Chapter 13 – Hard Reality
"Hybrid! Behind you!" Magik screamed out her warning over the loud clanging of metal weapons and energy blasts that thundered all around her. Her blue eyes flared with intensity as she saw the subject of her alert react across the open space between them.
The strong male guardian known as Hybrid heard the unexpected cry of his older sibling and it immediately registered within his brain. The panic in his sister's voice made him instinctively jerk his head around to find her, but meanwhile the rest of his body was already reacting. His eyes didn't find her before they caught up with the rest of him as his head turned back around. He dove forward and rolled away from the area he'd just been in. When he came to a stop and rose up onto one of his knees. , he quickly looked behind him.
"Soul Flare!" Magik's voice rang out as she took her step forward and lunged her body towards the spot where he had just been standing. Almost in slow motion, Hybrid watched as Magik's eyes turned a brilliant white color. Her leg seemed to move of its own accord as it came forward slightly to balance her. She lowered her head and torso, almost like she was getting ready to ram her enemy. What happened instead was a white hot ray of light shot out from her eyes in dual beams that sizzled through the air. The twin beams found their marks, and the head of enemy droid that had been closing in on Hybrid was nearly severed from its shoulders.
Hybrid threw his right arm over his face to protect it as the head exploded, sending razor-sharp shrapnel flying out in all directions. The rest of the droid's body sank to its knees as the power coursing through it dissipated, before tipping over in a macabre representation of a human being. No sooner had the metallic body hit the ground, when a second internal explosion erupted from its chest compartment which sent more deadly shards sailing as what was left, crumbled away into nothingness. Hybrid rose back up to his feet and stepped back a little as he raised the sword of Gaia with his left hand. He heaved a heavy sigh as he caught his breath and panned his eyes around the area in front of him. Up until now, Magik and he had been able to hold their own against the Black Moon droids, but now they seemed to be coming in increasing numbers, and the two of them were starting to feel the weariness and fatigue that inevitably came from prolonged battle. . Even the sacred sword of the Earth, and his symbiotic weapons wouldn't be enough soon. To him, it seemed like for every droid that they took down, two or three more popped up in its place, ready to avenge their fallen comrade.
For Hybrid, that chilling concept brought back disturbing memories that he would rather push to the far reaches of his mind and bury them forever. His mind brought him back to the final hours of the war against Queen Metalia and the Dark Kingdom. He'd been alone in the old city of Tokyo, facing the last line of monsters that Queen Metalia's servant, Queen Beryl had sent out to destroy the city while the sailors were away launching their own assault on the Dark Kingdom. Just like what was currently happening, for every monster he'd killed, another one had materialized, as if they had only been waiting in line for their chance to attack. The second memory that ripped through him from his long, battle tested history was from the time period before he had joined the Sailors, when he had been an operative for the Illuminati Council.
He, along with several other agents had played a crucial part in the dismantling of a global terrorist organization known as Hydra. The group's slogan had been, "Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place". It was a fitting slogan, Hybrid had thought as he'd faced one megalomaniacal leader after another. It had seemed to him at the time like it would never end but eventually it did
He blinked his eyes and brought himself back to the present. He shook his head, pushing those memories back in the dark abyss of his mind where they belonged and focused on what was going on around him. He scanned the open courtyard that they were in and watched his sister throw out her right hand to summon her own demonic creations, the Eye Bites, to attack a group of droids that was bearing down on her. He remembered the first time when he seen the little monsters during of the raids Magik had been a part of following the fall of the Maggia and the disappearance of their leader, Count Nefaria. He'd drawn his sword and tried to attack them, thinking they were something that the criminals had unleashed to use against them. He had lowered himself into a battle stance when Magik had called to him to stay his hand.
The tiny creatures looked like little eyeballs with wings and mouths full of jagged teeth. They looked almost like an old Halloween decoration for children that might have been popular before the Great Sleep. Just like their creator, they shot energy lasers from their one eye that was almost as powerful as the one that Magik could unleash. They flew out from where they had appeared and hurried to do her bidding. They swarmed around the group of advancing droids and proceeded to demolish them with a series of energy blasts and super strong bites that penetrated the tough metallic exoskeleton.
"Fiery Retribution!" Magik's voice called out about a minute later, finishing off the job that her little minions had begun. From beneath the feet of the droids that were still standing, multiple towers of flames rose up and reduced the droids to melted slag. The eye bite creatures moved quickly to avoid the fiery inferno so that they didn't become collateral damage. She allowed herself a quick smile as she watched them fly around, looking for more targets before she sent them back to the limbo dimension where they lived.
Hybrid knew that these little creatures were something that she was very proud of, despite their demonic appearance. She'd told him before how she felt like they were her children, in a way, and she was proud of them when they did their job. He wasn't going to take the feeling of pride that she was experiencing from her as it meant that a few more droids were now unable to terrorize the people of Crystal Tokyo Magik watched in silence for a few more seconds before mentally willing her little helpers to disappear from sight until they were needed again. From their separate positions in the courtyard, the siblings watched as the last of the magical flames shot upwards, engulfing what remained of the droids. When the firestorm finally went out, only a few pieces of molten metal were left to show that there had been something there. The success the two of them were having, made Hybrid think with hope that it might be over soon and they could refocus on dealing with Prince Diamond and the true enemy, the Death Phantom. He looked around again, realizing that he still had not seen Sailor Earth or any of the other sailors since he and Magik had gotten separated from them when the first wave of enemy droids had appeared and drawn them away.
Not having them here with him made him go through the motions of fighting with his heart in his mouth, because he had no way of knowing how they were faring or that they were safe. As a husband and parent, those were feelings that would only be satisfied when he could lay his eyes on them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Magik gave him a quick glance to check on his status, but neither of them had time to speak as a dozen or so more droids teleported down from the spaceship still hovering high in the air above them. Without hesitating another second, both of them leapt into action, their individual swords flashing as they tried to cut down the number of attackers before any of them had a chance to get a shot off at them or anybody else. As they began to cut through the swarm of robotic invaders, a blur of bright color darted back into their sight and Magik smiled as she immediately recognized Sailor Earth. She'd run off to lead a group of citizens to safety when the opening flood of droids had appeared , but now it seemed that she was back, and moving to fight alongside her father.
"Glad to see you back, Sailor Earth!" Magik called out to her when she had the chance to catch her breath. The young woman looked over at her and grinned back before winking her eye.
"Seems to me like you two are hogging all the fun around here. I can't leave you alone for a minute." Magik had a small laugh at the shared joke while Hybrid could only silently look over at her. There was no mistaking that he was very proud of her and what she'd become, but the parental instinct in him would rather have her as far away from danger as was physically possible. The fact that she was making jokes in a time like this when there was no much death and destruction occurring, made him wonder if she possessed the level of maturity that was required to be a full fledge guardian. He threw her a look that was meant to be chastising, but when he did, he came to realize that she'd only been trying to lighten the mood a little bit, and that it was clear that she took the forces of the Black Moon seriously. The look on her face when he had looked at her was grim and focused as she swung her scepter, clubbing a large dent into the side of a droid's head. He had seen this kind of behavior before in other warriors that he had fought with, people that used humour as a shield to cover their own personal fears or anxieties.
As the fighting continued, the trio of warriors did their best to stand back to back to prevent any surprise attacks as they watched more and more droids materialize out of seemingly thin air around them at an increasing rate. Even with their symbiotic strength and enhanced magical abilities, the feeling of fatigue was beginning to quickly set in within each of them, and if this battle didn't end soon, then the forces of good might actually be overwhelmed this time. The fact that so many droids were now appearing and at such an alarming rate had to mean that the commander of the spaceship now knew how dangerous this trio was, and was now throwing everything that he had left at them. At least, that's what Hybrid hoped. He wanted to draw as much of these metal beasts towards him in the hope that his wife at least would have less danger around her wherever she was. Off to his left, Magik tilted her head back slightly so she could talk to her brother without having to take her eyes off of the wall of advancing droids in front of her.
"I hate to say it brother, but nothing we do down here is going to be worth anything if we can't disable that spaceship." The truth of what she'd said immediately resonated in him, but he was out of ideas. He didn't know what they could do to gain access to that ship, let along how to render it incapacitated. After she finished speaking, Magik allowed herself a quick glance upwards, as if to remind herself of the threat that the spaceship posed, but Hybrid knew that she didn't need any verbalizing from him. Both of them knew that they'd each been glancing at the ship every chance they'd gotten, trying to figure out a way inside. As they both looked up, the ship let out another barrage of cannon fire that wreaked havoc on a section of the city about four kilometers away from them. Magik growled under her breath as she looked at the resulting thick black smoke that rose up into the sky. Hybrid knew how she felt as he felt the same way himself. They were useless so long as they stayed here and fought the Black Moon's endless army of pawns. They needed to get on that ship right away and take the fight to the knights and bishops and if possible, the King.
As the seconds ticked by, dense black smoke continued to fill the sky, making it look as if the dark cloud was on a mission to block out the sun. The triad of heroes coughed as some of the smoke entered their lungs as they continued to battle, but the smoke quickly lifted on the faint breeze that still remained Tremors shook the ground beneath their boots as the seismic waves from the canon blasts' impact reached them, and they had to perform some shaky body adjustments in order to keep their balance. The timing of this most recent attack felt as if the ship's commander was trying to emphasize the point Magik had just made. No one had a chance to really look at the section of the city that had just been reduced to rubble because the threat around them was anything but neutralized.
"Can you use one of your Stepping Discs to teleport onto that ship?" It was the only idea that he had, so he might as well throw it out there. Before anyone could answer him, however, he had to quickly raise his sword again as the next batch of droids proceeded to cover the ground between the heroes and themselves. Out of the corner of his eye, Hybrid saw Sailor Earth change into her symbiote self. The dark green living tissue appeared from her bare skin of her neck and arms and quickly proceeding to cover her entire body from head to toe. He couldn't help but feel another swell of pride when he turned to fully look over at her. She really was the one thing in his life that he was the most proud of. She was the perfect blend of her mother's best qualities, and his. He didn't have time to get sentimental thou since the droids were even closer now, and he had to focus his attention back on them. The four green whips that sprouted from her back were snapping out at the droids as if they each had a mind and a will of their own, trying to keep them at bay the best that they could.
Magik swung her flaming sword, cleaving through the bodies of a pair of droids. She finished her slash and refocused on her next opponent as the slain robots fell at her feet. "Probably, but it won't do me any good right now. We still don't know who or what is still on that ship, and getting up there won't do me any good if I have to fight off an entire legion of these metal heads, or if I have some super powered lieutenant up there to deal with." The truth of her words sank in with him, and Hybrid quietly swore under his breath. They only had one chance to render the ship useless, and it looked like they weren't even going to get that. He sighed heavily and lashed out on the nearest droid as he mulled over her words. She was right and he knew it. They still had no idea what was up there, and he would be damned if he sent his sister on a suicide mission. No, that wasn't something that was even worth considering. Either they all went, or no one did. Safety was in numbers after all…
Emerald stood in the shadows of the ruined building that was still smoking from the last attack. She had her satchel with her, and she was staring around at all the mayhem. A smile came to her face. She was a girl who loved the thrill of destroying something just because she could, and this was on such a large scale that she couldn't help but feel the small bolts of excitement shooting through her body like lightning. She had a plan for getting herself into the thick of things, but unlike the droids that Sapphire had helped to perfect, she was flying solo. No one was going to tell her what to do. Wouldn't Prince Diamond be surprised when he learned that she would be the one to help him win the battle?
Her plan wasn't going to be about fighting the Sailor Scouts and their friends, oh no. her plan was going to be to use that fake purple crown that Wise Man had given her so long ago to morph herself into the gigantic dragon that she knew would make her invincible. In her monster form, she would then assault the Crystal Palace with her secret magic and symbiotic strength until the energy barrier that surrounded it came down. From there, it would be pathetic easy to topple the crystalline structure to dust, bringing it down on the King and Queen and anyone else that was inside. The pathetic little Sailor Soldiers wouldn't be able to do a thing once they learned that their precious Neo-Queen Serenity was dead and entombed forever. She laughed manically, not caring if the droids or anyone else that managed to survive the spaceship's barrage heard her. An image of her as well as any other member of the Black Moon had been programmed into their databanks in order for her to walk amongst them without being the object of their attack, but she bit her lip as she wondered if her other symbiotic identity would be safe as well. No one knew that she had the crown other than Wiseman, and what it would do to her. Her feeling of uneasiness only lasted a second as she decided that it wouldn't bother her after all, because she could protect herself from those useless lumps of metal or even Prince Diamond with her own powers.
Opening the drawstring top of her little satchel, Emerald pulled out the crown that she'd kept near her for the last few years, and held it in her hands. The gold embedded in it was polished and glittered in the weak rays of the sun that managed to penetrate through the thick smoke that hung overhead and down into her hiding place. The jewels flashed as the light radiated brightly off their shiny surface, even more so than what would be considered normal. It was also if the pieces of precious metal had a life of their own. She chuckled at her little joke. They did indeed have a life of their own, as she'd stored magic in each one of the pieces. That extra bit of magical energy would help her to barrel past the Crystal Palace's energy barrier and still have enough power to fight against any resistance that she encountered if she had to.
She closed her eyes and lowered the crown onto her head. Once the polished metal met her skin, little bolts of lightning shot through her body. She opened her eyes because this was the best part of the transformation. She watched as the ground beneath her seemed to just fall away, and she didn't even feel it when the remnants of the building broke into pieces around her as she grew rapidly in size. The skin of her body under her tight green dress, opera gloves and knee high stiletto boots swelled and tore the fabric apart as it became so thick that it could withstand pretty much any projectile. The raw power that came with that knowledge made her smile, but it still felt strange even after all this time. She had to remind herself that she didn't have a mouth anymore, so much as a long snout and massive maw. Razor sharp teeth that were two feet long filled her large scaly mouth and nostrils the size of manhole covers flared as she picked up scents that she couldn't pick up as a human. Spiked ridges grew out of her back, and when she looked down at her hands, she saw that she now had black claws in place of her fingers. She felt her massive wings sprout out from her back and knock over more of the ruins that surrounded her as they opened up to their full wingspan. When the ground stopped falling away from her, she knew that her transformation was complete. No one would know that it was her until she decided to reveal herself. And once she did, well, Prince Diamond would want to make her his princess or fall before her might.
The dragon that Emerald had transformed into was going to do a lot more damage than some stupid droids, and she was going to prove that right now. She stretched her new limbs and let out a terrifying roar, causing the remnants of the buildings around her to collapse in on themselves and fall into large piles of rubble. In her monster form, she didn't know who was watching, but she honestly didn't care. She straightened her scaly shoulders and held her large head up high on her thick neck as she began to flap her wings. The downward force created by them kicked up a screen of dust and dirt that the equivalent of a sandstorm as her enormous body lifted off the ground and up into the air.
Once she was up in the air, she tilted her body and started to make her way towards the Crystal Palace. She grinned to herself as much as her lipless snout would allow when she looked at the towering centerpiece of Crystal Tokyo off in the distance. It was almost like a large pink bubble of chewing gum was engulfing it, and who better to rip into it than someone with razor sharp teeth?
She didn't care what was occurring underneath her as she flew over the city. When she drew close enough to touch the energy barrier, she closed her large black eyes and put one paw up in front of her face as her wings continued to flap. In her mind, the words she mentally recited came easily to her, and a light began to form in the palm of her opened clawed hand. The magically light a metallic blue in color, and it floated off of her palm to hover above her head.
It lingered there for a second or two before it expanded, and came down to engulf her in its mystically protections, fitting to her new shape like it was a second skin. She hated the fact that it turned her skin blue, because she didn't want there to be any misunderstanding about whether she did this on her own or if she was trying to gain favor with Sapphire because she was wearing his trademark color into battle once her identity was revealed. She'd set the record straight once she'd succeeded but for now, she had business to attend to.
She mentally grinned to herself as she felt her mystic shield finish covering every inch of her reptilian body. She reached her talons out to the pink energy bubble and stopped just short of the barrier to send out her own internal magic power. Before she dove into this venture, she wanted to make sure she knew what she was up against. Unlike Sapphire or Rubus, she wasn't stupid. She closed her large eyes again, concentrating hard on the flow of energy that she was feeling from the bubble. She cognitively smiled as she realized that she knew exactly what made up this safety net. She pulled her paw back and hovered there for another minute. Her discovery had been unexpected but it would also require extra preparation and planning if it were to be successful. As much as she hated to do it, her attack on the Crystal Palace would have to be postponed a little bit longer.
She flapped her wings and turned her body, flying away from the energy shield and the Crystal Palace. She knew that somewhere inside the crystalline structure, King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity had seen her and now knew of her presence. They would be prepared when she returned but they did not know that she now knew how to get past their shield and were thinking that it had driven her away. That assumption would cost them dearly and lead to their destruction.