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Only Human
By Verse12
Verse12 (at) hotmail (dot) com
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Disclaimer:
By do not own these characters nor do I claim too, this is a simple fan based homage. Their creators and the companies they work for and with own the characters and all that pertains to them. (I.E. Rumiko Takahashi, Viz, Shougakukan, Pioneer LDC, Hiroki Hayashi, Ryoe Tsukimura, Akira Toriyama, Naoko Takeuchi, Toei Animation, DiC) This is just fans of the shows expressing their love for it for fun, no profit is involved or expected thank you.
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Interlude Five
Dark Murmurings
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Hours after Big Sister Interlude one
She ran stumbling through the tangled undergrowth of the forest, the trees gripped at her as if to try and hold her back. At her side four small white feet desperately tried to keep pace with her through lush woods. The back of the white cat was speckled with blood that dripped from the girl's mangled left arm that hung limply above him.
"KEEP RUNNING MINAKO!" Artemis panted in desperation to his young charge.
"So…so, tired," Minako Aino wheezed through the stumbling gait of her hopeless flight.
Her mind was filled with pain and fear, she felt like she had been running forever, all of the weapons her mentor Artemis had given her had been lost. And even when she had used them they had been useless against the four dark generals that pursued her. And the new powers that she felt were so potent were in fact worthless against them.
She had come to china undercover to deal with a dark agency plot, only to find out that her hero Kaito Ace was in fact Danburite of the dark kingdom. In their final battle she had awaked as a full sailor senshi. She knew her mission and knew what she had to do, but she never had the chance to even begin it. And if what the dark general Zoicite had told her was the truth… she would never find the allies she had been expecting to… if he was telling the truth… they were all already dead.
She had been fleeing them ever since, all across the countryside of china since they had first appeared in the airport as she had been waiting for her flight home. 'Home' she choked on the thought, she was only thirteen and she knew she was never going to see her parents again never see her friends again. She would never have a date or a true boyfriend, never do any of the million's of things she wanted to do with her life.
She knew that she was going to die tonight.
She had escaped several times in the last few days but with her injuries mounting she knew she wouldn't be able to escape again. She was glad that Natsuna Oneesan wasn't able to come with her for back up here cause she knew that she wouldn't have been able to save her. She knew that the dark kingdom wanted to take over the world, and she knew that she would not be able to stop them, in fact she knew that they had been toying with her for some time, just to make the sport more fun. Her breathless sobs tore at her burning throat, as she paused to grab Artemis with her good arm and flop bonelessly into a large bush.
"Mina," he questioned in breathlessness.
She got down painfully to her knees and looked her friend in the eyes; her battered and bloody face a mask of pain and agony. "Artemis, we don't have much time," he cut her off with the comment of "I know we need to keep moving."
She didn't listen though and continued her speech with a sad look in her eyes that caused worry to grow larger in his little chest. "Artemis… this is it."
"Wha…" he whispered in pained confusion, a desperate gleam of denial in his little eyes.
"I can't stop them, I can't get away from them and I can't hide from them for long," she whispered in the cool night air of the Chinese forest.
"YES YOU CAN," he blurted out loudly causing her to cover his mouth with her good arm, "shhhh," she shushed him, "don't draw them right here."
He had the sense to look sheepish for a moment before his fear returned, "Mina-chan, I don't know what you have planned here but…don't," he finished in a whisper. "I… believe in you."
A sad and teary look filled her eyes as she looked down on her mentor, "I know you do," she said as she leaned down and gave him a light kiss on his nose. "I can't save the world, or stop the dark generals… but… I can save you," she choked out in stuttering sobs.
"NO I won't leave you," he whispered in a stunned tone of voice.
"I don't have much time before they find me Artemis, so please listen to me." She whispered, as she looked him dead in the eyes, both of them with tears flowing freely down their faces. "You and I both know that the next confrontation will be it for me, and I couldn't face my end knowing that you would be following me. So please…stay here, hidden…. Please… for me."
"I can't," he murmured softly.
"Please, you have to get away." The blonde haired teen said in all seriousness, "you have to get away, I need you to find your way back to Japan. Go to superintendent general Natsuna and tell her what happened, work with her. Try to get help to fight these monsters."
The little cat was looking at the ground at their feet as he began to speak again, "Mina if he was telling the truth… if they are all gone." He looked up at her, a fierce pride in him as he saw his charge and the determined look on her face in the presence of impending doom, "I don't think they can be stopped without all of you."
"I'm trusting you to find a way," she said with blind faith in his abilities, "you can do this… please, for me, do this."
Unable to look in her eyes anymore he looked down before he nodded wordlessly.
"Thank you," she whispered finally causing him to look at her again as he felt her stand up. "I love you Artemis," she said with a look of fierce love and belief in him before she turned and ran away from her best friend and mentor.
He watched her leave him with a dead heart in his little chest, his breath hitching inside as tiny sobs filled the underbrush, "I love you to Mina-chan," he managed to finally say as he watched her form disappear. And he knew that he would never see his beloved Sailor-V ever again.
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Minako Aino aka Sailor-V or Sailor Venus let her tears fall as she ran as far as she could away from Artemis. She knew she had to lead them away from him, so… she ran, she ran for her friend. The sailor soldier crashed ceaselessly through the forests near the Bayankala range of the Xinghai province her ripped and bloody uniform snagged on branches in her flight. For now she didn't try to keep quiet, in fact she made as much noise as she could, hoping to lead them away from her friend and mentor.
Without warning an explosion detonated behind her making her ears ring from the blast. The shockwave flung her with a crash through the forest with the deafening sound of thunder. Venus didn't even stop as she regained her feet as soon as she could and kept moving while she strove to ignore the taunts and laughter of Jadeite and Zoicite behind her. Desperate and with a sudden a frantic reserve of strength she pounded through the forest with blazing speed, despite her injuries drag on her abilities.
She flung herself maddeningly through the trees as she sensed the two dark generals fall behind her and she dared to hope that maybe, just maybe she could escape. She leaped over a fallen tree and through a screen of branches only to see darkness yawn before her, a shear cliff fell away directly before her. Her eyes widened as in a blink of an eye she saw herself soar toward the darkness beyond the cliff, with her good arm reached back, hoping to snag something.
A yelp of pain burst from her lips as she grasped a branch stopping her but dislocated her good arm in the process. Like a dead fish she fell to the ground with a crash just short of the cliff face. Her breath came in hitched gasps as her blood pounded in her ears and her vision swum in a blurry mess.
'Have to move,' she thought as she tried to crawl to her feet. Far below the cliff face she saw only fog, so the ground could be anywhere. Around her trees and brush clung to the cliff edge in a choking tangle, effectively trapping her where she was.
Her heart froze when a mocking laugh arose behind her. Slowly she turned around to be confronted with the sight of all four dark generals floating in the dark night sky, the full moon loomed large directly behind them and cast them in an ominous light.
"Well, Well, Well," Jadeite murmured slyly. "Looks like time's finally up girly."
Franticly Sailor-V's eyes darted about her trapped perch before she glanced over her shoulder to the fog covered darkness beyond the cliff.
"Hahahaha," Zoicite laughed derisively "I think the stupid little thing is thinking about jumping, my friends."
"What and ruin all of the fun I've been looking forward to?" Nephrite said with an evil smirk.
"And with all the fog we wouldn't even have the pleasure of seeing her go splat all over the landscape," Jadeite said with mock disappointment.
"The terror on her face as she fell to her death would be most appealing though," Kunzite cut in for the first time, his white cape billowed and whipped about behind him.
"Always with the fear," Jadeite said with smirk, "I like the blood myself."
"Fear is like a fine wine Jadeite you have to savor it. And the raw fear and desperation the young Senshi is giving off is so delectable." Kunzite gave off a wicked grin as he floated in front of his compatriots, closer to the blonde Sailor Senshi. "And terror must be... cultivated to be fully realized."
Minako gulped audiblely as she realized that this was it she was cut off and had no hope of getting past them. She had only one path open to her and that was almost certain death as well. Though almost certain death was better than for real certain death. She just needed to distract them for a moment just one.
Unaware of her racing thoughts Kunzite continued his taunting. "And we are defiantly going to 'Cultivate' fear and pain in you little miss," the platinum haired General sneered evilly.
With tears streaming down her face Minako looked down at her feet in despair, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she exhaled her resolve seemed to firm and a look of steel seemed to glint deep in her eyes as she looked up at the floating Generals.
Kunzite saw the resolve in her gaze and it gave him pause, his eyes widened and he was forced to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. For he saw reflected in her eyes the reborn Captain of the Senshi second only to the Queen and the Princess and ... his former fiancé.
Her voice was pitched low but it carried to the General's ears, "I'm sorry General... But I'm going to have to deny you your fun," she said with a determined growl.
Then with a sunny smile she looked up at the beautiful full moon, "It's been really fun," she said in a melancholy tone.
Then as they looked at her in confusion she spun on her heel and dove from the cliff face in a beautiful and perfect swan dive. Tears trailed from her eyes like diamonds in the moonlight, as the fog approached her she fought to keep from panicking.
With a sudden realization she flipped around so that her feet were facing down, so as to maximize her survivability.
And then she was through the fog, the chilly tendrils clutched at her bruised and battered flesh, as miraculously a small lake appeared before her eyes.
And then she hit the water, her speed was so great it knocked the breath from her lungs and she went all the way to the bottom of the lake slamming her legs against the muddy basin. Even underwater a loud crack could be heard as both of her legs broke in several places.
Her arms and now legs useless and her breath gone she could feel her life slipping away her vision was going blurry. And some long buried instinct flared to life, she reached out with all of her power she had left toward the ruined moon palace.
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High above the four dark Generals floated stunned at Sailor-V's desperate jump.
"Well that was bloody," Jadeite began before a sound below them intruded, the sound of a loud splash.
"Tell me that wasn't a splash," Zoicite groaned in dismay, "I mean fun is fun and all but lets just finish this and get back to work."
"Agreed," Kunzite replied and as one the four floated directly over where Minako had fallen through the fog. They each raised a hand toward the fog bank and an orb of glowing white power formed there by each of them. Moments later at an unspoken agreement they loosed the glowing death at the ground below them.
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Several miles away at the Amazon Village of the Joketsuzoku two warriors patrolled the area around the village, when a blinding light came from the direction of Jusenkyo.
"What was that?" One of them asked the other as the light faded.
The other woman turned to the first one and blinked to clear the blurriness from her eyes and restore her night vision. "I don't know..." she whispered. "But we had better get back to the village and report this."
"Agreed," the first woman nodded, and they turned and loped at a brisk pace back toward the village.
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In the mountains opposite of the village of the Amazons three men camped in the remains of a once great dynasty.
One was large and with a tiger striped cloak, one was smaller with wolf furred clothing. But it was the last that was the most striking, he was taller than the shorter but just shorter than the taller man. He had pale hair with two pale blue highlights framing his face. His muscled body was covered in glistening dragon scale and gold armor and a long cloak flowed from his shoulders.
The blinding light from Jusenkyo dazed the first two men, though the last one simply narrowed his eyes at he large blast of power that lit the valley that was so important to their ancestors.
"What was that Herb-sama?" Wolf boy said.
"Shut up Lime," The aforementioned Herb growled. "Gather our baggage we are moving to Jusenkyo."
"Yes Herb-sama," the duo said with a bow.
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On another mountain in the area, men and women with wings like birds patrolled the domain of Lord Saffron.
And like the Amazons they to prepared to send word of the strange lights at Jusenkyo.
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In the opposite direction of the Joketsuzoku a little white cat ran as fast as he was able. He wouldn't let Minako's sacrifice be in vain. He would make it back to Japan and try his hardest to make things right... he swore it.
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On the broken and shattered surface of the moon the once proud remains of the moon kingdom resided until very recently. Now nothing is visiblely left, even the computer that housed a copy of the Queen's consciousness was destroyed by the traitor. But for all of her knowledge the traitor did not know all the plans in play. For hidden from all but the queen a small back up computer lay hidden, deep in the moons surface close to where its core resided. Its abilities were very limited but it scanned for Moon Kingdom energy signatures and transmissions.
Sailor Venus's desperate mental plea was picked up and in the space of a micro second a plan was decided upon. Two other things were left on the moons surface after the traitor tried to destroy all traces of the moon kingdom; both of them were made of imperium silver crystal. One was the broken heart of the castle the small prayer tower, the other though was buried under some rubble and hidden it was the imperial crystal sword, that which the princess used to kill herself after her prince was taken from her.
Needing all assets the computer drained all of the power left in the moon and transferred itself to the crystal lattice of the sword itself. The tower broke down in a flash and flowed into the sword as well. With an explosion of force the sword broke free of the rocks that buried it and floated into the air. In a millisecond it flipped around so the blade pointed toward the earth and more specifically... China.
In the blink of an eye the sword was entering the atmosphere of the planet. Homing in on Sailor Venus's plea. Moving faster than even the dark generals could see the sword whipped past them and the energy blast they had loosed at the girl below them. A split second before the blast hit the sword rammed through Minako's chest and out her back the force of the blade slamming her deep under water and actually pinning her under the murky depths much like a butterfly in a collection would be pined to a board. As the light faded from her eyes she could feel the warmth of the crystal blade as it held her pinned under water, the hilt protruding just above her sternum.
And then... The general's blasts hit.
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One-month later Juban district, Tokyo
"MAKOTO, YOU SUCK!" A drunken voice roared through the night in the sleepy Juban district of Tokyo.
"Now, now Shayla," a softer voice interjected soothingly. "You need to calm down, alright?"
"I DON'T WANT TO CALM DOWN!" an athletic red headed woman with tan skin in her late teens or early twenties. She is evidently the owner of the drunken voice.
"THAT JERK MAKOTO," she yelled before she stumbled and one of the two women with her caught her by the shoulder to steady her.
The two women with her, one is in her early to mid twenties with shoulder length wavy brown hair and an aristocratic bearing to her. The other woman was in her late twenties eerily thirties with kind face and blue hair held high on her head by a hair clip.
The drunken red head suddenly started bawling and hugged the blue haired woman, "Miz," she sobbed and hiccupped. "I tawt dat maybe weed hadda chance but since wee gotted here hees only looke'ed after that stupid robot Ifurita."
The red head named Shayla-Shayla pulled away and stumbled a few steps before screaming again, "IFURITA...YOU SUCK!!!"
The blue haired woman that was named Miz Mishtal looked over to the dark haired compatriot named Afura Mann and sighed, "She's actually handling this better than I thought she would."
"I have to agree," the cool and collected woman said with a sigh and a shake of her head. "Remind me again why we stayed here on earth and didn't return with the princess's, to El-Hazard?"
"Well I'm officially retired even though some how I gained the abilities I once had with the lamp of water, just like my Fujisawa gained his great strength. I wanted to stay here for a while to know my husband's world. And of course Shayla wanted to try and get Makoto in some kind of last minute effort. And you of course said that you were worried about Jinnai and Queen Diva unleashing the Bugrom on this world. "
Afura Mann just looked at here older compatriot with a droll look on her face, "That was a ratorical question Miz."
The older blue haired woman looked sheepish for a moment and just murmured a little "oh."
"It is amazing for all three of us to not need our lamps to use our powers, though," the priestess of air said with a little bit of wonder in her voice.
"I have to agree with you," Miz Fujisawa nodded as they kept an eye on their drunk and heartsick friend.
"I have to be honest with you Miz," Afura said with a serious look on her face. "I've been thinking about retiring myself especially now that I no longer need the lamp of air to have my wind powers. Pass on the lamp to the next acolyte to take over the duties as a priestess of Muldoon."
"Maybe find a little hubby? Huh? Huh?" Miz said with a teasing grin.
"MIZ," The other woman exclaimed loudly in embarrassment, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"ALL MEN AND ROBOTS SUCK!" Shayla roared drunkenly from a few feet ahead of them. They of course sighed and caught up with their inebriated friend.
Of course this is when fate happened to intervene with a loud piercing scream from a jewelry shop half a block away. The two sober priestess of Mt. Muldoon grabbed their drunken partner by her arms and drug her toward the disturbance.
Miz and Afura sat Shayla down next to the jewelry store and asked her to stay there and be quiet. The two sober women peeked into the jewelry store and frowned in shock a shorthaired teenage girl was backing away from some form of creature. The creature was tall and very thin with long boney claws and gaunt leather like skin. The creature was heard to be loudly calling for something called the Ginzinsho.
Miz and Afura looked at each other and nodded, they stood up with determination. Afura brought her hands up and a torrent of air gathered within her palms, with a shout of fury she thrust her palms forward blasting the locked doors apart.
Ignoring the sleepy exclamation next to them by Shayla of something called the big sucker gas slash that made Afura mutter about stupid names. Miz walked forward and smiled with a semi evil grin as she located where the water pipes were in the room.
"WHO!" the creature exclaimed in shock, of course this was all she said as Miz thrust her hand out and shouted. The sprinkler system came on suddenly at her shout and the water began to fall.
"What is that supposed to do," the monster asked with an evil grin of her own.
"Oh, that allows me to do this," Miz responded with smile.
The monster looked confused for a moment when the forgotten girl screamed loudly and pointed behind the monster.
The clawed thing whirled around to see only water in front of her face, she looked up and up and up near the top of the vaulted ceilings a monstrous face formed of water roared at her.
"#&#$," The much smaller thing cursed and tried to jump back away from the water golem. It didn't get far though as a massive clawed hand made of water wiped out grabbed the other beast by the leg. With negligent ease it proceeded to slam her into the floor then swung it over her head into the ground on the other side, over and over again it repeated this. Finally when the clawed thing was nothing more than moaning bloody mess the water golem proceeded to drag it out the door past Miz and Afura.
"Man Miz..." Afura whistled in awe, "that was brutal."
"Care to finish it off?" Is the only reply.
Afura nodded with a grin and the wind began to whip around her feet, "hey remember that thing we saw on the television, with the guns?"
"Yeah?"
"PULL!" Afura shouted and the water monster reared back and flung the clawed thing high into the sky.
Afura thrust her hands forward and a column of air rocketed forth the massive blast hit the clawed monster as it began to descend reducing it to dust in the breeze.
"Well that was fun," Afura said with a sardonic grin.
"Lets check on the girl and then get Shayla to bed."
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High above the Osa-P jewelry store Dark General Jadeite floated with Zoicite. "Just like her majesty Empress Pluto predicted," he said.
"Of course," Zoicite smirked, "Did you expect anything else?"
"No, of course not," Jadeite replied with an angry tone at Zoicite's sarcastic remark. "Well I had better return to Beryl and inform her of the arrival of what 'MUST' be the Senshi," Jadeite smirked himself.
"Beryl is never going to know what hit her," Zoicite smiled evilly.
Jadeites evil smile is his only reply as he opened a portal back to the Dark Kingdom.
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To be continued:
In Only Human: Chapter Fifteen
A scene from Chapter Fifteen
"I found him," Ifurita confirmed, "I just want to warn you though time moved a little faster in the universe he was in."
"How, how...much..." Akane stuttered as she asked the question all of them were thinking.
"Quite a bit of time actually, he has gone through a lot of things since you last saw him," Ifurita paused, sighed and shook her head, "How about I just bring him in so you can talk to him yourself."
"RANMA," She called, "Come on in."
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Endnotes:
Don't know anything about El-Hazard a pretty good faq is over at this web site www (dot) el-hazardonline (dot) net, or you can check over at Wikipedia, okay info there to.
As for the Sailormoon stuff I am using the Manga for the most part, though some anime influences may creep in. The characters mentioned in the beginning that you may not be knowledgeable of are some of Sailor-V's supporting cast or Villans. Her segment takes place near the very end of the last volume of the Sailor-V manga. For some Sailor-V Info check out,
en (dot) wikipedia (dot) org/wiki/codename wa Sailor V
This is unbetaed so forgive me please. And if the inclusion of any Sailormoon stuff upsets you please give me a chance okay? And if the apparent Character Death upsets any Sailor fans also please give me a chance as well, okay?
Thanks again, later.
Signed: Verse12