Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 2: Dark Moon Rising.
Episode 40: White, green and pink.
By Razor Knight
Last update: April 21, 2013
Last edited: May 30, 2017
Dragon Earth looked at the building. Several things made it stand out against the surrounding buildings. First off, it was the only building left unscratched in the area. Second, it was made of a black crystal, unlike the transluscent, white crystals of the city's building. And third, he could sense Usagi was there. He didn't know why or how he knew it, only that it wasn't just his imagination.
He could see a light coming from the topmost floor. But how to get up there? He suddenly smiled. He could use one of his tricks, but in a different way. "Stone Stab!" The small stone slabs didn't break up into many pieces, instead he shot them at the building, and they dug into its wall, creating a makeshift stairway. "Stone Stab!" Yes, this would work, a few more shots and he would be able to reach his goal.
Moon woke up with a start. She looked around as memories of what had happened before she fainted came back to her. She saw she was in a strange room, its walls were black, as was the bed she was sitting on. She had no time to worry about that, though, she had to leave this place, and search for- She saw the door open, and a man walked in. "You..."
"A hateful face doesn't suit your beauty, Serenity," Dimando said as he walked to her.
Moon took a step back. "Don't come any closer!"
Dimando smiled. "I will soon be the king of the Earth, and as such, I will need a queen."
Moon understood what he meant, and her glare turned darker. "You're insane, I will never-"
"Yes, you will," Dimando said as his eyes shone for a brief moment. He saw Moon had stopped backing away, and walked close to her. "Your future self is too powerful, but you... You're perfect."
Moon's eyes looked empty and lifeless for a second, but then she sighed. "Mamoru..."
The prince was confused as Moon's eyes returned to normal "What... How can you resist?"
"I won't give up. Let me go, or I'll-"
"You'll do nothing," Dimando snapped, his eyes shining once more. He smiled as Moon once stood still, and he leaned in to kiss her.
"Mamoru..." Moon whispered, and her eyes returned to normal. She pushed Dimando away and glared at him. "What are you trying to do? You may control my mind, but you'll never have my heart."
Dimando's smile turned into a scowl. "We'll see about that, Serenity."
"No means no, how can you be a prince and not know that?"
The Prince turned to the side and saw Dragon Earth standing close to the window. "How did you..."
"This girl can be naive, lazy and selfish at times, but she's still the best thing that's happened to me. I won't let you hurt her."
"Begone!" Dimando snapped, shooting a large energy blast at his foe.
Dragon Earth swung his sword, which absorbed the blast, and rushed forwards, not letting Dimando figure out what had happened. He slashed at the prince, who barely managed to leap back, but the energy gathered in the sword was released as it hit the ground, knocking the prince back and into a wall.
Dimando stood up, glaring at the Dragon. "You... How dare you interfere with-"
"Twilight Beam!"
Dragon Earth blinked in surprise as Dimando was knocked through the wall by the energy beam, and fell to the ground, knocked out. "Usagi?"
Moon shrugged. "Let's go before he wakes up." She summoned her airboard and looked at the Dragon. "ChibiUsa was taken by the enemy, we need to-" She stopped and flinched, she had sensed her comm's emergency signal in her mind. "... But I don't know where they took her, maybe Ami will know."
The Dragon nodded and leapt on the board. "I need to get one of these."
Moon smiled, then stared at him. "Don't get any funny ideas."
"After I saw you beat Dimando up? I'll be a gentleman," the Dragon joked.
Dragon Mercury stood up from the ground and glared at the woman. Thus far, this battle had been rather painful, Esmeraude just dodged or blocked everything they shot at her and knocked them around without even trying. Perhaps she was lousy at melee, just like the Ayakashi, but she hadn't let them confirm that theory.
Still, he wasn't giving up yet. Perhaps a different strategy would work. "You're not bad, girl. And you may be evil, but you look damn good."
Esmeraude looked at him. "Stop staring."
"Make me."
"Okay!" Esmeraude shot a couple blasts straight at the Dragon, but his airboard got in the way, blocking them. Before Esmeraude could figure out what he planned, he had already run past the board and left a shallow cut on her side. "Ugh... Damn it, I'm going to kill you for that."
The Dragon saw his friends struggling to get up. He just needed to keep this woman focused in him for a while and- No, he could beat her on his own. Perhaps not with his current power, but that was, he realized, about to be fixed. "I have only three words to say to you, Esmeraude."
"Oh really, and what may them be?"
"Mercury Twilight Power!"
Esmeraude smirked as her wound healed itself. Wiseman's upgrade sure had been a blessing, and she would use it to win. She knew the other Senshi were struggling to stand up, but she could also sense their energy. None of them meant any trouble as long as she didn't let them get close. She would kill this buffoon, and then the rest of the Senshi would fall.
The Dragon's transformation ended, and his suit was, as expected, just like Dragon Earth's one, only blue. "Ready to lose?"
Esmeraude decided to humor the brat. She was sure she could block anything he threw at her with her fan. "Not really. Give me your best shot."
"Okay," the Dragon said, then reached out his hand. A small ball of ice appeared, and he pulled his arm back, as if to throw it. "Mercury... Icycle..." The ice ball grew small spikes, and the Dragon smiled as he threw it at Esmeraude, before completing his attack phrase. "... Bomb!"
Esmeraude noticed the ball wasn't aimed at her. It hissed past her, and got stuck on the shield surrounding the palace. "Oh, that's amusing. You missed."
"Never saw a fragmentation grenade before, moron?" Dragon Mercury snapped, a second before the ice ball exploded, sending countless ice shards flying in all directions. Many of the shards hit Esmeraude's back, and she was sent staggering forwards. "I would never hit a lady," the Dragon said before punching Esmeraude straight in the face, knocking her on her back. "Fortunately, you're not one."
Esmeraude stood up faster than expected, snarling at the Dragon before shooting a massive energy wave at him. Mercury saw him fly back and bounce on the ground, and glared at Esmeraude. "Hotaru, can you heal him?"
Saturn nodded. "Yes."
"Good," Mercury said as her weapons appeared and she rushed forwards.
Esmeraude tried to send a blast at Mercury, but the ice Senshi leapt over it, falling on top of her with both her knees, and sending her crashing to the ground. Mercury leapt back as Esmeraude tried to hit her with her fan, and used one of her tonfa's ice blades to rip it in half.
"Damn! That was a gift from Dimando, how dare y-"
"I think Terry's a bad influence for her," Jupiter noted as they watched Mercury use Esmeraude as a punching bag.
Esmeraude was down on her knees, but noticed Mercury wasn't attacking anymore. "What... Why did you stop?"
"I'm no murderer. You have no weapons and you're quite beaten up, so I'll give you a chance to leave."
"I would rather die fighting than go back to Dimando after losing to a bunch of brats," Esmeraude snapped. "Emerald Rage!"
Dragon Mercury woke up in time to see his girlfriend get knocked away by a large wave of green energy. "Damn it, I'm going to-" He tried to stand up, but couldn't quite make it."
"Sorry, you're still quite beaten up," Saturn said.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of her."
Dragon Mercury didn't need to turn to know whose voice that was. "She's all yours, Rabbit."
Esmeraude glared at Moon. "You... I thought Dimando would take care of you."
"He couldn't stop me from coming to help my friends," Moon said. "Are you really going to fight us to the death? I would rather not have to kill you."
The woman growled at that. "I don't need your pity! Emerald Rage!"
"Twilight Beam."
Mars flinched as Moon's beam knocked Esmeraude into the palace's shield. The woman vanished before she fell to the ground. "Finally, she's-" She noticed Moon staring at the palace, and saw there was something strange about her eyes. "Usagi, what's wrong?"
"They got her. They got ChibiUsa. I was meters away from her, and I couldn't-"
"Shit, that's bad," Saturn said, for once letting shock creep into her face.
"She could be dead already," Moon said.
"Don't worry, Small Lady is okay. They won't hurt her, because Wiseman knows you're the real threat."
Moon noticed Pluto was there. "Wiseman? That's the freak who took her, right?"
"The Dark Moon Family will change their tactics. They will try to change the past, they believe if you don't exist, then their army will be able to take over the Earth easily."
"If all those sci-fi authors I read are right, they're foolish to try."
"The true enemy isn't the Dark Moon Family, but the Wiseman. They would have never thought about going back in time if not for him."
Moon looked at Pluto. "Isn't he a member of their clan?"
"Only in title. If you defeat him, you will win this war. But he's the one who has Small Lady."
"Then we must go back to our time," Moon said.
"... And Pluto brought us back to this era." Usagi said. She had told her friends about what had happened in the future (would happen?) but she still wasn't quite back to her old self.
"It's hard to believe that kid can be your daughter," Aki said, "but then again, the impossible seems to happen a lot around the Senshi."
Ami smiled at that. "That may be because what most would call impossible, is actually just highly improbable."
"I felt a strange connection with her, ever since I started protecting her," Usagi admitted. "I guess somewhere in my mind I already knew who she was."
"Can you really trust Pluto's words, though?" Yukiko asked.
"Yes, you can," Hotaru said.
"But-"
"She may hide details from us, details we're not supposed to know until we do," Hotaru admitted, "but I know her better than most of you. She may be good at hiding her feelings, but I know she was worried sick about ChibiUsa. I don't think she would have let Wiseman lay a hand on her if he was going to kill her."
"So you're telling me it's okay because it's how things are meant to go?" Usagi asked. "Sorry, but I can't be okay with that. She must be scared, crying... I feel like going to wherever those bastards are hiding right now and-"
"But we don't know where they're hiding."
Usagi looked at Ami. "Can you search for them?"
"Already set the computer to scan the city thoroughly. If anyone from the Dark Moon shows up, we'll know."
Usagi said and stood up to leave. "Fine, just give me a call if it finds them, I'll go search for them myself."
"Usagi, don't try to shoulder this on your own," Naru said.
"That computer will find them," Rei said, "so what's the point in going out there and-"
Usagi sighed. "This may sound weird coming from me, but I can't just sit around doing nothing."
Rei watched her go and smiled. "She'll find them."
"How could she?"
Rei looked at Emi. "I thought you would have noticed. We Senshi have a knack for being at the wrong place at the right time. Or at the right place at the wrong time, depending on your point of view."
"Must be just a coinci-" Maria started, then shook her head. "Yeah, guess you're right."
The room was rather crowded, as the Dark Moon Family had gathered to discuss their strategy. Prince Saffir, second in power only to Dimando, had been leading the battle in Europe, but the news of Esmeraude's death had reached him, and he had decided to share his thoughts on the war with his brother. It was a war they would not win, the one they were fighting against the Senshi. A month of it, and they had already lost fifty percent of their fleet, and if he trusted the reports, then the Senshi had suffered little casualties, or no casualties at all.
Wiseman looked at Dimando after the room fell silent. "I must admit I didn't think the Senshi would defeat Esmeraude. We've already lost two valuable soldiers-"
"Not just soldiers," Dimando said, "but family. I will crush the Senshi myself if I have to."
"All of them?" Wiseman asked.
Dimando answered without any doubt showing in his voice. "All of them."
"Good. I have a new strategy, one which will lead us to victory."
"Heard that before," Dimando noted.
"Of course. But see, the shield around the palace is the only thing stopping us from destroying Crystal Tokyo for good. It is, even for me, an unbreachable barrier."
Saffir"So what is it you're saying?"
"That we must attack the shield at its weakest point."
"It has no weak points," Dimando said, "Opal and Onyx both-"
"That's because they can only scan the present."
"You mean it was weaker at some point in time?"
"Yes and no. The shield itself was always as strong as it is now, stronger still as Serenity's full power is beyond that of all of her Senshi combined. However, there's a way to weaken it, in the time before the city became what it is now. I've seen five points of the city, five areas which, if corrupted, will weaken the shield, they could even cause the shield to vanish for good."
Dimando stared at the man for a moment before turning to the others. "Ayakashi, this will be a chance for you to correct your mistakes."
"The Senshi may overpower you," Wiseman said, "but not after I give you a part of my power. Unfortunately, your potential is not as high as Esmeraude's, but there's four of you."
"So one of them could go to each point-"
Wiseman interrupted Saffir. "No. we don't need to rush. The Ayakashi will go to one point, and the other one will be corrupted by our newest soldier."
"New soldier? What do you mean?" Cooan asked.
"Come forth, my child," Wiseman said.
Dimando saw a figure appear next to Wiseman. A tall woman, with pink hair which brushed the ground, tied up in a way which seemed strangely familiar to him. She was wearing a long, sleeveless black dress, the top half of it covered by a red fishnet. "Who is that?"
"That's Black Lady. She will attack one of the points on her own."
"Huh? That newbie going to take on half the Senshi?" Beruche asked.
Black Lady let her power flare, and the Ayakashi all took a step back. "New does not equal weak," she said.
Dimando was staring at the woman. "I find it hard to believe, but I think I know who she is."
"Yes," Wiseman said, "she has the potential to become a very strong soldier. Stronger than even you and I. And when Serenity's younger self sees her, she may lose her will to fight, for she is too kind to hurt her own daughter."
Petz' eyes widened. "You mean this woman is-"
"She used to be known as Princess Serenity of Crystal Tokyo, but now she's our ally."
Black Lady knelt in front of Dimando. "I will bring victory to our world, the Dark Moon, Nemesis."
Dimando couldn't help but smile. It would be rather ironic to have Serenity's younger self killed by her future daughter. And even though Dimando had felt something for Serenity before (love? Lust? Was there a difference?) he could not feel the same way after she had killed Rubeus and Esmeraude. No, he would enjoy this, he would enjoy her suffering.
And, ultimately, he would become the ruler of the Earth. That was a much bigger prize than Serenity could ever be.
A/N: Silly Dimando, you don't mess with Dragon Earth's girl, period. In part because he'll kick your ass, and also because the girl herself will kick your everything else. Same could be said about the two Mercuries.
Opal was a "one chapter" original character in Cyber Moon. I felt it strange that none of the Dark Moon goons mentioned her in the Dark Moon arc of my fic (I had planned adding Dark Moon OCs, but not their names, while writing the Dark Moon arc of Cyber Moon) so this time I'll at least hint at her being around, along with another 'General' of the Dark Moon I left out of the story in Cyber Moon.