Chapter 17 – Face to face!

As they all flew out of the hole in the ground, they found themselves on a huge field. Several high buildings were in sight, black and melting and many people were wandering around, captured by their fears.

"Where are we now?" Trunks wondered. Neptune looked around and took a deep breath.

"Looks like Shinjuku to me," she said, pointing to a building with two towers by its sides.

Goku frowned. "Where's that?"

"In Tokyo," Uranus and Saturn replied.

Goku blinked. "Oooo… kay…"

"Not that surprising, since we're still in a nightmare, remember?" Saturn took a few steps forward and looked around. "Haven't you ever had one of those dreams where the location changes from one place to another without any logic?"

"Most dreams have no logic in them," Gohan said. "Perhaps we can use it against the demon?"

"This is its world, not ours," Uranus said. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"But right now we're in your part of its world!" Trunks claimed. "There were more of your kinda superheroes on this planet, couldn't we find them here?"

"The Inner Scouts…?" Uranus frowned. "They're just kids. They're probably asleep at the moment, having the same fearsome nightmare as all the others."

"Especially Sailor Moon," Neptune added with a slight smile, remembering Usagi's sleeping records.

"There are still the Sailor Star Lights," Saturn remarked. "Perhaps we could find them."

"Shhhhh!" Uranus hissed. "You'll…"

"Jinx it?" Everyone turned around to see the three leather-clad Sailor Star Soldiers standing right in front of them. Star Fighter grinned at Uranus. The girl snorted.

"Precisely."

Neptune tried to calm them both down. "This here is nothing but a dream. Let's try to defeat it once and for all and forget the differences in opinions for a little while, what do you think?"

Uranus and Star Fighter grunted.

"What's eating them?" Goten quietly asked Saturn who shrugged.

"Don't expect me to know everything about their personal lives. Shall we go and find that demon now?"

It was sitting on top of the Tokyo Tower, looking down to the nightmare it had created. It cackled quietly. The world of dreams had even more potential than the real world. It knew that those pesky humans were out there somewhere but it didn't worry about them much. After all, who could defeat it on its own home field?

Uranus's World Shaking attack hit it when it least expected it. The demon squeaked in surprise and fell for several feet before spreading out its wings and looking down.

"You simply had to have the glory, eh?" Star Fighter asked Uranus who grinned back at her.

"If we would've attacked it together, we could've destroyed it without it even noticing anything," Trunks remarked thoughtfully. Uranus glared at him.

"You have a problem, kid?"

Trunks blinked. "No… nonono, keep it up."

The demon flew lower. "You managed to escape my cells? Very good. How did you get through the maze?"

"Blew it up," Vegeta replied.

"The doors?" the demon asked.

"Never used them," Vegeta replied.

The demon blinked. "The huge pit of flaming lava and poisonous snakes?"

"What pit?" Vegeta asked, raising a brow.

The demon seemed confused. "Fine then. It looks like I'll have to confront you myself since my minions obviously failed." It flew down and landed in front of the others. "I may not be able to use my shadows of fear on you, Sailor Soldier of Death, but I can still destroy you. All of you!" The sky turned grey and the ground became squishy. Neptune stared down at her shoes.

"Honestly, how am I supposed to fight when I'm drowning into this?"

"That's why I prefer boots," Star Healer remarked with a grin. "Would someone please explain who this thing is and why is it after you?"

Vegeta took a few steps back, concentrating and turning into a Super Saiyan. He was now ready for battle, even if he would have to fight for days. "That thing is a nightmare and it wants revenge. It has nothing to do with you though, so you still have a chance to retreat."

Star Fighter glared at him. "And let Miss I'm-a-tough-chick here get all the glory? No thanks."

Uranus rolled her eyes. "For crying out loud… World Shaking!" The demon who had been watching the whole scene with a wide grin got the orange plasma ball right into its face and fell down with a furious scream. Uranus grabbed her Space Sword and dashed forward.

"Less talking, more action," Vegeta suggested to Star Fighter with a grin before taking off and racing towards the demon as well. "Hey Haruka, leave something for me!" A bright light caused by Vegeta's Big Bang Attack lit the surroundings. Neptune shook her head with a sigh.

"Why does she always have to jump head-first into…" Before she could finish, the demon had a chance to recover and its long claws whizzed through the air. Uranus was slammed against the deformed foot of the Tokyo Tower. Vegeta got kicked right through the wall of a building, landing somewhere behind it. Neptune hurried to her partner.

"Everything okay?" she asked. Uranus moaned quietly and got up with a grim frown.

"Why I oughtta…" Neptune put her hand on Uranus's.

"This is something you can't fight alone," she said. "It may be defeatable now… but it's still awfully strong. Calm down. We'll beat it together."

Uranus nodded and got up. The demon was now looking at them, waiting for their next turn. Trunks pulled the girl's glove.

"Say Haruka… those heavenly flower things did the trick the last time. What about them now?"

Uranus shook her head. "Don't you think I haven't tried that? They give no reaction. Such things always work with a trick." She looked up to the grey sky. "Darnit, we're in Pegasus's world, how come he hasn't showed up to save the day or something?"

"This here is my world, the world of nightmares. Helios has nothing to do with this," the demon said, obviously trying to sound proud and frightening but actually he just sounded bored.

Sailor Saturn had been standing behind everyone else the entire time, silent and unseen. But her eyes were very cold; her black hair was waving a little even though there wasn't a single breeze and the Silence Glaive had almost invisible little black electrical lines running over its surface. She was powering up. The world of nightmares was closer to her than anyone could have imagined.

"Okay, is it gonna take long?" Star Healer demanded. "This is getting a little bo…"

Vegeta, Goku and their sons gasped at that same second and turned around very quickly. Saturn's aura she had been draining from sources only she knew was reaching the very upper limits now. The Sailor Soldiers used different powers to fight than the Saiyans, that's why it was practically impossible for the Saiyans to tell how strong exactly the girls were. But now… they could feel her aura. And it was huge.

The demon gasped too. Suddenly it realized that Saturn had turned into its own worst nightmare. It squealed loudly and dashed forward to attack the girl before it was too late. Goku's quick Kamehameha struck and stopped it.

"Listen, all of you." Saturn's voice was colder and more determined than ever. Uranus and Neptune glanced at each other. "I can defeat it. Now I know the way. But I'm going to need your help. I need you to win me some time."

"Uhm… is she serious this time? We've fought that demon thing for a little too many times now and every time we thought we'd defeated it once and for all," Goten whispered to Trunks.

The other kid looked at the demon. It was huddling by the Tokyo Tower, staring at Sailor Saturn's silhouette. The Silence Glaive was now glowing. "I think it's really scared now. It was scared the last time Pegasus sent it back to its world but this time it looks like it's got no other place to go… if it goes down here, it's lost everything."

"Wow." Goten blinked. "How do you know that?"

Trunks shrugged. "Late night sci-fi movies… it's always the same story."

Vegeta grinned. "We need to win some time, you say? Well, I don't mind that." He turned around to attack the demon but it was now flying away. Star Maker's attack brought it down in a few seconds though. The three Star Soldiers hadn't been paying much attention to Saturn, preferring to keep an eye on the demon instead and now they surrounded it.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard," Star Fighter commented, looking down at the huddling demon. The creature hissed in fury, glared around for a moment and suddenly flew up in the mould scented air.

"Pathetic humans… have you forgotten that I'm nothing but darkness? Your attacks may hit me in this world but they have no big effect on me. Take that!" It sent out a black whirl of mist the other fighters recognized. It was the same mist that was supposed to drain Sailor Pluto's dreams out. The mist slid slowly towards the three. Star Healer looked at the Saiyans.

"And that is…?" she asked.

"Gonna drain your dreams out and leave you behind as empty mindless bodies," Gohan explained helpfully.

"Got it," the girl grinned. "Fine then. Hey you up there, you say you're darkness? We'll, we're the…" the three formed an attack at the same time, "Sailor Star Lights!" Before the creature could say a word, three bright stars hit it. The whole deformed Tokyo was suddenly lit.

Goku dashed up in the air. "Come on you guys, as long as it's busy!" The other Saiyans instantly followed him.

Neptune smiled, raising her hands to form a plasma ball. "Together?" Her partner nodded.

"Deep Submerge!" "World Shaking!"

The demon was unable to move as all the fighters were attacking it from all directions. It wasn't much hurt either since it had good defence, now that it wasn't attacked unexpectedly. However, the three Star Lights were about to break through its defence. It became worried. It needed to attack back, and fast.

"Down there, watch out for the shadows!" Gohan suddenly shouted. The twisting shadows of fear were back, heading towards the Sailor Scouts that were standing on the ground. None of them had targeted Saturn though. This time the demon was smart enough not to attack the Soldier of Death. But the others were forced to leave the demon and start attacking the shadows.

"This is getting… really old… really fast," Uranus murmured, stabbing her Space Sword into yet another shadow.

"This time we won't get out when they cover us," Neptune gasped.

The Star Lights had backed by them even though Star Fighter kept away from Uranus as far as possible. "Now what will happen when these get us?" Star Maker asked.

"You'll be captured by your greatest fear and don't try to tell me than you don't have any," Uranus explained. "Drat, those guys up there aren't very helpful or what?"

"We, actually they can't let the demon attack Hotaru. She has to finish her power-up for whatever she's planning to do, it seems to be our only hope now and she sounded confident enough," Neptune hissed, sending another Deep Submerge attack amongst the shadows.

"We're a bit outnumbered, aren't we?" Star Fighter remarked. "They just keep coming. What we need is some mass destruction."

"Our mass destruction weapons are up there, keeping the demon busy," Uranus snorted.

The shadows slid closer and closer…