Crystal Senshi: The Legend Continues

Savagekitty

Chapter Four

Leanne sat in the office, looking down at the desk, unmoving and what it felt like, unfeeling. Serenity sighed as she entered, "Leanne?"

Leanne looked up, blinking, "Oh…" She stood and bowed to her queen, "Majesty I didn't hear you… you should be resting…"

Serenity eyes held sadness as she crossed the room to the desk, "Leanne. I know that these times are hard right but…"

Leanne's jaw tightened, "I've heard it all before, Highness. This… this command from the Senshi council hurt. We are in crisis, and they send all my senshi to another galaxy…"

The queen walked around the desk and rested a hand on her shoulder, "All but five, my dear… Your team stays, by my command. And if you need help, there are always the Planetary Senshi, they are forbidden to leave this galaxy. My dear, in my experience, everything works itself out in the end. Why not go out tonight? Have a drink? You need to relax, when you do, everything will be come clearer."

Leanne didn't want to, but the Queen did have a point. She was too stressed out, so much so, she had broken out in hives the night before while seeing her mother. She had to have a shot of cortisone. The queen left, leaving Small Lady peeking into the office as Leanne was standing, putting her coat on, "Leanne?"

Leanne turned and smiled, "Smally, shouldn't you be in lessons right now?"

Small lady blushed, "I snuck out when History Teacher fell asleep. I wanted to tell you, not to worry, my friend Peggy said everything will be ok."

Leanne kneeled in front of Small Lady so they were eye to eye, "Peggy? You have a new friend?" Small lady wasn't allowed outside the palace walls, and hardly interacted with any children that were actually on the palace grounds. A new friend might help her cope with her father being in a coma, Leanne thought, "Do I know her?"

Small Lady giggled, "Peggy isn't a girl! Peggys a horse! He comes and plays with me sometimes and gave me a pretty bell to play with, see?" She held up a silver bell the size of Leanne's fist, a large pink silk bow tied at the top of the handle. Leanne rang it gently and laughed, "Its very pretty. You have a very good friend in Peggy. I'm going to go home now, ok Smally? I'll see you tomorrow, and I'll bring you some carrots for Peggy, ok?"

"Ok! He likes carrots!" Smally hugged Leanne around the neck and ran off, ringing her bell. Leanne sighed, remembering the days she played with Small Lady. She wished her friend had grown up like she had. Then she could have someone she could talk to. She walked to the parking garages and jumped on her bike, a present from her mother. Her mother had owned it once, and she treasured it. She revved it to life and sped into the city, going to one of her favorite bars.

She sat at the bar as the band finished its first set. The bar, as usual, was packed with trendy people. Leanne sat, unnoticed to most. The bartender brought her drink, not having took her order. Leanne lived near the bar, so she was a regular. She thanked him and looked towards the stage. Two women and a man, who was singing, stood on stage. The women, one on drums, the other with keyboards, the man played guitar, played popular songs mixed with some of their own, making the place hop. Leanne watched the man on lead, thinking him quite handsome, then turned back to her drink. She nursed it, thinking about the situation. The band finished their set and dispersed for a break, the singer came to the bar, standing by Leanne to order a beer. Leanne ignored him as she stared into her drink. The bartender brought the beer as the man smiled at Leanne, "Why so intense?"

Leanne turned, looking at him. The bartender patted the man's shoulder, "Jo, leave her be, she's senshi."

Jo, it seemed his name was, smiled brighter, "A challenge."

Leanne stood, throwing money onto the bar, "Thanks Himoto."

The bartender nodded as Leanne left the bar going to her bike. She heard footsteps behind her and turned, bracing herself for attack when she saw the singer. She narrowed her eyes, "Why are you following me?"

He stood a few yards away from her, half in shadow as he spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I wasn't sure how to get you alone, so I tried to pick up on you. You friend Lionna asked for us to come."

Leanne blinked, slowly relaxed herself as she watched him, "Lionna? Why would she do that? Who are you?"

The man slowly came forward, "I am senshi, as are my friends, the women that were on stage. When Lionna found out the senshi of this solar system were to be shipped to the Delta Sector for the war, she asked us to come. We have things on common, Leanne."

Leanne tightened her jaw in anger at that. She was fuming and didn't notice as Jo came to stand in front of her. She looked up and backed away, "Who are you?!"

Jo looked down, Leanne could see his eyes were a yellowish cast to them, his hair a sandy blonde. He was very tan and well built, about two inches taller then her 6'6 height. She noticed when he walked he had very good balance, maybe even perfect balance. She frowned at him as she looked into his face. She knew that face from somewhere. She had seen something like it long ago. Then she remembered, "Oh my Goddess… that isn't possible…"

Jo smiled a little, his face softening, "You do remembered. Gods, you were so young, but not scared at all…"

Leanne put a hand over her mouth, on the verge of being horrified. If this was the same person from when her mother took her to meet the Council on Neptune when she was eight years old. This man hadn't aged a bit but… "No… you can't be. They were all women."

Jo blushed and pushed his hands into his pockets, "I'll explain that, can we… go somewhere? It's getting cold here."

Leanne blinked, "Yah… uh… can I call my team? Then we can all meet?"

Jo nodded, "Good idea, this is better heard by everyone."

"AAAAAAAAAH! HELP ME!"

Leanne and Jo jerked towards the sound of the screaming. Leanne's jaw tightened in anger, her hands balling into fists, "Another one!" She started towards the sound but Jo grabbed her arm, "Do not go into battle full of anger! You will only loose focus and get yourself hurt!"

Leanne jerked her arm away from him, giving him a look that would freeze hearts, "Interloper. Do not tell me how to do my job!" She turned, and as she did, the Liquid Skin kicked in. She ran from him towards the cries for help. Coming around the building, she saw a crowd had dispersed quickly, a woman floated high in the air, a mirror floating above her. Sailor Emerald couldn't see much else, the victims back was to her.

She came around, her rapier appearing in her hand, the attacker standing yards away, smug and laughing, "Not what I was looking for, but I shall remember this beautiful dream as one of the best!" The attacker was a man, about six feet tall with wavy golden hair, almost like a mane. He wore ugly tiger striped spandex, a whip at his side. Emerald rushed him, rapier at the ready. He saw her and held up the whip, like he was going to use it, "Ah! A senshi appears!" He stepped back into a black hole and was gone as Emerald skidded to a stop, through where he had been. She cussed and turned to tend to the wounded girl and received a kick through the belly. She fell to the ground and rolled to the side, vomiting.

Standing above her was the woman, now Dream Mirror-less, looked like something from a zombie movie. Her mirror floated high in the air, the woman looking at Emerald with blankness in her eyes. She fell on Emerald and started to tear at her. Emerald was at a loss, she couldn't kill this woman, she couldn't help was she was doing! She screamed, shielding her face, kicking to try and get this monstrously strong woman off of her.

And then she was gone. Leanne, panting, struggled to catch her breath, wiping at the blood that dripped into her eyes. Holding the woman in strong arms, was a senshi. The woman moaned and kicked wildly. Emerald stood, a little shaky. This was the woman she remembered from Neptune so long ago. Still the same height and the same eyes and hair color, but now streaked with colors of the ocean. In the lights of the street lamps, her uniform glistened like fish scales. Her uniform didn't cover much, and she wore flat slipper-like shoes. Her bow on the front of her fuku looked like tail fins of a fish.

The woman struggled as Sailor Aquarius held her, looking at Emerald, "Get her mirror, it's the only way for her to return to normal."

Emerald nodded and crouched. She sprang up, snatched the mirror from the air and landed in front of the woman and Aquarius. She shoved the mirror back into the woman's chest and she grew limp in Aquarius's arms. Aquarius pick her up and walked her to the ambulance that had just arrived. Emerald waited for her in the shadows between the bar and a grocery store. Aquarius returned, looking down at Emerald, "We have a lot to talk about. Get you girls. We'll meet at the hospital."

They stood in the tiny room where Whitedove had been put. Lionna greeted the three new senshi with hugs, and a kiss for Jo. She turned to her friends, "These are the Amazon Senshi. They helped me during the Sailor Wars. This is Jo, Sailor Aquarius. Aurora, Sailor Tigress, and Diana, Sailor Aero."

Diana, an Hindu looking woman with short black hair, streaked magenta in the front, smiled, "Actually, It's Sailor Huntress now. I was promoted shortly after the Sailor Wars."

Lionna grinned, "Congratulations!"

Folding her arms across her chest, Raven looked the three senshi up and down, "Why are they here?"

Jo looked at Aurora and Diana, then at the others, "Lionna called us to ask about this new enemy that had appeared on your planet. She knew we had handled many enemies since our planets are in the cross-hairs of two solar systems known for their darkened states. But that has all changed. The Council has ignored this problem because it has only effected a few planets, including ours and those surrounding us. Your planets and ours are considered rural areas of space, as you know. This new enemy you face is called the Dream King."

Diana looked down, her face sad, "He's taken our brothers…"

Lionna gasped, covering her mouth, "Oh Goddess…"

Cally blinked a few times, "I'm really confused here, how come he's a senshi?"

Leanne sighed, folding her own arms, "Sorry," she said, looking at the Amazons, "She's new."

Cally frowned, "I'm sorry! I didn't get to go to the Senshi Wars, big deal, I wasn't old enough."

Raven's eye swiveled so they both looked at Cally, "Jo is a senshi because he has the Gift. It was Sailor Light, the First Senshi's wish that only women became senshi, but on some planets, natural worked its way around that rule and when the senshi gift was received, some men heeded the call and when they transform into senshi, they become women."

"There are more men then you relies that are senshi," Jo said, a blush on his cheeks, "The Starlights for one, the most famous of us gender bending senshi."

"Back to the task at hand, how did this Dream King come to you planet and how did he get your brothers?" Leanne asked.

Aurora, a short fiery woman with reddish orange hair looked down at Whitedove's still form, "He came, like he did to other planets, in the form of a circus. Brilliant camouflage. No one ever turned away a circus. He would plant roots on a planet and stay for months, and months… the cities would turn dirty, the people became lethargic. We investigated this problem within our solar system and the neighboring systems. We found the same thing on every planet. It was like a cancer, eating away from the inside out. Dream King would first collect energy from the citizens of the planet, sometimes seducing people into his circus that had power. Then he would quietly look for…dreams. We three had been called off worlds when this happened to our planets and when we came back…we found…dead planets… cities empty… dust… ruin." Her voice cracked, "We went to the Council and they said they would get to it, they had the war at the far reaches of the galaxy to tend with. We took matters into our own hands and gathered information. We found the Dream King had moved recently from a planet near here, that's when Lionna contacted us."

"Why dreams?" Lionna asked.

"We don't know. From the few survivors we have found, we gathered he's looking for the Dream World. That is only speculation though."

"At least we know who he is and what to expect." Leanne said, her face filled with an intense light of hope, her eyes so blue they were almost white. Jo looked at her, "This will be hard."

Leanne turned to him, "It's always hard, Jo. As a senshi, as old as you are, you should know this. We aren't senshi because it's easy. He came to the wrong planet. My mother is dying because of him. That's why she and the King are sick. They are both connected to this planet and this Dream King is trying to suck it dry like he's done others. Well we have something the other planets of this galaxy don't have."

Aurora furrowed her brows, "What?"

Leanne smirked, her eyes filling with a light of willingness and something else. Raw and savage determination. "Me."