30: "Inner Turmoil"

As the razor maw closed in on them, darkness followed, blacker and bleaker than all the nightmares of hell, impenetrable and suffocating, more foreboding than death, more infinite than all of space. The combined powers of the four Senshi formed a barrier that shot fire and lightning, suppressing the gloom, but for those first few terrible moments they may as well have been buried.

They still had no control of their shield, though; it flew down the dragon's throat heedless of their efforts, scorching the tender muscles encompassing the esophagus, bouncing uncontrollably, down down down deeper into the pit. The four women screamed; they gnashed their teeth; they fought to regain some footing. Mercury slowed their descent by augmenting the barrier with bubbles; Mars started to regain some control as jets of flame centered the sphere. The Senshi were about halfway to the creature's stomach when their wild ride came to its gradual end. Everyone took a few panicked breaths, glancing at each other and their surroundings.

"Everyone okay?" Venus called. Affirmations went around. "Good. Okay, so we've got light and stability. We're not being hit by digestive juices, and we're filtering out the foul odor. Speaking of breathing, oxygen's going to be our first priority. Mercury, do you think you could draw some from outside?"

"Oxygen from a creature's body?"

"The dragon's gotta breathe sometime, right? Maybe you could filter some from its blood."

"Oh, good idea. It's certainly possible..." Mercury sent a few of her bubbles to capture stray blood cells from the monster's inner organs. When they had harvested enough, they returned to the sphere. Being a practiced doctor for some years, Sailor Mercury knew a thing or two about oxidation, and had extracted a few extra breaths shortly. The amount she took would only support one person for about two minutes, though, so she needed to constantly be harvesting blood cells, or else the Senshi would suffocate in their barrier.

"That's a little better," Venus said. "So I'll be in charge of the light, Mars will handle propulsion, and Mercury takes care of our breathing. Jupiter, that just leaves you with demolition."

"Not a problem," she winked. "Where do we start first?"

"Well, providing this dragon has a similar structure to other lizards, I'd say we go ahead and take out its stomach first. We're practically there already, and the stomach's a hub for all the other major organs—liver, kidneys, heart, the brain... We won't be able to do anything about the lungs, though, but I think we'll hit enough."

"So we just let this barrier descend?" Mars said. Venus nodded; Mars steeled herself and gently dimmed down her fires, gingerly breaking free of their position and sinking down to the monster's belly. Venus didn't want the ball to drop all the way—she doubted she'd be able to hold back that much acid—just enough to where Jupiter could rip a hole in the stomach's lining. The descent was dreadfully long, partially because of their surroundings but also because Mars didn't want their protection to veer too far outside the esophagus, tear a hole in it, and wind up in a place they didn't want to go. Every meter was planned out carefully.

Occasionally Sailor Mercury had to stop and rest, which paradoxically took up far more oxygen than normal. Spreading her powers out like this was very taxing for her, and using them to extract a breathable atmosphere from the dragon's blood was downright monumental. She was sweating through her uniform, her hair was matting to her neck and forehead, and her gasps were getting loud and wheezy. Venus and Mars could not help their friend in any way, so Jupiter had to do it. She couldn't loan any of her own strength, but a simple touch on the shoulder and a warm smile did wonders.

"Should we go faster? Rei, maybe you should—"

"Bad idea. Tell her, Ami." Mercury nodded, struggling to stand.

"It's like bowling. We want the ball to head straight and true down the alley. If we go too far in either direction, it won't do us any good. Could I also please request that nobody speaks from now on, unless you have to? It uses up far more oxygen than you might think." She stood, carefully, aided by Jupiter. Mars looked at her sympathetically.

"I could risk a little speed. Would decreasing the strength of my flames help?"

"Don't worry about me," Mercury managed, pressing her hand against the sparkling wall of their barrier. "We're all suffering together. That alone gives me some assurance." The three ladies smiled warmly, and even though she was warned not to, Sailor Mars sped up just a little bit, keeping a close eye on their direction. The glittering bubble eventually found its way to the stomach, a cavernous space partially filled with vitriolic fluid. Jupiter swallowed nervously and dislodged a small hairpin, passing it through the barrier. It fell in and was dissolved instantly.

"Strong enough to eat through solid metal... I can't imagine what that lining is made of. I doubt all four of us could put a scratch in that thing."

"That doesn't mean you won't try, though, right?" Venus smirked. Jupiter chuckled softly, powering up her attack.

"Are you kidding? It only makes me want to try it more!" She wound up and threw a crackling disc at the fleshy wall, watching as it exploded on impact. It was difficult to see even with Venus's light, but there was a definite impression in the wall. Jupiter took a deep breath. "Something a little stronger, then." She whirled in place, calling a torrent of razor-sharp leaves, hundreds of needles of grass, the piercing caress of wind, the furious roar of the heavens. A thunder-dragon lashed against the impression and cut a sliver; just then the dragon serendipitously jostled, sending a few drops of acid through the opening. The result was immediate and intensely gratifying; the ladies heard the dragon groaning and cheered.

"A bit wider?" Jupiter said. Venus and Mars nodded to each other.

"You're not hogging all the fun! Venus Crescent Beam, Smash!" Mars skipped the flourishing introduction and sent dozens of flaming rings to the fissure, opening it further. A huge gash flared open as the stomach burst like a balloon, and thousands of liters of acid poured out. Venus quickly aided Mars in rocketing the barrier out of the stomach into the liver and kidneys, narrowly missing getting sucked out with the rest of the bile.

"This is too easy!" Jupiter screamed.

"Speak for yourself!" Mars winced: they were passing into the liver, following a vastly different anatomical tract than humans offered. Mercury knew almost nothing about reptilian biology and could only offer vague pointers, leaving Mars to navigate in the dark, metaphorically—and soon—literally.

"Whoa! Mina, what the hell?! We can't see anything!"

"Sorry, guys, you'll have to do this part of the tour without me!" Venus was forced to dilute her energy output and focus it on defense, as large pieces of debris from outside had found their way into the dragon's mouths, and were making their way through his guts. Her shots were dead-on, despite the weaker light coming from Mars and Jupiter, and they were also tearing holes in the dragon's delicate inner fabric, but that all came at a price. With Mercury struggling to keep everyone breathing, Venus plugged into a shooting gallery, and Mars still steering the sphere, defense rested solely on Jupiter's shoulders. She took it like a champ and even helped light up the area.

"This should be the liver we're entering," Mercury gasped, heaving as she activated her Heads-Up Display. "From what little I remember from turtle dissection, anyway. We could be entering the intestines, though."

"Doesn't your computer—hiya!—have any data—chaa!—about bigger reptiles, like—waah!—alligators or—hai, kiba!—dinosaurs?"

"Yes, but reception in here's a little nonexistent." The sphere flew into a pulsating chamber even bigger than the last, and liver or no, the Senshi opened fire. Their world started heaving and trembling, and groans of pain reverberated everywhere. Mars opened the flames to full power and shot everyone outside before the whole chamber collapsed, but that was only the start of their problems. Rivers of blood were gushing everywhere; muscular tissue was dissolving; bones shifted, nerves whipped. The enormous creature playing host to its four parasitic princesses was fighting them, just as much as it had fought them on the outside. It looked like they would have to hurry through and destroy as much as they could, else they would be crushed.

"Okay, next stop!" Venus called. Mercury's fingers shakily tapped her display, but she was only able to slur a few words before she dropped in a faint. All the bubbles and ice that had been shielding their barrier dissipated, and Jupiter bent to check on her, further weakening their defenses.

"Makoto, get back to your station!" Venus screamed. Jupiter stared in hollow desperation, cradling her friend.

"But Ami's wiped out! She can't even move! We pushed her too much. I'm loaning her some of my energy."

"Don't you dare, Kino! You get back up and keep this thing from bursting! We're heading straight for the heart next, then we'll cut its cerebral cortex and get the hell out of here!"

"Ami's hurt!" she roared. Venus glared with more intensity than even Sailor Mars dared match.

"You think I don't know that? But if you don't do your job and keep all this crap from killing us, a little bit of pain and fatigue's going to be the least of our worries! Damn it, Mizuno, wake up! You're tougher than that, I know it! What, do I gotta show some leg for you to get off your ass?!"

"Minako, that's enough!" Mars spat. "She's done all she could. I'll hurry, okay?"

"Not fast enough, Rei! Mizuno, you had better snap out of it and do your freaking job. Keep us breathing or else all of this will be meaningless. DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Sailor Mercury stirred; everyone else was stunned. The situation was unprecedented, and they were all scared and pressured, but even so, nobody expected their goofy leader to lash out like that, least of all to her best friend and ex-lover. Mercury slowly pulled herself away from Jupiter's support, ragged and beaten with weariness. Two pairs of hardened blue eyes met.

"Reporting for duty, Sailor Venus. Just needed a moment to clear my head. Keep following this path, Rei, and mind the aortic valves: they'll take us straight to the heart. Let's skip the cerebral cortex, though. We'll need some way to leave this place and we can't do it if the dragon can't open its mouths." Venus nodded firmly as Mercury resumed her task, and gradually it got a little easier to breathe. Mars and Jupiter stared at each other with concerned awe, but bent themselves to the task.

"It's okay," they heard Mercury whisper. "I'm afraid, too, Minako."

They traveled to the closest major artery and found an aortic valve soon enough, all within the confines of silence. Mercury's job became easier as they found a strong source of blood. The lights returned; Mars even got to rest as they penetrated one of the valves and rode on the bloodstream. But still: silence. They could hear the beast's terrible heart beating, but in all that time, silence.

"We're here," Mercury said emptily. Sailor Venus took a deep breath.

"Good. Let's blow this ugly thing to pieces. Jupiter, full force. Mars, ignite the sucker. I'll see to cutting off the other major arteries. Mercury, slow the blood down. Don't wanna drown in it."

Silence as the warriors followed their orders. Venus took another deep breath.

"Sorry I yelled at you all."

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be when we get out of here," Mars answered. Venus hung her head, smiling sadly.

"I deserved that. But this had to be done. Ami, are you okay?"

"Not as okay as you're gonna be when..." At long last, they snickered.

"Makoto, you look a mess!"

"Not as messy as you're..." More laughter. Sailor Venus closed her eyes, basking in humility.

"But we did it, right?"

"Not quite, fearless leader," Mars gestured. "Our escape plan's not exactly set in stone. Everything's falling down on us, and there's too much blood to navigate. We can't get back to the throat, and I don't think we wanna get out the other way." Sailor Jupiter chuckled.

"Come on, a little septic tank spelunking isn't gonna hurt ya."

"I still say we should avoid that option."

"We may not be able to," Mercury said, flicking across screens. "From what little mapping my application's been making, the blood-flow we've encouraged is all coming out the mouths. We'd be jumping into an unstoppable torrent if we went that way, and I don't think our shield could hold up to that. Going out the back door is—"

"UGH, don't!"

"Grow up, Rei, it sounds like our only option!" Jupiter shouted.

"And don't look at me," Venus added. "I'd rather get covered in dragon feces and live, than drown in blood."

"Not me," she grimaced. The Senshi were growing impatient with their fiery friend, not that they could really blame her anxiety. Rei's pride had saved and encouraged them countless times in the past; its benefits were only matched by all the drawbacks it brought to the team. Unfortunately, their situation left no room for a compromise, and since she was mature enough to understand it was for the greater good, she grit her teeth and bore it in dignified silence.

"So it's the long way out then, is it?"

"Afraid so," Venus said darkly. Mars inhaled solemnly.

"Okay. I'm ready. By your leave, doofus." Her flames surrounded the barrier, strengthening it. Jupiter gave the sphere a little boost, but before they could inch their way out of the dragon's ribcage, Mercury stopped them.

"Wait! Do you hear that? It's water, rushing in." Unbeknownst to them, Sailor Neptune's attack had begun to take effect, drawing the creature into the ocean and filling its gawking mouths with water. The flood was spilling down its esophagus to its stomach, and the light went on in Mercury's head as she realized what this development entailed.

"Yeah," Jupiter said nervously. "One way or another, we're gonna drown in something. We need to leave now."

"No, we can use this to our advantage! Let's hitch a ride on that flood!"

"Going through the urethra isn't much of an improvement," Mars grumbled. Mercury shook her head.

"We won't be going anywhere except where we came in. Trust me!" She stared firmly at her friends; Venus and Jupiter always found that look irresistible, and threw their lot in with her. Mars trusted Mercury on a different but equally personal level, and added her life to the pile. "Okay," she said solemnly, "throw us into the flow, Rei. After that, leave everything up to me." Mars did as instructed, opening the nitro full throttle, rocketing them into the flood as it came surging down. Mercury immediately bonded with the seawater, strengthening the barrier to an unbreakable shell and shooting it upstream. As the dragon drowned, its natural inclination was to expel all the water it had ingested, so when the flow reversed and the colossus retched the ocean back out, the Sailor Senshi were carried out with it, splashing down in Tokyo Bay. Mercury released her hold, and the bubble broke, freeing the women from their protective confines. They were met with showers of spray and blood as the demonic monster coughed and retched and squirmed helplessly in the ravenous sea. Moments later its staggering size was swallowed whole. A collective sigh of relief escaped.

"ALL RIGHT!" Mars screamed, pumping her fist. "We showed that deformed snake what's what! And if there are any more like him, they'll get more of the same!" She winked at her friends, glowing; they giggled in reply.

"Hey, ladies! I'm glad to see you made it out of there in one piece!" A new voice called out to them from across the sea; they looked over and saw Sailor Neptune standing on a promontory, waving at them. Mercury laughed upon seeing her old rival, and waved back.

"Michiru! You made it! We were beginning to think you and Haruka were going to keep ducking out of this! Oh, speaking of which..."

"Yes, she's here—somewhere in the city, I should think, and probably very cross with me."

"Why's that?" The four women swam over to where Neptune was, and she helped them out. Mars ignited a fire, and they surrounded it, drying off quickly.

"Well, you're familiar with how the universe abhors vacuums, right? In other words, it keeps a delicate balance. In order for there to be enough water to wash that dragon out to sea, I had to...borrow some from the ocean. It had to go somewhere, of course, and Haruka-dear was driving around keeping the monster busy, so..."

"Ho, boy," Jupiter winced, seeing Neptune blushing, "I think I know where this is going. Is she okay?"

"The bond that keeps us united isn't so frail that it could be severed like that," she replied vaguely. The Senshi looked nonplussed.

"It means I'm fine." They looked up, seeing Uranus descend in a bright, flaming chariot, alongside Sailor Pluto and Sailor Moon—and a gigantic glowing driver that took their breaths away. Uranus hopped down, smiling coolly at her lover, then at Jupiter. "Are you worried about me as well, Mako?"

"Of course. We're friends and fellow Senshi."

"Is that all?" she chuckled softly. Jupiter smiled.

"Does there need to be more?"

"Good answer. Still, I think at one point there was some—"

"That's enough, dear," Neptune said, impeccably covering her lover's mouth. "It's one thing for you to flirt with other women, and quite enough to flirt with married women. Ah, and I see someone's been doing a good job of keeping our princess from...what was it, Pu? 'Death from heroics'?"

"Must you be so tart?" Pluto sighed. She and Sailor Moon hopped down from the chariot, leaving the driver alone. Marduk was staring out into the open sea, wondering to himself whether the bane he feared had already fallen. Few knew the capabilities of Azhi Dahaka like he did, for once long ago he had battled dragons as well, and found them intensely ferocious and not easily killed. Azhi Dahaka had been so terrible that the combined might of the gods could do nothing but bind him. He had to wonder: could it really be slain? What could have released it from its binds? And now, most alarmingly, with the appearance of Neptune and Uranus, the number of "Great Sages" had increased to eight. All of the records and stories kept by his contemporaries explicitly stated there were only seven. Were these not the Apkallu after all—and if so, who were they? And if they were, could everything they knew be wrong?

"Oh, that's Marduk," Sailor Moon said, since he was still too dazed to introduce himself. "He's one of those people that keep calling us Apka-whatsits, and thinks he's a god."

"Marduk?" Neptune said. "The chief god of Babylonian myth?"

"You two missed out on a whole lot," Mars said. Neptune shut her eyes solemnly.

"Hmm, no kidding. But we can be updated later. Right now, we need to think about what to do with the city, and all the people who left it. That monster caused so much devastation..."

"Whaddya say, Mr. God?" Sailor Moon exclaimed, slapping the entity on the back. Her palm was instantly scorched when she touched the divine creature, but as she withdrew in pain, immense pleasure took over, and though she would bear a scar for all the remainder of her years, Usagi would forever claim her hand impervious to all but the most damaging injury. In any case, the jolt broke Marduk from his meditation.

"What do I say? Indeed. There is much to contemplate. I never expected to be confronted with questions that I could not answer. Even my father Ea, wise though he may be, would find council difficult."

"Huh? I was just wondering if you and your friends could help rebuilt the city."

"Truly? That is a trifling matter, honored Moon-Sailor, and one my kin would perform regardless. I suppose at its basest, tis' the least we can muster, if truly thou hast vanquished the bane."

"Vanquished?!" Jupiter shrieked. "We cut out his freaking heart! We poked holes in his liver and stomach! He barfed out enough blood to turn half of Tokyo Bay red! That dragon's shark food, no doubt about that."

"Dare not assume so little of Azhi Dahaka, kindred lady. Thou and I both share association with Zeus-Amon, yet greater strength than our own could not slay the beast. Injured, perhaps, thou hast made him, but slain?" The god shook his head grimly, a being of ultimate power squirming with fear and doubt. Jupiter's eyes turned grim and wary, and she looked back at the ocean. All was disquieting and still.

"Setsuna?" Minako said shakily. "Could it really have...survived?"

The Guardian of Time remained silent.

The glassy sea shattered in defiance, a sickening scream issuing from beneath the waves as terrible gnarled claws and enraged mouths burst out. The dragon was still alive, more powerful and furious than ever, crawling its way from the abyss into terrible life, a spectacle as awesome as the end of days. It lumbered through the waves back onto the shore, bellowing so loud that even the almighty ocean seemed to retreat. The Senshi stood quivering in astonishment, frightened out of their wits. Marduk frowned, covering his face in sorrow.

"Do you see, Apkallu? It cannot be done."

"But that's impossible!" Jupiter screamed. "We severed his heart!"

"Yet Azhi Dahaka seems able to recover even from fatal blows. So was it when my kinsmen waged war against him, for all the hurt we inflicted was for naught. Bile and filth poured from his wounds until we ceased our offense in disgust, and in the meantime, they sutured themselves until he was whole. Imprisonment was our only hope, and that chance has been dashed. We are finished."

The dragon grew silent, eyes narrowing with fiendish glee. It seemed to regard the fleas at its feet with a haughty superiority, fully aware of the futility of their actions and the unstoppable might of its own. Then, slowly, it lumbered away, giving them a sentence worse than death, allowing them to life live to the fullest in failure.

"SCREW THAT!" Mars fired off a shot, but it just deflected off the creature's back. She hurled a flaming arrow; a gash opened; filthy locusts gushed out of the wound, screeching and fluttering until they were burnt away. The dragon resumed its march, the scar healing before their eyes. Mars sank dejectedly. "I won't give up," she swore, squeezing handfuls of sand. "I won't give up! There has to be something we can do! Why don't we get all your friends to help us?! You're gods, aren't you? Isn't this your world, too? Do you want to see it leveled by that hulking freak?"

"Of course not, noble Martian-Sailor," Marduk answered. "But I explained already that our efforts..."

"We'll help too! We'll all pitch in! I'd rather fight and lose than give up without even trying!"

"Rei's right!" Jupiter said. "There's got to be some way to crack that monster, and we're going to find it! We didn't become the Sailor Senshi for nothing, and we sure as hell didn't come back to it for nothing! But we're going to need help—a lot of it. And we're going to need it right away. Please." She didn't dare touch Marduk, but her eyes and her posture were impression enough. Marduk sank, sighing, contemplating. What she was proposing had never been done before. There was a reason why the gods seldom interfered, why they rarely allied with the humans or Sages. Marduk would be breaking ancient covenants if he went through with this.

"So be it," he announced boldly. "I shall loan the Apkallu my power. You shall be as both Sages and gods, a form unprecedented in this world. Yet pray heed my words, noble ladies: the power is a danger. Even I was loathe to adopt it. Necessity demanded it before, and thus necessity demands again. It gave me equality with the father of all gods; pray let it not corrupt you."

Marduk closed his eyes and began to hum loudly. The blinding glow surrounding him began dimming at an alarming rate, until one could scarcely even see his body anymore. All of the beauty, majesty, and grandeur that he had been comprised of left him, transferring to the women gathered around him through silken rivulets of gold. The Senshi could feel themselves being restored and augmented, but the true nature of this power was more like a realization: an understanding of time and space, of who they truly were and what they could eventually become, an energy that allowed them to communicate and shape as they saw fit, a blinding focus that became clearer over time, but never fully clear. This was an altogether different sensation from their Senshi persona, but immediately familiar at the same time: intimate, cold, uplifting, solemn, broadening, intense, agonizing, bliss. Marduk collapsed on one knee as the transferal was complete, breathing heavily, eyes dark.

"It is finished," he heaved. Then, glancing at his shaky hands, "Is this what it means...to be mortal? Or does Marduk still exist?"

Normally the Senshi would be thrilled to discuss existential crises with a god, but their bodies and minds were being twisted, warped, and set aflame. Borrowing even a fraction of Marduk's power had set their abilities far over the edge, and it took every shred of willpower and fortitude not to burst open. Becoming a Senshi meant discarding their mortal bodies in exchange for phenomenal powers, but this newest metamorphosis went even further than that. It really felt as though each of them had died, and were reborn as something else entirely. One could scarcely even call them Senshi anymore; it was like they had become the Sages Marduk presumed them to be.

"What are we?" Sailor Moon gasped, staring at her hands. "I feel so...different."

"That's putting it mildly," Mars gawked, clenching her fingers. "I don't even know what I am anymore. It's like there's nothing human about this. No wonder this guy warned us about these powers!"

"So let's see what we're made of!" Jupiter exclaimed. Venus smiled at her and took a test-leap. She shot straight into the atmosphere like a rocket, whooping all the way. A flick of the fingers in mid-air sent out a Crescent Beam; the attack cleaved a large gash into a building, nearly severing it in two.

"WHOA!" she roared. "Kick ASS! Um, but, how am I gonna get down? Waaaaah!" Gravity had begun to take effect, pulling Sailor Venus back from her perch. As she braced herself for the fatal crash, something enormous grew out of her body, peeling itself with a piercing birth-cry, flinging glittering wings about in thousands of gorgeous colors. This was no ordinary bird which caught the Senshi, but a symbol of the gods, Quetzalcoatl, the Toltec bird of paradise, and a figure as inimitably Venusian as Nanna or Aphrodite.

As Venus and her totemic avatar circled the sky, the other Senshi watched stunned. This of course led them to wonder if they could summon similar creatures; when Pluto asked Marduk, though, even he could not say.

"The Apkallu were renowned for keeping the company of familiars. Perhaps they are merely rediscovering their destinies."

I wouldn't be so sure of that, she thought. Their astonishing abilities would have to be tested under fire, though, as the dragon was turning its attention away from the ruins of Tokyo to other cities. Prime Minister Abe's evacuation orders had spared millions of lives from this horror, but the same couldn't be said of the other Japanese cities. Azhi Dahaka would resume its rampage, and unless the Senshi stopped him here and now, there would be nothing left of their country—nor even their world—but rubble and ruin. Venus heeled her new partner just in time to sound the charge.

"Okay, Senshi, you heard what Sailor Jupiter said. Let's tear this loser lizard a new one!"

She roused Quetzalcoatl with the others in hot pursuit, their totemic avatars materializing to join the battle...

To be continued...

Author's notes:

Okay, so I realize the "Sailors get a new power" storyline has REALLY been done to death, but again, I ask that my readers bear with me. It's still going to be "convention over cliche", and I promise it'll go in a satisfying direction. I mean, really: when was the last time they were aided so blatantly by someone they were supposed to be fighting? Not often.

Wow, thirty chapters! Am I getting close to the end? Let me put it this way: I didn't introduce the pantheon of gods and feature some long-forgotten characters for nothing. There's going to be a lot more to come once the dust has settled on this one.