Chapter 11 – One problem down
Bulma, even though she seemed terrified, suddenly snorted. "Oh yeah. A few rats in the basement. The only thing here that scares me is the fact that it's gonna take me three days to clean this whole place up."
The demon's cold eyes stopped on her. Then it looked at the Saiyans and said:
"I am here to take the world over. You know you can't fight me. What are you doing here then?"
"Trying," Goku replied.
"And living here," Vegeta added with a frown.
"Any specific reason you came here to take the world over?" Haruka asked, frowning as well. The demon grinned at her, showing its long silvery white fangs.
"You," it looked at the Saiyans and the two Sailor Soldiers, "you sent me to the Dead Zone. That was not very nice. And one of you tricked me some time ago so that I was forced to escape into nightmares. I had to use the help of my greatest enemy to get out of there… even though he didn't want to help me. But only thanks to his world, his powers, I was able to regain my strength again. And I do not like to owe someone something."
"Is he talking about Pegasus?" Goten whispered to Michiru who nodded.
The demon overheard it. Suddenly its grin turned into an angry grimace. "Yes, Helios, the Prince of Dreams. Or Pegasus, if you prefer to call him with that name. I will destroy you first, all of you, because you defeated me once. I want my REVENGE!"
With that last word that was actually a shout the demon spread out its wings and raised its arms. Long dark shadows appeared on the walls. They reminded of the shadows Hotaru had used to protect her mind when she slept but these shadows had been peaceful. The ones that were now sliding towards the Saiyans were hissing and furious. Remembering what had happened to Sailor Pluto, everyone gathered together in the middle of the room, farther away from the shadows. It was obviously not helping though as the shadows crept closer like merciless fate.
"Okay, does anyone know how to turn those shadows against that demon like Pluto did?" Goten squeaked.
"Get back to me in about ten thousand years," Haruka snapped, peering at the shadows with concern.
Vegeta raised his hand, formed an energy blast and sent it towards one of the shadows. The blast went right through it and broke a hole into the wall. Bulma gasped:
"Vegeta, please! I'm having enough trouble with your training room already!"
"Pegasus promised to come and help us!" Trunks claimed, looking around frantically.
The demon cackled. "This house is isolated. He's not coming through my dome of dark magic."
Haruka took several steps back, noticed that she had backed towards another shadow and stepped ahead again. She felt like a trapped animal. "Magic… magic… no energy, just magic…" Pegasus's words haunted in her head. "But I'm not a magician… none of us is! We're doomed."
Suddenly she calmed down.
"Doomed…" the thought raced through her head. "So what? This day had to come sooner or later. And you know it. You've always known it. You little fool, trying to change the unchangeable… just face your destiny. Do you hear me, you little crybaby? For once, just for once, face your destiny!"
The girl gasped. She wasn't even sure if the thought had been hers of had someone else put it in her head. She pressed her head between her palms and moaned quietly. Haruka had never been good at admitting her failure. But all of a sudden she had done it without even noticing it and knowing that made her completely calm. She opened her eyes again and looked around. The shadows were very close. One of them was about to attack Michiru.
Haruka smiled.
"You've risked your life for mine, I've risked my life for yours," another thought flashed through her head. This one was completely hers now. "For how many times now…?" And she leaped in front of that shadow.
The whole room turned bright. A high-pitched scream filled the place but it was neither Michiru's nor Haruka's. As the light faded away, the dark shadows were gone and the room wasn't as cold as before. Haruka opened her eyes, blinked and tried to figure out whether she was dead or still alive.
"Everything okay?" Michiru asked. Now Haruka noticed that she was lying on the floor as her friend was crouching next to her. The girl blinked again and tried to get up. She succeeded in a few moments.
"Ouch. Yeah, I'm okay." She grinned a bit sheepishly. "What happened?"
"Your butt started glowing," Goten remarked.
Haruka looked over her shoulder to look at the flower bouquet that had spent the last couple of days in her back pocket. The flowers were glowing brightly.
"Far more valuable than you think…" she reminded Pegasus's words. "Darnit, if he wouldn't speak like a puzzle-maker all the time, I would've known to use it a long time ago."
"Naw, it would've been too easy, or what?" Gohan said with a frown. They all turned around to see what had happened to the demon.
It wasn't in a good shape. The flowers had obviously scared it to death; it was huddling in a corner, staring blankly at Haruka and whining quietly. It had changed its shape a little; it had no horns, wings or claws and it tried to be as small as it gets.
"If Pegasus knew that the flowers would have such an effect on it, why did he even bother having so much trouble with us?" Goku suddenly asked.
The white winged unicorn appeared in the middle of the room, spread his wings and then folded them together again.
"Because I didn't know that the flowers would have such an effect," he said. "I just thought that they might help you a little. After all, this creature is from the darkness and those flowers," he pointed at the glowing bouquet, "represent light. Because they're from the Heaven."
Vegeta shook his head with a grim frown. "Stereotypical. So, it looks like a few little flowers just saved the Universe. How do we get rid of that thing in the corner?" He gestured at the huddling little demon. "In case it isn't some sort of a new Feng Shui style, I doubt it'll ever look good next to that flower pot."
Pegasus snorted. "The flowers didn't destroy it. That demon's simply afraid of them, just like vampires are afraid of garlic."
"And I've never understood why vampires are afraid of garlic," Trunks interjected. "Can you tell me that?"
Pegasus's ear twitched. "That's not too hard to guess… would you like it if you were trying to bite someone's neck and that someone would smell of garlic?"
Trunks blinked. "No…"
"Neither do they," the unicorn grinned. "Well, it looks like the tables have turned," he said to the demon. "You played with our worlds, our dreams, you wanted to destroy us but now I'll send you back where you belong, once and for all."
"Where have I heard such a lecture before?" Goten whispered to Trunks.
"Pick a random sci-fi movie," Trunks whispered back.
Goten snorted with laughter. "Now he's most likely gonna say that he is that demon's father."
Pegasus looked back over his shoulder (and the huge wing). "In some way I am… after all, that thing is nothing but a nightmare and I am responsible for all dreams, including nightmares, in your world. And that nightmare will end here and now!"
"A cape and some heroic music, if you please…" Trunks whispered to Goten who grinned widely.
Pegasus didn't mind them even though he had most likely overheard that. He raised his head as his golden horn started to glow.
"Uranus, I owe you one," he said. "Without these flowers, things would've gotten a lot harder around here. Now that it's weakened, it shouldn't be a problem to get rid of it in…" The golden horn flashed, a bright ray of light dashed out of it and attacked the demon.
One single flash and it was gone.
"…about three seconds when including the power-up," Goku finished the sentence. Pegasus grinned.
"Glad I could help. It would've been that easy from the start if it wouldn't have had Hotaru's dream energy in it. That girl's energy, the one the demon got when coming through her mind, is simply tremendous. It lost that energy when it attacked those heavenly flowers though and then it became weak enough. It returned to under my control and now it's gone for good, back in the nightmares."
"It will return eventually when we all think that everything's back to normal once and for all," Trunks quietly remarked to Goten who nodded.
Haruka frowned. "So in a way I saved the Universe. Yay. Now, if that's not too much for you for one day, what can we do about Hotaru?"
"Yeah, that would most likely be our biggest problem at the moment," Goku added, "because all the creatures of the Dead Zone have been in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for quite a while now and the place isn't exactly the safest."
Pegasus's face turned as serious as it could get – for most of the time it showed no expressions at all. "I can't go checking on her because those demons are far beyond my powers and would kill me as soon as I showed up. But… do you think you'd be able to summon the Dragonballs before they break loose?"
The Saiyan shrugged. "Who knows? A day out here is a year in there. By the time a week passes, seven years have gone in the Time Chamber and by then those things in there have had enough time to think of a million escaping plans. And if even one of them is good enough, we have a problem a LOT bigger than the one we've dealt with so far. Not to mention the fact that Hotaru's mind can be severely damaged in seven years in there."
Pegasus nodded. "Unfortunately you're right. We're short on time as our enemies have even too much of it. I can't help you with anything any more. You're on your own and I really suggest you to hurry. I have to leave now… good luck." He spread out his wings and disappeared as usually.
The room wasn't dark and cold any more; the moon eclipse was over and the demon was gone. But everyone in the room felt like the place had turned even darker, colder and more ominous than ever before.
"So… now what do we do?" Gohan asked.
Author's Note: What, you think it was too easy? A demon of darkness should be a LOT harder to beat? Well, guess what? You're right. But I'm not gonna tell you more... not yet...