DISCLAIMERS:
All canon characters are (C) 1992 - whatever year it is Naoko Takeuchi and all other related parties. The Shadow senshi are (C) Wild Nature 2006. This is a fanfic based upon the anime version and all written work that this consists of is (C) 2006 Wild Nature.
After the intriguing and eye opening sequence against Void, Eizou is fast realizing that she cannot possible defeat a person who still exists somewhere in a lost mind. And the group is having their own troubles as Void's new tactic isn't just a nameless victim, it's poor Eizou too!
Episode Eleven: Figuring It All Out; Embodiment of the First Triad Moon Piece
Eizou wasn't ladylike when she slept. She was sprawled eagle style, her mouth open wide as she snored heavily. Even Apple could only take so much as he trotted out to Kakushi's room.
"So that's what made her so tired?" Kakushi looked down at Apple after Apple had told the story that Eizou had told him. "And there's been a discovery of the Triad Moon piece..." He scratched his head. "Where is it?"
Apple frowned. "Somewhere IN Eizou. Obviously not in the place that was targeted in by the monster however."
"Which was?"
"The general upper chest area."
"So it's the cliche heart location, bah. Where do you think it is?" Kakushi asked after thinking for a moment.
"I think it's more... spread out. Much how the Triad Moon was made of three pieces, it could have become one with Eizou and the other two holders," Apple sighed. "That's the only thing I can think of."
"And now that it's been somewhat revealed, what does it mean for Eizou?"
"I don't know that. Maybe more power?"
"It's always more power!" Kakushi sighed. "So... why did you come in here?"
"She's driving me nuts!" Apple blurted. "She was snoring, okay?"
"You want a bad snorefest, try my dad!"
"No thanks. I'm heading outside to see if Luna and Artemis have arrived. It's nice to talk to fellow animal species once in a while."
"In other words, Eizou's not listening to you."
"Not a word," Apple grinned. "But you do a good job. See ya!"
Eizou felt herself in the dream, floating. She kept seeing the Void below her, spinning like a black hole. But she felt no pull from it. In fact, it was as if it were trying to reject her.
"Why does Void want to complete us?" Eizou asked herself. She found herself in the Dead Moon Realm castle after a blink. She walked slowly, the portraits of the previous royalty looking back at her. She stilled, coming to a portrait of a child.
"She's so young... why did they force her to take such a job?" She reached out to the name. "Nehellenia..."
"Your Highness! Your Highness!" A voice echoed in the halls. The woman looked highly agitated, her dress dragging ungracefully on the ground as she harrumphed. She saw Eizou and glared at her. "You! Worker! Get to your jobs or else you'll be in trouble!"
Eizou frowned before glancing at herself. She wore dirty clothes that should've felt too tight because it looked as such. Her pant legs were ripped at the edges and as she saw her reflection in the a dusty window, she saw her face the same save for the smears of dirt.
Eizou walked around the woman, who was still fussing. "What a bitch," Eizou frowned. "With a friend like that, who needs enemies?"
She heard it then, a tiny giggle that gave away the young girl hiding. A what should've been a elegant looking teenaged Nehellenia was actually a disheveled one with a wide grin. "Hello."
Eizou didn't know how to respond. "You're ...alive?"
Nehellenia blinked before reaching up with a dainty napkin. "Here." She tried to wipe the other's face. "Oh dear, I'm just making it worse, huh?"
"What...uh, are you doing, under there?" Eizou gestured.
"Finding some peace. Being Queen is not a wonderful thing. But," Nehellenia smiled lightly. "I like helping my people."
"You're really young..."
"Not from around here, are you? Are you from the other side?"
"Other.. side?" Eizou didn't want to think of what that meant.
"The Silver Millennium? Or perhaps the Golden Millennium?" Nehellenia smiled as she offered Eizou to enter a bed room. It was huge, easily the making of a good sized apartment.
"Oh, well..." Eizou was stuck. How does one say she was dreaming this? 'That reminds me,' Eizou was about to pinch herself when she saw something that made her still. Nehellenia had taken off the head dress she'd been wearing with a almost hidden sigh. And Eizou couldn't see the other girl's face from the angle but she did it in the mirror. The wave of sadness and loneliness was easy to register.
"Why don't you leave? Find a new life for yourself?" Eizou asked suddenly. "You have money! You can give the next person the throne!"
"I don't want to do that," Nehellenia began.
"For crying out loud! How long has people been drilling that nonsense into you! What do you want, really I mean?"
"I just don't want.. to be lonely, I guess," Nehellenia looked embarrassed.
"Don't you have friends?"
"Yea.. but I can't be seen with them," she said finally.
"And why is that?"
"I'm the Queen!" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"So? That makes you better than them?"
Nehellenia pulled away, looking out absently. "I.. don't want to be better than anyone. I'd like to be like she was..."
"Who?"
"I had a dream.. about a beautiful soldier of white. She was willing to give up her life for her friends. I want to be like her. I want to stand up for my friends."
"So why don't you? Are they that bad?" Eizou crossed her hands with a snort.
"No! They are wonderful people!" Nehellenia looked as if she were about to cry.
"Than don't worry about what could go wrong. You know why? Because you know what WILL be right."
Nehellenia smiled as she picked up her head dress.
"What's that?" Eizou asked, studying it carefully.
"This is my family heirloom. The Triad Moon Piece."
Eizou's jaw nearly hit the ground. "REALLY? This is IT?"
"I would really like to know where you're from," Nehellenia actually smirked. "You're funny!"
"Gee, thanks..." Eizou stepped back. "I.. probably should go."
"All right. It was nice talking to you..." She paused, looking at her quizzically.
"Eizou.. Ginbano Eizou."
"Thank you for your kind words. Sometimes I need to be reminded that I'm not a doll. I mean, we are all human, right?"
"Yea, we're covered in flaws. That's what makes us stronger.." Eizou turned and felt herself hit the door as it opened. A throbbing pain entered as she was thrown into white than began to see black return to vision as her eyes flitted open.
"Hey! Give me back my ball!" Boya shouted as Chuukou was uncermoniously climbing over Eizou to get the said ball.
"Get off my face..." She mumbled, her mouth full of shirt.
"I got it!" Chuukou shouted. He let out a yelp as he was pushed off Eizou and the bed, landing on his front with a shriek. "OW!"
"That's what you get for trying to suffocate me!"
"Eizou! Henshou's here!" Her mother shouted from the stairs.
"WHAT?" Eizou flushed. "Ah.. tell him to wait!" She took off, her brothers making kissing noises as they giggled. "Shut up you maggots!"
"Hey Zou-chan.." Kakushi began as Eizou ran out of her room, a hurried selection of clothes in her arms. "Henshou's.."
"Here! Yea, I know!" Eizou shouted as the bathroom door slammed shut.
Henshou was in the living room as Eizou came bounding down the stairs. "Hey!"
He stood up, wiping his hands on his pant legs. "Yo, I wanted to see if you had improved."
"Did that last night when you called," Eizou smiled brightly.
"Eizou and Henshou sitting in the tree..." Two similar voices echoed from the top of the stairs.
"Chuukou!"
"K-i-s-s-i-n-g!"
"Boya!" Eizou moved quickly, nearly tripping on the stairs. "SHUT UP YOU TWO!"
"First came love, then comes marriage!" Boya bounded down the stairs past Eizou as she tried to grab him. But she felt a whack as a toy hit her in the cheek. Chuukou laughed wildly.
"Grow up!" Eizou shouted, glaring at Chuukou before turning to race to Boya who was still singing.
"Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" Boya sang his loudest, in front of Henshou. His arms were spread out as were his legs in a comical fashion as he waggled his eyebrows at the other guy.
"You die now!" Eizou was hovering over Boya, so full of rage, her face, neck, and her ears had turned red.
"Zou-chan!" She felt two arms wrap around her gleefully. "Now, be a good girl!" Kakushi grinned at Henshou. "I'll take care of the twin terrors." He laughed evilly.
Almost instantly, Boya took off back upstairs with a shriek. Eizou snorted as she folded her arms over her chest. "Brats!"
Kakushi disappeared with a shout, a indistinguishable sound. Eizou looked up at the stairs and then down the hallway, the place turning suddenly quiet. "Let's go out on the porch."
"Sure.." Henshou held the door open for Eizou. "So, how bad was your night? Enough sleep?"
"I told you and everyone else before, I'm fine. What don't you under.." She turned and found his eyes boring into hers, unreadable. "Henshou..."
"Eizou," As if by impulse, he kissed her lightly. She blinked and stared at him.
"What was that for?"
"For being you. For being brave. And for me being an ass."
"But you were right!"
"Doesn't mean I have the right to get angry. You don't know my father! He's a good man, just.."
"Lost in the Void. I don't know what we can do but I think we'll figure out everything and we'll save him!" Eizou said bravely.
"But what if.." Henshou rubbed his face and then ran both hands through his hair. "Oh forget it." He smiled weakly. "I've always asked the same old questions."
"Eizou-chan!" A familiar voice echoed from the near front. Kaiki stood patiently at the opening of the house sidewalk, beaming. She wore her hair in her customary bun but wore a simple drafty summer dress with black sandals strapped over her toes. "I can't believe I found your house!"
"Who gave you directions?" Eizou frowned, confused.
"Kakure! We had a sleepover last night cause we wanted to talk about fashion!"
"Oh no! Not you too!" Eizou wailed. "It's bad enough when Kakure wants to paint me up, I don't need someone to tell me my clothes suck!"
"They don't suck, they just don't flatter you as they should," Kaiki grinned.
"Ohh!"
"I beg to differ," Henshou began.
"Of course you would," Kaiki grinned. "Henshou, no? I'm Kinbaginbano Kaiki but just call me Kaiki!"
"I saw you the other day. You had some killer moves on the board."
"I love to surf," Kaiki's grin only grew bigger.
Henshou nodded. "And I saw you trying to teach Eizou."
"She got the hang of it!"
"Yea, I got the hang of it!" Eizou stared at Henshou pointedly.
Henshou looked away with a tiny grin. "Yea, you certainly got the hang of it."
Eizou's eyebrows shot up. "How much did you see?"
"The several attempts of facing diving, you mean?"
Eizou whacked Henshou's arm but it was in vain as pain stabbed her fingers. "Owwie! Muscle man jerk!"
"I love you too," He kissed her cheek, ignoring her shocked expression. "I'm off to my work. I'll call you and we can plan our next date."
Eizou was still standing there, gaping as he disappeared into the street, his car still sputtering. Kaiki blinked before waving her hand in front of the other. She saw Apple come up to the both of them. "She's in shock."
"Tell me about it," Apple sat down lightly. "I don't think she ever heard that from him."
"Did she ever say that?"
"Once but that was when she was pissed," Apple sighed. "Could you do something? We need to discuss a few things at the Hikawa Temple."
"Eizou! Eizou!" Kaiki poked Eizou in the cheek. "HELLO!"
"Oh.. My... GOD!" Eizou blinked, her face turning red. "Is he gone? Oh, why didn't I say it back?"
"Say what?" Kakushi came out, a bag slung over his shoulder. "I'm off to work."
"Henshou just told red face here that he loved her."
Kakushi nearly tripped down the last stair he was on. "What the? He actually said that?"
"Go away! This is girl talk!" Eizou said hurriedly.
"Guess I wouldn't count," Apple quipped.
"Oh! Leave me be!" Eizou begged to Henshou. He opened his mouth and then shut it.
"See you later, Zou-chan!" Henshou shrugged.
"Okay, now what did you say Apple?" Eizou looked to the dog as Kaiki rolled her eyes.
At the shrine, the girls all talked at the same time. All of the inner senshi had grouped up, as well as Kakure, Kaki, and Kaiki. Save for Eizou who kept looking dazed. She blushed when Minako asked her what was wrong and although she attempted to answer, she ended up tripping over her tongue.
"So how many other Shadows are there?" Makoto mused. "We have Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Neptune so far."
"That just leaves Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn," Pomona nodded carefully. "Well, that clears that up! Now I wanna know how to get the Triad Moon Piece from Eizou!"
Eizou frowned. "Oh, like how? Blast it out of me?"
The sol senshi all looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "That's what happened for our heart crystals.." Minako offered.
Eizou stood up. "I have no idea what you're talking about but I'm not standing around if you all wanna blast me!"
"We're not going to blast you," Kakure pulled Eizou back down with a hard tug. "Now sit and be quiet."
"Easy for you to say," Eizou sighed. "Look, maybe it's just supposed to be in me. Why does it have to come out?"
The whole group was quiet for a long pause. It was a subtle motion, underneath the floor. It happened again, some of the items on the high shelves skating slightly with motion.
"Does anyone feel that?" Usagi scratched her nose. "I mean, maybe it was me..." She trailed off, embarrassed.
"Ew.." Rei inched away. "But no, I felt that. It was like an earthquake."
There was another tremor, stronger now.
"I think it's heading toward us," Ami said finally. At that, everyone looked at each other before running out of the room to the outside.
"So where do we start?" Eizou called out. Usagi responded. "We should transform!"
"Yea!"
"Moon Eternal Power, Make Up!
"Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up!"
"Mars Eternal Power, Make Up!
"Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!"
"Venus Eternal Power, Make Up!
"Nepheline Shadowed Light, Make Up!"
"Nepheline Shadowed Earth, Make Up!"
"Nepheline Shadowed Ice, Make Up!"
"Nepheline Shadowed Sea, Make Up!" As she held up her gem, it sent out a wave of water that foamed freely as it wrapped around her, becoming her fuku. She wore a black strand for a choker, at the center a jade green orb with two small yellow gems at each side. Her collar was entirely jade green and her bodice was different. She wore a jade green sleeveless and shoulder-less dress but the top half was covered in a partial black corset, a huge gape down the front of her body to the waist. It was tied together by black string, making four x's along her breasts and stomach area. Her waistband started at the beginning of one end of the black corset at the front with a green orb. It had two stripes, the top yellow and the bottom one white. It wrapped around her hips to the other side. The two jade green orbs were connected by three loose black strands.
Her brooch was a jade green crescent moon, each side adorned in two yellow gems and attached from side to the other were three loose black threads. She wore seemingly detachable black sleeves, that covered three fourths of her arm but cut off at the fingers. At the backs of her hands were a jade green round gem outlined in yellow. She had a back bow, much like shoelace ribbon, that was a set of two bows, one white and the other yellow. Her feet were adorned in knee high, straight edged, black boots. The top center had a upside down triangle and down the two sides of the legs were a stripe of jade green. Her tiara was a straight around yellow band, with a oversized jade green gem in its center.
She poised as if she were about to perform a dive, her arms pointed at the front as she smiled mysteriously. "Shadow Neptune makes a grand splash, no?"
"Let me find where this is all starting from!" Mercury called out. Her visors whizzed on as she pulled her computer from her pocket. "Whatever it is, it's coming this way down that way!" She pointed just to the left of her.
"Let's go meet it!" Shadow Jupiter grinned ferally.
"What do we do when we get there?" Shadow Neptune asked nervously, running alongside Shadow Moon.
"We just attack.. I guess. I'm still needing to know this myself!" Shadow Moon laughed weakly.
They came to a stop as Mercury slowed. "The reading.. is gone." She looked around. "Right here but there's nothing now."
"MERCURY!" Mars shouted as she instinctively pointed. "Your shadow!"
It lunged up and sucked the poor girl into nothing. In a millisecond, all of them had been sucked.
"Oh great..." Shadow Mars frowned. "I don't like the dark!"
"But come now, it's rather soothing.." The familiar voice echoed. "I have been waiting for you, my beloved Shadows..."
Void warped from the floor of the dark. "Welcome to my Darkness. That of which is."
"Hah! Moonlight Casting!" Shadow Moon shouted. Nothing happened. "Oh boy. I don't remember this in the manual."
"Wild Thorn Thrash!" Shadow Jupiter tried. But once more, nothing happened.
"In this Void, I control everything." Void smiled darkly. He spread his hands up and the whole group were grasped in shadowed hands, struggling to escape but the hands only tightened. He walked leisurely toward Shadow Moon, whistling.
"Now, time to get the Triad Moon piece," he smiled coldly. He presented his hands with a maniacal gaze. Shadow Moon screamed as he thrust his hands inside her. She felt the coldness seep in. It was a hundred times worse than when she had been first targeted. She struggled, her legs hitting the air as she tried to yell.
It was a powerful light that separated from Shadow Moon. It was a simple yellow crescent moon piece that glowed in the darkness. She instantly untransformed, her gem falling to the floor and turning black. "No..."
"Now, now. This is a disappointment. You are a complete failure. As such, you can be recycled," Void moved his hand, pulling a black blade from his side.
"No...Please.. think of Henshou.." Eizou looked up, her eyes wide. She felt drugged and so tired.
"Goodbye.." The blade turned even blacker as it came down.
"Empty Heartache Erase!" Two entwining bands of orange, twirling in the fashion as DNA, erupted into the shadow and struck Void. The blade fell, only cutting Eizou on her right shoulder, deep enough to cause her to bleed. Void pushed back, his eyes wide with pain.
The Triad Moon piece fell down and as it touched Eizou, it erupted and molded into her again.
"By the name of Nehellenia, of the Shadows and the elements, I will not let you do this Void! If you must fall, than so be it!" A voice rang out. A shadow appeared, walking toward the now released group.
"Oh god.. Yes.." Pomona never sounded so happy. "It's.. Shadow Venus!"