The Fragile Reality
Chapter 2
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: mid afternoon, 6 of August, 1992 of given universe.
Usagi slowly crept toward the park bench where Mamoru sat. Once she got close enough she leapt forward to give him a quick kiss on the side of the head. However, she failed to surprise him as he simply turned toward her and smiled.
"You're late, did they keep you after school again," Mamoru asked.
"No they didn't, at least not this time," Usagi replied somewhat embarrassed by her less than clean track record as a student. "Any way, that doesn't matter. Look, your broken watch Mamo-chan, I've had it fully restored."
Mamoru stared in surprise at his old watch which was now in mint condition.
"See, it works and everything," Usagi added before handing it to him. But instead of simply taking it, Mamoru took Usagi's hands with it and drew her into a deep kiss. She kissed back.
What neither of them saw however was an enigmatic figure watching them from across the park.
If they only knew how rudely they would be interrupted if not for me, the figure thought, the actions of that brat have destroyed more dimensions than some of the worst inter-dimensional demons.
"It's nice to get back to ordinary living," Ami said to herself as she got back home later that day from cram school. Like the dutiful student she was, she immediately went up to her room and set down her book bag near her desk with the intention of getting the day's homework started even though it wouldn't be due for a week.
Ami took a long satisfying stretch before sitting down at her desk and reopening her book bag. She sat down and began unloading her books onto her desk. Notebook check, English textbook check, math textbook check, Japanese textbook check, an envelope that hadn't been there before…
Ami stared at the envelope. On the front of it, written in perfect Japanese were the words: To Sailor Mercury.
How, she thought, who knows that I'm Sailor Mercury. Better yet how were they able to get this into my bag without me noticing.
Putting those thoughts aside she opened the letter. Her woman's intuition told her that the handwriting was from a guy. On the page were the following words:
Sailor Mercury, or Mizuno Ami san, whichever you prefer to be called at this time. You and the other Sailor Senshi will soon be called to protect humanity again. New enemies will soon converge on Tokyo and I am sure that Hino Rei san has already sensed them in her visions. I suggest that you and the other Sailor Senshi meet with her to get what information you can from her visions. If she needs convincing of the authenticity of this message, tell her you received a letter from the one who walks with the void. She will understand.
The letter ended there, no name at the bottom, not even an alias. The bottom of the page was completely blank.
Sailor Mercury put down the letter a little shaken by how much this person knew. He had not said whether he would keep their secret identities a secret. Nor had he explained how he knew so much. It frightened her. Putting her fear aside she got up from her desk and walked out of her bedroom and into her kitchen. She picked up her home phone and dialed Rei's number.
"Hikawa Shrine, this is Hino Rei speaking," Rei answered on the other end.
"Rei-chan this is Ami. Have you had any visions recently?" Ami asked her words still a little shaky.
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
"What makes you ask that," Rei replied her tone completely neutral.
"Because I just found a letter in my book bag warning that you had had visions about new enemies approaching," Ami replied. "The letter also warned the we as the Sailor Senshi should prepare for what is coming as well as suggesting that I mention 'the one who walks with the void' if you didn't believe me. Rei-chan this is scaring me. If Usagi-chan hadn't survived using the phantom silver crystal we would all be dead now. I'm worried that we only survived Queen Metaria to be killed by something else."
"Come to Hikawa shrine and I'll explain everything," Rei replied evenly, "I had hoped that my visions were wrong this time but I guess that's not the case. I'll call the others and tell them to meet here as well. Once everyone gets here I'll go over what I saw in my vision. Also, bring the letter you received."
"Understood," Ami replied before hanging up. She went back to her room, retrieved the letter she had received, and left for Hikawa Shrine.
"So Rei-chan why did you call us all here," Makoto asked, "You sounded really worried on the phone."
"Yeah Rei-chan you're always so calm and collected," Minako asked, "What happened to make you this upset."
Usagi didn't ask anything as Rei Makoto and Minako had already asked the questions she had.
"First off I am NOT upset," Rei replied in a calm but stern tone, "I am simply worried about a vision I received and a letter Ami found in her book bag."
"Ehh!" Usagi blurted out, "Ami-chan found a letter in her book bag! Who was it from? Was it a boy? Was it a love letter!"
"It was not a love letter," Ami replied but still started blushing at thought of it.
"It has to have been a love letter," Usagi shrieked, "You wouldn't be having that reaction if it wasn't. I bet…"
"ENOUGH!" Rei shouted, slamming her hand on the table in front of the hard enough to make the walls rattle.
Usagi blanched when she realized everyone was glaring at her.
"It was no love letter," Rei repeated before removing her hand from the table. "To start, the letter is of secondary concern. The first concern is the disturbing vision I had."
"What exactly did you see?" Makoto asked cautiously.
"That's part of the problem," Rei replied, "It wasn't what I saw so much as what I felt. I felt several forces of evil getting ready to converge on Tokyo. I know they will be here relatively soon but I don't know how soon. If they arrive one at a time then we'll have an easier time dealing with them. If they all arrive at once then things will be much more difficult."
"Did you sense any reason why these 'things' are coming here," Minako asked, "More importantly, did you find out 'what' they are?"
"Unfortunately no one both accounts," Rei replied with a long sigh, "The only things I could sense were that there were more than two threats, that they would be arriving soon, and that they were extremely malevolent."
Rei looked at Ami.
"If the second part of my vision is true, there may a silver lining in this," Rei continued, "The second part of my vision informed me of a separate force that has already arrived in Tokyo. If what I sensed it correct then this new player is not evil, at least not by in the same way we perceive evil. Aside from that I could only sense its immense power. What ever power it contained it was definitely dark. How it can be dark but not evil I cannot say."
"Just because something is dark does not necessarily mean it is evil," Ami said speaking suddenly, "As humans we are raised to believe what is dark is dangerous. It certainly makes more sense when you consider our old enemies of the dark kingdom. However in nature and among animals darkness offers more protection than light. Hamsters after all are nocturnal animals but that doesn't make them evil."
"That doesn't mean they are less annoying though," Luna said as she walked into the room. Artemis followed her in.
"Did you find any information in the archives?" Rei asked.
"No," Artemis replied with some exasperation, "Even the computers under the moon palace don't have any information about additional threats that the silver millennium faced in the past. The only bit of information there was was a small paragraph about an unusual comet that came close to earth every time it orbited the sun regardless of whether its orbit should have brought it near earth or not."
"That's … a bit odd," Ami said slowly, "What was its orbital period?"
"I don't know, the archives didn't say," Artemis replied.
"Back to that second power you sensed," Minako asked, "Are you sure you didn't sense any evil in it?"
"Positive," Rei replied, "I mean I couldn't sense any good in it either but maybe that just means my vision were less accurate that day. It was quite a shock sensing the first part of it. That could have thrown me off for the second part and caused me to miss some details."
"In any case," Ami said pushing forward the letter she had received, "I received this anonymous today warning us of what Rei-chan sensed in her visions. I don't know who wrote it but whoever it was managed to get into my cram school and put it in my bag without me noticing. My book bag was within arm's reach all day and I know the letter wasn't there when I got to cram school. This is just a hunch but I think the second power Rei-chan sensed in her vision was the one who wrote this. Although how it knew that we were the sailor senshi I cannot say. The only thing I can suggest is that we follow his advice, the handwriting is a guy's, and prepare in whatever way we can for what is to come."
"We wont know this until you next enter battle but with the moon palace restored your transformation pens should have increased in power," Luna stated, "You may have gained other powers as a result but we can't be sure yet. I suppose…"
Luna was cut off as a massive blinding light began to shine through the window. Instinctive curiosity caused all of the sailor scouts and well as the cats to go to the front courtyard of the shrine to get a better look at the light in the sky.
"It's a meteorite!" Ami screamed in alarm, "Oh my God! If that thing hits the city…"
Thankfully, the meteorite did not hit the city. It shot overhead and made its way over Tokyo and then over Tokyo bay. As if of its own will, once the meteorite was several miles away from the city and still very high in the sky, it exploded. Thousands of rock fragments rained down into Tokyo bay as the fireball of the explosion left the eyes of the sailor senshi temporarily blinded.
A few seconds after, the sailor senshi began to regain their bearings. All that was left of the comet was a slowly descending cloud of dust and smoke. Then the shockwave hit them, loud as a cannon it shattered a few of the windows on the shrine's shed and sent a blast of air through Tokyo that would have been a pervert's delight as all of the sailor senshi struggled to keep their skirts down. Then it passed and the distant sound of car alarms replaced it.
Rei sensed evil in the bay.
"There was something evil in that meteorite," Rei snarled, "Now its in the bay and coming toward the city. We need to stop it."
The other sailor scouts stared at her in astonishment before nodding. All seven of them, cats included, headed down the steps of Hikawa Shrine and toward Tokyo bay.
Arriving at the docks the sailor senshi slowly made their way around crates and empty forklifts.
"Where is everyone," Ami asked, "Shouldn't there be people working here."
"I'm not exactly an expert on dock work but all this stuff would normally be getting moved or sorted." Makoto replied, "Dock's usually have people working day or night shifts so this place should be busy."
The group kept on moving for a few moments before they began to reach the waters edge.
"What is that awful smell!" Usagi complained, "It smells even worse than rotting fish."
Rei, who was at the front of the groups began to turn a corner before bolted backwards with a muffled scream. The rest of the group stopped dead in their tracks.
"There are things right around the corner." Rei whispered urgently, "Transform Transform!"
"Add star power to your incantation," Luna instructed, "Except for Usagi-chan, you add crystal power."
"Mercury Star power!" Ami chanted
"Mars Star power!" Rei chanted
"Jupiter Star power!" Makoto chanted
"Venus Star power!" Minako chanted
"Moon crystal power!" Usagi chanted
"MAKE UP!" they finished in unison.
Their transformations complete, the five sailor senshi rounded to corner to confront the new enemy and stopped dead. The others were shocked, just as Rei had been, to see what was in front of them.
Around a pile of passed out dock workers were three large humanoid beings. All three had two arms and two legs. In additions they also had green, slimy, scaly skin along with webbing in between their long fingers and toes. Their faces were very inhuman and vaguely resembled the faces of piranhas. All three turned their heads to inspect the sailor senshi with their large slitted yellow fishy eyes.
"Thank you for brining us more food," One of the creatures said in gurgling but otherwise perfect Japanese. "One tends to have an appetite after drifting through space for hundreds of years. We are almost done absorbing the energy of these workers here. You can be the dessert after we finish our main course."
"How dare you do such a thing to these dock workers," Usagi shouted, "Those boys work hard and they play harder. In the name of the moon I will punish you!"
Everyone, the fish creatures included, sweat dropped at Usagi's choice of words.
"Let's see if you can," the main fish creature replied. Then turning to the other two fish creatures he ordered, "You two, capture these pests."
The two fish creatures bolted forward, claws extending from both of their hands. The sailor senshi faced with the new threat, collectively felt new attacks come to the forefront of their minds.
"Sparkling wide pressure!" Sailor Jupiter shouted, hurling a ball of condensed electricity at one of the creatures. Unfortunately, the creature simply dodged to the side and kept coming toward her. Mars tried to hit it with one of her new attacks but it simply dodged that as well and got within strike distance of sailor Jupiter. This however proved to be a critical mistake on the creature's part as Sailor Jupiter's right leg came up and shattered its face, spewing bright blue blood everywhere.
Usagi raised her healing rod before noticing it had changed.
My mother's rod she thought in temporary awe before returning her focus to the battle in front of her.
"Moon princess Halation!" She shouted, pointing the rod at the creature Jupiter had nearly nocked unconscious. A blast of energy shot from the rod and vaporized the creature.
"Stop right there or I kill these two," The second creature ordered.
Sailor Mars, Moon, and Jupiter whirled around to see the second fish creature pinning Sailor Venus and Mercury to the wall with its extended claws.
"These two were foolish to try to defeat me with water and a fancy chain," The creature commented. "You may have killed my comrade but lord Thumuru will resurrect him. So long as our king lives were can never die and will never be defeated. Surrender now and your deaths will be as painless as possible. We simply need your energy, nothing personal."
Before any of the Sailor scouts could reply however, a massive rose slammed into the creature's forehead stem first like a knife. The creature's claws immediately retracted as it slumped to the ground.
"Oops, I missed," Tuxedo Kamen stated as he jumped down from the top of a nearby crate. "I meant to hit his claws but oh well."
"Quite impressive," the main fish creature replied after seeing his second comrade fall, "I'll admit you've won this round but my people the Thumurians are not so easily defeated. We will gather the energy we need to reawaken the rest of our people and return our king to his full power. I'll admit we thought those with the power of the moon died out long ago. This could make things much more interesting."
"We're not letting you get away," Usagi growled, "You're going to pay for your actions."
"Then try and catch me." The Thumurian laughed before back flipping off of the dock's edge and into the water beflow.
Usagi raced forward with the hopes of getting an attack off before he was gone but she was too late.
"He was a lot politer than I imagined," Sailor Mercury mused as she walked up beside Usagi.
"Maybe so," Rei replied looking over the water with the others, "I have a feeling that they are only going to get more powerful. If what that thing said is true, then we have to find their king and take him out if we're going to win this."
"I'll look through the moon palace archives to see if I can find anything on them," Luna sighed, "Beyond that the next best thing I can think of is capturing one of them and questioning them."
Before anything else could be said, the dock workers began to grown as they regained consciousness. The sailor senshi immediately dispersed.
A distant onlooker grimaced as he saw the sailor senshi disperse.
If they only realized the extent of the Thumurians capabilities, he thought. Well, they'll find out soon enough. I may have to intervene directly much sooner than I thought. Venus and Mercury definitely need some better attacks or their going to be useless in the coming days.
A/N: I apologize for any missed spelling or grammar errors.