Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 10: Space Invaders.
Episode 135: The Cursed.

By Razor Knight
Last update: March 13, 2017
Last edited: June 17, 2017

As Terry and Ami walked in, they saw Ky'ma was talking to Aiko. Terry went straight to her and frowned. "That ship up there seems to be focusing energy in its center. Tell me it's not what I think it is."

"Unfortunately, I was telling Aiko about that. The ship is called 'Former' and is used to erase entire cities in one blast. It hasn't been used in four centuries."

"They want to destroy Tokyo? Why?"

She smiled sadly at Usagi. "It's not the city they need to get rid of. It's you."

Aiko had run many scenarios in her mind in the last minute, but she didn't have good news for the others. "None of us can shoot that thing down, its shield is too strong."

"Then what, we run away?"

Ky'ma walked to Usagi. "That Planet Attack you guys have... That might be the only way."

"It won't be enough to get through," Aiko said.

"The shield will be down under the cannon just before they shoot. If you time it right, you can blast through the ship like you did with that carrier."

Aiko was silent for a second as she run another simulation in her mind. "She's right."

"Damn it, there must be another way," Rei said.

"Rei, there's no time to-"

"You don't care if Usagi is hurt, do you?"

Ky'ma glared right back at Rei. "I do! You guys may hate me, but I don't. What I've seen of you- Please, there is no time to argue. If that thing is already charging, we may only have ten more minutes, maybe less."

Aiko let out some rather strong curse words. "I hate seeing Usagi hurt but if the readings I'm getting are right, that thing will drill all the way down to the mana well."

Ami flinched. "That... Guys, in case any of you doesn't get what that means, we either risk hurting Usagi or sit and watch them blow up Japan... Or even the Earth."

"Great." Usagi muttered, her mood growing dark. "Guys, I'm not happy about being forced to blast yet another spaceship out, but I won't let them destroy the Earth."

"Yeah, let's do this."

Usagi looked at Yukiko. "No, you should wait outside the city."

"But-"

Hana frowned. "Yuki, she's right. We won't be any help to them."

Aiko sighed. "I hate to admit it but this is out of my league."

Yukiko let out a low growl. "Damn it, no! I'm not leaving, I will not be a bystander anymore."

"We don't have time for th-"

"I know that, Usagi, so stop telling me to run away!"

Aiko looked up. "We really don't have time to argue, so... I'll stay too. Someone has to protect this crazy girl."

Hana smirked. "I'll look bad to my fans if I leave now."

Usagi sighed. "Guess I am a bad influence for you, girls. Let's go-"

Aiko blinked in shock. "Weird, that 'Former' seems to be charged up but isn't shooting."

"It's nice if them to wait for us," Usagi muttered.

The group appeared outside and noticed two things. One, the Mooncats were all there, in their Senshi form, and two, the ship was apparently frozen in time.

"Guess Pluto is back."

Luna smiled at Moon. "We know what you're planning, Pluto told us. We'll help."

Diana looked up. "The energy's flowing again."

"I've seen that thing at work, looks like it's got less than two minutes left until fully charged."

Moon saw ChibiMoon standing besides her. "What are you-"

"Earth Cosmic Power!"

Mercury somehow guessed what the younger Moon was doing. "I never heard of using two catalysts for that."

"Always a first time for everything," ChibiMoon said.

"In theory, that will lessen the pain both would feel and make the beam stronger," Aiko explained.

Moon frowned and seemed ready to protest, but then sighed. "Right."

"Tell us when you're ready," Mars said.

Moon and ChibiMoon closed their eyes for a few seconds, and opened them as their crystals lit up. "Now!" they both shouted in unison. The Mooncats all shot energy blasts at them, along with the other Senshi. Moon noticed ChibiMoon cringing in pain, but knew she had to focus. "Eternal Planet..."

ChibiMoon managed to block the pain in time to complete the attack. "... Twin Storm!"

Phase, Nova and Warwitch all shot attacks of their own, but they were dwarfed by the Senshi's one. Two energy beams, spiraling around each other as their colors changed rapidly and randomly. Before they hit, however, the enemy ship shot its own beam, and the many beams clashed, with unexpected results.

The area around Tokyo was much more busy than usual, and while plenty of people worried about their houses or the disruption to their routines, there were some who were worried about the few still inside the city. And as the city was lit up by a massive explosion, they had reasons to fear the worst.

Kenji Tsukino was one of them, and he knew he needed to find out what exactly had happened. As he walked to the army's makeshift base - a bunch of large tents - he saw others were also trying to get in, but the guards were blocking their way.

"I need to know if my daughter is okay," Saeko Mizuno shouted.

"Sorry, but we have our orders-"

"Damn it, let me in-"

General Kino had decided to check what the shouting was about, and frowned. "At ease, soldiers. These people are relatives of the Senshi. I overlooked the fact they might need access to news on the battlefield."

"Are the Senshi okay?" Kenji asked.

"We aren't sure. Juuban is gone, and I mean exactly that. The explosion took out most of that district and the shockwave damaged the surrounding areas."

"But they could survive that, right?"

"The explosion was caused by their strongest attack clashing with a beam that, Aiko informed us minutes ago, was designed to destroy whole cities. Due to the magic energy Tokyo has, if that beam had hit, the Earth itself could have been-"

"Send someone to check, damn it! I want to know if my daughter is okay."

Someone appeared right then, someone who didn't usually socialize. "If I may, General."

"Sailor Pluto?"

Pluto smiled at Kenji. "The Senshi and their allies are alive, but there's some very dangerous entities looking for them. If they need help, I will help personally, but I trust them, I know they won't give up."

Moon felt consciousness returning to her, and remembered what had happened before her unscheduled nap. She tried to sit up but she could feel something was broken. "Ugh, this-"

"Don't move, I'll heal you in a minute."

Moon turned her head and saw Saturn there, fixing her own arm. "Where's everyone?"

"No idea, I woke up a minute ago. That explosion sent us all flying, I guess."

Moon looked up. A clear sky. "At least that thing is gone. Hope those aliens take the hint and go away."

Saturn walked to her and sighed. "Yeah. By the way, you have three broken ribs and some internal bleeding. I can fix that, but... I wonder how others fared."

"Fix me up and we'll gather everyone."

Saturn took out her communicator. "All I get is static. Residual energy from the explosion, I guess."

Moon waited until Saturn healed her, then stood up and looked around. "Damn, I can't sense the others, either."

"We'll have to look for them the normal way, then," Saturn said and floated up.

Moon was about to follow suit, but heard something and turned in time to see a new figure appearing. "What the heck is that?"

The Nh'Prowr read the report with a mixture of shock and disbelief. Those humans had shot the Former down. Worse yet, it seemed the explosion had flooded the area with energy, so they couldn't tell if those Sen'shi were alive. He was not going to write them off as dead yet, not until he saw the corpses. He walked to the comm and smiled. Credit where credit was due, it was the first time in hundreds of years that the Kh'Sun found such a stubborn world. "Send down the Khr'Sed. Tell them to eliminate any human they find down there."

"Wake up, Chibi."

She woke up and groaned. "I feel like shit."

"Same here."

She looked at the other two persons around. Diana and Kage. "Where is-"

"We don't know. Comms don't work thanks to residual energy from the explosion and we really aren't in top shape."

ChibiMoon looked at Diana, who had her hand over a small cut near her left shoulder, and the cut was shining. "Told you learning some healing spells was a good idea."

Diana smiled. "I know."

"Why are you still in that form?"

"I wanted to protect you until you woke up."

Phase appeared near them. "Finally, found someone else."

Dragon Sun could tell the girl was in a rotten mood. "Aiko, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing at all, everything's perfect. I can't find my parents or my girlfriend, the damn energy's blocking my scanners, and our damn base is gone so I'm running on far less storage than normal."

"Chill the hell up," ChibiMoon snapped. "We'll find everyone."

Phase took a deep breath - she didn't need to breathe, but the emulated effect was just as effective. She then frowned. "I can't use any magic scans but perhaps I-"

"Got other things to worry about."

ChibiMoon saw what Diana meant. A large, reptile-like robot had appeared near them. "What is that, the Omegaligator?"

It didn't speak, just rushed at Diana, who did her best to dodge. "Tin can wants to play."

Dragon Saturn woke up, but what he saw when he opened his eyes was not something he wanted to see. "You..."

"Despite that glare, I'm glad you're awake. And I know Ami will also be happy."

He tried to move but his everything hurt. He was too weak for even a healing spell. "Damn it, where is Ami?"

"She went to try and see if anyone else was near."

Only then did the Dragon notice something. It was just him and Ky'ma there. "I can guess the explosion sent us all flying." Ky'ma nodded at that. "Great, I have to trust you to keep me alive until Ami comes back."

Ky'ma was trying to keep her temper down. "You know, I don't care if you never forgive me for what I did. I just wish you would stop treating me like I'm scum. I had enough of that with those lizard bastards..."

The Dragon saw the catgirl's eyes watering and sighed. "You made me thonk you were someone I missed, someone I loved, someone I never hoped I would see again. I... I'm mad at myself for letting you fool me."

"I just... I'm sorry about-"

"If you read my memories you should know I think apologies should be given with actions, not words. Help us defeat those assholes up there, and I may forgive you."

"... Deal."

Just then, Mercury walked back to them. "This is worse than I thought. I can't find the others, I can't call them, and our base is gone."

The Dragon flinched. "Gone?"

"The place is now a large hole filled with debris from the gym and the surrounding buildings. The computer is totalled, too. Good thing Aiko wasn't still inside it."

"And your apparmtment?" the Dragon asked. Mercury shook her head. "I feel like going up there and punching whoever is leading those assholes until their head explodes."

"I know that bastard personally," Ky'ma said. "I'd love to watch you do that."

Mercury smiled. "First you have to get some healing. Let me-" she stopped as she sensed movement behind her, and leapt aside, barely missing being run over by the unknown attacker. She looked at it. A robot which looked like a four-armed lizard. She knew she had read about them somewhere (in her past life perhaps?) but she had no time to think about that as the creature tried again and again to hit her. She sent a few ice blasts its way, but the robot was unaffected.

"That's a Khr'sed," Ky'ma said worriedly. "They are highly resistant to magic, built to fight Senshi."

Mercury decided to go for melee next, but her punches and kicks were ineffective, the creature didn't even bother dodging or blocking. She summoned her tonfa and tried again, but the creature again didn't seem to care. It punched her away, knocking her into a pile of rubble, then its hands lit up with energy.

"Ami, move!" The Dragon tried to focus enough to shoot the creature, but knew it would be too little, too late. As the creature shot, however, he gasped. Ky'ma was faster than he thought, she had rushed in and taken the shot meant for Mercury. "Damn it..."

Ky'ma smiled at Mercury as blood filled her mouth. "I wish I could have seen you... Defeat the lizards. But I know you'll win."

Dragon Saturn sighed. "Thanks for saving her."

"I... I said I didn't mind dying, but I lied, I..."

The Dragon knew the catgirl was gone. As far as he was concerned, whille he wouldn't forget what she had done, her actions had been more than enough to forgive her. No, he could even respect her now.

Mercury was furious. "I won't forgive those bastards. I will make sure they fall. Mercury Eternal Power!"