Chapter 27: Dance of the Fates
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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Ryoga kicked the side of the tunnel in frustration. "Stay here! Feh. Does Ranma really think we can afford to be stuck like this? Can you do this? Just wait while your friends are fighting for their lives?"
"Hey, I don't like it any more than you do. But Ranma did sound kind of rushed. I guess he really doesn't know what to do right now. He always used to know, so I guess it's gonna get on his nerves."
"Shows you what kind of guy he is, letting us down when we need him most." He looked up and down the tunnel, but it was too dark to see far. "Heck with it. I'm not just going to wait. 'Keep on moving' was my motto for the longest time anyway." He started heading down the tunnel.
"Wait!" Jupiter tried to block him. "We don't know where we're going! My map doesn't cover this area!"
"Then let's keep going until we find someplace that IS on your map."
"Okay, wait. How about this." She hit her communicator. "Jupiter to Mercury. Do you know where Ryoga and me are, exactly? I mean, can you give us some idea of where our tunnel goes? And how to get to you?"
Mercury's voice came back. "Ummmm... let me see... if you keep going there will be a junction, straight ahead is a bend, but if you go left..."
"Where's the North Pole at around all this?" Ryoga asked. "Right at the center?"
"Well... yeah, that's about it."
"Which way does our tunnel lead?"
"It goes there... toward the center... but after the bend..."
"We don't need to take the bend." Ryoga picked up his pace, leaving Jupiter to catch up as he ran forward to the bend. It was gentle; he went far enough for the pole to be on the left wall, then paused to examine that wall.
He extended a finger and jabbed, the Breaking Point strike excavating an alcove. Ryoga cleared away some of the debris and struck again, then a third time. Jupiter looked at him in disbelief. "How do you do that?"
"The Bakusai Tenketsu - the Breaking Point technique. It was originally used for tunneling. I just thought I may as well use it that way..."
"That's awesome!" Jupiter beamed a smile. "And we don't have to worry about youma this way!"
They tunneled through about twenty feet before they reached another tunnel. It was below the level of the one they were making - the debris fell down instead of flying out. Ryoga looked into the hole. "See? We don't need a map."
The two hopped down into the new tunnel. And found themselves with youma on either side of them. Hungry looking ones.
Ryoga sweatdropped. "Okay... maybe not so safe..."
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"%This looks good,%" Mousse said. "%It's pretty out-of-the way. They shouldn't bother us here.%" He had stopped in a small chamber, dimly lit by a larger one nearby. The light mainly came from softly glowing ovoids that Shampoo had to imagine were eggs or cocoons. She wasn't interested in youma life cycles at the moment. She looked at Mousse in the light, now clearly seeing his altered face and form, resembling a reddish lion-man.
"%Mousse... you... you've become a youma...%"
"%Not completely. They gave me a little power, to make me look like a cat, and give me enough strength to make me more than a match for Ranma. I did it for you, Shampoo. Now I have to power to defeat Ranma once and for all. Just wait here. I'll have the curse freed up so you can take it. Then I can go back to being human and we can go back to our village, and you can live the life you were meant to.%" A life with me at your side, he thought. When you have the Lady's power, you'll see that's what was meant to be.
"%You shouldn't have... Beryl will really let you go? Just like that? They don't deal fairly, they lied to you...%"
"%If they won't change me back, I'll make them.%" He produced several weapons from his sleeves. "%And if they CAN'T, well, I'll find some way, somehow. It's a price I'm willing to pay for your sake.%"
His poor eyesight really was symbolic. He just could not see - now that he had taken the Dark Power, he was trapped. He would never be on the side of right, the side she would choose. "%Mousse...%"
He tried to leave, but she took his now-furry face in her hands and held his gaze for a minute. She brought her face closer to his, pressed lips to muzzle. His eyes and hers closed, tears coming from both. And she slipped a long knife from his robes and stabbed upward into his neck.
She pulled back, staring at him, a look of betrayal registering in his eyes before they went lifeless. She pulled more blades from his robes and hacked at him, cutting away limbs, literally and figuratively disarming him. She took a few with her as she walked back down the tunnels, trying to remember which way they had come.
She did not look back. Nor did she shed any tears. He had never been more than a pest to her. When he had gone over to Beryl, he had become an enemy. And enemies were for killing.
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Tuxedo Mask blended in easily with the crowd in the entertainment district of Hong Kong, keeping his top hat and mask in the crook of one arm. No one paid him much attention. so far, there were no police sirens, no here, but he had to be wary in case something came up.
In this time zone, the night was still young, just nearing midnight. He had seen no evidence of youma activity yet, but that didn't mean there was none. He could readily imagine several nightclubs along this street would leave their customers more drained of energy than usual. But he couldn't get in them on the strength of his dress alone, and didn't have local currency for the cover charges. Which were probably a month's wages for him anyway.
There were some open-air parties, some TV screens showing news and sports from around the world, and these now seemed to be getting interrupted by news reports of terrorist - youma - activity in several countries. More than likely, any activity in Hong Kong would be covered up by the government for the time being. They would try to handle it in low-key style.
He looked up for a moment, thinking he had seen a dark shape swoop over the street. No, he was sure of it. Something with batlike wings had just flown up the street. It was gone now, lost in the shadows and lights of the high-rise buildings all around, but it was almost certainly a youma. He had to check it out.
He made his way to a convenient rooftop with a large lit sign, donning mask and hat. His silhouette should be unmistakable. It was: the shape, a conventional-looking gargoyle type, swooped in close, hovered for a moment, then flew away again.
"No attack...?" Not even time to make up a speech or try to interrogate it. Did it truly not recognize him? Was it not actually a Dark Kingdom youma?
After a few minutes, he started hopping along rooftops, then down to the street, wishing for his bike. Did the thing have companions? He suddenly realized it was probably under very strict orders - it was just doing reconnaissance. Beryl would be attacking the more powerful and important targets first, perhaps, if she were smart.
He would be the first to admit, his power was quite weak when stacked against any of the Senshi: he could dispel attacks, but not kill any youma flat out. Still, it was worthwhile to track it, try to find out if it was randomly thrown here like he was, or actually stationed here. Or if it had come through the local portal to look for the invaders.
He received his answer soon enough. The gargoyle flew over him from behind, then blocked his way. He summoned a rose and threw, impaling the thing, paralyzing it, though he knew it should only be temporary. He needed to get away, find something that could be used as a weapon, or a deathtrap -
When he turned around to run, he saw the gargoyle had bought friends. Several shapes in various hues, some even masculine, were approaching him from all sides. The leader, a hulking blue male type, addressed him directly. "So. You were with the Sailor Senshi. One of their friends. You will bring them."
"Make me," Tuxedo Mask said. He summed several roses and threw. All of the monsters were held as he ran between them.
The gargoyle, however, had recovered sooner than he thought. It came down from high above, flapping its wings to generate a powerful wind that staggered him and blew off his hat and mask. He was forced to his knees for a moment.
"So... you're tough. I guess it's a running battle, then." He summoned another rose and transfixed the gargoyle again, darting off to recover his hat and mask before leading the youma on a chase to some relatively deserted area for a proper fight.
Unfortunately for him, Beryl's cycle of skimming through youma viewpoints had reached Hong Kong again at that moment. Her eyes went wide as she saw him. "That face! Can it be...? Yes! It must be Endymion!" She opened contact with the team. "Do not harm him! Bring him to me!"
The youma took the new orders in stride. "As you command, Your Highness." It swooped away from its quarry, then came back around at a different angle while the rest of the team held off. It swooped in, claws extended as if to rake.
Tuxedo Mask fell for it, bringing his cane up to block. When the gargoyle tried to grab the cane instead, he tightened his grip, trying to hold on to it. The flying monster then revered course, heading backwards, pulling the human off his feet, leaving him dangling precariously forty stories over the city.
He held on for dear life as the monster flew him to a warehouse along the docks and straight into the portal.
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Ukyo paced up and down the tunnel, twirling a throwing knife in one hand. After wiping out the youma team Beryl had sent through, they had come through themselves and killed a couple of youma on watch, and were ready to move when Ranma had ordered them to stay put while Mercury, Venus, and Tatewaki Kuno came to them. "Where ARE they? They should be here by now."
"Patience," Sailor Neptune counseled. She stood calmly next to the portal, seemingly imperturbable. She didn't even have a hair out of place. "It hasn't been all that long yet. I'm sure they're making their best time."
"I would think my brother has gotten carried away again," Kodachi said. "He gets like that when he has many opponents at once. He loved the idea of a crusade against demons..."
"If his glory hunting gets Venus or Mercury hurt, I'm gonna pound him flatter than an okonomiyaki," Ukyo vowed. "If they're getting in over their heads, they should call us for help."
As if in answer, Neptune's watch chirped. "Sailor Venus to Sailor Neptune! Are you guys still OK?"
"We're still waiting at London," Neptune responded. "No youma here yet."
"We're dragging a few with us. Start coming toward us, we can clear them faster once we're together."
"All RIGHT!" Ukyo quickly led the way down the tunnel, pausing at a junction. "Straight ahead, or make a left?"
Neptune relayed the command. "We'll be coming from straight ahead," Mercury's voice said. "Wait... there's two... no, three coming in from your left! About a minute away!"
"Okay, we'll get moving once we take care of them..."
"No! There's two more coming from the right tunnel ahead of you! You're going to get surrounded!"
"Better to have them all on one side of us instead of between us," Ukyo said, charging ahead. When they reached the right junction, she had the group pause and threw a smoke grenade down it before crossing. Once again she thanked the London police for providing replacements for her own spent tricks.
Fog suddenly clouded the tunnel ahead. Ukyo paused, ready to strike, turning back and forth to be ready for attacks from either direction. A cry of "Crescent BEAM!" came from out of the fog, then Venus, Mercury, and the elder Kuno ran out, nearly colliding with them.
"Great! The gang's all here!" Ukyo beamed. "Neptune?"
"DEEP SUBMERGE!" A ball of sea-green energy shot into the fog. A death scream came back.
Then the youma were on them. Three came from the dissipating fog, five from the direction of London. Ukyo threw a fan of knives and deflected a return fire of spines, probably poisonous. "Mercury! Can you give us more fog?"
"No!" Venus ordered. "I can hardly see anything as it is!" They were not in a lit section of corridor, and the light from the Senshis' attacks were only flashes, adding to the confusion.
The action was hectic for a few minutes. The fishy youma firing the spines got Ukyo in the thigh with several before being dusted by Venus. Kodachi lashed out with a ribbon, perhaps trying to force her target to flinch, only to have the ribbon grabbed and the gymnast yanked off her feet. Ukyo could hardly hear herself think over the shouts, screams, and attack sounds.
When it was all over, the tunnel was very dark. Ukyo pulled out a flashlight, them passed two more to the Kunos. "Looks like you came prepared," Venus commented.
"Yeah, well, I figured they called it the DARK KINGDOM for a reason..." Uyko looked over their group. "Anyone hurt?"
"You!" Venus said, looking at the fish spines in Ukyo's leg. "That looks painful."
"It's nothing," Ukyo grunted as she pulled them out. She began applying a bandage. Katrina had insisted they carry some, and Kodachi had asked to carry antivenom medicines, wary of poisonous youma. "We've got to keep moving. There's probably more on the way. Which way next?"
"Ranma said we were to go to Cairo after this... that should be... the left way ahead." They started moving again, heading toward the left junction Ukyo's group had passed, now on their right, and took it.
"Chicago, London, Cairo... this place is better than any airport," Venus said. "Faster, and no airsickness! Maybe when we've beaten these guys we can use it to travel the world! I'd love to see Paris, or Rome..."
"You'll still get jet lag," Neptune observed.
Mercury was keeping her visor active, set to motion sensing. "There's all kinds of youma around us," she said. "They're all heading toward us!"
"They will not be keeping to mere patrols," Tatewaki said. "Now they know where to send their men. It is becoming a war of attrition."
"We might want to start looking for something to use as shields," Neptune said. "A lot of them seem to like to use ranged attacks..."
"Ranchan said one of the major types likes to throw bombs," Ukyo said. "We probably don't have to worry about them down here. Too much chance of causing a collapse."
"Is it my imagination, or is it getting warmer?" Venus asked.
Mercury made some adjustments to her visor and hit a few keys on her computer. "The temperature is rising," she said, "but we're not close to any geothermal vents..." A few more keystrokes. "It seems to be chi induced... Guys! There's a HUGE mass of energy building just beyond Cairo!"
"Building up?" Ukyo asked. "Is it Ranma?"
"I don't know... but it's causing some bad vibrations..."
They could feel it in the ground now. It started as a low rumble, quickly rising to an earthquake. "Brace yourselves!" Venus said.
The Senshis' watches all chirped. "This is Sailor Mars! What's going on? There's an earthquake starting here!"
"That far away already...?" Venus asked. "Hang on, this looks like it's going to be bad!"
They all felt a sudden shock, not just through the stone but seeming to reach into their very souls.
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The battle had begun conventionally, a frenetic dance of death, thrust and dodge and parry at speeds that had climbed faster than the eye could follow. The combatants, both being ancient, burned chi to enhance performance to levels approaching what they were capable of in youth.
It had quickly become apparent to Cologne that this form of battle favored her opponent. Of the two, Happosai was slightly less physically decrepit; enough so to enjoy a noticeable advantage in speed, stamina, and agility. A battle like this was his to win, though it might take hours. And for Cologne, the point of a battle of rapid movement would be to target shiatsu points. This was out of the question against Happosai: he was too knowledgeable of shiatsu himself.
Cologne fell into defensive movements, trying to conserve energy, blocking but not attacking. She was not worried. She knew her opponent.
Predictably enough, he eventually grew frustrated. He stood there in the middle of the floor, breathing hard, glaring in annoyance. "Well, I have to say this has been fun. But I don't have all day. What say we just jan-ken-pon?" He held up a fist, ready for a game.
"I knew you didn't have the strength to hold out," Cologne taunted. "After all this time, I expect you should have no pride in your manliness left."
"My MANLINESS! I'll show you some manliness!" His battle aura rose, filling the room.
Cologne suppressed a smile and raised her own aura. The two stood there, grappling through their chi auras, their bodies no longer a factor in the fight, giving Cologne a much better chance. Their efficiencies were about equal, and their expenditures much greater, leaving them both weaker within minutes.
Those minutes passed tensely, but not silently. The auras themselves emitted a dull roar. The air heated up, becoming hot enough to cause a bystander to perspire - the combatants already sweating from exertion. The combatants shifted their auras constantly, strengthening and weakening them, changing resonances, setting up sympathetic resonances in the area, inducing vibrations for miles around, growing to earthquake strength.
Happosai realized his mistake, but dared not break off; if he returned to purely physical combat, he would be overwhelmed. Weakening his aura to just a defensive level to free up energy for physical combat would be fruitless; he would not be able to move fast enough for a proper attack.
Cologne was not bound by this restriction. She could make an effective attack on him with slow movements. She could barely stand to do it, and she was certain not to survive it, but she could take him with her.
In her heart, she had known for some time it would come down to this. Her life for his, for the world. She took a step, another, stalking slowly toward him, coming face to face, nose to nose... and grabbed him.
Contact with nubile female flesh was energizing to Happosai. Contact with the opposite... had the opposite effect. His mouth opened, silently at first, then screaming in wordless horror.
Eventually he found his voice. "GAAAHHH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WOMAN? TRYING TO KILL ME?"
"AS A MATTER OF FACT, YES!" She wanted to vomit, but held on close, destroying his energy and hers. Their auras grew incandescent. Inevitably, sparks flew.
In the middle of a pile of gunpowder. Which naturally exploded. The energy release from the two ancient masters' bodies was far greater.
The blast cleared the blockages of the tunnels, and created new ones up to several miles away. And, of course, brought down the roof.
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"WAAUUGHHH!" Sailor Moon and Akane Tendo flailed their arms and fell flat on their faces. They both lay there stunned momentarily, then got up and dusted themselves off, gazing into the darkness.
"Where are we?" Akane asked. They held hands for security as their eyes scanned the darkness, slowly adjusting to the low light. They were in a tunnel about ten feet across, with glowing lichen patches on the walls.
Kunzite stood off in one direction of the tunnel, looking at the two with an amused expression. He gave a contemptuous laugh. "You look a little short on friends, Sailor Moon. You gave Jadeite some trouble with only two. Can you give me any challenges with just this one?"
Akane assumed a fighting stance. "Just try me, buster."
Kunzite regarded the Tendo girl with curiosity. "You look vaguely familiar. Where have I seen you before? Hmmm... Ah. I think Zoicite faced you once, didn't he?" He held out a hand and an image formed above it, of Akane in makeshift Sailor Senshi costume punching Zoicite through a building. "Quite a punch you pack, girl."
"That's right. You better let us go or I'll give you the same thing."
"But, Akane," Sailor Moon worried, "you don't have that strength powerup anymore..."
This drew an interested glance from Kunzite. "Do tell."
Akane sweatdropped. "You just had to mention that, didn't you?" Sailor Moon could only 'eep' when she realized Akane had been trying to bluff.
Kunzite gave them another contemptuous laugh. "Well, it matters not. Your strike did not truly harm Zoicite. All the same, however... I do believe some payback is in order." Suddenly Kunzite was a blur, rushing forward as if shot from a cannon. His fist connected with Akane's chest, sending her flying back a good twenty feet.
Sailor Moon rushed to her as she flopped around on the ground, struggling to breathe and coughing up blood. "AKANE! Are you all right?" When it was clear the Tendo girl was not about to die immediately, she faced Kunzite. A look of hard determination came across her features. "You'll pay for that! I won't let you hurt any more people!"
"You can't protect her. You can't even protect yourself!" Kunzite materialized energy blades in his hands and threw them at Sailor Moon. They did minor damage to her costume; the cuts into her flesh were shallow, but painful. The blades, boomerang-shaped, returned to his hands. "Hand over the guinzuishou and I will let you live!"
"Never!" Sailor Moon pulled out her wand, hoping to return fire, but Kunzite threw his energy blades again, then summoned two more and threw those after the first two. Once in flight, the blades took on a life of their own, circling around her, darting in and inflicting new cuts before darting out again.
The beleaguered Moon Senshi found she did not have time to fire; she couldn't even properly dodge. But she would not have time to dwell on her hopeless situation; she felt a low vibration in the ground, growing to become a rumble, a dull roar, a definite shake. As a Tokyo resident she recognized a building earthquake, and braced herself.
Kunzite did not seem to have similar experience. The shaking broke his concentration, leaving his blades spinning in the air without attacking. His footing grew unsteady as the vibrations built, ending in a sudden large shock. Both of them felt it not only as a physical tremor through the ground, but on a deeper level. Sailor Moon recognized it as a chi effect, recalling those times Ranma had shown the Senshi his mastery of chi attacks.
The shock knocked Kunzite to the ground, dissipating his energy blades. Sailor Moon was quick to her feet, and took advantage of the opening. She pulled out her wand and set up her shot. "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"
Kunzite raised his arm, blocking the glare from the guinzuishou with his cloak. "I am one of the lords of the Dark Kingdom! You will not reduce me!"
But he was now on the defensive. His rest in Moscow had recovered some energy; his reserves were still low, but he had thought they should be enough to defeat Sailor Moon alone. Now that he was under direct attack, however, he found those reserves depleting fast. He could no longer afford to play around. He had to finish this. He opened his arms, exposing himself fully to the light of the guinzuishou, and summoned a single blade into his right hand, throwing it directly at Sailor Moon, aiming for a kill.
It was more a reflex action than anything else; she couldn't have gotten the result if she'd actually tried. Sailor Moon adjusted her wand, blocking the flying blade with it, sending it straight back at Kunzite.
The Dark Kingdom general tried to block with his arm, raising it in front of him again, still wrapped in his cloak. He missed, holding his forearm inches too high. The blade passed under the arm, through his cloak, and sank into his chest, piercing his heart.
"Im- impossible... By my own weapon..." Just like that, it was over. All the work, the waiting, the sacrifices, betrayals, all for nothing. His energies were turned against themselves now, tearing his being apart. He cast his eyes to the ceiling, a pleading look on his face. "Zoicite... that place where you have gone... I will meet you there..." His body dissolved into bubbles and motes of light, fading within seconds.
Sailor Moon fell to the ground, emotionally exhausted. She moved to look over Akane. "Akane... can you talk? Are you in pain?"
It was hard to tell in the low light if the injured girl were pale. She didn't seem to be coughing anymore, though she was alert, and holding her side. "That light ... that thing you did... I think it helped me a bit," she said weakly. "I was in the backwash. It must have helped."
"It can do that," Moon said. "Can you stand? I don't like the idea of just waiting here for somebody to find us. It might be Beryl..."
Akane managed to stand, though she was clearly in pain. "I must still have a few broken ribs. I won't be much good in a fight." She nodded to the Senshi's wrist communicator. "Does that still work? We need to contact everybody, see if any of them was hurt."
Filled with sudden worry, Sailor Moon opened her watch. She was now very keen to know just where everyone was and what had happened to them.
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"What in all the Hells was THAT?" Magnetite asked. There had been a building tremor, ending in a uge shock, on both the physical and psychic planes. He looked to Beryl, who rubbed her head as if having a sudden migraine, though thankfully she seemed uninjured. Her crystal ball had gone dark again, no doubt affected by the shock.
"The middle east section..." Beryl said. "I saw an energy drain in that area, between Calcutta and Cairo. I would not have thought the Senshi had such powers..."
"We should hope they don't, anymore," Magnetite said. Then he realized the meaning of the location. "Calcutta to Cairo... That was where Sailor Pluto was last tracked! It had to be her!"
"We must make sure she is dead," Beryl said, fixing Magnetite with a commanding glare. "Take what youma you need and investigate. Bring her body if there is anything left."
As Magnetite left, Beryl had already begun chanting over her crystal ball, no doubt trying to restore her scrying. Once she did that, he knew, she would have better ability to find any returning Senshi than he would on foot. There were Senshi known to be in the European area just before the blast. He would have to be prepared to deal with them if he ran into them.
Several youma came running up the tunnels toward the throne room. "Lord Magnetite! Several tunnels have collapsed this way! There are youma trapped!"
"Magnetite-sama! The ceiling has fallen in Egg Room Three! There are four hundred eggs there!"
"Lord Magnetite - "
"SILENCE! You are all coming with me. I have orders from the Queen. I cannot delay. Trapped youma will have to wait. We cannot do anything for broken eggs. We will clear what paths we need, but some blockages will serve us well. There are still Senshi about. We will have our best chances in numbers."
Fifty meters farther on, the tunnel had fallen completely. None of the youma with him would have earth shaping powers, or they would not have gone running for help. Magnetite began chanting a spell. The fallen rock in front of them turned to mud, becoming easy to move with force-waves.
Several youma had been trapped under the rubble; they were now freed. "You are with me," he commanded. They fell into line immediately, grateful for the rescue.
Magnetite made his way down toward the epicenter of the blast, his army growing slowly. A smile crept across his lips. With any luck, a few Senshi had been crushed by falling rocks.
On the other hand, in the worst case, if Sailor Pluto were still alive, in fighting condition... Magnetite flexed a hand, making as if to grip the Time Key Staff. He could use more attunement, but he had enough to use its basic functions... such as summoning it from storage in the treasure room. If they ran into any Sailor Senshi, he would be ready to hand them their heads.
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"WORLD SHAKING!" The last youma vanished in a scream and a cloud of dust. The two Outer Senshi kept stances for a few seconds, ready for another youma to leap out at them, but none came.
"That should be the last one, I think," Pluto said, scanning the rooftops. "Now for Akane and Sailor Moon. Funny, they should have been here by now." She opened her watch. "Sailor Pluto here! All the youma are dead. Sailor Moon, Akane, you can come on out now."
No answer. Pluto tried again, sounding exasperated. "Come on, guys, you can come out or I'm coming after you!" Still no response. "You asked for it." The two started leaping across the city, bounding over narrow streets, Pluto leading the way.
They arrived at the spot their teammates had last been hiding. There was no sign of them. "Dammit, where could they be? They were just here!"
"Are you sure about that?" Uranus asked. "Maybe they got lost."
"They woulda been going straight over the roofs like we did. YO! AKANE! SAILOR MOON! WAKEY WAKEY! GET YOUR LAZY BUTTS UP! IT'S TIME TO FIGHT!"
People on the street stared, but no Senshi or schoolgirls came out. "I don't like the looks of this," Uranus said. "Maybe they really aren't here. Can you see where they might have gone?"
Pluto closed her eyes and turned her sight to the future. If Cologne were able to keep Happosai tied up as they'd hoped, her sight should be clear on this side of the portal. And it was. She spent a few minutes imagining herself searching the city for hours.
"Nuh-uh," Pluto finally said. "They're not here anymore."
"But we would have seen them if they'd gone through the portal!"
"Maybe..." Pluto closed her eyes again, this time looking at the recent past, trying to find alternate paths. What if she had not attracted the youma, but gone straight to Sailor Moon's hiding place? The other youma would still converge there, but...
Her eyes suddenly flew open. "Kunzite!" She leaptback toward the portal, Uranus following. "He's still around! He grabbed them while we were fighting!"
"Kunzite took them? And you didn't see that coming?" Uranus asked accusingly.
"There's a lot going on!" Pluto said. "I can only see things so fast!" She did not want to tell Uranus that she HAD seen things going this way. The Outer Senshi would not like the path Pluto was choosing.
They moved as fast as their magically-enhanced bodies could go; both of them were winded as they reached the portal building. The sight that met them was not encouraging. There was a pile of dirt and rock on the ground in front of the portal, looking as if it had been dumbed from the other side.
"That doesn't look good," Uranus said. She picked up a rock and threw it into the portal. It came bouncing back. "Blocked. Maybe the youma got smart and collapsed the tunnel."
"I'm not so sure..." Pluto said. Her feelings were suddenly getting darker. "We'll have to clear this away to do anything, though."
Uranus cracked her knuckles. "Sounds like my job. WORLD SHAKING!"
Pluto moved a few rooftops away to get away from the noise of excavation and closed her eyes in concentration. She had been clear on what would happen on this side of the portal; with Happosai in play on the other side, the other side was going to be harder to see. The near future showed they could make their way to an open tunnel easily enough within a few minutes. A callout on her wrist communicator would find all of their party, Senshi and Nerimans, would be in relatively good shape. The Chinese were harder to find.
*Everything's so clear,* she thought. *Too clear. The old ghoul must have the freak locked down REAL tight. Or else...*
A cold feeling formed in the pit of her stomach as she opened up her field of view. A blackness surrounded her, signifying her own death. She could push it back some hours, play for time, keep the Senshi running in circles, perhaps withdraw through a portal and flee on a vehicle, returning later. Nothing would stop her from hitting that darkness within about twelve hours.
Within that time, she could find Shampoo's body at about five hours out. Knowing where to look, she found the Amazon warrior alive at thirty minutes. A little more work, and she had a rescue for her within five to ten. As for Cologne...
As far out as she could go, she could not see them meeting Cologne. But Mercury could get a good picture of the state of the tunnel network. The whole area where they were, near Cairo, the area where she had left Cologne to delay Happosai, was collapsed. There were no life signs under all the rock.
Soul of Ice. No fear, no pain, no sorrow. She looked into the past, saw what had happened.
She sat there for nearly a minute, then forced herself to stand up. "Dammit, you old ghoul... I TOLD you not to do anything silly." She balled a fist. "No one... no one ELSE will die today."
Uranus was still firing balls of earth-moving energy into the portal. Of all the Senshi, her powers were most suited to this work; her elemental affinity was earth. She paused when Pluto reentered the small hovel. "How's it look on the other side?"
"EVeryone's okay, for now," Pluto said. If she told Uranus her suspicions about Cologne, the Outer Senshi would become much more difficult to work with. Normally, she wouldn't care, being the type to bull past objections, but right now things were a bit touch and go. "We gotta talk with everyone." She moved into the portal.
The air was choked with dust. Both Senshi coughed and waved it away from their faces. Pluto opened her watch just in time to hear Sailor Moon wailing. "EVERYBODY! THIS IS SAILOR MOON! I'M WITH AKANE! WE'RE LOST AND IT'S DARK AND AKANE'S HURT AND I'M SCAAAAARRREEEDDD!"
"CAN IT, ODANGO ATAMA!" Mars' voice said. "If you keep yelling like that every youma in the Dark Kingdom is going to be on top of you!"
"Mercury's tracking you now," Venus said. "How bad is Akane hurt? What happened to you guys?"
"I don't know where we were, but it was hot and dusty and there were all these Arab-looking people. And then we got grabbed by Kunzite and ended up here. Wherever we are."
"Kunzite! He's alive?"
"Well, not anymore... we, uhhh, kinda killed him."
"Woah. Was that the earthquake we just had?"
"No, that wasn't us. It did help, though, but he was just as surprised as we were."
"Then who did it?" This from Jupiter.
Pluto took that opportunity to break in. "That was Cologne and Happosai," she said. "Uranus and me left the old bat to delay him, and it looks like they pulled out all the stops."
"Oh my gosh," Venus said. "Is she all right? Does she need help? Who can get to her? Even she's got to be a bit worn out after that..."
"They'll be tied up for... a while," Pluto lied. She didn't like having to betray her comrades' trust like this, this wasn't some game or joke, but they had to work together for the next few minutes. "We lost track of Shampoo, too. She doesn't have a radio, but I know where she is. Mars? What are you doing right now?"
"I'm waiting by a portal to Japan. Venus told me to hold here, her group would come get me."
"Get moving. Take the third right, then the second left after the curve. You'll run into Shampoo. Keep following that path, it will take you right to the prisoner area. Venus, keep your group moving toward Moon. You'll probably run into a few youma when you get to her. I'll head to the prisoner area from the other side, and we'll all meet up near there, or so."
"What about us?" Jupiter said. "I've got Ryoga here. He's got this cool tunneling move -"
"You guys keep following the tunnel you're in. You'll get to your mapped area eventually. Pluto out." She closed the communicator.
"That sounded commanding," Uranus said. "I guess you're our leader now, aren't you?"
"What, me, leading people? No way. I'm not made for it."
"Well, you're the best thing we got, for today anyhow. How about you lead us out of this dark hole?"
It was pitch black in their self-dug tunnel. Pluto held her staff at the correct angle. "Feel along my staff. This direction, a few more blasts."
It took four. There was enough phosphorescent lichen in the tunnel to walk at a normal speed without having to feel their way along. Pluto still felt the darkness looming about her, however, limiting her future like a wall. A wall with one possible crack in it.
She was a Saotome, given to gambles when all else failed. Right now, that one crack looked like the only gamble to make. She would trust in it. One point of light in the darkness.
"Come on," she said, heading down the tunnel. "Time to meet my mother."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
They were actually making good time: lone youma tended to avoid them, pairs mostly had one or both members trapped, and there had been no large groups so far. Sailor Venus was beginning to think they would meet up with their lost teammates without any trouble.
Not all of them were so optimistic. "It's too quiet," Ukyo said. "We should have been attacked by now."
"I keep feeling we are overdue for a large attack," Kodachi said.
"This place feels wrong to me," Neptune said. "We are under the sea, but not IN the sea... it isn't even like being in a submarine. All of it feels... unnatural."
"Well, of COURSE this place is going to give off bad vibes," Venus said. "This IS Bad Guy Central."
"Do not allow your fears to trouble you," Tatewaki said, advancing briskly down the tunnel, his sword before him. "The true warrior concerns himself not with his own death, but with delivering death to his enemies, and let his skills and the Gods decide his fate."
"Thank you, Mr. Positive," Venus said. "Personally, I think a little concern with staying alive couldn't hurt."
They emerged from the tunnel into a series of chambers connected by short openings. Each of the line of chambers had other exits, branch tunnels or other chambers, some shafts dropping to lower levels. Ukyo didn't like the look of the tactical terrain. "This looks like a main highway or something. We'd be too exposed here. We were getting good mileage out of those narrow tunnels. Is there any way around?"
Mercury hit a few more keys on her computer. "No. But Sailor Moon is at the far end. The way leads straight to her."
"If we can make it..." Venus said. "Well, are there any youma actually nearby?"
"Nothing in range," Mercury said.
"Let's be quick, then," Ukyo said. The group took off into the chambers at a dead run.
The caves made a slow curve to the right. They were in the middle of the series when Mercury shouted a warning. "Youma incoming! to the left! Three - no, four - six - A WHOLE BUNCH!"
Ukyo cursed. "CAN WE MAKE IT?"
"WE HAVE TO!" Venus said.
They didn't. A pale figure walked into the middle of the chamber in front of them. More entered from the left as the Senshi group came to a screeching halt.
"BREAK THROUGH!" Tatewaki Kuno waded into the youma, swinging his sword.
"YOU JACKASS!" Ukyo shouted. "GET CLEAR SO WE CAN SHOOT!"
Things got wild from there.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Sailor Mars pressed herself up against a fallen hunk of stone and held her breath. Two vaguely humanoid figures walked past. She began to breathe again when they had moved out of sight down the tunnel.
She wasn't worried about her ability to kill youma patrols when she ran into them; but being alone, she had a higher risk of injury than with her teammates backing her up, and even if she won without getting hurt the battle could delay her for several minutes. Her priority was getting to Pluto fast - and in one piece.
She ran when she dared, crept when she had to pass stationary guards, held still behind corridor bends or fallen pieces of ceiling when patrols passed by. She had only had to fight once so far, and didn't want to push her luck.
She came to a branch to her left and slowed, creeping up to the corner. She darted her head around to check for waiting youma - and was grabbed by the shoulders and thrown to the ground, arms pinned by her enemy's legs. She knew she was about to die - but her killer hesitated.
Mars looked at her enemy's face. It bore a great resemblance to Sailor Moon.
"You sick?" Shampoo asked.
"No," Mars said.
"Sound like sick horse." Shampoo got off of Mars and helped her to her feet. "You be quiet if want to sneak around."
Mars would have walloped the Chinese girl, but she remembered how dismally she had done against her in training. She wanted to improve her skills, but not to the level of Shampoo or Ranma. She wanted a life with a little more to it than martial arts. "I won't need to sneak around so much now that you're here. Are you alone? Where were you? Ranma said you'd got taken by some youma..."
"Is dead now," Shampoo said. "No worry about what behind us. Worry about what ahead of us."
Mars started walking again, Shampoo falling in beside her. "What's ahead of us is Ranma's family. I hope he's got a good plan for that..."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
"Mars is just up ahead," Pluto said. She paused, more to gather her courage than to catch her breath, then went onward.
Uranus was relieved when she caught sight of Shampoo. "That's one worry down. Now we have to catch up with the others."
"Prisoners first," Pluto said. "They're not far away. But... ah... they might receive us better if I'm in male form. They're gonna expect Ranma Saotome."
"You'll need hot water, won't you?" Mars said.
"There's water nearby. We're under the ocean floor here, and there are all kinds of cracks since that earthquake. There's a few leaks around here..."
They soon found a pool. Mars gave it a Fire Soul blast. Pluto detransformed, returning to the black pants and red Chinese shirt she normally wore. She splashed herself with the water, and Ranma Saotome stood up.
"This way," he said, taking them down a short maze of corridors into mid-size room with several human figures. And two youma.
"Maybe you should have stayed a Senshi," Uranus suggested.
"You two can handle the kill shots," Ranma said. "Once we have them down, we're basically gonna have to retreat. We've got what we came for, now we gotta make sure they're safe at home."
"We're meeting up with the others first, aren't we?" Uranus asked.
"I know, us guys from Nerima should escort them," he said, voicing what Uranus would be thinking. "But we aren't set up for that, and this area's crawling with youma. We'll have to move right away, so we'll be stuck in separate groups for a bit longer. I'll go hook up with Ucchan's group, they should have Sailor Moon with them soon. The rest of you will have to get moving right away. See my family and the Tendos to the portal Mars came from - it's Japan, at least."
"Are you sure?" Uranus asked accusingly. "Your sight hasn't served you well lately. Maybe you'll need my help."
"No, I'm pretty confident Mars will need your help more. Don't worry, I always know where I'm going."
Uranus looked about to say something further, then shrugged. "Fine. I'll be coming back for you when we make our little delivery." That settled, the group prepared to storm the prison.
The youma looked quite vicious, one bristling with spikes, the other holding small balls that Ranma knew were bombs. The spiked one was standing in front of a long object wrapped in cloth leaning against the wall: the Saotome family honor blade. Naturally his mother would have been disarmed, but Beryl displayed more of her usual confidence in her youma, keeping it in the same room, trusting her prisoners were sufficiently well immobilized.
She might have been justified in this case. The Tendos and Saotomes were embedded into the wall, as if it had been mud frozen into rock; probably by some youma with earth-based powers. Of Genma and Soun, only their upper faces were visible, their mouths covered. At least Beryl had SOME sense...
Ranma had one bronze rod left. He couldn't fire through it in male form, but that wasn't how he needed to use it for this work. He strode straight into view. "Evening, guys."
The prisoners' eyes went wide with anticipation. All except his mother; her expression was unreadable. The youma did not bother to speak. The spiked one raised its arms, shooting several of its spikes at him; he dodged easily, plucking a few out of the air and sending them back at the sender, putting out its eyes and impaling its throat.
The other one threw its bombs. Ranma knew they were fused to blow just before reaching him; he closed the gap and used his rod to bat them back at the thrower. Then he was upon them, up close and physical, following quick on the stun from the bombs, battering them and throwing them around. When they looked sufficiently angry, he backed off to one side.
They fell for it, coming after him, getting out from in front of the prisoners. They were surprised by a sudden shout from the door: "BURNING MANDALA!" All the humans present were relieved to see them melt away in flame.
"Ranma! Thank heavens you're here!" Kasumi said.
"Get us OUT of here!" Nabiki whined. "My nose has been itching for an hour and it's driving me crazy! Plus, did you see any bathrooms around here?"
"You can find a nook out in the tunnels on your way back to Japan." Breaking Point strikes weren't necessary; fists and manly strength were enough to free them all.
"I knew you'd do it, son!" Soun said.
"I never doubted you for a second, boy!" his father said. He turned to Nodoka. "You see? Isn't this a perfectly MANLY thing to do?"
Ranma's mother did not look entirely convinced. "You... you ARE Ranma? My son? Truly?"
"It's me, mother," Ranma said. "I've come to get you out of here."
"The... the monsters... they told us... some things about you. They said you weren't manly. That you turned into a woman..." She paced nervously, then went to the blade leaning against the wall and began unwrapping its bindings.
"They're MONSTERS," Genma pointed out. "Ranma's their enemy. Of course they're going to spread lies about him!"
His wife knew too well how little his word was worth. She turned to the Senshi and Shampoo "Are you his girlfriends? Or lovers, perhaps?"
All three girls sweatdropped. "I just met the guy..." Uranus said.
"I've known him since the summer," Mars admitted. "He's worked with our team. He's always been a gentleman with us."
"A gentleman?" Nodoka looked as if she believed there were no such creatures.
"He strong warrior," Shampoo added.
"Does he have girlfriends? Any women he spends time with?"
"He has a fiancee," Mars said.
"Several, actually," Ranma said, rolling his eyes.
"Several? Well, that's manly. What about his honesty? Does he hide things from you?"
Mars and Uranus were getting suspicious about Mrs. Saotome's sense of manliness. Nevertheless, Mars answered truthfully. "Just the opposite. He's revealed all kinds of things we would never have known for ourselves. He's shown us what the youma will do before they know it themselves."
Before Nodoka could respond, there was a commotion at the door. "Incoming!" Ranma warned, and dove to one side.
There were two youma at the door. The one in front was a bruiser type, holding a large hunk of rock in front of itself as a shield. Uranus took the lead against it. "WORLD SHAKING!"
The blast tore through rock and youma, leaving a pile of dust. But it did not carry through to the one behind it. This one was dressed in firefighters' hat and rubber coat, with nozzles under each arm. It opened up with blasts of water, spraying the room with water at high pressure. Cold water.
Everyone was knocked down; the combatants were quick to get up. Shampoo leapt at the youma with sword drawn. The Senshi present charged their attacks. "BURNING MANDALA!" "WORLD -"
With three targets and only two nozzles, the youma did the best it could. It focused one on what looked to it like Sailor Moon, and at Sailor Uranus, knocking both down again. That left Sailor Mars firing from a third angle. The rings of fire quickly burned the youma to ash.
But the damage was done. Nodoka stared in shock at her son, now visibly changed underneath his Chinese silks. What Happosai had claimed was true. Her son was no man just now.
Ranma-chan stood straight up and looked her mother in the eye. "Yeah. It's true. I change. Just something I gotta put up with for a while."
Nodoka now had her honor blade fully unwrapped, held by the hilt, ready to wield. Tears started streaming from her eyes. "Ranma... my son... I... I can't... I didn't want to believe..." She shook her head as if to clear it, then levelled an accusing gaze. "How can you call yourself a man? How can THEY?" She raised the blade threateningly.
Ranma-chan could have tried to plead, to beg, to claim it was temporary, that she was going to be cured soon. But she knew that was not the way. She knew what she had to do. She brought her hands together, trapping the blade, and wrenched it out of her mother's grip, throwing it at the wall. It stuck in halfway to the hilt.
"I don't got time for this. I got a war to fight. You can kill me when it's over. PLUTO PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!"
Nodoka sank to the floor, totally drained, watching helplessly as Sailor Pluto turned on her heel and strode out to the fight. She cried openly now. Her voice was very thin.
"My child... is truly a man..."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
The battle was in full swing, and it did not seem to Sailor Moon like it was going particularly well for the Senshi.
It had started off well enough: Mercury had fogged the area. One of the youma had used wind powers to blow the fog away. Neptune had killed one, Venus had used some new magic chain of hers to pull another to the Kuno boy for slice-and-dice, and Moon had pitched in with her tiara.
The youma had then proven to be smarter than those they had dealt with before; they had begun using fallen hunks of rock as cover and shields, and sniped from the doorways. They had used fields of darkness to inhibit vision in their favor, invisible youma to sneak behind the lines and knock Mercury unconscious, quick movers to dodge direct fire.
The Senshi had tried indirect fire, Venus snagging one with her chain from behind a rock, but now was pinned down. Moon had used her tiara to kill one under cover, but another one had taken a hunk of rock and blocked her shot, then another to trap the tiara. She had since recovered it, but she did not want to lose it again.
So now she was feeling rather useless. The fighting had been reduced to a stalemate across a nexus chamber, Venus' group holding two entrances on one side, Sailor Moon and Akane in one on the other side, and the youma holding the doorways in between.
And now one of the youma dorways produced a man in a general's uniform, which Sailor Moon could only imagine would break the stalemate... in the Dark Kingdom's favor. "So. The reports were correct. The Senshi are here. Even Sailor Moon herself. The Queen will be most pleased when I bring her the guinzuishou."
"Another general?" Venus asked in exasperation. "How many do you guys have?"
"Only one is needed... if he knows what he's doing. If the others had not been so concerned with politics and remembered the competence at military operations that made them generals in the first place, it might be one of them facing you now."
"Well, it doesn't matter how many!" Ukyo said. "We'll bring you all down!" She threw a fan of knives at him. Venus added her Crescent Beam, Neptune her Deep Submerge.
The newcomer merely disappeared, emerging from a different doorway. "Bring us all down? How about I bring the WALL down?" He brought his hands together in a series of motions and made a few chants.
Suddenly the walls on Venus' side turned to mud. The doorways closed up, forcing the people in them to move. Unfortunately for Sailor Moon, they all moved backwards, leaving her cut off when the doorways had completely closed up and hardened back to rock.
This left Sailor Moon alone with an injured Akane Tendo. Alone against a general and a small army of youma. He gestured to the youma. "Take her!"
The Moon Senshi and Akane ran down their tunnel to a large cavern with a vaulted roof, at least twenty meters high, lit by some type of glowing orbs or rocks and only one other exit.
The general teleported into the middle of the room. The youma blocked the entrance behind them. Sailor Moon and Akane Tendo were trapped between them. The general held up a hand, motioning to keep in place for the moment.
"You're lucky the Queen has given standing orders that you are to be brought to her alive. We already have your boyfriend in the tuxedo. If you come quietly, he won't be hurt."
Akane moved between Sailor Moon and the general. "Yeah, right. Like you guys have ever told the truth. Who are you, anyway, buster? Do you have a name?"
The general laughed. "I forgot. We haven't been properly introduced. Well, no matter. Sailor Moon will know who I am eventually... if Beryl lets her live that long. As for you..." He raised a hand, glowing with dark power. "What would the dead care?"
Sailor Moon was suddenly startled as a portion of the wall to the general's left as she faced him exploded, the new gap erupting in balls of violet energy. She yelped and hit the floor, covering her head with her arms, hoping she didn't get hit by something. When things quieted down, she poked her head up and looked around.
The youma behind her had been reduced to dust. The general had been thrown to the side, knocked on his butt, his uniform singed. Sailor Pluto stood in the new doorway. "Magnetite. Last of Beryl's top men. Looks like she's going to have to fight us alone now."
Akane looked at the newcomers with some annoyance. "About time YOU showed up." Pluto simply ignored her, not wanting to get diverted just now.
"Now this IS a proper rescue squad," Magnetite said, locking gazes with Pluto. "So, the storied Sailor Pluto finally appears. Or should I call you Mr. Saotome? Things can be so confusing when those springs are involved."
"You made the springs of Jusenkyo," Pluto said. "Thousands of people have suffered for centuries because of them. And you killed the original Lady Pluto. The one whose curse I now have. This is where you get to suffer a little payback."
"With that?" Magnetite gestured at the rod in Pluto's hands. "What is that? Bronze? Tsk. A far cry from what she had..."
"It's still gonna hurt." Pluto aimed, preparing to fire. "DEAD SCREAM!"
Akane tried leaping in support from another angle. Sailor Moon started running, readying her tiara. If this general were anything like the others, she knew, it would take all they had to beat him. She prepared to give it her best.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Ranma Saotome had been trained from birth to be the world's best martial artist, often at insane levels of intensity. Though his training was far from complete, he was ranked as a master by several martial arts organizations. His skills were adequate to defeat many older men; among high school and college age men, he was unbeatable in a fair fight (and many unfair ones).
Magnetite, like the other officers of the Dark Kingdom, was a product of the Moon Kingdom's military academies. He had more total years of training and practice than Ranma, though at more sane levels of intensity, and a more complete education. He had never been a true master at combat by anyone's standards, but he had field experience, had seen men die, and had killed in the heat of battle. In a purely physical match, the two would be about even, with perhaps a slight edge to Ranma.
Of course, such speculation was moot; neither of them was a purely physical fighter anymore. Magnetite had far surpassed the limits of mere mortals when he accepted the Dark Power from Beryl. Ranma now had the form and some of the powers of Lady Pluto, against whom Magnetite had sparred, always being soundly schooled but gaining some insight into how to fight an opponent who could see your moves coming. The erstwhile Sailor Pluto he now faced had no direct, real-time experience fighting him.
But she was not alone. The mortal combatant, Akane Tendo, while formidable against schoolboys of marginal training and talent, was out of her depth in this battle. Sailor Moon, according to his combat analyses of recent months, was even worse, lacking in physical skills which her magical abilities did not truly make up for. She relied on her teammates to succeed. Their interference could not be discounted, as recent battles had shown. Magnetite decided to remove them as factors early and focus on Sailor Pluto.
Pluto had her own calculations to make. She knew Magnetite could teleport, but not indefinitely; he was not as strong as Kunzite or the other generals had been. He would want to keep teleporting at first, spending energy lavishly to reduce the odds against him. She could help keep him on the move, and her comrades on their feet, with several well-placed shots.
But she had only one rod left, with a limited number of shots. It was much to her advantage to get up close and personal. Ideally she and Akane would engage him physically while Sailor Moon attacked from range. Eventually he would be too weak to dodge or teleport, and then Akane could hold him alone while she and Moon could focus fire him down.
But she could not see that becoming possible. She had seen the details on the way here, knew where this fight led. It would come down to the principals, in a hand-to-hand fight.
She let Akane attempt the first move, a flying leap, then followed with a leap of her own in a different direction, firing a Dead Scream in yet a third, taking a chunk out of the ceiling. It landed right where Magnetite was about to appear, a full hit weakening Magnetite's shields before he vanished again. Sailor Moon stood ready with her tiara, looking for an opening.
Akane lunged and whirled looking for Magnetite, who appeared right behind her, then rapidly all around her, preventing Pluto from dropping more of the ceiling on him long enough to hit the Tendo girl with strikes to the abdomen and neck. One down.
Sailor Moon threw her tiara, keeping it circling about the chamber. If she were lucky, she guessed, she might hit Magnetite as he flickered about. But he appeared right behind her, near the ceiling. Pluto's shot naturally took out a chunk above him as he ported down right in front of Moon, nose to nose. She flinched back, just in time to get a glancing hit from the falling rock, dazing her. He did a leg sweep to take her off her feet. Two down.
"Now it's just us, MISS Saotome," Magnetite said. He gestured to the bronze rod in Pluto's hands, now smoking and bending in her grip. "And look... it seems your staff has worn out. Tsk. If only you had better materials. Can you fight me unarmed?"
Pluto cast the rod to the ground and assumed a stance. "I won't need it. Stop running around and let's finish this MAN to MAN!"
"As you wish!" Magnetite had expended enough energy on teleports; now he could use his powers to match his enemies on their own, lower level. He dared not summon the Time Key Staff against her, not with the risk it might recognize her dominance over it more than his, but his own power could make do. He channeled dark power into his body, becoming much stronger and faster. He and Pluto leapt at the same time, and the true dance of the fates began.
His power gave him several times normal stength and speed. Against another opponent it would have been decisive. But this martial artist wearing Sailor Pluto's body was trained to deal with such highly advantaged opponents. She quickly matched him blow for blow, holding her own defensively, getting in the occasional jab and punch.
Matching Magnetite did not come without cost. Pluto's heart raced like a jackhammer, her arms and legs were becoming leaden, her lungs screamed for air, but still she kept up the pace, trying to avoid instant death. Every second became agony.
But she had hope. She knew Magnetite was paying his own price. The magical enhancement was drawing down his own power reserves, if at a slower pace than teleporting. But she could see that he had the advantage in stamina. Alone, she might weaken him critically, but she would need help to finish him.
Sailor Moon was now getting up, rubbing the back of her head, reaching for her tiara lying a few feet away. She would have had sharp words for Pluto about watching where she was firing, but the battle before her quickly captured her fascination. She watched in fear as Pluto was slowly forced back against Magnetite, falling back around the perimeter of the chamber, then stepping inside in circles. Circles that gradually grew tighter, working her way into a single point, between Moon and the exit that led to the prison. The air had grown very hot with the energy released in the fight.
"You disappoint me, Saotome-chan," Magnetite gloated. "With your powers, you should be winning. Lady Pluto always did, even hand to hand like this. You haven't mastered her powers as well as you claimed. What would she say now if she could see your defeat?"
"The same as I'm about to say," Pluto said, voice like ice, throwing a telegraphed uppercut at Magnetite, who easily dodged his head back, leaving her punching empty air. "HIRYU SHOTEN HA!"
The hot air of the room exploded in violence. Magnetite was picked up off his feet, tornado-force winds smashing him against the curve of the ceiling, keeping him pressed there at an angle, as if reclining on a hillside upside down.
"NOW, SAILOR MOON!" Pluto shouted. She stood there in the eye of the storm, keeping her fist aloft, sustaining the wind for she alone would know how long.
Moon took the cue, winding up her attack. "MOON HEALING ESCALATION!"
The light blazed across the cavern, catching Magnetite fully. He gritted his teeth in pain, moaned, screamed. But he did not plead coherently. He raised his hand from the ceiling, only to have it pressed back there, by the wind or the force of the light wasn't clear.
Sailor Moon had grown in power greatly since Jadeite had proven able to stop her tiara, but she had no idea how powerful this Magnetite was, or what it might take to defeat him. She had to imagine it was a lot. She dared not hold back. She had to give this everything she had. She squeezed her eyes shut, drowned out all sound, and reached into herself, pouring out her very soul, keeping the blast of light going far longer than she ever had before, longer than she would have thought possible.
The walls and ceiling of the cavern had suffered in the fight, sections blasted out by energy blasts, the whole structure weakened, leaving cracks everywhere. Now the cracks spread, small sections falling loose. The pressure from the guinzuishou was wearing away at the rock. The wind and the light might have been the only things keeping it up, and they could not do so forever.
Magnetite lifted his hand again, this time making a gesture and muttering a short chant before it was pressed back to the ceiling. The ground beneath Sailor Pluto erupted as if she had been standing on a land mine. She flew up into the storm herself, slamming her into Magnetite, pressing the two mortal enemies together.
The power of the guinzuishou was searing. Pluto stifled a scream of her own, knowing this was the end of the line for her. She would die, but she would take Magnetite with her. To do that, she could not let Sailor Moon know that she had been taken up with him.
Each second was an eternity of pain. It felt as if her body were dissolving, her very soul torn apart. There was a feeling of dissonance, as if she were in two places at once, looking out with two sets of senses, and then she was going numb, the light was fading at last, and she knew no more.
Magnetite had been losing power fast under direct assault by the guinzuishou's light; his ploy had been desperate, but it had worked, somewhat. Sailor Pluto's body shielded him just enough to preserve some power. There was one thing he could do, hideously expensive under the circumstances but the only way to survive. He bowed to the inevitable, reaching out with his power and taking the only option left.
Eventually, Sailor Moon reached the end of her power and fell to the ground, looking up deliriously at the two figures pressed against the ceiling, held there by her light. She passed out in exhaustion, the light fading, the winds dying out, the figures starting to fall.
About half the ceiling fell with them.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Notes:
Yes, I'm not fond of Mousse. Or Cologne, usually, though in this fic she's an ally. Canonically, well, Shampoo doesn't hate Mousse THAT much, and in a more traditional line he would die bravely but foolishly trying to get her away from Beryl...
Then again, the fic isn't done yet. We all know how these things work by now: Are they really so dead? And if they are, will they STAY dead?
Granted, I took some liberties with Anthy. She's in a rather unusual situation for her, and would much prefer to get back to dealing with her suitors. Although, on deeper consideration, probably it should be Akio coming to help...
Strictly speaking, the Utena anime occurs on a more metaphysical plane than most. If one had to place Ohtori Academy on a map, I tend to think of it as being in the south of Japan, on the Pacific coast, though the western coast is also arguable. For proposes of this fic I am putting it in Osaka prefecture. There's also a good case for the Inland Sea.
This, of course, suggests another crossover. Tenchi at Ohtori! Can the Sword of Dios stand against a lightsaber? Anthy in the Tenchi Harem - somehow, I think she fits right in...