Valhalla, The Third Heaven, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal
Year -926), not that mortal Calendars have much
relevance for them.
Belldandy stepped into the nearby mirror and
stepped out of the small mirror she had hung up in
Keiichi's workspace for just this purpose. He was hard
at work on a new motorcycle design. Most people
couldn't have spent over a thousand years designing
motorcycles and be happy, but there were always new
improvements to be made. It wasn't the ONLY thing he
ever did, anyway. He had reached the point where he
could build motorcycles that could win races with
starships.
This wasn't one of those, however. Making them too
fast led to problems anyway, since even in Heaven,
people didn't have infinitely quick reaction time. This
one, being made for one of his still earth-bound children,
had to work under normal earthly conditions, which made
it a real challenge. Imagine trying to build a computer
that people living in the twelfth century could use and
maintain.
He looked up and smiled. "Good afternoon, dear."
"No need to hurry on that."
"Hmm?"
"Most of our surviving children are under siege in
Crystal Tokyo."
He nodded. "I know. The Angel of Death dropped off
a pair of professional cyclists right here in my lab. They
told me everything. Well, that they knew, which wasn't
much."
She blinked. "He brought them HERE?" Almost all
departed souls went to the first heaven, not the third,
which was mostly full of kamis and their old followers.
A few martyrs and especially blessed souls might start
out higher, but they were rare.
"Uriel was never much for explaining why he does
things." Keiichi shrugged. "They really shouldn't have
challenged Thor to a race."
"He beat them?"
Keiichi shook his head. "They won. Boar chariots
can't keep up with my motorcycles. But with Thor...it's
not a good idea to win against him."
"Still fixing the damage?"
"Even I can't fix a pile of ashes. They were nice
cycles. I made sure to get the poor guys down to the
first heaven while he was off ranting afterwards."
She came over and leaned on him. "I'm worried
about my sisters."
"They'll be fine."
"I just...I wish I knew why I couldn't go help them."
Keiichi put an arm around her. "Maybe it's so you
can test this new cycle for me. Let's take a ride. It'll
get your mind off it."
She smiled. "Just don't buzz Heimdall, okay?"
******************
Black Moon Rising
[See end of story for note and archive location]
Chapter 8: Expensive Victories
By John Biles
******************
Jurai, Royal Palace, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811
Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -
926)
Celia blinked at the message from Empress Aeka.
"I'm to join Daley and the Lightning Squad and go to
Earth?"
Aeka nodded at the other end of the interstellar
holo connection. "We've got to make sure Ryu gets out
alive, whatever else happens. And quickly. However,
don't let Daley take any stupid risks. He can be as much
of a nut as his parents at times."
"But what about the spy network? I can't go to
Earth and run it at the same time."
"Have the main reports sent to me. This should only
take a few days. They can contact you by interstellar
holo if they have to. Use the Cigo code." Aeka smiled at
Celia. "Think of this as that vacation you've been
wanting."
"Has Lord Rodrigo arrived?"
"Yes. And the mission to deal with the planet-
smasher is going well, although how we're going to pay
for so many towing ships...well, we'll think of
something."
***********
Earth, Low Earth Orbit, 815 Years after the founding of
Rome, (64 AD, SY -2925, Juraiian Year 21228, Federal
Year -3918)
Commander Ruby frowned. Things had gone horribly
wrong. Not only had the unit been slaughtered, but the
city had been set on fire as a side-effect of the battle
and a definite sighting of Sailor Pluto had been made.
"Well, at least things can't get any worse," he said.
"Sir, the engine room is under attack."
Forgot to knock on crystal, he thought. "Right.
Comm officer Garnet, alert all our marines to rendevous
outside the engine room. Time to crush the intruders."
He had a hundred marines assembled when he
arrived. Fifty droids and fifty humans. Enough to deal
with almost any threat. A battered engineer, Beryllium,
a short woman with bright red hair, was leaning against
the wall. "Sir, Pluto's in there. She's tampering with the
Jump Drive."
"How many of you can phase or teleport?" Ruby
asked the marines. Eight droids and two humans raised
their hands. "Teleport to the far side of the engine room
and attack. We want to make sure they can't slaughter us
as we come in the door." He turned to the Engineer. "Is it
just her or are there more than one?"
"There's some semi-comatose blonde woman, a big
angry obsidian statue, someone in a hardsuit, and this
black haired martial artist."
Some of them must be from that courier ship, he
thought. The cute redhead who was running that ship
isn't there, though...maybe she was Pluto in disguise. He
sighed faintly. "Well, this shouldn't be too hard."
He gave the signal. Sounds of battle leaked through
the wall. One minute passed. He gave the signal and
charged through the door, leading a wave of men and
droids. The martial artist stood alone against them
while the hardsuited warrior and the golem were
slaughtering the advance party. He could see Pluto with
her staff touching the engine, her eyes closed in
concentration.
As he prepared to give orders, a blue bolt of energy
erupted from the martial artist's hands. He was shouting
something about dragons. Five droids discorporated and
many of his men went flying around the room. Then the
martial artist was in their midst. For a full minute,
Ruby did nothing but watch in shock as the young man,
who looked barely older than twenty five at most, cut a
swathe through his troopers. Only twenty had gotten in
the door, and all of those who hadn't already fallen went
down in that minute. Now he guarded the door, and none
could pass.
This left Ruby unwatched, however, so he charged
Pluto. Pluto was too wrapped up in her work to notice.
However, he was too wrapped up in his work to notice the
hardsuited warrior turning and firing a particle beam
cannon at him. He crashed into the control crystal, which
cracked. The Jump Drive began to pulse. Pluto cursed
loudly. She raised her staff, shouting something.
Then the world turned inside out.
**********
Jurai, Royal Palace, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811
Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -
926)
"Hi, Aunt Celia," Commander Daley Asagiri-
McNichols said. He had short, curly auburn hair which
was probably the result of dyes, and a pleasant smile
like his namesake (and his father). He was dressed
formally, but that certainly wasn't the formal greeting
her rank theoretically deserved. But they were in
private, so it didn't matter too much. "We should jump in
two hours."
"Good," she said. "The faster the better."
"Speed is what the Lightning Squad does best.
That's why we'll jump in two hours instead of six."
She frowned. "We can reach a safe distance in two
hours?"
"Define safe."
Celia often wondered how anyone in the Asagiri or
McNichols families had ever managed to live long enough
to breed.
**************
Subspace, Wasyuu's Laboratories, Juraiian Year 23224
(3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68,
Federal Year -926)
Wasyuu had taken careful measures to make sure the
next meeting wasn't a total disaster. The Dirty Pair and
the other pair (Kiyone and Mihoshi) were present only as
holograms, projected from from rooms devoid of all
other objects but the holoprojectors. The Pair were
sentient enough she didn't have to lock them in, but she'd
made sure the room Mihoshi was in had no exits.
"Okay, does everyone know the plan?"
"We tie Mihoshi and Kiyone to the front of the bomb,
then Yuri drives it to the Planet Eater, sets it to
detonate, then Linna and Skuld pull us out." Kei laughed.
Mihoshi howled loud enough to blow her hologram's
linked speakers. She then began to try to plead like a
mime. Kiyone scowled. "I don't think so."
Skuld said, "That's mean!"
Linna said, "I don't think so either."
Wasyuu sighed. Why do I have to work with people
crazier than me? "No, no, no. Ryouko scouts ahead and
finds the Planet-Eater. Kiyone takes charge of the
towing fleet. Yuri drives the Bomb while Kei coordinates
with Kiyone. I follow in subspace with Skuld and we do
readings on the Planet-Eater to find the best impact
point. Linna stands by to pull Yuri and Kei away at the
right moment. Any questions?"
"Are you SURE we shouldn't strap them to the
bomb?" Kei asked.
"I can't let Mihoshi die until I finish studying her.
And she has another job as well."
Mihoshi mimed joy.
"What?" Yuri asked.
Wasyuu mimed an answer back at them, then
grinned. "Hmm. Audio glitch. Let's get cracking. It's
time to smash the Planet-Smasher! Avengers Assemble!"
Everyone stared at her in confusion. She sighed. "Let's
go, Joe?"
"Who is this Joe guy?" Skuld asked.
"Forget it. Let's kick some butt."
"It has a butt?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!" Wasyuu
turned and ran right through the wall, leaving a Wasyuu-
sized hole.
****************
Earth, Geosynchronous Orbit Over Crystal Tokyo, SY 68
(3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome,
Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
The Wiseman and his ally, the Saturn of the Future,
sat around his orb in a circle of two, communing with
their patron, the Death Phantom. It had been known by a
thousand names over the years, identities both male and
female. It was weaker now, for its last major defeat had
been only sixty or so years earlier. And it was warier. It
didn't want to extend itself too blatantly...yet. Tsunami's
sacrifice had hurt it badly. Very badly. Very, very badly.
It had never understood her true nature fully until that
day, though it had hated her with a long burning passion.
Thus, it could not sense the incoming visitors in
time to warn its minions. Still, it was only Pluto,
Uranus, Neptune, and the Junior Uranus. They were bugs
before the power of its servants, it was quite sure.
While no senshi is free of the urge to pose, these
four were able to bring themselves to do their posing
AFTER their first round of attacks. Wiseman and Saturn
peeled themselves off the wall while the Outers obeyed
their instinct to identify themselves to people who
already knew them.
"Fools. We will..." Wiseman began. He also had hard
to deny instincts.
"Destroy you. Blah. Blah. Blah. We've heard that
speech about a thousand times," Uranus said. She lifted
her Space Sword. "IMPERIAL EARTH ONSLAUGHT!" The
floor ripped apart in a huge chasm, and Wiseman dropped
down into a lower level, crashing into the midst of an
array of scientific equipment. The other three fired
attacks at Saturn, who casually parried the blasts with
her Silence Glaive, twining the energies around it, then
flinging them back at the trio. Arcadia went flying,
crashing into the far wall, while Neptune staggered.
Pluto blocked the counterassault with her staff,
then began looking at her wrist as if she was wearing a
watch. "Five."
Wiseman rose up out of the hole in the floor. "Fools!
You cannot hope to defeat us!"
"Four."
Uranus blasted him again. "Get off it, you old
bastard! If I had a yen for every two bit idiot who told
me that, I'd be rich!"
"Three."
Saturn unleashed a blast of black ribbons, which
hogtied Arcadia and Neptune. Uranus managed to slice
them all up with her sword as they approached her, but
she was too busy to do anything else as a result. Then
Wiseman blasted her with a bolt from his orb. She
dropped her sword and the ribbons took her. He turned to
Pluto. "Your turn."
"Two."
He blasted her with a bolt of pure darkness. She
slid across the floor like a skater on a rink, pressed up
against the wall by the continuing stream of energy. Her
staff continued to deflect it, but now it was being forced
towards her chest. "You are doomed, Pluto!"
"One."
For a moment, everyone paused, expecting
something to happen. Deadly silence settled over the
room. Then the Wiseman began to laugh. "Whatever you
are relying on to save you has not come. This time, you
will not..."
"Zero."
The room turned inside out for a moment, and then
people, droids, and bits of crystal machinery appeared, as
two rooms and times tried to fuse into one. For an
instant, there were two Plutos, then one of them winked
out, and reality returned. The world shattered and
reformed. Commander Ruby, Moemi, Imra, a confused
looking green droid, and the Commander looked around the
room, trying to figure out what was going on. The
ribbons had been been cut to bits by the shards of crystal
that had flown everywhere.
Pluto said, "Commander Saotome, Lt. Ardeen, take
down Saturn. Everyone else, focus on Wiseman."
For a moment, a look of abject fear washed across
Commander Saotome's face, then a confident grin
replaced it. "No sweat." He moved, a blur of motion,
unleashing a hail of blows faster than the eye could see.
Saturn staggered repeatedly, then fell. All went silent.
Commander Ruby teleported away; he wanted to live.
Even the Wiseman was aghast. Commander Saotome
turned to face the Wiseman. "Here, I'll take you down.
I'm not gonna go easy on you like I did with her."
Arcadia, Moemi, and Imra stared at him in shock,
but then Imra realized something. "She's bluffing!"
"What?"
It was too late. Black energy crackled out of
Saturn's hand, cracking like a whip. Commander
Saotome's eyes went wide, then he collapsed. Saturn
stood over him. "Never go easy on an opponent. And
always make sure they're down." She turned and
unleashed the ribbons again. Moemi was flung against
the wall so hard she went through it. Neptune began to
be strangled at the same time as the ribbons sapped her
lifeforce. Imra struggled to remain conscious. She was
slowly getting a fingerhold in Saturn's mind when she
passed out. Arcadia fired off one final blast before
Wiseman casually swatted her aside. Pluto and Uranus
had almost broken through Wiseman's defenses when the
ribbons flung them to one side. Saturn began to laugh.
She wasn't laughing so hard when Commander
Saotome hooked her legs with his, then did a backflip,
slamming her into the ground. "You're right. Always
check to be sure someone is down." Before she could
even get to her knees, he was on her back, slamming her
head into the ground repeatedly. Her nose broke with a
sickening snap. "Dammit, I hate doing this to a woman,
but you crazy people just don't stop! Now stay down
before I have to do something worse!"
Black energies erupted from her back, engulfing
him, and he slumped over. Saturn sat up and tried to fit
her nose back into place. Neptune blasting her through
the floor didn't help. She howled, and a tornado of dark
energies erupted. Even Wiseman got clipped by the black
and purple whirlwind. When the storm cleared, a three
story hole had been carved through the interior of the
ship, and only Pluto remained standing of those opposing
her and Wiseman.
"Six."
She and Wiseman joined hands, barraging Pluto
with energy. She fell back, still counting.
"Five."
Another blast sent Pluto to her knees. Only a
fading purple aura kept the black ribbons and ebon blasts
from her body.
"Four."
"You'll never make it to zero this time!" Wiseman
said.
"Three. Uranus is right. You talk too much."
Wiseman was right. She wouldn't make it to zero.
She fell before she could count two. He began to stride
over to her. "How the mighty are fallen." As he knelt to
take her talisman, a voice spoke behind him.
"Zero. DEAD SCREAM!" What usually was a whisper
became a shout, and a blast of energy became a raging
storm of purple destruction, flinging Wiseman into the
wall. He turned involuntarily as he fell head over heels,
and Saturn spun around too.
Nene, Dan, Hikaru, Noa (in Alphonse, who barely fit
in the room), Jenni, and the junior Pluto stood there.
With a blur of motion, Jenni streaked across the room,
taking the Orb and the Silence Glaive before their
possessors could even blink. Then Noa put Alphonse's
hands together and fired a beam of orange light that
pushed Saturn through the wall, through another wall,
and then out into deep space. Air began to rush out of the
room, pulling Dan, Nene, Hikaru and Jenni across the
floor, as well as all the unconscious people.
"I guess this is where we all explode in deep
vaccum?" Dan shouted as he clung to Alphonse's leg.
Nene was able to resist the pull, but she grabbed
ahold of Jenni, keeping her in place. Jenni lost her grip
on the orb, which was sucked out the hole, and Wiseman
charged after it. Hikaru stood, her brow furrowed deeply,
unmoved by the winds. The far wall suddenly bent and
warped, sealing off the hole. She fell to her knees. "That
won't hold for very long. I've never done that before, and
I doubt the patch is very strong."
Its strength or weakness was soon rendered moot.
The Wiseman and Saturn reappeared two seconds later
and unleashed a tide of dark ribbons that soon tied up
everyone except for Dan. To his surprise, and then anger,
they didn't even bother attacking him. While the others
struggled futilely, his mind raced desperately. Normally,
he would have run for his life, but he knew he was inside
a hostile space ship in deep space, and running away
wouldn't help. More importantly, his pride had finally
been wounded too far, which isn't easy when it comes to
Dan Hibiki.
There remained only one option. He'd make them
attack him. At least he could get in a few good insults
before he died. "Wiseman, you lard-butted, robe-wearing,
Mad Dog #9 swilling excuse for a supervillan! You're so
pathetically weak you can't even hurt me with your
stupid little orb! I bet you use it to go bowling on
Fridays! Too bad you always lose!" Every invective he
could imagine began to pour out of his mouth. Looking
back on this, Dan would claim he had planned the results
of this, but he was lying as usual.
No one had ever taunted the Wiseman and lived
more than three seconds. And if there was anything Dan
Hibiki could do right, it was taunt people. The Wiseman
ignored him for about twenty seconds, then he couldn't
take it anymore. He turned and unleashed a powerful
blast at Dan. Unfortunately, this freed Jenni from the
duty of dodging being blown to powder, and she streaked
across the room, carrying Dan to safety. And the taunts
continued.
"Are all of your clothes hand me downs from Death
or did you steal some of them from a drunken bum in the
gutter? I bet you replaced your brain with a speak and
spell in order to lose weight! Your aim sucks! You
couldn't blast me if I was tied to your nose! You couldn't
blast me successfully if you shoved your orb up MY nose!"
As if that wasn't enough, now the Wiseman could
hear a tiny voice whispering in his mind. You're going to
fail. He's right, you're incompetent. Serenity already
crushed you and your master once. In fact, your entire
history is nothing but failure. You can't even beat
Serenity in the past, let alone the present or the future.
You can't even kill this one man. The Wiseman abandoned
all other thought but the annhilation of Dan. He focused
every ounce of power he had, and fired it at Dan. As
Jenni carried Dan across the room, he tracked them with
the blast of power, feeding every droplet of energy he
could dredge up into the shot. Then Jenni simply hit the
deck, right in front of Saturn. Wiseman's shot struck
Saturn full in the chest, burning away uniform and some
of her flesh. She was flung through the walls again, and
the air began to drain away.
Enraged, Saturn now turned her energies on the
Wiseman, who was blown out the other side of the now
almost entirely wrecked ship. Their battle began to
annihilate everything. Wiseman was outmatched. He
realized to his horror that he had used up most of the
energies he had stolen from this time's Sailor Saturn
trying to kill the fool. Now, he would have to fight for
his life. He'd been tricked into blasting her, but he knew
Saturn--she wouldn't care. He had devoted some effort
into insuring she was sufficiently whacked out to do
what he wanted, but now he realized he'd done too good a
job.
Pluto gathered her friends and allies and fled to
regroup and return once more of them were conscious and
ready to deal with fighting in deep vacuum.
**********
Aboard the Flagship of the Lightning Squad, The Vicinity
of Jurai, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811 Years
after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
Celia gritted her teeth. She'd talked Daley into
moving further out of the system before jumping, but she
wasn't sure he had listened. A little part of her was
insisting he would still do it too early, then claim there
had been a failure of communications.
She sat in her quarters and tried to make plans for
their arrival on Earth. Unfortunately, since she had no
real idea what conditions were like, this was an exercise
in futility. All she could really do was to make herself
tense.
She tried again to contact the embassy on Earth via
subspace radio. The result was that she started picking
up a broadcast of 'Shaka and Kenyatta's Fishing Report' on
a public-access channel somewhere in Africa. A weaker
person would have smashed the radio to bits at that, but
she wasn't weak.
Instead, she rose and went to the firing range. The
range soon reverberated with the phrase, 'Yellow Khund
is about to die'.
**********
Earth, Low Earth Orbit, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after
the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year
-926)
Demand frowned. More bad news from Rubeus in the
past. One of his assistants had defected to the senshi.
The bad news just kept coming. Rubeus had been in the
past for several weeks now (by his reckoning, not
theirs), and everything was going horribly wrong. The
assault on the central city of Crystal Tokyo had failed;
the Senshi had projected some kind of force field over
the area. Wiseman claimed he had agents inside the
barrier, but no one had seen Wiseman in hours.
Saffir walked in. "Bad news."
More bad news. Oh joy, he thought. "What?"
"Wiseman's ship has blown up, and there's some sort
of massive battle going on. He's fighting some woman."
Demand would have banged his head against the wall,
except that it would have been undignified.
**********
Earth, Geosynchronous Orbit Over Crystal Tokyo, SY 68
(3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome,
Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Wiseman and the Saturn of the Future took a few
seconds from their duel to breathe hard. Both of them
were starting to get totally worn out; they both had too
much power for any one person, but even that power
wasn't infinite.
Thus when Pluto, the junior Pluto, Uranus, Neptune,
Arcadia, Hikaru, Noa, and Nene arrived, neither Wiseman
nor Saturn did anything for the first few seconds. Then
they both opened up on the group. However, this time,
they were ready for them. Nene couldn't really make the
Radiant Hawk Wings. However, you can fake a lot of
things with technology, especially with multiple beings
of power backing you up.
Wiseman and Saturn, however, had no way of
knowing this, although they could tell the Senshi were
reinforcing the Hawk Wings with their own power. Thus,
they both felt a little nervous when the group began to
slowly advance on them, pushing into the steady stream
of their energy. They redoubled their efforts and thus
failed to notice when Hikaru suddenly vanished.
Saturn noticed very much when Hikaru suddenly
slapped a small crystal tear onto her forehead after
appearing behind her. Intense agony ran through her body;
she felt like she was ripping apart. She began to glow,
the light forming a ropy mass of white and black
streamers. It was flowing out of her, and the energy she
had been emitting at the approaching band of heroes
winked out. It formed a huge swirling storm.
Wiseman fled; whatever the woman had done to
Saturn, he wanted no part of it.
Hikaru was struck by the swirl of energy and
passed out instantly. Noa pressed into the storm,
protected by her armor, and managed to grab Hikaru and
flee, although Alphonse was severely charred and
desperately in need of repair afterwards. Nene was flung
a few miles by the storm, which was more than her fake
Hawk Wings could deal with, although her own armor
protected her from harm. It too would need repairs. The
senshi secured their friends and fled, or tried to.
Pluto and the junior Pluto were focusing hard, but
the explosion of Saturn's energies was making it nearly
impossible for them to focus as it buffeted them. The
entire group vanished from sight, but not from existence,
thrown to the winds so to speak, by a mixture of
Wiseman and Saturn's energies.
In their absence, the storm of energies finished
its task. Saturn's mortal host quietly vanished into the
future, followed swiftly by the Saturn Force, which then
sought out its next destined host. Perhaps there would
be better luck next time.
*************
Demand frowned. "So the Wiseman and his ally were
defeated?"
"Apparently his opponents died as well, or were
cast into subspace, possibly. We're not sure, really;
we're getting weird readings from the battle zone and
anything that gets too close vanishes. We lost five more
ships." Topaz sighed. "Sorry, sir." Topaz was a tall
lanky redhead with a truly ugly face. His bashed in nose
didn't help.
There was only one thing to be done. Victory in the
present seemed increasingly hopeless. The Crystal
Millenium was rallying its forces; only success in the
past could save them now. Especially if Wiseman was
out of commission. "Bring me Esmeraude. I have a
mission for her. Rubeus is taking too long."
*************
Deep Space about ten light years from Jurai, Juraiian
Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of
Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
The first proton beam from the Planet Smasher was
enough to mark the end of the towing fleet. Only a third
of the fleet was obliterated, but that was enough to
make it impossible to move Wasyuu's planet bomb fast
enough to ever catch up with it.
Wasyuu wanted to beat herself in the head for not
thinking of this. Some genius scientist I am, she thought.
The only way to get the Planet Bomb into the Planet
Smasher was going to be to try to Jump directly into it,
which would be incredibly tricky. Only an incredibly
brilliant pilot or a fantastically lucky one would be able
to do it.
She and Skuld had gotten the readings she needed.
There was a large hollow space inside the Planet
Smasher where it ground up and reprocessed its 'food'. It
would be perfect. The timing on this, though...it was
going to have to be perfect if the pilot was to get out in
time.
"You gotta be crazy," Yuri said. "Even a goddess like
me has limits. I mean...it can't kill me permanently, but
being blown to bits hurts. A lot. I mean...I don't think it
can kill me permanently, but..."
"I'll do it," Mihoshi said. "I've had a long life. I can
take the risk."
"Mihoshi! I think the two unkillable 'goddesses'
should do it," Kiyone said. "They're the experts at mass
destruction."
Kei frowned. "It wasn't EVER our fault!"
Soon, a proper screaming match was in progress. No
one noticed when Mihoshi quietly slipped out.
***********
Earth, Tokyo, 1995 AD
Usagi was sitting in her backyard, reading manga.
She knew she should be doing homework, but all this
chasing after droids was just wearing her out. She didn't
have time for homework; yeah, that worked. This was
just a little break to help her relax.
When deeply engrossed in a manga, Usagi was easily
capable of not noticing things like dark swirling clouds
overhead. Or a purple haired teenager falling out of them.
When the purple haired teenager crashed headfirst into
her, on the other hand, she noticed. Then she quietly
passed out.
******************
Earth, Tokyo, 1987 AD
Hikaru regained consciousness lying on the ground in
front of the ABCB as she remembered it from her youth.
She looked around in surprise. This doesn't look like deep
space. Did we somehow get flung through time? I'm not
powerful enough to jump that far myself. I don't think I
am...well, I'm sure Pluto will find me soon; she'd never
leave me here for fear I'd muck about with things. She
went inside, for lack of a better idea. Better to wait
with food than without.
When she saw her younger self sitting at a table
with Kyousuke, she almost walked back out, but since she
couldn't remember her way around very well anymore,
she decided to just stay and eat. The Master gave her an
odd look. "Do I know you? You look familiar."
She laughed. "I come here sometimes, but it's been
a while. I'd like a sandwich and some coffee with a little
sugar."
He went to work, quickly fixing the food and coffee.
"Nice weather we're having?"
The younger Hikaru laughed in the background, then
Kyousuke laughed. "We'll be together forever, won't we?"
she asked him.
Hikaru winced. She knew the true answer to that
one. I was such a fool. And as long as he lived, I was, in
part. She had never quite entirely gotten him out of her
head, although she had loved her eventual husband, Jonny
Quest, as much as she had loved Kyousuke. Some tiny,
stupid part of her brain had simply never been willing to
let go.
Very softly, the Master said, "Don't mind them. Just
a pair of silly teenagers. Bringing back bad memories?"
"I was just like her when I was that age," Hikaru
said, laughing a little. "Long, long ago."
The Master looked her up and down. "Not that long
ago, I think."
"Perhaps it just seems that way."
*************
Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after
the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year
-926)
Mayor Sylvie Hakubi looked up from the mess of
reports on her desk. Most of them were stolen from
various ships of the Black Moon Fleet; she'd decided it
was a better idea to gather some intelligence rather than
start blowing the ships up herself; the big battle she had
witnessed had convinced her the ground was safer than
space for the moment.
She had visitors, however. Minki Matsuura, the
architect of the Crystal Palace and some strange fellow
with a giant spatula. "Nice to see you, Minki. Who's your
friend?"
"This is Tsubasa Kuonji. His grandmother is one of
Serenity's Troubleshooters. And he's a great cook, but
his family line has problems with forgetting things.
Tsubasa, this is Mayor Hakubi."
"Nice to meet you." He frowned. "Are you sure this
is the Crystal Palace? It doesn't look like it."
Mayor Hakubi laughed. "It isn't. We're probably
going to have to withdraw to the Palace soon, though.
We've lost too much ground in the city. Once the army
gets here, things will change, though. In forty-eight
hours, this crisis will likely be over. We just have to
hold the palace that long."
"That won't be too hard," Tsubasa said. "These guys
aren't too tough."
"If the force field around the palace that the Senshi
are generating runs out, they can vaporize the Palace
from orbit in about twenty seconds," Sylvie said.
"Ack."
************
Earth, Tokyo, 1995 AD
Arcadia woke up sprawled on top of Usagi, who
herself was on top of a now busted lawn chair. They
were in a walled back yard like the one she had had back
on Sirius. Well, about 1/20th the size of her yard on
Sirius, but the principle was the same. The little
townhouse was a lot smaller than the one back on Sirius.
I must have been shunted through space, she
thought. By whatever the hell Saturn did. She had seen
Usagi before, but now she noticed Usagi again as she
stood up. "Ack! Are you okay?" She pulled Usagi out of
the wreckage and shook her gently. "Did I hurt you?"
Everything seemed too serene for the middle of a
war. I must have gone through time too, she thought.
Probably this is after the Black Moon War is over. Well,
if I did travel, Pluto will come get me. I hope. "Usagi?"
Usagi shook her head, then blinked. "Do I know you?"
Okay, before the war, but it can't be much before,
Usagi looks to be almost the same age, Arcadia thought.
Maybe a little younger. Yeah, I can see that now. "I'm
Arcadia N'goya." She paused. "What year is this?"
Usagi's eyes widened. "Are you from the future
too?"
This happens often? "Umm..yeah. I guess this is
before I met you the first time. Wait...too? Someone else
from the future is here?"
Usagi blinked, clearly trying and failing to parse
that statement. "Are you Chibi's big sister?"
"The little pink haired kid? Queen Serenity's
daughter?"
"You know her? Are you one of the Sailor Senshi
from the future?"
How far in the past am I? Arcadia felt confused.
All this time travelling was starting to make her head
hurt. I thought Pluto sent Chibi farther into the past
than this, she thought. Or is this one of Usagi's
ancestors? Past life, maybe? "Umm...what year is this?"
"1995 AD."
Arcadia did the math in her head. At least a
thousand years, she thought. Why is Usagi only a few
years older a thousand years from now? "Umm...how long
has Chibi been here?"
"About a month." Usagi groaned. "Did her future
mother send her here because she couldn't STAND her own
child?"
Arcadia shook her head. "Pluto sent her to get the
Silver Crystal in this time to help save her mother, Neo-
Queen Serenity of Crystal Tokyo. Those Black Moon
bastards are trying to destroy it." What exactly happened
to the crystal after I gave it up, anyway? Arcadia tried
to remember, but she couldn't. "But I'm sure you know all
that."
"Chibi won't tell me anything. We knew she's
looking for the crystal, but...Oh, I'm Usagi Tsukino. Are
you Chibi's guardian or something?"
"I'm...Sailor Uranus," Arcadia said. "Uranus'
apprentice really. I got sent here by accident. Or
something." Well, I did ask Pluto to send me before.
"Take me to Chibi. I'll beat some sense into her." Her
stomach grumbled. "I could use some food too."
"Right. Food run," Usagi said.
***************
Earth, Mega-Tokyo, 2040 AD
Dan Hibiki found himself in the middle of a large
arena. He knew it somehow. The King of Fighters'
Tournament. That was it. Or maybe the World Champions
Tournament. Or the Giant Wombat Cage match. They all
blurred together in his mind, sometimes.
Did I just hallucinate most of my life, he wondered.
He remembered this tournament, remembered being
knocked out by that loser Sakura in the first round. She
was laughing at him, as usual. "Decided to pass out
before I even hit you, Dan?" she asked. "Just to save
time?"
"I am the Great Dan Hibiki! You cannot hope to
defeat me!" He rushed her and threw everything he had
into a punch. Which was quite a bit. She went flying into
the audience and the crowd went wild. This was a new
experience for Dan. A GOOD experience.
*************
Near the Moon, around 23,000 BC
Pluto floated in space, looking down on the
devastation of the Moon Kingdom. It was rare that
anything had flung her so far through time, but such an
event as she had just experienced was rare...no, unique in
her experience. And that was a rare thing.
She turned to gaze upon the Earth. It sat securely
behind the Great Shield, protected from the Things which
even now would be attacking and ravaging the other
kingdoms of the system. She wished she could have
found another way, but it had been the most she could do
to save the Earth. And Mercury and Venus had been able
to save themselves, along with Yuggoth. It was Mars and
the outworld colonies which had had to be abandoned to
die.
Most people would have cried, but she had shed her
tears for them long ago in the loneliness of the Time
Tunnel. There had been centuries where all she really
needed to do was cry. But there was much to do now.
She would have to go round up all the people scattered
across space and time, especially Arcadia, before she
could further make a mess of what had to be.
She thought she finally understood why Hime-chan
could see Arcadia and she herself could not. Arcadia
came from outside Pluto's lifetime, and now that Pluto
lived inside time instead of out of it, she could no longer
see beyond her own lifetime. Apparently that extended
to things beyond that lifetime that came into it as well.
Somehow. It didn't make much sense to Pluto, but it was
an explanation.
Clouds were gathering on the face of the Earth,
vast clouds of dust kicked up by the aftershocks of
Serenity's banishment of all of Atlantis to another
dimension, which had triggered global earthquakes,
volcanic eruptions, and other disasters. The last ice age
was about to begin, and glaciers would creep over the
great cities and wipe out any evidence they had ever
existed.
It was time to go. She gestured, and the time gate
appeared. She raised her staff and knocked upon it
thrice. Nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing.
Knocking became pounding, but the gate sat silently, then
began to fade away.
"Don't! STOP!" she shouted, but the gate became
mist and dissolved away.
She was alone, floating in space over two
devastated worlds twenty six thousand years from home.
Then gravity noticed her. She began to plummet. In
space, no one can hear you scream.
************
Earth, Tokyo, 2025 AD
The junior Pluto looked up at the twin statues and
shuddered. The statues were her husband, Daichi, and her
old rival, Hikaru Hibino, standing hand in hand in imperial
robes, with Daichi posed to kick the Earth like a soccer
ball. They stood in the middle of a grand plaza that
should have been the Imperial Gardens. Nearby, a tv
billboard showed the World Cup of 2012 over and over,
with more freeze frames of Daichi's winning goal than
even the junior Pluto could stand.
She sighed. This alternate timeline tended to be
where she ended up whenever something went wrong
with her powers. It was the universe's way of taunting
her. She was used to it. I'll just summon the Gate of
Time and get out. She raised her time staff, and the Gate
appeared. But when it swung open, Hikaru Hibino, garbed
as Pluto, stood inside. "I've finally caught you, you
imposter!" she shouted.
"You...you're a Pluto?"
"Much as I love Daichi, even I have to admit it took
some shoving to get this proper, glorious future to come
into existence. I couldn't have done it without my
powers as Pluto."
The thought of Hikaru with Pluto powers horrified
Himeko, who had only to look around to see how much of a
mess the woman could make with them. Hikaru had
grown up eventually, but it was clear this one hadn't.
"Look, just let me out of here! You wanna rule this
Earth with this Daichi, go right ahead."
Pluto-Hikaru Hibino shook her head. "It'll be more
fun if I have someone to gloat to. You have no power over
this timeline and you can't get out because I control the
Gate of Time! BWAHAHAHA!!! Better start running; the
army has standing orders to capture anyone who looks
like you. Ta ta." The Gate closed and she vanished.
This can't get any worse, Himeko thought.
Then the billboard stopped showing the World Cup
and started showing Highlander 2.
*********
Earth, Synchronous Orbit over Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060
AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year
23224, Federal Year -926)
Wiseman finished gathering as much of the left over
energies as he could once he recovered. At least I got
that time portal stabilized before this happened, he
thought. It should still be possible to win this battle in
the past. Perhaps there we can gather enough energy to
open the portal and let the Death Phantom through. I
remember, dimly, how much life it had, he thought. The
memories were fuzzy, and tangled up with other ones,
which contradicted them.
Raising his orb, he gazed upon the tangled threads of
time which lead away from the place of battle. The
Plutos and all their friends had been hurled into time
pockets, little universes created in subspace from a
mixture of reality, hopes, fears, and dreams. Their own
personal parallel timeline. The Plutos would likely
escape first and rescue the others. If he had more power,
he would have taken measures to stop them, but as it
stood, he needed to conserve his power in order to make
sure Esmeraude could be sent to the past to do what he
wanted her to do. Next step, browbeat Demand into going
along with this plan, he thought.
******************
Earth, Tokyo, 1995 AD
Arcadia stuffed her third hamburger into her mouth.
I am such a pig, she thought. But ever since I started
doing all this magic, I just can't stop eating. Usagi was
stuffing her face even faster. Arcadia couldn't even
count how many burgers had gone down her apparently
bottomless throat.
"You are SUCH a pig," proclaimed a harsh voice near
them. Arcadia turned and saw Rei.
"Hi, Rei," she said, then remembered Rei probably
hadn't met her yet either. Arcadia shrugged mentally. It was
too late. She felt a little strange; it just all seemed
unreal. Too many strange things in a row had happened to her,
and it was starting to get hard to take it as seriously as she
should.
Rei blinked, narrowed her eyes, rubbed them, then
said, "Do I know you?"
"This is Arcadia N'goya," Usagi said, spewing
crumbs. "She's from the future like Chibi. But much less
annoying. She's Sailor Uranus."
"So there ARE Sailors for all the planets," Rei said,
sitting down by Usagi, who scooted over to make room
for her. "So what's your power?"
"There aren't Sailors for all the planets in this
time?" Arcadia asked, then took a big gulp of Dr. Pepper.
Whatever time this is, she thought.
"Just Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter,"
Usagi said. "And I guess Tuxedo Kamen sort of stands for
the Earth." She sighed. "I don't understand why he's
avoiding me! I mean, he still comes and helps us when
we fight, but..." She stared at her food and shoved it
away. "Men are so weird."
Sailor Moon? There's no Sailor Moon, Arcadia
thought. I think. And who is Tuxedo Kamen? "You talking
about Mamoru?" I think that was her boyfriend's name.
Although... She looked around. Something really weird is
going on, she thought. Or maybe I'm dreaming this.
The idea made a certain amount of sense. No wonder it doesn't
really make sense. I got knocked out, and now I'm having this
weird dream. With Senshi who don't exist.
Yes, of course! It all made sense now. This was just a
dream about her two friends, caused by her worries about Chibi
being sent to the past and everything. Well, I will just sit back
and enjoy it then, she thought. Have a little fun. Give away
everything in the future...it won't matter.
"You know Mamoru?" Usagi asked.
"I met you and Rei and Mamoru in the future. Don't
worry, you got back together eventually." Arcadia smiled. This
could be fun. I'm surprised Pluto can resist the temptation to
tell everyone about everything.
She fell down when Usagi leaned across the table
and grabbed her shoulders. "Are you sure about that?"
Usagi asked urgently.
"Yeah, you sang a song together and everything. It
was disgustingly romantic." Arcadia clambered back into
her seat. "There's a Sailor Moon in this century?"
Usagi looked confused. "You said you'd met me in
the future."
"Yeah." The connection hit her. "You're Sailor
Moon?"
"Yeah!" Usagi said. "And Rei is Sailor Mars!"
Rei was looking a little suspiciously at Arcadia
now, though she remained silent.
Arcadia boggled. "You're Saint Rei?" None of the
legends mentioned that Saint Rei was so young in the
Silver Millenium, she thought, but she looks the same, so
it has to be the same Rei I met. This MUST be a dream, she
thought. Because that couldn't have been Saint Rei I met.
"SAINT Rei?" Rei asked, boggling back.
"Hi," a gentle voice said quietly nearby. It was a
short, cute girl with blue-black hair and a pleasant
smile. She was carrying a bag full of books over one
shoulder. "Can I squeeze in?"
Arcadia squeezed over for her. "No problem." The
girl looked somewhat familiar, but Arcadia couldn't quite
place her. "I'm Arcadia. What's your name?"
"Ami. Ami Mizuno."
Arcadia knew that name. Although she had been
younger in reality. "Are you dating a guy named Ryo Urawa?"
Ami blinked, then blushed and stared at the table.
"I...he..."
"Well, if you had a fight or something, don't worry
about it. You'll be married one day." She had a faint feeling
of omniscience. It was a good feeling.
Everyone stared at Arcadia, then Ami incredibly
slowly and hesitantly said, "We will?"
"Yeah. And your daughter is a holy terror. Oh, I'm
from the future."
Ami blinked. "Oh."
Another thought struck Arcadia. The Queen's
daughter is named Usagi. She must have named her
daughter after Usagi. Now there's an honor. "So you're
being attacked by the Black Moon Family?"
Usagi nodded. "They're after the pink haired menace
for some reason."
"Pluto sent her back in time to get the Silver
Crystal from this time after she..." Arcadia thought hard.
What exactly HAD happened to the Silver Crystal of the
future? Pluto had done something or another with it.
"After the one in the future vanished. Or something.
Anyway, I guess the Black Moonies think she has it. Or
they may want to use her to blackmail Serenity since she
is Serenity's daughter."
"There's a Sailor Pluto?" Ami asked.
"Arcadia is Sailor Uranus!" Usagi said a little too
loudly.
"Pluto is a meddling annoyance," Arcadia said.
"And you can't trust her any further than you can throw
her, but...she is on our side." Take that, wherever you are,
Pluto, she thought. "She'll probably come lecture me for
being flung through time by accident after she told me not
to come here." Assuming this is real, she thought. Which I
doubt, since it doesn't make sense.
"Why did she tell you that?"
"I have no clue. Sending Chibi by herself to find the
crystal was completely insane. Sending an eight year old
to a thousand years in the past to look for the Silver
Crystal when it could be ANYWHERE. Although I suppose
Serenity's past self probably has it." That makes no sense
either, she thought. Maybe I dreamed that too. Surely
Pluto has more sense.
Usagi laughed. "I've got it."
"You do? Well, if Chibi still has the time key, we
can take it to the future and clean up this whole mess,"
Arcadia said. "Assuming it works. Those time keys tend
to do what they want, not what you want."
"She has it," Rei said. "She's tried to use it a few
times." She looked at Usagi. "Where is Chibi?"
"Doing homework or something," Usagi said,
shrugging.
"You left me to DIE!" Chibi shouted, leaping down
onto Usagi from the back of the booth. They began to
flail about, knocking Rei onto the floor.
Minako, much younger than Arcadia remembered
her, stood nearby, laughing. "Well, die of hunger, maybe.
Unless you think Shingo was going to kill you," she said.
Someone who looked like a younger Jupiter stood
next to her. "Sorry about that, Usagi-chan. I tried to
restrain her, but..."
Usagi finally got the upper hand, just barely.
"Someone save me!"
"Small Lady, calm down," Arcadia said.
Chibi-Usa stared across the table, "Arcadia?"
"That's me," she said. "Now, you be a good girl and
sit down."
In an instant, Chibi-Usa sat down next to Usagi,
the very picture of a well behaved child. "I want some
food."
Arcadia signalled the waitress. "I'll get you...oh
wait, I don't have any money that would be any good in
this time." She blushed. She tried dreaming the money into
existence, but nothing happened. Not necessarily proof this
was real, since she had often failed in efforts to control her own dreams,
but...
"Is Puu with you? Can I go home now? I can't find
the crystal, and I'm sooo tired of missing my mommy,"
Chibi-Usa said softly.
"I'll pay for it," Minako said, squeezing in. "Loan
me a few hundred yen, will ya, Mako-can?"
Makoto squeezed in next to Rei. "I'll cover both of
you."
"Woo woo!" Minako said, ordering a triple sundae.
"As soon as we figure out how to use your time key,
I can take you home," Arcadia said. "So you've been
staying with Usagi?" Maybe Pluto did plan this out, she
thought.
"She's a meanie," Chibi-Usa sagely proclaimed,
then ordered a double dip chocolate cone.
"Hey, I didn't come in and mindcontrol everyone
into thinking you were one of my relatives like YOU did,"
Usagi shouted. Several people turned and stared and she
shrank in on herself.
"Chibi! That wasn't very nice of you," Arcadia said.
How on earth did Chibi mind control anyone?
"I had to live somewhere. Puu forgot to give me any
money," Chibi-usa said. "And now she won't give me the
crystal. But I need it to get home to Mommy!"
"Don't worry, we'll..."
The wrist communicators all went off at once; it
was like watching a group of businessmen at lunch. Luna
was on there, "Hurry! Esmeraude is trying to infect this
track meet with dark energy!"
They all jumped to their feet. "Let's go!"
***********
The Track Meet was a disaster zone, full of track
stars turned into zombies, people passed out from energy
loss, and a droid who looked like a big fat coach,
complete with whistle and hat. In fact, Arcadia was only
really sure it was a droid and not just a coach because it
had a gem in its forehead.
The most embarrassing part of it was that she and
Ami and Minako and Makoto had all fallen prey to its
powers and were now trying to run until they dropped.
Part of her knew they had gotten snared, but the part of
her brain that lived to produce speed lines was running
the show and there was nothing she could do. Thoughts of
this being a dream had faded as she was sucked into the simple
logic of action. Chibi had gotten snared as well, but she
had already passed out.
On the other hand, Rei had managed to plug her ears,
while Usagi...
Coach Droid said, "All right, get down and give me
twenty!" to Usagi, then blew his whistle.
Usagi shook her head. "No one makes ME exercise!"
Apparently his powers didn't work on true coach
potatoes. Her hand went up to her transformation
brooch. "MOON COSMIC POWER!" She transformed,
becoming the sailor who Arcadia had never seen or heard
of, Sailor Moon. Although something suddenly did ring a
bell in Arcadia's head. Something from that history
museum. She puzzled over it as Sailor Moon shouted,
"SAILOR MOON KICK" and did a jump kick at the coach,
causing it to swallow its whistle.
While it was choking, Rei became Sailor Mars. "FIRE
SOUL BIRD!" A huge bird of flame attacked the Coach
droid, driving it back.
It also broke the spells on the others, and to a
plethora of shouts, they transformed. The droid soon
found itself barraged by fire, ice, light, water, and earth.
It quietly crumbled to a pile of dust with a red gem on
top which swiftly turned black.
Sailor Moon said, "And I'll fin...oh, it's dead."
Esmeraude shouted from the stands, "Well, you
killed my droid, but let's see you stop the fans!" She
gestured and the several thousand people in the stands
poured forward. "I may not be able to corrupt this
crystal point, but once you're dead, you won't be able to
save the others."
Jupiter looked at the onrushing horde. "We can't
blast them! They're just people."
Sailor Moon gulped. "I don't think I can heal this
many people."
"The Silver Crystal," Uranus said. "We don't have a
choice. Nothing else will do it."
Moon nodded. As she reached for it, Esmeraude
cackled from the stands. "Quivering in fear? There's no
escape for you now! You will..." *THUNK!* She toppled
off the edge of the stands into the onrushing crowd of
zombies, along with the shotput that had just smacked
her in the head.
"You can do it, Sailor Moon!" Tuxedo Kamen said
from a pile of athletic equipment near the locker rooms
as he hefted another shotput and a javelin. "I'll deal with
Esmeraude."
Sailor Moon nodded, and put her hand on her brooch.
"Everyone help me!"
They all nodded and put a hand on her shoulder as
best they could with one hand, holding their
transformation pens to use as a concentration focus with
their other hand, while the zombies shambled on, and
Tuxedo Kamen chased Esmeraude round and round, giving
her an increasing number of interesting lumps. "Give me
twenty laps!" he shouted as they ran.
"MOON COSMIC POWER!" Sailor Moon shouted, and
all the light in the universe rushed in upon her; she began
to glow more brightly than Uranus could bear to look
upon. The light suffused her clothing and absorbed it,
transforming it into red ribbons which whipped about,
enfolding the senshi in a network of red threads. Uranus
felt a tug inside her, a bond, a link between herself and
the strangely charming girl named Sailor Moon.
For a moment, she was back in the garden, crying,
the day she first met Usagi, who had instinctively tried
to help a stranger. Uranus knew she couldn't have,
wouldn't have done it herself; she would have left a
crying stranger to their privacy. I wonder if I've changed
history by coming here, Uranus thought. Now she's met
me before she met me the first time. If it was the same
Usagi...but she was sure it was.
She cried for me, Uranus thought. As if I was her
best friend in all the world. I wish...She looked at all of
them. I was like them once, she thought. Less than a
year ago, I didn't have a care in the world, it was so easy
for me to care about people, to hope, to... She felt old and
bitter and shamed.
She felt Sailor Moon reach out and squeeze her
shoulder with her free hand, and she realized she had
been starting to cry herself. There was a smile, and a
wink, and then ectasy took Sailor Moon. That was the
best way to describe it that Uranus could think of. Her
face lit up and a yellow crescent moon burst forth upon
her brow. The ribbons whipped back in and she
transformed, becoming taller and older and more
dignified, her clothing become a white dress with a
highly embroidered top but no sleeves. Her tiara became
a crown. She had become Serenity.
Uranus' jaw nearly fell through the ground beneath
her feet. She...SHE IS SERENITY? It wasn't possible. It
couldn't be possible. She stared unable to move, to think,
to do anything but feel a certainty drop away beneath her
feet.
An impulse took them all, and they shouted,
"SAILOR PLANET HEALING!" She could feel the strength go
out of her, out of all of them, and merge through
Serenity, joining the great river of her power which
flowed into the crystal and multiplied, becoming a wave
of cleansing energy which flowed out across the mob.
And across Uranus. She could feel it, trying to enter her.
And it terrified her.
It was trying to transform her, to reshape her, but
she didn't know into what. It wasn't doing that to the
others, or at least not in the same scale. It hurt. It was
trying to burn something out of her, to remove something.
But she couldn't tell what. What was she going to
become? She didn't want to...to...she wasn't even sure of
what she was afraid of. Had something gone wrong? Her
forehead was starting to itch, and she felt like she was
going to explode.
It hadn't been like this before when she had used
the crystal. Something was wrong. Wasn't it? The
others seemed to be in the state of ecstasy, oblivious to
anything, the whole world slowed down to a crawl as the
power took its course.
I have to get away, she thought.
Before...before...she wasn't sure what she was fleeing, or
if it was good or bad, but the Crystal was terrifying her.
I HAVE TO GET AWAY! she shouted in her mind.
The crystal pulsed, and all of reality ripped apart.
And with that, her link to it snapped, and
unconsciousness took her.
*************
Deep Space about ten light years from Jurai, Juraiian
Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of
Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926)
People often thought Mihoshi was stupid. They were
right, but also wrong. Mihoshi took eidetic memory to
new heights. People with photographic memory often
were weak at analysis. Mihoshi had this problem greatly
magnified. Mihoshi remembered everything she saw,
heard, smelled, tasted, etc. There wasn't a whole of
space in her brain for doing anything else. She
constantly seemed distracted because she was. Nor was
she capable of tuning down her senses, unlike most
members of her race. It was an unfortunate mutation.
But she also had a benevolent one. A large portion of her
brain was constantly manipulating events around her at
the quantum level to keep her alive. She had ridiculous
amounts of luck. If she could actually focus on the game
instead of the texture of the cards, she would have made
a great poker player.
As it was, she remembered every aspect of
Wasyuu's plan, including where in the Planet Eater the
bomb had to go. She was the only one who could do it. If
the Dirty Pair tried, they'd probably just blow up the
entire system. And she couldn't risk Kiyone. There
wouldn't be anything for Kiyone to do but fret on this
mission, anyway. And it was better that one of them
live.
And if things worked right, she'd get away too.
She'd borrowed Wasyuu's exercise treadmill. She
remembered what Professor Zoom had done, and she was
pretty sure with her new speed, she could do the same
thing. It wasn't even hard; you just ran in place.
She settled down in front of the jump drive controls
on the Planet Bomb, and started adjusting the
coordinates Wasyuu had stated in the planning session to
adjust for the Planet Smasher's movements.
*********
"Are we all ready?" Wasyuu asked.
"Are you sure this is survivable?" Yuri asked again.
"You're a goddess. At worst, you'll be banished to
Heaven for a while," Wasyuu said. "Are you the Kami of
Cowardice or something?"
"HEY!"
Kiyone turned to Mihoshi. "Let's go and...hey!"
Linna looked over there. "Where did Mihoshi go?"
Wasyuu frowned. "Probably went looking for coffee
or..." A sensor gave her a warning. "Something is
activating the Jump Drive on the Planet Bomb!"
Kiyone slapped her forehead. I knew I'd die like
this, she thought. I knew it. "MIHOSHI!"
***********
As the Planet Smasher moved, the necessary Jump
coordinates kept changing, but Mihoshi was now fast
enough to keep up with them. She had to keep punching in
new coordinates as the Jump Engines whirred to life;
normally this would have been incredibly dangerous, but
she could handle it. She felt like a genius for the first
time in her life.
There was a flash of light, and in slow motion,
Yuri, Kei, and a panicked Kiyone began to appear. By the
time they finished, the Jump had begun. Mihoshi shouted,
"No! Go Back! It's too dangerous!"
Why is everyone so slow, she wondered, as they
began to incredibly slowly mouth something at her,
emitting incredibly low and dragged out sounds. Then she
realized; her brain had gone into high gear, and she was
going so fast it made them all really slow. She only had
one choice; grab them all and try to take them with her
on the treadmill.
In a blur she had them, though she struggled to hold
them; she couldn't keep it up long, but ideally, she
wouldn't have to. The treadmill began to blur under her
feet. Faster and faster and faster. Blue light limned her
as she built up speed. Soon, she would hit the speed she
needed. Assuming this worked. No time to back out now.
************
Wasyuu bit Skuld's nails. Skuld smacked her in the
head. "Bite your own nails!"
"I electrified my nails to stop myself from doing
this when I got nervous. But I see you haven't electrified
yours. That raspberry nail polish is pretty nasty tasting,
though," Wasyuu sadi.
Linna said, "I should have gone with them."
"I just hope Ryoko can get the towing fleet out of
the system before it blows up. Or fails to."
The Planet Smasher rocked, then began to tumble
end over end as enough smoke to shroud an entire planet
erupted from its mouth. Its course towards Jurai ceased
and it veered off towards the far distant empty space
between galaxies.
"Well, if the Pair were right about their method of
transit, then they should all be fine," Wasyuu said.
The idea of travelling between points where
destruction was happening seemed a little too dangerous
to Linna. "Is the Planet Smasher dead?"
"It's at least disabled, and by the time Ryouko and
I are done with it, it will be begging for death," Wasyuu
said. "And when they all get back, we can just let the
Pair wander through it. That could finish anything off."
"If they're alive," Linna said.
"They're alive," Wasyuu said. "It wasn't their day
to die."
"I hope you're right," Skuld said. "For once."
"Hey!"
Linna simply let them have it out and went to go
contact Jurai and let them know the threat was over.
*******************
Earth, Geosynchronous Orbit Over Crystal Tokyo, SY 68
(3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome,
Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)
Wiseman floated quietly in his chambers, using his
Orb to commune with his patron, the Death Phantom.
"Will Esmeraude succeed or must I take other measures?"
SHE FAILED. DEMAND WILL NOT LEARN THIS FOR
HOURS, POSSIBLY DAYS, BUT I REMEMBER THE PAST AND I
KNOW SHE FAILED. HOWEVER, THERE ARE TWO GOOD
CANDIDATES TO TAKE HER PLACE IF USED PROPERLY.
He nodded, listening quietly.
THE FIRST IS THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTER. YOU MUST
FIND HER IN THE PAST. SHE BEARS VAST POWER, THOUGH
I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY. TURNED TO SERVE US, SHE
COULD OPEN THE WAY, ONCE YOU ELIMINATE SAILOR MOON
AND HER FRIENDS SO THEY CANNOT STOP YOU.
"And the other?"
YOU WILL FIND HER DRIFTING IN SPACE AT THIS
LOCATION.
An image appeared in the orb.
WHILE SHE IS MORE SUITABLE FOR OUR PURPOSES
THAN THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTER, AS SHE IS ALREADY CLOSER
TO US IN HOW SHE THINKS, SHE LACKS THE RAW POWER OF
THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTER. BUT SHE HAS ALREADY
DEMONSTRATED SHE CAN USE THE CRYSTAL. THIS IS
WHAT YOU MUST DO.
Hollow laughter soon echoed through the vast
crystal chamber.
*************
Demand frowned. Esmeraude kept holding out high
hopes, but...nothing. Rubeus was dead. His four
assistants had gone over to the enemy. Still, at least one
annoyance could soon be removed. The Juraiian
embassy's energy reserves were running out. It was time
to prepare an assault to eliminate them. It would give
them control of the last of the nodes external to the
massive shield around the Palace. Perhaps by
coordinating all that power, they could finally take down
the shield. Or so he hoped. He thought a moment.
"Saffir."
His brother, who had been watching the viewscreen,
which depicted scenes of fighting below in the city,
started. "Yes?"
"The Juraiian embassy should finally be vulnerable
to assault. I want you to lead it. Try to capture the
Crown Prince and his wife alive; they'll make better
hostages than corpses. I have no grudge against Jurai."
Saffir nodded. "Of course. I'll prepare the assault.
I take it we've found a way to drop their shield?"
"They should run out of energy. Don't even think of
attacking unless the shield drops. We can't afford to
waste a single life at this stage."
Saffir stared at his brother, started to speak, then
fell silent.
Demand frowned. "What is it?"
"Perhaps that was the whole idea."
"What?"
"I do not trust the Wiseman. I think he has brought
us here to die. I think we will spend our strength in
endless assaults that gain us nothing. A third of our
forces have been destroyed one way or another, and we
can't even capture Crystal Tokyo. How will we hold the
Earth if we can't even hold one city?"
"Once we control Crystal Tokyo, we will control
everything, for I will finally be able to fulfil my destiny.
Serenity will be freed from Endymion's spell and embrace
her true destiny, with me." Demand's eyes flashed, and
his voice became more excited. "He will die soon; I
overcame him in the duel we fought. He changed the
course of what must be, but I will right it. We will enjoy
the world of our ancestors as is our right. And the
Golden Age will truly begin."
Saffir nodded quietly. He had learned that arguing
with Demand when he got in one of these moods was
simply impossible. You couldn't win. "I will prepare the
assault."
Demand gazed upon Crystal Tokyo and smiled.
Victory comes. I shall sit upon the throne I was destined
to hold, he thought. And then we shall come truly into
our inheritance.
************
Author's note:
Tass.org is being physically moved in the real world, so my up-to-date
Archive for this story is out of touch with reality.
There is a mirror, however,
http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/BMR
John Walter Biles : MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
rhea@tass.org http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/
If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that
was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the
Marring be amended, Manwe and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it,
and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.
--Final Line of The Silmarillion