Souls of Fire #5: Metal Flame
Ranma 1/2 VS Sailor Moon
Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/sm/index.html
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and characters belong to
Naoko Takeuchi. Ranma 1/2 and characters belong to
Rumiko Takahashi. Proper licenses belong to respective
properties and characters. The manga has precedence
over material in the anime.
This file can be freely distributed so long as it
appears in its complete form and proper credit. No
part may be reproduced for monetary gain without
permission from the author.
----------------------------------------------------
Northwest Hydroelectric Plant, Crystal Tokyo
Sailor Jupiter had no idea what to expect when she
walked into the plant. The first step she made through
the door several floodlights blinded her eyes, each
light coming from multiple directions and above.
"Pity," a female voice said, her voice echoing over
speakers. "I was hoping for a chance to meet your
esteemed leader, Sailor Venus."
Shielding her eyes to the light, Jupiter shouted,
"Where are you?! Show yourself!"
"Perhaps you should find something of interest at the
main engine room," the voice offered. "Be my guest; it
appears I will turn my attentions elsewhere while you
thwart us."
At the same moment the floodlights shut off, and
despite the fact the Fenril was implying that she
would not attack, Jupiter knew it was a trap.
Nevertheless, after taking a few moments for her eyes
to adjust back to the relative darkness of the plant,
she continued on steadily.
No more interruptions marred her trek to the main
engine, where the electrical energy generated by the
turbines was channeled into the cables that carried
power to the city. Against its side there was a small
metallic cone stuck to it, and a light on its pointed
end blinked like a beacon.
"Well," she decided, "nothing else but to smash it."
She raised a fist, and thrust.
Only to have it caught by another's hand. "Geez,
who woulda thought you girls fought with fists?"
"I knew it was too good to be true," she muttered,
bracing herself for the inevitable follow-up attack to
the counter shot.
"I'm Ranma," the martial artist introduced
nonchalantly. "We've got some serious talking to do."
"Really," Jupiter replied, her mind racing for a
counter of her own. "Like what?"
"Like what we're going to do about this lousy society
of yours," answered Ranma. "Like how you're leaving
yourself so open to attack it's not even funny. How do
you expect to beat anyone, much less us, if the only
people that defend it are four people?"
After mentioning this, Ranma paused, his expression
showing shock. "Wait a minute, there's four of you,
and...."
Before Jupiter would allow him to come up with the
answer she grabbed the Fenril's arm, and, throwing all
her weight back, hurled him off his feet and over her.
---
Northern Wind Plant, Crystal Tokyo
Sailor Mars fought against both the high wind and the
projectiles of the attacking Mousse, who, with great
acrobatic precision despite the weather, bounced off
each fan tower easily, making himself a terrible target
to aim for.
Forced totally on the defensive Mars wished the queen
would simply change the weather control system around
the windmill plant to suit her style better. However,
the plant must stay up and running for the city, and
such the handicap must be taken. The Fenril, Mousse,
on the other hand, seemed to take such a 'handicap'
with ease, as if it never hindered him one bit.
She threw a Fire Soul at the incoming knives, each
melting quickly into nothingness and scattering to the
winds long before reaching Mars.
"This isn't getting us anywhere," she realized.
"They're trying to stall me and keep me from the plant
itself... but why?"
---
Western Magic Plant, Crystal Tokyo
"No enemies," Venus said to herself aloud as she
walked into the engine room. She spied the conical
beacon attached to the side, blinking periodically at
regular intervals. "Nothing left but to get rid of
that thing, whatever it is."
"Stop right there!"
Venus's attention was torn away from the Fenril
device, focusing on a silhouette standing against one
of the windows on the upper catwalk. She could make
out the outline of a woman figure, with plenty of hair
reaching down well below her waist.
"Stealing the hearts of man, woman, and child!" she
accused, in a tone reminiscent of Sailor Moon's old
speeches. "Transforming this Earth into a shadow of
its former glory... it's unforgivable!!"
"What the...?!"
"Well, I stand for love and justice!" the Fenril
shouted, mimicking familiar hand gestures. "I'm
Sailor Miranda! And in the name of the Earth, I'll
punish you."
Taking no appreciation of the parody shot Venus's
eyes followed the Fenril's leap over the catwalk, and
saw that she was going for a drop kick. She threw
herself to the right, feeling the wind scrape against
her hair as she tumbled.
"Boy, you girls suck in the spiel department,"
Miranda said contemptuously, landing on her feet. "And
for the next item up on our bid...!" She cocked one
arm back, spreading fingers outward, and a glowing disc
of energy began to form.
Venus scrambled back on her hands and feet as
sawblade-like energy discs flew from the Fenril's
hand, each making a sizable tear in the floor where the
senshi used to be.
"Geez, Rubber-bitch!" someone shouted. "Catfight
already! Show me how woman you are!"
"Shut up, Pantyhose Bastard!" Miranda cried back to
the unseen Fenril. "Who's side are you on, anyway?!"
"Stop calling me that!" Taro demanded angrily.
Taking the momentary distraction to get back to her
feet Venus raised her index finger and pointed it
toward the attacking Fenril, throwing off a Crescent
Beam.
However, Miranda appeared to be paying more attention
to her enemy than her unseen ally, throwing another
energy discus and shredding the beam into nothingness.
The discus continued on its path, forcing Venus to duck
an allow it to pass overhead.
"Buzz off!" the Fenril girl shouted. "I'll take care
of you!!"
---
Rec Room, Mishima Heavy Industries
"Ah, look," Higure told Ami, nudging his head in the
direction of the television set. "It appears we made
the evening news."
Curiosity piqued, Ami got up from her seat, leaving
Higure to his Solitaire, and turned up the volume.
Sure enough, it was the evening news, and the story was
indeed on the Fenril Knights.
"Word has been released by the palace this morning
that confirms that a terrorist group calling themselves
the Fenril Knights are responsible for the recent
chaos occurring in the world."
"Humph, listen to her," Higure snorted, holding no
respect for the anchorwoman. "She behaves as if we
chose this way of life, much less chose that name.
They use it often enough and it sticks."
"The Fenril Knights have taken blame for the bombing
in Iwata two weeks ago, and for yesterday's subway
collapse. The Iwata bombing resulted in a couple put
in the hospital with critical burns and a destroyed
home, both patients are recovering swiftly but have
declined to comment."
"And with good reason," the old man chipped in, his
card game forgotten.
"However, we have learned recently that one of the
Fenril Knights is being held in captivity tonight after
the destruction of the 10th Street subway station. A
name or identity has not been released at this time,
but we have...."
"They captured one of you?" Ami said, surprised.
Higure nodded.
The telecast changed to another reporter standing
outside the Crystal Palace. "We have learned that the
Fenril Knight is being held in the royal palace itself.
While we have not learned the identity of the terrorist
in question already people have lined up by the walls
demanding justice."
The camera panned away from the reporter to
punctuate on the reporter's point. Ami's jaw dropped
in surprise, watching an actual group of protestors
marching around the front gate, chanting and holding
signs demanding the 'terrorist' be given swift justice.
To her eyes and ears the disguised senshi she saw only
a bloodthirsty mob, crying for vengeance; while that
was supposed to be impossible in this society it was
what she was seeing.
"We can't let these people run amok and ruin our
world like this!" one interviewed protestor told the
reporter. "We had to put up with the Black Moon when
they kicked us around, but they never got the justice
they deserved!"
Higure only shook his head in disgust.
"However, opinions are divided on a smaller camp,"
the reporter continued, and the camera switched to a
second quick interview.
"The way these people demand 'justice,'" the woman
said, holding the last word in contempt, "is like they
want someone to blame for all their problems. They
couldn't do it to us, they shouldn't be doing it to
them."
"Former Black Moon warrior," Ami realized.
"Is that so?" the old man asked, his interest perked.
She nodded. "After the war was over Neo Queen
Serenity accepted the rest of the Black Moon Family
with open arms, and each voluntarily reintegrated
themselves back into society, since all their leaders
were dead and defeated. They lost the will to war over
their home. But the people they attacked... they never
forgave them. No matter how much a part of society
they are on the surface, they're treated like second-
class citizens."
"I see." Higure stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"Such as it in civil war that one cannot trust the
other side even after they are broken."
"I don't understand it," Ami admitted. "The war was
draining for both sides, and it was in everybody's
best interests that the Black Moon Family be accepted
without condition."
"The people need a scapegoat," Higure offered. "It
is in human nature to want a reason to feel better
after being wronged. In this case, Shizuka is in deep
trouble because the pent-up frustrations over your
Black Moon general pardon have not left the minds of
the people. The queen is wise to keep her within the
palace."
She nodded, understanding that Neo Queen Serenity
knew what she was doing when she decided to release
information on the Fenril Knights. It was a terrible
risk, but one that had to be done if the war would
continue. Keeping Shizuka in the palace was more a
practical than a political maneuver.
Even though the hearts of the people have changed,
there was nothing to do about basic human nature. If
only some of the more closed-minded Fenril understood
that, talks could have ended the war long before it
started.
For a moment Ami wondered how closed-minded Ayame
Mishima was; it was obvious that the Fenril looked
toward her for leadership collectively, even if one or
two objected to her personally. She is the major key
in the puzzle.
She allowed the news report to absorb her attention
once again, and the peaceful protesters still looked
like a bloodthirsty mob to Ami's eyes.
---
Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"All beacons are in place," Kanna reported. "All we
have to do now is power-up the funnel."
"Three of the Sailor Senshi are confirmed to
attacking our groups, but so far none have gotten
through," Shion added. "Ayame, if we're going to do
it, we have to do it NOW."
Ayame folded her arms, tapping her arm with her
fingers expectantly. "Think about it, Shion... there
is supposed to be... how many Sailor Senshi?"
There was cause to worry, she knew, because the
triumvirate overheard everything their groups said
using the remote control watchers. And Ranma Saotome,
for all his honor bluster, brought up a rather
interesting point, one which even Kanna hadn't
considered. It left the funnel open to a really nasty
attack if the last senshi showed up, and that was
something Ayame refused to accept as a possibility.
"A grand total of seven, I think," the mercenary
answered. He raised up both hands and counted down
with his fingers. "Supposedly, one of them is dead for
sure; she died in the last war. Two are beyond the
solar system doing who-knows what. There are supposed
to be four guarding Crystal Tokyo at all times." He
closed his remaining hand to a fist, nodding in
understanding.
"But there should be one for each planet, shouldn't
there?" wondered the Crystal Spider. "The pattern
fits with a couple skips, after all."
"So where's the last one?" the leader wondered. "I
never seen hide nor hair of the fourth senshi... Sailor
Mercury, as I believe she's called."
"She's supposed to be their smartest girl," Kanna
offered. "Usually she's advising the queen, from what
I gather." She shook her head. "Not only that... but
if she's as smart as they say she is, there's a
possibility of a counter-strategy at work. I agree
with Shion; you have to turn the funnel on now."
"Prepare more CRONOS units at the funnel, if
necessary. I'm not taking any more chances. Activate
the funnel now."
---
Nanjo Heavy Industries, Crystal Tokyo
"What do you mean, 'we're turning the funnel on?'"
Ukyo complained, standing up from leaning against the
side of the energy funnel. "I thought we were going to
wait for the beacons to warm up first!"
"They've warmed up enough!" Ayame hissed, her voice
screeching through the radio in the chef's hand. "My
trigger finger's itchy, so I suggest you back off a few
more feet."
"But I...!"
"No time!" Hokuto yelled, yanking Ukyo back and away
from the funnel, just as energy welled out of the top
of the funnel like a volcano.
---
North Wind Plant, Crystal Tokyo
Shampoo blinked in surprise when the beacon started
to glow.
"What's going on?!" she yelled in surprise, just as
lightning lanced straight into the air.
---
Nanjo Heavy Industries, Crystal Tokyo
A beam of energy lanced out from three different
directions, traveling through the air in a distinct
arc pattern, emerging from the beacon and plunging
directly into the top of the funnel. Ukyo and Hokuto
shielded their eyes as the three pumped power sources
combined into the massive engine.
The brightness illuminated the night sky even further
when the combined energy lanced out into the stars
above at an accelerated pace, traveling faster than
the eye can see.
Faster than light, toward the planet of darkness that
absorbs such waveforms, Nemesis.
---
Wiseman's Citadel, Nemesis
Wiseman's eyes twinkled in delight when the energy
burst cascaded around the Black Crystal, suspended in
the air by its own sheer force. He watched it as the
jagged edges grew larger, increasing the crystal's
surface area many times beyond it's golfball size in
mere seconds.
"Yes," he whispered triumphantly. "Yes!! The Black
Crystal grows with this crude energy! Marvel at its
omnipotent power!"
---
Crystal Palace, Crystal Tokyo
Neo Queen Serenity gazed toward the stars, realizing
the intention of the Fenril Knights after long last.
They were going to power the Black Crystal. She
felt it in her bones.
"Please," she pleaded to the stars, "no more wars.
The Earth tires of the endless fighting... must we keep
fighting more?"
---
Rec Room, Mishima Heavy Industries
The answer, Ami knew, was 'yes.'
"Magnificent," Higure praised, his eyes sparkling at
the sight of the live-broadcast of the funnel on the
evening news. "Simply magnificent!"
"What is that?!" Ami wanted to know.
"Hopefully," the old man replied, "the key to our
future."
---
Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"Old man," Ayame whispered, watching the funnel do
its work while the power to the city faded drastically
around the Nanjo building, "you'd better be keeping
your promise."
---
Wiseman's Citadel, Nemesis
"That I shall, Ayame Mishima," Wiseman said, having
heard the comment made by the Fenril leader through his
own scrying crystal ball. "As a reward to the
ingenuity of your team, you shall have that, and more."
He began to complete the ritualistic rites that would
bind the spell together, and channeled it to the Black
Crystal.
---
Crystal Palace, Crystal Tokyo
The queen's eyes noticed a new energy surge coming
from space, this one a deep violet or black; she was
unsure of which. It stopped in a fixed location in the
sky, and spread outward and downward at an arc, forming
a huge, black dome of power in the blink of an eye.
Neo Queen Serenity turned her attention toward the
people down below, gathered around the wall, staring
up at the sky in horror. Each knew of the fate that
was coming to them, and it hardly stopped those who
tried to run for cover.
It was the Black Moon invasion all over again.
Human shapes melted into nothingness, bathed in
violet energy and melting into the streets. The queen
did not feel their life forces being snuffed out; no,
it was simply the abduction of it. Abduction of body
and soul off the face of the Earth, even.
She stared back up toward the sky, satisfied that the
emergency dome of power erected itself in time to
protect the palace and its inhabitants. The ruler of
the Earth could not tell if the others were being
abducted as well.
Suddenly, Queen Serenity realized that the Fenril
Knights figured out the secret; it was far too late to
stop them from opening the Kami Plane now.
---
Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"Pure genius," Kanna declared, watching as the
unprotected population of Crystal Tokyo disappear from
the surface of Earth, and reappear on the surface of
Nemesis. "Everything happened as I predicted."
"What?" Shion shouted. "You WANTED to send everybody
to Darkhold? Why?! You sent my sister there!!"
"She'll be fine," Ayame insisted. "I wouldn't have
approved of the plan had it been any other way."
The mercenary stared at the leader incredulously.
"What good is this going to do?! We're just going to
make the rest of the world upset at us!!"
"You're thinking rather short-term in a long-term
sense," Ayame pointed out. "All we need are our allies
on the Kami Plane and we won't have to worry about
anything at all."
"Shion, let me put it this way," Kanna offered.
"When you extract a heart crystal from someone, and
keep it from them for longer than a half-hour, they
die. It's effectively sucking the soul out of a
person. Pantyhose Taro was perfectly willing to do
this for us, but I'm not sure the others could do it if
they knew that fact. So we abduct more people, and
extract a little energy off a lot of people."
"And thus not put anyone at risk of dying," Ayame
added. "People can replenish their energy easily
enough if we take only a fraction of it. And besides
that, there's a bonus to it all."
"All the inhabitants of Earth purified by the Silver
Crystal possess a strong pure heart," the Crystal
Spider finished.
Shion blinked. "Y... you mean the Deathbuster
program was a piece of junk?! We spent all this time
on that thing for nothing?!"
"No, not for nothing at all. You see, after I
updated its database it showed me that conclusion. And
now we have a really strong power base sitting in
Darkhold, waiting to be tapped."
The main viewscreen displayed the angry face of Ukyo
Kuonji, the energy funnel in the background, still
pumping energy into the atmosphere. "What the hell do
you guys think you're doing?!"
"Cool," Kanna whispered. "She actually caught a
watcher."
"Ukyo, we're shutting off the funnel, but don't
leave it," Ayame ordered. "We still need it. A group
of CRONOSes will remove the funnel now."
"What about the others?!" the chef demanded. "What
did you guys...?!"
"We'll be looking forward to explaining this all to
you as soon as everybody comes back," Ayame insisted.
"Take care."
---
Northwest Hydroelectric Plant, Crystal Tokyo
Both of Ranma's fists were caught by each of
Jupiter's hands, and each warrior pushed their weight
into each other in a deadly hold. He had barely the
time to notice the beacon shut itself off, now that he
was thoroughly engrossed in battle.
"You're strong, for a girl!" Ranma hissed.
"Good think you aren't such a pushover!" Jupiter shot
back. "Now go ahead and give in!"
"Answer the question!" the martial artist insisted.
"You can't answer something as simple as that?!"
"It's nothing you should concern yourself about!"
the senshi insisted. "Why don't you guys just go home
and be happy with your lives? We're sacrificing ours
for you guys, and this is how you repay us?"
"Feh," Ranma snorted, "when I want someone to feed
me like a baby, I'll ask for it! Better yet, I'll
scoff at it, then ignore you."
A sudden surge of energy rushed through Jupiter, and
Ranma felt fear the moment he felt it. His feet gave
way and he was forced backward by Jupiter, and Ranma
felt the hard wall against his back. Unwilling to give
in so easily he dropped down to his knees quickly,
throwing Jupiter off balance and getting her head to
crash into the wall.
Now that his fists were free Ranma slipped away from
the wall just as Jupiter recovered, wishing for a
second he was fighting Ryoga instead. This Sailor
Senshi was completely aggressive, to be sure, but was
by no means on a level to compare with himself.
"Freaky," he said. "If I didn't know any better I'd
say you girls aren't fit to protect me."
"Martial arts isn't the only skill available to me,"
she hissed, raising her arms. Her fingers crackled
with arcs of electricity. "Sparkling Wide Pressure!"
Ranma somersaulted backward and high over the
lightning attack as it ripped by, his hands in his
pockets, as if bored. "Wow, you can do that?"
"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter cried, throwing another,
larger bolt of lightning off her fingers.
Again, Ranma dodged, this time bouncing off the wall
and giving the raspberry in mid-air. He laughed as
Sailor Jupiter quickly lost her temper, knowing that
she was outclassed and outmatched by a real martial
artist.
But the cockiness ended there when Jupiter managed to
get in a lucky shot with another lightning bolt. Ranma
howled in pain and was thrown backward against the
wall from the blow. He felt the crystal surface crack
against his back, realizing that making the girl angry
was probably a really, really bad idea.
His ear heard the cracks become more frequent, and
soon he could hear the rush of water.
And soon, water was the only thing he could see as
the plant within the hydroelectric plant began to flood
with the water flow that was supposed to turn the
turbines.
---
Kodachi Kuno watched from the catwalk above as Ranma
and Jupiter were swept away swiftly by the incoming
river flow, laughing at both their plights as she
willed herself back to headquarters.
---
Rec Room, Mishima Heavy Industries
"What happened?" Ami wondered aloud, too shocked to
think of an answer for herself as she gaped in front of
the television set.
"Part one of the master plan," Higure answered
calmly, as if he expected the results.
She stared at the old man angrily. "You KNEW about
this?!"
"To a point; I am unsure as to the means by which
this is possible," he admitted. "On the other hand,
if...."
The disguised soldier was already out the door as he
continued his rationalization, as the only thought in
Ami's mind was her critical mistake.
I should've seen this coming, she told herself. I
could've prevented this... and now the Fenril Knights
have the means to power the Mekani void-ripper! The
only way to make up for that is to destroy the engine
before they can power it up.
However, any such idea disappeared when Ami bumped
into another, sending her and the other sprawling to
the ground.
"Geez, watch where you're going, okay?" Shion yelled,
rubbing his side.
"Shion!" Ami cried. "What have you people done?!"
"Perfect, I was just looking for you," the mercenary
said, getting back to his feet. He offered his hand
to Ami, but she refused to take it. "Look, I had no
idea they were going to do this, either... but in a way
it makes sense."
"Wholesale slaughter?!" She knew well enough that
knowing too much would get her in trouble.
"Abduction," he corrected. "The entire populace of
Crystal Tokyo has been transported to Darkhold, the
capital city of Nemesis. The others refuse to fight
until the civilians are taken out of the equation, and
Ayame just gave them their wish."
So that's your cover story?
"Anyway, I wanted to stop you before you tried
something stupid," Shion said, withdrawing his hand
and straightening his jacket. Turning to the side he
rubbed his chin. "Kanna suspects you're not on the
level, so it's not in your best interests to affirm
that idea, is it?"
Ami blinked, realizing that Shion was giving her a
chance to save herself. How much do you know? she
wondered. "What makes you think I was going to do
something?"
"Look, you know even less than I do about what's
going on in this place," the mercenary said sternly.
"You're the most likely to panic about what's going on
around you, but I know you're smarter than that.
People like us need to stick together; look out for
each other, you know? Other people fear us because we
know so much, or THINK we know so much. Heck, some
might be happy to see ME go. I mean, unless you're
planning on earning Ayame's wrath...."
She sighed. "Shion... for what it's worth... thank
you for your concern."
---
North Wind Plant, Crystal Tokyo
"Mousse!" Shampoo cried, her voice carried by the
winds. "We're through here!"
The Master of Hidden Weapons nodded mentally as he
bounced off the sides of the wind towers, occasionally
throwing darts at Sailor Mars. Although the wind did
serve to hamper his movement he realized the best way
to get around it was to allow the winds to help
propel him, rather than try to work against it.
He allowed the winds to carry him, easily avoiding
Sailor Mars's flaming snake. Mousse folded his arms
into his robes, shouting, "It's time we end this game,
Sailor Spaz! Eat my new Chain Buster!"
Throwing out his arms Mousse threw out a metal
discus, cutting through the air and leaving vacuum in
its wake. Unimpressed by the throw Mars leaped back
and out of the way as the discus slammed into the
ground, but the weapons master knew better. The
discus began to glow and shake violently, and burst
in all directions in the form of numerous heavy chains.
Each chain having a head tipped with a piercing arrow
head they lanced out at high velocity, narrowly
missing Sailor Mars, and embedded themselves into the
wind towers. From there the chain burst into three
more chains each, further sending more deadly chains
in the senshi's direction, gradually forming a web of
chains.
Despite her best efforts to avoid the chains Mars
found herself tangled in them. As the Chain Buster
finished its attack cycle Mousse grabbed the nearest
chain and began swinging his way toward his opponent.
"Now we end this!" he declared, as Mars struggled
against the chains.
But almost at the last moment he recognized the
danger he was putting himself in, as Mousse recognized
that the chains Mars was grasping were turning red
with intense heat. Quickly he turned tail and headed
back out from the chain web, but the moment Mars's
fire seared through the chains the web structure
began to collapse raggedly.
Hanging on to one chain for dear life he lost track
of his enemy. He was flung toward one of the towers,
and he held out his feet to brace himself on impact.
Succeeding, Mousse rebounded off the side of the tower
several more times, until the chains around him merely
dangled uselessly.
Catching his bearings, he saw no sign of Sailor Mars
anywhere. "Dammit!"
"Mousse, stop playing monkey and let's go!" Shampoo
shouted from below.
Heh, he thought, not bad for a first field test. No
doubt there would be time to make more of these Chain
Busters....
---
West Magic Plant, Crystal Tokyo
"Don't you think you ought to lend me a hand?!"
Miranda shouted, cutting a vacuum slice with her hands,
but Venus was faster still at dodging.
From the catwalk above Pantyhose Taro merely snorted.
"Great," she hissed, swinging wide as Venus ducked.
"Always have to do things myself!"
"How do you expect to win," Venus said, dodging to
the side, "if you can't even work together?"
"Oh, sure!" Miranda wheeled her foot around for a
slash. "As if you're doing any much better, prissy
sissy!"
But she heard a familiar voice commanding, "Miranda,
it's time to regroup. Forget the senshi."
"Dammit," she cursed, realizing it was Ayame calling
her. Flipping backward several times the martial
artist backed away from Venus and closed in on the
engine. "Well, playtime's over for now, I'll be
seeing you again!"
With superior speed Miranda sliced at the engine,
and held her arm there momentarily as magical energies
sparked out of the new hole. She spun around to the
side and kicked a hole in it's side, then spun around
for another, and another, until completing a circle.
"Enjoy your fireworks party!" she cried, grasping at
the crystal prism hidden in her left glove. Willing
herself back to headquarters, she left Taro and Venus
to their demise, if they were too slow to react, that
is.
Miranda imagined the plant would make really nice
fireworks.
---
Infirmary, Crystal Palace
"We found a strange anomaly," the chief physician
reported to Neo Queen Serenity as they proceeded down
the hall, alone. He held up a manila folder with his
findings within. "Even though it looks like Shizuka's
no longer in danger of dying on us... we found some
extra organism in her bloodstream."
"It is a micro-organism previously unencountered by
Earth's medical science," the monarch replied
knowingly, before the doctor could explain. "It is a
remnant of the Chaos Plague that should have been
eliminated from the planet's inhabitants entirely."
"The Chaos Plague virus?" exclaimed the doctor. "I
thought the Silver Crystal completely eradicated it
when you woke the world from slumber."
"The obvious implication is that Shizuka, and perhaps
her allies, were never awakened by the crystal," Neo
Queen Serenity considered, "but that...." She shook
her head. "I cannot begin to think how we missed
some people, but it would explain why they were never
around to be purified."
"Well, if this is the Chaos Plague virus, then it's
not doing what it's supposed to," the doctor informed
her. "Supposedly it was going to eat cells and
multiply, but instead it's actually replicating the
body's own cells... effectively giving the patient a
rather rapid natural healing process."
"Then that would explain why she did not want to be
healed completely."
"Precisely. Assuming this is the same virus, it must
have mutated heavily."
Or magically altered. "At the observed rate how long
will it take for Shizuka to fully recover?"
The doctor shook his head and shrugged.
---
Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"Phase one of our plan is complete," Ayame announced,
her eyes following the line of all her gathered
operatives. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she saw
Pantyhose Taro wasn't paying attention, standing with
his arms folded and staring down, as if asleep. "Now,
all of you did a good job."
"Yeah, whatever," Ukyo snorted. "Why didn't you tell
us about this?"
"Because you're new; everybody else knew," Higure
pointed out.
"Ukyo, they'll be okay in Darkhold," Shion assured
her. "This way, everybody we care about wont get hurt
in any future battle."
"Yeah, but how do we know for sure?" the chef asked.
"None of us are stranded in Darkhold."
"So nice of you to volunteer," Ayame interrupted.
"In fact, you're perfect for the job of overseeing the
people we transplanted."
Ukyo blinked. "What?"
"Your face has been around town," the leader
explained. "You're known, liked, and trusted. In fact
nobody knows you're one of us. Not only that, but you
have it within your power to lead them. You're perfect
for the job."
"You want me to go back to being a cook, after all I
just did to get here?!"
"Precisely."
The okonomiyaki chef groaned. "Gee whiz, at this
rate I'll NEVER get a shot at the Sailor Senshi. No,
it's all about 'cook and stay out of the way....'"
"Don't take it personal, Spatula-girl," Shampoo said,
"it's your life."
Ukyo balled her fists angrily, staring down the
Chinese Amazon. "You want to make something of it,
kid?!"
"You'll also be meeting with Sypha and Cinder later,"
interrupted Ayame. "They're already on Nemesis, there
to keep tabs on approaching enemies from beyond the
system. So if you think you're alone... you're not."
"Aren't we spreading our resources a little thin that
way?" voiced Miranda. "At this rate we'll run out of
good bodies."
"We've got more than enough machines to supplement
your numbers," replied Ayame.
"I wasn't talking about the machines," Miranda said.
"They suck at fighting, and you know it."
"Well, that's beside the point now," Kanna said.
"Now we're entering Phase two of our plan, which is
realigning the funnel to transmit energy from Nemesis
to the void-ripper. Once we fuel the Mekani device
with enough power we can force a tear in the space-time
continuum and make our way to the parallel plane,
thereby bypassing the Gate of Heaven altogether."
"Assuming it works... then what?" wondered Mousse.
"Hopefully, one of us can make a deal with the
inhabitants," Ayame answered. "If we can make a deal
with even one of the kami lords, we're set on the
course to victory."
"How long until the funnel is realigned?" asked
Higure, obviously itching in anticipation.
"We've already sent the funnel into space with
several space-equipped machines," Shion answered. "In
no circumstance can those Sailor Senshi get to it
without an air to breathe, that much is for sure.
What they will interfere with, however, is the tear
we make. In fact, we need all of you to be around the
tear zone we move the void-ripper to, in case they try
to destroy it."
"Why not make the tear here?" asked Mousse.
"I'd rather not have something potentially lethal in
my back yard," the leader replied sternly. She looked
around again to the others. "We all have our jobs to
do, so get some rest while you can; we're going to move
the ripper tomorrow morning."
---
Infirmary, Crystal Palace
Ranma woke with the thought of drowning in her mind.
Surprisingly enough, she found herself quite alive,
and best of all, high and dry. She stared down at
herself, recognizing she was wearing a hospital gown,
and took in her surroundings.
Yep, no doubt, this was a hospital.
The opaque crystal surfaces reflected the dim lights
in the room, and Ranma knew it was likely still the
same night, probably rather late. Glancing over at
the wall clock at the opposing end of the room, she
realized it was very, very late in the night... or
rather, very, very early in the morning.
"Dang, they're really going to miss me," Ranma
realized.
But another realization hit her: the Sailor Senshi
were probably unaware that she transformed into a girl
when splashed with cold water!
Taking a silent, triumphant victory, Ranma looked
around for her clothes, and found them hanging over
near the shower drain. Quickly she slid out of bed,
feeling the floor was cold to the touch, but ignored
it. She pulled aside her shirt, and looked for the
inner pocket he had sewn in, and sighed in relief when
he felt the prism was still there.
Of course, escape was far from Ranma's mind. There
was still time to wreak havoc while within the home of
the stuck-up Sailor Senshi and their queen.
She felt a yawn coming on, and decided that would
have to wait until morning. MUCH later in the morning.
---
Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace
Millions of people vanished without a trace, Neo
Queen Serenity thought. The only survivors of the
onslaught was herself, the Sailor Senshi, the Fenril
Knights, the handful of doctors, technicians, and
guards working in the Crystal Palace at the time of the
attack, and a girl Jupiter found after the Fenril
attack, the sole survivor of the attack, it seemed.
The energy shield put in place around the palace
was holding well, but the power generators could only
hold out for a week; less if someone decided to pound
on it. The city could still draw upon the main power
plants as well, but the magic plant was completely
demolished, and the hydroelectric plant was ruined with
the flooding of the engine room, leaving only the wind
plant up and operational. The Fenril could easily
destroy that as well, if they were inclined to do so.
Not only that, but they also had access to the
greatest power source in the universe at their
fingertips; there was nothing to stop them from
powering-up the Mekani void-ripper now.
She collapsed on her grand bed, and stared at the
ceiling wearily. Everything was happening too fast;
whoever was behind the Fenril Knights' plans was
obviously a keen mind. She wished Ami was still in
the palace, that she would do something to stop the
Fenril Knights... but knew well enough that it was
under her discretion.
It was likely too late to stop the funnel, she
thought. Ami probably did not know in time to destroy
it herself, she wanted to hope. There was no reason
why she would betray her planet.
Was there?
No, she thought, shaking her head. That kind of
thinking is the doubt of Chaos, attempting to make her
question her judgement. It was this type of thinking
that would give Death Phantom the upper hand.
Death Phantom.
He wanted to meet her in another night, in the
Crystal Garden. What he wanted to talk about, and why
so far ahead in time was beyond Neo Queen Serenity's
thinking.
---
Central Park, Crystal Tokyo,
The Next Day
If there was a good place to hide something, Kanna
said, it was in plain sight. Somehow, Shampoo thought
she was overdoing it.
The cube-like engine and the open flower machine on
top of it stood out in the open in the abandoned park,
sitting next to the fountain at the center. The only
other noise beside the chatter of the technicians
setting up the machine came from the water flowing
down the fountain, as the birds fled a long time ago,
and the people were removed.
She paced back and forth alone quietly, listening to
the sound of engineer Taydome get upset with one of the
workers. Shampoo had no idea why Ayame would only let
her guard the void-ripper, or what the others were
supposed to be doing, but it certainly made the niece
of Mishima look rather weak.
The only reason she called the shots was because she
inherited the fortress.
---
Infirmary, Crystal Palace
Shizuka heard the knock outside her room door, and
saw Sailor Mars peek her head in.
"Are you awake?" she asked.
"No, I'm sleeping; what do you think?" the priestess
answered sarcastically. "It's so darn quiet here
there's no way anybody could sleep."
Shizuka sighed to herself, sitting up in bed straight
and catching sight of her 'Fire Buster Mark III' down
to her right, propped up against the wall, within arm's
reach if necessary. "You may as well come in."
Mars did so, slowly entering and sliding the door
closed with as little as a creak. "So how are you?"
she asked.
"Geez, get to the point already," Shizuka complained.
"When does the interrogation begin?"
"There's not going to be an interrogation," the
senshi of fire informed her. "That's not the way we do
things around here."
"Very inefficient, that. If you hunt someone you get
your information as quickly and as concise as possible,
otherwise you'll regret it later."
"We're not hunting. We're trying to help you."
Shizuka snorted. "If I wanted your help, I would've
asked for it. Not that your previous 'help' did me a
whole lot of good."
"You're not dying anymore," Mars pointed out.
"That wasn't what I was talking about," she countered
quickly. "I'm talking about your hand-held disco
ball."
"The Silver Crystal is an artifact of light," the
senshi replied. "It can't do evil."
"Probably not directly, but indirectly... I'd say so,
wouldn't you?"
Mars was about to object again, but held her tongue.
"Gee whiz, you pyro. You're a priestess; you should
know as well as I that you can't make everybody happy
with what you do." Shizuka shrugged. "I've made
plenty of people mad even though I know I'm doing a
good thing."
"But what your friends are doing now isn't," Mars
replied. "Do you know what they did to the city?"
Shizuka waited for the answer, folding her arms.
"They kidnapped the entire population of Crystal
Tokyo, and destroyed two power plants supplying energy
to the city. We're lucky that we don't have as much
power consumption, so one plant can hold, but that
doesn't excuse your friends' actions."
"You think I had any idea they were going to really
do it?" Shizuka said. "Heck, I think they're doing you
all a favor."
"Why's that?"
"Because this time there's no reason to hold back."
Mars's expression transformed into subdued shock, and
Shizuka realized she hit a nerve. Yes, you'd have
liked to have hid behind hostages, wouldn't you? Or
do you think I know something I shouldn't know?
"Leave me," she ordered.
"Not until you answer me one thing," Mars insisted.
Once again the priestess shrugged.
"Back when we first met... a couple weeks ago," she
began, "you were emitting a dark aura. But, when I
tried my spirit wards on you they didn't work... which
means you're not truly aligned to evil. Something you
have, or maybe it was you yourself, was masking your
goodness under a blanket of darkness. Why are you
aligned with those who would destroy everyone's
happiness?"
"Feh, long-winded, aren't you?" Shizuka considered
not answering the question, but she felt feisty at the
moment. "Okay, you want the truth? You can't handle
the truth: I'm evil. I'm really, really evil.
Anything you see that's good in me is an illusion. I'm
so evil that it'll make your head spin. I'm so evil
I'm banned in forty-two prefectures. I'm so evil my
fellows call me the 'Silencer of Souls.' I'm so evil I
have a pet boa constrictor that good girls would run in
terror from, just because they think he's a slimey,
scaly monster."
"Well, here's another thing you should know; consider
it a bonus answer. 'Good' and 'evil' are defined by
society. Whatever the trend of the vast majority
collectively determines what is good and evil. Such
arbitrary labels, they become. What's good for one can
be just as evil to another; you do remember what I told
the kids, right? I told them that story because it's
the cold, hard, truth, and it's the truth of my
existence. Whoever controls society controls what is
good and evil. I'm evil, because society deemed it
so."
Smirking, she finished, "Is that the answer you were
looking for?"
Her rival breathed a heavy sigh. "There's good in
you; you just won't admit it," she decided. "Maybe not
today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, you will."
As she watched Mars exit the room Shizuka muttered
under her breath, "When you and your queen's regime are
nothing but dust in the wind, prostitute; perhaps then
society could judge me 'good.' How little you
understand, Hikawa priestess... I'm evil because I'm
good."
---
"Hey, how're you doing?" Sailor Jupiter shouted,
causing Ranma to jump in place.
"Who let you in?!" Ranma demanded.
"Sorry about that," she apologized. "Didn't mean to
scare you."
"You could've at least knocked," the martial artist
pointed out.
"I was worried about you," the senshi admitted. "I
mean, what were you doing in a place like that in the
first place?"
Ranma froze in her tracks, racing to find an answer
in her mind, but fortunately Jupiter came up with one
of her own.
She shrugged. "I guess that's not important. You're
the last person left in the city besides the workers
here at the palace."
"I am?" Ranma said, surprised-- although more of it
was finding out she was in the palace itself.
"For your own safety we can't let you go outside,"
the senshi continued. "Bad guys are poised to attack
it, so we don't want you to get hurt. Otherwise, if
you're okay, I guess you're free to run around."
"Thanks," she replied, smiling. This Sailor Jupiter
had no idea what she was offering, Ranma thought. It
was almost too good to be true.
---
Inner Sanctum, Crystal Tokyo
Neo Queen Serenity sighed in frustration, now that
static was showing on all channels of her viewscreen.
She tried every frequency she could think of to make a
call out to her husband, King Endymion, in Geneva, but
none of them could go through.
In fact, as she understood it, no frequency made it
anywhere outside the city limits, likely a consequence
of the Fenril enchantment, or they set up jamming
towers overnight. Whichever the case, they did a
thorough job of doing it, as the jamming blanket did
well enough to cover the palace.
For a brief moment she remembered the journal Death
Phantom's host left behind, recalling that they, too,
experienced something similar then, but they had no
idea it was because of the last comet that fell on the
city, just before the world was awakened.
The last battle... it was all that she and her senshi
could do to demolish the comet before it destroyed
anything on earth. Trusting their power in the Silver
Crystal they defeated Pharaoh 90's final weapon in the
atmosphere, before impact point, but it was likely a
disturbance in the magnetic field that caused the
frequency shift. She was unsure as to the exact cause,
but it likely had to do with the comet.
But apparently, Pharaoh 90 was no fool, as even the
destruction of his simplistic weapon was enough to
give birth to his more dangerous brother, Death
Phantom.
"We need someone to try and escape the jamming
curtain," she decided, turning around to face Sailor
Venus, who was waiting the entire time. "I am unsure
how long we can last while the Fenril Knights have the
upper hand, and we need help as soon as possible."
"What kind of help?" asked Venus. "The Peacekeepers
aren't armed, either. They're not equipped to deal
with the Fenril Knights; their skill is far superior
that they totally ignored the Peacekeepers in the city,
too."
"What choice do we have?" countered the queen. She
glanced at the Silver Crystal, lying on its pedestal.
"Many times we turned toward this relic for the answer,
but too often. Perhaps we have caused as much grief as
joy with its power. It was this object of power that
created the Black Moon Family, no matter how hard we
tried to prevent it."
"You're letting them get to you!" Venus said
anxiously. "How can you believe the Silver Crystal is
the thing causing all this grief? How many times has
it saved us, and the Earth, from destruction? How many
times have we prevented the Silence? Without that
crystal, everything we fought for would've been lost."
"Which is the reason we are relying on its power too
much," Neo Queen Serenity replied calmly. "Even if
they have Death Phantom behind them, the Fenril Knights
never needed the Black Crystal in order to stand
against us; they did that out of their own free will,
trusting their own strengths and abilities. That girl
Shizuka... she is about as average, if not weak, a
person as anybody, but somehow she finds the strength
to fight us, and in an adept manner. The two warriors
Mousse and Shampoo... individually, they have trouble
defeating one of you, but together, their power is
unparalleled."
She shook her head. "Who knows how much more
powerful the rest of the Fenril Knights are? The point
is they do not rely on a magical artifact to win."
"Is that what you want?" wondered Venus. "Are you
ready to cave in to their demands, just because they're
more admirable in their way of fighting? Their goal,
even? Your Highness, forgive me if I'm out of place,
but I think you're off your royal rocker."
The words seemed to stir old emotions up in the
queen's heart, but nevertheless she allowed Venus to
continue.
"We've come too far to just give up. The stakes are
higher; it's not because it's the Earth in danger, but
you're the queen of Earth, and you have a big
responsibility to the people under you. Just because
seventeen guys want to start an uprising and you like
them it doesn't mean you should let them get their way.
You set an example for your subjects; what would they
think if you surrendered to them? We'd all lose face,
and everything we fought so hard to build. Every enemy
we fought before... everything would've been fought in
vain. People died, and we can't disgrace their memory
because of these Fenril Knights."
"Too much has happened to simply give up, Your
Highness," she repeated. "The Fenril Knights are
poised to attack the palace; we've detected their
presence all around. We'll defend the palace, but it
won't stop them from opening the rift to the other
dimension. Are you just going to let them find out on
their own? The Sailor Moon I know certainly wouldn't."
"Sailor Venus," Neo Queen Serenity replied, "I am not
Sailor Moon. As you said, I have a much larger
responsibility. I am the queen of Earth. If my
example is the wrong one, then is it not my right to
change it?"
She took in several deep breaths, realizing she was
getting upset at the wrong person. "Forgive me,
Venus. Of course you are right; we should try to warn
them. But I still want an expedition formed to leave
the jamming curtain; my position still stands. Take
any necessary steps to ensure that they make it
safely."
"So how're we going to tell them? The Fenril
Knights, I mean."
"The only way to know for certain is to tell the one
we have in our palace."
---
Rec Room, Mishima Heavy Industries
Ami felt like doing something, but Ayame made it
quite plain to her there was nothing for her to do.
Anyone that had no specific duty, for that matter,
was moping about in the rec room, trying to keep
themselves busy. Ayame left the task of guarding the
void-ripper up to Shampoo and Chief Engineer Taydome,
a Mishima employee from the old days, and gave the
information on the location to nobody.
Ukyo had long since vanished, likely taking on her
role as steward of Darkhold. While Ami never got to
know the okonomiyaki chef well enough she felt certain
that she would take her duty seriously. Perhaps she
was the best choice to watch over the captive city, if
her vocalized anger over their captivity was any
indication.
It turned out that one of the warriors, Ranma
Saotome, never returned after the fight the previous
night. The reactions out of Pantyhose Taro and
Miranda Kusao were of pleasure, while the others
expressed indifference. Kodachi Kuno, for her part,
hardly believed a little water could finish him off...
if her thinking could count for anything.
The girl known as Kodachi was a complete screwball,
as far as Ami could tell. Beyond her flowery speech
Kodachi made it a point to essentially become her
deceased brother, apparently a kendoist. She
practiced alone in the training hall often, but anyone
watching her would say that she was a master of the
blade, even though it was never her original art.
Ayame sent the bulk of the fighting crew out to
assault the Crystal Palace in its moment of weakness,
leaving only Higure, Hokuto, and herself behind. They
were bored. Very, very, bored.
Both Fenril were playing a silent game of chess, each
taking their time to make a move. Ami sat on the
couch in front of the television set, finding that no
channel was available, due to some sort of
interference. She felt powerless to stop the Fenril
Knights from using the void-ripper, but, on the other
hand, they had very little to gain by using it.
It wouldn't do if she told them that, or that would
blow her cover.
The only thing she could do now was wait, and waiting
made her anxious.
---
Crystal Palace, Crystal Tokyo
Pantyhose Taro was completely bored.
It was his task to pummel the Crystal Palace's tough
force barrier from the north, and to supplement his
attack he was given a platoon of GAIA robots, direct
fresh from the hidden Mishima factories. He had little
respect for the machines, even less for the ones who
built them, and none for the ones who used them. Ayame
Mishima was the one who was using them.
The idea was to surround the palace on all sides:
Mousse held the west, Miranda held the east, and
Kodachi held the south. Taro knew well enough that
their presence was required only to deal with the
Sailor Senshi, but even they weren't worth his time.
The one he wanted was the queen.
Each of them was backed by a platoon of GAIAs of
their own, all waiting for the order from Ayame to
pummel the shield. The idea was to drain the energy
from having to deflect so many shots, then roll the
machines in and slaughter the queen. If Taro knew the
guardians of Crystal Tokyo, they could deal with the
machines without a problem. After all, the droids were
far more intelligent, and they got wasted really fast.
He produced the black crystal prism in his hand, the
one thing that kept him tethered to Ayame Mishima and
her crack head. No, today was the day that she would
regret showing him up. Today was the day of reckoning,
in more ways than one.
All he had to do was kill the queen, and he would
have no need for Ayame anymore.
---
Ranma stared out the balcony, her eyes catching view
of the platoon of Mishima robots lined up at the south
end of the palace through the blue-tinted energy
barrier. She produced a chunk of crystal she broke
off one of the walls, glad that her defiling would go
unnoticed when the crystal grew over it.
Raising her arm, she threw the chunk at the barrier.
It splashed off the edge of the barrier, rippling a
wave of energy from the impact point like a rock thrown
in a still pond. She saw the crystal chunk explode
into nothingness... and the martial artist realized
that there was no way she was going to get out that
way.
She took a moment to stare out at the gathered GAIAs
once again, and wondered why they were waiting. Ranma
knew enough about Ayame and her twisted schemes that
she was planning to pummel the shield to death, until
the palace's power plants ran dry, but neither of them
had any idea how prepared the queen was for this
eventuality.
Ranma shook her head, unable to imagine how many of
their valuable bullets they'll end up wasting before
the shield goes down. Bullets had to be manufactured
in-house in the hidden factories because of the world-
wide disarmament, but there was a shortage of raw
material and time. Yes, the GAIAs would run out of
bullets before they break the shield.
As she turned back inside, walking in the halls alone
and unmolested by the occasional doctor or tired-eyed
worker, Ranma wondered how the Sailor Senshi planned on
getting in and out.
She came to a full stop when she heard a familiar
voice shout a doctor out of her room.
"Touch me again, and you're fish bait!" she cried,
sending the doctor scrambling to safety.
"It can't be," Ranma thought, but she knew it was
true that voice belonged to the living oxymoron.
Poking her head into the door where the doctor was
recently kicked out the martial artist saw the
priestess of Genbu lying in bed, reading a magazine,
her right foot propped on top of her left. To her
right Ranma saw the weird flame-thrower weapon Shizuka
was given before she was captured, and for a moment she
wondered why the Sailor Senshi would leave such a
weapon in an enemy's hands.
"Shizuka?" Ranma asked testingly.
Throwing down the magazine on her lap angrily, the
priestess opened her mouth to yell down another doctor,
but stopped before any word could come out. She rolled
her tongue around once in her open mouth, obviously
confused, flustered, or stumped... perhaps all at the
same time.
Quickly Ranma slid the door shut, hoping that nobody
saw her enter. "It's me, Ranma?"
Again, no words would come out of her mouth. She
mouthed silently, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing. You look
like you're making yourself comfortable, traitor."
"Don't you call me 'traitor,' transvestite," Shizuka
seethed, finally finding her voice. "You think they
don't know that's really you in that girl's disguise?"
"It's not a girl's disguise," Ranma corrected. "And
it's their fault they don't know I'm cursed."
"So when'd you get here? And did they finish the
Dead End Buster yet?"
"How should I know? Both questions."
"What's going on out there? I can't get up... well,
because I'm not supposed to be able to get up." She
rolled up her sleeve, and showed Ranma her arm. "It
might not matter for long because they already got a
blood sample off me."
"Shit," Ranma cursed. "So much for that advantage."
"They're probably trying to figure a way to counter
it even as we speak."
"Probably, and they'll get all the time in the world
now that they got the energy barrier around the palace.
Nobody's getting in or out until the palace runs out
of power."
"Then just cut off the power plants."
Ranma shook her head. "We did that already. They
probably prepared backup generators, but I don't know
where they are."
"Don't bother looking for them, then," suggested
Shizuka. "You'll blow your cover. Focus on finding a
way out of this dump, because if what you're saying is
true neither of us are going anywhere."
"Do you still have your prism?"
Shizuka nodded. "Mine got broke, so I switched mine
with Ryoga's while he was here. He's probably long
at home by now."
"Well, the prisms don't work in the palace for some
reason," Ranma explained. "I tried it already... wait
a sec... what about Ryoga?"
"That dipstick caved in," the priestess explained.
"He got himself purified by the Silver Crystal. He
told me to tell you it was the best thing he'd done in
his entire life. Feels good and stuff." She shrugged.
"He said you need to go back to Akane."
"Well, too late for that now," Ranma replied. "She's
probably on Nemesis by now. At least Ukyo's there to
look after her."
"But still... she's your girlfriend."
"She's not the same girl... she'll never be the same
until we get this Neo Queen Serenity to change
everybody back to the way they were."
Shizuka reached out and grabbed the martial artist's
arm firmly. "Ranma, listen to me," she said in her
serious tone. "It'll never go back to the way it was
before. And I mean never. It's too late."
"W...what are you talking about?"
They heard a knock on the door. Both girls froze in
their tracks.
Silently Shizuka mouthed, "Don't do anything."
Turning toward the door, she shouted, "Who is it?!"
Slowly, Ranma backed away from Shizuka as the door
opened.
Neo Queen Serenity entered the room, in all her
radiant glory. Her eyes passed from Shizuka to Ranma,
and back to Shizuka. "I was unaware you were hosting a
guest."
"Well, I..." Ranma stuttered.
But Shizuka already seemed to have an answer. "She
just came in after I threw in one of your doctors out.
Those creeps keep wanting to 'examine' me. Blasted
perverts."
Best of all, it was the truth. "I'm Ranko," Ranma
introduced herself. "Pleased to meet you, Your
Majesty." She bowed, adding to the charade.
"A pleasure to meet you, too," replied the queen.
"Would you please excuse us? I must have a word with
Shizuka."
"Well, 'Your Royal-Pain-in-the-Brain,'" Shizuka said
disrespectfully, "I don't think there's anything you
have to say that's too soon for the rest of the people
to know, isn't it? Don't you want to elaborate on the
true history of your world?"
Ranma blinked in surprise. "What?"
Neo Queen Serenity nodded. "I see. You have known
in advance as to the nature of my words." She sighed.
"Perhaps nothing more can be done about it."
"It all began in 1999...."
---
"Sailor Venus!" Kodachi shouted toward the energy
shield, standing on top of the lead GAIA with her
sword raised. "I know you are listening! Hear me, I
am Kodachi Kuno, the Black Rose, sister to the man you
have wrongly slain, my brother, Tatewaki Kuno!"
She got no obvious reply. Continuing, "You possess
that which brings shame to my family and my brother...
the very weapon he used when you slew him, and that
you wrongfully stolen from me! If you Sailor Senshi
have any sense of justice, then you will meet me out
here in single combat. The victor shall keep the sword
and honor of my illustrious family."
"What say you?!"
Several moments passed, and nothing happened.
Nearby, at a pay phone, Kodachi heard a ringing.
Jumping off the GAIA, curious, she walked to the booth
and picked up the phone off the hook. "Hello?"
"Kodachi Kuno, this is Sailor Venus," she heard in
the receiver, "I'm truly sorry about your brother, and
if there was another way I wish he hadn't fallen in
battle like he did. You've challenged me to a duel for
your family's honor. Understand that what you're
demanding is unfeasible, as I can't give back what
I hadn't taken."
Angrily, Kodachi threw the receiver out of her hand,
and spun her sword about in an arc. With a precise
drive she smashed the pay phone in two, sending coins
and sparks showering around her.
"You coward," she hissed, "you would dare to insult
the name of Kuno in this manner?!"
Sheathing her sword hard, Kodachi produced a radio
transmitter from her belt. Clicking a button, she
shouted, "Ayame, kill them! Kill them all!!"
All at once, all four GAIA platoons opened fire on
the energy shield surrounding the Crystal Palace.
---
"I need a sword," Venus decided, watching the main
viewscreen, where the Fenril robots were unloading
their gattling cannons on the energy shield. "I mean
a real sword."
The nearest technician replied, "But Lady Venus, the
use and manufacture of weapons has been banned by the
state."
"Look at that out there," Venus countered, pointing
one gloved finger toward the viewscreen. "Are you
going to tell them that? Sooner or later that Kodachi
is going to corner me into a fight, and I'm going to
have to defend myself against that big heavy steel
she's swinging around."
"The Fenril Knights just proved to us how dangerous
it is to be without a way to fight back," she
continued. "We can set up all the defense shields we
want, but it's never going to hold up against anything
they're throwing at us. We're running out of time."
Send an expedition? Venus thought. They'd be lucky
to get past that, much less the shield.
---
"Powering up the void-ripper, now," Taydome announced
to Shampoo, followed by a low-powered hum. Slowly the
noise grew, until the engine of Mekani design began to
turn its gears for the first time.
Shampoo saw a ring of energy form over the flower-
like void-ripper mechanism, followed by static
discharges that were short lived that one had to be
looking intently for them in order to see them.
"Is this what it's supposed to do?" she asked no one
in particular, as a dark tear in the dimensional
fabric began to form over the void-ripper.
Slowly, the hole grew larger, throwing the sky into
blackness.
---
"The year 1999, on June 30th, was the last day of
the old Earth," Neo Queen Serenity said. "It was that
day that Vizier, the fourth Child of Chaos, appeared on
Earth, seeking the Silver Crystal. It was strange, in
that more of the Chaos Children were appearing even
after our confrontation with Chaos itself. We fought
the monster upon its descent on the Earth, but even in
defeat Vizier's plan was put to action. We failed to
stop his attempt to bring the Silence, as his death
introduced what we term as the Chaos Plague to
humanity."
"This plague consisted of a virus: of sophisticated
cell-like creatures that entered the human body and
proceeded to destroy people on the cellular level. If
we did not act quickly those infected were projected to
die in a matter of weeks. Unfortunately, the plague
was an airborne virus, and it spread quickly. The only
thing we could do was halt the virus in its tracks
until we could devise a means to wipe it out
completely."
"It was then we devised a daring plan: we would place
the human population in a state of suspended animation,
not unlike cryo-freezing technology, and initiated the
Great Sleep. With the Silver Crystal at our disposal
we thought we had time on our side, but that was not to
be."
She shook her head sadly. "The Great Sleep... it was
the last any of our subjects would know about the
history of my kingdom's birth."
"You see, numerous problems arose from placing the
entire world to sleep. Disasters left unchecked,
nuclear arsenal threatening to fire without proper
maintenance, and still-functioning machinery that put
the sleeping populace in jeopardy. It took many months
to set those problems right, but it was not until a
year later we realized a more dangerous consequence."
"The Gate of Heaven," Shizuka realized. "No one was
left to keep it sealed."
"The invaders attacked without warning. They were
the mechanical plague, the beings known as the Mekani.
We do not know where they came from originally, but
they emerged from the void between this plane and the
Kami Plane. In leaving the seal on the Gate of Heaven
to expire we allowed alien invaders to threaten the
planet."
"We could not counter the spiderian Mekani on our own
as their mechanized numbers overwhelmed us. Our only
hope was to awaken those who lived and died to watch
the seal."
"My people," the priestess finished.
"Awakened prematurely they were still infected with
the Chaos Plague. Those men and women volunteered
their lives to find a way to defeat the Mekani threat
once and for all. Unfortunately, most died before the
final solution was realized. Shizuka, your mentor,
Mizuki, was the last of them. The only way to wipe out
the threat forever was to collapse the void between
the planes. After doing so, it was a simple matter to
mop up the rest of the Mekani Hive."
"However, Mizuki warned us of a consequence of such
an action. If we collapsed the void we would topple
the Kami Plane on top of our own. In effect the two
planes would merge, merging locales, or wiping them
out entirely on a purely random basis. Therefore,
before we could collapse the void we had to devise a
means to protect the Earth from being demolished."
"Our solution was the crystal you see around you
today. It was a special material from the old Silver
Millennium days that would maintain order against
chaos, and it was exactly what we needed. We
introduced enough of the crystal to the Earth that
covered the entire planet. By then we were ready, and
we collapsed the void."
"And in effect you created another problem," Shizuka
pointed out. "You wiped out the people of another
world in order to save this one. The Kami Plane was a
small parallel plane created by the kami long ago in
order to live apart from humanity that threatened to
destroy them. The Kami Plane also served to
create the void that sealed the Mekani, a threat they
could not counter. Inevitably, the two planes were
always connected, as what happened on one affected the
other. Disasters in this world could be attributed to
a battle in the other world, and vice versa. In a
sense, it wasn't a true plane at all, but yet it was."
"But, by collapsing the void, you broke a sacred
trust. You wiped out the Mekani, yes, but you also
sacrificed the lives of numerous peoples on the Kami
Plane."
Neo Queen Serenity nodded. "The only survivors were
the underworld civilizations: places that could not be
annihilated by the crystal upon the merge. Angered at
the change of their world, and the massive genocide of
their fellow spirit folk, the Infernals, as they were
called, waged a terrible war against us. It took
several years to defeat them, and we were forced to
destroy them to the last."
"Master Cinder is not going to be happy," Shizuka
noted.
"Many wars later, we were getting too old, and a
solution to the Chaos Plague was a long time coming.
In order to carry on our work we extended our life
spans. We are effectively immortal, and have lived for
over a thousand years."
"Gimmie a sword, and I'll cut off that head of
yours."
"In the coming years numerous threats from beyond the
stars attacked us. One after another we suffered
attacks from Tau Ceti, the region of space dominated by
Pharaoh 90. Even though we had destroyed him, the
Bringer of Silence had given itself a new spawn, one
that was poised to Silence Earth once and for all. He
sent numerous space-borne potential disasters against
us for a long time, until Uranus and Neptune
volunteered to travel to Tau Ceti and defeat Pharaoh
90's spawn. We have not heard much of what they did
in Tau Ceti, but we were informed that the attacks
would end."
"The last attack came and went, and by then we had
found a solution to defeating the Chaos Plague. Slowly
we reawakened the populace of Earth, and eliminated the
virus as well. It was determined that, in order to
usher a new era of peace and harmony, we would have to
change the hearts of men such that they would no
longer desire to fight."
"Conflicts became a thing of the past. People
settled their differences with talks and words, not
guns and tools of destruction. Tolerance became the
accepted common rather than the awkward outcast.
Humanity worked toward the common good rather than the
selfish interest. All of that and more made this new
Earth a true utopia."
"That is, until the uprising. Many men and women
were unprepared to set aside all they had lived with,
much less their lives, to live under my rule. They
took up arms and tried to wage a war against us, but
ultimately they failed. I could not force them to
live under my rule, but they could not be allowed to
stay on my Earth. In order to protect my people I
exiled them to Nemesis, a habitable world that would
have eventually become one of Earth's first colonies.
I believed they could make Nemesis habitable for the
people of Earth. I believed that good could come out
of their impure natures. I believed they would
eventually embrace what the rest of humanity had,
because they, too, craved peace and harmony."
"I was wrong."
"I'm glad you admit that," Shizuka replied flatly.
"Those people exiled to Nemesis eventually became
known as the Black Moon Family. They struggled to get
their lives together for many years, but revenge was
always foremost in their minds. They truly wished for
peace and harmony, but they did not agree with the
vision I had for Earth. They believed I removed that
which made humans human. For that they secretly geared
up for war."
"But they could not do it alone. One of the first
people exiled to Nemesis was a brilliant man. I could
not understand why one of his mind could not tolerate
living on Earth any longer, but he chose his path. On
Nemesis he discovered the traces of an ancient
civilization, of a kingdom wiped out by the Sailor
Senshi of old. There, he discovered the Black Crystal,
an artifact of immense power, but he also was
discovered by the last of the Chaos Children, the Death
Phantom."
"Death Phantom rose to power, eventually mastering
the ancient black magic well beyond that of the rest
of the Black Moon Family. He became the advisor of
their charismatic leader, Prince Diamond. Manipulating
him Death Phantom guided the Black Moon to attack
Earth, using his dark magic in order to bring about
the Silence."
"His power became so great that the Silver Crystal
alone could not counter his Black Crystal, but we
defeated him. We believed we destroyed him, but again,
we were wrong, because he still walks among us. On
Nemesis, Death Phantom was called the Wiseman."
"If you thought I was going to be surprised and join
your side over this little story, think again," the
priestess of Genbu said quickly, venom dripping in her
words. "You've openly admitted to exterminating entire
peoples just to satisfy your ambitions."
"Is this true?" asked Ranma.
Sadly, the queen nodded. "Many had to make
sacrifices in order to create this perfect world, and
it is only the seventeen of you, the Fenril Knights,
that would threaten the peace and harmony forged in
blood. We have no wish to war."
"You used her," Shizuka accused. "You used Mizuki,
my friends, and everybody I considered family, just so
you can correct your first mistake. Not only that, but
in order to fix your second mistake you exterminated
more friends and enemies. Just because the kami aren't
real doesn't make them any less real! They breathed
and thought just like you and me, and you threw them
away just to save humanity, you disgusting woman."
"You exterminated millions of people of other races
in order to forge a utopia in your vision," she
continued angrily. "In the name of peace and harmony,
you really did forge this world of yours in blood. No
one would know about it, either, because it would mar
your perfect history of benevolence. You don't want
war because you like the way things are, not because
you're tired of it."
"You banished people to Nemesis because they were the
first who saw what you did. No matter how good your
intentions they recognized that they had to sell their
souls to live on the planet they loved. Maybe they
didn't know what happened when you made this rock your
own, but they were at least still human."
"I wish I wasn't right," Shizuka admitted. "I really
wish the concept of good was the same for everybody,
but this is harsh reality... and it always said it
wasn't. Your Highness, you don't have any idea how
much I wanted to believe you were the real deal, but
now my heart and soul has seen the truth, at last."
"Shizuka... calm down," suggested Ranma slowly.
"And you don't know anything about Wiseman," she
continued, ignoring Ranma completely. "Sure, he's not
the most believable guy in the world, and certainly
he ought to get a girlfriend, but at least you could
depend on him. He shares our vision. And this Chaos
thing... who are you to decide that the random element
of chaos be eliminated entirely from the human race?
Don't you appreciate ANYTHING about the chaos in your
life? It's what makes life worth living... living
each day... and you're forgoing that in favor of rigid
Order."
"I couldn't agree more," a fourth voice said, this
time muffled by a slight bit of static.
"Eh?" gasped Ranma.
Shizuka reached up her sleeve, and produced a radio
transmitter. A light was blinking on top, indicating
that it was on and in use.
Neo Queen Serenity's eyes opened wide with surprise.
"The jamming curtain... it does not affect every
frequency...."
"Hello, Neo Queen Serenity," continued the voice.
"I'm sure you've heard of me by now, and yes, we're on
our own frequency, a hole in the range of the jamming
curtain. I'm Ayame Mishima, niece of the former head
of Mishima Heavy Industries, and everything you two
have said was quite interesting."
The queen lowered her head sadly.
"Know this, Neo Queen Serenity," Ayame warned, "if
you don't surrender yourself now, we will continue to
attack until your world order is nothing but dust in
the wind. We will not rest until we avenge the deaths
of those on your head, and restored Earth to its
original state. We will lay down our lives for the
rest of humanity. And know this, my dear queen... we
thank you for leaving behind the one kami that could
turn the tide of this war between us."
Shizuka felt a cold spasm in her heart, and
immediately knew the answer to that which Ayame was
speaking of. "He's back."
---
Taydome shirked back, hiding behind Shampoo, who was
also about ready to break and run. The hole the void-
ripper tore into the dimensional fabric indeed lead to
nowhere, but nowhere happened to contain something
chained within.
At first its ethereal, ghost-white boney skull
emerged from the rift. Resembling that of a great
reptilian creature the head was soon followed by the
rest of its skeletal body, all the way down to its
boney tail.
Spanning its wings spread widely, if the creature had
skin and meat on it Shampoo would have thought it to be
a Western dragon, but it was picked clean to the bone
and magically animated somehow. Although she could
see through the creature the sharp talons on its claws
looked very solid enough, and the ghost dragon dug its
toes into the ground, ripping up crystal. An opaque
white emptiness filled its rib cage, and it didn't take
a genius to know that something was missing there.
"Free," the creature rumbled, its voice coming from
the pits of the Abyss itself, "free at last!" The
ghost dragon roared in delight, an eerie laugh that
sent the Mishima technicians scrambling for their very
lives.
Shampoo rubbed her eyes, wishing she never saw what
she saw before her again.
Deathclaw, the ghost dragon, has returned to Earth.
----------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes
The first part of the story is over; stay tuned for
more.
--Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOhotmailSPAM.com)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/index.html
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