Before we begin this chapter, I want to warn everybody that since 
this is an alternate reality fic and I've already taken some 
liberties....
I'm gonna take a REALLY big one with Samurai Showdown.  Perhaps 
bigger then I should. ^_^;;;;;;;;;;
Also, my web page is finally up.  Check it out at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/3105/

As always, C&C appreciated, MSTs adored, Flames printed out and 
stomped on.

++++++++++++++++++++++++
SILVER MILLENNIUM STORY
by the Flashman

{Opening theme}
Breaking through the shining clouds
I fly away (Fly away)
Filling up my body with a spreading panorama
I turn my face to the Earth I left behind
And feel its rage (Feel its rage)
Making volcanos blow apart before my eyes
If deep inside the melting ice I find a dinosaur
Then I'll want to try and ride on top of it
Cha la
Head Cha la
Come what may I feel
That I can handle anything
Cha la
Head Cha la
My heart's pounding so hard
Like a screaming ball of life
Cha la
Head Cha la
My head's holding nothing now
Except for all of my dreams
Cha la
Head Cha la
With the smile of the Ultra Z
Today I'm gonna fly-yai-yai-yai-yai
SPARKLING!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Part 2: A BIRTH AND A BATTLE

	She could hear the chanting.  Dark and evil sounding words that were 
hissed through clenched teeth.  Normally, the Dreamscape was a place 
where she could escape things like that.  The fact that it HAD 
reached the Dreamscape however didn't bode well for the real world.
	She followed the sound, trying to locate the source as her 
consciousness literally flew past thousands of landscapes that 
represented peoples hopes, dreams and nightmares.  The sound grew 
louder as she flew in the closest approximation of a southwesterly 
direction that the Dreamscape had and as she drew closer, she could 
make out a word or two.  Most were in a language that she didn't 
understand but the ones she did weren't very encouraging.
	The words she could make out were, "Resurrection", "Pure Child" and 
"The Sacrifice".
	She finally reached the source, a spirit temple that was formless, 
since this was happening in the real world and it was only because 
the ceremony was so strong that it could be felt on the Dreamscape.  
She used some of her spirit powers to mask her presence from the four 
priests as they kneeled in front of a raised platform with some sort 
of object on it.  The girl thought about trying to push her luck 
slightly and move forward to get a glimpse of the object and started 
to do so when a violent flash of dark energy erupted from the 
platform and blasted her out of the temple and out of the Dreamscape.


	Nakoruru woke up screaming.  Her heart beat rapidly as she sucked in 
cool early dawn air through her lungs.  Besides her, the form of her 
husband, the "legendary", sake drinking samurai, Haoumaru, awoke as 
well.  He took one look at his shivering wife and, without a word, 
took her into his arms and waited until she started to relax.  As he 
did so, two thoughts entered his mind.
	One: He had a feeling that this dream meant trouble was on the rise 
again.  Two: He gave thanks (for the five millionth time) that 
Nakoruru slept in the nude.
	"Are you okay?" he asked gently.
	"Danger," the guardian of nature moaned as images began to flash 
through her mind, "terrible danger is coming.  A savior in black and 
gold... a Pure Child... an evil weapon that is more then a weapon... 
three who fight for very different reasons, yet fight together."
	Haoumaru bit his lower lip and then asked, "Has Ankoshin been 
resurrected again?"
	Nakoruru looked up at her husband and whispered, "Ankoshin is weak 
compared to this creature... and all we can do is wait for the one 
who will be at the center of it all."

	Sekai sneezed, tossed in his bed slightly and fell back into a 
deeper sleep.
	Suddenly, the door to his room slammed open, a guard rushed in and 
shouted, "Lord Sekai!  You have been summoned!  It's time!"
	"Time?" Sekai muttered sleepily as he sat up and tried to rub some 
of the gunk out of his eyes.
	Then, the full meaning of the guards words hit him, he bounded out 
of his bed and exclaimed, "TIME?!  Oh my GOD!  I gotta get dressed!  
I gotta get there!  They'll be upset if I don't get there!  
Ohmanohmanohman!!!"
	In his rush to get dressed and get his King Staff strapped to his 
side, Sekai neglected to notice that his blanket was slowly 
entangling his legs until he tried to leave the room, tripped and 
landed on his face.
	To their credit, the guards sweatdropped but said nothing.
	In a matter of minutes, Sekai was halfway to the main chamber.  He 
charged onward and didn't even wait for the guards to get the door 
open, leaving a human shaped hole in the solid wood in his wake.  He 
bolted down the long halls and reached the throne room, which, given 
the circumstances, was empty.  Sekai skidded to a halt and looked 
around.
	"You know," he said to himself as he scratched the back of his head, 
"maybe I should have asked for directions."
	The sound of a mass facefault made him turn and notice the group of 
guards that had been following him, as well as Sailors Jupiter and 
Saturn.  The two Senshi were the first to recover and, as one, they 
bolted to their feet, got in Sekais face and shouted, "Why the HELL 
did you rush about like a mad man then?!?!"
	"Never mind answering son," Saturn snapped before Sekai could reply, 
"Come with us.. and don't you DARE try to make an entrance."

	In the royal bed chambers, screams that had been released from many 
billions of female throats over the course of human history were 
being released from yet another.  Despite all her power and skill 
with the Ginzuishou, Serenity had no way to stop the pain that came 
from the birth giving process.  Nor did she want it to be stopped, it 
was, in her mind, a reminder that this time, it would be different, 
that this time, the child would be born and stay alive.
	Endymion clutched her hand tightly and squeezed a little harder each 
time Mercury told her to push.  The door opened and Saturn stomped in,
 dragging a protesting Sekai behind her.  Serenity looked up and said 
to him between pushes, "I... thought... ungh... that you... arrrgh... 
didn't... believe in... ahhh... doors."
	Sekai replied, "Special exception."
	"You SAID... ARRRGH!!!!  THAT YOU... AAAHHHH!!!  DIDN'T BELIEVE... 
UNNN... IN FUCKING DOORS!!!"
	Sekai was taken aback by the rage in Serenity's voice, who was 
anything but, and whispered to Saturn, "Were you like this with me?"
	Saturn nodded once sagely and whispered back, "Well my child, how do 
you think you would feel if you had to push something about a foot 
wide through something only a few inches wide?"
	Sekai winced once and said nothing.
	Endymion took a look downward on his wife's' body and then looked 
back up and said, "Hang on my love, you're almost done."
	"Shut UP!" the queen snarled back as Mercury dabbed a cloth on her 
forehead to clear away some of the sweat that was gathered on her 
brow, "This is... HNGKKK!! YOUR fault!  YOU said we should wait!  *I* 
said... GAAAAHHH!!!  That, 'nothing will go wrong this time'!  
AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!  WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GIVE UP SO EASILY?!?!"
	"Well," Endymion replied meekly, a slight blush coming to his face, 
"Whenever we talk about it, you're wearing that..."
	"SHUT UP!!!!"
	"Yes dear."
	Sekai could feel his belly tingling.  The excitement of the moment 
getting to him as Serenity's screams grew louder and louder as the 
moment of the baby's birth grew nearer.  Then, without warning, he 
felt a dark, cold presence wash over him and fill the room.  Without 
even thinking, the rectangular shape of the mark of King Ranger 
appeared on his forehead.
	Without knowing what he was doing, the inner light of King Rangers 
powers began to fight the darkness.  The evil presence obviously had 
not been expecting an attack and so Sekais instinctual response 
caught it totally off guard and whatever spell it had been using to 
mask its presence from the Sailor Senshi and their Queen, wavered and 
died.
	Then, the marks of the other Senshi began to glow and their powers 
were added to the assault on the invisible darkness.  The darkness 
was badly injured but managed to escape just before Serenity's 
crescent moon mark flared to life and then all of the marks faded 
away as the cries of a new born baby girl sounded in the room.
	Mercury was the first to recover and she went to check on the 
shivering infant with pink peach fuzz as the others slumped against 
the walls of the room and tried to figure out what had just happened.


	Somewhere on earth, four priests fell over, three of them exhausted 
and glad to be alive.  "That," the first one said, "was far too close.
  What went wrong?"
	The second replied, "There was a power source we did not account for 
and so our masking spell failed to blind it."
	"So close," the third groaned, "we were so close.  We almost had the 
life energy to awaken Him."
	The fourth one, since he was dead, said nothing.
	The other three looked at their fallen companion and nodded in 
agreement.  "So then," the first said, "we move on to the second plan.
"
	Then, the second turned to the third and ordered, "Get someone to 
remove this useless corpse."

	Sekai looked at the door.  It wasn't a very interesting one.  Made 
of good, solid oak and possessing all the proper dimensions that a 
door should have to fill the door way.  Yep, it was certainly sturdy, 
even though it was a bit plain by palace...
	"You can turn around now," Serenity's voice said and several other 
people in the room snickered.
	Sekai sighed as he did so and thought, "That's the problem with 
being the only male in... well, there's Endymion but he doesn't count 
in this case because he's seen 'them' before."
	Serenity, who was sitting in a rocking chair in the middle of the 
nursery, was in the process of burping her new daughter as the other 
Senshi cooed and made cutsie faces at the little infant.  The walls 
of the room were made out of brown wood and the room itself contained 
a white crib with a mobile that had little stars and rabbits dangling 
from the ropes.  Also, the diapering table rested against the far 
wall and there was a single window in the room that would let in a 
good amount of sun light when the light came.
	Endymion had a smile on his face a thousand kilometers wide and that 
was all he was doing as the shock of finally being a father had 
gotten to him and his brain had shut down for the duration.  Sekai 
asked, "Just out of curiosity, what do you plan on naming her?  If I 
remember my Traditions course right, she's not allowed the title 
Princess Serenity until she turns fourteen and the title of Small 
Lady until she's nine."
	"Weeeeelllll," Venus said thoughtfully, "I've always been partial to 
the name 'Usagi'."
	The group, with the exception of Serenity, who was too busy wiping 
the baby's mouth, gave Venus a collective stare.  "Because," the 
orange highlighted Senshi continued, "the nickname 'Chibi-Usa' is 
just TOOOOOO cute."
	Everyone in the room that was standing facefaulted.  However, as 
soon as they had regained their vertical base, Serenity said, "Usagi 
it is."
	This caused another mass facefault.  This time, as they got to their 
feet, Uranus muttered, "You're just doing it to urk us, aren't you?"
	Serenity smiled her "maybe, maybe not" smile.  A smile that could 
send chills down the backs of both dignitaries and would-be war 
mongers alike.
	Suddenly, both Neptune and Mars whipped their heads around and both 
stared off into space, eyes wide.  Serenity, who had learned to trust 
the instincts of two mildly psychic Senshi, asked, "What's wrong?"
	"An evil is attacking the palace!" Mars gasped, "How were they able 
to hide their forces from us?!"
	"Can you not feel it?" Neptune replied, "The last lingering traces 
of a shield spell.  A powerful one at that.  It's like they don't 
care if they're noticed or not anymore."
	Neptune's remark was punctuated by a loud explosion that shook the 
room.  Endymion came out of his shock and ordered, "Go!  Protect the 
palace!"
	The Senshi nodded and ran out the room to go face the attacking 
enemy.  "Serenity," the King said, "We must go.  I fear we may be 
needed for this battle as well."
	"But," the Queen protested, "what of Chibi-Usa?  I will not leave my 
child unprotected!"
	Sekai thought, "Now if THAT isn't a place to jump in, I don't know 
what is."
	Aloud, he said, "I'LL protect her.  After all, you DID appoint me 
her Guardian."
	Serenity took one look at the now sleeping bundle in her hands and 
gave it one last hug before handing it over to Sekai.  "Please," she 
said, "keep her safe."
	Then, the royal couple left the room.  Naturally, this was when 
little Chibi-Usa decided to start crying.  "Aw man..." the King 
Ranger in training groaned and then attempted to calm the little baby.

	"All right.  It's all right.  Everything's all right..."
	"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
	"What's wrong?  Are you hungry?"
	"WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
	"No... your mom just fed you."
	"WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
	"Do you want to play?" Sekai bounced the little tike slightly.
	"WHHHHHAAAAAAAA... BLEAUGH!!!"
	Sekai grimaced at what now decorated the front of his shirt.
	"WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
	"Hmmm... you're not wet and you don't feel mushy.  So I don't think 
you need to be changed..."
	"WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
	Sekai was just starting to think that seppuku with the King Staff 
was a good option, when the nursery's window shattered and admitted a 
small monster.
	Sekai spun and used his body as a shield against the glass shards.  
This brought even bigger cries from Chibi-Usa as the monster, which 
Sekai recognized a miniature Hell Hound, began to sniff the air.
	Miniature Hell Hounds were much like their full sized counter parts. 
 They possessed red fur which covered rippling muscles, a large mouth 
of jagged decaying fangs, and a long tapered snout that could smell a 
germ three hundred miles away.  However, they were only about forty 
pounds and half a foot high and, Sekai remembered from his Jupiter 
battle training, that their nose, which was their greatest strength, 
could also be their greatest weakness.
	He drew his King Staff and adjusted his hold on Chibi-Usa so he 
could fight and keep her out of harms way at the same time.  He and 
the miniature Hell Hound circled around the room and when Sekai 
reached the diapering area, he grabbed a bottle of talcum powder and 
threw it into the monsters face.
	The creature fell to the ground, choking and sneezing from the 
sensory overload and, as it did so, Sekai rushed forward, extended 
the blade on his King Staff and slashed at it.  The blow struck true 
and the creature let out a mournful howl before, in a flash of light, 
it became a scorch mark on the rug.  "Hmph," Sekai thought, "Must 
have been a conjured beast."
	The wall that had the window that had admitted the miniature Hell 
Hound collapsed and a full sized Hell Hound made its way in.  Unlike 
it's smaller relative, this creature stood over nine feet tall and 
weighed over a thousand pounds.  It's hungry teeth flashed in the 
light of explosions from the battle that raged out side.
	"No room to fight something like that here," Sekai thought, "Gotta 
get out."
	Sekai bolted for the door and threw it open.  Then he backpedled and 
slammed the door closed as he noticed five more Mini-Hell Hounds 
waiting outside.  "This is too much," he thought.
	The Hell Hound lunged.  Sekai jumped forward and rolled under the 
beast, making sure that he didn't hurt Chibi-Usa during his roll.  
Then, when he was passed the beast, he sprang back to his feet, ran 
out the hole in the wall and out into the courtyard.
	He skidded to a halt as he watched the small war that raged.  There 
were literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Hell Hounds attacking 
the palace.  Some of them were the miniatures, most of them were the 
full grown version, and all of them were causing havoc.  The regular 
soldiers were holding their own and Sekai caught the occasional 
glimpse of a Senshi as they used their powers to destroy whole 
platoons of the creatures as quickly as possible.  However, the 
courtyard, which was renowned for it's beautiful Moon Orchids, trees 
and dark green grass, was now pocketed with holes, many of the rare 
flowers were uprooted and many trees were knocked down.
	Sekai looked at the fight grimly and knew it was time to call upon 
the full power of his family line.
	"Well kid," he said to Chibi-Usa, "looks like you're gonna see what 
I can really do."
	With that, he raised his Staff to the sky and shouted, "CHORIKI 
HENSHIN!"
	The transformation took only a second.  His clothes became a black 
cloth that looked much like spandex but was actually a super hard 
armor.  On his chest, on top of the armor, formed an extra layer of 
armor.  However, this extra layer was gold colored and was 
accompanied by gold bands which formed around the armors elbows and 
was also complimented by a gold belt with a buckle in the shape of 
the rectangle with two indentations.  His boots and gloves were white,
 with gold bands at the wrists and top of the boots.  His head was 
covered by a black helmet, with a dark visor in the same shape as the 
one on the buckle and outlined with gold.
	King Ranger had returned.
	Dashing forth with his increased speed, King Ranger made his way 
through the court yard, slashing at anything that attacked him and 
the baby princess in the crook of his right arm.  He looked around, 
desperate for a place he could use as cover to keep Chibi-Usa out of 
harms way as a swing from his weapon destroyed two more Mini-Hell 
Hounds and one full sized one.  He turned around and noticed the 
south wall that led to the forest behind the palace and decided that 
he would take Chibi-Usa there and find a place to hide her.
	However, he never got a chance as someone threw a priest staff in 
front of him and made him draw up short.  "Who the hell are you?" 
King Ranger snarled as a priest in a blue robe with a gold colored 
hat came forth and pulled the staff from out of the ground.
	The priest simply smiled a cruel smile and said, "BAKEMONO 
HENSHIN!"
	The priest then stamped the staff in his hands once and growled as 
his human features began to change.  The hat went flying off and, 
where a man once stood, a humanoid Hell Tiger, a type of white tiger 
with horns on top of its head, let out a savage roar.  "What the HELL?
!" the Ranger gasped.
	"I," the Hell Tigerman said, in a heavily distorted voice, "am a 
Soul Priest!  My name matters not to you.  All that matters, is that 
what you possess is that which I desire.  Hand me the child, and you 
shall live."
	"Never!" King Ranger spat, "I have been assigned this child's 
Guardian and I shall never let you take her!"
	The Hell Tigerman gave King Ranger the once over and said, "I sense 
your power.  Again you interfere with our plan."
	"What are you talking about?"
	"We had originally planed to take the souls of ALL of Serenity's 
children before their births.  However, your power has forced us to 
change our plans."
	The Soul Priest grinned cruelly, "I had made a bet that the others 
would be unable to collect the souls of nine of that bitch Queen 
Serenity's children.  I win."
	Suddenly, a blast of blinding white light smashed into the Soul 
Priest and made him cry out as if every molecule in his body were 
being shattered.  Which stood to reason, since the light came from 
the Ginzuishou.
	King Ranger turned and felt his blood run cold as he saw Serenity, 
covered in a white light, advance on the wounded Hell Tigerman.  "You 
lie," she said, the tears running down her face the only indication 
of the intense emotions that ran through her.
	"You want to believe that, don't you," the Soul Priest chuckled as 
he attempted to regain his footing, "You'd like to believe that we 
haven't found a way around your powers.  You'd like to believe that 
we aren't going to use your own children's premature deaths to power 
the weapon that shall free Mother Earth from your Silver  stifling 
influence!  You'd like to..."
	"LIAR!!!" Serenity roared as the Ginzuishou flared again and blasted 
the Hell Tigerman through the court yard's southern wall.
	"Liar..." she moaned weakly as she fell to her knees and began to 
sob in despair.  For she knew that the priest had spoken the truth.  
She knew not HOW she knew it, but she did.
	King Ranger walked over to her and held up the blanketed Chibi-Usa.  
"Fear not," he said, "Your daughter is safe.  Treasure not the loss 
of children that you will never know and concentrate on the one you 
will."
	"Where," Serenity replied as she took her daughter and used her 
right hand to clear away the worst of the tears, "did you get that 
from?"
	"A fortune cookie."
	"A what?"
	"An Earth food.  It's really very..."
	Endymion ran to where they were and shouted, "SERENITY!  Are you 
well?"
	"Yes..." the Queen replied as she hugged her baby, "and no," she 
thought back on the priests words, "How goes the battle?"
	"Quite well," Endymion replied, "The Hell Hounds are not very strong 
but they are very numerous.  However, they are all conjured creatures.
  If we could find the source and destroy it..."
	King Ranger happened to look up and noticed the Hell Tigerman trying 
to limp away.  "By your leave, Your Majesties," he said before he 
took off in pursuit, "I got me a cat to skin."

	The Soul Priest ran through the forests surrounding the palace, 
desperate to escape as he crashed through brush and pushed aside 
branches that blocked his path.  Suddenly, a kick to the back of his 
head by a white boot with a gold band at the top sent him spiraling 
into a tree.  The Hell Tigerman made his way back to his feet and 
turned to face the crouching King Ranger.  Without a word, the 
monster man charged and slashed at King Ranger with his clawish 
fingers.
	King Ranger easily dodged the clumsy attack and landed behind the 
wounded Soul Priest.  He hit a hidden switch on the King Staff and 
the ornamental head split apart slightly to let the mystic orbs 
inside it gather power.  "KING..." he chanted as he raised the King 
Staff to the sky and the red jewel on top began to glow gold, 
"VICTORY..."
	Then he whipped the Staff down until it pointed at his enemy and it 
let loose with three gold energy balls on the cry of, "BLAST!"
	The energy balls hit the Soul Priest and atomized him on the spot.

	Back at the palace, the Senshi and the guardsmen who had not been 
killed, gave sighs of relief as the Hell Hounds vanished.

	King Ranger took a deep breath and detransformed.  Sekai stumbled 
slightly as the power rush left him and he gasped for breath as the 
light from Earth lit the forest around him with a bluish glow.

	On Earth, while tending to her animals, Nakoruru looked to her 
husband, Haoumaru, who was resting under the shade of a tree, and she 
said, "It has begun."

TO BE CONTINUED...