Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 3: War games.
Episode 58: Game Over.
By Razor Knight
Last update: July 24, 2013
Last edited: June 4, 2017
Warwitch looked around. Thanks to her magic, her sight range was much better than a normal human's, and what she saw was rather unpleasant. There were at least a hundred Hunters around, and she doubted there were this many in Japan, so that meant they had pulled forces out of other areas. But their numbers paled compared to the enemy's numbers. She could see Jupiter close to her, going melee on a large, blue dragon. Mars was further down in the same direction, using her bow to kill a group of... She paused for a second at that. Seeing Mars blasting Space Invaders ships out of the sky was quite a sight to behold.
An explosion quite close to her took her out of her musing. "Okay Yuki, you gotta focus or-" She looked at the enemy before her. "Bomberman?"
The short man/robot/creature simply looked up at her and threw another bomb.
Warwitch kicked the bomb right back at the bomber, who exploded in a shower of sparks. "All right! I think training actually pays off after all."
Jupiter was chasing after what looked like a kid on a skateboard. The problem was, this kid was throwing stone hammers at anyone in his path. "Hey, hammerboy!"
The boy stopped and turned to look at her. "Wrong game."
"Yeah, I get that a lot. Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter's attack vaporized her target, and she was about to go looking for another target, when Nova flew by, chased by a large snake. Thing was, this snake seemed to be kilometers long. "What the hell..."
A dagger flew by, stabbing the snake and causing it to stop its charge. Lilith leapt off a nearby building and smiled as she landed. "Game Master's using every game I could think of."
Nova floated to them. "Damn it, I hate snakes." She looked at the snake, then snapped her fingers, and the creature's head exploded.
"Are you a Scanner?" Lilith asked, wincing at the scene.
Nova chuckled. "Not really, can't do that with creatures with bigger brains, like humans."
"Good to know," Jupiter said. Suddenly, the area around them darkened, and the Lightning Senshi looked up, then spat a few choice curses. "Don't tell me there's a Godzilla game."
Lilith was also looking up at the massive reptile. "Okay, I won't tell you."
"Oh well. The bigger they are, the harder I can punch them," Jupiter mused.
"Don't tell me you're actually thinking about punching that thing down?"
Jupiter smiled at Lilith for a second, then leapt up to a nearby building, ready to do just that.
Mercury looked at her current foes. She knew what each of them did, but that didn't mean it would be an easy fight. "This is not an easy battle so far." She had been too close to being burned alive, cut in half with metal saws, and electrocuted, for her liking.
"At least we don't have to jump on vanishing platforms to get through spiky chasms."
"I suppose that's good," Mercury said.
"You guys going to start fighting for real? I'm too cool to wait."
Dragon Mercury looked at Iceman. "Thanks for making my puns look good."
Mercury, however, wasn't in the mood for any more puns. "Shabon Spray Freezing!"
Fireman looked around. "Hey, what the hell? You cheaters!"
Dragon Mercury smiled. That attack was weak, comparatively speaking, but the mist it left behind was quite effective. "This will be over in a minute."
Mercury couldn't help but flinch. In a few seconds, Woodman, Fireman and Iceman had been cut in half, and the Dragon didn't look like he wanted to stop. However, she sensed something and looked up, just in time to dodge as a red blur dropped right where she had been standing. The blur was, of course, another android, one she knew wasn't easy to fight. "Breakman?"
"Hey Rock, what is taking you so long? It's just two humans."
Rockman pointed at Woodman's remains near him. "They're no normal humans."
Dragon Mercury leapt back to where Mercury was, and she could see he had a line of blood trickling down his arm. "Don't worry, that's just a scratch."
Mercury sighed. "Right, we'll just have to beat them before you bleed to death." She run forwards, ready to attack Bombman and Dustman who were standing close to each other.
"Ami, catch!"
Mercury looked up at the two swords spinning above her. Terry wouldn't have tossed them if he doubted she would catch them, but why... She suddenly smiled. Somehow, she knew what to do. "Mercury Ice..."
Bombman put his hand up, and a large bomb appeared on it. "Blue girl wants to go boom?"
Mercury didn't answer, instead crossing both swords in front of her. "Cross!"
The result was, just as Dragon Mercury had expected, quite a show. A cross-shaped blade of solid ice shot forwards, cutting Bombman and Dustman in half. The cross kept going, heading straight for Roll, but Rockman blocked it with a shield made of leaves.
"Nice job!"
Mercury smiled without turning back. "Okay, now we just-" Wait, where was Breakman?
"Ami!" Dragon Mercury glared at his foes. Breakman had phased right behind Mercury while she dealt with the two other robots, and had shot an energy pellet at melee range. The surprise had worked against Mercury, who had been sent skipping forwards, and couldn't dodge the dual laser from Rock and Roll. "You really shouldn't have done that, metalheads."
"Hmph. What are you going to do? You're bleeding and don't have your weapons," Roll snapped.
"This," Dragon Mercury said as his two swords appeared in his hands, and his whole body started shining. "Mercury Star Power!"
"Oops, shouldn't have asked," Roll said.
"Guys, finish the girl while that guy's busy," Rockman said.
"Ice... Angel."
"Guys?" Rockman turned back to see everyone but his two siblings had been turned into icy blocks. "I knew it, useless Wilybots..."
"Who are you calling useless?"
Dragon Mercury was done transforming, and noticed two things. One, that Mercury was not out yet (but she didn't look like she could fight, either,) and that there was a large, dragon-like robot with a familiar face inside. "I was wondering where that loser was."
The metal dragon's chest plates opened, and several dozen cannons popped out of it, all aiming at its foe. "Go ahead, call me a loser one more time," Willy dared.
Dragon Mercury smiled at that. "I'll pass. Instead, let me show you a nice magic trick. Now you see them... Mercury..."
Roll blinked. "His swords... Vanished?"
Rockman looked up, guessing what the 'trick was. "No, they're up there. Guys, let's get-"
The warning was too late, the swords were already falling towards them, and the Dragon had knelt on the ground. He suddenly leapt up, following the arc of his swords with both hands as he landed. "... Hail Curtain."
Mercury saw the attack, and couldn't help but smile. The swords had suddenly vanished again, leaving behind a wave of ice shards, which fell down, slicing and freezing their foes. He saw Rockman stand up after the attack ended, and saw Dragon Mercury was sitting down, his energy mostly gone. "No, I have to-"
"Rock bust..." Rockman started, then fell to the ground, and didn't move.
"Close call," Dragon Mercury said as their foes vanished.
Mercury staggered up slowly. "But we can't rest, we have to help-"
The Dragon caught her as she started falling forwards. "Ami, you're in no condition to help anyone right now."
"But the others may need help, we can't-" Mercury stopped and blushed furiously as he silenced her with a kiss. "Terry?"
He smiled. "I like that about you, you won't abandon those you care about."
She sighed. "I... Suppose I'm being reckless."
"I've watched you all train. If we were able to deal with these robots, then they'll be okay. Trust them, Ami." Mercury smiled, but then started walking away. "Wait, where are you going?"
"I'll recover as much as I can on my way there," Mercury said, "but most battles are already over. There are many smaller creatures around, but our team's all heading towards Moon's location."
"Let me guess, the main character's always the one to finish her fight the last?"
That made Mercury giggle. "You're talking like we're in some kind of manga. And besides... Wouldn't you be the main character?"
Dragon Mercury shook his head as they walked. "Usagi is... She may be the reason I met all of you. If she hadn't approached me, I would have been still focused on revenge, and..." He grimaced. "Well, it wouldn't have ended well. The point is, she has her moments, but I have no problem with her being our leader."
Mercury knew he was right. If not for Usagi... Yeah, she was the one who had gathered them, in a way. Not that she was ever going to tell Luna that, as the Mooncats seemed to have some sort of contest on who found the most Senshi.
And just how many Senshi were still out there? Was Lilith the last one, or...
She shook her head. She would worry about that later. Right now, she had to focus on winning the current war.
"Something on your mind?"
"Not really, just thinking about the mess we're in."
"We'll get through it, I'm sure of that."
"Me too," she said. But something in the back of her mind was telling her things could go wrong. No, she was worrying too much, she had to be focused if she wanted to be of any help to everyone.
Moon had to admit she had understimated her current foes at first, but they had shown her just how dangerous they could be. "Hey, could you give me back my weapon? Eating it is cheating, you know?"
The green dinosaur cocked his head sideways before smiling... Then spat Moon's chakram back at her, causing her to screech and dove to the side, barely missing being punched through by it.
"Damn it, that wasn't quite what I meant."
"What are you complaining about, miss? Yoshi did what you wanted."
Moon glared at Mario as she took the Chakram, then her face turned an interesting shade of green. "Ewww! It's all drenched in dinosaur spit. Gross."
Dragon Earth had his own problems to take care of. Bowser and that green guy who looked a lot like Mario were both using him as practice target, shooting fireballs at him. He couldn't focus enough to use his attacks while dodging, and it was quite annoying. He wanted to help Moon, but- Wait, that was it!
Yoshi growled at Moon, then lashed out with his tongue. Moon dodged, but the dinosaur simply tried again and again. Eventually, one of Moon's pigtails was struck, and Yoshi started dragging her towards him.
"Hey! What's the idea, you newt? Let me go!"
"You heard the lady."
Mario looked in shock as Yoshi was knocked away by a large fireball. He then frowned at Bowser. "What's the idea, you fool?"
"I was just trying to hit that guy, not my fault your pet was on the way."
"Why you..."
"Guys, I think we should not fight each other," Luigi said.
"Shut up, Green Mario," Bowser snapped.
"That's not my-"
"Grim Edge."
"- Yikes!"
Mario looked in the direction the attack had come from. Two more Senshi, Saturn and Dragon Sun. "Okay, there may be too many enemies for us."
Suddenly, a few dozen walking bombs fell down from the sky. Princess Peach walked calmly to the others, smiling. "I knew you could need help."
"Those are my Bob-ombs, Peach!"
"We're supposed to fight them, not each other," Mario noted. "Let's save that for after we're done-"
"Seriously, I thought we talked a lot during a battle, but this is just... Ugh."
Moon looked at Saturn. "Can't say I don't agree." She looked at the bombs, and tossed her chakram at them. A dozen of them exploded... But the explosion was much stronger than she anticipated, and the Senshi were all knocked back. "Ow... Sorry guys, I-"
"That was stupid, Usagi!"
Moon looked at Dragon Sun in shock. He was not one who would shout like that, what- She noticed Saturn was lying on the ground, not moving. "Oh no..."
Dragon Earth checked on her. "She's just knocked out."
Sun looked at Moon. "Uh, sorry for shouting, I just..."
Moon smiled. "It's okay, I don't like it when someone I care for gets hurt."
"Guess I'll have to take my anger out on the real culprits," Dragon Sun said as his sword started shining. "Sun Star Power!"
Yoshi had woken up, and decided to attack while he hadn't been noticed. He lashed out with his tongue, expecting to take the Dragon off-guard, but the Dragon simply reached to the side and caught his tongue.
"There are senses other than those normal humans use," the Dragon said. "You almost look too cute to kill, though."
Yoshi tried to pull his tongue back, then whimpered.
"Almost. Hades' Drain."
Moon flinched as Yoshi fell to the ground, after some sort of dark energy shot from Sun's hand to his body. "Wow..."
"Life drain spells," Dragon Sun said, calmly. "I don't like to use them much, but right now I'm too angry to care."
"Oh, scary," Bowser mocked, then shot a large fireball.
Dragon Sun looked at the fireball, then at the Bob-ombs which had been slowly closing in, then at Bowser. "This is going to hurt you. Odin's Tower. Gravity Hold."
Dragon Sun's first spell rose a thick wall of stone between him and his foes, and the second one caused the fireball to fall down to the ground, straight to the walking bombs, and the resulting chain explosion blew Bowser to dust, along with his soldiers. "Hmph. Moon, all yours."
"Huh, but don't you have a new attack or-"
Dragon Sun nodded. "Yeah, but I wasted my magic with all those fancy tricks. I'll use it some other day."
Moon saw Mario glaring at them, but shrugged. "You're not our real enemies, so I don't see a reason to kill you. You can-"
"Game Master's going to erase us if we fail," Peach countered, "so why don't you-"
"No." Moon shook her head. "You hurt one of my friends, and I'm angry, but that's what he's planning. He's a coward, a cheater. I won't waste any more energy in fighting you, I'll just go look for that cheater and-"
"I'm. Not. A. Cheater!"
Moon blinked as Mario and the others were destroyed by a large energy wave, then turned to look at Game Master, who had walked out of an alley. "Good, I was wondering how long you would be hiding there."
"Wha- You knew I was there?"
"We knew from the start, but really, I wanted to fight a real warrior first, after all, you're nothing but a cheater."
"Stop calling me that!"
"Make me."
"Why you-"
"Flame Sniper."
Moon turned as Game Master was knocked to the ground, and saw most of her friends there. "Guys..."
"You thought we would let you face him alone, Moon?" Mars asked.
"Wait, where are Lilith and Jupiter?" Earth asked, looking around. "Oh, nevermind."
Moon looked at Game Master. "I apologize for that surprise attack. I didn't plan that."
"And what did you plan, then?" Game Master asked. Seriously? Usagi, making a plan? That was just too amusing.
"We know who you are, Umino."
"That's a given," Game Master noted.
"So here's the deal, I will-"
"No!"
Moon looked at Mars, her face unreadable. "Am I really that unreliable, Rei? Don't you trust-"
"Of course I do, but I don't want to see you get hurt!"
Dragon Mercury sighed. "Guys, let her do this. We all train for this, and seriously? Moon is too good to lose against a cheater cosplaying Rockman."
"Why you-" Game Master tried to run at Dragon Mercury, but Moon punched him straight in the face, knocking him down. "Hey!"
"You like games, so how about this: Let's have a fight, you and me, and if I can win, then you'll leave us, and this city, alone."
"And what if I win?"
"If you win without cheating-"
"I am not a-"
"Sure, keep telling yourself that. If you don't cheat, and manage to defeat me, then we'll give up."
"What?" Game Master, and most of Moon's friends, shouted.
Mars, however, was one of the few who wasn't surprised. "That's so irresponsible, selfish, so like the old you... But at the same time, you're risking only your life, to protect the city, no, the world, and you care about us enough to-"
"Rei..."
"Hmph. Have it your way, then. Guys, let's make room so Usagi can kick this idiot's ass once and for all."
Moon smiled. That was just like Rei, but Moon knew what her friend meant. She didn't need to say it. "Okay, Game Master, no, Umino, ready to get beaten by me, like when we were on kinder?"
Nemesis flinched. "Okay, I know she wants to rile him up, but that's a bit too much."
"She's not doing that to make Game Master angry," Saturn, who had recovered after the others arrived, noted.
Dragon Earth noted. "She wants to make Umino angry. To wake him up, make him fight against what's controlling him."
"No way."
Mars looked at Mercury. "What's wrong?"
"I never had time to scan Game Master long enough before, but now that I do... His readings match those of a youma a hundred percent."
Game Master summoned a sword. "Yes, I am a youma. You destroyed my world, kids, so I thought using one of your friends to kill you all would be a fitting revenge. Now die!"
Moon saw Game Master rush at her, and reacted. The man kept on swinging wildly at her, but she managed to block all the blows. She hadn't noticed it while training, but now she could see it. Her old self would have been cut to pieces by such an attack, but right now... She noticed an opening as Game Master rose his sword, and kicked him in the chest. "How can you be..."
Game Master growled. "Damn girl, I'm going to-"
"The 'bosses' until now were different. Metallia, Wiseman... You're nothing like them."
"Shut up."
"If you're really a youma, then I can understand why you would hate us, you-"
"What is it with that face? Don't look at me like that!"
"Yes, I pity you. Your whole race was blindly following Beryl, and I..."
Game Master smiled. There, an opening. "I'll admit I can't defeat you so easily," he said casually, which made his next move hard to guess. He reached both hands forwards, shooting twin beams of energy, but the beams missed Moon's head barely.
"What- Guys, watch out!" Moon turned quickly, but saw Dragons Sun and Venus had stopped the attack. However, that was all part of Game Master's plan, and she only realized her error as she felt a sharp pain in her chest. "This isn't..."
Game Master looked at Moon as she fell, blood seeping out of the wound. "Stupid girl, your loyalty to your friends was your doom." He looked at the others and smiled wickedly. "So, who's next?"
Dragon Earth glared at him. "Earth Star Power!" He was about to attack, but noticed something. Game Master wasn't moving, just staring at Moon's body.
"I killed... Sailor Moon. I killed... Usagi?" The man frowned. "No! Go back, this body is mine now!"
Nemesis winced as Game Master screamed. A black mist seeped out of his mouth and nose, slowly forming a figure. The creature was seemingly human, but its skin was a light blue, and its eyes pitch black, but there was no other feature in its body. "What did he..."
The creature looked at Game Master, or rather Umino, as his suit had vanished and he was back to normal clothes. "You damn brat!" He kicked him up and into a wall. "It's okay, I don't need his body anymore, I will just..."
"You killed Usagi, and hurt Umino. You're not getting out of here alive, monster. Nemesis Star Power!"
Dragon Earth looked at Nemesis. "Let's get him. Earth... Stone Jab!"
"Nemesis... Dark... Flight!"
Dragon Earth's attack was strange, a large fist made of stone which punched the creature back. Nemesis' attack, however, was simply a small, black darkness construct. A butterfly. It would have looked harmless to the creature, if it hadn't felt the energy it shot into its body as it hit.
Still, the creature stood up after the barrage. "Hahaha... Ahahahaha! You cannot defeat the mighty Arkeiz! I am the last youma alive, and I will destroy you all for-"
Mercury was about ready to trottle that guy, as were the others, but they all stopped as the ground started shaking, the vibration growing stronger each second.
"What is this?" Arkeiz said, looking around, and soon finding the source of the tremors. "You? I control you, beast!"
Jupiter, Lilith and Nova all run in, and looked back at Godzilla. "Huh? It stopped chasing after us?"
Nova noticed something. "Usagi? Damn, what-"
"That would be, partially, my fault." The others turned at the voice, and notice Umino was standing up. His glasses had been shattered when he was kicked away, but he still glared at Arkeiz. "I was too weak to stop you before, monster, but I won't let you escape."
"Escape? Why would I escape from a normal human?"
"Oh, I can answer that in two words. Game On."
Arkeiz saw Umino's form shimmer, his Game Master suit appearing again, and was too shocked to realize what was going on. He did, however, hear a loud shriek, and looked up in time to see Godzilla's jaws closing on him. "Oh Darkness, this is going to hur-"
Game Master snapped his fingers, and Godzilla simply vanished... Along with all the other videogame characters still attacking the city. He looked at the Senshi, and noticed Saturn was working on bringing Moon back. "Guys, I'm sorry for-"
"I should slap you for letting that thing control you," Nemesis snapped, "but... You got rid of him."
Moon coughed and sat up, looking around. "Uh, that was stupid."
"You were beating him badly, but he cheated, just like you said," Umino said.
Moon glared at him. "Guys, he's still- She noticed everyone smiling at her, and was thoroughly confused. "Okay, what happened while I wasn't alive?"
"Seeing you die, in a way, woke me up," Game Master said. "I wasn't really around, Arkeiz' control was too strong. He was just using my memories and body language, but that wasn't me at all."
"Umino kicked Arkeiz, the youma controlling him, out of his body," Mercury explained, "Mamoru and Naru gave that youma quite a beating, but..."
Jupiter was piecing it all together, and finally knew what had happened. "Umino stole Arkeiz' power?"
"Yes. It let me take control of Godzilla."
"Godzilla?" Moon asked in awe.
"Yeah, Godzilla."
"Gee, I missed the best part of this."
Umino looked at Moon. "Usagi, are you okay? I mean, I- Arkeiz killed you, don't you-"
"I've died once before," Moon explained. "Of course it's not a nice thing to go through, but... I'll worry about that later."
"So, now he knows who we are," Earth noted. "What do we do with him?"
Game Master laughed at that, but stopped as the others all stared at him. "Sorry. It's just amusing, I thought at least one of you knew."
"Knew what?"
"That I've known who you guys are for a while. I found out shortly after Zero, or should I say, Dragon Mercury, joined your team."
"Wait, and you didn't tell anyone?"
"Of course not. I knew you weren't fakes. I knew your mission was important. I wouldn't just go around gossiping on things that could hurt others. Specially not when your leader's one of my best friends."
Mira appeared near the group right then, noticing Game Master was there. "Huh. You not done fighting him yet?"
"Yes, he's back to normal... Or as normal as he'll ever be," Nemesis said.
"Ouch," Game Master muttered.
Nemesis looked at him, and returned to her civilian form. "Umino, I- We need to talk."
Game Master's form shimmered, and he turned back to normal as well. "Okay," he said, knowing Nemesis' tone meant she wasn't joking.
"What's she up to?" Lilith asked the others as they watched them walk away.
"I have a pretty good guess," Moon mused. She then let out a very long sigh. "Okay, this war's over, so let's-"
"Moon, don't ever do something like that again."
Moon looked at Mars. "I know, it was kinda foolish, but it worked out, ri-"
"So what?" Mars shouted. "Damn it... You think it was easy watching you die? Don't be so-"
"Sorry," Moon said sheepishly. "I can't promise I won't risk my life like that again, though. If it's what it takes to-"
Mars sighed. "You know, when I first met you, I thought you were annoying, selfish and dense."
"Hey!"
"But you've proven me wrong plenty of times by now, Princess."
Moon watched Mars walk away, and smiled. "She has a weird way to show her feelings..."
"None of us is quite normal," Saturn said. "But Gurio... Is he still able to summon all those videogame characters?"
"I'll ask him next time I see him," Moon said, "after all I want to know what they're talking about right now."
"Usagi..." Dragon Earth said as the blonde started walking in the direction Naru and Umino had gone.
"Hey, I'm not going to follow them, I swear."
"Odango, I know you enough to know that's not true."
"Hmph. Okay then. I'll ask them tomorrow, at school."
The two other Huntresses and Warwitch appeared. "We won, huh?"
"Yeah, and I only had to die to do it," Moon mused.
Dragon Mercury frowned. "Rabbit, don't joke about that kind of things."
Moon shook her head. "Sorry, I guess it's just... It's not something easy to forget."
"I know what you mean," Nova admitted. "But we'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen again."
"To anyone else," Moon said, and her friends knew she was very serious about that.
Pluto had watched the scene from her post. Moon's words were hopeful, but Pluto knew better. Even death could make someone stronger, and she knew Moon's death wouldn't be the last one they would see. She would soon be joining them for a while, as an enemy much stronger than those they had faced was ready to strike.
But before that, she would send them some help. Help that, she knew, they wouldn't be quite ready to receive, and which would affect at least one of them greatly.
All that, however, was still in the future. A very close future, that was true, but the future nonetheless.
A/N: I knew this chapter was going to be long even before I started this arc. I think it came out better than how I did it in Cyber Moon. Or, at the very least, different. I wished I could show some other fights, but it was messy enough as it came out.
There may or may not be a Dragon Nemesis, and it may or may not be Umino. If anyone wanted to get a straight answer from me about something that's still not in the fic, then they haven't been reading my author notes.