Souls of Fire #9: Death Sphere
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.
----------------------------------------------------
Interview 1
"Perhaps it is naive to believe in the inherent good
of humanity."
"I pondered over the subject for many hours on end,
and the conclusion became rather elusive. Perhaps
there wasn't a single answer to my questions, and that
I was looking for easy answers where a complicated
solution was required. I didn't want a complicated
solution, however... I wanted an answer that I could
understand."
"I think Neo Queen Serenity believes that humanity is
inherently good. Maybe that's why, despite my
misgivings, I was attracted to her. I lay down my arms
for a chance to hear what she had to say, to explain
why some things had to happen the way they did. Under
this understanding I realized that Neo Queen Serenity
was not the evil soul I once thought, but a truly good
individual that also happened to make many, many
mistakes, and tried to hide from them."
"Perhaps that's why I hate her."
"I can't imagine billions of life forces being
snuffed out at once, nor can I imagine their faces. It
is naive to think I could fight her with them on my
mind. I can't do it. For all the faces that were
terminated in the transition of worlds only one
dominated my thoughts, well over those I considered my
family."
"Mizuki."
"Deathclaw remembers how she died, because he was
there. She didn't succumb to the Chaos Plague as I
once thought; she died because her body and soul were
consumed by the ghost dragon."
"It's strange, remembering what Deathclaw did. He
remembered the experiences of each host he took on
under his eternal curse of unlife, and all of them were
there with me... Mizuki, Shampoo, and countless others
who could not hope to conquer their parasite. He
scorned them all for their weakness, but there was a
special place for me... because somehow, I was the
one."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that Deathclaw prefers
my symbiosis, but I thought I'd be the last person he'd
want as host. I'm evil, and he's evil... and evil
people generally don't like each other. Even with a
frail body as mine he thought I was the strongest, most
able creature, and that's probably one of the reasons
he so readily agreed to our summoner's pact."
"I almost forgot the reason why I made that pact in
the first place. No, I remember now... I was too weak
to handle the threats looming in the calm before the
Mekani decided to attack. I needed to become strong,
and fast. Since I'm evil, I tried to get it in the
fastest way possible."
"Anyway, I had a long, melancholy reunion with my
mentor. Her soul suffers eternal torment as one of
those claimed under Deathclaw's curse, but that torture
wasn't enough to bar her from telling me the truth.
That is my curse... to know the truth."
"In a rough order of events... she woke up one
morning and knew, just as everybody else, that the seal
on the Gate of Heaven expired. No one was prepared for
this, however, as the seal was renewed on a regular
basis. The Gate itself acts not only as a direct
passage to the Kami Plane, but also as a means to
strengthen this plane's 'inner border' containing the
void where the Mekani were imprisoned."
"Needless to say, while we already knew the Mekani
were ripping holes on the Kami Plane's side of the
void pocket (long story), the expired seal allowed the
mechanical plague to use their void-rippers to carve
holes into this plane like Swiss cheese. Mizuki had no
idea of the extent of the damage until the Sailor
Senshi approached the Shrine of the Four Gods with
their problem."
"Oh, sure, they were really mad when they learned
what happened, but they also knew they didn't have much
time before the Mekani holed themselves in on Earth.
You see, they hate it in the void, where there's no
raw materials to manufacture more of them, so they
wanted to move their factory satellites here. Since
they were so huge that bought us some time... not much,
though."
"Most of the people died within the first week,
succumbing to the Chaos Plague's interior attack. It
pretty much ate away at the body's cells until the body
could no longer function... a terrible way to go.
Mizuki knew she didn't have much time herself, so she
had to turn to desperate measures."
"Yeah, she made a deal with Deathclaw. Deathclaw was
peeved that he couldn't find me... apparently my body
was missing and he knew it. Of course somehow he knew
I was still alive somewhere... but that's neither here
nor there; nobody really knows where I went, not even
me. Mizuki made an offer to him, and he accepted. And
for a time he remained contented with Mizuki."
"That is, until the Sailor Senshi discovered a
solution of their own. By that time Mizuki was the
only one left, and she tried to persuade them to look
for another way... but that fell on deaf ears. They
needed a solution, and Mizuki couldn't offer them a
better one; she could not reseal the Gate herself
because the Four Gods rejected her candidacy for that
honor, and there wasn't anyone left alive who could
qualify to learn the sealing rite."
"They decided to fall in with the Mekani plan of
collapsing the void pocket, and for that end they
needed elemental-attuned artifacts in order to break
each of the four pillars signifying each of the Four
Gods: Byakko, Genbu, Seiryu, and Suzaku. Knowing she
still had some time Mizuki tried to come up with an
answer, but failed. Deathclaw also learned what they
were planning, and eventually the two decided they had
to stop the Sailor Senshi."
"Needless to say Deathclaw took over in a big way,
fighting all the Sailor Senshi by himself. They beat
him, however, and there was nothing he could do to stop
them."
"And how ironic... they had no idea Mizuki was
Deathclaw, so they thought she died...."
"Mizuki/Deathclaw witnessed the destruction of home
and the death of the Mekani. All that was left to do
was hunt down any stray Mekani units and deal with
the ghost dragon... that is, until the Infernals
decided to start another war."
"She witnessed that as well, and Deathclaw escaped
numerous times and lost every battle in the end. By
the time the Sailor Senshi destroyed the Infernals they
still had no idea why Deathclaw would not die. So the
only 'humane' thing to do was exile him to the void."
"The fools... Deathclaw can't die because he's cursed
to be in his living death state forever. That curse is
so strong that even Neo Queen Serenity couldn't break
it... or had no inclination to do so. The curse is so
strong that the key to his fate lies in a naive and
stupid girl."
"Oh, gee... I wonder. The cursed like company, I
suppose. Or is it as Mizuki says... my imperfect soul
perfectly complements his. Gosh, that's so evil of
me."
"I'm still naive to believe that her way... Queen
Serenity's way... that humanity is inherently good.
It's enough to set up for the inevitable fall, and the
cycle will repeat ceaselessly because I'm both naive
and cynical at the same time."
"I must be stupid."
---
Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
Ayame didn't want to think after what happened in her
absence.
Although the underground compound should have been
protected from EMP waves, the fact was the command
center was fried, toasted, and useless. So was Shion,
lying comatose in the same position Higure left him,
minus the Orochi weapons were no longer in his hands.
Not only that, but confirmed word came that Kodachi
was killed.
The only thing that went her way so far was the fact
that the R&D block survived the shockwave. The
weapons, at least, were still usable.
She eyed the old man Higure, now promoted since
Shion was no longer available. Ayame wondered why she
never made him one of her advisors in the first place,
and she had to, since he was still coughing up useful
equipment like the Lightning Dragon Wire.
"I need to know how far Kanna has gotten," she
informed the technicians assembled in the command
center. "To that end you guys are going to cobble
together something that gives us satellite linkup
back. Chief Dumbass?"
"That's Dumas," Taydome's replacement voiced meekly.
"Whatever," Ayame replied, shrugging. "You're an
electrical engineer... communications is your
specialty. I expect a solution by tonight. The
Sailor Senshi likely know that the jamming curtain is
out, and if they think to warn our target points Kanna
is dead meat."
"Do not underestimate her," Higure assured her. "She
is more than capable to deal with minor setbacks as
that."
The leader nodded in the old man's direction. "Point
taken, but I'm not convinced that the Sailor Senshi
won't leave Crystal Tokyo. I don't think they know
what our endgame plan is, so I guess we could relax for
a bit."
"Then what of the Dead End Buster?"
Ayame shot a glance at Dumas.
"Ah, yes," Dumas said, straightening his lab coat.
"The Dead End Buster is almost completed. If nothing
else interrupts us, then I project we can have it up
and running in thirty-six hours."
"Excellent," Ayame said. "Then we can still win."
Kodachi, Shion, she added silently, I'll honor both
of your hard work with victory. Thanks for giving this
fool a second chance.
---
Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace
"We've finally found where the Fenril rift is,"
Sailor Mars declared.
Her eyes panned around the table, careful not to keep
her gaze steady on the position where Sailor Venus
should have been. Now was not the time to mourn a lost
friend, not when there was still much work left to be
done.
"Even though our computers are fried," she
continued, "their equipment is, too. Mercury's
computer still worked, and we used it to scan the area
now that their jamming towers were down."
"The rift is located in Central Park," Mercury said,
picking up the torch. "It is not guarded at all, but
there is something keeping the rift open. We believe
it is shadow substance."
"Then not only are we going to have to seal the rift,
but uncork it, too?" asked Jupiter.
Sailor Moon nodded. "I think the rift should be our
first priority now. Tracking down Pantyhose Taro will
have to wait; we need to eliminate Hokuto from the
equation before she decides to attack us."
"She's already attacked," Mars pointed out, annoyed.
"I'll plug her myself if I have to."
"It's almost certain that Hokuto will try to stop
us," Mercury added in warning. "We'll have to be extra
careful."
---
Rec Room, Mishima Heavy Industries
Ranma felt more hungry than tired, and he had the
black crystal to thank for it.
Essentially raiding the food stocks the martial
artist swallowed and chewed on anything he could get
his hands on, and there was the off-chance that someone
would get mad at him later. On the other hand, it was
because of the black crystal, and his lack of control
over it.
It felt strange, fighting on instinct alone. Ranma
knew he was going nearly even with Sailor Moon, but it
wasn't enough; he had to get his mind back into the
equation as well. That would likely require more
control... and how to do that was beyond him.
He stopped for a second, feeling a premonition.
Someone was watching him.
Ranma grabbed a bag of unopened chips and threw
them over his shoulder. His eyes followed, catching
sight of a black-caped intruder escaping out the door.
"Dammit," he cursed, getting up out of his seat.
Dashing out of the sliding doors, Ranma caught sight
of the caped intruder ducking down one of the side
halls. He gave chase, mapping out the corridors in
his mind, and predicted where the intruder would go.
Ranma kept going straight, then turned down the next
hall. As he predicted the intruder was being lazy, as
he caught sight of the masked, tuxedo-clad man in his
sights.
"Oh no you don't!" he yelled, throwing a flying
kick at Tuxedo's back.
It all happened quickly: the top hat flew off, the
mask shattered like the clay it was, and the grunt of a
girl. Ranma picked himself and the intruder up, and
his jaw dropped in surprise.
"Akane?!"
"Is this what you've been doing all this time?" Akane
asked angrily. "Eating like a pig?"
"What the hell are you doing here?!" the martial
artist demanded. "I thought you were supposed to be on
Nemesis."
"I was," she admitted. "Sypha approached me and made
me an offer I couldn't refuse. She would send me to
Earth, so long as I wore this stupid costume and tried
to stop you."
"Stop us?" That definitely didn't sound like Sypha's
doing. "Why?"
"How should I know?" Akane asked in frustration. "I
just wanted to end this stupid conflict, so you can
come home."
"Akane, this isn't my home."
"Of course THIS place isn't!"
"I meant this world!"
"What's so bad about it, anyway?"
"Don't you see? We're beating the Sailor Senshi!
They can't possibly protect a planet."
And to that Akane nodded. "Maybe. But that's still
no reason why you... and the others... are fighting.
Look at Ukyo... she's not fighting."
"Ukyo's working with us."
"What?"
"She's not supposed to blow her cover or anything;
she's just there to keep people happy."
"Is Ukyo happy about it?" she asked.
Ranma shrugged. "I haven't seen her for a while.
How should I know?"
"Although she doesn't look it, she's miserable,"
Akane informed him. "She says she likes all the
business she gets, but I can tell. Her eyes say
something different."
"As if you're one to know."
Akane sighed. "Where's the others?"
"Gone, dead, or whatever," Ranma replied. "The
question I've got is, what am I going to do with you?
Do you have any idea the kind of position you're
putting me in?"
"You're not going to send me back to Nemesis, are
you?"
"Of course not. I want you where I can see you. You
get yourself into more trouble without me."
For that, Akane's worries melted away, and Ranma
wondered if he said something.
---
Interview 2
"I think I owe a lot of my time to Hokuto, my dear,
dear friend."
"Well, not really... she pisses me off sometimes,
but in the end she's still my friend."
"If it wasn't for her I'd never have learned as much
as I did. It was she who gave me the insight on Ami
Mizuno, in her weird way. What she did was this: first
she would induce Mizuno to fall asleep. That way,
Hokuto can use her dream walking powers, and she used
those to bridge a gap between her and myself. See the
relationship? Since I was constantly asleep it was
easy for Hokuto to do."
"Sure, I had choice words with Mizuno, but still...
even if I didn't ever know her that much, I still felt
crushed that she was an enemy spy. Everything I told
her was the truth, and all from my heart... how else do
you expect to win people over? Yet, she was so evil
that no words could sway her (on the other hand, I'm
more evil still)."
"Hokuto served as my eyes and ears throughout the
whole ordeal; she would go around and do her usual
stuff: watch and observe. Then she'd come back and
relay the news to me. In effect this surprised
everyone who thought, since I was unconscious, that I'd
be unaware of the events going on around me."
"And I know for a fact that Shion knows that I know,
even after what happened. He thinks it's the snake,
but really, Thanatos never tells me anything important,
ever. I felt his presence, I felt his breath, and I...
I felt how he feels for me. God dammit, he makes me
feel like such an idiot."
"No, I don't mean that I was oblivious to his inner
feelings... in fact, I shared them. The funny crap
was that we couldn't say it to each other, no matter
how alone we could get, no matter how intimate the
moment. Our first 'date' was a spontaneous trip into
town to the karaoke bar... I had loads of fun, and so
did Shion, even though both of us are terrible
singers. Something clicked then... we both knew we
wanted to go, and we both knew we wouldn't refuse. Is
this how it feels like to be in love?"
"You see, I love him. He knows it, and I know he is
the same. We just never said it... and for some reason
there was no reason to. Everyone else knew, too, and
in result they were pushing that we actually say it.
That's pretty mean... but for some reason it doesn't
put minds at ease until it's actually said."
"Maybe that's why I... overreacted over what happened
to him that day."
"Slumbering between life and death, hanging by a
thread, I wasn't sure if he'd ever wake up again. In
fact, I did the most girly thing imaginable... I broke
down and cried, right there, in front of everybody. I
showed weakness, and that in of itself is unforgivable,
but most of all... I never told him."
"Not only am I stupid, but I'm also a coward."
"The only consolation I had in that situation was
that Kuonji wasn't there to see me. This may sound
strange, but I'm jealous of her; she manages a strong
balance between sexes, something I thought I could do
since I was four. Although she sometimes dresses like
and is mistaken for a guy, Kuonji's quite secure in her
femininity. I, on the other hand, pretty much
discarded both in my upbringing."
"Oh, you want to hear about that? Well... here's how
it goes. In a sense men and women aren't all that
unalike; the most differences are physical. In the
mind both can achieve an equal standing. It seemed to
me, however, that either side was obsessed with the
body of the opposite sex; my senses are too dulled to
get excited over that sort of thing, thankfully. That
doesn't mean I have no modesty; I treasure my body,
but I also know that, compared to many others, it's
frail, weak, and, well... lacking in attributes. So
I'd rather if guys not look at me that way... but they
still do... those perverts."
"I think some call it a feminine mystique. It's not
that I'm ashamed of my body or anything, you know. It
just happens to turn out that way."
"Just like the rest of the crap that happens to me.
Shit happens."
---
Central Park, Crystal Tokyo
Hokuto watched them arrive.
The Shadow Weaver hid amongst the shadows, watching
as the four remaining Sailor Senshi arrive at the
'secret' location of the planar rift. Wedged open
with solidified shadow substance Hokuto used it as a
conduit to touch the shadow stream, and without it she
felt powerless.
The intentions of the girls was clear: they wanted to
seal the rift, and Hokuto knew it would mean the end of
her if they did; the void-ripper was destroyed in the
last battle, and it would be difficult to obtain
another working machine.
Therefore, if the rift was sealed here, Hokuto would
lose her shadow powers for good.
And that was unacceptable.
"Stop there!" she commanded.
She saw the Sailor Senshi throw their eyes every
which way, but none looked too surprised to note that
she was there.
"Hokuto Takemasa!" Sailor Moon cried.
The Shadow Weaver emerged beneath the rift hovering
over the smashed grass where the Mishima engine cube
once stood. She kept her arms folded, and her cloak
closed. "I can't let you touch this rift."
"Hokuto," Moon said, obviously trying to reason with
her, "the shadow stream is too dangerous. You don't
need it to live."
"Being a Shadow Weaver is my way of life," Hokuto
replied. "My order will not end with my generation.
You can't possibly understand those who are touched by
the gray."
"I'll bet," Mars snorted contemptuously. "That stuff
is no instrument of good."
"It was never meant to be!" Hokuto shouted, throwing
open her cloak. Spreading her shadow out before her
she unleashed a pair of shadow tentacles, each flailing
in seemingly-random directions. "The shadow pure in
essence because it is aligned to no superficial human
value!"
The Sailor Senshi scattered, and Sailor Mercury
paused long enough to summon a blinding mist. Hokuto
remained calm, however, and allowed the tentacles to
seek targets on their own while searching out for their
minds with her telepathic powers. She homed in on one
just to her left, and ducked under the fireballs that
sourced from that direction.
Winding her arm up Hokuto threw a black bolt of
shadow in Mars's direction, but she had no idea if she
hit or not. She felt one of the tentacles tag Mercury,
and the other go after Sailor Moon.
And too late she figured out where Jupiter went, as
she was caught in her headlock.
"Give it up!" she hissed into Hokuto's ear.
"When faced with death of life, how can one
surrender?" the Shadow Weaver replied, and started to
sink into her shadow.
But Jupiter refused to release her hold, and tried to
keep Hokuto from sinking completely. However, Hokuto
had gravity on her side, and dismissed the solid
shadow supporting her feet to allow the natural force
to do its work.
"Sailor Moon!" Jupiter cried, just as she entered the
shadow stream, along with Hokuto.
---
As a consequence of having temporarily left this
plane the tentacles badgering after Mercury and Moon
vanished into the ground, the shadow of Hokuto which
collapsed on itself.
"It's now or never!" Moon heard Sailor Mars shout.
"But what about Jupiter?" she wondered, worry in her
voice.
"She can't buy us time forever," Mars pointed out.
"If we don't collapse the rift now Hokuto'll be back,
and without Jupiter."
"You might be right," Mercury agreed.
"We can't just leave her like that!" Moon protested.
At that moment a dark, oily substance spilled
through the rift, and a black hand reached out.
However, it was pulled back in just as quickly by
more black hands, these more refined than the first,
and more clawed.
Hokuto was winning, Sailor Moon realized.
"Forgive me, Sailor Jupiter," she whispered.
At the same time Mars and Mercury threw fire and
water attacks at the rifts shadow, and Sailor Moon
began the sealing incantation.
---
"There's no escape," Hokuto gloated as she stood over
the shadow stream, watching her shadow hands push
Sailor Jupiter's head back into its oily mass. "You're
so foolish enough to step into my domain, and now
you'll die."
"After you, I'll deal with your friends as well. So
long as you think I'm a threat I'll never be left
alone, and my life will be in danger. The only
possible response is to kill you first."
"Never again," the Shadow Weaver concluded, "will you
ever seal the shadow."
It was no use waiting for Jupiter to die; she would
do so even without Hokuto's supervision. In her mind
she willed herself back to Earth....
But something was wrong; the rift was getting
smaller!
"Dammit," she cursed, focusing her thoughts on a
desperation attack. "Not now...!"
---
Both Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars jumped back as
Sailor Moon stood her ground, trying to complete her
sealing spell, just as an even larger shadow hand
emerged in a balled fist.
"She's trying to wedge the rift open again," Mercury
realized.
"Not this time!" promised Mars, raising her arms.
"Burning Mandela!"
"Shine Aqua Illusion!" Mercury shouted.
But the hand only absorbed the attacks, and Hokuto
realigned it to target Sailor Moon, totally ignoring
the other two opponents. The closing rift struggled
against the thickness of the shadow hand, and it
appeared that the hand was winning.
"You can't win!" they heard Hokuto shout in their
minds. The hand's fist reared back for a direct
punch. "I won't let you!"
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
---
Hokuto realized too late that there was literally a
hole in her desperate attempt to keep the rift wedged
open, and that was the fact it was dependent on the
hand being intact. The Sailor Senshi were clever
enough to sever the hand at its base, rather than blow
it up outright.
Head sinking low, she couldn't help but smile in her
melancholy way. "Touché...."
---
The mass of shadow substance that once made up
Hokuto's shadow hand exploded like a water balloon,
throwing the oily substance all over.
Sailor Moon collapsed on her knees, breathing heavily
with her mind racing over what went wrong.
Hokuto was ready, that was certain. Mercury's plan
didn't go as hoped, as, along with Hokuto, Jupiter was
sealed out of Earth as well. It would be a difficult
task to find her again, much less get her out without
letting Hokuto back in, too.
That is, if Hokuto saw it fit to leave her alive.
Finally, Sailor Moon understood why the Fenril
Knights refused to stop fighting... it was for the same
reason she refused to give up when up against many
other opponents.
"Sailor Moon..." Mercury said, her voice trailing
off.
"Why?" she asked no one. "Why can't this cycle ever
end?"
---
Interview 3
"Darkness is the most pure of all that is pure."
"That in of itself sounds quite radical, and I didn't
come up with it myself... but in the beginning, that's
all there was. Just plain darkness, blackness,
whatever... it was so dark that you couldn't tell what
the father of all creation looked like. IF there was
such a being. All I know is that light is defined by
the darkness around it."
"In most creation myths and such there was a darkness
before the dawn... heck, even that adage itself, too!
In Greek myth Chaos spawned Nyx, the darkness, and she
and Erebus eventually gave birth to light. In Genesis
God created light. In our own stories there had to be
a goddess of the sun before there was even a sun. See
my point? Before light, there had to be a darkness
there to define it."
"They say it is because we are attracted to the
light, and for one I don't blame them."
"Neo Queen Serenity would have you believe that it
is the light that is more pure, but if that were the
case I think we'd all be trying to make the world
darker (laughs). In the universe the darkness came
first, and the light came afterward. Which is more
pure? The darkness, of course."
"The Black Crystal is perhaps the most brilliant
example of that which is pure of the darkness. Whereas
the Silver Crystal embodied all that was good and
righteous in the hearts of men the Black Crystal
embodied the leftovers.... It's the heart of the
people, discarded by the people when they were
'purified' by the Silver Crystal. It is one giant
heart crystal of greatest purity."
"She refuses to believe that, either because she,
too, is naive, or an idiot. Maybe we're not so
different, after all, considering that."
"I think the reason why the Black Crystal emerged
at certain points in time has to do with the light of
the Silver Crystal. Whenever the light gains the upper
hand in the eternal conflict the Black Crystal is
born... and when it is shattered so too is the Silver
Crystal. Not literally, of course... the Silver
Crystal never got destroyed in its history, if Neo
Queen Serenity is to be believed."
"Two major events surrounding the appearance of the
Black Crystal involved an Age of Purity; definitely
not a coincidence. If the Black Crystal should fall
now, this Earth is doomed, and the cycle will repeat."
"I think this is what Wiseman fears most; we are
caught in a never-ending loop of creation and
destruction, between light and dark, order and chaos.
If there's anything anyone should fear most, it's
history repeating itself... and we may be powerless to
stop it."
---
R&D, Mishima Heavy Industries
Moving an office from the top floor down to a lower
floor was a depressing way to look at it, Ayame
thought, as the tech staff busied themselves in the
security office overlooking the hangar, trying to
convert it into the new control center.
The equipment in the command bowl was deemed too far
gone to be salvageable, as Chief Dumas informed Ayame
in his analysis report. However, he went on, Kanna had
the foresight to make backup copies of all essential
files and functions, and while it would take several
hours to convert the security office functions to
primary command it allowed them the ability to keep
running.
She glanced over the terminals before the window,
and stared down into the deep hangar bay that was
ruined by Sailor Mercury only hours before. Most of
the mess was cleaned up, as the shrapnel and parts were
simply pushed into the recycler to be re-manufactured
into more robots. One oddity discovered, however, was
the missing body of Dr. Taydome's, which was replaced
by a set of extremely dried bones that obviously didn't
belong to the late engineer.
Ayame reminded herself to summon Wiseman to answer
that burning question, but that would have to wait.
She was itching to find out whether or not Kanna was
running into any problems on her mad sojourn, as it was
critical to endgame.
Standing behind her and to the left was Higure Furui,
and when she looked back at him he seemed to be staring
off into space. "Something the matter?"
"I felt a disturbance in the wind," the old man
replied. "It tells me that there has been a recent
shift in the dimensional balance."
"A shift?"
The old man nodded. "Yes, and there may be a
consequence to our idling at the moment."
"What will you have me do?" asked Ayame. "We're
stuck in a rut right now, and we've already exhausted
the day and our people. Besides, what're we going to
do, attack the palace again? They can just as easily
do that to us."
"The fact is they have not."
"And that's how I'd like to keep it. I don't know
how much Mizuno learned from her little spin trip with
us, but she potentially knows about all our weapons,
our strengths, weaknesses, and worst of all, our
location."
"You need to know if Kanna predicted this as well,
and took proper measures?"
Ayame nodded. "Why do you think the satellite
link-up is our priority right now?"
"Then perhaps your strategy depends too much on one
person," Higure pointed out. "At this point our next
action depends entirely on Kanna Rajura."
"You don't think I know that?" Ayame shook her head,
shrugging. "She set herself up that way; Kanna's
leader in all but name this way. She's got an agenda
of her own, that's for sure, but so long as that
coincides with us I'm willing to let it slide."
"When it does not?"
"I sincerely hope it never comes to that."
---
Rolling juggernauts tore through the streets, the
army of Mishima Heavy Industries plowing over cars
like they were nothing. People fled and scattered in
all directions, just to get away from three of the
tank-treaded menaces known as GAIAs.
The central GAIA held a large, black crystal in its
arms, holding it out in front like it was diseased.
The leader and its escort came to a stop at a central
connection street in the city, where a fountain flowed
serenely in the middle of the chaos.
In mere seconds the lead GAIA was up to the fountain,
and raised the black crystal chunk high into the air.
With great power behind it the machine smashed the
fountain, wedging the crystal chunk as large as its
own body into the base.
An incident similar to this one occurred all across
the globe in every major city at key locations, each
attacked by three robots carrying a black crystal
chunk. In some of those cities the Peacekeepers, the
volunteer organization designed to help prevent future
conflicts, tried to stop the Mishima machines, but all
attempts were met in failure as the robots were more
than a match for them.
Whenever a squad successfully placed a crystal they
remained behind to keep guard, and while it served to
diminish the Mishima army Kanna Rajura saw no reason
to worry, as she still had plenty of machines to deal
with the rest of the world.
Escorted by the aerial CRONOS robots Kanna guided her
Mosquito-- a faster variant of the Dragonfly, into a
pass over the black crystal placed on top of the
fountain. She lowered the buzzing airship closer to
the ground as the three GAIAs did an about-face, with
their backs to the crystal, arranged in a circle.
The one known as the Crystal Spider watched as the
black crystal chunk began to radiate its violet energy,
spreading in a wave pattern centering from the chunk
itself. By itself the chunk could do little harm to
anything, but once the rest of the chunks were in place
the real plan would begin.
"This is going faster than I expected," Kanna
admitted to herself. She shrugged, remembering that
she was the only human in her army. "The robots can
handle all of this, so perhaps it's time to secure the
prize."
With her escort following in tight formation, Kanna
headed out toward her final destination.
---
Rec Room, Mishima Heavy Industries
Since most of the technicians were too busy trying to
set up the new control center for Ayame that left the
others to fend for themselves in the quest to alleviate
boredom. Ranma and Akane reentered the room which they
first encountered each other, finding that all the
trash Ranma left in his hog meals was cleaned-up.
Leaning over the back of the television set was Mousse,
his back turned toward the door, and obviously
engrossed in getting his video games to work again.
"Hey, Mousse," Ranma greeted, his voice echoing off
the walls, making it sound the more cavernous. "What's
up?"
Slowly the Master of Hidden Weapons pulled himself
from over the set, and did a double take. He adjusted
the glasses on the rim of his nose, then took it off
and rubbed his eyes.
"Is that Akane I see there?" he asked. "Or am I
seeing things?"
"Hi, Mousse," Akane greeted, feeling somewhat
sheepish. "You look well."
Mousse smiled. "Nice to see you again." He pointed
a wrench toward her. "What's with the getup?"
She looked down at herself. "Oh, nothing, really."
"At least some of the old gang is still here," Ranma
said, sighing. "Now all we need are Ukyo and Ryoga,
and maybe we can die happy."
"Such a jaded outlook Saotome," Mousse replied. "We
lost too many of us, and there shouldn't be a reason
to. I can beat the Sailor Senshi...."
"On a one-on-one basis, you mean," Ranma added. "I
think Ayame's right about this... if we actually stuck
together from the start maybe we could've clobbered
them a long time ago."
"That didn't happen," Akane knew.
The martial artist shook his head, and so did the
weapons master. Akane saw Ranma's expression, and
knew it was hard for him to admit that he was wrong
about something.
"We're the only ones left," Mousse shared sadly.
"Shampoo, Kuno, and his sister. Miranda, Shion, Taro,
Ryoga, and Hokuto, too."
"Hokuto's gone?" Ranma said, sounding a little too
hopeful.
"Master Higure did one of his divination things, and
that's how we know. We can't detect her presence on
this world anymore, and the planar rift is sealed."
"So you guys are losing?" Akane realized. "I thought
you guys were winning."
"You could look at it both ways, Akane, and both
would be right," the weapons master replied. "We win,
of course, but our price is often very high. Ayame and
Master Higure don't fight, Kanna's disappeared. Ukyo,
Sypha, and Cinder are on Nemesis, and Shizuka is in a
coma. Even if there's still plenty of us left our
resources are spread too thin for it to make a
difference anymore."
"Then what?"
"We either quit, or hit them with everything," Ranma
answered. He held up the black crystal hanging around
his neck. "You know, Akane, there's one thing I can
thank you for, and that's for that rose of yours."
"Really?"
"There's no way I can beat Sailor Moon without also
tapping my mind." The martial artist tapped the side
of his head with his index finger. "While I was in the
berserk state I couldn't think straight, and if I
can't do that I can't counter anything she throws at
me."
"Sailor Moon also healed you with her magic," Akane
pointed out.
"That's why you helped. Her magic didn't affect me
enough to turn me into a zombie, but it did allow me to
get control over my body again." Ranma smiled. "Next
time I fight them I think I can control the power
instead of allowing it to control me."
"At least someone's got an edge," Mousse muttered.
"I don't need any fancy crystals to beat them."
"Suit yourself," Ranma said, shrugging. "You've
still got that Chain Buster thing, too."
"Oh, one more thing," the Master of Hidden Weapons
added, "and it's good news. Apparently, Kodachi and
Hokuto did enough damage to the Sailor Senshi that
they're down by two."
"That IS good news!" Ranma exclaimed, overshadowing
Akane's worry.
"That, and Sypha and Cinder holding up the other two,
that leaves us three between the two of us," Mousse
figured. "Still uneven odds, but doable. Even better
if Kanna and Shizuka come back."
"The fighting's not going to end," Akane realized,
sighing. She faced Ranma. "Why are you still going on
with this? If this keeps up both you and the Sailor
Senshi will destroy each other, and then who'll protect
Earth?"
The excitement in the air dulled, as reality in
Akane's words brought both Ranma and Mousse back down
to earth. It was apparent to her that neither one of
them thought of the situation in that manner, as they
were too engrossed in beating their enemy that took
away their friends and allies.
She knew she would not get an answer, not now.
Mousse resumed his work on the television set,
occasionally pulling out wires and circuit boards,
and Ranma wandered off to eat more of the Fenril food
supply.
Akane sighed, wondering if she was throwing her lot
in with the 'enemy.' Ranma and Mousse accepted her
without question, and she suspected that the others
may accommodate that... what was left of the others,
that is. There was no reason to alienate Ranma over
her, at least.
Yes, she decided, she was joining the 'enemy.'
---
Interview 4
"Deathclaw likes me a lot, and I figured out why."
"Over the millennia that the ghost dragon lived the
only way he can touch, smell, eat, or any of the other
things we corporeal, living, breathing creatures take
for granted is to take on a host body. The sad part
about it is that, after a while, the host is absorbed
into Deathclaw's essence, becoming trapped with the
curse of the ghost dragon."
"With that in mind, I'm special somehow."
"Theoretically speaking, as Mizuki tells me, since
I am such a perfect match for Deathclaw, my body and
soul will never be consumed by him. For all I know
that could mean I'm like his reincarnated mate or
something... brrr...."
"It doesn't scare me in the least. At worst I could
join the other lost souls absorbed by Deathclaw. At
best, Mizuki tells me, I could be the solution to his
curse. What that means is beyond me, but Mizuki
thinks that, when I die, Deathclaw can finally die,
too. I don't think he's eager to die yet, though, as
his depravity from the living experience has him
yearning for more. He wants to live as I live, and
I've no problem with that."
"There's plenty of other experiences I want to feel
for myself. It's so much to do, and I've only one
life to live it... but if I do it right, once is
enough."
---
World Parliament, Geneva
'Chaotic' would be the one word Kanna would use to
describe the scene as she and her CRONOS honor guard
hovered over the scene.
Geneva, the capitol of Switzerland, was in a panic,
as people from all over the world, seeking to see their
new world government in action, fled for their lives
as swarms of Mishima robots entered the city limits
from all sides. The enclosed city, the traditional
neutral ground, was systematically blocked-off to all
traffic, in or out, as the GAIAs rolled on.
Kanna spent a great deal of time planning what she
termed as the Geneva project. After the siege of
Crystal Tokyo the queen of the Earth was cut-off from
the rest of the world, leaving King Endymion and his
world parliament to handle running the world, as he
wanted them to. However, the parliament was still in
its infancy stages, and could not organize the
Peacekeepers in an orderly fashion. Kanna scoffed,
remembering that the bulk of the people camped outside
Crystal Tokyo's makeshift border was made up primarily
of news crews and thrill-seekers.
The Peacekeepers themselves were a joke, as they had
no means by which to stop the Mishima robots on their
own. Any cudgel or kitchen knife they armed themselves
with did little to dent the armor of the superior
robot army, and eventually they had to retreat along
with the people they were supposed to protect. As she
predicted, the world was too dependent on the Sailor
Senshi, and it certainly proved their undoing.
If Kanna was in charge, she would make sure her
Peacekeeper force COULD keep the peace before letting
them go out and do nothing.
She instructed the robots to ignore the bystanders,
as they were mere nuisances. Any that were in danger
of being killed were spared, of course, but attention
was only spent on them long enough until such time
they were out of danger. Nothing would halt the
rolling juggernauts until they completely surrounded
the place where the world parliament was meeting at.
They did a fantastic job of clearing the way of
people, Kanna noted. She wanted nothing between her
and the parliament by the time she got there.
---
With her death scythe in hand Kanna marched through
the halls of the parliament structure, once used for
the now-defunct United Nations, followed by two
smaller-scale Mishima robots that were roughly the size
of humans; Taydome termed them as RHEAs, and they were
nothing more than scaled-down GAIAs. Somehow the name
seemed appropriate to the Crystal Spider.
She met no resistance the entire way when she finally
barged into the enormous parliament chamber. The boom
of the door echoed throughout the chamber like a vast
cavern, and suddenly Kanna understood the scale of the
operation she undertook.
Her eyes slowly passed from one side to the other,
and she could make out the dignitaries from each of the
governmental regions that took the place of countries.
Each chair was manned by one of the many regional
governors, who held the sway of power, representing
their part of the world.
Once she took it all in, she fixated her eyes toward
the seat opposite the doors, where one man stood,
dressed in a lavender tuxedo, and wearing a mask over
his eyes. He was flanked at both sides by an honor
guard, but that wasn't enough to magnify his
importance. This man seemed to shimmer in the chamber,
well over anyone else. All attention was certainly
on him.
"King Endymion," Kanna shouted, gripping her scythe
tighter in her right hand, "I have come to demand the
immediate surrender of the world parliament in the name
of the human race."
There was no laughing, as she expected. The world
parliament members obviously knew about the onslaught
Kanna was leading to their city for hours. Kanna
herself was surprised she made it this far so fast, as
she expected much more resistance out of the so-called
Peacekeepers.
"Who are you?" the king asked in reply.
She spun her scythe around, and tapped its butt end
down on the ground, allowing the sound to echo. "I am
Kanna Rajura, the Crystal Spider. Your Sailor Senshi
refer to me and my associates as the Fenril Knights."
A wave of murmuring spread throughout the gathered
crowd of dignitaries, each expressing their surprise or
distaste at the mention of the well-known name.
"You have many fine representatives from all around
the world," Kanna continued, making a sweeping gesture
with her left hand around the room. "However, none of
the people I see here represent the interests of the
human race."
Another, much louder wave spurted from the crowd, and
someone saw it fit to insult her. But the Crystal
Spider was above such petty insults of her person.
King Endymion raised his hands for silence, and the
dignitaries slowly died down in their protests. He
stared Kanna directly. "And what would the interests
of the human race be?"
"This world parliament is a step in the right
direction," she said, and Kanna knew they would think
she was dodging the question. "The people can have the
decision power, as it's right there in their grasp!
But, King Endymion, while they do have this choice
now, who's end will they serve?"
"They will serve the people," Endymion answered.
Kanna shook her head. "No, Your Highness, not the
people, but your own self interests."
She allowed her words to sink in before continuing.
"When your wife, Neo Queen Serenity, decided to take
the world under her wings, did she not decide that the
people of Earth needed to be cleansed?"
"We determined that the source of conflict in
humanity was our inability to communicate effectively,"
Endymion corrected. "Fights between the people are
born from miscommunication and conflict of interest,
and it hurts to see loss of life."
"Ah, how sweet," Kanna replied sarcastically,
starting a pace around the room. "You deny that you
sought to cleanse the Earth, that's fine. Yet you
admit that humanity was flawed."
"Not flawed, but misguided," the king insisted. "We
knew humanity desired peace and harmony."
"But at what cost?!" Kanna thundered, silencing any
stray whisper in the chamber. "What is the price of
peace, King Endymion? Could it be the heart and soul
of that which makes us human?!"
"I've heard the words of your wife, Your Highness,"
she continued, moving on a roll. "She admitted that
she used the Silver Crystal to 'change the hearts of
man' in order to usher this era of peace. Do you deny
what your wife and queen says?"
Endymion offered no reply.
"CHANGE the hearts of men!" Kanna repeated, for the
benefit of the dignitaries. She thrust a finger in
Endymion's direction. "A true confession in silence!"
"Are you quite through yet, young lady?!" she heard
one of the governors shout.
"I'm the one down on the floor, governor, so you'll
listen to what I have to say!" Kanna shouted back, her
voice carrying more power that the governor was
silenced in an instant.
"So we have a non-believer," the Crystal Spider
said. "That's fine by me, but," and she produced a
tape player that was hanging on her belt, "I have here
the audio proof that your queen altered your hearts
and souls to suit her own needs!"
"It was never our intention to take anything from
the human race!" Endymion thundered, unwilling to let
Kanna take pot-shots at his wife. "We removed that
which was evil from humanity."
"King Endymion, I quote a friend of mine when I say,
'society judges what is good and evil.' I'm not saying
that you injected evil into the people, but what I am
saying is you altered the hearts of men to suit your
ideal of humanity!"
The audience murmured to itself.
The master tactician produced a folded piece of
paper, and allowed it to drop all the way to the floor
as it unfolded. "What you see here is a laundry list
of what is now considered 'evil' today, and what it was
like before Neo Queen Serenity came to power." She
lowered the list and began reading.
"Slasher flicks, which used to be extremely popular
in the late '90s, are now a harmful influence on
people. Hunting as a sport is cruelty to animals.
Cigarettes... well, maybe that's a good thing, but
still. It goes on with everything else, like breast
implants, assisted suicide, graffiti, pornography,
Big Macs, guns, violent video games and films, and
MP3s. It's a wonder chocolate shakes aren't banned,
you know?"
"All those have been proven detrimental to society,"
Endymion justified.
"How nice and caring of you," Kanna jeered. "You're
not my mother; I would like to choose my path, not have
it chosen for me. And somehow, I doubt the human race
was designed to cater to the image of the world's
mother, Neo Queen Serenity!"
"We are not children to be spoiled! We are grown
human beings; we are adults. We should have the
ability to make our own decisions, be they right or
wrong, or whichever way the wind takes us. I want to
be free to choose what movie I want to see on a
Saturday evening. I want to eat heart-attack meals if
I wanted to. I want to be able to skydive. Heck, I
bet lots of you guys miss your porn."
Of course they wouldn't admit it.
"The human race is not a race of children. The human
race is nothing like sheep; we were never to be
shepherded by those greater than us as the Sailor
Senshi seem to make themselves out to be. We have no
purpose in the cosmos without the desire or need to
break beyond the barriers of our great mother, Neo
Queen Serenity. The state humanity lies in is that of
the mother and her children. But there is no room for
the children to grow, learn, and experience life to
their fullest potential. There's no room for us to
make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes, because
our mother keeps us from experiencing it. We are a
stagnant race because of her. It's the classic 'do
what I say.'"
Kanna glanced around the room once, and stopped
when her eyes fell on King Endymion. For the first
time since she entered no one dared to breath a word.
The king himself seemed to be at a loss of words, as
his stance seemed to slump in place.
"King Endymion," the Crystal Spider said, addressing
the king directly, "perhaps you assume the role of the
father. You don't know much of taking care of a
child... or, at least, not as much as your wife, the
queen. The foundations you lay here can only work
toward the child's assertion toward independence, but
it's not enough to hand them the tools, you have to
allow them the chance to grow without bound. Each and
every human being has the right to make their own
choices, their own decisions. It's certain that you
trust them enough to make decisions on their own, but
still you shield them from possibilities."
"Is that what you fight for?" asked Endymion.
Kanna nodded silently.
The king of the Earth sighed wearily, trying in vain
to gather his thoughts. "Perhaps there was never a
reason to fight to begin with. Our goals are the same,
yours and mine. We seek the betterment of humanity,
but, where you liken Neo Queen Serenity's rule as an
overbearing mother to children, I see it as a protector
of a young race with great potential for good."
"And that's where we disagree, Your Highness,"
Kanna pointed out. "You're directing humankind in one
direction and slapping them on the wrist when they try
to look the other way. You're trying to build some
kind of master race, guiding people on the path you
think is right and desirable. Hitler was trying to do
the same."
"And let me tell you, there's no such thing as a
master race. No matter how well you groom us there's
always a bigger kid in the playground we call the
universe, and if you force everyone to conform to one
set of values you squelch the possibility of another's
outlook saving your skin. Sometimes it is the
differences between people that produce a good outcome
in the end, isn't it, King Endymion?"
"Whether that be a difference of opinion or a
difference of appearance," he said. "People can still
make those choices."
"But it's not enough when you limit the range of
thought, is it?" Kanna shouldered her death scythe
for the first time, and held up both hands, parallel to
each other. "Ideas are confined into a box like this,
and you actively discourage going outside the box. If
it requires the sacrifice of life, of course it has to
be evil. Yet those to be sacrificed sometimes do it
willingly, but those who aid them are condemned for
their heinous acts. If it required the death of three
people to find a cure for cancer, would anyone take it?
No... because three lives is three lives too many."
"No one in their right mind would think to go outside
the box, because Neo Queen Serenity used her Silver
Crystal to scrape it clean from man's soul."
"Humans thrive on imagination, and history has
proven that those who dared to defy the norms are the
ones who define the world today. The Wright Brothers
proved that man could fly. Columbus proved there was
more out there, beyond the vast sea-- the so-called
New World to explore and conquer. Newton's theories
gave way to the rise of modern physics. All of them
were radical for their time, ridiculed for their
outrageous thoughts, and yet their work endures to
this day."
She stared King Endymion straight in the eye. "If
you're telling me that limiting humans is the road to
salvation, then you're dead wrong."
"Then what would you have me do?" asked the king.
The Crystal Spider's lips curved into a sly smile,
and immediately she felt the worry in his eyes, despite
being masked behind a mask.
"You will remove yourself from this chamber, and we
will allow the regional governors to decide who should
rule the Earth... Queen Serenity, or themselves."
"Under the duress of your robotic army, of course."
"Of course not. I plan on leaving for a good twenty-
four hours so they can make their decision, and that's
why you're coming with me."
"So I cannot influence their decision, either?" King
Endymion realized. He held up his cane. "Kanna Rajura
of the Fenril Knights, I challenge you to a duel."
Kanna laughed. "On what grounds?"
"For the safety of the world and its people, I will
not allow you to destroy all that we built!"
She shrugged, pulling her death scythe from over her
shoulder. She flipped a switch on the shaft of the
weapon, realigning the blade into naginata form. "I
see...."
"If you lose, you and your Fenril Knights will
surrender immediately," Endymion said, naming his
terms as he descended to the floor.
"And if you lose, you'll come with me."
Endymion nodded. "Fair enough."
Kanna took the initiative, raising her weapon high
for an overhead slash. Endymion caught the shaft with
his cane, holding it up with one hand at each end. He
forced her back a few steps with surprising force
until Kanna broke off the attack. She spun her
weapon in one hand behind her, holding out her other,
free hand in a 'stop' gesture, seemingly gauging
distance.
The king held back his left arm, holding the end of
the cane, and slid the other end through his raised
index and middle finger, mimicking a sword stance.
Both he and Kanna circled slowly, each gauging the
other, trying to anticipate the other's movement.
This guy's a fool, Kanna thought, her eyes quickly
passing from the masked face to the cane. I've
definitely got the reach advantage, and he knows it.
However, judging from his stance he is preparing for
a high thrust.
She read the intent in his eyes as he attacked.
In a quick sweeping motion Endymion attacked from
below, and Kanna reached down with her outstretched
hand and grabbed the cane. His weight thrown off-
balance, Kanna quickly switched off her hand and
stomped down on the cane with her foot, freeing her
hands to wheel her death scythe around to smack
Endymion across the face with the butt end.
Although hurt from the quick blow Endymion still had
his wits about him, and used the force of both his
hands to bring the cane back off the ground, throwing
Kanna back a couple steps. He raised his right white
glove up to his cheeks, feeling the sting of the blow.
Kanna swept the weapon's blade close toward the
floor, and a white column of ki energy roared to life.
Tearing through the floor, throwing debris everywhere,
the column launched itself toward the king. Endymion
leaped to the right, avoiding the hit, but it collided
with the podium behind him, throwing his honor guard
into the air.
He threw his body into a desperate lunge at Kanna,
reaching his cane out to deflect the death scythe
naginata away from the ground before the Crystal Spider
could create another ki column. Kanna kicked the king
in the face, valuing her distance game, and waited for
Endymion to get back up to his feet.
Although he staggered, Endymion appeared he would not
give up. "Leave the others out of this," he demanded.
She shrugged, holding her weapon back and her free
arm forward. "Suit yourself!"
Holding his cane close to his chest, Endymion
charged.
Obviously to the man's surprise, Kanna was almost
expecting the attack. She quickly dodged the cane,
but at the same time planted her free hand onto the
king's chest. Using his own momentum against him the
Crystal Spider heaved Endymion over her head as she
lifted her arm. In a motion too quick for the gathered
delegations to see Kanna quickly grabbed her death
scythe with both hands, spun in place, and slashed
upward at the flying Endymion, the curved end of the
blade facing upward.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl for Kanna as she
lowered her weapon. Endymion crashed on the ground,
face-first, his cane scattering across the floor.
Trailing his descent was the two halves that was the
remains of the mask he wore.
The audience seemed to hold its breath as they waited
for King Endymion to rise against the foul one, but
Kanna Rajura knew who the victor was. With deliberate
strides she came to his side, kicking him to roll over
onto his back. She shouldered her death scythe, and
picked up the defeated king by the shirt.
Although Endymion was unharmed by the final attack,
it was more than apparent that he was beaten.
"This is why wars aren't settled in one-on-one duels,
King Endymion," she hissed. Kanna turned to address
the rest of the delegates. "As for the rest of you,
you all have twenty-four hours to reach a decision."
One of the two RHEAs approached, producing an hour
glass from a chest compartment. Kanna snatched it with
her free hand, and turned it upside-down. "When the
sands run out, I'll be back."
---
R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"Well, Ms. Mishima," Chief Engineer Dumas reported,
"communications are back online. We can initiate the
satellite link-up at your order."
Ayame nodded, folding her arms. About time something
was going right.
"Punch it," she ordered.
Dumas nodded, initiating the link-up.
And no one was surprised to see that Kanna's mug was
dominating the signal.
---
Internal Security, Crystal Palace
"What's this?" Sailor Mercury said aloud, as she
finally finished repairing the communication system.
"People of Earth," Kanna announced, and judging from
the backdrop she was in Geneva, Mercury guessed. That
already wasn't good news. "Your king has fallen."
---
World Parliament, Geneva
Kanna stood before the communications hub her
machines took over, staring at the camera as she gave
her announcement. This chamber was meant to be used
by the world parliament to address the world on
important matters of the state, and since no one else
was going to be using it for a while, she decided to
take advantage of it.
She allowed the camera a quick side pan toward the
beaten King Endymion. "This man is unharmed, but now,
my fellow people, we are at a crossroads. In twenty-
four hours your world parliament will rend a decision
put forth to them that will decide the fate of Earth
forever. In twenty-four hours, the world will belong
to the people, or to Neo Queen Serenity."
"There has been some misinformation spread about us.
You may know us as the Fenril Knights, a band of
terrorists of the likes of the Black Moon Family. What
I tell you is this: we are human beings. We are not
your enemy, but your brothers and sisters, your sons
and daughters... your fellow human beings. We, too,
share the same basic human rights as you, and it is by
that right we rose up against the dictator known as Neo
Queen Serenity in dispute of her rule. It is our right
as people to decide who governs us."
"In good faith your world parliament is deliberating
even now to decide if we shall be free from one who
oppresses the expression inherent in the human race. I
ask each and every one of you... 'Is this right?' That
is a question each of you must ask yourselves, because
it is you who will decide the outcome of this
conflict."
---
Internal Security, Crystal Palace
Sailor Mercury, with both Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars
hovering over her seat, all stared at the screen until
it blanked out, the world-wide transmission terminated.
Perhaps along with their hopes of a future.
"She could've convinced me," Mars admitted, "but
she's only telling one side of the story."
"In her position, I wouldn't, either," Mercury said.
"I should've seen this," Sailor Moon said, berating
herself verbally. "The Fenril Knights are appealing to
the people as their basis of power."
"What sort of division do you suppose this could
cause around the world?" Mercury wondered.
"It doesn't matter; twenty-four hours is still a long
time," Mars pointed out. "Just because that girl said
they'll wait for a decision doesn't mean we won't get
attacked."
"You're right," Moon knew. "It's not over yet."
---
R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"Kanna, you've really outdone yourself this time,"
Ayame muttered, shaking her head.
She felt the presence of Higure behind her. "Well?
What do you think?"
"If you hope to justify your victory on the basis of
the right of the people, then you are naive," the old
man replied. "Neo Queen Serenity will likely be
unwilling to give up even if Kanna has her husband in
her hands."
"So they're going to fight anyway," the leader said.
"It looks like we may have to deploy the Dead End
Buster after all."
"Much of the equipment has been set-up already,"
Dumas informed her. "All we need to do now is get the
buster itself into position."
"Get Ranma and Mousse ready anyway," Ayame ordered.
"If the Sailor Senshi are on to us, we'll need their
help. In twenty-four hours, this war will be over...
one way or another."
---
World Parliament, Geneva
Kanna glanced down at King Endymion, quite
disappointed in the monarch.
"Your plan will never succeed," he muttered.
"It doesn't have to," Kanna assured him. "Even if I
don't get my way I've bought more than enough time for
my comrades to finish Neo Queen Serenity."
She turned to look over her shoulder, where a third,
dark form appeared. "I trust you're satisfied,
Wiseman?"
Wiseman's robed form levitated in the air behind the
Crystal Spider, and the old man waved his shimmering
hand over his crystal ball. The scene of the
unprotected Crystal Palace appeared within. "The
cycle of good and evil is about to draw to a close."
"As it should be," Kanna replied. It took a great
deal of time to work in Wiseman's plans into her own
without making Ayame suspicious. While her plan to
secure Ami Mizuno's body failed, at least Wiseman still
had Taydome's body to work with. One brilliant mind
was as good as another to the one born of Chaos.
"And yet the close of one era is the beginning of a
new," she continued. "Perhaps the gods will forgive us
when the Mekani arrive... and Earth can finally work
toward our most basic, common goal: survival."
---
Interview 5
"Time travel's such an ugly concept."
"We didn't find out until much, much later that it
was possible for the Sailor Senshi to manipulate time.
In fact, it was the dominion of one Sailor Pluto, who,
as far as we could tell, was dead because she violated
some fundamental law of time, a force definitely far
beyond human comprehension."
"So what could stop us from undoing our past?"
"A lot, actually. According to Hokuto time has a
very high resistance to change once its course is
set; you have to overcome that incredible resistance
in order to change the flow of time. It's almost like
an electrical circuit in that respect, where a high-
rated resistor can drop lots and lots of voltage, and
it takes a lot of voltage to even get a decent current
through it. Sure, a miniscule amount gets through it
if you try, but it's usually so negligible that the
effects aren't entirely noticeable."
"For instance, let's say you wanted to stop the
Black Moon invasion. That's almost what happened in
Neo Queen Serenity's case, when her past self was
brought to this time. Anyway, she went back home,
armed with the knowledge that somehow, sometime, her
subjects would stage an uprising, and she would be
forced to exile them 'humanely' to Nemesis."
"Okay, you don't have exact circumstance... you never
can, really; it's usually something vastly different
than what you thought it was. But you try to stop it
anyway. You think you can change the hearts of the
people and they would accept it. They'll accept it
out of gratitude and a hope for a brighter future,
where all the birds and bunnies are playing in the
fields... yadda, yadda, yadda. Problem is, you can't
predict everything, and there's always a rotten apple
somewhere. Lots of rotten apples, in this case."
"Blah, blah, blah, she couldn't prevent it. See
what I mean? The effects of her attempt to avert the
disaster are so barely noticeable that they may as well
not have been done at all. Heck, I'm not even sure
what she tried to do differently; I don't have the
benefit of knowing how things went before, and Neo
Queen Serenity probably doesn't know for sure, either."
"The other reason you don't change time is because,
when you change your past, you also lose your
experiences in that timeline. I think humans learn
better from their mistakes... I think. It helps
prevent them from making the same mistake later on. So
maybe the catastrophic annihilation of the kami was a
terrible event... but at least Neo Queen Serenity is
wiser because of it. After all, you just can't forget
that you slaughtered billions of lives; you can only
hope you never do it again."
"If we changed the past to avert the uprising, then
I don't think I'd be talking about this now. I
wouldn't remember anything that's happened, and that's
simply too important to me. I treasure and value my
memories."
"On the other hand, what would this world be like
WITH the kami still around? That's the trade-off."
"It drives me nuts to think of time travel; don't
ever mention it again. However, if there's one thing
to learn from all this, it's that events in time are
created as we live them; THAT is what we can change
because it hasn't happened yet. Time moves forward,
and so do we."
---
Council Chamber, Palace of Solitude
Ukyo suppressed her surprise when Sypha and Cinder
entered with Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune as she
sat back in the tall chair at the end of the table.
The two Sailor Senshi were devoid of any shackle
whatsoever, as Sypha saw to it that the two would not
be able to try anything rash. The okonomiyaki chef
knew it had nothing to do with the two kami, but for
the reason the senshi held their hands out in front of
them: both their index fingers were stuck in an old-
fashioned Chinese finger trap.
Other than the utterly ridiculous measure, Ukyo
couldn't believe Sypha would listen to her.
As the two Sailor Senshi were seated across the
table, Ukyo cleared her throat. She realized it was
pretty far down the table, and both Cinder and Sypha
were making no moves to take seats of their own, as if
waiting for something.
"Well... I thank you for joining us," she began
awkwardly.
"As if you gave us a choice," muttered Uranus.
Sypha raised her claw to pound on the insolent
senshi, but Ukyo waved her away with her hand. "Well,
geez, I think you decided. Why else would you come
and attack the city I'm supposed to protect?"
She knew the truth of the matter, but Ukyo wanted to
see how the two Sailor Senshi would react to that. To
her disappointment neither one budged or cracked in
their composure or expression.
Ukyo sighed. "Well, that's neither here nor there.
What I'd like to discuss is the Mekani."
Neither Uranus nor Neptune made a move to reply.
"The only thing we know for certain is that they're
coming. What I want to know is when they'll arrive,
and in what number. Then I want to know our chances,
given our current information."
"They will arrive in five weeks," Cinder said,
speaking up. "This is considering they have no
incentive to speed-up their travel plans. We have no
estimate on the scout party's numbers, but if they
decide to speed-up their timetable I estimate their
force will decrease by twenty-percent, judging from
what we know of the Timeless Ones."
"They're willing to sacrifice some of their kind to
get here," Sypha added, "but not so much that they
can't beat whatever is at their destination. If they
decide to make haste they can be on us in three days
with the bulk of their warriors, leaving their factory
satellites, a light guard, and workers behind to
catch-up later. The factory satellites are the key to
their expansion."
"Okay," Ukyo said, taking it all in. "So there's
another variable. Given we really don't have anything
around here to beat them up with, our chances go from
slim to none."
"The Silver Crystal," Uranus spoke up. "It can
potentially wipe out the invasion party."
"That's nice, but we don't have it," Ukyo replied.
"If you let us go, then we can warn the queen and
use it," Neptune added.
"And what makes you think she doesn't already know
about it?" asked Sypha.
"Yeah, we're still sitting here," the okonomiyaki
chef agreed. "Your queen is holding back her secret
weapon to use against the Mekani. If she were ignorant
of that she could've wiped us out a while ago."
"Then you don't know Neo Queen Serenity that well,"
Uranus replied evenly.
"Given the situation, and judging from your lack of
cooperation," Ukyo stated, propping her feet up on the
table as she leaned back, "I'd rather take the five
weeks and try to come up with a good weapon. By then
I think our people can beat your despotic queen, too."
"If you want us to cooperate, you'd better tell us
what you want; I don't read minds."
Ukyo sat up, leaning forward in her seat. "What I
want out of you two is to surrender. I know my side
won't surrender, and I'm doubting your side would,
either... but the fact of the matter is, if we don't
get on the same side somehow, the Mekani will gut us
alive."
"Why not forge an alliance?" asked Neptune.
"Don't you get it? We're enemies. We don't like
you people, and we're too proud to even ask you for
help."
"Aren't you asking for that help now?"
"I'm asking for cooperation."
Uranus snorted. "You're so reasonable."
"I'm not the prisoner," Ukyo pointed out. "If you
value your queen and your freedom, you'd better
surrender. Or maybe you value your lives; I'm sure
Sypha can find a way to take the sword and mirror from
you two. We like sacred treasures."
Neither Sailor Senshi said a word, opting to remain
silent. Sypha, for her part, seemed rather eager to
carry out that order.
"They can't be used by an evil force like yours,"
Neptune informed her. "They're useless without us."
"We're not interested," Cinder said, fuming under
his hood. "The power is enticing, however."
"Are you two jackasses so stubborn that you'd rather
die than join forces?" asked Ukyo angrily. "Are you
people such pig-headed jerks that you can't accept us
for who and what we are? You and your queen never gave
us a chance from day one, branding us as outlaws the
moment one of us loses her temper. Your thought
police that defends Crystal Tokyo hunts us down because
we're different from the rest of your carbon-copy
cattle-people. I was just working, and I STILL got
attacked, because my friend was there. Have you
people no shame?"
"Anything you people come up with is fraught with
treachery," Uranus spat.
The movement was too fast for the okonomiyaki chef
to see, but Uranus somehow managed to kick her chair
back into Sypha, and Neptune did the same with Cinder.
A bright flash blinded her for a second, and Ukyo saw
a sword appear, and slice through the finger trap
holding Uranus's fingers together. She grabbed the
sword with her now-free hand and freed Neptune in the
same manner, just as the two kami were recovering.
"Deep Submerge!" Neptune shouted, unleashing a
magical torrent of water in Cinder's direction.
For his part the cloaked salamander stood his
ground, raising his heavy sleeve up to shield his
face. As the torrent passed the salamander remained
standing, apparently unharmed. Cinder threw down his
arm, jetting out steam from his flame-thrower.
Uranus busied herself parrying an overhead blow from
Sypha's claw, then retreated and jumped over the claw
on the sorcerer's other arm. The sword began to glow
in her hand.
"Space Sword Blaster!"
Ukyo shielded her eyes as the attack impacted
against Sypha, but the light was not due to the
kami's death, but from the energy shield
surrounding her. At that moment Cinder decided to
change partners and slashed at Uranus, keeping her
from pursuing her attack further.
And somehow the chef was lucky enough to be the next
of Neptune's targets.
"Don't think I'm so out of shape," Ukyo warned, just
as another torrent appeared, threatening to wash her
out of her seat. Instead, the chef was ready for it,
and leaped straight up into the air, reaching for her
throwing spatulas. Taking aim, she threw, and the
darts would have hit their mark had Neptune not been
paying attention.
Sypha chose that moment to butt-in, as her claws
raked from behind. Neptune dodged to the side,
spinning around as she went to face her new opponent.
Ukyo watched as the two kami expertly attacked their
enemy, forcing the two Sailor Senshi to put their backs
together. Both senshi glanced at each other, and
suddenly the mirror appeared in Neptune's arms. She
shielded her eyes as the mirror unleashed a bright
flash of light, blinding her eyes.
She heard Uranus shout, "World Shaking," which was
followed by an explosion. A draft filled the chamber,
and Ukyo knew they were attempting to escape during the
flash.
As her eyes adjusted back to normal, Ukyo saw that
both Sypha and Cinder remained standing in the same
places as before. The flash was like a tick to
Cinder, thanks to his mechanical eye's filters, and
Sypha was likewise unhampered by the light, yet neither
decided to give chase.
Just as planned.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked
Sypha, eyeing Ukyo suspiciously.
"Taking them out would have been too easy," Cinder
added.
"If you thought of a better way than torturing them
to death, then I would've listened," Ukyo said,
turning her back to the two kami. "Face it, no matter
how you look at it they'll be suspicious; the best way
is to stage their escape. We can't just simply 'let
them go;' we'd look like fools."
She didn't feel the presence of either kami behind
her back, which was still a good sign. At least they
were still going along with her idea, even if it did
seem stupid in its execution stage. At least the seed
was planted; all they had to do now was wait for it to
sprout.
No, she didn't know Neo Queen Serenity at all, but
she hoped the queen was a lot more willing to listen to
her message than her outer-planet soldiers were. The
fighting had to end, but the queen had to make the
next step. It was only a matter of time before her two
messenger-girls arrived on Earth, and Ukyo somehow
knew that tipping-off the Mekani was a worthy price.
She would rather face just the warriors than the
warriors backed-up with the satellites that produced
even more warriors, whichever way Neo Queen Serenity
went.
Everyone would lose when they arrived if no one was
prepared to unite against the mechanical plague.
---
Interview 6
"It's one thing to fight for what you believe in,
and another to fight for what you think is right."
"Strange, isn't it? To some people they essentially
mean the same thing, but what you believe isn't
necessarily what you think is right. What I mean by
this: my fighting against the crystal Earth. I
thought myself kind of lost, and I believed that the
Sailor Senshi held the answer to my burning questions.
I fought them because I thought they were responsible
for what happened. I fought them because I believed
they were the enemy."
"But here's where it conflicts with what I think is
right. If I fought for what was right, I would've
sided with the Sailor Senshi. What is right is to
fight for the people, and by fighting against the
defenders of the people I was fighting against the
people. It's a strange, ambiguous moral dilemma, and
you know very well which choice I stuck with."
"I don't regret my choice... not one bit. If we all
took the time to ponder what might have been instead of
what we can do to avoid it later then the human race
should have died out a long time ago."
---
Shizuka Minazuki emerged from her quarters, shotgun
slung over her shoulder, and her twin, snake-headed
swords sheathed at her left.
"Now," she muttered to herself, "it's time to end
this once and for all, Neo Queen Serenity."
----------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes
Stay tuned for more.
--Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOhotmailSPAM.com)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/index.html
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