Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 1: Dark Kingdom.
Episode 26: An end to darkness.

By Razor Knight
Last update: February 23, 2013
Last edited: May 26, 2017

Moon had expected a huge, glowing disc of energy, but the so-called portal was nothing like it. A strange machine with a large platform besides it. "Don't tell me we have to use that. I'm no good with computers."

"The DD Girls and the Rainbow Youma passed through here. It must still be set to take us to the Dark Kingdom," Tuxedo Kamen said.

"Listen, you don't have to come with me."

"What, you still don't trust me?"

Moon shook her head. "It's not about trusting. I don't want to see anyone else get hurt."

"You're selfless, that's one of the few things I like about you, Princess."

"Fine, let's go to the Dark Kingdom and defeat that Beryl creep."

As they walked into the platform, Moon was wondering what else he liked about her. But then she shrugged it off. Who cared what he thought about her? A part of her mind told her that she did, but she told that part of her mind to shut up.

Beryl was watching her crystal ball and smiling wickedly. There she was, the Moon Princess, and her boy toy, Endymion. If those two fell, the other Senshi would be powerless to stop her. For a moment she considered awakening Metallia, but then she decided she needed not worry her Goddess with such weak enemies.

But it was annoying to watch the two, they had no idea where to go. Beryl was the only youma left in the castle, so those two would find no obstacles in their path, but... They were taking too long, and Beryl knew the sooner they were dealt with, the better.

She muttered a few words, and a very surprised Sailor Moon appeared near her throne, along with Tuxedo Kamen. "Welcome, Moon Princess."

"Beryl."

"Why the glare, child? It was not me who nearly destroyed mankind back there, but your mother."

"I don't care about that," Moon said. "I'm not here to make you pay for what you did to some ancient civilization. I never liked history anyhow."

Beryl was surprised to hear that. "What? Then what are you here for, child?"

"I'm here to stop you from taking over my world, to stop you from hurting more innocents. And don't call me child, my name's Usagi."

Beryl laughed. "Very well, Usagi, I see you're not quite the same as the Moon Princess I remember. I must congratulate you for besting my generals, for defeating my daughters, and-"

"Say what? Those DD Girls were your children?"

Beryl nodded, "it's a pity, they were quite fine warriors."

Moon couldn't believe it. This woman was talking about her own children as if they were mere tools? What kind of monster was she?

"In any case, Usagi, no, Sailor Moon, it is time for you to die."

"I don't think so. Moon Tiara Flight!"

Beryl caught the tiara with her bare hand, and examined it. "An impressive weapon, girl. Let me show you mine!"

Moon saw a large stone spear shoot straight at her, but a rose hit its side, changing its trajectory. As the spear hissed by, Moon once again wondered just what those roses were made of. "Fine, if one weapon doesn't work, then I'll try a different one!"

Tuxedo Kamen saw Moon summon a sword and charge at Beryl, but it was clear she had never used a sword before. Beryl knocked her away with a point-blank energy blast, and the man realized Moon could not win this alone. But what could he do? He couldn't fight Beryl head-on with his power. He had once been the Prince of Earth, but even then, he had been weak, at least when compared to a Senshi. He looked at Moon. Usagi Tsukino. Naive, lazy, selfish... But she had improved quite a bit, he could admit that much. And even now, with Beryl so easily overpowering her, she was not giving up.

And then he realized something. She was not giving up. So he couldn't give up, either. "I will protect you, Sailor Moon, and if these powers aren't enough, then I just have to-" he stopped as a sword appeared floating in front of him. He remembered that sword. Excalibur.

Beryl sensed something and turned around, in time to see Moon's boy toy be swallowed by light. "What in Darkness..."

"Earth Dragon Power!"

Moon stared at the new Dragon as his transformation ended. "Of course, Excalibur, the Earth Dragon Sword..."

Beryl laughed at her. "So what? What's one newbie Senshi going to do against me?"

"Power isn't everything, Beryl," Dragon Earth snapped, "but you were always too blind to realize that."

"Die!"

The Dragon looked at the stone spear flying to him dismissively, then cut it in half with his sword. The sword's blade took on a stone-like texture, and he rushed at Beryl, who was too surprised by what he had just done to be able to jump away in time.

Beryl staggered back, a shallow diagonal wound across her chest. "Damn it. Die!"

This time, a half dozen spears shot at the Dragon, who had no time to dodge them. As he fell, Moon gasped. "No! Beryl, I'm going to..."

"You're next, Moon brat, so just stand still."

"Shut up!" Moon snapped, a thin white aura forming around her body. "Moon Tiara Flight!"

Beryl saw the tiara coming straight at her, and reached for it, but the tiara corrected its course slightly, slicing her arm before making a sharp turn and hitting her from behind, knocking her to the ground. "How... It's not possible, a couple weak Senshi defeating me?"

Moon glared at her. "Time's up, Beryl. Moon Tiara Fl-"

Beryl stood up slowly, smiling. Moon had fallen to her knees as she tried to summon her attack, which meant she was out of energy. "What a pity, you thought your fate was to defeat me, and instead, your fate is to be found dead, right next to your lover."

Moon tried to stand up, but she was exhausted. "No, I can't fail, I..."

"Die already!" The blast knocked Moon away, over Dragon Earth's body, and she hit the far wall of the room. Beryl saw Moon wasn't moving and smiled. "That was the best the Senshi had to offer? I'm disappointed." She just had to awaken Metallia, it would not matter if Hissatsu defeated the other Senshi or not once her Goddess was back.

The Dark Kingdom was about to win this war, a war which had started countless centuries before. She chuckled as she walked out of the room. So much for Pluto's rant about destiny.

Venus knew things were not working as planned. Most of the Senshi were down, and the Huntresses were out of power, so they couldn't buff the few that still stood. Nemesis and Saturn were still up, mostly due to being one level above the others, and she... She had a small cut in her arm, and her mind kept telling her to just let the others do the fighting, but she would not go down yet. Usagi was counting on them to take care of this freak and go help her, and she wouldn't disappoint her. She had known the other blonde for a short time, but they had quickly become friends. "Damn it, let's give it another try."

"Grim Edge!"

"Nightsh- Ugh."

Saturn's blast hit Hissatsu, and it staggered back. They had weakened him, but Nemesis was out of power, and it seemed like Saturn had just run out of juice too.

"Aww, that's so pitiful, to have come this far and fail so close to your goal," Hissatsu taunted. "Just let me rest for a minute and I'll end your misery, Senshi."

Venus paled. Was this it? Were they too weak to deal with this monster? Maybe sending Moon away had been a mistake, if she was here... No, they couldn't depend on Sailor Moon to save the day each and every time, they were all supposed to be warriors. She couldn't defeat this demon with her current power, so... "That's too bad, youma, your time's already up. Venus Twilight Power!"

Hissatsu unconsciously took a step back. He knew it, he could not take another blast from a Senshi at that level. He would just have to dodge, and-

"Death Grasp."

Large skeletal arms rose from the ground, holding the demon. "What? Damn it, stupid Senshi, why don't you play fair?"

"Youma never did, I'm just returning the favor," Saturn said.

Venus was done transforming, and glared at the creature. She had nothing to say to it, so she just rose her hands. "Venus..." A ball of light appeared floating above her hands, and she lowered them slowly, the light going into her gloves. "Twilight..." By the time her open palms were aiming at Hissatsu, the light ball was gone, but her gloves were shining with a blinding light. "V-Laser!"

The result was, Saturn had to admit, very impressive. A beam of light almost as tall as Venus shot forth, punching a hole right through the creature's chest. Hissatsu looked down in shock, then vanished.

Venus staggered back, but managed to stay on her feet. "Okay, let's go help Moon."

"Who died and made her leader?" Jupiter muttered.

Mars stood up. "She's right, though. Let's go and find Usagi before she gets all the glory."

Mercury smiled at Mars. It was obvious she was worried sick about her friend, but Mars would not admit to it.

It took the Senshi a minute to reach the portal, and Mars turned to look at the three Huntresses. "Girls, stay here."

"What? No, we'll go with you, we can still-"

"As stubborn as Usagi," Mars said. "We don't know what we'll face in there, so... Stay here, and if we don't come back, I want you to go and warn the world about the youma."

"What, is that an order?" Calisto asked.

"No, it's a request," Mars said. "I know Usagi would have told you the same. We will try our best to win, but someone has to protect the world if we fail."

Mira looked down. "Damn it, it's not fair!"

"Emi, we don't have time for this," Dragon Sun said.

Mercury was scanning the portal with her visor. "That's an understatement. Something in there is leaking a lot of energy out. Whatever they're doing in there, it won't be good."

Mira shook her head. "Fine, you guys go there alone, but be careful."

Mars nodded. "We won't give up."

Circe looked at the other two. "We have plenty of energy left to teleport back home, don't we?"

"What do you... Oh!" Calisto said. "Let's do it."

"Selene's Gift!" the three Huntresses shouted in unison.

The Senshi could feel the effect immediately, and Mercury frowned. "You... Gave us your mana?"

"We still have enough to go back home, but you guys will need the rest of it more than we will."

"Let's just go, our leader is waiting," Saturn said in her usual monotone.

"You heard the robot," Jupiter joked.

"Cyborg, actually," Saturn corrected her as they all stepped into the platform, and vanished.

"They're a weird bunch, aren't they?" Circe noted.

"You're saying that like we're normal," Calisto said.

As soon as she woke up, a wave of pain hit her, and she remembered what had happened before she was knocked out. She tried to stand up, but her legs hurt too much. She could see him lying there, however, not moving, not even breathing. Did it really matter that he had been rude to her a few times? He had saved her from the youma time and again, he had helped her friends, and he had tried to help her beat Beryl.

She didn't hate him, but did he know that? It didn't matter, it was too late now, he was- She heard footsteps and thought Beryl had come back to finish her, but she then saw her friends walk in, and gasped. "Guys, you did it!"

"Moon, what happened? Where's Beryl? Who's that?"

"We tried to fight her, but she was too strong. Tuxedo... Mamoru became Dragon Earth, we nearly killed Beryl, but she killed him and knocked me out. She must have thought she had killed me too."

Saturn looked at her. "I can bring him back."

Moon sighed. "I know. I... I think I need to apologize to him."

Mercury looked to the side and grimaced. "That will have to wait. Saturn, revive him fast, we can't waste a second."

"What-"

"From what my computer's telling me, I can guess Metallia is coming."

Saturn knelt besides the Dragon and put a hand on his forehead. Again, light surrounded her and her target, and he opened his eyes, confusion creeping into his face. "Welcome back," she said in her usual monotone.

"Thanks for helping me, Mamoru," Moon said. "Unfortunately, Beryl knocked me out before I could finish her."

"It's not over yet," he said, "let's find her."

"She's down this corridor," Mercury said.

"Time to hail the queen," Dragon Mercury said.

"Hail..." Mars said, knowing it was a pun on his element. "That was dumb."

"Thanks, I try."

Moon walked past them. "Let's go, guys, I won't let her run away again."

It took the Senshi a couple minutes to reach their goal. They walked into a large chamber, and saw Beryl standing near a very large, black cocoon.

"Imagine the size of the chicken that laid that egg," Dragon Venus joked.

Beryl glared at the Senshi, noticing two of them she had left for dead. "Damn, can't you stay dead?"

"You know us Senshi, it takes much more than killing us to kill us," Dragon Mercury said.

Beryl blinked at that. "Sounds stupid, but is still true. Oh well, I'll just have to make sure you stay dead this time around."

"Give up, Beryl, you're going to lose if you fight us."

"I admit that is a possibility, but I won't face you alone. Metallia, awaken from your slumber and bring death to those opposing you!"

A black mist seeped out of the cocoon, forming a cloud which stood there, floating meters above Beryl's head. "Beryl, I can't help you fight like this, my energy is unstable."

Beryl was shocked to hear that. "What? Metallia, you cannot fail me! I have not come this far to fail at the last minute because you're too sleepy to-"

"Silence!" Metallia's voice was nearly a growl, and it caused Beryl to stop talking. "What is this, little queen? You think you can tell a goddess what to do? You dare treating me like your lackey?"

"If you can't help me, then I have no use for you, Metallia."

The cloud laughed at that. "No, Beryl, you're wrong. It is I who has no use for you. But I can still use your body."

Before Beryl could react, the dark mist started pouring into her, through her mouth, nose and ears. She screamed in pain as a dark aura surrounded her, and her body grew larger, until it broke through the chamber's roof. "Bow to your goddess, humans!"

Moon looked up at the creature. "What was all that about?"

"Metallia took over Beryl's body," Mercury explained. "Beryl's gone."

"So, how do we deal with Berylzilla?" Dragon Mercury asked.

"I'm not trying to melee that thing," Jupiter said.

"You will not defeat me," the woman said, "I will kill you all, and my youma will erase mankind for good."

"You won't kill anyone," Moon said, summoning her crystal.

Metallia took a step back as Moon glared at her. "What... You can't be this strong!"

A large white beam shot from Moon's body, but Metallia shot a beam just as large, only difference being it was purple. The two beams pushed each other back and forth, as the two women tried to overpower each other. "I must admit you're as strong as I am," Moon said.

"Hah! I'm stronger than you, petty Moon Princess."

"You're not, because I have friends I can trust." She smiled as she said that. "Guys, please, I need your help to win."

The other Senshi all shot their attacks at the youma giant. On their own, they would not have been enough to hurt her, but they caused Metallia's beam to waver, and Moon's one gained the advantage. "No! Damn you, I won't be defeated by a Serenity, not again!"

"You will," Moon said. "Moon Prism Power!"

And Metallia sensed something she couldn't believe was true. Her enemy's beam grew even stronger. Before she could think of anything else to do, it had already punched through her own attack, and it washed over her, blasting her to atoms.

Moon fell backwards, but Dragon Earth caught her before she hit the ground. "Finally, it's over."

The Dragon looked at her. "I know we've both been shouting at each other quite a bit lately, but would you be willing to start over?"

Moon didn't answer, instead walking away from him. She only took a few steps, however, before turning around and smiling at him. "As long as you're nice to me."

"I'll try, odango."

Moon frowned at the nickname, but then shook her head.

Venus looked around. "Hey, anyone else noticed the change in scenery?"

The others looked around. They were no longer in the creepy castle, but back in the north pole. The 'portal' was right next to them, but it was completely wrecked, and the cavern's roof was nowhere to be seen. "Guess all that energy throwing wrecked the place," Nemesis commented.

"It sure did," Mira said as the three Huntresses walked to them. "We had to get away from the cavern when energy started leaking out of that portal. The explosion would have given us a nice, unnatural tan."

"Question, how are we going to get back home?" Mars asked.

The others looked quite lost. "We have no energy to get you back home," Mira said.

"And I can guess we're all too tired to use the Sailor Teleport," Mercury added.

"Huh? Did the Mooncats send us on a one-way trip?" Moon asked, her mood growing bad quite quickly. Then she heard Dragon Mercury laugh, and glared at him. "What's so funny?"

"The Mooncats didn't tell you this because I asked them not to, but I got one of my dad's planes to come pick us up. It's been circling the north pole for a while, and I've already signaled them to come here. It should be here in about five minutes."

"... You could have told us that, jerk!" Moon said, the last word in English.

"And miss the look in your faces when you thought you were stuck here?" the Dragon said. "Oh, by the way, Moon, your English is getting better."

Mars glared at him, and a small flame appeared in her hand. "Girls, I don't know about you, but I think he needs to be punished for this."

Jupiter had electricity running up and down her arms. "I agree."

Dragon Mercury took a step back, then looked at Moon. "Rabbit, tell your friends to stop joking."

Moon took out her tiara, which lit up. "No, I actually agree with them this time around."

The Dragon saw Mercury had a small ice ball in her hand, and grimaced. "Hey, sorry about this, I swear I won't joke like this again!"

"Let's give him a five seconds lead, okay girls?" Moon said.

The Dragon had took off running even before Moon was done saying that. "Wow, he sure can run fast," Nemesis noted.

"You were joking, though, right girls?" Dragon Sun asked.

"Maybe we were, maybe we weren't," Moon said.

"As the saying goes," Venus noted, "Hell hath no fury like a woman stranded in the north pole."

"That's not how the saying goes, Minako," Dragon Venus muttered.

"You guys are a weird group," Saturn said in her usual monotone. "That's good, I can fit right in."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult," Jupiter said.

"Knowing Hotaru, it could be both," Dragon Sun commented.

Moon sighed. "Someone should go get him."

"Ami should go, they can have some fun in the snow," Mars said.

"Rei!" Mercury hissed, turning an interesting shade of red.

Dragon Venus shrugged. "Wisp Portal."

Dragon Mercury appeared near him, looking around in confusion. "What the heck?"

"Accept your punishment," Mars said.

Saturn looked at Mars. "You shouldn't pick on those weaker than you."

Dragon Mercury stared at her. "... Ouch. You're blunt, girl, I like that." He suddenly fell flat on his face. "Hey!"

Dragon Sun shrugged. "Oops."

"Kage, you don't need to do that," Saturn said, "next time he tries to flirt I'll just chop him to pieces with my glaive."

"Uh, I'll pass," the Dragon said, then looked at Mercury, who was staring at him. He heard a familiar noise and smiled. "Okay, here's our ride."

"I must admit that your idea of transportation is plane awesome," Dragon Venus said as he saw the large plane heading their way.

"Plane..." Venus shook her head. "Brad, seriously, don't make me laser you."

A/N: The anime Senshi had an easier time leaving the North Pole. They just died and woke up in their beds, at home. Darn those cheaters.

Yes, that was sarcasm.

And yes, Dragon Earth's Excalibur is that Excalibur. Expect many other weapons of legend to be weapons of Senshi.