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SAILOR MOON ETERNAL
"The 6th Season of the Sailor Moon Saga"
By Haruka Kou
Chapter 27: Swirling Shadows
What are you dreaming of, my ocean maiden? I never liked it when you indulged in that world by yourself without me. Alex Sokova smiles softly at the woman lying on the bed, peacefully unconscious. Her soft, aqua curls cascade across the pillow like a sweet ocean breeze. Windswept, she lies in perfect dormancy, the sleeping beauty of fairy tales—the tender princess awaiting the awakening from her beloved Prince Charming.
A fairy tale, that's all it is. Alex sadly reflects, caressing Michelle's closing eyelids gently. Reality is never so kind.
Once again, Alex's own eyes close tightly as she enters her own world of indulgence - one where fierce battles are fought, where dreams are protected, one where evil is sought out and her hunt for her treasured maiden's star-crossed lover continues. But, in frustration this journey was yet, to no avail.
"Ugh." Alex grunts, gritting her teeth. She knew that Metallia was out there, that Robin Starr was out there, and yet, they were still invisible to her highly trained senses.
"What's up, Ally? You look all tense." Sayer's shrill voice reaches her ears as she, without even turning, answers him.
"I thought you and your brother were going to rip up your contracts with the recording company." Alex says, her eyes still closed. The growing demands of their agents and producers, as to where the third of the Three Lights whereabouts was, harried them endlessly. Robin's 'extended honeymoon' excuse was just not cutting it with the agents and producers any longer. The two months had quickly become three, with no guarantee of his return, plus the rumors of a tragic fatal accident had spread like wildfire in the musical community. All this had done nothing to calm their backers' concerns. Terry had decided that enough was enough. For without Robin there could be no "Three Lights".
"We were but, hell, who really needs Robin anyway? With me as lead singer and Ter as backup, no one would even know the little squirt was missing. So we left everything as it was." With those unfeeling words, Sayer comes up behind his wife. He wraps his arms around her neck in a playful way.
"A little cold, isn't it?" Alex, her eyes still tightly closed, comments to him as he nibbles her ear. His hands snake down her back.
"Cold? What I said?" Sayer stops his kisses, looking at her closed eyes quizzically.
"No, not that. Your touch." Her eyes snap open, revealing a flash of anger—of pure instinct, stemmed from her knowledge of the soul of her love. It was knowledge that went beyond just physical things of this Earth. The touch was not actually cold, just the lack of feeling behind it.
SLAM!
In the flicker of the wind, the man on her shoulder is slammed away, flipping across the room hard against the apartment wall.
"Ally, what are you-?" Plaintively, Sayer tries to gather himself up from the pile Alex had just thrown him into on the floor as he massages the jaw that was slowly oozing blood down his chin.
"Don't you give me that cr—" Alex stars to say, her eyes blazing in anger.
"Fine. I was told you were a smart one." 'Sayer's' smirking face doesn't even get to finish his statement, as Alex flies across the room with a spin kick high in his gut, sending him catapulting backwards into the hallway of the apartment building.
But Sayer was no wimp. He gets again up and belts her back, the two of them violently scuffling in the hallway for many a gawker on their floor to see.
"See? I told you that young Starr boy had a woman living with him." One old lady from Apt #1203 says knowingly to another resident of the building.
"And a lively one at that. Look at her go at him." This was the most excitement this old lady had seen in ages. She threw her hands in fists, pretending to fight along with Alex's every punch.
"I'm sure he deserves it. It's probably due to another woman. He looks the type, doesn't he?" Whispering tantalizing gossip all the while, their delicate sensibilities weren't harmed a mite, the old ladies from next door watch in pleasure at the real live fisticuffs soap opera taking place before them.
"Almost as good as—" Sayer taunts as he rolls atop her, almost slamming her unconscious against the wall. His strength was unbelievable as she well knew his limitations.
"Not..uh…nearly…Starr." With a bursting flying kick as Sayer ventures to press something cold to her chest, Alex knees her would-be husband powerfully, sending him reeling with a flying shove back into the apartment.
Standing up, she huffs from the exhausting efforts. She's about to follow her attacker back into the apartment when she hears a loud cheer.
"You go at him, Sister!" One old woman shouts across the hallway, pushing her spectacles up.
"Give 'em hell!" Eighty-year-old Mrs. Jones shakes her fist in the air. (Too much WWF wrestling shows for this crowd, you could plainly see.)
"Don't worry, ladies." Alex says civilly enough, brushing the mussed hair from her eyes.
"I intend to." Alex smirks, rushing back into the apartment, slamming the door behind her, to the thumbs up and cheering behind, egging her on. This was something a fighter like Alex Sokova didn't need, yet still she reveled in it, as she produces a golden stick from thin air.
"URANUS CRYSTAL POWER—MAKE UP!"
Transforming in streams of light, Alex becomes Super Sailor Uranus, one woman—one soldier—whose hard-won intimate feelings for another should never dared be trifled with. It took only one touch, one feeling, for Alex to know this person was not the one who had sworn his soul to her forever.
Dashing into the living room where she was sure he was still laying, Sailor Uranus was shocked to find him gone. Her swift eyes followed the trail of blood leaving crimson stains upon the hardwood floor. It led into the room at the end of the hall.
"Michelle." Uranus breathlessly flies at a speed beyond the wind to the room where her beloved was defenselessly within.
Smashing the door in, she sees a silver lizard-like creature perched over the slumbering Michelle. Its shimmering scaly tail swished about with the shape of a little arrow at its end. It was a strange, other-worldly creature indeed. Even more grotesque, the reptilian turns at her entrance sharply, revealing a face with digital numbers in its yellow-green eyes blinking. Its mouth was in the shape of a symbolized alarm-bell, reminding her of a watch, even down to the letters engraved in antique style across the back of its scaly head.
It was indeed a marked resemblance to the engraved watch she had given Sayer months ago for his birthday.
"Move away from her, monster." Sailor Uranus' quick mind reels from what it could all possibly mean for Sayer. But her precise tactical mind focused on the situation at hand. Protecting Michelle was the most important thing she would ever have to do.
"Youzzzzzz won't shoot aszzzzzz long aszzzzzz I'm in front of her, can't you? Zzzzz? The creature's lizard tongue too, was in the shape of a watch hand. Each finger, if you could call long scaly tentacles that, pointed as that of a second hand as well. They were pointed and sharp to a deadly degree, with a dark crystal in its clasped hand, moving towards Michelle's sleeping form.
Pausing to assess the perplexing situation, Alex angrily eyes the creature. She was trying to think of some way to kill it without giving it the chance to harm Michelle.
"If you touch one hair on her head," Uranus threatens, biding her time, as Michelle seems to begin to stir. This draws Alex's attention away for only the slightest of seconds, but it was enough time for the swift creature to lash its sharp tail out at her—knocking her flat across the room. Her own blood spills out as she dizzily tries to get to her feet, crawling on her knees back into the room she was just tossed from to find Michelle still laying there, safe in her unconscious state.
But the creature was gone.
Hearing the clamor of battle out on the balcony, Uranus smiles slightly, her heart lifting inside as she hears a familiar Sailor yell.
"STAR SERIOUS LASER!" It's blinding light was soon followed by a returning attack from his opponent.
"WATCH ZZZZZ HANDSZZZZZZ SPINNING ZZZZZZZ." The detestable lizard oozes out the slippery words. Uranus was almost at the balcony, though she wasn't able to move as quickly as she would've liked.
Despite the nasty wound in her side, she was moving extremely fast as her eyes look out to the balcony's sun drenched sky.
POW!
The two warring powers meet in a violent explosion of light, knocking Sailor Uranus back onto her knees. She gets back up, racing out into the balcony through the smoke and rubble of the railings, in spite of the pain.
For him she would run through fire, for him she would give everything—even if it meant her own death. There he was, on the ground, lying still and crumpled up in a pile near the balcony edge.
His black curls and long ponytail were askew, dirt and rubble scratched on his face.
"Fighter!" Alex hurtles over a fallen balcony edge, flying to him. She was just about to take hold of him as he begins to stir.
"Ally." Star Fighter whispers beneath the rubble—but it was not uttered from the lips of the Fighter Uranus was rushing towards. Her eyes flit to the origin of the sound and there, another Fighter lay prone. Battle worn and injured, much the same as the other. One was her Fighter, her Sayer who needed her help. And the other was a shameless fake, trying to manipulate her feelings enough for it to carry out its evil deeds.
"Get up, both of you!" Alex commands the two Fighters, who both slowly rise to their feet. Each nursed an injured body part as they look up to her with a question.
She walks in front of them both.
"Ally, I'm the real one!" One Fighter claims.
"What! Come on!" The other one smirks through the pain.
"Did you think you could fool me so easily? Wasn't one try enough for you to know I can't be deceived?" With those final words, Sailor Uranus sends a smashing punch into the gut of one Fighter—the one who had called her Ally. The one whose eyes were—the ones of the Fighter she had fallen in love with.
Down the real Sayer goes. His face was in shock as he sinks down. In that split second of triumph, that short moment of which he thought his trickery was complete on her, Uranus uses her honed blinding speed to her advantage.
Spinning on her high heel upon him now, breaking teeth and his jaw as well with a relentless pounding punch, Uranus's knuckles were steeled with anger as the false Fighter's green blood trickles down his broken nose and jaw. Uranus reaches for the sky the next second later.
"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"
She screams low and long, slicing the screeching in surprise fake Fighter's form in two. Her confidence that she got the right one was rewarded as he flickers from handsome (though a bit disfigured after her fist was done with him) to that of the disgusting lizard whispering "He was right about you….zzzzzz." It's snake tongue slithers out one more time, just as even those words melt away—only a shadow left to escape to the sky.
Uranus races to the edge of the balcony as she follows its descent, wishing she could follow the shadow to where she knew Metallia's lair would be. But now she had no way to do so, especially in the condition she was in.
Uranus grunts in pain, holding onto her bloody side. She knew just how close that battle was. She saw the power behind the enemy increasing—the element of surprise was her saving grace—this time.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" Fighter's voice notes with a smirk as he holds his own pounding gut, looking up at her.
"Immensely." Alex smirks back, meeting his eyes. My bright eyes.
She runs a gloved hand over his beautiful features.
"Geez, Ally. How'd you know for sure it wasn't me. He was a dead ringer!" Fighter asks, touching her bleeding side lightly.
"I didn't." Alex smiles wickedly. "Figured I'd get rid of at least one problem, either way."
"You sure know how to hurt a guy (ergh) after he's been attacked by a psychopathic lizard watchmonster! Good thing I'm fast. (ungh)I guess it figured I'd come back home immediately when it followed me to the studio."
"And why didn't you?" Alex says as she de-transformed.
"Saw a pretty girl on the way, of course." Sayer teases back in his natural form again. The pair share a mutual knowing smile. These teasing banters were their own brand of "sweet whispered" words. The looks in their eyes were enough to show the love the other felt, as they manage to wearily stand together in the blazing sunlight, the wind whistling softly through them.
Side by side, the two battle worn lovers limp back into their battered apartment, as a large crystallized mirror somewhere far deep within the earth blinks out its periscope, spying upon them.
A small dark shadow slides down into the murky cavern, writhing in agony.
"The shadow was defeated yet again. Your conditioning made no difference, boy." King Pearlrellion's smile was almost triumphant in its snideness.
"Only because it was a double of my…of a stupid person who all too often lets his arrogance get the better of him. And Sailor Uranus—even I must admit though it pains me—is a force to be reckoned with, to which, right now, I will gladly oblige."
The male form of the Sailor known as Star Healer, evil intent raging in his eyes, steps towards the dark mirror, fully intending to pass through to challenge a battle, and in his own arrogance, assuredly defeat, to that Sailor Soldier to whom he held a crossed-over, personal grudge against.
"Stop, my young heir! I command you to halt!" Queen Metallia's raspy voice calls from nowhere and everywhere at once.
Robin, indeed, does pause in his stride, but one flash of those brilliant green eyes was enough to show anything but quiet obedience.
"You do not command me, old woman. I do as I please!" The man in black leather had his own raspy voice and it shouts back in disdain at the order as he takes another step towards the mirror.
"SILENCE!" Showing more patience with this young man, than with anyone before in her endless existence, Queen Metallia in her vast evilness, was not a force to be trifled with—or questioned. But then again, perhaps proving his relation to her, neither was Robin. He didn't quiver in fear one iota, as anyone else would—that included Queen Aquamarianna and even King Pearlrellion. They shivered at Metallia's ferocious display.
Maybe seeing his bravery in her forceful attack as promising, maybe seeing his bitter arrogance as a reflection of herself, Metallia softens her stance a little. She decides on a different tact—not wanting to be at odds with her precocious heir.
"Take this advice to heart from an "old woman", young one. Do not show yourself before your victims. Not yet. I have found that fear of an unknown evil strikes deeper into the soul than any unknown." But still, with these easy words, Metallia continues on with a last warning of exactly who was in control here. "And remember, you are MY heir. And I am the true master." With that parting reminder, Metallia's wicked light fades and with it, the mirror in front of Robin.
"As yet." Robin mumbles under his breath. Aquamarianna and Pearlrellion exchange glances at his bold words and actions to suit as well. Robin merely flipped his hand and another mirror, another gateway into the bright world, opened at his powerful whim. He had a longtime fight to settle with those particular Sailor Soldiers…
"Young Prince!" Aquamarianna suddenly rushes forward, grasping at Robin's departing arm. "Please, please do not anger her Majesty, the Queen." She lowers her eyes as if she believed Metallia was still listening in.
"And what do you care if I do?" Robin stops, considering her for a moment—her eyes, her blue eyes and similar hair color reminded him of someone—someone very important out there…
"She has great plans for us—for all of us." Aquamarianna gives a glance back to her sulky husband, trying to appease his jealousy and yet, there was something so…attractive about this young heir. Aquamarianna with her womanly intuitions sensed something far more than striking fear in the hearts of those soon to be at their command. There was something out there that struck fear in even the omnipotent Metallia concerning this handsome young man and the outside world….
"Then I will stay. Until I decide when I should go—and no one else." Robin arrogantly announces, striding away into another dark crevice within this evil lair.
Spending the past few days since Serena's reported attack in deep meditation, she utilizes her telepathic abilities in search of some hint as to their newest enemy.
Rei Hino sits perched tense in a cross-legged, Indian style. Her bright red temple uniform was tucked beneath her as she holds her head high—her eyes closed and directed at the small flickering flame before her.
"Akuu na teki mite tai deru ima jiyuu hin hi no hi no hou you aku na teki mite tai deru ima…"
Over and over, the young temple priestess speaks her native tongue, chanting for the evil enemy to show themselves to her in her fire. But as yet it was to no avail. The flame remained small and unyielding in its mysteries to her.
Frustrating! It's so frustrating! I know the enemy is drawing near! I can feel it! The enemy—the enemy is…
Rei focuses her eyes on the embers of the fire, snapping them tightly shut as she concentrates hard…harder…harder yet, almost on the verge of a breakthrough she knows, when—
"Hi there, Rei! I don't mean to disturb you or anything, but, just though you might want some more herbal tea. It's just the way you like it. Two spoons of pure sugarcane ground up exactly like—"
A cheery Chad slides in a tray of tea and cakes, knowing nothing of the torment on Rei's overwhelmed soul. He only wanted to cheer her up, especially from the grumpy mood she's been in. But—
"Chad! How many times have I told you to never bother me when I'm in here meditating?" Her chants dashed, Rei could feel her reading already slipping away as she vents her anger at Chad. He shrinks back at her ferocious response.
"NEVER!" Rei explodes, her fiery temper getting the better of her as she jumps to her feet, physically shoving the poor man out the sliding paper door of the temple.
"Leave me alone, okay!"
Chad sheepishly looks down as he is rejected once again. Man, I was only trying to be helpful. Chad sadly sighs as he picks his broom back up. Rei, sometimes I wish I didn't lov—Chad, about to smack his broom on the ground to punish it for this world's cruelty to unrequited hearts, when he stops midstream and still manages to connect the broom's bristles to Serena's head.
"Owie!" Serena sings, rubbing her head.
"Oh, sorry, Serena!" Chad says apologetically. He had been thinking over his non-existent relationship with Rei and hadn't even noticed Serena coming up the steps.
"That's all right, Chad. How's Rei? Mina stopped by before, and said she's been meditating all morning! So I was worried!" Serena tries to peek through the paper wall of the temple, but cannot see her moody friend.
"All morning? She's been at the sacred fire almost straight for days! Like, she doesn't eat or sleep much anymore. Sheesh. I'm like, totally worried for her too, Serena." Chad, like, says in concern, he too looking to where Rei was within the temple. They see a flame break out, flickering as both he and Serena jump up at the sudden shouting voices—and then a high-pitched shriek…
After chewing Chad out major this time, Rei sits back down in front of the fire. But she was no longer able to concentrate on it, no matter how hard she tried.
Chad…I'm sorry, guy. I guess you were just trying to be nice. I shouldn't have been so mean. But this enemy has gotten me all tensed up. Still…I shouldn't have taken it out on you. It's just you always pick just the worst moment.
Rei thinks these things as she shakes her head at her long haired friend. (Thankfully, it had grown back quickly, though not at its usual length since Chad had returned from that monk shrine he was studying at in the mountains. That is, after Rei had a long chat about his sequestration with her gramps.)
Yeah, Chad, you're my friend. Rei smiles to herself, remembering when the good for nothing lout had first appeared just outside on the temple steps. Then, how he had come into his own as her grandpa's assistant, really doing a good job here, even though, as she had come to discover, he didn't have to. He had means well beyond that of a simple temple assistant, especially as one who is kicked around by this temple's caretakers.
But he stayed on, year after endless year, doing all the hard jobs that gramps couldn't anymore-everything for him, actually.
And for me, too…Rei softly smiles, recalling the many times he's done the simple caring things like bringing her tea or doing her chores or…
Rei suddenly sticks her hand into her red pleated pants pocket. Her searching fingers were rewarded as she pulls out a long string and she ties it in her hair.
I remember when there was a time, much like this, when I was deep in meditation, that you came and cared enough to tie my loose hairs back so they wouldn't be scorched by the fire. Smiling at the white string from his own robe—that day so long ago, Rei hears a jingle in her same pocket. She fishes out the source of the noise, and discovers her red, gleaming pottery pendant in the shape of a bird. It was the one her cousin Kengo had given to her when she was just a little girl. She had come to cherish it so. But now, it no longer just reminded her of her cousin, but also of another unshaven brown-eyed man who had dove straight into the bottom of the river that day, a few months back, when they were all at picnic by the lake. They were enjoying some summer swimming when Rei had, in distress, discovered her treasured necklace was gone from around her neck. It was Chad who had with determination, kept on searching everyday for almost a week. He knew how much the trinket meant to Rei and he wanted to find it for her. And he did. It was removed from its chain, but he had found the red bird in the monstrous river. It was unbelievable and he returned it to a pleased Rei. She felt now, that she didn't show her appreciation enough.
Rei removes the ribbon from her hair and strings the beloved pendant on it. It was a small symbol of the dreams of a young girl, melding with the hopes of a young woman as she ties it back into her hair—the crimson bird sparkling against her raven locks.
"Lovely hairpiece, where'd you get it? The local flea market—or maybe just from a man who has fleas?" Snickering, Rei barely has time to turn at the voice, sarcastic and oh-so-familiar from behind her as it begins to speak again.
"Zen ryou taisan!" ("Good spirits, begone!") Her evil double chants, it parodying her own curse ("Aku ryou taisan!") . It had the same results on Rei, paralyzing her in meditation as an evil spell paper lands on her forehead. This Rei, replete in temple kimono, down to every last detail, save for the shimmering red bird tied with a string in the real Rei's hair, reaches out to claim that too…
But no evil spell could outdo Rei's powerful goodness. She was determinedly setting her mind against it and breaks loose from the curse just in time to let out a screech and a sliding kick. It knocks her attacker flat, as some embers of the fire scatters in the resulting shuffle.
There was smoke everywhere as Serena arrives. "Rei?" She chokes, coughing, and is suddenly hit unconscious by an unknown attacker's fist before she can even register it.
"Rei, who's hurting you!" Chad throws the door wide open, ready to face down any intruder and beat him within an inch of his life if he so much as looked at Rei the wrong way.
But, as the smoke clears, Chad could clearly see just who the attacker was…
"Rei? Rei, there's like, two of you." Chad says in shock, banging his head to make sure it was still working. He thought maybe it was just him, but the fierce look on Rei's face—both of their faces—told him this was really happening.
"Well, aren't you brilliant, surfer boy?" Rei, the bad one, snidely replies and reaches out with another Japanese spell paper towards…
"Chad, watch out!" Rei warns, throwing herself between the two. The evil Rei takes the opportunity to grasp the red decorative bird from Rei's hair, yanking some with it and the white string holding it on.
"Ouch!" Rei cries out in pain as some of her hair is tugged out. Her double grasps the shimmering red object triumphantly and cackles hideously as it glows with energy. The fire at its side flares up so violently, its flames reach the temple's low ceiling, scorching and burning everything in the room it touches.
It surrounds Rei and forces Chad away from the temple as he rescues Serena's fainted form.
"Ahhhhhh!" Rei shrieks, suddenly too close to the spiking flames as she feels herself sizzling with heat when a strong hand grabs her arm. Thinking it Chad, coming to her rescue, Rei lets it pull her—but instead of being dragged outside, Rei finds herself being led deeper in towards the raging inferno by something—not a hand—more like a…
"Bird's talon?" Rei's mind feels fear biting at her as she looks up through the smoky air to find a pair of beautiful crimson wings outstretched, shielding her from the flames. The red flying creature, once a good-luck token from the gods of one of her childhood stories, was not anything good nor luck certainly. Nor was it anything God would have sent down. It was, underneath those gorgeous wings, an abomination. It was hideous with the beak of a fowl, with piercing birdlike eyes squinting at her, but with the face and form of a human. It was chicken like cross between human and beast, all aglow and blood red.
"AHHHHHH!" Rei kicks at it, but the beast was powerful, holding her down with razor sharp claws.
"Energy!" It squawks out, pressing a dark crystal to Rei's struggling chest…
When suddenly, a cloudburst of water sends the monster shrieking away in pain—cold water was apparently the enemy of this fire bird. And Chad amply provides the cold water with a hose. He doused the burning temple quickly, then gave the fowl beast all the water pressure he could muster.
"Take that, ugly!" He calls out as he does so.
"Chad…" Rei whispers, feeling slightly energy drained. She watches the creature slash out in squawks of anger and swiftly it takes to its wings, shooting of the temple "cage", soaring high into the sunlit sky.
It was about to make a killing swoop on this loathsome man who dare wet its magnificent wings…
"CHAD!" Rei's scream could pierce through anything with its ferocity. The sound, loud and pointed enough to even wake Serena from her dazed, unconscious state just in time for her to pull brave Chad (who was bravely standing there, poised to whack the monster with his broom) out of the way.
But the broom gets disintegrated at the monster's swooping claw, just missing Chad by mere inches. Serena and Chad both dive out of the way, but next time they would not be so lucky. Serena and Rei both knew as they look upwards, seeing the crimson bird soaring around for it's second, and no doubt final, killing swoop…
"Ready, Serena!" Rei dashes out to where Serena and Chad lay on the ground.
"I'm ready, Rei!" Serena dusts herself off in determination, jumping up and motioning her hand over that feather shaped heart locket attached to her dress bow.
"MOON ETERNAL MAKE UP!" Serena elaborately transforms into Eternal Sailor Moon. White wings, golden skirt, white boots—she was an impressive sight to see, but it was not Serena/Sailor Moon whose Chad's attention was turned upon.
"MARS CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!" Rei calls, not caring that Chad was there watching anymore as she changes over from tough temple priestess into even tougher Super Sailor Mars.
Rei was never afraid to share this secret with Chad, but the opportunity just never came up before—not until today.
"Rei, you like—like—like—" Chad stumbles over the words as he gazes in awe at his raven-haired beauty even more than before.
"I am Sailor Mars!" She announces proudly.
"And all this time I thought you were only some gorgeous karate chick!" Chad sits on the ground dumbfounded at his new, exciting discovery.
"Gorgeous, yes! But only? I'll show this overgrown bird that fire is my racket! And no one messes with it but me!" Sailor Mars runs directly in the path of the swooping bird, pointing a flame arrow at it.
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!" She shouts, her flame arrow straight and true, but the bird dodges to the left. It wasn't enough to completely get out of the way of the blazing energy beam though.
SCREEEEEEECHHHHHHH!
The bird makes a horrendous sound. It's wings clipped, it falls to the earth with a smashing crunch. But it was still moving, not with the same speed, but it gets up, glowing with energy, preparing for another attack.
"Now, Sailor Moon!" Mars calls out, believing in Serena, believing that Sailor Moon could destroy the horrible thing that threatened not only her and her home, but Chad too…
"SPARKLING FULL MOON SILVER RADIANCE!" Eternal Sailor Moon takes her cue, bolstered in the fact that Rei had faith in her newfound abilities—her light and her brilliance shined with the moon's beams. Feathers swirled, and enveloped the red bird.
It, with a final screeching squawk, faded into nothing but a shadow, leaving only Rei's crimson kiln porcelain pendant still hanging from the string she put it on just a few moments ago.
"Wow, that was like, wow! We're in some sci-fi flick! You guys are great!" Chad jumps up, not one bit weirded out by Rei's revealing her alter-ego as a Sailor Soldier. He seemed like, he was like, quite pleased with the fact.
"Here, Rei." Chad scoops up the pendant and jogs it over to Sailor Mars. "You are just so cool." He bubbles at the thought of his Rei being beautiful warrior Sailor Mars too.
Gratefully accepting the pendant, Mars ties it around her neck. "Don't be blabbering this to everyone now, Chad." Rei's smiling demeanor hardens again. After all, her image must be kept up. "It's a secret."
"Got it, Rei, uh, got it Sailor Mars! Yes, ma' am, sir!" Chad stands at attention but his happy, unshaven face was still smiling brightly.
"I'll talk to you later, Serena. We'll discuss things then, okay? Get out of here now!" Rei's twisted lip gazes at the destruction the creature caused upon her temple. "And just look at the mess you made with all that water from the hose, Chad! How am I gonna explain this to Grandpa? How am I going to explain to him the drenching flooring?" Rei complains as she detransforms. Her hands were on her hips as she surveys the tattered burnt out room before her.
"But really, after all, it only needs a little cleaning and replaced floors. Chad can do that. Get to work, Chad! I want this place tip top clean before Grandpa gets home tomorrow! Let's go! Let's go, lazy moron!" Rei orders, wiping her hands together.
"I think she likes you, Chad." Serena coos, seeing, during the battle just how much Rei cared for this brown-haired man.
"Like, really, Serena?" Chad asks hopefully as he rushes to fetch some boards to patch up where the fire had scorched.
"Definitely, Chad! She only beats up on people she likes the most!" Serena says knowing this from experience.
"Wow! Like, way cool! Thanks, Serena! I mean, Sailor Moon!" Chad calls. "I think I feel a song coming on!" He starts to sing as he works. Rei covers her ears and Serena rushes away to safety down the steps. She had to see the others about this newest turn of events.
"I see your red dress beautiful—you rage like an inferno! Oh -Ohh!"
Rei shakes her head at Chad's new "song". (If you were kind enough to call it that.) She gazes down at her porcelain bird and wonders of its significance in all of this. Why would the enemy take its form?
Who is this enemy anyway? What do that want—
Rei starts to ask herself when suddenly a flash—a moment's psychic vision whisks her above the planes of her troubled mind.
Clouding smoke. A man in black. A collapsing tower. A shimmering green jewel blinking out of existence. Darkness approaching.
Her purple eyes snap open again and she feels her head exploding. They're all signs of what is to come, I know it. How do we stop it? How do we prepare?
Rei's heart aches as she gazes out the window at the noonday sky. Chad's happy strains could be heard out the window still and for once, Rei wishes she could lose herself in them. His simple idiot voice somehow comforted her battleworn ears.
There was a storm again that night. It was a violent one that seemed suddenly to appear from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was the kind of storm that even Lita, mistress of the elements, did not like.
I should've felt it coming on. But it just smacked in all of a sudden! Lita presses her hand to the window, feeling the condensation on her fingertips as a streak of green lightning sizzles through the sky.
Lita doesn't flinch despite the roaring thunder accompanying it. It's almost…unnatural…I wonder why Serena called the Scout meeting so early tomorrow morning.
Lita calmly considers the thought, though the friend rushing to her side at the window does not take the clamoring storm outside quite as lightly.
"AHHHHHHH!" Mina shrieks with each clap of loud thunder, grabbing onto Lita's arm for support and protection from the raging elements.
"Mina, it's only the thunder. You're getting as bad as Serena you know." Lita teases her with a chuckle, though she too, deep inside, was a bit frightened by not so much as the storm, but some force that seemed to be at the source of it.
"I know, Lita." Mina makes a pouty face at her best friend's insult to her bravery.
"I'm just worried about Kenny and Andrew out there. They're supposed to pick us up for our hot double date out on the town tonight!" Mina fiddles with her new dress she just bought especially for tonight's outing.
"I'm worried, too. It's even beginning to hail. Andrew's a good driver, but…maybe we should call it off, Mina. The boys might not have left yet-" Lita responsibly, though the thought of breaking any date with her beloved Andrew was tough, picks up the phone to cancel.
"What!" Not quite as responsible, Mina was NOT going to forego her date on account of rain. She grabs the phone receiver and smacks it back down. "It's only a little rain. It'll probably be over by the time we're ready. Come on! Let's get you dressed! You sure wouldn't want Andrew to see you in that!" Mina sings, referring to the, well I have to say, ugly old T-shirt Lita was donning.
"Out of the way, Artemis! I will transform this tomboyish girl into a sparkling lady of elegance!" Mina yanks Lita along into the bedroom, nearly stepping on and shoving away with her foot, Artemis who had just appeared from the room, awakened from his leisurely nap by the loud clap of thunder.
"Mina!" Artemis screams as he is tossed aside like an old rag. "That girl will never change." Artemis shakes his head, finding a nice warm spot on the radiator and curling up again, covering his ears from the noises outside—and inside the bedroom too, as Mina jabbered on and on. But still, he was glad he was in the house, sheltered from the pounding torrents outside, in safety.
Once inside the bedroom, Mina whisks her friend's less-than-complimentary tee off and tosses it carelessly to the floor. Immediately, Lita scoops it up, tenderly folding it and placing it carefully on the dresser.
"What's with you and that shirt anyway, Lita? I always see you wearing it, though I don't know why. It looks all tattered and beat up! And way too small for you." Mina in her blunt honesty, idly chats as she styles Lita's eternally ponytailed hair into something a bit more feminine.
"This shirt?" Lita lifts it up, holding it out in front of her with a reminiscent smile. "My daddy gave it to me when I was ten. Just before he and mom left for the airport. Kind of a going away present, I guess." Lita runs her hands over the green sequins writing her name across the front. "That was the last time I saw them." Lita fights the tears as she hugs the shirt to her cheek.
"Oh, Lita." Mina says softly, her heart aching for her orphaned friend. "I'm so sorry." Mina whispers, not able to imagine what her life would be like if her parents were dead, even if her Mom worked all hours and her Dad wasn't home all that often either on account of his military post. They were still always there when she needed them, with a helping hand, kind word or some advice, especially over her difficult teenage years. This was something Lita had missed out on entirely, living on her own for so long.
"Poor Lita." Mina sighs at the cruelties life had to offer. She was determined, now more than ever, to be the best friend Lita could ever hope for. "Well, don't worry. It's not all that ugly. Really, especially when you wear it. It kinda even looks nice." Mina says, upon second reflection of the shirt full of memories nodding her beaming approval.
"Thanks." Lita brightens up. She was a strong girl with a strong will, just like her daddy taught her to be—to know what's right from wrong and smile. Smile! Keep smiling. Cause he and Mom are both looking down on me now. Lita smiles at the treasure in her hands. "That's what Andrew said too." Memories of old good times transform into thoughts of sweet new ones with a very special boy. Lita held the faded shirt up, recalling the day a few months ago when Andrew had surprised her with a bouquet of flowers in celebration of his acceptance of an elite medical course in college. He had caught her cleaning her apartment wearing this favorite shirt.
"He said I was beautiful—naturally beautiful. Because I don't ever need make up like most other girls." Lita sighs at her boyfriend's perfection, remembering Alex's words too from that Christmas nearly a year ago. Has it been that long?
"For who you are - that's why a man should love you."
She was right of course, as Alex usually was. I can feel it. Andrew really loves me because he accepts me for all I am—just for being me. And that's another reason I love him too. Lita caresses the green sequins spelling her name, shimmering it's assent to her heart's final choice—that indeed Andrew was the right one at last.
"You know, it's so funny but Kenny said almost the same thing! He said:" Mina puffs herself up for her best guy impersonation, but it was still really sad, "'Sunshine!'—he calls me 'Sunshine'! Isn't that sweet!" Mina says, interrupting even herself in her busy mind. "He said 'Sunshine! I like it when you sparkle.' Ahhhhh! Isn't he wonderful! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for introducing us to each other, bestest bud in the whole world!" Mina sings, finishing Lita's hair with a flourish. Oh well, it was a ponytail still, just fancied up with a streaming green bow. The two girls hug.
"Look! Look! See what Kenny gave me!" Mina runs to her jewel box, dumping the contents to the poor battered shelf and sifts through the junk until she finds what she was hastily searching for.
"What is it?" Lita says incredulously as Mina proudly produces a large medallion of a goldy orange sun. It's face smiled with a winky eye.
"A choker medallion of course, silly!" Mina attaches the gaudy object, no doubt won at a fair she and Ken had attended not so long ago, to her neck choker proudly. Hideous for certain on most, it suited Mina somehow. Lita knew why Ken would give it to her. Mina and the bright sun had a lot of the same qualities—especially right now as she smiles and winks in the mirror at her pendant, making Lita smile in the same way.
DING DONG.
"Ahhh! They're here!" Mina screams, rushing to the door of the bedroom. Wait, wait! Stop Mina, check your hair in the mirror first! Mina stops, fussing with her long blonde hair as her ears suddenly pick up a strange sound—it was her own voice! Somewhere down the hall and Mina unconsciously moves her fingers to her unmoving lips to make sure by some chance, she was not speaking or throwing her voice or something…
"Who's downstairs?" Lita says, picking up the same sounds, pulling on her shirt again quickly.
Mina's voice was bubbling, though her mouth was tightly shut beside her. Lita's own voice jauntily was telling Andrew how nice he looked and that they should get going before the slowed rain started again.
"TROUBLE!" The two voices from inside the bedroom at once call out. Mina fumbles to open the door. "Hey, my gloves are slippery!" This gave Andrew, Ken and whoever they were greeted by just enough time to slip out the door.
"Hey! Wait for us!" Mina calls, racing down the hall. Lita's long stride reached the door and flung it open first to find a wall of hail suddenly pelting down in her path. But determined, Lita steels herself and without a second thought to her lovely rose black dress or her fixed up hair, she dashes out.
"Where are you going!" Artemis, who just now woke up from his kitty snooze, shouts at Mina's high heels over the deafening thunder and hail in the front doorway.
"To get my date! He got away!" Mina whines as she chases Lita, who was chasing the group of four secured-under-an-umbrella, while strangely she and Mina were being rained upon.
"STOP! You shameless boyfriend pinchers!" Lita yells at the top of her lungs.
"Stop Kenny! That me is just a dumb blonde floozy!" Mina shouts, nearly skidding to her soaked bottom on the slippery sidewalk.
"Huh?" Ken and Andrew exchange looks at the two wet rats of girls shouting to them. Then double-take to the double copies pristinely dry next to them. They again look at each other in puzzlement.
"Lita?" Andrew cocks his head, squinting through the rain. He was sure he had heard Lita's voice.
"Mina?" Ken cocks his head the other way, trying to see through the torrents to the one calling his name.
"Don't listen to them. They're probably just some girls no doubt jealous of my popularity." The dry Mina says haughtily.
"Yeah, Andrew. Let's just keep going." Lita, beneath the umbrella next to him says uncaringly.
"But they're getting wet, whoever they are. The least we could do is offer them an umbrella." Andrew says humanely as they reach his car. He pulls out another spare umbrella from the from compartment.
"No! Let's just go." Lita strongly shoves the surprised Andrew into the car.
"Now wait a minute, Lita—" Ken protests, thinking his old friend was acting a little strange since they had picked them up.
"We said, just go!" Mina shouts angrily at him. Her eyes were dark as she glances over her shoulder at the two girls coming up towards them from behind.
"Lita would never act this way!" Andrew quickly pulls himself out of the car, just as the drenched Lita and Mina make their appearances before them.
"STOP or they both die!" Lita—the evil one—suddenly realizes the gig was up. She grabs Andrew's and Ken's necks each in a powerful hand.
"Give me that!" Dark eyed Mina shrieks, grabbing the sun pendant along with Mina's orange choker. She transforms before their eyes into a hideous monster. It's head was the shape of a sunburst, beams around her sharp and pointed.
"It is easier! Just as the chosen one said it would be if we take these weaklings as hostages!" The bad Lita flashes a smile a moment before. One hand shoves Ken into the sun monster. Her freed hand reaches out towards a shocked Lita and rips a hole in her T-shirt, tearing the green sequins out and holding it up triumphantly in her hand. She too transforms into a sparkling green woman, wearing nothing but sequins covering her entire body.
"Lita—" cough - "what's going on?" Andrew, still in the green monster's grasp, asks her, gasping for air as she squeezes tighter.
"Andrew!" Lita calls out, fear for him in her eyes.
"Give me all your love energy or I will destroy what you love!" The green sequin announces.
"And I will scorch this one, child of Venus!" The sun monster threatened. Both creatures produced suddenly a dark energy-zapping crystal in their hands. They reached for Mina and Lita's hearts. The girls exchanged glances with each other.
"I don't think so, Monster!" Lita, with two powerful arms, grabs the green creature and flings her over her shoulder whilst pulling Andrew away.
"Eat pavement, Sunbeam!" While her attention was momentarily occupied with Lita's sudden attack, the evil sunburst is shocked by Mina's high-heeled kick and volleyball style double hurl pop on the chin. It knocks her backwards as Ken falls to the ground, choking but all right.
So it was a face off now. Two versus two, as Lita and Mina stand protectively over their boyfriends.
The two monsters got up, angrier than ever from the indignant attack of these two girls. And they didn't even look close to giving up.
"What do you say, Mina?" Lita asks, knowing the same question was soaring through Mina's head.
"No choice, Lita." Mina was, after all, the leader of the Inner Scouts, and in the end, the hard choices all came down to her. She knew what she must do…
"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER…"
"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER…"
"MAKE UP!"
As one, the two girls transform, lightning and thunder exploding from an atom and beams of crescent light exploding into a cascade of stars. Andrew and Ken watch from the rain soaked ground in amazement at the revelation before them.
"I am Sailor Jupiter! You'll pay for these crimes to cute boys, Monsters!" Super Sailor Jupiter stands tall, and threatening, punching a fist in her other palm.
"And Sailor Venus will give you divine punishment!" Super Sailor Venus announces, pointing an accusing finger at the two creatures.
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!" A single heart explodes with light, aimed at the sun monster, who dodges it expertly.
"Are you really the shining one the Master spoke so highly of?" The very sarcastic words sizzle against the raindrops, hitting the sun creature. "No studio would ever sign you up."
"What! How do you know this? Who is this 'Master' anyway!?" Venus exclaims, insulted. But the creature only cackles.
"BLINDING SUN BURN!" Her only response, sizzling a beam from its two fire orange red eyes to which Ken pulls Sailor Venus out of the way of—just missing scorching her legs.
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" Sailor Jupiter angrily shoots her power at the green nemesis, whose sequined body shifts holographically, putting up a shield against the energized leaves hitting it, and bounced them back to Lita's direction instead.
Seeing this, Jupiter throws herself in front of a defenseless Andrew, who catches her hit body, holding on tightly.
"Lita! Lita!" He shakes her in panic.
"I'm…all right." She tries to steady herself as Andrew helps her up.
"Venus, what do we do!" Jupiter asks her friend as they now stand back to back. Andrew steadies Jupiter, and Ken was at Venus' side. They all watch in fear as the two monsters conspire their own powers threateningly.
When the evil sun monster reflects its beams on the green sequins, the light reverberates on it until it seemed charged with nuclear type energy. The green creature now glows with atomic energy and aims its sights at the group. It's eyes glow hideously.
"SEQUIN REFLECT NUCLEAR BOM-" It starts to shout, fully prepared to unleash its deadly power. If not able to gather their energy, they must at least rid this despicable world of two of those pesky Sailors and their shine…
"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" Super Sailor Venus sings out suddenly, utilizing yet another of her powers, bravely grasping the unsuspecting sun monster and wrapping it together with the nuclear sequined creature on the verge of exploding.
"JUPITER THUNDERCLAPS ZAP!" Jupiter pitches a glowing ball of pressurized energy, smashing it into their two wrapped up enemies. The two sizzling energies, coupled with just the right amount of natural pressure, shorted each other out. Their lights powered down in a surge.
"There! We did it!" Sailor Venus happily claps, but the congratulations were too soon. The two monsters, on their knees, slowly recharge. Venus looks to Jupiter, her partner, and sees that she was in no condition to fight any more.
"So what do I do?" Mina's mind screams for tactics, but still she could see that if her powers, even if combined with Jupiter's were not enough against these enemies…
"SPARKLING FULL MOON SILVER RADIANCE!" The sky suddenly clears, revealing the shining full moon above. Venus and Jupiter look up with grateful smiles, knowing their friend, their princess, their salvation, was close at hand.
"WHAT! This wasn't in our contracts!" The sun screeches out as the silver streams of white light and soft feathers cascade around the evil pair, swirling its brilliance until only the golden sun medallion and the torn out piece of Lita's shirt remained. Two dark shadows melted away into the rain soaked pavement—the storm was over.
"Just in time, Eternal Sailor Moon!" Venus sings, hugging her friend.
"I was so worried about what happened to Rei this afternoon when Artemis called on the communicator—I panicked! So here I am!" Eternal Sailor Moon smiles sweetly—the power she just emitted was almost unbelievable to have come from such a sweet young face. But after tonight, Andrew could believe anything.
"Are you all right, Lita?" He asks in concern. He examines, with medical knowledge and loving care, her wounds from battle.
"I'm fine." Tough Sailor Jupiter blushes at the secret she had kept so long from him, now so bluntly revealed.
"I'm not taking any chances. Let's get you back to the house." Doctor Andrew scoops his patient up, tenderly carrying Sailor Soldier Lita towards Mina's house.
"You don't mind then? I mean, that I'm a Sailor?" Lita asks meekly, peeking up through her messy bangs as she detransforms in his arms.
"Of course not, Lita. I love you for you—no matter what." Andrew, his mind spinning still from the events of the night, knew this honestly as truth in his heart.
"Here, Lita. I think this was yours." Serena picks up the piece of her shirt, handing it to her as they walk away.
"Thanks, Serena." Lita smiles, then gets lost in Andrew's smiling Irish eyes at her.
"What happened to Rei, Serena?" Mina asks, as she trots alongside her friend.
"I'll tell you later." Serena answers, not wanting to interrupt Lita and Andrew's tender moment with talk of battle. Especially not after what they'd just been through.
"Hey, Sunshine!" Ken's voice comes from behind. "Here." He chucks a gleaming gold thing across the now moonlit sky. It lands perfectly in Mina's athletically trained hand.
"Thanks, Kenny-boy." Mina whispers into his brown eyes.
"Look how bright Venus is up there in the sky tonight." He says with a smile.
Mina was glad that he too accepted her role as a soldier as the two of them stay outside a little longer than the others—just watching the bright stars shoot by in the dark sky.