Greetings!
^_^
Okay, people, once again, and as always, I am officially requesting any and
all C&C you can offer on this one. If nothing else, can you suggest a better
title for the chapter? I'm kind of stuck on this one. Just send me
something, so I know you're still breathing. Then, as usual, I get all happy
and get to work on the next chapter. Deal?
Anyway, now that my usual whining is done, let's get on to the story, eh?
^_^
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
OBLIGATORY LEGAL DISCLAIMER : None of these guys are mine. The Sailor
Senshi belong to DIC and Kodansha, while the Yoroiden are owned by
Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. Okay? So don't bother suing me. I'm a
student.
RONIN SUMMER 4 : INNER BATTLES
A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over
by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com)
Part 9 : SUIKO'S BLOODY FATE
Jadeite groaned and rubbed his temples. He had a bad feeling
about this, but it had to be done... steeling his courage, he swung
open the doors and put on a happy face. "Hello, girls!"
The Storm Senshi, his own personal version of the Inner Senshi,
were scattered about the large room. Sailor Icestorm lounged on a large
bean bag chair, her short blue hair nearly covered by the massive pair
of headphones she wore. A cord led from these headphones to a the
largest stereo system Jadeite had ever seen. Her head bobbed back and
forth as she flipped the pages of her manga and slowly emptied a bag
of potato chips. Sailor Firestorm was sitting cross-legged in the
corner, chanting under her breath and pointing at Sailor Thunderstorm,
who was clutching her throat and vowing revenge as she choked. The last
member of Jadeite's happy little band appeared to have zoned out for
the day : Sailor Lightstorm sat in the opposite corner, reading a thick
book titled 'Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'.
Slowly, Sailor Firestorm noticed him, and stopped hexing her
fellow Senshi, leaping to her feet and bowing deeply before him. "Lord
Jadeite! What is your bidding, my master? I live only to serve..."
"Wuss," Sailor Thunderstorm sneered as she tossed back her long
brown ponytail and tugged on her gloves, "always brown-nosing to that
guy... ain't you got no will of your own?"
"You should show some respect!" Sailor Firestorm glanced back
over her shoulder at the other Senshi. "Jadeite is our leader! It is
only right that we obey his every command!"
"Yeah, I got your 'command' right here!" Thunderstorm cracked
her knuckles and began advancing on the dark haired girl.
Jadeite sighed. This was even worse than he had expected.
"Sailor Lightstorm! Aren't you supposed to be leading these women?"
The blonde looked up from her book and removed her glasses.
"Technically, I suppose... but I really don't want to. I mean,
Thunderstorm's the oldest! Make her leader! Besides, we're supposed to
be Nise Suiko's responsibility! Go yell at him!"
"At this rate, I just might," Jadeite grumbled. "Where is he?"
All four girls pointed at a nearby door.
"He said he was busy," Firestorm offered helpfully.
"He said he had important work in the closet," Lightstorm added
in a bored tone, as she turned the page of her book.
"He said we should go bug someone else for a change," Icestorm
repeated happily, blowing a large pink bubble.
"He said I was hurting him," Thunderstorm growled, "and I
barely even laid a finger on him! Not my fault he has such fragile
arms..."
Jadeite realised he was rubbing his temples again, and stopped.
They're the only clones I have, he reminded himself, I can't afford to
vaporise them... his fingers began to twitch. Mustn't... kill...
With infinite effort, he lowered his hand and willed away the
glowing nimbus of energy that had surrounded it. "Right," he said,
slicking back his short blond hair, "fine. Great. Fetch him out, I've
got a little job for the boy. I have a little job for all of you girls,
too : you're going to Earth. It seems all of our ducks are sitting in
a row..."
**********
Owl gazed at the paper in his hands, his fingers trembling. As
always, his face was expressionless, concealed behind the exotic helmet
he wore. After a moment, he lowered the slim note and folded it several
times. With a stricken groan, he clutched his temples and slumped
backwards against the wall of the Hikawa Jinjai.
Ryo Sanada dropped from his perch in a nearby tree and rushed
over. He was dressed in a pair of black slacks, and a red turtleneck
sweater that had a large silver tiger emblazoned on the chest. The
English letters for 'Virtue' ran down either sleeve in black. "Owl?
What's wrong? Something happen?" A large white tiger, Byakuen, crawled
out of the bushes where it had been lurking and growled inquisitively.
"Jadeite happened." Owl looked down at the paper he clutched,
and tossed it to the boy. "Read it for yourself, Ryo no Rekka. From the
morning edition, hot off the presses."
Ryo unfolded the paper and looked at it. "What is this, a
newspaper clipping?" He began to read aloud. "A strange natural
disaster last night claimed twelve Chinese Junks sailing across the
Yellow Sea to China. Preliminary eyewitness reports indicate that a
sudden storm rose out of nowhere, and the seas turned red... Experts
at Shinsai University are looking into this phenomonon, but believe
that there is little danger for daily shipping..." He stopped and
looked over at Owl. "Red," he murmered, "red as in... Nise Suiko?"
"Those ships held our reinforcements," Owl explained, shrinking
into the folds of his own cape. "Nearly two hundred Amazon warriors.
If even one of them is still alive, I'll eat my cape."
"My god..." Ryo sat down roughly on the ground, the newpaper
slipping from his hands. After a moment of staring numbly at his
fingers, he looked up at Owl. "Shampoo... Mousse! Are-are they...?"
"Mousse came down with a serious case of influenza." Owl sighed
and sat next to the boy. "Shampoo stayed behind in the village to look
after him. They weren't on the boats, but I fear they are now far too
busy mourning their losses to be of any assistance to us."
"This is bad," Ryo said softly, "VERY bad. Can we still pull
this off?"
Owl nodded slowly. "Yes. But it will be about six hundred times
harder."
"Oh, is THAT all?" Ryo smiled sadly and stroked Byakuen's ears
as the tiger laid its head in his lap. "We'll be back by lunch, then."
**********
Makoto Kino smiled. "Touma! I know you missed breakfast, so I
made you something!" She gestured at the picnic blanket she had spread
out on the grass, covered as it was with several baskets and plates of
food. "Come on! Dig in!"
From the other side of the clearing, Touma lifted his shaggy
blue head and glanced around for a moment. "Oh! Thanks, Mako-chan! I'll
be there in a second : just need to stop mumfle ermble gug..."
"Touma." Makoto shook her head. "Take the pen out of your
mouth, and THEN talk."
"Right." Touma spat the pen into his hand and continued making
numerous notations on a small pad of paper. "I said, I just need to
stop working out the interdimensional mechanics involved in assuring we
will successfully traverse the time-space continuum... it never hurts
to triple-check the interspacial physics and transdimensional geometry,
just to be safe."
Makoto smiled and nodded. Personally, she thought, he made more
sense when he was still muffled by his pen. "Okay, so in Japanese, you
would be saying what, exactly?"
Touma smiled and grabbed a sandwich. "Just making sure Owl
doesn't teleport us into a haystack, dear. One of the problems with
people who can teleport naturally is that they rarely stop to consider
all the terrible ways they could mess up. At least this way, if we all
die horrible, horrible deaths, I'll know it's because he didn't carry
the two."
A girl in a green dress leaned against a nearby tree and
snorted. "Is he always such a nerd, Makoto? Ditch him, and get someone
who speaks the same language you do!" She smiled prettily, and shook
her long ponytail of chestnut hair. "Unless, of course, you just like
the size of his... equations..."
"Woah! What the hell is that thing?" Touma glanced back and
forth between the furiously blushing Makoto and the arrogantly smirking
OTHER Makoto.
"Dead." Makoto growled, crumpling a can of soda in one hand.
"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER... MAKE UP!"
Her double laughed. "Oh, YEAH! Fighty time, fighty time, blood,
blood, blood! THUNDERSTORM POWER... MAKE UP!"
**********
Ami Mizuno sighed to herself as she climbed out of the furo,
and slowly began to towel her hair dry. The room was still filled with
steam, and she carefully wrapped a second towel around her body. Rei
had marvelous bathing facilities, she thought. She really should
thank the girl. She had been under so much stress lately, it was such
a relief to relax for once...
"You know," her voice said, "that Ryo Sanada guy was sitting in
a tree outside the window. I would have said something, but seeing
as you're such a prude, you probably would have made him stop looking."
Ami turned and blinked as she watched herself climb out of the
tub, dressed in a one-piece black swimsuit.
"What's wrong with you?" The girl asked, smiling and waving.
"You never seen anybody this gorgeous before?"
"What are you? Some kind of clone? A shapeshifter?" Ami backed
up, holding her towel a little tighter.
"Who cares?" The other Ami shrugged. "God, you're a nerd! Just
transform and like, fight, already! ICESTORM POWER... MAKE UP!"
Ami jumped back, grabbing for the henshin resting on a pile of
her clothes. "MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER... MAKE UP!"
**********
"Seiji! Look out!" Minako, clad in the fuku of Sailor Venus,
jumped over a fallen log, barely dodging the barbed chain of her
double. Sailor Lightstorm, resplendant in her orange and black fuku,
laughed and swung again.
"Why?" Seiji, fully covered in the emerald armour of Korin,
shrugged and shouldered the gleaming no dachi sword he carried. "I
mean, there's only two of them! We Samurai Troopers make a point to
never panic unless we're outnumbered at LEAST ten to one!"
A bolt of something that looked like light and felt like a
freight train slammed into his chestplate. Seiji grunted, flew
backwards, and bounced off of a nearby tree. "Although," he amended
quickly, "when they pack that kind of artillery, we make an exception."
Minako smacked her forehead and crouched down behind her slim
cover, blasting a series of Crescent Beams at her double. Sailor
Lightstorm laughed and dodged easily, returning the shots. Nearby,
Sailor Firestorm was busily hurling fireballs at Seiji no Korin as he
cursed and covered his head with both hands.
"Man, these two are starting to bug me!" Seiji popped up,
bouncing a fireball off of his sword, and raising the glowing
blade above his head. "THUNDERBOLT CUT!" A globe of electricity blasted
from the Korin Ken and enveloped Sailor Lightstorm, who twitched and
squealed. Several feet away, Minako also cried out, and both fell to
the ground, breathing raggedly.
"What the hell?" Seiji stepped back, barely dodging a blast
from Sailor Firestorm as he lowered his no dachi and tried to focus
his powers. Something was funky here. He squinted, and his eyes began
to glow green as Sailor Firestorm hurled another fireball. The kanji
on his forehead gleamed, burning through even the thick armour of his
visor.
** WISDOM... **
Seiji looked, and saw a long golden cord running from Minako
to her duplicate. It wound from the hair of one into the hair of the
other, and a gentle glow of energy flowed along it. "Some kind of
connection," he muttered as he ducked Sailor Firestorm's kick and
roughly shoved her to the ground, somehow suspecting that Rei Hino
just fell down. "When we hurt one, we hurt the other!"
**********
Touma no Tenku flipped out of the way, drawing his Sho Ha Kyu
and nocking an arrow. "ARROW... SHOCK... WAVE!"
A blast of energy shot out from the golden bow and lanced
through Sailor Thunderstorm's shoulder. Even as she cried out and
clutched the injury, a jet of blood splurted from Makoto's own shoulder
and both girls went down.
"Oh, great." Touma groaned and nocked another arrow. "Let me
guess : I hurt you, I hurt her. As if this wasn't hard enough already!"
Sailor Thunderstorm grimaced and hopped to her feet. "It's
going to take a lot more than THAT to take me out, boy! SUPREME THUNDER
DRAGON!" A large sheet of lightning sheared the afternoon air and
clamped Touma in jaws of pure electricty.
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" A flurry of oak leaves blasted into
Sailor Thunderstorm, who found herself struggling to stand as the
leaves sliced into her skin. Wincing, she looked over to see Makoto,
also clutching one shoulder and panting as small cuts seemed to
form on her body of their own accord.
"What the hell are you doing, girl? I've got the man you love!
YOU care about him : I don't!" Sailor Thunderstorm gasped as another
leaf tore across her stomach, ripping the fuku and drawing a thin
line of blood along her abdomen. "I'll KILL him!"
"No." Makoto ground her teeth together and placed both hands
against a nearby tree trunk as she tried to keep her balance. "Not...
if I kill you first. I'm going to win..." A long cut glided open on
her cheek, and blood spilled freely. "Because I'm stronger than you,
I'm more powerful than you, and..."
Sailor Thunderstorm felt her feet begin to slip as the
cyclone of leaves tore at her.
"...I'M..."
Sailor Jupiter growled and felt her feet slip in the soft
earth.
"...TOUGHER THAN YOU!" With a loud wail, both Senshi flew
backwards, Makoto landing hard as her double slammed head first into
a tree. Dropping to the ground, Touma raced over to the side of his
girlfriend, gently brushing aside a strand of her hair and cupping her
face in his hands.
"Makoto?"
"Touma..." Makoto smiled weakly. "You have to get out of here,
warn the other Senshi. There could be... more of them." Her eyelids
fluttered. "But tie that bitch up first. I don't want to have to kick
her butt twice..." Her eyelids finally lowered, and Touma gently kissed
her forehead before drawing another arrow from his quiver and going
hunting.
**********
Seiji smiled. He knew it, he had a plan! Turning to Minako, he
smiled gently. "Mina-chan," he said calmly, "I'm really, really,
unbelievably sorry about this." Raising his sword, he smacked the flat
of his blade against the back of her double's head.
Sailor Lightstorm groaned and clutched her skull. "A hit," she
gasped, "a very palpable hit!" Knees buckling, she collapsed to the
ground in a senseless heap. At the same time, Minako yelped and fell.
Sailor Firestorm gasped. "You would do that to your own
girlfriend, just to take out my sister? You're... you're..."
"Probably going to burn in hell," Seiji admitted with a worried
look on his face. "Oh, man, I can't believe I hit a girl!"
Sailor Firestorm snarled. "I must avenge my poor, defenseless
sister! BURNING MANDALA!"
Seiji howled as flames licked over his armour, forming around
him in a tower of burning rings. He staggered to his knees, thrusting
his no dachi deep into the ground and leaning against it to hold him
upright. "You'll need more than that," he hissed between his teeth.
"I have more, little man." Sailor Firestorm grinned as a bow
of flame formed in her hands. "MARS FIRE SNIPER!" A bolt of fire
smashed into Seiji Date, who screamed.
Smoke pouring from his emerald plates, he collapsed to the
ground, reaching for and grasping Minako's hand as his eyes drifted
shut. "I'm sorry, Mina-chan," he moaned. "I couldn't finish it..."
His eyes shut, and the rest was silence.
Sailor Firestorm dusted off her hands and blew a trail of smoke
off of her index finger. "And now," she said with an evil smirk, "I'm
off to kill Shin no Suiko..."
**********
The steam of the bath room had long since condensed from the
cold of their attacks, and now both Sailor Mercury and Sailor Icestorm
were up to their ankles in freezing water. Both girls had cast their
Mercury Bubbles, and now Ami and her twin were literally lost in a fog.
After searching fruitlessly for a few minutes, Ami smiled to
herself and activated a slim blue visor that slid across her eyes.
In seconds, she had isolated her opponent's unique energy signature,
and lifted her hands, a web of blue energy crackling between her
fingers. "SHINE... AQUA..."
A soft alarm began ringing in her ears, and Ami responded by
instinct, grabbing her Mercury Computer and flipping it open.
"Astounding!" She whispered, as she examined the readings on the
computer screen. "Some form of energy wave is connecting us... if I
had actually attacked her, the feedback could have been disastrous!"
Ami tilted her head and tapped briefly on the keyboard of her
computer. "Let's see, here... all I have to do is invert the polarity,
reverse the sine wave equations, and create a counter-wave that ought
to cancel out the effect..."
Something exploded nearby, and Sailor Mercury was knocked off
of her feet. An instant later, six long and jagged shards of ice sliced
through the fog and embedded themselves in the floor where she had been
standing mere seconds ago.
Sailor Icestorm emerged from the fog, a similar visor of frosty
blue energy covering her eyes. "Awww," she pouted, "you moved! That is
SO not fair!"
"You know what else isn't fair?" A happily familiar voice
asked. "Reinforcements. Those REALLY aren't fair."
Sailor Icestorm looked over at the two new forms that had
miraculously appeared in the fogbank. "What? Who the hell are YOU two?"
With a wry grin, Michiru struck a graceful pose. "Sailor
Uranus and Sailor Neptune, most definitely NOT at your service."
Haruka grinned and saluted with her sword, then dropped into a
ready position. "Simple game, gorgeous : I hit you, you cry and fall
down. Think you can handle that? Good."
**********
Rei Hino tried desperately to keep Jun Yamano and Nasuti Yagyu
in the temple, pushing them behind her as she gazed out into the
courtyard. "Stay back! I don't know what's going on, but I'm getting
some seriously bad vibes!"
"Oh, don't worry about me," Nasuti said with a smile. "I
learned long ago not to go running out into danger without adequate
protection."
"Really?" Naaza asked with a venomous grin as he walked up
behind the trio. "Was that before or after the nine hundredth time we
took you hostage? I'm just asking for clarification : Anubis and I
kind of have a bet going."
"Come ON, Rei!" Jun tugged on the sleeve of her robes as he
began backing down the steps. "The Samurai Troopers might need our
help! They could be in danger!"
"Oh, I certainly hope so," Naaza interjected with a snicker.
"And wouldn't it be just delicious if it happened to be LETHAL danger?"
After a moment, he realised everybody was staring at him. "Sorry," he
said, "force of habit. I'll be good."
Just then Sailor Firestorm sailed into view, riding through the
sky on vast bat wings formed of living flame. She spun in mid-air,
slowly twirling to the ground and willing her enormous wings to fold
around her, creating a curtain of fire that slowly sank into the
ground. Standing in the center of a large, smoking pentagram, she
bowed.
"Woah," Naaza breathed. "Even though I bet we have to kill her,
you got to admit : that was one hell of an entrance."
Rei straightened her spine and slowly walked down the stairs.
"Whatever you are, you reek of the Dark Kingdom. As the Senshi of Mars,
and a champion of justice, I must destroy you! MARS CRYSTAL POWER...
MAKE-"
"Not so fast, sweetness!" A pair of armoured red arms snapped
around her waist, and Rei felt herself get lifted off of her feet.
Her henshin tumbled loose from her fingers, and she looked over her
shoulder into the featureless visor of Nise Suiko. "That's Shin Mouri's
little playmate! We can't let you break her before he gets a chance to
have some fun..."
Sailor Firestorm blew the crimson double a kiss. "Nise Suiko,
darling! I always knew you cared..."
"Hey! What's going on here?" As if summoned, Shin Mouri rounded
the corner, already in full armour. Shuu Rei Fuan and Ryo Sanada were
not far behind, their weapons drawn and at the ready.
"Hello, boys!" Sailor Firestorm grinned and lifted her hands,
eldritch energy forming between her fingers. "I'm so glad you could
join the party!" With a gesture, she sent an arc of flaming energy
directly at the three samurai, who scattered as it sliced through the
trees behind them.
"Man!" Ryo looked at the devastation behind them and shook his
head. "Whatever else may be going on, this chick is JUICED!"
Shin, however, had eyes for a completely different target.
"Nise Suiko! Let Rei go, and face me like the man you aren't!" Lifting
his trident, he braced his feet and lowered the steel mask of his
Suiko yoroi.
"Hmmmm... okay." With a rough shove, Nise sent Rei tumbling
down the stairs and lifted his own harpoon. "Ready to die, Shin Mouri?
I hope you can give me a decent challenge : those Amazons were barely
even a warm up." Surging forward, he thrust his harpoon forward, only
to find it deflected by Shin's own trident. Quickly, the crimson double
ducked under a vicious backswing and kicked up, catching the boy in
the chin and snapping his head back. Staggering, Shin wiped his mouth
and shook his head.
"Why did you do it, Nise? All those innocent people in
Yamaguchi... why did you have to kill them?"
Nise shrugged. "I don't know... shits and giggles, I guess."
Adjusting his stance, he thrust again with his harpoon. Shin dodged,
and caught the shaft of the weapon in his free hand. In a single, fluid
motion, Shin managed to jerk the weapon from his double's hands and
land an elbow right on the bridge of the creature's nose. There was an
ugly cracking sound, and red fluid gushed from Nise's faceplate.
"SHID! You broge by dose, you som ov a bidge!" The Red Torrent
clutched his face and doubled over, then stood back up with a fierce
smile. "That's okay, though : see? All better." There was a metallic
snap as the triple bladed claws on his left wrist latched into place,
and he slashed, raking Shin's chestplate. Shin responded by leaping
back and swinging wildly, tearing through Nise Suiko's abdomen with
his own harpoon.
"SNAKE BITE STRIKE!" A glowing whip of energy hurtled through
the air and cracked against the injured Niso Suiko's back. With a hiss,
he turned and looked behind him, where Naaza had transfored into the
green and red armour of Doku.
"Look at you," the Poison Masho sneered, "you're a little
bitch. I should have taken care of you back when you were created, you
cheap version of me!" Snarling, Naaza redrew his six gleaming katana
blades and appeared to have sprouted extra arms as he juggled all of
them. "Accept no imitations! SNAKE BITE STRIKE!"
**********
"Shuu! Hold her!" Ryo Sanada yelled as he ducked another sheet
of flame and slashed at the girl in the red fuku with his paired
swords. Shuu no Kongo nodded and jumped, flipping over Sailor
Firestorm's head and landing heavily behind her, pinning her arms by
holding his iron tesubo staff across her chest.
"Speak, and it is done, Ryo m'man!" Shuu chuckled, and looked
down at the squirming girl in his grip. "Gee, it's almost a shame to
kill her : she's kind of cute when she's not trying to fricasse us."
"Don't do it!" Limping, Touma Hashiba ran through the gates,
his armour battered and smoking. Over his shoulders, the Yoroiden of
Tenku was carrying Makoto Kino, Seiji Date and Minako Aino, all three
unconscious and moaning softly with his every step. "The clones are
connected to the originals! If you kill her, you'll be killing Rei,
too!"
"Woah! Good save, Touma!" Shuu laughed heartily and glanced
down at the struggling Sailor FIrestrom. "Well, seeing as this little
girl's not going anywhere anytime soon, and I'm gonna have to let go
eventually, what do you say I go find us some rope?"
"Bring some back if you do," Touma said drily. "There's a Venus
and a Jupiter out there in the bushes."
**********
Sailor Mars watched as Shuu no Kongo and Ryo no Rekka dragged
her double safely out of the line of fire. With a soft smile, she
drew out one of her ofuda scrolls. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin,
retsu, sai, zen." She chanted, and watched as the slip of paper snapped
upright. "AKURYOU TAISAN!"
With a flick of her wrist, she sent the scroll fluttering
across the courtyard, where it stuck firmly to Nise Suiko's back. He
cursed, and tried to pull it free as Shin slashed at his knee with
the Suiko Yari. There was a sound like that of a giant pair of
scissors, and the creature fell to the ground, hot blood streaming
from the stump where his leg had been.
"MARS FIRE SNIPER!" An arrow of fire blasted into the armoured
form, searing it and tearing a deep furrow through his torso. Smoke
rising from numerous wounds that were no longer closing, Nise Suiko
glanced up at the forms of Sailor Mars, Shin Mouri, and Naotoki
Yamanouchi as the three surrounded him.
"Please..." He choked, coughing up a dollop of crimson slime,
"H-have... have mercy... I never..."
Shin shook his head. "You, who were without mercy, now plead
for it? I had thought you were made of sterner stuff." He lifted Nise's
harpoon above his head, the wicked point aiming downwards.
"At least... give me my blade, Suiko... let me die in battle."
"This isn't a battle," Shin said calmly, as visions of his home
drifted through his mind. "This is an execution."
The harpoon fell, cracking through Nise Suiko's chestplate and
sinking deep into his heart. A small fountain of steaming red slime
began to spout from the wound, and Shin's double arched his back, a
wordless howl rising from his throat. The body slumped back down, and
Nise lifted his head to view the wound.
"A fine deathblow," he gurgled. "So tell me, Suiko... how does
it feel... to be ME?" His chuckle turned into a cough, and then a
rattle. His head sagged back down to the ground, and he was dead.
"Shin?" Rei asked softly, laying her hand on the battered blue
chestplate of the boy's yoroi. "Are you okay? How do you feel?"
"Regretful," Shin answered as he remembered his mother, and
the people of Yamaguchi, who had been terrorized by the monster that
wore his face. "I should have done that years ago."
**********
"Okay," Shuu said with a grunt as he finished tying the knots
holding Sailor Firestorm in place, "we got a Venus clone, a Mercury
clone, a Jupiter clone, a Mars clone, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Now what do we do with them?"
At that point, Shin entered carrying the body of Nise Suiko.
To everyone's surprise, the Mars clone began weeping, and her entire
body sagged to the ground. Curled in a small ball, she continued
wailing gently.
"You killed him," she whimpered, "you MONSTERS! You KILLED
him! How could you! Poor Nise..."
"We need to post a guard," Shin said simply, tossing the body
onto the ground, where Sailor Firestorm quickly draped herself over it,
despite her ropes. "If this pile of slime starts to twitch, we kill
it again. If he's still dead a day from now, we ought to be safe in
burying it somewhere."
"If I may make a suggestion?" Owl drifted out of the shadows
and raised one hand for attention. "It would seem to me that these
five were sent by Jadeite. He no doubt expects them to return, and
since they happen to look exactly like certain members of our own
team..."
Ryo snapped his fingers. "Shin and the Inner Senshi get
teleported back in their place, and break into Jadeite's castle! Great
plan, Owl! They can bust out Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen!"
"But won't he know we're us?" Shin asked, and Owl snorted.
"Please! A little red hair dye, some civilian clothes, and
he'll never notice until it's too late." Owl folded his arms across
his chest. "The Senshi will be even simpler. Nuts like Jadeite are
almost TOO easy to decieve..."
"Great," Touma said, as he made sure Seiji, Minako, and Makoto
were all right. "So then Shin and the Inners are going to go in and
clear a path for the rest of us. Who stays behind and keeps an eye on
our darling little doppelgangers?"
"Not us," Ryo argued firmly, "there's no WAY we leave Shin in
danger if the Samurai Troopers aren't there to pull him back out of it.
And we need Owl to take us all to the Dark Kingdom..."
"How about Nasuti and Jun?" Naaza suggested. "I mean, how hard
is it to watch over people when they're tied up? If Nise Suiko wakes
up, just let that damn tiger of yours chew on him for a few hours.
Believe ME, he won't like it any more than any of us did..."
"Too risky." Haruka thought about it for a moment. "Oh, who
the hell are we kidding? Michi and I will do it. If that Nise guy comes
too, we'll put him right back to sleep. What do you think, Setsuna? You
wanna pull guard duty with us?"
The green-haired Sailor Pluto shook her head. "I fear I cannot.
I must face Wiseman : it is vital to the timeline that I do so.
Therefore, I shall accompany the Troopers and Owl."
"Cool." Naaza grinned crazily, showing off his long canines.
"Well, if that's all settled, I'll be toddling off to the Dynasty.
Kayura has a few plans on the back burner, and if someone doesn't tell
her what you kids are up to, you might wind up in the crossfire.
Sayonara!" That said, he turned and walked through a large gate which
had conveniently appeared, and vanished in a flash of green light.
"So it's settled, then." Owl placed his hands on his hips,
shrugging his long gray cape out of his way. "Sailor Pluto and the
Samurai Troopers will come with me, Shin Mouri and the Inner Senshi
will invade Jadeite's castle, and the Outer Senshi will stay here with
Nasuti and Jun to keep an eye on our guests." He dusted off his hands,
and nodded. "We'll spend the rest of this evening working on disguising
our advance troops, then rest up for the night."
"Right." Ryo grinned and turned to his troops. "And, starting
tomorrow morning, the Dark Kingdom crumbles!"
To Be Continued...