Journeys Through the Past
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Sailor Chronos
Chapter Three: Strategies
Blackness.
Suddenly a bright spotlight shone down from a vaulted ceiling, illuminating a raised round platform. From a balcony above, a stooped figure in purple robes looked around seriously. Its features were so ancient that it was hard to tell if it was male or female. A strange creature glided across the chamber: a baseball-sized bloodshot eyeball with crow's wings. It landed on the end of the staff that the figure was carrying.
"Tiger Eye! Hawk Eye! Fish Eye!" called a squeaky, grating voice.
Three gaudily dressed figures stepped into the light. "You called, Master Zirconia?" asked one. He wore orange cross-hatched tights, high leather boots and a short black leather vest and looked like a lion tamer. He tossed his veritable mane of blonde hair in irritation.
The second sighed. "It had better be important, calling us up at this hour," he complained. His short hair was a light pink colour, and stood up on his head like a mass of flames. His garb was a purple wraparound sleeveless top and pleated kilt.
"Knowing Zirconia, it probably is," said the third in a dulcet voice. He looked younger than the others, with such long light blue hair and delicate features that he could easily be mistaken for a woman. The costume he wore was a one-piece light blue ribbed jumpsuit.
Zirconia rapped the staff on the floor. "Enough chatter! How is the search going? Have you found anything promising?"
Tiger Eye shrugged. "This world is large. How can you be certain that Pegasus is here, in this city? I have travelled to another city in search of him, but found nothing so far."
"Fool!" Zirconia shouted angrily. "You are wasting precious time and energy! Not to mention you attracted the attention of yet another Sailor Senshi!"
"Yeah, it's getting hard enough to do our job as it is, with the Senshi always in the way!" Hawk Eye spat.
Tiger Eye glared at Hawk Eye but was unrepentant.
"Pegasus IS here!" Zirconia insisted. "But obviously our current methods are not adequate. We need to do away with the Sailor Senshi so we can continue our searching unopposed."
"And how are we to do that?" Fish Eye asked sarcastically.
"I have a plan," Zirconia said, smirking. "Continue as you were before. When the time is right, I will tell you what to do. Now go!"
The trio bowed and disappeared.
Zirconia regarded the creature that was still perched on the staff. "Follow them. The next time they meet the Sailor Senshi, this is what you will do."
Journal, April 7th 1995, continued
We'll be landing in Tokyo soon. I had a lovely conversation with Kurisu-san, and I'm looking forward to seeing him again when I get back to school. I have three days to get back into Japanese routine, and I imagine it will be a bit difficult after the looser attitudes in Canada. It's early evening local time, and Ami's last Email said that she and the girls would meet me at the airport.
"Lia-chan!" The joyful shout rose over the hubbub of greetings and conversation in the airport's arrivals terminal. The next thing Alyssa knew, she was almost knocked off her feet by a bundle of energy with pink odango hair. "You're finally back!"
She laughed and knelt to embrace the little girl. "I'm glad to be back, Chibiusa-chan!" Then she stood to see a group of people standing nearby, watching bemusedly: Ami, Rei and Makoto; Minako with Artemis draped over her shoulders, Usagi with Luna sitting at her feet, and Mamoru.
Walking slowly toward them, she said, "Hello everyone, thank you for coming to meet me..." Her eyes began to water and she abandoned her aristocratic air, throwing herself into their midst. "Minna-chan!"
There were hugs all around. "How was the flight?" asked Ami.
"It was probably better than the last flight we had!" Rei griped good-naturedly.
"Was it fun?" Usagi wanted to know.
Alyssa laughed again. "One at a time, please! Yes, the flight was smooth, and yes, it was fun. And I was sitting next to the cutest guy!" She winked at Makoto.
"Then perhaps I ought to fly more often," joked Minako. "I might meet more guys that way!"
They all laughed at that.
"Well, how are we going to get home?" Ami asked. "I don't think we can all fit in Mamoru-san's car!"
"If Chibiusa doesn't mind sitting in someone's lap, I can take Usako, Alyssa and Ami home since they all live in the same area," Mamoru suggested. "The rest of you will just have to take the bus."
"Not a problem," Makoto said. She grabbed Minako and Rei and began to playfully pull them away. "Just wait for us at the shrine," Rei called. "Business, you know!"
Alyssa gave a thumbs-up. "Right!" Then she stumbled as Chibiusa tried to yank her carry-on bag out of her hands. She relinquished it, and Chibiusa held it over her head as she danced off toward the parking lot, chanting "Come on, come on!"
Usagi glanced the ceiling in a gesture of exasperation. "I don't understand how she can be so full of it at this hour." She yawned mightily.
"Children are like that," Alyssa replied, and couldn't help but yawn herself. "Stop that, Usagi-chan! It's contagious!"
Ami giggled. "There hasn't been any scientific explanation as to why that happens."
"I can think of one," Mamoru said with a gentle smile. "She stays up too late reading."
"Do not!" Usagi exclaimed.
Chibiusa turned around and hollered, "Do too!"
This set off a squabbling match between the two of them, leaving Ami, Alyssa and Mamoru to put Alyssa's baggage in the trunk of the car.
"They haven't changed a bit," Alyssa said, watching with amusement. "Sometimes I wonder how they can live in the same house."
It was late, but sleep was the last thing on the seven girls' minds. They met at the Hikawa shrine, and brought Alyssa up to speed on what had been happening, over tea and a plate of rice cakes and cookies.
"So the Dead Moon people are looking for this Pegasus in peoples' dreams," Alyssa summarized. "I heard as much when I encountered the agent in Vancouver. Why are they after this entity?"
"We think they're planning to use his power for something evil," Ami said. "They tried to catch him once with a dark energy cage but failed. It seems that Pegasus doesn't fully exist in this world, although he does manifest himself physically from time to time."
"Like when he powered us all up," said Makoto.
"Or when I call him to help," Chibiusa piped up.
"Hey," Minako said, realizing something. "How did you defeat the Lemure you saw in Vancouver? Before we were powered up, none of our attacks worked on those things."
"Actually," Alyssa said, embarrassed, "I didn't. I tried but my powers were ineffective. I was lucky that Sailor Mara came when she did, or I probably would have been killed. It took the two of us together to stop it."
"And how is Darla?" Makoto asked, munching on a rice cake.
"She's just fine, Mako-chan. She couldn't come because she had a seminar to attend."
Ami frowned. "This is serious. I think the next time we meet Pegasus, you should ask him to power you up, or you'll be at a severe disadvantage."
"Tell me about it. I still have bruises from where that Lemure kicked me." Alyssa chuckled and sipped her tea.
"At least now we have another Senshi to help us fight these guys!" Rei became stern. "I wish I knew what happened to Haruka-san and Michiru-san. I don't see them around any more."
Chibiusa snatched a cookie from Usagi's fingers. "Setsuna-san said that they're working for the summer."
"They're probably having a good time and letting us deal with the new enemy by ourselves," Minako complained.
"I'm sure you can handle it," Luna's voice came from the doorway. "You're all doing well so far, and with Alyssa-san here, that gives us that much more in our favour."
"Especially since she's one of the more experienced Senshi," Artemis added. "Did Darla tell you about our rediscovery of the solo teleport?"
"She did, and I'm sure that will be a big help in the future," Alyssa replied. "So what can we do about this enemy? Destroying the Lemures when they appear is fine but we should find out where their base is and take the fight to them."
"We've tried," Usagi said. "Although I'm sure I saw it once, Ami-chan can't find it with her computer. It's like it doesn't exist."
Luna sighed. "The best thing we can do right now is wait. When the enemy decides to make their move, we'll be ready to strike back."
Suddenly a scream from outside startled them all. They scrambled to get out the door, then stopped to stare at what was happening. A short distance down the street stood a girl who was clutching a prayer paper in her hand; evidently she had been on her way to the shrine. In front of her stood the blond man that Alyssa recognized from Vancouver.
"That's him!" she exclaimed. "I saw him that night!"
"We've seen him and his pals too often," Mako growled. "Let's go!"
"Mercury Crystal Power..." "Mars Crystal Power..." "Jupiter Crystal Power..." "Venus Crystal Power..." "Chronos Star Power..." "Moon Crisis..."
Seven voices echoed in the night: "MAKE UP!"
Tiger Eye pulled his head from the dream mirror and gazed at the unconscious girl. "I hope Zirconia has a good plan," he muttered. "Another blank. This is getting tiresome."
"Stop right there!" a girl's voice shouted. He turned to see a shadowed figure standing on the steps of the shrine. "It's a peaceful night, and you have no business interrupting a girl's prayers! I won't forgive you! For love and justice, I am the pretty sailor-suited warrior Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Behind her, six more figures stepped into the light. "And the Sailor Senshi won't forgive you!"
Tiger Eye smirked and called, "Come out my Lemure, the naughty cat tamer Yurineko-chan!" His shadow expanded and a female near-duplicate of himself stepped out. Large striped cat ears on its head flicked forward as it stared at the Senshi. "Can you tame these brats?" Tiger Eye asked.
"No problem!" It raised a large black whip above its head and the end extended, splitting into seven parts. "Here's a cat-of-seven-tails!" Pirouetting, the Lemure snapped the whip toward the Senshi.
All the Senshi leapt clear, except for Moon and Chibi-Moon, who had been too slow. The Lemure hauled on its end of the whip, sending the two entangled girls flying into a nearby tree.
"CRESCENT- bmphh!" Venus was abruptly silenced as a leather muzzle appeared on her face.
The Lemure laughed. "The pets must be silent during training!" The whip lashed out again, winding around Mercury's legs and throwing her aside.
Mars shouted, "Let her go! BURNING- mndlk!" She too was muzzled.
However, while the Lemure's attention was diverted, Chronos had summoned her power. "STASIS DISK!" She threw her disk at the Lemure, and it was frozen in time. "Jupiter, quickly!"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" The globe of lightning arced over and struck just as the stasis wore off, and the Lemure howled in pain. The whip loosened, giving Mercury the chance to get up.
She wasted no time. "SHINING AQUA ILLUSION!" The blast of supercooled water coated the Lemure and froze it solid. "Sailor Moon, Chibi-Moon!"
Sailor Moon had tumbled out of the tree, with Chibi-Moon on top of her. They both groaned and slowly clambered to their feet. Chibi-Moon held her hands out and a delicate crystal bell appeared. "Please, Pegasus!" she called. "Help us protect the dreams!" Then she pirouetted, ringing the bell as she did so. "Twinkle Bell!"
A bright golden light shone down from above, and when Chronos looked, she saw a sight out of legend: a beautiful white horse with wings and a golden horn. It reared up and a blast of power shot toward Sailor Moon, forming into a rod with an ornate heart-shaped handle.
"MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!"
The Lemure screamed "Stage out!" before shattering into hundreds of pieces, which faded away. The muzzles that held Mars and Venus also shattered, much to the girls' relief.
Tiger Eye swore and disappeared through a firey portal. The unconscious girl slid to the pavement when the manacles holding her up winked out.
Unnoticed, a large eyeball with wings flew away through the trees.