Cyber Moon: Genesis.
Episode 7: The Evil Witch of the West.
By Razor Knight
Last update: December 18, 2007
"So, this is the newbie?"
Hope took her time to examine the people in the room. Two of them were using the official Senshi outfit, there were two Demon Hunters as well, and a man that was wearing what looked like a gold shirt. For some reason, the man looked familiar to her, but she didn't quite recognize him.
"Firea, be nice," the tallest of the Senshi in the room (not counting Moment) snapped. She had long, brown hair tied in a high ponytail and green eyes, and her suit had green skin and pink bow. That outfit belonged to the Senshi of Jupiter, so Hope guessed she was the newest Sailor Jupiter.
"And who'll make me be nice, you, Lera?" the black-haired, purple-eyed Senshi in the red outfit snapped back. Sailor Mars, most likely.
"I will, if you don't show some respect," Moment said, her voice commanding. Firea shrunk back and nodded. "All right. Now that we're all paying attention, let me introduce High Librarain Hope, the new Sailor Mercury."
The others nodded at Hope. The man in the expensive-looking outfit was apparently staring at her, but she chose to ignore him. "I'm relatively new to this, but I've trained my powers long enough. I hope I'll be of help in this mission."
"What I don't get," Lera said, "is why we need three Senshi and two Demon Hunters for a diplomatic mission."
"Because, dear Lera," the man finally spoke up, "if my sources are right, this could turn into an all-out battle," he explained, his black eyes jumping from Senshi to Senshi, as if he was measuring their reaction.
"I don't know who your sources are, but I thought Beryl was one of the most respected Queens in the Earth Alliance," Firea commented.
The blonde-haired man smiled. "My sources are trustworthy. And also, Beryl's past is packed full of strange coincidences."
"Thanatos, I'd say we should wait until we talk to Beryl to pass judgement," Moment said calmly.
As she heard his name, she finally remembered who the man was. Zane Thanatos, a rich trader from Saturn. From what she'd heard, he had been born in Mercury, but his family had moved to the larger planet when he was on his early teens. Other than that, however, she didn't know much about the man.
"If Necromancers are there, we need to get rid of them. With or without the Queen's approval," the male Demon Hunter, who was clad in blue, said in an equally calm tone.
"Staying here and chitchatting won't get anything solved," Firea muttered. "So let's go."
Hope could only agree. And also, she agreed with Thanatos. She'd read a bit on Beryl's past. Her mother died when she was only sixteen years old. Ten years later, her father and older brother had gone in a hunting trip to the Arcana woods, and were attacked by an unknown beast. After that, Beryl had been the only candidate left for the throne. And hence, the once Kingdom of Arcana became a Queendom.
Too many coincidences in a row. She'd also heard rumors of Beryl's short romance with the Earth King, the King of Camelot, Halcyon. Halcyon had later on married the princess of one of the strongest kingdoms, to ensure the strenght of Camelot in the Alliance. Those were unconfirmed rumors, but it was quite strange, as those rumors had started before her mother died.
"I agree with Lady Firea," Thanatos admitted. "The sooner we get to Arcana, the better."
"Why not just teleport there?" Lera asked.
"There's a lot of tension in the Earth Alliance right now. As things are, Senshi aren't welcome into most kingdoms. We can't just teleport in into any of them... Well, maybe to Camelot, but not to Arcana or the other kingdoms."
"So that is why Thanatos is here?" the female Demon Hunter, who wore a dark green suit, asked.
"Indeed. I can provide transportation in one of my biggest passenger ships."
"What's the catch?" the Hunter asked.
"No catch, dear Libra. I'm a close friend to Queen Serenity, and she was the one who asked me to take you there."
"The great Thanatos has a heart after all," Libra muttered.
"That hurts, you know. My ship could accidentally steer too strong and you could fall off," Thanatos said.
"That wouldn't surprise me," Libra said wih a shrug.
"If you two lovebirds are done, let's just hit the road, shall we?" Lera snapped at them.
"What's up with those two?" Hope asked Moment in a low voice as they left the room.
"Libra is one of Thanatos' past lovers," Moment explained calmly.
"I see. I have one more question... Silly one, but my mother couldn't answer it."
"Must be hard to answer if the Sage Librarian, Queen Siela from Mercury doesn't know it's answer..."
"Actually, she said she'd never searched for the answer herself. So... Why are our suits so... Revealing?"
Moment smiled. The girl had a point, the Sailor Senshi suits were basically a leg and sleeve-less body suit with a short skirt, knee-long boots and gloves and a metal tiara. The suit's form-hugging fabric left little to imagination, and their bare legs just added to that.
"Well, there was an inner war in the times of the sixth Serenity. The Senshi were still using the full body suits the first Senshi had used, but the Sailor Venus of that generation had a good idea: Most of the warring troops were male, and the Senshi were, at the time, all female, so she modified her suit to look like they do nowadays. The others imitated them, and the Senshi managed to stop the warring armies with almost no casualties on both sides."
"That's one way to use your body as a weapon, I'd say," Hope commented.
Moment nodded. And it'd worked several times after that, too.
"What about the Dragon Senshi? Why isn't there none in this era?"
"I'm not sure. Bad luck, I'd guess. The Dragon Swords, like the Ginzuishou, act in ways nobody understands."
"Dragon Swords?"
"That's the name the swords the First Senshi used have nowadays. And as you may know, they're still available for us to use, should the need arise. They may or may not choose an owner, and in this generation, so far, they've chosen none."
Hope sighed. She really hoped she'd never have a reason to use her Mercury Sword. But knowing how fate usually worked, she was sure she'd have to, sooner or later.
Hope couldn't help but gasp at the ship docked in the palace's spaceport. It was a good hundred meters wide and three hundred meters long, with windows covering most of it's upper hull, and the words "S.S. Thalon" drawn on both sides. Even from afar she could also see several cannons on the front of the ship. Thanatos wasn't known for subtlety, and he wasn't taking any risks with space pirates.
"There you have it. Thalon, the second biggest ship in my fleet," Thanatos said.
Second biggest? "That ship's huge... Do you have a bigger passenger ship?"
Thanatos shook his head. "My biggest ship's the Tiamat, a battleship."
Orion snorted. "I thought you were just a merchant."
"I am. But space pirates abound, so I always try to have a battleship following each of my passenger and cargo ones."
Which meant... Hope looked up and gasped again. There it was, the Tiamat. Almost doubled Thalon in size, and from what she could see with her visor, it had enough weapons in it to take on a small army of light fighter ships. "Amazing."
"Even bigger than the Cloudbuster," Lera commented.
"And it'll escort the Thalon to Arcana," Moment said.
"I'd think Beryl would be against that," Firea said.
Orion frowned. "Either she's acting like this so we won't suspect a thing, or she really doesn't have a thing to hide."
"We won't know until we get there," Lera pointed, "so let's get going."
The trip to Arcana was uneventful and quite boring. Hope picked up her book to read, but there wasn't anything else in it that was really worth reading. According to the novelist, the First Senshi had a relatively calm and happy life after those first years of freedom.
So now she was trying to focus on the mission. They were now walking through the corridor that lead to the thorne room. Beryl's castle was the most plain and shady she'd ever seen. It's walls were grey and stony, without the crystalline shine of other palaces and castles she'd visited before. Guards and maids went by showing the usual politeness she'd seen, but there was something strange in their eyes. Almost as if their free will was gone. She'd tried scanning them, and found no traces of mind-controlling or necromancer mana in them. Was it just her mind playing trick on her?
"Well, here we are," Moment said as they stood in front of a large, obsidian door. "Once we enter, let me do the talking."
"As you command," Orion said half-mockingly.
Thanatos didn't say a word, just nodded. Why was Moment bringing him along, she couldn't understand. Maybe to give them an 'outsider' opinion after the meeting was over.
As the group walked into the room, they saw it was just like every other corridor and room in the castle: Grey, gloomy, almost ominous. "Welcome to my castle," the woman sitting on the throne said politely.
Pluto nodded and game a small bow to her, the others followed suit. "Queen Beryl, you must be aware of our reason to ask for an audience..."
"I am," Beryl said, "and while my own sources haven't pinpointed the location of those necromancers, I know of their existance."
"We would request your permission to locate the source of that necromantic mana and destroy it," Orion said. "With the Senshi's aid, of course."
Beryl was deep in thought for a few minutes, and the others awaited silently for her to speak. After what seemed like an hour, she finally spoke up. "I see no harm in letting you explore my queendom. However, I must ask you to leave if you can't find a trace of those necromancers in one week."
"Agreed," Moment said. "We will tell you of any clues we may have by then. Now if you excuse us..."
Beryl nodded. "You may leave."
The room fell silent after the Senshi left and the door closed.
Beryl closed her eyes and nodded. "They're gone. But they'll be back.
"
A hissing, female voice could be heard from the shadows around her throne. "I have something prepared for them. The Senshi will be too busy chasing shadows to suspect anything about you."
"Good. In the meantime, Metallia... How are our spies?"
"Nobody suspects a thing. Stupid mages and Senshi, they don't know about my demonic energy yet. I just need to prepare a few more things and we'll be ready to attack."
"And then, finally, he will be mine."
"Indeed," Metallia said. 'And I will have my revenge upon mankind for destroying my race,' she thought.
Beryl. Such a fool. She had her eating from her hand, and all because of the promises she'd made to help her get the prince of Camelot, Endymion. However, Metallia couldn't help but be grateful with her 'master.' It was her meddling with dark magic that had awakened her from her eternal slumber. It had been easy for her to corrupt her broken heart and her wicked soul, and now... Only a few more moves to make, and she'd be able to destroy mankind for good.
But first, she had to get rid of this era's Serenity, the only one that could challenge her power. Coincidentally, Beryl wanted the Moon Princess dead. Metallia would be glad to grant that wish to her, as long as she could also get rid of the mother in the process.
A/N: This one was filler-flavored, but I don't want to rush the plot... And I also figured Beryl's evil ways needed a bit of insight. I still think she's insanely, unredeemably evil, but at least I try to give her a reason to be that way other than "I have the hots for the Earth prince just because I can." Oh and also... Kudos to those who can guess who Thanatos is... Or will be. Not a hard guess.