It only took the two a couple of minutes to reach the edge of the floating
island. Stopping, the Chosen pointed roughly straight ahead.
"The next portal is that way."
"How do you know?"
He looked at her, dead serious. "I can feel it."
She accepted that with some private reservation, then asked him the next
question percolating through her mind. "All right, how do you propose
to get from this island to the next."
Good question, she thought, congratulating herself for it, then
groaning. The floating rock seemed to float on nothing. Below it, a
very long drop led to a surface very much like the sky. Mina was sure
she did not want to fall that way. And the next island, though not
very far, was beyond even her scout enhanced jumping ability.
The man smiled. "We take the bridge." He answered simply, pointing to the
right. And there it was, a narrow woven road crossing the abyss. She
wondered who put it up, and how, then had to follow her companion who
did not wait for her as usual. She was beginning to get annoyed at him
for that.
It took them another few minutes to reach the bridge, then again as
much time to cross it. At the apex, she looked down and thanked
whatever powers may be that she was not afraid of heights. Not since
her near death when she fell off that radio tower. She crossed
quickly, then followed the strange man.
For a while, they walked in silence. Though he had told her he would
explain, the man did not seem very excited at the idea. If she did not
know better, she would have though that he was avoiding conversation by
staying a few steps ahead. Mina caught herself on that thought. She
did *not* know him better, or at all for that matter. Which is why she
needed him to answer her questions. With a few quick steps, she caught
up with him. Now what?, she asked herself as she looked at him
carefully for the first time.
His face held no expression at all, as if it was made from stone,
completely impersonate. No, she reflected, that was not quite right.
Something in the way his features came together suggested he might be
upset at something, but she could not be sure.
His gi, which she took to be simple material at first, seemed more
that . It was... she paused, thinking of some quality that
corresponded, then getting it. It was leathery in some way, though
obviously not made out of leather. Almost as if it was much stronger
than it appeared.
Across his back, two swords and a knife were hung in some sort of
harness. The knife seemed to be the one he threw, and Mina wondered how
he managed to recover it without her noticing. The swords, like the
rest of him, seemed to be stronger than they appeared, more than just
ordinary steel. She wondered why he had not used them in the fight.
She continued down, scanning him. His pants seemed to be made out of
the same material, as well as his shoes. She almost giggled, realizing
that either Ami was wrong, or he decided that he should put something
on his feet for this venture. Still, the material seemed the same as
his clothes, too soft to really protect him but stronger than it seemed.
Mina realized that she was missing something, a nagging feeling that
went up and down her spine. Something was not quite right... And then
she looked at the top of the gi again. Of course. The suit had been
torn, she had seen him cut it with his knife to expose his gills. Now
nowhere was there a trace of the cut, as if the material was always
whole. Did it mend by itself?
"Yes, it has healed." The sudden words startled her a bit. She had
not been aware that he observed her looking at him, and was taken back
a bit. But in turning to answer her unspoken question, his opposite
arm got in her view, and she noticed the burn wound he got in the last
fight. The gi was still torn there, and the flesh that was revealed
seemed well cooked.
"You're hurt." The words escaped her before she realized how obvious that
was.
He glanced at himself, seemingly surprised, scrutinizing the black
line. "It's not bad. Just a minor case of Nephlyte syndrome." He added
with a slight smile.
Nephlyte syndrome? She mouthed, not comprehending.
Seeing, he explained. "Didn't the scouts tell you? You know, Nephlyte
got a cut on his arm while protecting Molly. Later Hercules got it,
and apparently it has been spreading."
Oh.. Of course, they had told her about that. Nephlyte was wounded
protecting his girlfriend, Molly... She paused, running down the
ramifications of the metaphor, then continued her chain of thought.
Then he had gotten killed for Molly. She wondered just how far that
simile went, then decided to drop it.
"Um, do you need something to bandage it with?"
He looked her over and answered with a slight twinkle in his eyes.
"You don't seem to have an overabundance of cloth to make tourniquets
out of."
Suddenly, she was reminded that she was still in her scout uniform
which was not particularly concealing.
Thankfully, seeing her predicament, he relented. "No, I don't need a
bandage. It's not bad, almost healed."
She knew that no one could heal that fast, but was thankful
nevertheless. And she felt a bit less uncomfortable, so she pressed
on. "Um... you said you would explain what you did back there. And
could you tell me what other powers you have? And could you tell me
what I can call you, except for 'Chosen'? I can think of more a more
awkward name, but it would take a while." He smiled at the gush of
questions.
"All right, all right." He put up his hands in a surprisingly human
gesture. "I'm afraid that for now, 'Chosen' will have to do." She
sighed, frustrated, but at least he had suggested that there might be
another name. "And the answer to the first two needs a bit of
background, I think, in order to be comprehensible."
"I don't exactly have anywhere else to go." Mina said, trying to
imitate his slightly ironic tone of voice.
He nodded, then paused for a while as they walked on. The particular rock
island they were on was a large one, and Mina did not see how they
could cross it without stopping to rest.
"To every creature, there are three main types of powers available,
that he, she, or it can use. There are exceptions but that is true for
everyone I know of who exists today save one. But *He* is a special
case." Again, Mina noticed him emphasizing the word 'He', with an
undertone of bitterness. He continued, unmindful of her thoughts. "The
powers that one can use can come from three places, that's how I
classify them anyway. The first is what one *is*, the second what one
*becomes* and the third what one can *use*."
Mina did not understand, at least not to any satisfactory extent, but
at least he was talking.
"By the way, when I am talking about power, I mean anything. What you
call science, what you would call magic, whatever, they are all part of
this." He paused, letting her assimilate that, then went on. "As I
said, the first major source is what one is. The powers that one is
born with, the different strength and abilities. So every human has
certain physical and mental attributes that are specific to that
person. But it can be more than that. Take people with whom you are
familiar with as examples. Ami is a genius whether as a scout or as a
schoolgirl. Rei has certain spiritual strengths, her affinity with the
flame is an inborn power that has been tuned to a very good level.
Lita is a good fighter. And so on, every person has his own individual
makeup of strengths."
Mina wondered how he knew all of this, then wondered if being a scout was
something one was born with. Somehow, she could not quite remember
anything from the Silver Millennium that dealt with that. In fact, she
thought, distracted, she did not remember many things from the
Millennium, her memory was foggy at best.
"The second major source is what one becomes. That does not mean
practicing or tuning what one has, that is part of the first power.
The second is basically what powers you are given by others. You," he
said suddenly, startling her a bit by addressing her directly, "have
been chosen as the sailor representative of the planet Venus. As a
result of that, you have been granted certain powers that have been
ingrained in you until you are virtually inseparable from them.
Nevertheless, those powers are not something you had before you became a
scout, and it would be possible, though difficult to remove them. The
rest of the scouts, except for the Princess," Mina was surprised by his
use of her formal title, "who is not actually a scout. She does
receive power from the Imperium Silver Crystal, but that's only a
portion of what she really has."
He took another deep breath before continuing. Mina noticed that the
air was getting chilly, and her uniform was not exactly good for
protecting against cold. And she feared to change back to her more
warm regular attire because of the danger of attack. Not that her
light spring clothes would do her much good. Steadying herself against
the cold, she listened.
"The third power is that which is available to all, with the correct
knowledge of how to use it. Science, an extremely powerful tool, falls
under that category. A lot of what you might call magic can be called
up by anyone at all, had they the knowledge and ability. I suppose
that in some ways, the powers of the planets could be considered that,
as anyone could use them with the correct tools... " He paused,
thinking about something. "No, you have to be given the power, it is
impossible to draw upon otherwise. Usually." He paused for so long
that she wondered if he was finished.
She tried to assimilate all of that, but her mind blanked, questions
coming out faster than ideas coming in. "Wait... what about Serena's
powers? You said those were different."
He smiled. Mina wondered at the way his features changed from
impassivity to irony with such ease, with the slightest movement of his
lips. She seemed to know what he was feeling from the slightest
movements of his face, as if she was long familiar with his mannerisms.
Shaking her head, she ignored the idea, listening to him. "The Princess
is a different case. Her powers have been passed down from generation
to generation. They are genetic, and therefore cannot be tinkered
with. So her powers are inborn and fall under the first category. " He
paused, then added somewhat apologetically. "The divisions are
rather arbitrary, but they work. At least most of the time," he qualified.
Wait, damn you, she swore slightly in her mind, then chided herself
for doing so. Something was not quite right. Oh yes! "If her powers
are her own, how come she needs to use her scepter or her wand to
attack?" Gotcha, she thought with triumph.
He just smiled. "Who says she does?"
She looked at him for a few seconds, decided he was serious, thought
about what he just said and decided he was joking. She got tangled up
in her own thoughts then after a while and did not want to think about
it any more. They continued on in silence, until she remembered her
original questions. "Wait! You never did answer me! What was it that
you did back there? And what powers do you have?" Finally, some
answers that make sense. Or at least ones that might make sense.
He sighed. "All right. Basically, I rally have only one power-" One
power? More like ten, Mina thought to herself, but he was already going
on. "-that is in the first category. I control energy. Basically, I
can drain the energy out of something and use it for something else,
though I can not use it for my own metabolism, I have to release it in
some form." He shrugged. "More's the pity." Then his tone darkened.
"And then I have the second power, the power of the *Chosen*. Most
of it I can not use yet, and will not be able to use until the time,
but as of now, it enhances my current powers to a large extent. For
example, I can drain something completely, even to the actual matter,
the bonds between the atoms and the atoms themselves. In fact.. " He
paused, looking down, searching for something. In a moment, he bent down,
picking up a loose rock about the size of his fist.
Gripping it tightly, he concentrated, stopping and closing his eyes.
She could see his fist clench around the gray stone, then started to
feel some sort of strange energy. Then, before her eyes, the stone
disintegrated- it became cloaked in light, then simply disappeared.
Chosen.. she ordered herself to think of him by the name he told her..
Chosen seemed to continue to concentrate. He brought up his other arm
and clenched it. A similar shimmer appeared in it, and in a moment the
rock was there.
"How?"
He smiled, somewhat tensely as he let the rock drop to the ground. "I
turned it all into energy, then returned it to matter. I can, in
theory, do it with larger objects, but it is considerably more
difficult. As you could see, even that was a strain." He shrugged
suddenly relaxing. "Not very useful, I know, but kind of cool....
Anyway, that's all for magical powers, largely."
Huh? "Wait a second, wait a second. That does not explain things,
not by a long shot!" She paused, gathering her thoughts. "What about
the gills?"
"Oh, that's... um... I am actually not sure where that would belong.
Probably in the first and third categories. Basically, every person
has gills when he.. or she- "he added with a slight smile, "-is in the
womb. I just used science and some self control to make them
resurface, and relocated them to my ribs. Also, I used some things to
improve my sight, for example, and a bit of hearing. Not much in the
way of smell, though."
"Wait, how can you do all of that?"
He looked at her earnestly in the eye. "How much biology have you had?"
Surprised with the question, she wracked her brain. "Um... the
introductory course a couple of years ago, and now one, but we are
still doing bio-chem."
He smiled. "Then it'll take too long to explain. It works though. Q.E.D."
"Uh.. what?" Mina thought about that, a vague memory of something in her math
class surfacing.
"That has been demonstrated."
I bet Ami would have no trouble, Mina thought to herself, immediately
reprimanding her for jealousy. OK... what else? The scout tried to
remember. "Then what about the other two? The one you beat up at a
distance and the one who was whimpering. That's some power, isn't it?"
Without any transition, he saddened. The look in his eyes almost
resembled pain as he answered. "That is not exactly a power." He said
heavily. "You might have heard the expression 'the eyes are the windows
to the soul'." Seeing her agree, he continued. "That expression dates
to before the current time, it was in use even during the Silver
Millennium. And it was much more true then than it is now. For most
people on Earth today, the eyes can tell, often, how old the person
is. But because few people live to be over a hundred, there is little
impact in that."
"In my case, on the other hand..." He sighed. "If I release control,
if I let my essence show through and manipulate it somewhat, I can do a
lot of things with it. I can hypnotize creatures pretty easily, though
not everyone. And.." Again he paused, as if he was not sure he wanted
to tell her of this, then went on." And if I want, I can overwhelm
someone with a millennium's worth of experience." In some way, he
looked relieved that he said it.
A *millennium*? Mina's mind tried to grasp what it would be like to life
that long, failing completely. She knew that in some ways she was several
thousands of years old, but that did not count since she had been...
dead?... at least not there during that time. But to live for a
thousand years? And what kind of experience would overwhelm the
hardened soul of a Negaverse warrior? She looked at him with new
respect, and perhaps a bit of fear.
A gust of wind went around them, chilling her. She clutched at that,
trying to get out of the previous line of conversation. "Why is it so
cold here, anyway?"
He did not seem to hear her, his mind seemed too far away but he answered.
"It's the bubbles universes. They came from nothing, and are only heated
enough for a creature to survive for a period of time. It would be too
expensive energy-wise to make it warmer."
Suddenly, she felt very tired. Her knees buckled, and she started to
fall. When she realized she did not hit the ground, she tried to figure
out what happened. He... she searched for a name yet again.. Chosen
was holding her up by her arm.
"Um.. sorry, I guess I was more tired that I thought." With an effort,
she got back to her feet.
He frowned, but seemed understanding. "Well, it is night back in Tokyo. We
should find some place to rest for a while."
They made their way to an outcropping of rock nearby, one that would
hide them from all directions. Out of somewhere on his gi, he produced
a cloak which he spread out on the ground.
Smiling gratefully, she sank down on the soft fabric, which seemed
much warmer than it's thinness would have suggested. After a moment's
hesitation, he lied down beside her.
She closed her eyes as she tried to relax.
* * *
The dark cavern was silent. In one corner, the girls and their
guardians hung limply. The three scouts had managed to enter a fitful
sleep as did the cats, though their guardian feline senses were
constantly assaulted by evil feelings. Serena was still in her stupor,
unable to break free, staring into space as if there was something
specific she was looking at.
The Lord sat on his throne waiting. Patience was a virtue he had
built up over eons, but it was a patience that extended only to
certain things. He did not even mind the boredom so much, he had
complex plans that needed thought, plans for he domination of the
Universe. A shadow, the one that usually guarded the entrance came in.
"What is it?" For once his voice was calm, though it still carried
unsubtle threats of hostility.
The shadow seemed to fear to reply, but it could not disobey it's
lord. Still, its voice quavered a bit as it delivered its report.
"Someone has broken through the Gamma gate. The security has been
breached on both sides, the two star-attackers and the blastweaver are
assumed lost."
To the shadow's confusion, its Master seemed to smile. So I was right,
the Lord thought to himself. Now all I have to do is wait. He will
surely break through the Beta gate, and the Alpha gate... suddenly he
remembered Kaneth, and something clicked.
"Where is Kaneth?"
"My Lord, he has been observed entering his quarters. A shadow, the
one he lied to followed him, but did not emerge." The guard paused,
hesitating at the next question, but had to press on. "Is it possible
that Kaneth could have defeated a *shadow*?" The way the guard said it
put across the disbelief it had at any normal creature defeating one
like it.
"Do not be naive! Of course he destroyed it! Do you not remember the
material *Maraki*?"
The shadow was taken aback at this. "Of course I remember. The...
universals-"the generic term for anyone from the Universe "-used
blades covered with it to fight us shadows. And the Chosen is reputed
to have a staff of the same material." And my sword is made of it as
well, the Lord thought to himself while the guard continued. "But I had
thought that all of that cursed material had been destroyed."
It was really a pity, how shadows believed in their immortality, the Lord
thought to himself. "Of course not. Kaneth's four blades, the two
swords and the two knives are covered with the crystal. I am sure
there is more, both lost to us and wielded by people who know not its
powers. Kaneth's blades were probably covered with it for strength,
Maraki is almost indestructible. It has the unfortunate side effect of
being able to destroy *us* as well." To the surprise of the guard, the
Shadow seemed to include himself in that statement. "But it does not
matter."
The shadow was surprised at that, but did not protest. Going against
the word of the Shadow meant death, and not a very pleasant kind.
"Yes," the Lord repeated, seeing hesitation, "it does not matter. Give a
message to Kaneth. He is to guard the other side of Alpha gate, and
not to let the Chosen through. If he does... well, he will not survive
the fight if he loses." And he will lose, of course. Even if by some
chance, he happens to win, so much the better. The Shadow's thoughts
held no remorse.
The guard knew the message meant death, for no one could beat the
Chosen save the Dark Lord himself. But Kaneth deserved it, and so it
left, pleased at its orders.
The scouts slept fitfully, oblivious to the events taking shape around
them.
* * *
On Earth, in a temple in Tokyo, three figures were also asleep, though
not very well. Grandpa fidgeted, disturbed by his inability to focus
his fire, and could not keep still despite his deep meditation. Darian
turned from side to side on the floor, unable to get the image of
Serena dying out of his dreams. Greg was no better off, unable to
remain asleep for long without waking up from some horrible feeling-
then not knowing what it was all about.
While the city slept the easy slumber of the ignorant around them, the
three people who needed rest most could not get it.
* * *
Mina, too, could not fall asleep.
Despite the protection of the black cloth she was shivering, freezing
in the temperature, but her insomnia was caused by more than that.
The air stung her lungs, being rarefied and somehow evil, but it was
more than even that.
She felt *unsafe*.
Unlike her home, where she could tune out the outside world with the walls
around her, this place had no such defense. The rock on which she lay
was hard and the small outcropping of rocks that seemed to hide them
from view looked insufficient now that she was on the ground. The
wind, almost silent when she had been talking to her strange companion
now seemed to howl like a pack of wolves. Strange sounds assailed her
ears, like enemies coming to attack her, strange creatures that would
bite... She tried not to think about what could happen to her, failing
miserably.
And then there was the sky, somewhat obscured by the rocks, but still well
visible. Swirling around, sucking her in, never letting go. Pulling
at the tightly stretched fabric of her soul until she thought she would
tear.
Silently, she looked at her companion, hoping he would wake up.
To her surprise, he did. Opening his eyes as if he never closed them, he
smiled at her, turning his head to do so. Immediately, she seemed to feel
warmer, and...safe? Why would she feel safe? She did not try to
analyze her feelings, but instead just looked at him, hoping he
wouldn't close his eyes. And even more, she started to wish-
He suddenly turned over to his side, facing her, and extending his arm
towards her. She looked at him for a moment, wondering if he read her
mind, then decided it did not matter. Gratefully, she took the
invitation, snuggling between his arm and his side, breathing in the
smell of the black fabric of his gi. It smelled slightly of sweat, but
not really offensive, just enough to be pleasant. He closed his arm
about her, drawing her in tight, then let his chin rest on the top of
her head. She had the distinct impression that he smiled as he closed
his eyes.
After a few minutes she, too, relaxed. She could not quite put a
finger on it, but this felt so *right* in some way. And she was no
longer afraid. Breathing in his smell, she drifted off to the reprieve
of sleep.
After he was sure that she was sleeping, he opened his eyes.
<She is asleep.>
<I know>, came the answer somewhat annoyed,< I'm coming.>
The white light appeared over the sleeping forms. Mina rearranged
herself, trying to shield her eyes, but the light toned down before
she woke up.
<Thank you. She needs the rest.> The man looked at the silent light for a
moment. <Did you hear the conversation?>
<Of course. You are lucky she did not ask about the rose. Now *that*
would have been difficult to explain.>
The Chosen smiled at Guardian's relief, then decided to tease the
creature a bit. <We are even luckier that she did not ask about you.>
The light did not respond. Instead, its focus shifted slightly to
encompass Mina. It was Guardian's way of looking at something when he
wanted you to know he was looking at it. The Chosen sighed,
anticipating what would come next. <You know that you should not do
that. You are making her an even greater target.>
<And you know that->
<Sigh..> Despite the mental communication, the concept of annoyance came
across quite sharply.< I do understand what you are going through, and
I will not interfere. There is nothing you could do otherwise, even
though you know what this is doing. Just remember that in the end, you
want her as far away as possible.> The Guardian paused. <I will go.
She is not the only one who needs rest, you need to regenerate and sleep.>
The light vanished, leaving the Chosen staring at the sky beyond. After
a few minutes he, too, fell asleep.
* * *
Waking when something was up was a very useful ability, one that he had
cultivated over a long period of time. As a result, the transition time
between him being asleep and alert was very small. He had also
cultivated the habit of staying still when waking up in a strange way
since in a strange situation it is often beneficial to make others
around you think you are still unaware.
Nevertheless, the way the Chosen woke up came as a surprise.
Mina was kissing him, her soft lips working against his.
He forced himself not to move, ordering his body to stay still. For a few
moments, he allowed himself that, allowed her to continue, but he knew
he could not afford this. With an inward sigh, he proceeded to let her
know that he was waking, opening his eyes and looking at her from a
distance of two inches.
Suddenly snapping out of her dazed state, Mina pulled back, a flush
developing on her cheeks. What had happened?, she wondered. She
remembered waking up slowly, still in a bit of a dream state and-.. ?
She knew she was in his arms, and it seemed very natural to simply
reach up and kiss him.
She shook her head slightly, trying to untangle her feelings.
Meanwhile, he was saying something. It seemed to take a long time for
it to penetrate the confused region of her mind and reach her hearing
center, but it finally did and she tried to concentrate on what he was
saying.
"I can't think of a more pleasant way to wake up." She looked up to
see him smiling at her, and thought she could feel the skin on her face
begin to actually burn. She reached up with a hand to make sure her
face was still in one piece, her fingers reassuring that the surface
was not hot enough to start a fire. Quite.
Then she thought about what happened, trying to keep her emotions in
check. He was right, it had been rather pleasant. She wondered why he
had no morning breath, but quickly dismissed that as irrelevant and
rather childish.
He got up smoothly, offering her his hand. A part of her mind noticed
something strange about his arm, but most of the rest of her was still in
confusion, so the problem disappeared. She grasped the offered arm
gratefully, and he raised her to her feet, looking around as her head
rose above the rock outcroppings to see if anything had changed.
It hadn't.
The sky seemed in a bit of a different formation, the light subtly
altered, but basically nothing had varied. They were still on a bleak
island floating in the middle of thin air, or something similar to air.
"Are you hungry?"
The words took time to penetrate, something that the scout was not
used to. She was still very confused at her awakening, and perhaps even
more so at his reaction. She remembered that he said something and
waited for the words to reach the conscious part of her mind. Once
they did, she was surprised, because she wasn't actually hungry. Well,
she was, but not nearly as much as she expected herself to be. "Um..
not too bad." She answered, slightly confused. The emotion was
becoming familiar to her, she was spending most of her time with him
in it.
He noticed her surprise, and answered her silent question. "I believe
that as a sailor scout, you can go for long periods of time without
eating, but it is not recommended." He reached into a pouch she had
not noticed before and pulled out a flask and something in a wrapper,
offering to her.
She looked at him, not accepting whatever it was quite yet. "What
about you?"
"I am good for a while yet. Go ahead."
She was slightly dubious, but he seemed in no discomfort. So she took
the two objects, an idle portion of her mind wondering if he were
trying to poison her. The thought was dismissed for several reasons,
the least of which was that he had many chances before, much less
chancy. Artemis had told her that a scout was very difficult to kill
with biohazards. Strangely, that reason was not the most important,
the fact that she was comfortable with him seemed to count for
much more. She shrugged mentally at her thoughts, opening the package.
The wrapper turned out to contain some sort of candy bar, which
satisfied her hunger much more than she felt possible from something
that small. The flask contained clean water that refreshed her. After
a while, her mind cleared, then the something that bothered her before
suddenly hit her. His cut had healed. She stared at it from close
range, and there seemed to be no mark, not even a tear in the
clothing. He seemed to ignore her stare studiously, so she did not
ask. He had mentioned that he healed fast at one point, but she did
not expect it to be this effective.
Drinking about half, she offered the flask back, but he declined.
"Leave it." With a certain pride, Mina noticed that she had not
betrayed her surprise. Perhaps after enough times being astonished, a
person gets used to it, she thought with an inward smile. "We will not
need it again," he finished.
He paused while she finished the water and set it down, then seemed to
change his manner to a more serious one.
"All right. The next portal is several kilometers that way." He
pointed in the direction they were going before. "I think it is on the
next island, so we might have to bridge another gap." She barely
stopped herself from groaning. "After that, the next portal should be
fairly close, and it should be the last one.
"The last one before what?" Mina asked, hooking on to the last thing
he said.
He took a deep breath. "Before the Negaverse."
"The Negaverse?" She took a cautious step back.
"Your friends are there. And He is there. We have to go and save them."
"The scouts? In the Negaverse?" That was bad news, but he had already
told her of this once, she remembered. At the time, everything was
too hurried for her to really be surprised. "And who is this 'He' you
keep talking about?"
He looked her in the eyes. "I will tell you. I promise." The way he
said it almost made her believe that it was the truth. But somewhere,
deep inside, a voice told her not to believe that. Then another voice
told her to believe anything he says, so the two argued while he
finished. "For now, 'He' is the one who has the scouts.'
"Then what are we waiting for? Come on."
She set out at a good pace, and he followed, somewhat bemused.
* * *
Kaneth stood silently, watching the limited horizon. Or at least where a
horizon would be if he was able to see that far. As it was, the
murkiness of the atmosphere created a constant smog that made it
impossible to distinguish anything farther than two hundred yards away
or so. He sighed to himself as he made sure of his position.
He was standing several yards away from Alpha gate, the gate that lead
to the Negaverse. On his back, the four blades gleamed in their
sheathes, ready for use. He knew he would have adequate time to draw
them when the Chosen came and-...
And then he would die.
He knew that, and there was nothing he could do about it. Or rather,
there were things he could do, but nothing he would do. He would not
run away to betray people and their trust. And he would not disobey a
direct order from a sworn overlord.
Even thought you have done that once, a voice inside him reminded him.
He did not move, standing in a relaxed stance, waiting for something
to happen, watching for the one who could beat him.
At least he would die with honor.
He took what comfort he could from that.
* * *
First, they were running across a seemingly endless stretch of bare
rock, then, without transition, they had reached the edge. They had
been walking for hours, Mina wondering if it was evening back home
again when the rocky soil ended as it did with the previous floating
island. The island simply cut off at an angle greater than ninety
degrees, actually going back from the edge as if they were on an
inverted cone. Wondering how they would get across the gap,
she looked for another bridge.
There was none. "How do we get across this one?"
Another good question. The next island was actually closer, the gap
not quite as wide as the one that they used the bridge for. The other
island was slightly lower than the one they were on, so that it almost
seemed that they could jump from one to the other. But Mina knew that
was an illusion, not even she could jump that far.
Or could she?
"Look." She suddenly realized that he was pointing toward the other
island. Because of their elevation over it, and its small size, they
could see to a slight depression in the center. In the middle of it, a
tear in the scenery floated, the same sort of portal that they came
through before.
Except that it was surrounded by creatures. They did not seem
particularly powerful, none seemed to be invincible, or be able to
throw energy blasts, although appearances could be deceiving. But
there were so *many* of them. And each carried some sort of blade,
knife or sword, mostly made out of crystals, and in a few cases out of
other materials: metal, rock, parts of their anatomy. A hate emanated
from the creatures, felt even from their distant position.
The Chosen looked over the situation and seemed to make a decision.
With a hand, he pushed her out of the creatures' view, then he turned
to her.
"We are going to have to rush them. I do not want to spend time
massacring all of them one by one, and they might be too many to kill
easily." He frowned, then added as if to reassure her. "Besides, I do
not like killing. So once we reach them, I will distract them while
you run like hell to the portal and go through. I will join you on the
other side. Got it?"
"How come I have to go..." Before she finished the question, another
surfaced. "You forgot one little thing. How are we going to get from
here," she indicated the island they were on, "to there?" She pointed
to the creatures.
"Simple. We jump." Before she could protest, he stood up, grasping
her lightly by a forearm. "One, two-" Somehow knowing that he would not
stop, she crouched down beside him, knowing that it was suicide.
"-Three!" They leapt together into the void. Mentally, Mina counted the
seconds of their flight, knowing they were going to fall forever into that
bottomless void of the sky. *two*... She saw the island
approaching, but too far away for them to land on. *three*... She
saw the great rock approach them- and then she saw it pass, scarce
feet away. Some part of her noted that the man was shifting his
position without letting go of her arm. *fou*umpg! A sudden jerk
stopped her counting. She looked down, and saw only the bottomless sky
below. For a moment, she wondered what was stopping her from falling,
then realized that someone was holding her arm. A sudden feeling of
deja vu passed over her as she raised her head.
The Chosen hung there, grasping an outcropping of rock with one hand. The
other was holding Mina from falling to her death. Then she wondered
if she would die, and if so, how, as there did not seem to be anything
to be smashed on below, just that endless sky. Great, the orange scout
thought, after all this time, I'm going to die of hunger while falling
endlessly through a bubble universe.
His grip around her hand tightened, and she almost felt the power
within him as he pulled them both up. In several seconds, she was
lying on the edge next to him, both breathing rather heavily.
He looked up at her, and made a weak attempt at a smile. "Any landing
you can walk away from..." She was suddenly tempted to push him over
the edge, but restrained herself with what she thought was iron control
beyond the call of a teenage girl.
Slowly, they got up.
"The portal is that way." How he managed to maintain his sense of
direction, she could not understand, but after only a few minutes, they
were near the site. Looking cautiously around another helpfully
concealing rock, they examined the situation. It seemed no different
than before, the guards were arranged in a roughly circular formation
in front of the portal.
"Remember the plan." Before she could protest, he launched himself
from the rocks, running a bit to the side of the portal, screaming at
the creatures. Almost all of them started running towards him, leaving
Mina a clear path to the tear.
Cursing him for his tactics, and for being right, she started running
quietly toward the gate. Avoiding the few creatures that remained, she
was soon standing in front of it. Turning, she saw the Chosen fighting
off a whole pack of the creatures, and almost turned to help when a
faint cry reached her.
"Go, you fool!"
Damn him if he didn't want to be saved, she thought to herself as she
leapt into the dark void, praying for him to be all right.
* * *
Darian, Greg and Grandpa were not having a very good time. The three had
stayed at the temple all day, the two visitors taking care of many of the
chores. Then the parents of each of the scouts, other than Rei,
started coming over to the temple, asking about their daughters, as
they had every right to. Grandpa had managed to convince them that
everything was all right, and the worried parents returned home.
"Well, at least its a vacation week." Darian observed. "You would
have had a far harder time convincing their teachers."
Greg paused in his work of washing the floor and looked up. "Can you
explain exactly how you managed to convince them of that."
Grandpa grinned. "Let's just say that I'm not as senile as I appear.
I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. Priesthood is good for much
more than just asking a flame for answers."
Greg sighed for the nth time at Grandpa's refusal to tell his secret.
Then Grandpa's smile vanished, replaced by an uncharacteristic sadness.
"I just hope I told them the truth when I said they would return
safely." He murmured quietly.
Darian sighed. "All we can do is wait", he said, not for the first
time, nor for the last.
The sun slowly dipped toward the horizon, another day passing.
* * *
As before, the translation seemed to last forever. She grew cold
inside and there was no one to hold her this time. But she fought it,
fought the reflex to give up and made it through. Suddenly, without
transition, the blackness ended. Ahead of her, a crystalline landscape
went on forever, a fog obscuring her line of sight, but she felt sure
that the floor went on just as smoothly as it was where she stood.
There would be no place to hide. There also seemed to be no one to hide
from. As far as she could see, the plain was completely void of all
life and all protection. She took a few steps ahead, trying to see
beyond the portal.
"Well, well, if it isn't a Sailor Scout." The voice was jeering, it
grated on her nerves. A slight echo made it a bit difficult to find
the source in the fog, then a creature formed out of it, perhaps a
hundred yards away.
She was surprised. For such a voice, she would expect some sort of
powerful creature, worse than she had ever seen, but this one actually
appeared somewhat standard. A bit higher than a human would normally
be, with greyish features, it had a hideous grin on its scaly face.
And that was it. No swords, no visible weapons.
Trying to get a better look, Mina went a bit to the side, keeping the
portal at her back.
The creature's eyes seemed to defocus and it held a clawed hand in
midair. The fog shimmered, concentrating, solidifying. Within a
moment, a yard-plus long crystal spear was in the creature's hand.
Seeing a clear shot, it launched the projectile. There did not
actually seem to be any transition, the spear went from stop to lethal
in a blink of an eye.
Mina threw herself to the side, then cursed herself for leaving the
protection of the portal. Still, the spear missed, passing to the side
and disappearing after a few seconds. Lying on the ground, she thought
that wasn't so bad, she should be able to dodge things like that forever.
Not that she would have to, she thought confidently.
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" She cried out. A beam of energy lashed
out from her finger, striking the creature.
And nothing happened. The blast might as well have bean a sunbeam for
all the damage it did to the gray scaly skin. The creature grinned as
it bounded up closer to her and launched another spear.
Mina dodged that one too, as easily as the previous one. She was
beginning to get annoyed at the abundance of monsters resistant to her
beam. Halfheartedly, she cried out her other attack. "Venus Meteor
Shower!" A stream of energy boulders rocketed at the creature!
And bounced off. Mina was definitely annoyed, but not really worried
yet. So far neither of them could hurt the other.
The creature concentrated again, closing its eyes. Mina took the
chance to change her position a bit, bringing the portal between
herself an the creature. Now, however, the portal was sideways to her,
making her notice for the first time that it had no depth, like a flat
sheet of paper.
Another spear appeared in the creature's hand. But Mina was too far
away, and the portal was interfering with her sight. She did not see
that this one was bigger, longer. It's edges gleaming with sharpness,
it launched itself at the scout, passing close to the portal.
Mina saw another spear coming at her head on, and dodged it. She
prepared to attack again when she noticed something was strange.
Despite her having moved, the spear was heading straight toward her.
*Straight at her.*
With an impossible effort, Mina managed to twist most of the way out
of the path, but not quite. With a sickening tearing sound, the edge
of the spear slashed through her suit and through her side. As it
passed, she felt an electrical discharge passing through her.
She collapsed, her feet suddenly unmindful of the frantic commands her
brain was sending. Panicking, she tried to move but could only stare
at the spear. It came around her, returning to the creature with its
glaring grin. With malice plainly written in its eyes, it aimed
straight for her heart, swinging its arm back.
In a single instant, Mina saw it all as if it were a still-life
scene. She was opposite the creature which was about to throw the
spear. The portal was between them and to the side, facing them both
obliquely.
With a hoarse cry, the creature launched its deadly missile.
And the Chosen flew through the portal. He landed steadily as if he
never lost balance in his life, his knees flexing smoothly as they
absorbed the speed of his passage. Mina could almost see him
appraising the situation in the instant that he had. Without pausing,
he used his momentum to launch himself straight at the shard of
crystal with all of his weight behind him.
He collided with it, his hands gripping the knife-like edges, knocking the
thing from it's path. With a thud, he hit the ground, managing to
tuck himself into a roll, coming up in a crouch with the missile in his
hands.
It seemed alive, twitching and trying to break free, but it could not
get out of his grasp. He held it as hard as he could, tensing his bare
hands against the cold sharpness of the blade. Mina could see with
perfect clarity the red of his blood on the crystal around his hands,
the edges cutting deeper every time he resisted.
But he would not let go.
"No one controls my crystal! *NO ONE*!" Mina noticed the creature again
but her eyes were still the only portion of her that obeyed her
brain. She tried to cry out to him, warn him, but it would not come.
The electric charge! She had to tell him. A tear rolled down her cheek
at her impotence.
The creature raised its arm and dropped it, and in the same instant,
the spear ignited!
Lightning, electricity powerful enough to be visible flashed along its
surface, soaking into the Chosen's skin. Evil power racked through him
as he shuddered, the electric discharge making his muscles spasm.
He could not survive. Mina knew that. No human could ever survive
that kind of punishment. More tears rolled down into the corners of
her eyes, making it difficult to see.
And then she seemed to view something impossible. The Chosen
straightened up, ignoring the lighting. She could almost feel his
muscles bulge, straining against the power of the spear.
With a scream of protest, it shattered! The middle of it vanished as
if it never existed, blasted into powder, leaving two segments in each
of the man's hands. The lightning was snuffed out, erased from
existence. The creature jerked back as it stared incredulously.
"Now-" The Chosen panted heavily, still holding the two pieces. "-now it's
*my* turn."
Before the creature could react, he twisted about, launching one of the
segments.
The creature saw it coming and stepped to the side, a scorning snarl
forming on its mouth. But the smile turned into a howl of despair as
the other segment, launched after the first, impaled it through the
side. With a shriek, it vanished into energy, dissolving as if the
spear was Sailor Moon's tiara before it lost its power.
At the same moment, the spell holding Mina down was broken. She tried
to sit up, but the pain from her side was reaching her, as well as the
shock. She sank down to the hard ground, sobbing, wondering why she
was crying. But she seemed unable to pull herself together.
With a few steps, he reached her, bending down. His clothes were full
of cuts, probably from the fight on the other side of the portal. His
hands were a mess of black and red, part of the flesh burned by lightning.
She was never happier at seeing anyone in her life.
He sat down by her, holding her, comforting her as best he could until the
spasms ceased and she stopped crying.
* * *
"My Lord, two separate unauthorized passages through the Beta gate
have been recorded. There are no witnesses, but we suspect that-"
"You suspect correctly." The guard was surprised that its Master was not
infuriated with the failure. So, it thought, he does want the Chosen
to come here. "Dismiss all of the guards."
"Lord, I cannot abandon you."
He almost seemed to snarl, then managed to get his self control back. Or
perhaps he had plans for the guard. "Very well. You may stay. For now.
Everyone else has to go, is that understood?" It was a dismissal, not a
question.
"Yes, My Lord." The shadow turned around and left.
Spread over the wall, three scouts and two guardians tried to figure
out what was going on.
"Damn! That ditz is still in her trance!" Rei was correct, Serena was
still in her hypnotized state, staring at nothing.
"It's not her fault. Have any of you had any luck in trying to break
these bonds?" Since waking up, the scouts have been attempting to free
themselves once more, but were not having any more success than before.
"I think we just have to hope that Mina made it and will come and
rescue us." Luna did not sound very confident in herself at that moment.
Artemis just stared, at the moment very much like Serena, not
involving himself in the discussion.
* * *
The first thing Mina thought of as she woke up was an enormous feeling
of deja vu, her second one... today? She wondered if it was still the
same day. She was lying on something hard while someone was bent over
her. The only differences were the pain in her side, now subsided to a
dull ache, and the shivers that racked her body.
The shivering stopped after a while and Mina slowly raised her head,
recovering from the electric shock and the inadequacy she felt while he
was being attacked by the monster. She sat up with start, suddenly
realizing that he would probably need much more medical attention than
she did, then remembering that she, too was wounded seriously.
In a way, she was correct, and in another she was not. Even before
she saw it, she realized that the wound on her side was bandaged by
something soft and clean. It was a black strip of cloth made out of a
strange material that did not seem to be in any danger of slipping off.
A voice reassured her before she asked. "It's not as bad as it felt.
Mostly, it hurt because of the paralysis shock, the charge it sent
through you to stop you from moving."
Still a little dazed, she looked up at him.
"Are you all right?" She saw the different cuts on his uniform.
He nodded, and then her gaze fell to his hands.
They were raw, there was no other word for it. In several places,
cuts seemed to have reached bone while in most others the skin was
burned to a crisp. Mina could not stop herself from gasping.
"It's not as bad as it looks." He did not seem to be aware that he was
repeating himself. "I can live with it, and the flesh is already
regenerating. As you saw, I heal fast."
She nodded absently, shocked at the sight. With a rueful smile, he
took out a pair of black gloves and put them on. For a moment she
wondered where he was getting all this stuff from, then a more
important question went through her mind.
"Don't you need a bandage? I mean, you could get infected or something."
"Any bug that ever bit me, died. Don't worry, I have a very good immune
system. Do you feel up to traveling?"
Did she? Mina asked herself. Her side seemed all right, and there were no
other major injuries. And if he could use those hands, she could
hardly refuse to move from a slight cut. "Of course... Just how much
longer is this going to go on?"
"I believe there is only one gate left." He paused, a strange
expression on his face. "And I have a feeling..." He let the sentence
fade out, then refocused. "Let's go, Mina."
They went off into the fog.
After only about a hundred yards, they could not see the gate behind them.
Another hundred and Mina could not even tell where they were going,
she was hopelessly lost in the soup that surrounded them. Her
companion seemed to notice.
"Don't worry, I can feel where the other gate is, remember? I know we are
close, it's that way, about half a mile away."
They spent the trek in silence. It seemed to take hours, going
through a red tinted darkness, with no visual references. She kept a
close eye on the Chosen, making sure she did not stray away, for she
was sure that she would get lost otherwise.
And then they arrived.
Suddenly the mist parted like a red veil, revealing a strange sight to
the two travelers. A portal, in all ways identical to the last one
they came through hung in mid air. In fact, Mina could not quite get
rid of the feeling that they had turned around in the haze and were now
back where they started. Except for one thing.
A solitary creature was in their path.
It was vaguely humanoid, though not in the ways that really counted,
having four arms with bulging muscles on all of them, and similarly
powerful legs.
But that was not the strange thing, not the one that gave Mina an eerie
feeling.
The creature was relaxed. It stood in a simple stance, as if waiting for
something inevitable without making any noise. It did not make any
roars or snarls, it did not threaten to kill them, it did not attack
even though it obviously saw them. Although its face looked immobile,
she received the definite feeling that it would have been impassive
even if it had been able to move.
And it did not hate them.
That Sailor Venus was sure of. All of the other creatures from the
Negaverse she fought had an aura of malevolence around them, a veil of
evil that she and the other scouts could feel on a subconscious level.
Although sometimes cloaked, this hate was almost always felt when one
of the scouts concentrated on the creature, imprinting itself on some
basic level of the scout's mind.
This one had no such hate within it, which almost made Mina wonder if
he was on their side. The idea ended when it spoke.
Its mouth opened, the only portion of its face that seemed to be
capable of motion. "I cannot let you pass." The voice was calm, not
threatening. He was stating a fact. Startled, Mina realized that she
went from thinking of him as an 'it' to thinking of him as a 'he', the
creature became somehow human with those words.
The Chosen replied in a similarly relaxed tone. "But we have to go
through."
"I was ordered by Him not to let you pass. I am honorable, I have to
keep my allegiance, I cannot break my oath. I have no particular onus
with you, Chosen, but I cannot let you pass."
The Chosen stared at the other calmly. "I fear you have the advantage of
me. You know who I am, but I do not know who you are."
"I am Kaneth." The creature answered simply, as if no further
explanation was necessary.
"You are the one who misled the shadow, letting Mina go." It was not a
question.
Sailor Venus, hearing, suddenly focused on her unlikely savior. A
creature from the Negaverse saved me, she asked herself, astonished.
Meanwhile, the Chosen was continuing.
"In that case, Kaneth, thank you for confusing that shadow. I owe you for
that."
Mina watched this exchange with increasing incomprehension.
The creature did not acknowledge the debt, instead repeating as if it
the only truth he knew," I know you will defeat me, but I can not let
you pass."
A slightly sly expression passed over the Chosen's face. "Do you have any
orders regarding Mina?"
"No," the answer was slightly surprised, "Apparently He forgot about the
scout."
The man suddenly turned toward Mina. "You have to go through."
Conscious of the creature still watching her, she protested. "That
strategy did not turn out well last time, if you recall."
A pained expression passed over his face. "You are the only one who
can help your friends. They are in a chamber on the other side of that
portal. You have to help them."
Somehow, his words penetrated. "Damn you.." She said it aloud this
time, a whisper, but she said it.
"I'm sorry." He whispered in answer. "You have to go. I must face
this Kaneth alone."
She thought of her friends, in some danger, kept captive by someone
malevolent. Yes, he was right. She had to help her friends, otherwise
she would not be able to live with herself. All right, she thought to
herself, she thought to him. *All right*.
Ignoring a part of her that screamed to stay, she forced her body to
turn away from him With a resolution, she forced herself to the window
into another dimension. At the last, she turned back, looking at him,
but he only mouthed four words. *I will be all right*. She had the
distinct feeling that he was about to add something, but he only turned
to Kaneth.
Closing her eyes, she stepped through the gate.
"Very well, shall we begin?" The Chosen drew his two swords.
Kaneth answered by drawing two, then paused.
The Chosen had noticed the long knives as well. "You have two more, do you
not?"
"Yes, but it would be dishonorable to fight you with that advantage."
"No. You are used to fighting with four blades, and that is a point
in your favor for being able to coordinate all four. You should fight
with them."
Kaneth thought this over for a few moments. "You are correct." He
answered, drawing out two smaller blades. In fact, they were more like
elongated knives rather than swords, less dangerous at long range, but
still deadly.
"Shall we?" The Chosen looked over his opponent. Kaneth was in a low but
light stance, all four blades wavering slightly in an intricate
pattern. The Chosen had not practiced much with four blades against
two, and was not really well prepared. And his grip on his swords was
not very good due to the mangling of his hands.
He did not know if he could win, not with his injuries.
But he had to.
* * *
The first thing that Mina felt as she emerged was warmth. She had
gotten used to the frigid atmospheres of those bubble universe over the
time she had been in them, and grew to be somewhat comfortable in their
temperature. Thus the new warmth came as more of a shock than a
relief, like stepping suddenly into a tropical rain forest. She drew
in her breaths, trying to overcome her sudden nausea, knowing her body
just had to get used to the temperature change. After a minute, she
was already more comfortable, her breathing relaxing a little.
Then she remembered that it meant she was in the Negaverse instead of
a bubble and shivered.
The place smelled.. She stopped, trying to put a finger on it and
realized the smell was one of death. It was rank and putrid, like the
smell of the dust of a negamonster. There was a sky above her, but she
would almost have preferred the wild emptiness of the bubbles. The sky
was gray, rolling, as if the atmosphere were hiding some unknown evil.
At least the ground was not solid rock or crystal, more like some sort of
compressed dirt and she could see some things that might have been plants
around her, struggling to survive.
And it was deserted. She was sure of that. In the last universe she felt
something wrong when she did not see anyone right before she was
attacked, but here she knew there was no one hiding behind her.
Not behind her.
In front, something that looked like a mountain loomed. It reminded
her of all of the evil she had ever felt, of the Starlight Tower
transformed into a horrifying structure, the Doom Tree before it had
regained its voice. It was covered with veins, pulsing black walls,
waiting for someone to destroy. Waiting for her.
And right in front of her was the entrance, a dank, dark hole that lead deep
into the giant structure. She shivered again, and started to back off. There
was absolutely no way she was going in there, she told herself.
And then she felt her friends.
There is a bond between the individual scouts whether they know it or
not, a link that connects them, makes them aware of each other. It was
very slight in the Universe, where they were always surrounded by other
people, both good and less so. But in the Negaverse, there was none of
that confusion, nothing to stop her from feeling her friends' anguish
coming from inside the building.
And so despite every horror the place awakened in her, despite her mind
pleading with her to reconsider, she did it.
She stepped inside.
* * *
Strike.
Parry.
Dodge.
Attack.
Defend.
The Chosen was not doing well. He was better than Kaneth in
swordsmanship, both of them knew that, but the advantage of four blades
was evening that up. And his hands slipped on the handles despite the
gloves, the damaged flesh not nearly as good as it was when whole. It
had begun to heal, but even he needed time to rest in order for his
regeneration to take place. And the numerous cuts over his body had
also not quite healed, making his muscles weak in several places, soft
spots that were deadly in combat.
He had to help Mina, he knew she could not do what he asked to do
alone, she needed his help more than ever. He had only sent her away
so that she would not get in the way of this battle, that would not
have been fair, either to her, or to Kaneth.
The Chosen sighed in his mind, trying to find a place to attack the
four armed warrior, hoping to get through, but Kaneth persisted,
attacking, slashing, parrying with his four blades. It took all of the
Chosen's considerable skills to defend himself against that assault.
And that was all he could do. Defend. He could not attack
effectively, not with four blades ready and eager to block with two and
strike back with twomore. The Chosen had managed to stay out of range
of the knifelike blades, but when he attacked, Kaneth could block one
of his blades very effectively with both knives. A third blade would
block his other sword, and a fourth blade would be free to do what it
wanted.
But he had to persist, he had to win this fight. He *had* to.
He just did not know how.
* * *
The structure was even worse inside than out. Only her fear for her
friends' fates allowed Mina to go on, and even so she was hesitant.
Dark, dank smells assaulted her, strange sounds grated on her ears.
Keeping all of her attention focused in front of her, on the passage,
she continued, fighting off the fear that clutched at her.
Unseen, a dark shadowy creature detached itself from a similarly black
wall and followed her, flowing smoothly.
* * *
He knew what he had to do. He could not afford to take any more time
for this, no time to analyze Kaneth's tactics. And at the same time
he needed the analysis, needed the information. He forced himself to
record the fighting, made himself aware of what the other was doing.
And he found it, found the slightest of holes, something that would not
be ordinarily a problem, but would become one now.
With a cry, he launched his attack, slamming both blades at Kaneth's
head in a seemingly lethal blow, but he was off balance, obviously so
Kaneth did not waste the opportunity, he blocked with a sword and a
knife, and the other knife- The other knife plunged into the Chosen's
side like a stake, piercing all of the layers of flesh and exiting on
the other side. It went in all the way to the hilt, jammed against the
man's side, immobile for a second.
Astonished at what he had just done, Kaneth paused for a moment,
dropped his guard, waiting for the Chosen to stagger back at the
injury. The knife had to have done a lot of damage, the guard thought
to himself.
But Kaneth did not see, he could not understand that it was the *Chosen*
who had guided the injury, not him. The knife passed all the way through
without ever touching a vital organ, only puncturing several muscles
at points that were not vital. And the man had accomplished his
purpose. For a split moment, Kaneth was off guard, with one hand
holding on to the sunken blade.
Ignoring the pain, the Chosen slammed a sword against one of Kaneth's
as hard as he could.
With a shrieking protest, the Maraki covered blade shattered!
Stunned at the sudden reversal, Kaneth let go of the blade buried in the
Chosen's side. He staggered back, off balance, dropping the useless
broken sword, a knife and another sword his only weapons left. The man
took the opportunity offered, bringing his two swords to bear, blocking
with one while attacking with the other. With astonishment, the
Negaverse creature realized that his opponent was ignoring the knife
still stuck in his flesh, and was still able to fight. Off balance
physically and mentally with surprise, Kaneth could not stay on his
feet against the sudden assault, he dropped on his back, cringing as a
sword's edge brushed against his throat.
He closed his eyes, waiting for death. He had no regrets, really, he
knew he would be beaten and was glad that he would be dying with
honor. He just wished that he had another chance to rule his people,
teach them what honor really meant. But that was over now, he thought,
his mind ready for peace.
He waited.
Nothing happened.
He realized he should be dead by now and opened his eyes slowly.
The Chosen was standing over him, both swords sheathed and a hand extended
toward the prone warrior.
"Like I said, I owe you." With astonishment, Kaneth watched as the Chosen
pulled the knife out of his side with his free hand. Some blood
tricked down but even that stopped after a second. Apparently, the
wound was not as severe as it had seemed. The other hand remained
extended toward his enemy.
Not sure if this was happening, Kaneth grasped the hand with one of
his own and allowed himself to be pulled up. He retrieved his three
weapons, wiping the blood off the knife and sheathing all three, not
bothering to pick up the shattered sword.
He looked toward the Chosen.
"How did you know I would not attack you even as you spared my life?"
The Chosen smiled slightly. "Lucky guess." Kaneth realized the man was
standing next to the portal. "We will meet again." He stepped through
without waiting for an answer, leaving Kaneth to wonder what he would
do now. He had not killed an enemy he was ordered to kill, and yet he
survived.
There was no future for him here. Hesitantly, he took a step toward the
gate.
* * *
The shadow watched as the lone scout continued on her way down the
passage. It had been ordered to guard the chambers, but it had ideas
of its own. The Lord was expecting the lone scout, he wanted her to
come. That was the only possible explanation for his actions. He
wanted to destroy the Chosen. Well, thought the shadow to itself, that
is one way to get ahead. The Chosen would surely soon show up, and
when he did, the shadow would have its chance.
Silently, it detached itself from the girl's trail, falling back, then hid
itself in another black niche in the passage.
* * *
Mina continued down the tunnel. For a few minutes she had felt some
sort of evil at her back, but refused to let the place get to her.
After a while it disappeared, and she knew then it had been a product
of her imagination, happy to an extent that she defeated it. There was
plenty of real malevolence in the place, enough without her making some
up, she told herself as she tried to keep her traversal silent.
Then she reached the end of the passage. Ahead of her, it opened up
into a gigantic room, large enough for a stadium. Realizing she had
stopped, she forced herself to move forward. Scared, but not willing
to give up, she examined the room from the relative safety of the darkness.
The cavern was large, but she had already realized that. What she had
not seen was how empty it was. If not for the darkness that enveloped
it, she thought she could see to the other side of it.
In the center of the room, however, was a pedestal. Or that is what she
thought at first. It was some sort of resting place, and on it-...
She was not sure, but it was like a patch of space even blacker than
the darkness surrounding it, a piece of night that made it impossible
to detect other than by something that should be seen there and was not.
It radiated a *hate* that she could feel with the nerves in her face, a
hate directed toward her, toward the tunnel, toward the whole of
existence. But whatever it was, it did not move, it did nothing but
stay there, seemingly unaware of her. Perhaps, she thought hopefully
to herself, it was some sort of immobile object.
With a wrench, she forced herself to look away. And then she saw them.
The Scouts!
They were all there, held by some sorts of bonds inside indentations
in the walls. They seemed unaware of her, even the two guardians. And
Sailor Moon looked completely out of it, staring into space and moving
her lips a little.
A decision formed itself in her head. She had to free the scouts
first, before dealing with anything else. Together, they were
unstoppable, she told herself despite the evidence of the two shadow
attacks.
Gathering courage, she stepped into the chamber.
* * *
He waited for her to make some sort of move, patiently staying still
on the throne. She had been there for some time, but the Chosen was
not with her. He wondered if he could have been wrong, but knew that
the Chosen would come. He had to, destiny was quite clear on that
score. Perhaps he was guarding her back, somewhere back in the
tunnel. Yes, perhaps. Or maybe Kaneth was actually good enough to
take him out. It seemed impossible, but the reports said that the
Chosen had been injured several times and that might have made him weak
enough. Still, it was an unlikely possibility, and one fraught with
danger- if Kaneth was good enough to defeat the Chosen, then he might be
*too* good to get rid of easily. The Shadow thought to himself, and, to
his own surprise, decided that he was on the Chosen's side in that
particular fight. It would just be so much better to have the pleasure
of killing the pest himself, and not worrying about other competition.
The Lord wondered what she was waiting for. She had to take action, but
perhaps she was too frightened to do it. Deciding that she was too
scared, he prepared to do give her some incentive when she moved.
Deliberately, she stepped out of the mouth of the tunnel.
The sudden motion attracted the eyes of the scouts, and they started
to yell out a warning. He did not let them, ordering their bonds to
drain the energy from their lungs, and they tried to tell her with
motions about the Shadow.
But Mina did not hear, she did not see, all she knew was that she had
to free the scouts.
"Venus-" the shout echoed in the huge chamber, "Crescent Beam!" She
paused, gathering courage and glanced to the center of the cavern. The
darkness in the middle of the chamber did not move. "Smash!"
Her beam of energy lanced out, smashing the bonds that held the scouts,
breaking the vines that seemed immobile, shattering the pulsing veins.
Suddenly, all of the scouts were free, collapsing on the floor, then
beginning to regain control of their bodies.
"Venus, Watch Out!" Lita yelled out, pointing at the center of the
chamber. Mina looked toward it, and took several steps toward the
scouts, avoiding the middle.
"But I don't waaaant to go to school today, mom!" Serena murmured,
the spell around her broken.
Rei glanced with annoyance at her friend. "Wake up, meatball head, we need
you!" The girl sighed with frustration and turned to Ami. "Mercury,
does your visor work now?" As a response, Ami took out her computer.
The glass shield appeared over her face as she scanned the chamber.
"I am getting some readings now. The thing in the center is like one of
*them*," she referred to the attack of the shadow," but more
concentrated. I can't make anything out of it." The blue scout shifted
her stance to look at Sailor Venus. "Mina's all right, mostly, except
for a slight cut in her side and..."
Rei did not wait for the rest of the diagnosis, the fact that the
other was allright being enough. "Jupiter, you ready?" Seeing her
friend nod, Mars concentrated.
"Mars Celestrial Fire..."
"Jupiter Thunder Bolt..."
"Hi guys. Did I miss anything?" Serena asked brightly as she shook
off the lingering power of the trance, then jerked back as the scouts
released their strikes.
"Surround!"
"Zap!"
A ball of lightning formed ahead of Lita, shooting out toward the
center of the chamber. Several rings of fire surrounded it, adding to
the power as it hurled toward the creature in the center.
The Lord saw the incoming blast and ignored it. He had far more important
business at the moment, the power of two scouts could be ignored. The
energy smashed into the throne, exploding and electrocuting the black
seat. And none of it so much as touched the Shadow, safe behind the
dark shield that was generated by the room. He was waiting for
something much more important.
And he saw it.
It was the Chosen, coming out of the tunnel into the giant cavern,
ready for a fight. Almost sighing in relief at the Chosen beating
Kaneth, the Shadow turned to face his enemy fully. Smiling to himself,
the Lord raised his hand, preparing to strike his blow, then lingered.
The guard appeared behind the Chosen, ready to pierce him with a shadow
spear. Wondering what would happen, the Lord hesitated.
Mercury readjusted her visor, looking back toward the entrance. The
readings the computer was giving her were strange, and she tried to get
a better read.
"It's him." the other scouts paused, turning to follow her gaze.
"The guy from... two nights ago I guess. And he is in pretty bad
shape... Deep cut to the ribs... Severe hand trauma, both cuts and
heavy burns. And lots of minor cuts and bruises."
The computer chirped an alarm suddenly.
"Wait, there is something behind him..." She paused for a moment.
"It's one of *Them*!"
But the warning came too late to help the Chosen, he was unaware of
the trouble behind him.
This was its chance, the shadow thought to itself, elated as it
crossed the distance between the Chosen and itself. The enemy was
occupied with the scouts too much to see the danger behind it. He had
not even seen the shadow when it joined up with him, flowing behind him
noiselessly. Now the guard concentrated, forcing its mind to focus, to
create a shadow spear. It made no silence as it appeared, a cold,
lethal extenuation of itself. The shadow prepared to launch it.
"Face me shadow, if you dare!" What? The shadow wondered in
confusion. The voice had come from behind it, yet no one was supposed
to be here. And all of the scouts.... In marvel, the shadow turned.
And Kaneth strode out of the darkness, with three Maraki blades in his
hands and death in his eyes.
"You? Traitor!" The shadow hissed as it attacked, its last mistake. The
blades Kaneth wielded were one of the few remaining able to hurt one
such as the shadow. They cut through the non-existent flesh, leaving
torn holes with vapor dissolving from them. The shadow strove to
attack Kaneth, get around his defense, but in vain. In the end, like
its fellow guard, the shadow dissolved into nothing more than a cloud
of hate, an acrid cloud that dissipated into the air.
The Lord saw the entire exchange, incensed at Kaneth for daring to
defy him. He would have to think of a punishment for the insolent
creature, but for now, he had more important things to do. Making sure
that the Chosen saw it, he raised his hand again, gathering up a bolt
of energy. Then it was ready, a lance of power that would burn through
flesh and bone, destroy everything its path. The Shadow raised the
bolt, aimed, and threw.
*At Mina!*
Sailor Venus was about an eighth of the way from the entrance to the
rest of the scouts when she realized that something was up behind her.
Turning to look, she saw the Chosen coming out of the passage. He
pointed toward the center of the cavern.
Turning to look, she did not see the events between the shadow and Kaneth,
something she would not have a chance to regret. She tried to figure
out what that shadowy image on the throne was doing, but it was too
dark. She turned away, back toward the Chosen, trying to ask him what
was happening, the second time she missed something crucial. She did
not see the bolt leave the Shadow, did not see it aimed for her, all
she saw was the man in black colliding with her at top speed. having
closed the distance in a remarkably short time.
Roughly, he grabbed her upper arms, tightening his hands until it was
painful. She tried to twist out of the grip, surprised at the change in
him, his face full of anger.
Then the ultimate cold hit her! A sensation like every bit of energy
she had was being leached out of her, drained, her blood turning to ice
in her veins. The last thing that went through her mind before she lost
consciousness was one word.
*Traitor!*
The scouts watched in astonishment as the blast hit the two figures,
throwing them back and obscuring them with a cloud of energy.
When it cleared, only the man in black remained, his arms grasping
dissolving dust.
"Mina." Serena whispered, barely audible, reflecting the feeling of
all of the scouts.
"Sailor Venus." Luna added in a dull tone that hid the pain deep within.
Artemis remained silent, just staring at the man slowly get up.
A laugh interrupted their horror and despair, turning their eyes, but
not their souls from Mina's remains. It was horrid, gloating sound of
victory and power.
"Try to fight *now*, Chosen!" The last words, full of jeering hate
seemed aimed at the solitary figure in black that just got up.
A portal, larger than the others opened between the Chosen and the
scouts. A blast of wind more powerful than a hurricane, blew the four
scouts and the guardians into the window. Still stunned, they did not
resist.
The Shadow continued, still looking at the man in black. "I will meet
you at the time!"
A second blast blew him as well into the portal the scouts. As he
vanished, the Shadow turned his gaze onto Kaneth.
Kaneth stood at the entrance, where he had dispatched the shadow, and
gaped at what just happened. He looked at the portal, watching the
four scouts get thrown through, and made his decision.
With a speed unknown to mortals, he ran for the gate. When the Chosen
went through, the guard was only several yards away, too late for the
Lord to realize his mistake. With a snarl, the Shadow ordered the
portal closed, but it was too late. The four-armed warrior leapt
through the diminishing circle.
No matter, thought the Shadow to himself, no matter. He watched as
the gate closed, gloating at the success of his plans.
* * *
The scouts hit the ground hard, some landing on one another, the two cats
landing on the top of the pile.
Picking themselves up, they stared at the circle of energy hovering
over them with hate-filled eyes.
"Mina." Ami murmured with anguish, echoed by the rest of the scouts.
As the numbness of shock passed, tears formed on each scouts' cheek.
The portal flared again, a black suited man smashing into the ground, then
somehow rolling onto his feet.
"This is your fault!" Lita exclaimed, moving up to him. "You are somehow
involved in all of this! If it weren't for you..." She pulled her
fist back.
Another flare stopped her, and she turned before she saw the look of
pain on the man's face. A creature fell out of the hole, landing on
his feet.
Seeing a monster, Lita switched targets. Turning, she prepared to launch
herself at the creature, and was surprised when nothing happened.
Twisting to look, she found the man's hand grasping her shoulder,
stopping her.
"No.." He rasped. "He's on our side." No one, not even Lita, heard
him add a very quiet "I think."
"All right," she snarled, seeing that the creature was not making any
threats. "Then what about *you*?" She tensed, needing some way to get
rid of her anger.
"Wait." The whisper was tense enough to make her pause. He was obviously
under some sort of strain. The grip on her shoulder was not very
strong and beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. She saw the
muscles on his face tense as if trying to contain something. "It is
difficult..." He swallowed hard before continuing. "She is not dead."
The single statement attracted everyone's attention. "What do you
mean?" Ami was ever the practical one, but there was no answer. The
man appeared to be exhausted from something.
"I think he needs somewhere more private. Whose house is closest?"
Everyone looked with surprise at Artemis, since he was the one who
spoke. Then, for the first time since coming through the portal, the
scouts took note of their location.
They were back in Tokyo. The only thing that saved them from being
seen there and then was the fact that it seemed to be the middle of a
night. If not for that, four scouts, two talking cats, a strange man
and a four armed creature would have certainly attracted attention.
But even though no one was in immediate sight, people were still out
there, and it would not do to be caught.
Suppressing sudden hope, Lita answered, releasing her grip on the other's
shirt. "My parents are away for the week... " She frowned. "That is,
if it is still the same week. How much time passed while?.... Anyway,
my house is only two blocks that way." She pointed. "I know the
neighborhood." She shrugged as the rest turned to her at her knowledge
of the street. Then she grabbed the man's shirt again, not to attack,
but because he showed signs of collapsing. "Who are you, anyway?"
He managed a very weak smile. "Bond.... James Bond." Lita had an
irresistible urge to let him drop to the ground, so she did. To her
surprise, however, he continued standing, summoning strength from
somewhere.
"Come on!" Artemis leapt a few steps forward, the way Lita pointed.
"Let's go!"
Serena looked back at Kaneth. "Wait... er what about him? Shouldn't I
moondust him or something?" The others did not have the emotional
energy to smile.
Kaneth answered in a calm voice, to the scouts' surprise. "I do not
serve the Dark One. Not any more. You have nothing to fear from me."
"Come on." Artemis repeated, and they followed Lita and him down the dark
street.
* * *
The three figures were asleep when it came. Suddenly, Darian jerked
himself awake, slamming his eyes open. Greg followed almost
immediately, and Grandpa woke up at the others' sounds.
Darian closed his eyes for a moment. "She's back, I can feel it!" His
bond with Serena allowed him to know when she turned to Sailor Moon,
and where she was.
"Yes, I can see a little bit in their future now. And the strange
man..."
"What is it?" Darian was tired of all this mysteriousness. As Greg
answered, he took out a rose, transforming to Tuxedo Mask. In the
process, his hand brushed the rose the stranger had affected, making
the Prince wonder about that once more.
"I couldn't see him before, but now... Oh, no... Something..." Greg
collapsed for a moment, almost falling to the floor, but Grandpa caught
him.
The boy opened his eyes. "Something terrible is about to happen,
something that will affect... everything. We have to get there."
Darian closed his eyes for a moment, then pointed. "They are in that
direction," he pointed, "It might be Lita's house. Let's go."
Together, the three rushed down the temple steps and into the night.
* * *
The door slammed open, a segment of the room eerily illuminated by the
light in the hallway. A hand found the light switch easily in the
dark, destroying the shadows that lurked everywhere, shattering the
room into light. Lita's parents would have been very interested at the
collection of creatures entering, and would have been quite frightened.
Fortunately, they were still away and the group entered uninterrupted.
"Nice." The man rasped out with a slight smile. It was nice. Lita liked
glass art, and the living room, in which they were, was decorated with
several transparent sculptures. One was in the center of the room,
between a couch and the TV set, a vase standing on a small table. It
looked a bit precarious, but also very beautiful in its place, which is
probably why it stayed there despite the danger that someone might
knock it over.
The Chosen brushed by the scouts, pushing them away. "Step back." The
others looked from one to the other, not certain how much they should
listen to this man. "*Damn it*, don't you want Mina back?"
For several moments, the scouts looked at him, the emotions in their eyes
ranging from hatred to hope. A slight mental wind seemed to blow
through them as they exchanged glances. Then the scouts made their
decision and the stranger seemed to sight in relief as they stepped
back, giving him room.
Slowly, he closed his eyes, his body relaxing, the tension seeming to
flow out of his frame. For several seconds, nothing happened, then
the scouts began to feel something. Like an aura, a light began to
glow around him, a light that did not seem to be physical.
Rei suddenly drew in her breath, feeling an energy wave travel through the
man's body, and closed her eyes to try to feel the power better.
A slight wind picked up around the figure, tugging at his clothes, but
he did not seem to notice. Slowly, as if he did it without being aware
of his actions, he put his arms out with the hands open. The black
gloves that he was wearing seemed to give off a slight glow.
"Don't fail me now." Artemis whispered, unheard.
The room darkened suddenly, all of the light concentrating on the
figure, on his hands. A shimmering energy field appeared, whirling in
front of his fingers, a dancing pattern of bright light. They could
almost hear him concentrate as he willed the energy to assume the form
that it had originally been in.
*Mina.*
In full scout uniform, she formed in the same position that she was in
when the blast hit, slowly materializing from the glowing sparkles.
She became a solid body, though slightly blue, obviously frozen. Then
more energy pored into her. The unnatural blue tint was slowly replaced
with normal tone as the energy particles around her diminished.
Finally, they vanished back into the man's arms, his muscles suddenly
relaxing.
For a moment, the scout was still, then the man in black dropped his arms,
barely keeping himself from collapsing on the floor.
The scouts gasped as the girl sank down to the floor. As if throwing
off a paralysis, they rushed to help her while the man moved out of the
way. Ignoring the look Artemis gave him, he looked dazedly at the
couch. The Chosen slid off the harness that held the sword on his
back, dropping the extra weight on the floor. Barely avoiding the glass
statue, he stumbled toward the couch, needing a place to rest.
He would not make it.
*Cold.*
The icy fingers that gripped her bones seemed to relax a little. She had
blacked out- She tried to remember, but it was too cold. She could
almost feel the brittleness of her bones, the slowly crystallizing
blood flowing in her veins. As her body tried to warm itself up, she
was wracked with shivers.
Her mind spun endlessly, numbed by what just happened.
*Traitor!*
The word clawed through her mind, leaving a gash of pain.
She had trusted him.
She had believed in him.
She had- What?, she asked herself. Liked? Yes, she had liked him.
Mina's mind refused to acknowledge that it went deeper than that, but
it was enough.
And he tried to kill her!
He tried to freeze her to death.
The phrases flashed through her mind, unstoppable, building up her
anger. With an effort of will, she shook off the cold. She put all
the energy she could into her muscles, slowly straitening, getting up.
She shook off the hands that grasped at her, ignoring them.
Then she saw him, his back turned, ignoring her.
With the power of feeling betrayed, she forced her mind to concentrate.
The words barely escaped her throat, were barely heard. "Venus.." She
whispered.
Kaneth was the only one who realized what was happening,. He saw
Venus's eyes lock on the Chosen, saw her daze. He remembered what had
happened, and was the only one who made all of the connections. And he
heard her whisper.
With a cry, he charged forward, trying to get the scout to stop.
He was not understood. The four scouts reacted immediately and
unanimously, bodily slamming into the charging creature, forcing it
back from their friend. And Kaneth could not get past without harming
them which he had sworn he would not do. He snarled at the dilemma,
trying to push through with brute force, and not succeeding.
"...Crescent.." Mina's voice grew in strength, as if supported by the
energy she was preparing to unleash. "..Beam...." Suddenly connecting
the words, Ami stopped defending Mina and looked at the scout.
The door slammed open, the scouts turning their attention to three figures
bursting inside with remarkable speed. Darian and Grandpa, seeing the
monster, pounced on it, helping the scouts stop the desperate warrior.
Only Greg realized what was happening, he turned his attention to the
other two figures in the room. "NO!" He yelled out, getting
everyone's attention, but it was too late.
"SMASH!" The cry rang out in the room, freezing everyone. The Chosen,
realizing that something was wrong started to turn, but he was too late as
well. He was too tired from rebuilding the orange scout, and his reflexes
failed him. A bolt of energy, traveling at a speed only marginally
less than that of light left Mina.
It blasted from one side of the room to the other in a straight line,
but there was an obstacle on its path. The glass sculpture, standing
on its pedestal, got smashed by the blast, the light becoming mixed
with pieces of broken glass, a solid mass crossing the room at an
uncontrollable speed.
The beam impacted on the Chosen's back, a scorching blast of heat
filled with hundreds of tiny glass projectiles. They slammed into him,
tearing through the black shirt, through the muscles beneath. The man
was slammed forward into the couch, then rolled away, coming to rest on
his stomach, motionless.
For a moment everything was still.
Mina's mind cleared slowly of the haze that surrounded it. She stared
at the prone body, at mass of blood and fragments of black that was the
man's back. She wondered if he was alive, then wondered why he would
turn his back to her after trying to kill her.
Suddenly looking around, she realized that she was in Lita's apartment, no
longer in the cavern.
She remembered him pointing to the center of the chamber, the darkness
there.
She remembered the scouts shouting something about a blast just as she was
losing consciousness.
And she remembered something she saw out of the corner of her eye,
some sort of blast coming at her.
And the scouts were not acting like she attacked an enemy.
Greg had yelled for her to stop.
Darian and Grandpa looked on with horror.
Her mind, still confused, put two and two together and came up with five.
*Oh, no!*
But it was too late.
Ami, being the first to grasp the situation, crossed the room, taking
out her computer and getting down by the Chosen's side.
As the rest of the group watched in growing disbelief, she tapped
several keys, aiming the device at the man, then tapped them again.
Frowning, she dropped the box on the ground and reached out, feeling
for a pulse.
After a moment, she did not move, waiting, then raised her head, an
expression of pain clearly written in her eyes.
Slowly, she shook her head.
Just once.
"No." Mina whispered as her soul shattered.
* * *
To be continued..............
I hope you enjoyed that. The two next parts (Clash and Choice) are out, in case you didn't know. If you don't have them, you can get them at http://penicillin.cyber-naut.com/~arteluna/, or e-mail me at 74367.2552@compuserve.com . Any comments, questions, flames, whatever, should be sent to that e-mail address as well. I am not part of the fanfic mailing list, so if you choose to post C&C's there, I will not be able to answer or read them. Anyone who sends me comments or stuff automatically gets informed of any new parts or stories by me, and those parts/stories get mailed to you. So it's a good thing. :-)
David