This is the sequal to Eclipse of the Moon and as such, the whole title
is Really Eclipse of the Moon 2: Purification Day. That is much too long
to put in the subject line.
Chapter 1
Roughly two hours after they went in, Ami and Ryan emerged from the
theater. Just as they stepped into the lobby, Ami raised a hand and
waved. Usagi waved back. Seconds later, Rei, Usagi, Minako, and Makoto
joined the pair. Having just entered the theater and purchased tickets
for a different show, they asked how the other one was.
"It was great. An incredible series of fight scenes, a special effects
budget which would bankrupt China, and a body count equal to triple that
of Total Recall. It was like John Woo at his best!" Ryan appeared quite
enthused. "But if you'll excuse me for a minute, I need to go speak to a
man about a dog."
The girls waited a couple of seconds for him to be gone before they
resumed.
"So, how was it?" Minako asked.
"I'm going to be violently ill. It was shockingly gruesome, showed no
moral value at all, the language would curdle milk, and the closest it
came to a plot was that plot rhymes with shot, which was what happened
to roughly 75% cast, including extras. The details were hopelessly
inaccurate, and the back-story was nonexistent. It was tasteless, bawdy,
and incredibly graphically so. The next time we're attacked by monsters,
I'm going to seriously doubt they'll be able to worry me."
"So the movie was bad. How was the date?" Makoto didn't care about the
movie; she wanted the details that were important.
"I don't really have time to get into all the details--"
"But you will at the meeting next Thursday, right?" Usagi demanded.
"But I will later. Wait, Ryan's coming back." The boy in question
rejoined them, and after a moments further exchange of pleasantries, the
two groups departed.
***
In a Tokyo harbor front dive, three men were deep into their drinks.
The establishment had opened less than an hour ago, and already they
were rapidly approaching absolute intoxication. Drinking a brew entitled
"Death by Rat Poison," they were loosing brain cells at a rate that
usually required severe cranial trauma to achieve.
It was to this scene that a young man burst. His hair and clothing were
dirty and this generally disheveled appearance, when coupled with his
panting, gave the impression that he had just run quite some distance.
This impression would not be wrong.
"The Mother One sank! Han and Phil went down with it and had to be
fished out of the sea by the Self Defense Force!"
A moment of dead silence followed this pronouncement. Finally one of
the men spoke, "You know what this means?"
The other two men both nodded. All three looked at each other for a
long, serious moment.
"Two men went down on yo Mama, and it took the coast guard to save
them."
"Going down on yo Mama was almost fatal."
"Even though they'd both been riding yo Mama for years, she got them in
the end."
"I always said yo Mama was way to big to be sea worthy."
***
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, a human figure strode
across the sea floor. Small pieces of a ship's hull littered the path
behind it.
The figure walked deliberately, paying no attention to the lack of air.
It moved somewhat slowly, but it weighed enough that it could move
across the bottom of the sea without problems from currents or fish. Its
internal compass and GPS system dictated the direction it moved, and
very little could stop it from its goal.
***
The freak lightening storm that had so startled the local
meteorologists had occurred in the middle of the Tokyo, some two hundred
feet over the Japanese National Zoo. The lightning had flared for almost
two minutes before an amorphous blob fell from the middle of it. It
landed in reptile world.
The next day, when the zoo employees of the animal handling variety
came to check up on the lizards, they found a hole in the roof, a dead
alligator, and a plumbing problem. They were baffled.
***
Far into the future, or in the past to some, on a cold and desolate
ball of death, there was a castle. While normally castles are built with
high walls, turrets, and moats, this one lacked all of that. It appeared
to be a hemisphere that had been inserted deep into the ice of the
mountain upon which it was perched. That was not entirely correct, as it
was actually a true sphere. It had been in it's current position for
eons beyond counting, and even the current ruler knew not who, or what,
had made the monolithic structure.
It bore no ingress or portal, the only means of access being either
teleportation or some different, more esoteric form of translocation.
The wall, which enclosed it, was almost twenty feet thick, solid and
without passageways within that span. It was comprised of alloys of
metal that could survive immersion into pure plasma flows unscathed.
There were layers of pure silicon and carbon, bonded together so that
the entire shell was one single molecule. Some layers were warded and
enchanted to such an extent that the magic which pulsed therein would be
visible from far planets, were it not ensorcelled with runes of deepest
concealment. The entire structure could withstand impacts and assaults
beyond the imagination of most men, and in fact the structure had once
withstood an entire planet's detonation with nary even a scratch.
Only two people knew the full extent of the protection. One had known
of their extent for years beyond counting. Now even she took it for
granted. As she strode the halls with her companion, she imparted onto
him the knowledge of their surroundings.
"Isn't all that a bit much?" He was slightly taken aback but didn't
show it.
"Yes, it is. However, Serenity chose it because it is the most
fortified fortress in the solar system. It is necessary to guard the
most dangerous thing there is, after all," the woman and ruler of the
fortification replied. She called it her Citadel, and since there was
none other to lay claim to it, so was it written on the few maps which
marked its existence.
"Whatever. So where do I sleep?"
"You will use one of the secondary bedrooms."
"Damn."
The tall woman turned and smiled slightly. "There will certainly be
nothing of that nature. Not while you're undergoing treatment."
The man smiled slightly at the very large amount left unsaid and slid
it into the "Oh please, oh please, oh please" section of his mental
filing cabinet. He was silent about it though. "Why are you taking care
of my treatment personally though? Couldn't you just have Serenity
'cure' the problem outright?"
"True. But that would not prevent you from backsliding at all. This way
I'll be able to personally watch over you and make sure you stay to the
straight and narrow."
The man's heart leapt, and he was unable to keep himself from bursting
into a grin. "But my dear lady, you will only be able to do that so long
as I remain here."
The woman smiled slightly and ran her hand through long, dark hair.
"After your treatment ends, and you are completely cleansed of that
poison, you may stay or go at your own determination. What you do then
is not under my control."
"Oh yes!"
"I take it you may be staying with me?" The woman smiled faintly.
She was wearing high black boots and fair, white gloves. Her hair,
eyes, and the trim on all of her clothing were shadowed, in many cases
black. Her steps were measured and confident, as if she was used to
being completely in command and ready. She exuded an air of power. She
looked dark and reserved.
"After all the shit I've done for you, you're damn straight I will."
A moment later they resumed walking. The woman, while her expression was
full of self-possession and control, was inwardly mildly surprised
again. While she knew how strong the man's emotions for her were, it
took her by surprise that after everything she had done to him, every
bit of pain he went through for her, all the uncountable number of
curses he leveled against her and everything connected to her, all she
had to do was show the slightest bit of return affection and he would
react so strongly. It made her feel unworthy and not a small bit guilty
that such tenderness was directed at her. She began to wonder if perhaps
there was more truth to "Love conquers all" than she had previously
thought.
"I'm not promising anything mind you! I very well may get irritated
with you and ask you too leave. You may get sick of me-" There was a
derisive snort at that. "-and leave on your own. It may just not work
out. But, because of everything that has happened, I will give you a
chance," Pluto tried her best to downplay her announcement.
He companion, who looked like he could very easily be walking on air
right now, either didn't notice or didn't care.
"There will be two conditions, by the way."
"You need someone killed?"
"No."
"Blown up?"
"No."
He shot her a very lecherous look.
"No! You need to make peace with your mother."
It was as if his whole supply of happiness had just been poisoned. His
face took on a hard, bitter cast for a moment before being masked with a
scowl. "Maybe. Maybe. But not now. Not for a very, very long time."
"It is one of my conditions. But fine, not necessarily right now. Now
come with me, there is still much to show you." And Sailor Pluto, Senshi
of Time, walked of.
The man was dressed in black. All black. Black dripped from him like a
ten man Goth party at night. His steps were as measured as his
companion's, but because he almost instinctively expected something to
leap out and try to kill him. He looked like the type of person who was
so used to living in the dangerous criminal underground he had to do no
more than look at someone before he could tell you their occupation,
whether or not they were wanted, favorite line of criminal employ, and
weapon of choice. He radiated an air of menace and controlled lethality.
The pair of oversized handguns he carried did nothing to reduce this
image.
The man grimaced as if he had a foul taste in his mouth. "Bloody hell,"
He spat distastefully before hurrying on to join her. Cyanide apparently
had residual anger issues.
He didn't realize at all that she had only mentioned one of the
conditions.
***
"TWO! Out of the thirty four we sent!? Only two made it?" Diamond raged
at the small man before him. It was looking like there was about to be
violence and pain.
"Well, actually four. The only problem is one landed two months too
late and spent three hundred years in the ice age before its battery
died. The other appeared a hundred miles off course." The small, pale
man, who was currently receiving the full wrath of Prince Diamond, was
really not cut out for this. His chosen profession was that of a bookie.
He had almost no political training at all, and thus was unprepared for
the might of a raging prince.
"One of the others showed up two hundred miles of course! Why didn't
the other one make it!?"
"That one was to the east. The failure showed up a hundred miles too
high. By the time it landed, friction had already burned off all its
skin, and it was falling much faster than normal terminal velocity. I'm
told the explosion was quite spectacular."
"Oh."
"I have it on tape!"
"VHS?"
"Yes, milord."
"Very well. I guess I'll let you live."
The bookie sighed very deeply.
"Just kidding. Annihilation it is."
"AHHHH!" The diminutive bookie screamed like a woman and curled up in a
fetal position in one corner, awaiting his impending demise.
"Got you."
Diamond started to laugh, and the rest of the court joined in. The
bookie peaked up, realized his life was not about to expire, and leapt
to his feet. It took him only two seconds to run out of the Great Hall.
After the laughter had died down, there was some silence in the hall.
Diamond began to speak again. "Very well, that is the situation.
Everyone who placed bets on any numbers but 12 and 29 are now forfeit.
Brundizium, take over."
Brundizium, Royal Odds Setter and Imperial Bookie, stepped forward and
took center stage. "Lords and Ladies, the standing's are as follows.
Number 12, model T-101, landed some two hundred miles east and is
currently proceeding across the ocean floor to the targets. Number 29,
model T-1000, landed somewhere in Tokyo and the current location is
unknown. Odds are three to one on 12 and two to one on 29. Place your
bets, and make sure the energy level is worth my time."
Following this, everyone stepped forward and wagered. The T-101, having
already proved its worth, had a slight lead but not much.
"Hey! What are the odds on neither?" Came a voice from the back.
"1,000 to 1."
Everyone paused and turned around. Walking slowly into the main hall
was Lord Pyrite. Pyrite was short but handsome in his way. He possessed
a keen wit and cold, calculating observational mind. It was he who had
figured out the plan that let the Black Moon Family again gain access to
the Terminators. He just had one little problem.
"I'll put everything on neither." He was a gambling fiend. The only
reason he still lived was he had so many debtors they couldn't agree
within themselves who got him after he died. His debt was way past his
eyebrows.
"Everything on neither." Brundizium marked down the wager.
There were calls and applause from the assembled nobility. The general
sentiment was, "Going out with a bang?"
"Only way to clear my name!" He called back.
The Black Moon Family had found a new game. Death sports, with betting
on the side.
***
In the depths of the Negaverse, evil was stirring. If this was a
surprise to anyone, they did not know the Negaverse that well. Twenty
billion years from now, when all life is nothing but single celled
organisms, the single celled organisms in the Negaverse will be plotting
evil against everything else.
This evil, however, was new and different. It was rapidly gaining power
as it collected the dark energy which profused the Dark Kingdom.
Shortly, with a mighty blast of power, it burst free from the chains
that kept it bound in that lightless world and stepped out into the
world of Earth.
More specifically, it stepped straight into the part of Earth that was
closest to the Negaverse, Antarctica. It fell twenty feet and smashed
face first into a glacier. Muttering profusely, it rose and looked
around. Ice, snow, ice, rock, ice, and occasional frost surrounded it.
It had a long and difficult journey before it,
***
There are several places on earth that just attract bizarre events.
Theories behind why any given spot is so chosen are thrown out and
rejected constantly. New York, Paris, and Tokyo have the shear size and
population advantage. Eyer's Rock, Stonehenge, and Easter Island are
deep and mysterious by nature. The South Pole and Himilaya Mountains are
both so inhospitable that the average evil overlord would love to build
a retreat there.
However, some locals seem to have no reason at all. Pure random chance
has appearently decided that they need a strong dose of fantastic and
alien occurrences every other day. These are the most confusing of all.
Two Fingers Rock was none of the above. In the seventy million years
that had passed since it was thrown up by tides and tectonic plates, the
single weirdest thing ever was a seagull with red feathers.
It was populated by a four men and two women. All one family, they
fished for a living. They were nominally subservient to a small nation,
which was comprised of several other islands. They paid no taxes and
served no government though. For all intents and purposes, they were
their own little country.
Thus when a naked man walked out of the ocean, across their front yard,
down the path, and straight back into the ocean, without speaking, they
had no one to call. Not that they had a phone to do any calling with
anyway.
The children spent a lot of time persuading their parents they hadn't
been out in the sun too long that day.
***
Mitori Ryan was sitting in his room, soft music in the background, with
an open economics book on his lap. He had a pad of paper positioned on
his left leg and was absently drawing highly insulting depictions of his
teachers in it. The single floor lamp in the corner was turned off; all
illumination was being provided by the open bay window. It was two days
after his psuedo-date with Ami.
"Finally finished. Never liked that subject too much anyway," was said
as "Founding Principles of Economic Growth" got carefully returned to a
green school bag. Ryan arched his back, cracked his neck, and turned
back to the school bag. "Hmm. Math is finished, Econ's done, English did
not have homework, Cram school isn't till tomorrow, Classical Japanese
is done, History and Physics were both done in school, Computers is a
joke, and Art was canceled. That leaves PE. Sensei wants us to do
something, anything, athletic, so I guess I'll get the crew and hit the
park."
Ryan pulled on some relaxing clothes and checked a clock. It was seven
now, so he had about two hours for some relaxation. He made his way
downstairs, checked in with his mother, and grabbed a couple of cookies.
He opened to door to find himself staring straight at Minako. She lived
down the street from him and joined in the games occasionally. She
hadn't been around in a while, though.
"Hi!" She greeted him, brimming over with good cheer.
"Hello. What brings you here?"
"I was looking for you actually."
"Oh. Sure."
At this point Ryan's little brother stuck his head out the door and
looked at Minako. She smiled.
"Ryan's talking to a girl!" He squealed and ran back inside as fast as
his six year old legs would carry him. "Ryan's got a girlfriend!"
Faintly the sounds of a song could be heard. A moment later his sister
also joined in. Ryan sighed.
"I'll never hear the end of this. Come on." And he led her down the
stairs to the street.
There he found Ami and several of her friends. A tall girl,
Makoto was her name, was leaning against a wall talking to a shorter
black haired girl. Rei? Something Rei? Tsukino Usagi, someone who came
by to visit Minako somewhat frequently was munching on a bag of popcorn.
Ami was just standing on sidewalk, waiting.
"Got him!" Minako declared as they joined the other four.
Usagi pulled her face out of her popcorn and smiled. "Hi. We were on
our way out to the mall and wondered if you wanted to come along?"
"Sure. Why not. Lead the way." Ryan replied as he fell in with them.
The six of them walked off.