Deathblade: I believe it's about time I do my first update of the year.
Carina: Do so.
Deathblade: Alright, alright. Before I begin, I would like to point out that the Frighteners and the LCC Special Forces aren't the same, like in the game, because it would ruin my whole plot.
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Chapter 3: Demonic Awakening
At the Time Gates, Setsuna was searching thru the different timelines flowing by the gates. She saw many different universes, some had highly advance technology while other were way behind and considered technology to be heretical. Then she came up to the same dimension she spent her college years, where she found Usagi and took her there. There she found Ami as was about to enter the same apartment that inhabits the time guardian's college roommate. When Sets got a good look at the man, who was with Ami, her face paled out of remembrance. He was the same one from all those years ago at the orphanage, who was sticking close to Usagi no-matter what. Should she show her face while he was there, she'll have to explain to Minako why she has a full body cast and missing a few teeth. While spying on them, she felt something coming from Ami, something she hadn't felt since the Silver Millennium. 'Finally, the Seal is breaking!' She thought as she smirked.
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At the apartment, Tyree showed Ami where everything was, her bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, EVERYTHING. They found Nell sitting in the living room, with a tall glass of Venusian Whisky, watching her soaps on the Holo-Viewer. "Hey, Nell. Could you come here for a second?" He asked.
"Sure." Replied Nell as she stood up while placing her glass on the table in of her and headed to the dinning room, completely oblivious to a certain penguin eyeing her drink. "So what is it?" She asked as she entered the room.
"Just wanting to introduce you two. Ami, this is Nell Aultner, Raven operator. Nell, this is Ami Mizuno, who here want to sign up." He said.
"How do you do, Miss Aultner?" Ami said with a small polite bow.
"Like wise. But please call me Nell, everyone else does." Nell replied while scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "So you want to sign up?" She added while going full business mode.
"Yes, I do. Just to repay Tyree for all the clothes he bought for me." Ami replied.
"Well you do realize that you'll have to go thru an entry exam, followed by training, and finally an observed exam. That's if you want to be a pilot of course." Nell explained as Tyree went to his room.
"Well are there other areas in the organization?" Ami asked hoping that they had a medical division.
"Yeah, but they're boring as hell though. There's command where I'm at by the way, Mobile Infantry such as security personnel, mechanics and Research and Development." Nell explained as she led Ami to living room to continue watching her soaps.
'No medical division? Oh well, piloting it is then.' Ami thought slightly depressed though that there wasn't a Medical Division. Just then Tyree exited his room in his near skintight flight suit with his helmet in hand. Ami couldn't help but stare at him, especially his butt, as he walked by. Nell noticed and grinned, for her it meant 'let the teasing begin'.
"So Ami, like what you see?" Nell teasingly asked. Ami simply became beet red out of embarrassment as Tyree left the apartment. "Think about it, he isn't wearing anything under that." Nell continued her torture making Ami blush a darker shade of red, which only gave Nell more ammo.
"Please…stop…" Ami said before the embarrassment killed her.
"Oh alright, but it's not over." Nell replied with her famed smirk while reaching for her glass, which was now empty. "Huh?" 'WHAT THE? Oooooooooh that stupid flightless bird! I regret teaching him how to drink!!' She thought as she shot a death-glare at the second fridge.
"Hey, everyone! I got dinner!" Kayla cried out as she entered the flat with Thai take-out boxes.
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Aboard the Air Transport en route the Emeraud's Zamdah Base, Tyree was inside his AC, Destroyer, and checked the Intel he had on the base on his PDA, he knew that Kayla came here and flattened the base's defenses and radar dishes. So the outer defenses should be low to non-existent. 'Meyers to Enforcer. Come in, Lover boy.'
"Not now, Layne. I'm busy and no I will not go out with you." He coldly replied without looking at the screen she appeared on.
'Oh you're mean, Lover Boy.' Layne huffed.
"Don't call me 'Lover Boy', Reds." He replied angrily.
'Hey, why are you so mean to be?' She asked.
"Because you're just like Jayna. You only want to get in the sack with me." He replied.
'HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO THAT SLUT!? At least I didn't sleep with an Observer to become a pilot nor do I flaunt my body around like I'm god's gift to men and lesbians!' She shrieked. 'I prefer a slow and steady relationship base on trust.'
"Sorry, Layne. But you're just not my type, okay?" He replied while looking at her then to a zoomed in GPS imaging. "Anyway, I'm almost to the drop point."
'Copy that. Prepare for drop, Raven.' Layne said in all seriousness.
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Back at the flat, the girls were enjoying dinner consisting of Thai take-out, just to prevent Nell from cooking, and talking about whatever came to mind. Ami told them about her home and her friends. She found out there and then that Kayla was an open lesbian and a Harmonixer, hell she even felt like she was talking to an old friend. "Ami, why don't you take a bath? It smells like you need one." Nell suggested.
"Good idea, I haven't had one since I woke up yesterday evening." Ami replied as stood up and headed to the bathroom without forgetting her pjs. When she was out of hearing range, Kayla leaned towards Nell.
"Did Ami meet Pen, yet?" Kayla asked.
"No, I couldn't find him. But I know he's around here somewhere, because he drank my whisky." Nell replied quite bitterly.
"That should teach you for teaching him how to drink." Kayla said while breaking into a laugh. Before Nell could retort, they both heard someone scream quickly followed by running. As the steps got louder, both Ravens glanced at each other figuring that Ami had a crash meeting with the resident penguin. The door swiftly opened revealing a completely naked Ami. She began yelling about something in the bathroom completely clueless to her nudity, while both speechless Ravens simply stared at her with wide eyes. Ami stopped badgering when Pen simply wadded by her towards his fridge. 'Wow, she a natural bluenette.' Kayla thought while staring.
"That's Pen, he's your 'other' roommate. He's a warm water penguin and he likes to take warm baths from time to time." Nell explained as Pen went into his fridge. "And that's his room."
"Umm, Ami?" Kayla asked getting the bluenette's attention. "You should cover up, not that I mind though." Ami looked down and realized that she just flashed the two Ravens, so she quickly squatted to the cover herself and closed the door. Once closed, both Nell and Kayla broke into hysterics.
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At the mission site, Destroyer slowly moved into the base perimeter but something didn't smell right. The weapon emplacements seem to have been freshly destroyed. Just like a year ago, when Emeraud ambushed Maya up north. Destroyer snuck inside the base only to find fresh carbon scoring from high-end energy based weapons, most likely a Shade, a Karasawa, or a Plasma Weapon. 'TYREE! YO…ING…JAM…OUT…ERE………' Layne yelled before static covered every comm frequency.
"Looks like I'm on my own." He said to himself. It was just like a year ago, something Emeraud didn't count on is the fact that this Raven shoots to kill on any targets, unlike Maya. Destroyer cautiously moved forward to the mainframe noticing that all of the base's internal defenses were decimated. The Enforcer arrived at the objective only to find destroyed as well. "I'm not alone." He whispered to himself. Just then, three ACs appeared seemingly out of thin air around him in a triad formation. Two of them were reverse jointed, while the one in front was a weight standard bipedal AC resembling Destroyer. The arm weapons were exactly like Destroyer's, but this AC had a heavy RPG launcher and a multi-missile launcher for back units, and the HOUND shoulder extensions.
"So you're the one Balena hired?" Said the lead AC.
"I am. Thanks for doing my job for me, Uncle Leos." Tyree replied with a smirk.
"You're welcome. Are you still looking for Serena?" Leos asked.
"Yes, I am. I also have a good lead as to where she is." Tyree replied as he looked around. "Is this why you did my mission, Leos? So that we could have a little family chat?"
"I know, because I highly doubt that I'd be welcomed near Raven Headquarters. I also have information on who took her, based on surveillance data, I uncovered the person who took her." The Ex-Raven said.
"Really?"
"Leave us!" Klein ordered as he glanced at the other Special Forces ACs. The pilots saluted and left the mainframe room. "The one who took Serena was the former roommate of the Operator living with you."
"Nell's old college roommate?" Tyree asked being slightly confused.
"Yes, I'm transferring the information to you now." Leos replied. Tyree looked at his PDA to see the data uploading quite quickly.
"So what's the REAL reason why you attacked this base, besides a family meeting?" Tyree asked.
Emeraud did kill my brother-in-law and your lover, so I'm returning the favor." Leos bitterly replied.
"Anyway, it was good seeing you again, uncle. Thanks for the info." Tyree said as Destroyer turned to leave.
"Until next we meet, nephew." Leos replied.
On the way out, the jamming Leos had initiated began to clear up. '…VEN, DO…OU COPY!!!' Layne asked panicking like it was the end of the world.
"Loud and clear, Reds." Tyree replied as he exited the base.
'Thank GOD you're all right! I was worried that we lost you. Is the mission complete?' Layne asked being relieved that her crush was okay.
"Yeah, someone beated me to the punch though. The mainframe was destroyed before I arrived." He replied.
'At least you're. Recovery unit on route.' Layne said.
"Thanks, Reds."
'No problem, Lover Boy.' She said as Destroyer powered down while awaiting pick up.
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Back at the flat, Ami was in bed dressed in her new silk pjs. For some odd reason, she was very and fell into a deep REM sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow. When she opened her soul eyes, she didn't see the ceiling of her room, but a very bleak place instead. The ground seemed to have been made from tombstones and the walls looked like fences from a graveyard and there were three large stone double-doors. One had the image of an Angel; the one across from it had the picture of a Demon, while the center on looked plain. "What is this place?" She asked. She slowly walked inwards in this graveyard only to feel some sort of tug in her mind to the Demon door. As she got closer to it, it opened for her like for an old master, but Ami never been here before in her life, alas she felt a strange sense of familiarity with this place, like it was part of her. Once she crossed the door of Hell's Commandment, she saw three more stone double-doors; each of them had an element inscribed on them. From left to right: Earth, Darkness, and Water. The tug in her mind was pulling her towards the Darkness door. As she got closer, like the commandment door, it too opened before. After crossing it, Ami had before her a small altar with a medium sized stone with the glowing symbol of Darkness imbrued on it. Something inside of her told her to raise her hand to it. She raised her right arm and brought palm almost next to it. She saw her hand glow as if to feed the stone, but something was preventing it rather painfully and it blew her back into the door.
"I see, you found our heritage, daughter." Said a soothing woman's voice. Ami frantically looked around only to find a woman that looks like her. She had waist long blue hair, a sky blue gown that showed much of her cleavage and she looked like a splitting image of Ami albeit a bit older. Some thing inside Ami clicked into place as she saw the older woman.
"Mo…mother?" Ami asked, getting a nod from the former queen of Mercury.
"Are you alright, daughter?" Queen Mercury asked.
"I am, mother. But what was that?" Ami asked.
"It was Serenity's Seal." Queen Mercury grimly replied.
"Serenity's Seal?" Ami asked.
"Yes, you see. Back in the Silver Millennium, The Mercury Kingdom was the strongest of the inner Planets, second only to the Moon Kingdom, due to our Soul Fusion Ability. We were also the most loyal as well, for we were the first to sign the Alliance Treaty with the Moon Kingdom, while the other planets let their senate debate it over. Anyway, when Queen Serenity asked me if you could be part of the Royal guard for her daughter, I was overjoyed to see that you were chosen as Princess Selenity's protector, but…" Ami's mother explained.
"But what?' Ami asked almost regretting the answer.
"As they say these days, I forgot to read the fine print. When you became Sailor Mercury, your Soul Fusion Ability, our heritage, was sealed, your true power blocked by her." Queen Mercury explained literally shaking with anger.
"Is that why it hurt when I raised my hand against the altar?" Ami asked.
"Yes, that was the Seal Serenity placed on you, because she wanted to keep you under her thumb and on a short leash. Naturally, I protested this Seal, when I found out about it, and all she did was laugh at me, her most trusted ally." Mercury explained as her fists quaked in anger. "I'll have you know that diplomatic relations were heavily strained from that point on and all trade agreements were ruptured.
"Who could've thought that Serena's past mother did something like that to her ally. What did the other Inner Planets say about that?" Ami asked.
"Nothing, except that we should be cast out of the Alliance. I always thought that they persuaded her on the Seal. You should know that we are no longer their ally, but I never attacked them unless they attacked first. I'm also the reason why you've been tired lately, because I've bee weakening the Seal so that our heritage could be reawakened." Mercury explained. Just then a demonic roar was heard, spooking Ami in the process.
"What was that?" Ami fearfully asked.
"That was the God of Wrath, Amon." Mercury replied as she sensed around with her mind. "The Seal is gone, try the pedestal again." She added as she helped her daughter up. Ami slowly went back to the altar and raised her hand against it. Like before her hand glowed and energy began flowing from her hand to the altar. "The energy you're feeding the altar are the Souls of all the dead Youmas that were defeated when you were one of the Moon Princess' senshies. Their Souls now reside in you to feed the altars to unleash their power, however for the higher level fusions you must battle them yourself in order to earn them." Queen Mercury explained. Ami understood what she had to do; she must reawaken her fusion forms and confront the Lunar cats and Pluto, because of what Queen Serenity had done. After she recharged the Darkness Altar to maximum power, Ami felt the Souls of the three Dark Angels merge with her: Nox, Orecix, and Somnion. Before she could do or say anything else, she felt someone coming near her body in the real world.
"I have to go, mother." Ami said.
"I know. If you ever need someone to talk to or to train with, know that I will always be here for you." Mercury replied as the Graveyard slowly vanished.
When Ami woke up, the first thing she spotted were the stoic eyes of sailor Pluto, who seemed to just stare at her. "Hello, Sets. Is there anything I can do for you?" Ami sarcastically asked while getting up.
"For one, you can come with me…" Pluto replied.
"No."
"What?"
"I said NO! I will NOT go back and be Queen Serenity's lap bitch!" Ami yelled.
"Lap bitch? You don't understand I'm…" Setsuna said trying to reason with the P.O.ed Ex-Senshi and hoping that the others didn't wake up.
"You seemed to have forgotten, that it was HER who broke the Alliance with my planet by placing a Seal on me!" Ami continued yelling and giving Sets a Death Glare.
"You know?" Setsuna asked wide-eyed.
"Of course! Because my mother told me, you bitch! Take me back and it will be an act of war!" Ami Screamed.
"Of course, if I let you take her that is." Kayla, clad in her underwear, said before pistol-whipping Sets, knocking her out.
"Thanks, Kay." Ami said as she looked at the unconscious Time Guardian.
"No problemo, Princess." Kayla replied catching Ami off-guard.
"Huh? What did you call me?" Ami quizzically asked.
"You are the crowned princess of Mercury, are you not?" Kayla answered.
"How did you know that?" Ami asked in surprise.
"I…don't know, Princess. Something just clicked into place after you went to bed." Kayla replied. "Let's worry about that later, now let's tie her up and interrogate her."
"Good idea." The two of them carried Sets to the Dinning room, tied her up to a chair with used underwear and duct taped some used, sweaty, and smelly gym sock to her mouth. Kayla also took the precaution of bringing out her sidearm.
'What else can go wrong?' Setsuna thought while regaining consciousness. Just then Tyree entered the apartment tired as hell, but when he saw Sets tied up to a chair and gagged, he immediately reacted like he drank three Armenian Double espressos.
"YOU! You're the one who took my sister!" He yelled while seeing nothing but red. For the first time in her life, Setsuna actually saw her entire life flash before her eyes, which was quite much being a few thousand years old and all. When Tyree yelled, he actually woke up Nell, who's currently suffering from a three-alarm hangover.
"What's going on here?" Nell asked dressed in her usual sleepwear, oversized T-shirt and panties. "Why is my old roommate tied up? And are those Tyree's sweaty gym socks, that haven't been washed in three weeks and that went thru five intense training sessions, stuffed in her mouth?" She added after seeing Sailor Pluto tied up. Hearing that made Sets' face turn a pale shade of green as she tried to spit the gym socks out only to find that they were duct taped to her face.
"Now, the interrogation begins." Kayla said as she ripped the tape off their captive.
"OW!" Setsuna yelled, although being relieve of the stench.
"Now you will answer our questions or else." Ami demanded.
"Or else what?" Setsuna regretfully asked.
"We'll feed you some of Nell's cooking." Kayla cooking while grinning and hold a spoon full of Nell's leftover curry.
"OKAY, OKAY, I'LL TALK! JUST KEEP THAT STUFF AWAY FROM ME!!!" Sets yelled knowing first hand how bad Nell's cooking really is.
"Hey, is my cooking really that bad?" Nell asked being slightly offended.
"Yes." Everyone save Ami, who hasn't had a taste, replied.
"First off, why did you kidnap Tyree's little sister?" Ami demanded.
"Because she was reborn in a different dimension than her soul mate and senshies all together." Setsuna quickly replied fearing for her taste buds.
"Why did you try to get me back knowing fully that my powers would be sealed again? Because of Serenity's plan to keep me in check?" Ami asked as she narrowed her eyes. Setsuna didn't have time to answer before Ami punched her in the face knocking the chair over.
"No, I would have explained if that bleached bimbo hadn't knocked me out." Pluto replied as she felt blood seep from her mouth. "And who would have thought that you have a strong right hook."
"So talk!" Kayla said ignoring the bimbo comment.
"You see, Rei and Usagi are together now, they were together back then before she was bethrode to Earth. The only ones who follow that now are Mamoru, Luna and Artemis. I only wanted you to be present for their wedding." Sets replied.
"But according to historical records, the government of Nippon frowns upon gay marriages, and since she IS my little sister, I would be the one to give her away." Tyree said.
"But the Sol Government legalized it fifty years ago. If they want, they can get hitched here." Kayla added.
"And since Usagi…I mean Serena was born here, she's a Martian citizen therefore Rei would gain dual-citizenship." Ami said as she caught on. "Sorry, Sets. We sort of jumped to conclusions." She added as she released their captive.
"Apology, accepted. You know, your sister cried for months when she was in foster care." Sets replied while standing up as she dehenshined.
"Hey Sets. You can bunk with me like back in college, while we catch up on old times." Nell said as she went back to her room.
"Fine, but no alcohol. You know as well as I do, that I can't hold my liquor." Setsuna replied as she followed the Raven operator leaving three awkward young adults.
"That was…unexpected." Kayla said.
"Yeah, I thought she was in league with Serenity." Ami added.
"Let's sort it our in the morning. 'Cause I need some sleep." Tyree piped in while heading to his room. Getting the same idea Kayla headed to hers, while Ami simply yawned as fatigue caught up. She was so tired that she didn't see which room she entered. Kayla poked her head out of her room; she saw Ami entering Tyree's room and grinned at the sight. Inside the room, Ami climbed into bed completely unaware of the other person present.
Chapter end
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Deathblade: Well here's chapter 3 and the plot thickens.
Carina: I can see that. Anyway 'till next time! The next Monster Garage Challenge is just around the bend!