, most likely Toei or Naoko Takeuchi.
In our last story, Jake assembled his new team
EPISODE 5 Final Battle
prolog
a hidden dimension
The heroes assembled by Jake Slater had spent more than a decade in this dimension, training for their final battle. The first part of the training was spent getting used to their new powers. This went easier for some, such as Molly Biel and Serena Campbell, who were using powers they had already used, and Amy Anderson, who, although using new powers, was also one of the most experienced members. Scott Kirchner, John Warner, and Charlotte and Savannah Slater were new at the game, and had to learn their new powers. Charlotte and Savannah had an additional challenge, as when they used their powers they were joined at the back. They had to spend the first six months of training learning to move while joined. Once they began their real training, they moved like they had spent their entire lives joined. Once the training began in earnest, it was intense. Training sessions would last for hours, even days on end. "It's highly unlikely your opponent will give you a breather," Jake explained. "Which means I ain't gonna, either."
Even though sessions would last up to several days at a time, it was not all nonstop. Rest periods would last up to two weeks at a time. Jake had a reason for this, too. "When your enemy strikes," he explained, "he will strike without warning. I need you to be ready to battle at a moment's notice, and after periods of inactivity."
Training sessions would take place in any environment. That was the advantage of the training dimension. Jake could call up any environment or terrain. Much the same as their enemy could attack them anywhere, at any time. They needed to know how to fight anywhere, any time. But when they were at rest, they had their own dorms. But these were not bare-boned dorm rooms, these were like a suite at a five-star hotel, complete with amenities like room service, and a gym.
After more than a decade of training, Jake deemed the team ready. "Your training is over," he said. "But before we go back, I've decided we all deserve a month's vacation. We go back home in thirty days."
A month later, Serena went into Jake's room to talk to him. What she saw would have weirded out anyone else, but after hearing from a talking cat that she was reincarnated from a princess that lived on the moon a thousand years ago, watching two of her friends come back from the dead, traveling backwards and forwards in time, meeting her future self as well as her future daughter, and spending over a decade in another dimension, while still not aging more than a few minutes, it would take a lot to faze her. When she entered the room, it was as if she was in an M.C. Escher painting, with Jake, clad in nothing but a loincloth, was floating on his back in the dead center of the room, hands folded on his chest like a body in a coffin. When she entered, Jake awoke from his meditation, the room changed back into a replica of his bedroom at his house, and his loincloth turned into denim shorts and a tank top. "I think I better lay off the Yoo-Hoo," she said.
"And why is that?" Jake asked.
"Because I just walked into an M.C. Escher painting, and saw you floating there, and it seemed perfectly (expletive deleted) normal," she said. "Then, everything, you included, changed back to normal. Two years ago, I would have run out of here screaming, and ran straight to the (expletive deleted) funny farm."
"We no longer lead 'normal' lives," Jake said. "Remember, you're talking to someone who, in the course of one day, nearly got himself killed by a creature from an old monster movie, traveled back in time, actually got himself killed, brought himself back to life, traveled forward in time, met his future self, saved your future self, merged with your future self, saved the future, and got home by 1:30."
"So if I want to talk to someone about how my weirded-out threshhold has suddenly become almost impossible to exceed," she said, "I'm speaking to the wrong person."
"Pretty much," Jake said. "Tell everyone to get a good night's sleep. We're going home tomorrow."
Saturday, 22 August 1987 Jake Slater's backyard, 12:05 p.m.
"We're ready," Jake said, as the team returned to their own dimension. "But we're no longer the Sailor Soldiers. We're a new team. We're now the Soverign Protectorate."
"One thing I'm curious about," Molly said. "Where's Rae? I thought that she'd be fighting alongside us."
"Just because she's not here," Jake said, "doesn't mean she's not fighting with us. The loss of her Sailor Mars powers has opened up a new ability that we can use to our advantage."
"Speaking of missing teammates," Serena said, "Whatever happened to Tom? Where has he been for the last month?"
"I'm not sure," Jake said. "He crashed here the night before he went to meet his birth mother, then came back later to pick up his stuff, and I haven't seen him since. He said she invited him to stay with her, and that's the last I heard of him. He gave me a number where I can reach him, though. I tried calling him after Liz and Jerry died, but the number had been changed, and the new number was unlisted."
"You don't think he's. . . " Amy started to say.
"God, I hope not," Jake said.
"Put your mind at rest," the black knight said, as he appeared in the backyard. "I can assure you that I am not Thomas Chiba."
"And why should we believe you?" Jake said.
"See for yourself," the black knight said, as Tom's seemingly lifeless body, bound in chains, appeared at the black knight's feet. "Don't worry, he's not dead, just unconscious. If you ever want to see him again, meet me at Mulligan's Lookout within the hour."
"You heard the man," Jake said. "As soon as Rae gets here, we'll go after the black knight."
Meanwhile, next door, Rae Lincoln was in the backyard, clad only in a towel, kneeling in front of a makeshift fire pit she had made, and arranged several dry branches in a pattern she had seen in her dreams the previous evening. when she finished, she doused the branches with lighter fluid, and lit an ordinary kitchen match, and threw it in the fire pit. The pit suddenly became a solid column of flame, 10 feet high. Bowing her head at the column of flame, Rae began chanting a mantra "I am fire, fire is life." She chanted the mantra for a full minute, then got up. She then removed the towel, and, completely naked, stepped into the column of flame. Rae absorbed the flame, and when it disappeared, nothing was left in the pit except for her, now clad in a red robe. She removed the robe to reveal a red one-shouldered top, tights, and black thigh boots, and her waist-length black hair transformed into flames. Leaping a half mile straight up, she did a flip in midair, and landed in Jake's backyard, clad in her new costume, with her hair transformed back to normal. "Good to see you unlocked your true power," Jake said. "So what are you calling yourself now?"
"Eternal Flame," Rae said. "Now let's go after this black knight."
Mulligan's Lookout, ten minutes later
After Rae arrived, the team had transformed, and had teleported to Mulligan's Point. "We've kept our end of the bargain," Avatar said. "Give us our friend."
"All in due time," the black knight said. "I believe you and I have some unfinished business."
"Like what?" Avatar asked.
"You and me," the black knight said. "To the death."
"Fine," Avatar said. "I just have a couple of conditions."
"You're in no position to bargain," black knight said. "But since you have a big enough pair to try, I'll humor you. Name them."
"First," Avatar said, "Whoever wins, Tom Chiba goes free."
"Done," black knight said, waving his hand in front of Tom's body. The chains disappear, and he regains conciousness. "I have no further need for him, anyways."
"What happened?" Tom asked as he got up and walked away from the black knight.
"I'll explain later," Sailor Moon said.
"So, what's your second condition?" black knight asked. "And don't give me any of that 'my teammates cannot be harmed' bull. While I can assure you that I will not harm them," he waved his hand,and a group of demons equal in number to that of Avatar's teammates appeared. "I cannot say the same about my backup. Rest assured, it's nothing personal. They're just here to insure that our battle is one-on-one."
"Let me assure you," Avatar said. "If I was that afraid of my friends getting hurt, I would never have recruited them. I picked every member of my team for one reason. I know they can hold their own. As for my second condition, I'm saving that for later. Soverign Protectorate, attack! Just leave the black knight for me."
As the Soverign Protectorate and the demons went at it, black knight and Avatar each drew their swords and went at it. This was combat more fierce than either combatant had ever faced, however, neither combatant was able to gain an advantage, as both combatants were evenly matched. It was like each combatant knew all the other's moves, and countered them instinctively.
While Avatar and black knight fought their battle, the Soverign Protectorate were stomping mudholes in the demons, and vice versa. For both sides, it was a diversionary tactic. If they fought each other, they couldn't get involved with the black knight and Avatar.
As their battle raged on, neither combatant lost strength. In fact, as the fight wore on, the attacks increased in their ferocity. This was war, pure and simple. No quarter asked, no quarter given. Each attack was meant as a killing blow. The battle could have gone on indefinitely, but for one fatal error by black knight. . . he assumed Avatar would fight fair. After one furious series of moves, Avatar appeared to give up, to surrender. The black knight couldn't believe his luck. As he raised his sword for the killing blow, Avatar, with all the power he could muster, punched black knight in the testicles. The black knight doubled over in pain, dropping his sword, which was picked up by Avatar, as he got to his feet, taking his opponent down as he did so. He stood over his opponent, the tip of his sword barely touching his opponent's Adam's apple. "Take your mask off," Avatar demanded.
"What?" black knight asked.
"That's my second condition," Avatar said. "Before I kill you, I want to see your face."
"Very well," black knight said, as he started to remove his mask. "But I promise, you're not going to like what you see."
Avatar held the sword to the black knight's throat as the black knight removed his mask. "I can't believe it," he said, as he looked into the face of his defeated opponent. "You're. . . "
NEXT TIME ON AMERICAN SENSHI
We find the true identity of the black knight, in
ULTIMATE VICTORY