Ascension
One:
Resurrection
-mentalyoga-
And so it began. All great calms must cease in the stead of new journeys and new obstacles. The laws of gravity withstood all; and as they had enjoyed—or not—their time of silence, so now they must face the deafening pitch of dark times ahead. Rei was a staunch believer in the balance of good and evil forces, and thus, in the balance of peace and war, of contentedness and despair, of optimism and pessimism. She was a realist. Some didn't agree with that sort of outlook on life; why take up the bleak burden of existentialism if it wasn't necessary? Rei thought it was naïve to live otherwise; she was one who liked to be prepared. And what else could justify the world's darkest cruelties, the women beaten to pulps by husbands, the children abandoned to dumpsters and toilets, the betrayals and backstabs and direst fates? Rei's eyes—these eyes that looked out on her cruel worldwere dark as a ripe plum, aching with the juices of life, but a shrewdness lay in the black speckles lining her irises. These eyes reflected a woman who had grown accustomed to pain but had seen it through with a solid fortitude. The last seven years, despite their evident lack of destiny-laden adventures, future-stealing youma, and magic-girl transformations, had been tough on Rei.
There was grandpa, of course; his death brought about the imminent end of the Hino line, as it stood. Of course, Rei could one day have children, but it seemed unlikely. In the past seven years, Rei had done quite a bit of soul searching, and had discovered that she knew very little about herself and very little of her desires and her plans. One such surprise was that in her vision of her future, men were suspiciously absent. Though admittedly, she couldn't say that women weren't particularly prevalent in the picture of her path, either. Love was not something Rei put much faith in; she could leave that to Minako, or to Usagi, who was, it seemed, eternally pleased with Mamoru. For when she looked on them and saw the brief spark of a passionate red glow between them, she knew that no such light had ever alighted on her cheek. And this glow, it was not something she foresaw stringing along among her threads of fate. Love, Rei had decided, was simply a warm gun against the cold threat of reality. There was no real connection behind it, simply a façade built of the smoke that spilled from the barrel once shot; the searching of two lonely souls for something to fill an eternally burst dam. So perhaps this seclusion was the true fate left to her, after the first plan—the save-the-world thing—had gone down the drain.
Her thoughts drifted back to the flicker in the Fire; only a brief blip on the radar, but something felt different about this. She had known dire times before; this was something more. She was simply unsure how, or why. She came to suddenly, from the comfort of her thoughts, just in time to stop before knocking an old biddy over. She had forgotten completely that she was roaming like a lost nomad through the makeshift vending stands in the center of the shopping mall.
"Why don't you watch where you're going, missy?" the lady spat coldly. Her eyes glistened as the light caught her cataracts, though maybe once they had been a pallid green in color, and a frumpy Hawaiian-print frock concealed the fact that her breasts drooped below her ribs, recoiling agains the youth Rei paraded about still. Her mouth opened slightly, revealing a black void behind the shriveled lips, and Rei noted that there likely was not a single real tooth in her entire mouth. Her anger towards the woman shrunk into pity, and finally receded into shame.
"Yeah, sure," she replied, as nonchalantly as if nothing had ever happened. The old woman looked livid, but Rei didn't care. What was the significance of such a small scuttle in the grand scheme of things?
And it was at precisely that moment that the scheme of things ultimately became so much grander.
What happened first was the pregnant pause in which the world seemed to stand still; nervously trembling and with bated breath. This inhalation was the necessary defense against the possibility of having the wind knocked suddenly, violently out. She felt a sudden surge of power to her immediate left, wedged somewhere between the calendar cart and the booth where the tiny, traditional Japanese woman sold cheaply fashioned jewelry to unwitting tourists.
Calendars flew everywhere, and pages rained down from the ceiling beams, some shredded, some simply wafting along on the slight breeze passing through the ventilation system. A much too precious photo of a kitten-filled wicker basket landed somewhere in the vicinity of an image of two young Japanese girls with obtrusively large breast implants passionately tongue-wrestling. The jewelry woman who parasitically made her living on others' misfortune scuttled into the safety of a nearby restroom, while the other shoppers scattered like small insects frightened by the beam of a flashlight.
Rei didn't pause for a moment, but immediately began searching for a secluded area in which she could reclaim all that had ever been dear to her. She knew, or at least she thought she did, that all was to be put right once more. Her destiny had faltered off-course for a short period of time, but she was to be placed back upon the pedestal she had fallen off of seven years earlier. And in the moment of the collective holding-of-breath, Rei could feel the palpable realignment of misplaced fate.
She could feel the old energy bursting through her veins, steadily raising her adrenaline levels, filling her with an overwhelming sense of invincibility. The energy that prepared her for battle. She felt more alive than she had been since the final battle with Chaos, and she knew that she was taking on the glow of eternity, as she whipped around the corner of the shop, and secured her spot in the small corridor.
But would she still have the old powers left within her? Could they have dried up like prunes, after going without use for so much time? She nervously inhaled, trying desperately to concentrate on the old power reserves she had drawn on. She prayed to the kami that someway, somehow, this would work out. She did not have to concentrate very hard, as a thrust built up within her and the familiar phrase lurched from her throat.
"Mars Eternal Power, Make Up!"
It was like the unexpected popping of a large chewing gum bubble, or maybe like the dead fury of an F5 tornado at the exact point it touched the ground and broke through the core, raising hell upon earth. It was sudden, and she knew, too, that it would have been entirely undetectable to any average human being. Perhaps they (the non-average human beings, that is) worked on different wavelengths and frequencies. Like a dog, how only it could pick up the sound of a special whistle. It didn't matter. All that mattered at this point was that it had happened.
The wind wailed a siren's song into her ears, and threw the sandy golden locks adorning her head back into her wake. This rush was almost as good. Almost.
It was beginning once more, and she had wanted it more than anything. After she tied up a few loose ends, she could get right back into the fray of battle.
Haruka smirked as she reached the finish line. First place. She accepted nothing less. She did not, however, stop for celebration. The eastern wind was whispering louder now, telling her to go forth. She knew what she had to do.
Makoto blew the long wisps of her chestnut curls out of view, remembering suddenly that she kept intending to get a haircut, but never managed to get around to it. Her hair had grown significantly; it was near to reaching the small of her back, and the bangs that had always made her forehead itch were long gone. She wore it down. Maybe she wouldn't get it trimmed up after all. Just last week, Akiyama-san complimented it, telling her he loved long hair on women…not that that made any difference, of course! Makoto would never let some man's expectations delegate her way of life! But for all her feminist fronts, Makoto had been raised in a conservative society that deemed marriage the ultimate goal for everywoman. Someplace in the back of her mind she knew—though did not admit—that she was building the foundations within herself to be the Good Wife. Ah, to be a free woman. She had been one, or something like it, for some time now. Certainly not tied down to the traditions a nuclear family would impose on a young girl, but that freedom came with its fees. To know that she was the most alone she could possibly have been was one such price. A girl without a family was an identity without a name attached. A girl without family behind her had no guarantees that accompanied her; anything could happen, for there was nothing to tie her to predictability.
For all her struggle with the train of thoughts, she drifted quietly back to visions of dancing Akiyama's in her head. He was a sensible plan, were she to imagine herself conforming to predominant values of marriageable men and outcomes. Financially secure, handsome, well-respected…but there was more behind this. There was the spontaneity, the boyishness, the dangerous glimmer in his bright eyes; all of these things told her that she was in for a rough ride with a boy like him. A man like him.
"So you see, it appears that they--meaning the US NASA program--have found yet another planet in our solar system." Makoto glanced up; Ami had never ceased speaking, and hadn't seemed to notice, either, that Makoto's mind was far beyond the realm of whatever was going on in her solo debate. "It's so distant, though, that the period of time deemed a 'day' for this planet, consists of 207 hours, over 50 hours longer than Pluto's. They believe it has a similar consistency to Pluto, in that it's approximately 98 Nitrogen, with some traces of Methane and Carbon Di--" She looked up at Makoto, removing her glasses with a weary air. "Are you even listening to me, Mako-chan?"
Makoto couldn't help but grin, "I'm sorry, Ami. I just…I'm kinda preoccupied, I guess." She chuckled, and brushed her hand back through her hair.
"Not over that…boss of yours, is it?" she smirked, batting her eyelashes and feigning a swoon. She sipped at her daiquiri. "Really, though, is it?"
Makoto felt the flush of heat rise, and readjusted her scarf. "Well, um…not necessarily." Maybe Ami hadn't seen the redness creeping up through her cheeks?
"Oh. Ok," Ami replied casually, "I mean, I believe you, of course. What is it, then?"
Makoto coughed, and tried to conjure up a valid reason. "Er…"
"You're in love with your tall, buff, studly boss!" Ami shoved her, laughing. "Like I would take your bullshit for truth. I've known you since junior high, Mako-chan, don't think you can get away with lying to me!"
"I guess you caught me, then…" she surrendered, blushing even more profusely, "I can't help it! He's just so damn cute. And he's cocky. I love that."
Ami's deep navy blue irises took on a mischievous glint, "I'll bet you love--"
She was cut off by the frantic sounds of a meticulously bleeping emergency broadcast. An impromptu report blared forth from the pub's television set.
"Youma attacks local shopping mall. Nagasaki Kin reports from the scene."
An aging dark-haired reporter stood in front of a melee of destruction. Behind him lay the ruins of a good quarter of the shopping mall.
"I'm standing in front of what used to be a boutique housing plus-size fashions. All that's left now, though, as you can see, are the crumbling walls and wreckage of what lay before. People continue to flee in terror as an unidentified creature pillages this popular shopping hangout. Shouts of 'youma' erupt from the innocent bystanders. The monster is approximately eight feet tall and deep green in color In addition to its uncanny brute force, it appears to be causing further damage without any physical force. We'll switch over to our resident scientist and reporter, Koizumi Ken, for a briefing on the possibility of energy waves being used by—
The monster appeared quite suddenly behind the reporter. His face crumpled in fear as he attempted to maintain a collected veneer.
"As viewers can see, the monster has--"
The aforementioned monster tore the shrieking reporter from the floor and tossed him effortlessly against one of the still-standing brick walls lining the perimeter. His body made an audible cracking sound as a few lone bricks crumbled and sprinkled the tile floor. The man did not get up.
Soon thereafter, the video was interrupted abruptly with a steady stream of static.
Ami adjusted her glasses, and looked despairingly to her friend. "Do you think…" She paused, calculating silently.
But Makoto was never one to hesitate. "This would be our cue, Ami-chan," she chuckled grimly. Makoto tossed a generous tip back on the surface of the table, just before sprinting out the door and into a nearby side alley. Ami quickly followed suit. The waiter's wide eyes followed their path, wondering what could have caused the commotion, but he didn't complain. They were damn good tippers.
Making sure no one would pass by unexpectedly, the girls pulled out their transformation pins. Fate turned once again, as it seemed ever prone to do. And this particular fate would change everything all over again. They inhaled sharply in unison, and made the decision that always felt just out of reach. The decision, they had concluded, that was right.
In a flash of emerald and sapphire lights, two senshi were resurrected from a seemingly infinite death. A cat stumbled away from the light show, blinded for a few moments, but recovering quickly enough to haul away from the scene. They leaped up the roof of the building and went off to fulfill their destinies.
Running her fingertips down the smooth skin of her stomach, Usagi was suddenly doubled over on the floor, excruciating pain claiming her abdomen. Somewhere, something significant had shifted without warning. She was of the cast that trusted their instincts, and she had never kept her true feelings hidden behind any wall of rational thought. She knew with a stark clarity what had happened, but knew not when, or where. She could not help them, and felt pathetically helpless.
How many fates turned around in that moment?
It wasn't looking like there would be a pleasant outcome, Rei mused grimly, watching the monster watch her as she prepared the energy for her next attack. She prayed to the kami to help her through this, and focused on the powers she needed to raise. She could feel the fire racing through her veins, moving faster even than the adrenaline already pulsing around and about. It throbbed within her, invigorating her, and quite suddenly, her vision darkened in a sea of crimson.
She pulled the arrow back against its accompanying bow, and at the exact peak of tension released it, "Flame sniper!" The tip of the arrow shot out with a wide arc, and swerved with the air currents, using the oxygen to fuel its flame. And as it went to hit the monster squarely in the forehead, the monster reached out with its bulky arm-like appendage and crushed the arrow, midair. Rei's felt her heart sink as easily as it had taken flight.
It would be another five minutes before she could attack again, easy, if not more.
The monster realized this, and gave her the most miniscule of head starts, before it came tearing towards her at a frightening speed.
All that was left to do now, of course, was to run.
She could feel the vibration of its energy field behind her, as valid and as powerful as her own. Did this mean, then, that it was alive, in some form or another? As far as she knew, there had to be some semblance of life within an entity for it to put off this kind of energy, but she could be mistaken. Her footsteps pounded against the floor in rhythmic motion, but she could hear just as well its large feet falling like little earthquakes, pounding fast and mercilessly into the thin floor of the mall. It was gaining on her quickly. She looked around for any possible route of escape, anything to simply give her a few moments of breath.
Up ahead, she saw a corridor that was clearly too small for the hulking misshapen mass. Glancing behind her once quickly, she saw that it had fallen back, if only by a few yards, and she grinned. All she needed were a precious few seconds, just to inhale for a moment without feeling the need to collapse onto the shining tiles beneath her.
She turned into the hall, and made a mad dash towards the door waiting at the end of it. Strangely, though, she could still hear another set of steps behind her. A mall patron, perhaps, chasing after her in the hope of some protection against an inevitable fate? She checked for herself.
Her grin dropped away as rapidly as it had arrived. There the monster was, right behind her, and the corridor hadn't even slowed it up. It had taken new form, shape-shifted, presumably, and was now about her size. From the look of it, however, it was no less powerful than before, only more compact, and just as fierce.
Her energy had not replenished itself sufficiently enough for her to fire something off at it again, and so the door at the end of the hall would simply have to save her. If she could get through, it would give her the few seconds she would need. Maybe it would even lead into some place she could hideout until she had composed herself.
The door gained clarity as she neared it, and she forced herself into a more tiring sprint than she could remember ever having done before, almost throwing herself at it as she finally came into arm's length. It was as though she had thrown herself against a brick wall. The solidity was shocking, and it would not budge an inch. The sign mounted read, 'Mall personnel only.' The bolt lock loomed menacingly, just below her eye level.
She kicked at it, and pushed all of her weight into it; she saw, with a terrible fear invading her heart, that she had no other way out. Now she was trapped, with no hope of escape. The hall was too narrow for her to rashly pass it by, and too low for her to leap overtop. It glared at her as it neared, only a few yards away. If it had had a mouth, she thought with grim resignation, it would have smiled at her.
If only she had a little more time, just a half-minute; the fire was just beginning to surge again. But it was not enough, she knew. She clenched her jaw and prepared herself for the imminent doom that lay before her. After seven years, she had reclaimed her rightful throne for just one last time, and herein lay her end. Going down in the line of battle, she supposed, was not such a terrible way to go. She had always been one for heroic and romantic endings—the means would eventually justify themselves.
Its eyes glinted crimson as it gazed upon her, and it raised its arm to bring about the death she knew awaited her. She flinched.
A flash of light preceded the shout. "Oak Evolution!"
As razor-sharp blossoms rained down and whipped about, Mars jumped to the side, dodging the hazardous aftereffects of the attack. The monster crumbled to the floor, and she stepped cautiously into the main strip of the mall. The fluorescent lighting flickered on and off, on and off—damaged, but intact enough to irritate.
"How did you--"
Jupiter laughed. "It was on the news, silly. All that matters is that we're here, right?"
Mars looked to her left, finding Mercury leaning against a sunglass vendor's stand. Her smile was infectious.
"Do you know if everyone made it out safely?" her blue-haired comrade inquired, responsible as ever. "We were unfortunately witness to the reporter's demise, but hoped that everyone else managed on their own."
Mars shrugged. "I'm not sure. I was more concerned at the time with avoiding my own demise. Didn't really have much backup to take care of bystanders, you know?" She winked. "I'm glad you two made it here, though. We better split up and check the area now, though. I know I saw at least a dozen or so escape out of that exit," she pointed south and took a few steps towards it. "I can check down there, if you'd like." Taking this responsibility back in her hands bled new life into her weary heart. Finally, a purpose! Finally, a reason given for Grandpa's death, for the seven years of solitude, for the sleepless nights spent praying to some gods she had begun to doubt the existence of. A renewed faith sparked inside of her, and her smile had begun to ache from the vigor she had taken in allowing it to break free.
It fell away. Vicious sounding footsteps alighted behind her once more.
Mars turned around, finding the monster coming perilously nearer to her. The energy it gathered became blinding, and Mars shielded her eyes in quick defense. But in so doing, she knew her escape had been eliminated and the daimohn was already upon her. She could feel the icy chill of energy it sent out ahead of itself. She braced herself against the collision she knew was to break her.
"Mars!" Jupiter cried out, jumping in front of her...
…and evidently, right into the monster's path. Mars watched in horror as the girl's body was tossed like a stuffed doll through the glass window pane of a nearby boutique. The glass shards glinted dangerously in the light, and Jupiter did not rise.
"No!" Mercury's howl rang along the halls with an eerie echo against the walls. She ran to the fallen girl's aid, and Mars realized she had been, once more, left alone with the very large, very angry mass of power.
She drew her arm back. "Flame Sniper!"
The arrow veered in the direction she hoped it would quite easily, but bounced off of the monster's chest as though it had struck cold steel. It instead lodged itself into a lilac prom dress through the now-open window where her friend had landed. The dress burst into flames, causing a domino effect among the racks of clothing. The fire, she knew, would soon be far out of hand, and the monster came flailing at her still.
Mercury cried out as the store she was now trapped in was consumed in fire, the heat causing her eyes to shed tears in protest, drying out quickly. She struggled against the burning to reach Jupiter's limp body, but soon discovered that she could not lift her. With all of her effort, she was still but a scrawny brain, and Jupiter was tall, fit, utter dead weight. The flames crept toward them among the racks like vultures slowly circling around a slowly dying rabbit, waiting for a peak in fear before striking. Mercury knew that she did not have more than a minute—maybe less.
Mars saw her two compatriots losing their battle, but had no time to spare on them, as she was losing her own.
Her breath was ragged; every inhalation drew as much pain into her lungs as it did oxygen, and every exhalation instigated a fitful coughing attack. She thought she might have broken a rib when she tumbled over, dodging an attack. The smoke gathering from the fire was doing her no favor. Her muscles didn't want to obey the neural messages her brain sent, and she was almost certain her knees would fail her at any moment, and she'd be lying on the ground, waiting for death. Her energy reserves were almost completely drained; it would some time before she could unleash another attack.
It was not one of her finer moments, to say the least.
The monster barreled towards her once more, relentless. She would not make it this time.
"Shabon Spray!" Mercury tried once again, hoping the fog would suppress the flames, for even a few moments. It seemed to take no effect. The fire simply kept coming, and she had budged Jupiter's lifeless body only inches. The yard between the spot at which they struggled and the open, flame-free space may as well have been a football stadium. She felt a sudden urge to give up and save herself, a shameful and brief thought, but quickly pushed it from her mind. That she could even consider such cowardice disgusted her. If the girl who had fought at her side for nearly a decade was to fall, then so too would she go down in struggle. It was not a practical move, but it was what she knew was right. Horror-stricken, she flinched at the sudden explosion of several bottles of perfume only a few feet to the left—the alcohol in each bottle sprayed out in an array of shooting flames. Flames that landed inches past her unconscious friend's sailor boots. She tugged Jupiter's legs up and away from the flames, but it would delay the inevitable for only a few moments. Mercury shut her eyes against this hopeless situation; for all their hard work and years of experience, a simple fire was enough to take two of them down. A single battle, a single chance, and they had failed. She did not want to be remembered in this moment…
And it was, as occasionally happens at the most dire of moments, that exact moment that they heard the call of a savior.
"Space Sword Blaster!"
Mars and Mercury shielded their eyes as a blinding yellow light filled the mall's corridors. After a moment, the light had dissipated, and all that was left behind was a faint spottiness marring their vision. Mercury looked over to see Jupiter's body moved out of harm's way, and found Uranus ushering her own unwilling limbs in the same direction.
The monster had shattered into tiny fragments, now scattered along the scuffed tiles like so much dust.
"Well, that was easier than you kids made it out to be," Uranus grinned, placing a hand despairingly on her waist. "You're outta practice," she went on, laughing.
Jupiter's eyes opened, and she managed to groan, before going into an uncontrollable coughing fit. "Who the hell ran me over?" she squinted once her lungs were back in her control, looking from face to face accusingly.
Even Mercury managed to giggle. "Oh, just one of those damned glass panes. Road rage, you know."
"Anything broken?" Uranus asked her, pressing her fingertips against Jupiter's ribs. The brunette let out a high-pitched squeal as Uranus placed pressure on her lower left. "No, that's just a real nice bruise. It's gonna kill in the morning, but you'll survive. Does any other pain seem unbearable?"
Jupiter winced, standing up with great effort. "I don't think so. But next time, can you save the bravado, and make your appearance before I'm lying limp in a blanket of glass shards? If you had been much later, my meat would have been cooked tender enough to slip right off my bones."
"No, I was giving you a run for you money, kiddo. Just because you think it's okay to be out of shape doesn't mean I condone it," she smirked, punching Jupiter playfully in the shoulder. The girl yelped in pain. "Oops…" she trailed off, running her gloved hand through her choppy blondish hair, and winking. "Well, anyhow, I didn't hear anything about it until my communicator went off. Apparently, one of your communicators took matters into its own hands."
"I wasn't aware they had that ability," Ami remarked smartly. "I'll have to run a few tests later, to see if we can't have them work on a more effective schedule." She looked down at the floor and knelt down, silently picking up a miniscule fragment of the monster left in the wake of Uranus' attack. "I might want to test this first…" she muttered. "It certainly has an odd molecular structure," she went on, her Mercury goggles securely framing her face, though the others could not see the readings the brainy girl was referencing. "Hmm, I'm not quite sure what this might resemble…"
"Well," Mars interrupted, "I guess we can safely assume this isn't a freak occurrence then, right? We're back in business?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Uranus replied. "One foul monster does not an outright war make."
Jupiter scratched her head. "Translation? We don't play wordgames." She winked. "You're right, but when have we ever had a isolated attack of this nature? This kind of creature isn't really one to make its own orders. There's usually a larger force at work."
Rei nodded, placing her hands on her hips stubbornly. "Glad you all agree with me." The other three girls looked around, confused, but kept quiet. "Then we need to get back into the swing of things; a meeting, with all of us together, is pretty imperative. I've still got the temple; it will work perfectly." She looked quickly to Uranus, "Gather Michiru and Setsuna…and Hotaru, I suppose. We'll take care of Usagi and Minako. How does tomorrow evening, eight-ish sound?"
Uranus nodded dourly.
"Well, then it's settled. We'll all be there tomorrow, and we can figure out what the hell we do now."
"Right," Ami agreed. Jupiter was leaning her weight against the blue-haired genius for support.
"We should probably head out, before the paparazzi get here and starts asking questions," the injured girl managed to mutter. "We'd never escape. Or…at the least, I wouldn't. I can't move all that quickly." Uranus strode up to her within the blink of her eye, and hoisted the tall girl onto her back.
"Let's go."
And with that, four otherwise average girls were once again set apart by a much greater destiny. They vanished from the scene just before the reporters arrived, scavenging the halls like roaches. There was no trace that the senshi were there, but it was an unsaid nugget of knowledge. The news reports that evening were preposterously off-base, but one fact remained: the senshi had made a triumphant return.