Hello all! ^_^
Well, it HAS been a while, hasn't it? I apologise for the delay, but I
suffered
from an insufferable case of weiter's block for the longest time...
Anyways, as all of you should know by now, I live off of C&C, so send some
my way and let me know what you think! Even if it's just to say "hi". And I
know, this is a bit shorter than usual. Due to technical circumstances
beyond my control, I have to keep these chapters just a smidgen briefer than
usual if I want to send them. To compensate, this will be my longest story
arc yet.
Wow, I'm long-winded. Anyway, with all my usual blather out of the way,
we're off once again! ^_^
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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 : DARK CRUSADE
A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over
by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com)
Chapter One : Ill Winds
A young man sat in meditation near a large crystal tube. The
tube itself was not spectacular, except for its size. The contents of
this tube, however, were another matter entirely.
She was tall, or at least she would have been if standing
under her own power. As it was, she floated a few feet off of the
floor, a mass of golden hair bobbing about her head like a constantly
moving cloud. She was naked, with her arms crossed over her chest and
her eyes closed as though resting. In addition to this fine specimen
of the female species, the tube was filled with a thick blue gel that
occasionally bubbled and squelched to itself. Countless smaller tubes
ran under the woman's skin at her ankles, wrists, waist, thighs, and
stomach, hanging limp against her form like an exotic kind of dress.
Her lips were slightly parted, as if in sleep.
The man closed his own eyes, leaning forward and resting his
head against the cool exterior casing. So intent was he that he
completely overlooked the approach of a second form. The form in
question frowned slightly at this, and tapped his shoulder.
"Dearest brother," she sneered as the man slowly opened his
eyes, "we have arrived at our latest destination. Your siblings await
your order."
"Thank you, Sister Holts." The man gathered his cape around him
and turned to face the small redhead. Her lower pair of eyes were as
calculating as ever, but the pair above them seemed to gleam with an
unusual delight. "Is there something you are not sharing with us,
Sister?"
"Perhaps." Holts wrapped her arms around her black clad body,
the long and jointed spines that protuded from her spine folding around
her as she smirked triumphantly. "Vyne is preparing another coup, you
know. I was thinking this time I might let him."
"You shouldn't speak that way!" The man cast his eyes towards
the tube, where strange markings had appeared on the face of the
slumbering woman. "Now look what you've done : you've upset Mother.
You know how she gets when we fight."
"Relax." Holts yawned mightily and lay back on the small sofa
which was the only furnishing in the room. "Training and manipulating
a new Leader sounds far too much like work for my tastes. You are
Mother's Pride, for now..."
The slim and aristocratic young man frowned into his fist as
he began pacing. "How fare my other siblings, Sister Holts? Are they
well?"
"Thraw is restless, Tytoung is hungry." The spider woman
shrugged. "What else is new? My sisters Tuls and Erdge are beginning
to tire of staring at these walls all day. Personally, I don't see
why they would be so eager to begin again. I'VE certainly never seen
any reason to risk my pretty little neck on these dreadful crusades
of yours..."
"We are on a sacred mission, Holts!" The caped figure ran one
gauntlet through his short blond hair. Like his sister, his blue
eyes sparkled with a strange light, although he had only the one pair.
"It is our destiny to spread peace and harmony throughout the
worlds! That is the holy quest Mother has set for us!"
"Whatever you say, dear brother." Holts yawned again, and
arched her back as she stretched, all six arms raised above her head.
"All I know is that we'll be in the Dark Kingdom in exactly twenty
seconds, and you have a speech to give."
**********
Rajura was rubbing his temples as he stormed through the gates
of his current residence. His leather boots rang loudly against the
granite floors, and he barely even registered the now familiar sound
of six other feet joining him in perfect unison. He still wasn't
entirely sure where they managed to come from, but they were always
there within twenty seconds of his leaving his room or entering the
castle. He liked that.
"Icestorm," he said without looking, "inform the Empress that
my suggested method of dealing with our disrupted communications has
succeeded. Just have her yauja toss a few yen in the pool. And for
Shuten's sake, don't let any of the dumber ones forget, or they'll be
eaten!"
"Huh?" A few feet behind him, a young girl with short blue
hair blinked and removed the headphones she had been wearing. "What'd
ya say, Spidey? I like, totally missed you on that one."
Rajura ground his teeth. "I said you need to inform the Empress
that I've taken care of her problem..."
"Ooh! No can do, Spidey." The girl blew a large pink bubble,
and the Masho of Deception fought the urge to throttle her for
giving him such an infantile nickname. "She'd be, like, major cheesed
if I did that, you know? I mean, she like, came all this way to talk to
you and Snuggles, so I think the boss lady's a little peeved
already..."
"Came all this way? You mean, Empress Kayura is here?"
The not-so-evil-anymore clone of Sailor Mercury bobbed her head
vigourously. "Like, how did you guess? You must be some kind of super
rad psychic to know that when we haven't even told you yet!"
A few feet to Rajura's left, a tall brunette dressed in green
sneered and shook her head. "Don't mind the airhead. Kayura showed up
three hours ago, and she brought Tall, Dark, and Spooky with her."
"And before you ask, Hugglebuns still isn't back from Earth."
On Rajura's left, a graceful blond in gold checked her watch. "Why'd
he leave, anyway?"
Probably, Rajura thought as he tied his silver hair into a
ponytail and tried his best to look presentable, because those three
kept calling him 'Hugglebuns'. The memory of Naaza's desperate flight
from the castle, Storm Senshi hot on his heels, still made Rajura
fight back a chuckle. Although he'd have a devil of a time explaining
why the Masho of Poison wasn't on hand to welcome his Empress. Somehow
simply saying that the lad had given in to his impulses and fled to
Earth never crossed the older man's mind. The truth was never better
than Plan B, in Rajura's book. Usually Plan Z.
**********
The large double doors swung inward with a flourish, and Rajura
entered with an exaggerated bow. "My Empress!" He cried jubilantly.
"You honour me with your presence. And I see you're wearing clothes, a
double honour..."
Kayura, the deceptively waif-like ruler of the Dynasty, smiled
prettily and smoothed a wrinkle in her purple and gold kimono. "Well,"
she answered as she leaned back in her throne, "we can't be wearing
our armour all the time, now can we, Anu-kun?"
"No," the tall and dark haired man beside her growled,
"although some of us would prefer it if you did." He looked decidedly
uncomfortable in his black hakama and quilted brown gi jacket. "You
still have enemies, My Empress. You take risks that I, for one, would
spare you."
"Anubis!" Kayura laughed. "If we are not safe under the
hospitality of Jirogorou Kuroda, where are we safe?"
"In," Anubis replied calmly, "our yoroi, in our OWN castle,
surrounded with a legion of armed yauja guards."
Kayura stuck her tongue out at her fiance and giggled. "Excuse
him, Rajura. Anubis would have us locked in those iron shells every
hour of the day if he had anything to say about it. I don't doubt that
on our wedding night he plans to have that dreadful sword of his under
the mattress, just in case."
The awkward face Anubis made convinced Rajura that it had,
indeed, been his plan. The Wolf Masho was blushing so fiercely that the
large cross-shaped scar on his left cheek was nearly white by
comparison. With a soft chuckle, the Spider Masho decided to give his
leader a slight break and change the conversation. He'd make sure
Anubis paid for it later.
"So what do you think of your latest expansion, Empress? If I
do say so myself, the Dark Kingdom is cleaning up rather nicely.
Half of the former army is already hard at work in the fields, and the
other half have been set to work repairing the castle and suppressing
any last vestiges of disloyalty. Your own yauja divisions have been
tending to their wounds, and should reach full strength by the end of
the month." Scratching idly under the rim of his eyepatch, Rajura sat
on the edge of a nearby table and reached into a bowl of fruit.
"Apple?"
Kayura raised one eybrow. "I prefer oranges," she said simply.
Rajura shrugged, and tossed her the fruit. "Fine," he said,
"it's an orange."
The sable-haired woman began to peel the orange, digging her
nails into the rind. "I suppose that with the losses we have suffered,
our troop dispersement in this region is a trifle low. Would you have
me leave behind a few members of my entourage, to tide you over?"
"The Imperial Guard?" Rajura snorted as shifted his weight
slightly. Using the motion as an excuse, he looked over the twelve
armoured yauja that stood as motionless as columns against the walls of
the throne room. Halbreds and naginata gleamed softly in the torch
light. "With all due respect, I doubt they would stay. You know that
each member of your Guard has rather express orders to stay by your
side. I'm not sure even you could convince them otherwise."
The twelve yauja each tilted their heads in a silent nod.
**********
I wanted to be a farmer, Takenoko thought to himself. So how
in the Kingdom did I wind up standing guard at this gate? Shaking his
massive horned head, the minotaur rose to his hooves and tested the
edge of his personal weapon. It was a cleaver, albeit one the size of
most men's torsos, notched from use and still stained with blood. He
had taken that cleaver from one of Jadeite's own youma and turned it
against them, and he preferred to keep it as a momento.
It wasn't, the youma reflected, as though he was the best
choice for sentinel, anyway. Like all members of his race, he suffered
from terrible vision. Anything more than twenty feet away was doomed
to remain a featureless blur. With a bovine sigh, he began to trudge
up and down the length of the wall he stood on, nodding briefly to the
youma he passed.
"General!"
Takenoko turned and squinted at the speaker, another dark
blotch in the crowd of dark blotches. He knew the voice though : it
was the gruff, metallic twang of Kayura's yauja soldiers. As far as
he had been able to tell, not a blessed one of the things had enough
personality for him to tell one from the other. Unless, he amended,
the deliberate refusal to have a personality could count as a
personality.
"What is it, you brainless hunk of tin?" He wished he'd never
agreed to join the army again. He wished he'd never even considered
accepting the promotion they offered him. He wished he was off raising
carrots with the rest of his former Pit Fighters. Or alfalfa.
Whatever.
The yauja glanced briefly at Takenoko as the lumbering mass of
muscle and fur caught up to its side. Stupid youma, it thought to
itself. Simply because a warrior chose not to speak incessantly about
utterly nothing, they assumed it wasn't sentient. "We have an
intruder." The yauja pointed, and Takenoko glared down the length of
its armoured finger.
Sure enough, there was a human out there. Humans were pretty
rare in the Dark Kingdom, and apparently even more so in the Dynasty.
Assuming it wasn't a Masho, a Samurai Trooper, or a Sailor Senshi,
it had no business being in the area. Takenoko narrowed his eyes again.
If only he could make out a face...
"Couldn't it be that Naotoki lad? He's due back from the Earth
realm any day now."
"Doubtful." The yauja nearly sighed, before catching itself.
"Lord Naaza has green hair, not black. And he tends to open the gates
before he walks through them."
Takenoko blinked and glanced into the courtyard, where that
pesky human was entering the castle. To the general's surprise, he
seemed to merely melt through the wall, instead of using the door like
most people. The minotaur rubbed his eyes and groaned. First thing
tomorrow, he decided, he was getting glasses.
**********
Rajura was right in the middle of a very entertaining story
about where Naaza was when a strange young man walked through the wall
and waved to him. The white haired man stopped in mid-sentence and
blinked. Even to one such as himself, who knew quite well how
subjective reality could be, this was a bit of a shock.
"I bring you greetings," the man said with a benevolent smile,
"from Mother."
"And who," Kayura managed to ask after a few tries, "is this
Mother of yours?"
"Oh, Mother is most wondrous person! She gave life to my
siblings and myself. And she has given those lives a grand purpose!"
The young man paused and rearranged his dark, toga-like garment.
"Forgiveness, please. I get ahead of myself, in my eagerness to spread
the good news. My name is Pedri, and I have been gifted with the
privilege of informing you that Mother has come to free you."
"Free us?" Anubis glanced at Kayura and shifted his posture
into a combat ready stance. "Free us from what, exactly?"
"Why... everything!" Pedri smiled again and spread his arms
wide. "Your torment, your suffering, all of your toil... Mother has
come to lead you to your salvation. With Mother here, your realm will
know endless peace, eternal happiness..."
"I'm sorry," Kayura said calmly as she finished the last slice
of her orange, "but we prefer things as they are, thank you very much."
"In other words," Rajura added, "we're not buying it. Try
the next realm over : I hear they're real suckers."
"Now leave," Anubis finished, as the Imperial Guardsmen lowered
their polearms in perfect unison, "before we drag you out."
"I see." Pedri looked a trifle disappointed. "I'm afraid you
don't quite understand. My siblings and I must carry out the will of
our Mother, and Mother wishes that this realm know peace. We cannot
allow you to interfere with our divine quest. You WILL be saved. I'm
certain that once Mother has shown you the light, you will thank us."
"So you're going to save us, whether we like it or not?" Rajura
smirked. "I'd really like to see how you plan to force us into eternal
happiness."
"You will." Pedri's face was stern now, the jovial personality
evaporating like mist in the summer sun. "And I assure you, mortal, I
shall personally deliver you to your own." With a flare of his cape,
the young man sank through the floor as if his body was made of liquid.
"Well." Rajura chuckled. "Wasn't that special?"
Kayura and Anubis locked gazes, and the young Empress turned to
her other Masho with a look of nervousness. "You don't suppose that
he's serious, do you, Rajura?"
"Oh, he's serious." Rajura scratched his eyepatch once again,
and remembered a harsh lesson learned long ago. "Everybody's serious.
I'd say we have a few weeks before we need to worry about it, though.
He'll have to get back to this Mother creature, report his failure,
move in troops... I'd say at least a month."
"But I don't want a war, Anubis." Kayura seemed to shrink into
her throne, and the dark haired Masho of Darkness ran his fingers
through her hair.
"I'm afraid, my Empress, that you don't have a choice."
"No worries," Rajura said confidently. "We'll order Dynasty
reinforcements, and they'll be here in a week. We've got plenty of time
to show this Pedri child how we conquered the Dark Kingdom in the
first place."
**********
Holts was already laughing when Pedri returned home. "Well,
brother, that was your most spectacular failure yet! When will you
learn that people are not going to hand you their worlds?"
"Silence!" Pedri cut the girl off with a sharp gesture. "I
must commune with Mother as to our next move. Inform our siblings that
the time grows near."
"Must I?" Holts pouted prettily. "That sounds like far too
much work. Why can't Erdge do it?"
"You will do it. AND DO IT NOW!"
The girl scampered away with a frightened glance over her
shoulder. Pedri grimaced and tossed aside the swirling robes and toga
he had worn outside. Dressed now in his usual skintight ruby uniform,
medals gleaming proudly from his chest, he stalked over to the
woman in the tube.
"Mother," he groaned, the word itself almost a plea. "Mother,
why do they never understand? Life is such a tumultuous, chaotic thing.
Why do they never see that your way is the way of peace? Why do they
never embrace the silence?" Slowly sinking to his knees, he pressed
his face against the crystal and paused as though listening. "Oh, of
course I realise, Mother. The assault cannot be delayed. I never meant
to imply... Yes, I see." Another pause, and he rose.
"Holts?" His sister quickly skittered back into view.
"What is it now, Leader?"
"Mother has decided we must proceed as planned. Initiate the
drain of her fluids and prepare our troops for infusion. Tell Erdge to move
our
castle closer to their headquarters, and inform Thraw and Tytoung that we
will
be landing our army at their front gates."
He paused, and smiled as he gazed at the tube before him.
"We shall strike them tomorrow."
**********
TO BE CONTINUED...
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