-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: ch2draft2.txt
Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack
Chapter 2: To Fight Fire With Fire
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't."
-General George S. Patton Jr.
Text in "<>" is thought or telepathic communication.
************************************************************************
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, whose creative
talents far exceed my most humble own. Distribution and other rights to
Sailor Moon belong to lots of different companies that I do not own. I
make or imply no claim to ownership of Sailor Moon or its characters.
However, the text of this fanfic and all original characters presented
within are mine, and should not be used without permission. Thank you.
************************************************************************
Sailor Pluto was swearing. This is something of an
understatement, actually. Somewhat like saying the ocean was wet or a
nuclear explosion was dangerous. Over the past few subjective hours,
Pluto had exhausted the less polite areas of every language she knew,
and a few she didn't for good measure. To say that any of her fellow
Senshi would have been shocked to know of this was another gigantic
understatement.
The Senshi tended to regard Pluto, Meiou Setsuna, as an
emotionless, all-knowing being, hardly human. Nothing could be farther
from the truth. Pluto hid her emotions, and normally hid them well, but
she did have them. And as for her omniscience? It seemed to her that
she never found out anything until it was too late. And she was all too
human.
Pluto had just found out that Ares, of all people, had somehow
been sent to the present, instead of dying or being imprisoned as she
had assumed. And now, she knew how and why. She knew that the other
Champions were around as well, and would be awakening soon. She also
knew what they were far to likely to do, and far to likely to succeed at
doing.
To the Champions, Crystal Tokyo, the Utopia she had worked so
hard for, would seem to be a nightmare. They would be willing to fight,
kill, and die to stop it from being built. They would ascribe to Neo-
Queen Serenity the faults of her predecessor. And if they fought, they
would likely succeed. They might not win, but it would be easy to push
humanity off the path Pluto had laid out for them.
And Pluto didn't know how to stop them. She couldn't even let
the Senshi know the danger they faced. Her future self had seen to
that. It was times like this that Pluto hated herself.
************************************************************************
"<Ick... multivariable calculus... let's see partial derivative
of f(x, y, z) with respect to x plus partial... damn it I can't
concentrate not with...>" Ikawa didn't finish the thought. He didn't
want to think about it. He was definitely not going to think about
magical kingdoms and being a defender of justice and living a thousand
lives and... no, he was just going to be a normal student studying at a
table in the park and waiting for his friends, at least for awhile.
Needless to say, Ikawa was distracted. This time yesterday, he
was just another face in the crowd, and now he was the reincarnation of
an ancient warrior with a sacred mission to uphold _and_ a war to fight.
He knew he would do both of those things. It was part of who Ares was,
and he was Ares. The first thing to do would be to awaken his
brothers...
"Hello, Ikawa." The words interrupted the young man's stream of
thought.
Ikawa looked up, shutting his textbook. "Oh, hi Motoki, hi
Mamoru!" His two friends sat down next to him.
Mamoru smiled at him. "You looked a little spaced out there,
Ikawa. What's going on?"
"Oh, nothing much. I was caught in a monster attack yesterday,
and I was thinking about it."
Motoki nodded. "The one down at the Osa-P?"
"Yeah, that's the one," Ikawa replied.
A new voice joined in the conversation. "I heard about that on
the news. Was there really a new Sailor Senshi involved in it?"
"Not exactly, Shoju," said Ikawa as the speaker sat down. "The
new person didn't look like a Senshi, and _he_ was male anyway."
"Sort of like Tuxedo Mask?" Mamoru said with a smile.
The last member of the gathering group interrupted before anyone
could answer. "Studying hard, or hardly studying?"
"Well, we weren't going to start without you, Tamori," Shoju
answered.
Tamori sat down. "Well, let's start. Who else is having
problems with the calculus assignment?" With that, the group settled
down to more mundane matters.
************************************************************************
"So, basically, neither of you know more than you did yesterday,
right?" Makoto asked Rei and Michiru. Both had just divulged the
results of their scryings. Those results were mostly just images of
Ares or the planet Mars.
"Well, I'm getting a feeling of danger from the images," Rei
responded. "But, other than that, you're correct."
The Senshi, still minus Pluto and also without Haruka, who was
at the Tomoe residence taking care of Hotaru, were once again meeting at
the Hikawa Shrine. So far, the meeting had mainly been a rehash of
yesterday's conversation.
Ami took out her computer. "Well, most of the data files my
computer is set up to search are passworded, encrypted, or corrupted.
However, I did manage to find one piece of information on this Ares."
Everyone perked up at that. "What?" asked Usagi eagerly.
Ami punched in a few commands. "Gather round, and I'll show
you." The Senshi swiftly moved to positions where they could examine
the Mercury Computer's screen, which read:
"BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: PHOEBE, DAUGHTER OF AURORA,
OF THE LINE OF VULCAN, FOURTH PRINCESS OF MARS
BORN: 7976 SA
BONDMATE TO DEINAS OF MARS: 7999-8001 SA
SENSHI MARS: 8002-8046 SA
ENGAGED TO CHAMPION ARES: 8003-8005 SA
MARRIED TO CHAMPION ARES: 8005-8025 SA
ENGAGED TO GUARDIAN JADEITE: 8040-8046 SA
KILLED BY GUARDIAN JADEITE: 8046 SA"
Rei stared at the screen. "Phoebe is... was me in the Silver
Millenium, right?"
Ami nodded. She knew the questions that would be coming.
"That's correct."
Minako glanced at Rei. "You definatly had an interesting love
life, Rei."
Rei continued to stare at the screen. "This... Guardian
Jadeite... he's the same person as the Jadeite we fought, right?"
Ami nodded once more. "I believe so."
Usagi gasped. "You were engaged to _Jadeite_? How would that
happen?"
Ami was the one who answered that. "I wondered that when I
first saw this information and I believe from my research that Beryl's
four generals were once highly placed members of Endymion's court. It
seems as though they betrayed him to Beryl, allowing her to seize the
Earth relatively easily. Of course, that's mostly conjecture."
Rei shook her head weakly. "This is a lot of bombshells at
once, Ami."
************************************************************************
Jadeite was pleased. Of course he couldn't show it.
Officially, the attack had been a disaster. An Overlord and four youma
wiped out, and new enemies appearing? Beryl would have torn the whole
palace down by now. Jadeite might have too, except that the battle
against the Senshi was of little importance to him at the moment, except
as an easy way to be rid of rivals. The time to deal with them had not
yet arrived.
But, one must keep up appearances. "Soul Flame!" Jadeite cried
out, throwing a firebolt into the crowd of youma. "This is truly
disgusting! I demand that one of you who has some shred of battle
prowess come forth! If Sithar is the best you can offer, we may as well
give up now!"
Inwardly, Jadeite laughed as one Ixitar stepped forward. Ixitar
was the Overlord of Grim Respite. The tiger youma bowed once before
saying, "Allow me to take up the battle, Lord Jadeite. My servants are
many, and we will crush the Sailor Senshi under our claws and gain
vengeance for our queen."
Before Ixitar could move, Jadeite raised one hand and sent a
bolt of energy at him. The Overlord tried to dodge, but was too slow.
As well, he was surprised when instead of being torn to pieces, he was
engulfed in an aura of power. Jadeite spoke. "Take this energy, the
little that Sithar was able to gather, and use it wisely. Now go, and
bring me the Senshi's heads on a platter." Ixitar vanished.
Jadeite then strode out of the throne room, silently shaking
with laughter. Another who could have been a threat, gone. Now to work
on locating the other Diamonds.
In the shadows of the throne room a voice spoke. "He is
eliminating the weak and foolish, the ones who would make up the bulk of
any opposition."
"True. He's clever. He lets them volunteer, so that none could
openly accuse him of doing so. And thus, when revolt comes, the rebels
will be too weak to stand against him." replied the other.
"Any open revolt would destroy what's left of the Kingdom, no
matter who wins. But, it looks like it will come to that eventually.
What can we do about it, though?" asked the first.
If the second voice had been human, it would have smiled.
"Metallia."
"Difficult." _That_ was an understatement.
"But not impossible." The next thing to it, maybe.
"Aye." With that, the two plotters went on their way.
************************************************************************
*BEEP*
The sound came from Ami's computer, and she quickly called up a
new program. "Um... youma energy signal, only one this time, and
its..."
"RAVAGE!!!!" The roar seemed to shake the building.
"...right outside the Shrine," Ami finished weakly.
"Well, let's transform and take it out," Makoto said. "After
yesterday, one youma is nothing."
"Right!" Everyone pulled out their henshin rods.
"Mercury Star Power!"
"Mars Star Power!"
"Jupiter Star Power!"
"Venus Star Power!"
"Neptune Planet Power!"
"Moon Cosmic Power!"
"MAKE UP!!!"
With that, the Senshi raced out of the shrine. The youma was a
large one, but not so large as Sithar was. It had the appearance of a
woman-tiger, and it turned to the Senshi with a feral grin.
"Taking the bait so soon! How could a band of schoolgirls like
you have defeated Overlord Sithar!"
Sailor Moon struck a pose. "We are the Sailor Team, and in the
name of the Moon, we will punish you!"
Ravage laughed, and nine more tiger youma appeared. "Get
them!!! For Ixitar!" The youma rushed at the Senshi.
"Deep Submerge!"
"Burning Mandala!"
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!"
The three attacks forced the youma back, and now only seven
youma remained. Ravage growled. "You _are_ tougher than you look.
Tiger's Claw!" She swiped one of her claws at the air, and the Senshi
barely managed to dodge the force knives the attack had created.
However, unfortunately for Ravage, this wasn't enough, as the Senshi
unleashed a barrage of attacks which left her alone and stunned.
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"
And that, as the saying goes, was that.
************************************************************************
"Not very effective, were they, Ixitar?" the mocking voice came
from behind the Overlord of Grim Respite.
"Shut up, Asphara!" Ixitar growled.
The other youma laughed. One of the rare female Overlords, she
appeared to be an ordinary human with blonde hair and green eyes. If,
that is, you didn't count the bat wings that came out of her back. "How
are you going to fulfill Jadeite's commands without servants?"
Ixitar was silent.
Asphara continued. "I'm sure my consort would be willing to
loan you enough energy to make more... if I ask him." That was the
case. It was well known the Ishmanar doted on his consort. One might
even say he loved her... if one was willing to face Ishmanar's rage when
he discovered someone said that. To a youma, love and justice are
abominations.
Ixitar got to the point. "What's in it for you?"
Asphara giggled. "Would you believe me if I said the joy of
doing a good deed?"
Ixitar scowled. "No."
Asphara's mirth faded. "Too bad, because you're not getting
another answer. Take it, or you can go crawling back to Jadeite."
"I'll take it." Ixitar said, though he knew he was making a
mistake.
The scrying device went dim, and the image of the two Overlords
vanished. "Interesting."
"Truly. We should keep an eye on her, she may be useful."
"I wonder what she's up to?"
"Setting up Ixitar for the fall, of course."
"But why?"
"I doubt she's doing it to help Jadeite, and that's all that
matters." The two conspirators then dropped the subject.
************************************************************************
Ikawa, Mamoru, and Tamori were wandering about, making small
talk and generally enjoying the afternoon. Mamoru was subtly guiding
them towards the Hikawa Shrine, as that was where Usagi was supposed to
be, and he had briefly felt that she was in danger earlier, and wanted
to make sure she wasn't hurt. He probably would have felt that, but it
never hurt to be sure.
"So anyways," Tamori said, "I think I'm going to apply for the
lab assistantship that the new genetics professor is offering."
"Professor Tomoe?" Mamoru asked. The former daimon container
was about to start working at their college, having been reassigned as
there were no plans to rebuild Mugen High.
"That's the one," Tamori replied. "The ad said that if things
worked out, there was a chance the assistant could rent a room at his
house too, which is good, because I think Shoju's ready to throw me
out."
"Eh?" asked a puzzled Ikawa. "You're good friends, why would he
throw you out?"
"We just weren't made to be roommates, I think. I like it dark,
he likes it light. I like soft music, he likes loud music. I'm a
morning person, and he's more of a night person. We're just getting on
each other's nerves."
Just up the street, Rei turned the corner, jogging. "<Yep, I
needed this to clear my thoughts. Which I really need to do. We've got
youma, a 'new enemy' that only Pluto and Michiru have felt, and this
Ares person showing up all at once. This time, it looks like we don't
get a break between battles.>" Rei paused a moment to catch her breath,
and was surprised when she felt something run into her and knock her
down.
The man who had knocked her down offered a hand to help her up.
"Sorry about that, I wasn't watching where I was going."
Rei got to her feet. "Don't worry about it, it's nothing."
The man smiled. "Listen, how about I treat you to a snack to
make up for it, OK?"
A voice from behind the man spoke up. "Watch out, Ikawa. This
is how she got me to be her boyfriend."
Ikawa turned around. "This is your girlfriend? Funny, she
doesn't look like a meatball head."
Mamoru laughed. "No, Rei's my _old_ girlfriend, from before
Usagi."
Rei groaned. She meets a nice looking man, and he _has_ to be
one of Mamoru's friends. Great. Who knows what he's told this Ikawa
about her.
Ikawa grinned. "So she _is_ free. Good. Listen, I'll go get
Rei here something to eat, and catch up with you two later, all right?
If that's OK with you, Rei?"
Rei smiled. This was working out like her old plan to get
Mamoru was supposed to work, and it was even a real accident too. Maybe
things were looking up.
************************************************************************
"Ok, Hotaru, here's your milk... huh, where'd she go! I put her
down on the quilt just a minute ago!" A soft sound from underneath one
of the armchairs interrupted Haruka. She stepped forward and swept the
baby girl into her arms. "There you are, Hotaru!" Haruka frowned.
"Since when can you crawl? I don't think you should be moving quite
yet."
*BZZ*
"Huh? Oh, the doorbell. Wonder who it is?" Haruka, still
holding Hotaru, went to answer the door. Standing there were Mamoru and
a blond man she didn't recognize. "Hello, Mamoru. Who's your friend?"
"This is Inusha Tamori, Haruka. He's here to see Professor
Tomoe about the lab assistantship he's offering," Mamoru replied.
"Oh." Haruka shifted the baby she was holding to a more
comfortable position. "The professor is down in the lab. If you could
hold Hotaru for a minute, I'll take him down there."
"Of course." Mamoru took the girl as Haruka lead Tamori down to
what had once been the Death Buster's lab. He sat as he waited, and
momentarily Haruka joined him.
"Any news about our enemies?" Haruka asked him as she took baby
Hotaru and began to feed her.
Mamoru shook his head. "None that I know of. I did think I had
sensed Usagi in danger earlier today, but the feeling vanished so
quickly I'm not sure. I ran into Rei a couple minutes ago and she
didn't say anything, so I doubt anything serious happened."
Haruka nodded and turned Hotaru over so she could burp the baby.
"I wonder who that Ares person was though. He obviously knows about the
Silver Millenium, since he called Sailor Moon Serenity."
"What I worry about, though, is that if Ares does turn out to be
an enemy, well... he said he was the Champion of Mars. What if there are
others for the other planets?" Mamoru said with a frown.
"And if they are enemies too? Especially since we have the Dark
Kingdom and whatever it was that lead Neptune on a wild goose chase
yesterday running around? I'm worried too. If that's the case, we're
going to have a long fight ahead of us, and it's going to take all the
power we can get." Because Hotaru was currently facing the wall,
neither Haruka nor Mamoru noticed the sigil that briefly flared on her
forehead.
************************************************************************
"I've looked at your transcript, and I'm impressed," said
Professor Tomoe.
"Thank you, professor," Tamori nervously responded. He glanced
around the dark lab. Most of the equipment he recognized, but there
were some things that didn't look like anything he had seen before.
Professor Tomoe continued. "Let me tell you what I'm doing
here, and then if you're still interested, you can start next week and
we'll see how it works out. Where to start... the official report on
the destruction of Mugen High says that a gas main blew and caused the
explosion. Actually, what happened was the Sailor Senshi managed to stop
an evil group known as the Death Busters from summoning an alien called
Pharaoh 90 to destroy the Earth." Tomoe decided that mentioning that he
had been the leader of that group would not be the best of plans. "What
I'm working on now is deciphering their technology and the biology of
the monsters they used."
Though Pluto had been able to restore most of his memories of
the past few months, Tomoe recalled nothing of the science he had used,
if it was even science. "If you don't believe in the Sailor Senshi,
magic, and monsters, or if you don't want to get involved with them, I
suggest you turn down my offer. If that doesn't bother you, I'd be
happy to work with you."
Tamori wasn't sure what to think. Sure he believed in the
Senshi and monsters, you didn't live in Juuban for long without running
into one or the other. However, he was a bit shocked. He had been
expecting some relatively mundane work, but an offer to be on or
actually beyond the cutting edge of science was an unexpected
opportunity. Really, there was no choice.
"I'll take the position."
************************************************************************
Ixitar barely repressed the urge to snarl. What the here was
Asphara up to? Or, as a human might put it, what the hell was she up
to? Youma had no illusions about the nature of their home dimension.
All seemed well. He had been given the energy, and two dozen youma
awaited his command. He had enough energy to send them over... oh,
crap.
He didn't have enough energy to send his new servants and
himself along. He should have seen this coming. If he didn't send all
the servants, it would be an insult to Asphara and Ishmanar and they'd
declare war, but if he sent them all he wouldn't be able to supervise
the attack and it would fall apart like the last one and Jadeite would
burn him to a crisp! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
Why, oh why, did most of the Senshi have to be together for
once? If one or two had showed up alone, he was sure ten youma would
have been able to kill them. But no, it didn't work out that way. He
would have to come up with a simple battle plan the youma could easily
follow. Perhaps... yes that's it. Send half to the same point as the
earlier battle, and send the rest somewhere else, like the place Sithar
had attacked! Force the Senshi to split their forces, or have a dozen
youma rampage through the city unchecked. He might get out of this
alive. Maybe. Just maybe...
But probably not. No, make that almost certainly not. Asphara
never left a way out of her schemes.
************************************************************************
Ikawa and Rei were walking down towards the Osa-P shopping
center, talking about the recent monster attack there. Each giving a
properly modified account, of course. The current topic of discussion
happened to be one Ares.
"I don't know, he seemed kind of dangerous to me," Rei said.
"Dangerous, yes, but not to us. Did you see him wipe out that
youma with one shot? If he had wanted to, he could have leveled the
whole shopping center, and the Senshi wouldn't have been able to stop
him." Ikawa replied, inwardly chuckling.
"Yeah, but that youma had been weakened by the Senshi when he
showed up! Besides, I think Sailor Mars's Burning Mandala is just as
tough as the Flame Strike thing Ares used," Rei rebutted.
Ikawa snapped his fingers. "Ah, you're a Mars fan I see. Did
your hair like hers and everything."
Rei snorted. "I'll have you know that Sailor Mars does her hair
like me, not the other way around."
Ikawa laughed. "Right." Whatever more he might have said was
drowned out by rage-filled cries and screams of panic coming from up the
road. Both of them stopped instantly, and thought the same thing. "<I
can't transform in front of him/her!>"
Ikawa was the first to speak. "Stay here! I'll go see what's
happening!."
Rei nodded in relief. She wouldn't need an excuse to leave!
"Right." Ikawa raced off.
Neither had any intention of doing as they had said. As soon as
the other was out sight, each ducked into an alley, pulled an item out
of subspace, and said a brief set of words. A moment later, Ares and
Sailor Mars were running towards the site of the latest youma attack.
************************************************************************
Haruka shut the door as Tamori and Mamoru left. Looked like
she'd have to be more careful about discussing Senshi business around
the house once he started coming regularly. Oh, well.
She was shocked when Sailor Pluto appeared out of thin air in
front of her. Pluto, apparently more calm then when Haruka had last saw
her, spoke. "Transform quickly. There's a youma attack at the Hikawa
Shrine, and the Inners aren't in a position to get there in time.
Neptune's already on her way."
At the Shrine, Ixitar's strike force was pleased to note that no
Senshi were around, and they set to draining energy, sending it to the
Kingdom as soon as they gathered enough to survive the transfer.
Jadeite had ordered the change in procedure. It meant that more energy
was lost between dimensions, but it meant that the loss of a youma
wouldn't lead to the waste of large amounts of energy. The youma were
fairly relaxed, as they knew that Senshi always gave speeches before
attacking. Unfortunately, they hadn't been briefed on the differences
between the Inner and Outer Senshi. Particularly, one tactical
improvement the Outers had discovered. Attack first, then give a
speech. Sometimes they even skipped the second part.
"World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
"Dead Scream."
The attacks swiftly eliminated a fourth of the strike force, and
a second barrage had destroyed a like number before the shocked youma
could react. Then the six remaining leapt into hand to hand combat with
the Outers.
Neptune expertly dodged one claw swipe and delivered a powerful
kick to its originator. Pluto fended off two youma with her Time Staff,
while Uranus wove over and under youma blows, striking with impunity,
and with deadly force. Though Uranus was the best, none of the Outers
were slouches at melee combat.
However, youma could take a lot of damage, and shortly a few
lucky blows on their part left none of the Senshi untouched, though at
the cost of one of their number. If they had been slightly more lucky,
Neptune would have been taken out of the fight. If the fight went on
like this, there was a good chance that they would succeed in taking out
one of the Senshi.
But the fight didn't go on like that. Instead, a familiar voice
came from a nearby rooftop. "SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" Unfortunately
for the youma, the Inners were beginning to see the merits of the
Outers' tactical innovation. One of the youma was vaporized by the ball
lightning, and Sailor Jupiter leapt into the gap, striking out with
powerful blows.
This distraction gave Pluto a moment of peace to demonstrate
that the Dead Scream was just as deadly at close range as at a distance.
With only four youma left, and an equal number of Senshi present, the
outcome was really inevitable. It was now merely a question of how long
the it would take the Senshi to slay the remaining youma.
************************************************************************
Sailor Mars leapt in front of the youma. "You think you would
have learned your lesson last time, youma! If you attack the Earth, the
Sailor Senshi will..."
"Flame Strike!" The blast eliminated one of the youma, and
incidentally interrupted Mars's speech.
"...punish you." Mars concluded weakly as Ares leapt in among
the youma. "Burning Mandala!" Another youma fell, leaving only ten to
deal with.
Inside the pack of youma, Ares surrounded his sword with a fire
aura and easily sliced through one of the tiger-women, cutting it in
half. The two halves disintegrated before they could hit the ground.
With effortless efficiency, he loped off a claw that got too close, then
dodged under another blow.
Mars stood back from the melee, not trusting her hand to hand
skills, and strafed the area with another Burning Mandala, which slew
two youma, one of which was the one that had been wounded by Ares.
There was a chance that Ares could have been hit, but Mars deemed it an
acceptable risk. After all, Ares wasn't really an ally. Was he?
Ares dodged another swipe and casually ran a youma through. As
the corpse dissolved, he spun around and plunged his flaming blade into
another beast. Five left... ouch, that had hurt. One of the youma had
managed to land a solid blow, though Ares's armor had absorbed most of
the strike. Time to back away for a bit. Ares leapt up and back, over
one of the youma.
Mars continued to strafe the area, and another of Ixitar's
strike force fell. Two of the youma had begun to charge her when a
Flame Strike incinerated one, and a quick Fire Soul took care of the
other. Mars briefly wondered why this batch of youma seemed so much
weaker than those used in the first war with the Dark Kingdom. Or was
she just that much stronger? An interesting question...
Ares ran forward, decapitating one of the youma with one stroke,
while Mars launched a few more Fire Souls at the second, burning it to a
crisp. The two fire warriors stared at each other as the corpses
dissolved. Mars found herself drawn to Ares's eyes. They were cold and
hard, showing no sign of emotion, mirroring his utterly composed face.
Mars wondered whether he or Pluto would win a staring contest before
turning to a more important question. What to do? Should she attack,
introduce herself, run, or what?
The seconds seemed to stretch into minutes as the two sized each
other up. Finally Ares broke the silence. "Well, well. One Senshi,
all alone with no one to save her. And, wonder of wonders, it's the
only one I don't need."
A cold smile appeared on his face, more frightening than any of
the leers or insane grins Mars had seen on various foe's faces. This
expression told her that Ares was in full possession of his wits, and
that it wouldn't hurt his conscience one bit to run her through and
leave her to die. Either he was one of the most evil people she had
ever seen, or he had been deluded or brainwashed into thinking her evil,
Mars decided. Either way, she had no intention of letting him kill her.
"Burning Mandala!"
The blast threw Ares back into a wall. Well, the girl had more
control over her power than he thought. He hadn't expected her to have
any energy left. He dodged a Fire Soul, and smiled as he noticed the
Mars was gathering energy for another Burning Mandala. That gave him
enough time to ready his own attack. "Flame Strike!" White hot fire
spurted out of his sword.
Mars managed to dodge the worst of the firebolt, but this
disrupted her Burning Mandala. She quickly realized that the Flame
Strike took less time to cast, so if she kept trying to get off her more
powerful attack, she'd lose. Therefore, she decided to stick with the
faster Fire Souls, and launched two at her enemy.
Ares cursed silently as he dodged the attack. Mars had wised
up, and if she used the Fire Souls well, he wouldn't get enough time to
launch a Flame Strike, and wouldn't be able to get close enough to
attack her physically. He had to hope that she would run out of energy
before she got lucky. Then, his thoughts were interrupted as he leapt
out of the way of a trio of Fire Souls.
Mars also wasn't happy. She wouldn't be able to keep this up
all day. She had to get Ares into a position where he couldn't avoid
the firebolts, all while keeping up a constant barrage to prevent him
from using his attack on her. Hopefully, the others would arrive soon.
Wait a minute, she quickly gathered in as much energy as she could and
launched five Fire Souls. There was no way Ares could dodge that!
She was right. Ares swiftly determined which of the bolts was
the weakest and avoided the others. The hit was still damaging, but not
lethal or incapacitating. He quickly leapt forward. that should have
drained her, he should be able to get in a good hit or two...
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
Ares swiftly changed direction to avoid being flash frozen. Damn
it! He had forgotten that Mars had allies, while he had none. He
definitely needed to get his brethren awakened, and soon. That is, if
he survived this.
"VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"
This time, Ares was too slow and the chain caught him, leaving
him trussed up, though still standing. His sword had been dropped, but
he had triggered the subspace access rather than letting it fall to the
ground.
Sailors Moon, Mercury, and Venus leapt down onto the
battlefield, observing the numerous scorch marks that covered the street
and most nearby buildings. Venus held up one hand. "Don't try anything
funny, or I'll blast you!" Ares remained silent.
While Mercury checked the exhausted Mars's injuries, Sailor Moon
stepped up to the captive. "Who are you, Ares? Why are you fighting
us? It's obvious that you aren't working with the youma."
Ares remained silent.
"We know you're from the Silver Millenium. I'm the rightful
heir to the Moon Kingdom, no matter what anyone else might have told
you. AS your Princess, I ask you to agree to a truce. If you'll do
that we'll let you loose, and we can talk about this, Ares." Sailor
Moon tried to think of any other reasons why someone from the Silver
Millenium who obviously wasn't affiliated with the Dark Kingdom would
attack a Senshi.
Ares stood unmoving for a moment. Then, he spat at ground in
front of Sailor Moon with rage in his eyes.
A sad look appeared on Sailor Moon's face. "Why do you hate us
so much? Can't we work together to defend the Earth?"
Ares raised his face and looked her in the eyes. Then in a
harsh whisper that didn't reach Mercury, Mars, or Venus, he began to
speak. "By the planet Mars, this I swear. I will always help those who
are in trouble, in need of help, or in need of a friend." His voice
grew a stronger and more defiant, though little louder, as he continued.
"I will not turn my back on duty or honor. I will fight and die for
what is right and just." For the first time, an emotion other than rage
appeared in his eyes: determination. His voice might now have been
barely hearable by the others, if they had been listening. "I will
defend those who cannot defend themselves. I will avenge those I cannot
defend, and mourn those I cannot avenge. This I swear, until all are
one."
Sailor Moon stepped backward, surprised both by the words and the
vehemence with which they were uttered. In that instant, Ares spat once
more and vanished.
A few meters away, Ikawa shakily stood up and left the area. He
hadn't wanted to try a teleport without more experience in this body,
particularly combined with a detransformation, but he hadn't had a
choice. He would _never_ surrender. Now, he should probably go find
Rei. Monster attack aside, he had had a fairly nice time, and it might
be fun to go out a few times. Nothing serious, of course.
************************************************************************
Author's Random Ramblings
1) Another chapter down. Lots of exposition in this one, I'm starting
to set the stage for events to come. Lots of new characters too. Some
of them I even planned to add before I started writing.
2) Jadeite and the Dark Kingdom are getting a lot more story time than
I'd planned. In the original plan, the monsters were just random youma
popping in with no plan or explanation. I think this version is a
better story, and the Dark Kingdom scenes are a lot of fun to write.
Now I just need to figure out what Asphara and the conspirators are
plotting...
3) Credit where credit is due... parts of Ikawa's oath are modified
without permission from an oath appearing in "Lines of Destiny" by
Louis-Philippe Giroux. I highly recommend that story, which is
available at http://www.anime.usacomputers.net/~dragon/lines/lines.html
.
4) Previous chapters of this story are archived at
http://www.geocities.com/anowack/ .