Souls of Fire #10: Sovereign of Silence
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.
----------------------------------------------------
R&D Armory, Mishima Heavy Industries
Mousse folded his arms as he leaned back against
the wall closest to the door, watching as Shizuka
raided the weapons cache as if the end of the world was
coming. He watched her snap on an arm-mounted dual
bolt launcher on each arm, then throw on a bandoleer of
shotgun bullets over each arm. She then grabbed a
medium-length harpoon and slung that over her shoulder
as well.
"Don't you think you're overdoing it?" the weapons
master said at last.
"The Sailor Senshi will pay for what they did to
Shion," Shizuka hissed, barely paying attention to what
Mousse said. "I'll be a good scout and be prepared,
right?"
"There's also such thing as being over-prepared, you
know," Mousse pointed out. "I don't think you can
carry all that."
The priestess of Genbu spun around quickly, grinding
her teeth. "Don't be ridiculous!"
He shook his head, as the sudden shift in her weight
caused the girl to fall onto her back. "If I were you
I'd ditch just about all of that and go with what
you're used to using."
Unloading most of her acquired weaponry and quickly
getting back to her feet, Shizuka reached into the pile
of equipment at her feet and struggled to lift a mini
gun. "But you don't know how powerful this makes me
feel!"
"If you can't lift it what makes you think you can
fire it?"
Frustrated, Shizuka dropped the mini gun, on her
foot. Mousse winced as the priestess jumped around in
pain, yelling and cursing as she went. He shook his
head. "It's a wonder you're still alive."
"Hey, I didn't get this far just so I get killed on
stupidity," Shizuka shot back, rubbing her foot.
"Neither did I," Mousse agreed. "But you couldn't
possibly need that many weapons."
"How do you know?"
He gave her a blank stare.
"Oh, right...." Shizuka's expression made her look
completely clueless.
The Master of Hidden Weapons shook his head, laughing
to himself. "You never change, do you? Even after all
that happened you're still the same."
"Yeah," she replied. "Sucks to be constant in an
ever-changing world, eh?"
Mousse struggled to stifle his laugher. "Just don't
change, okay? It's good to see something familiar in
this bizarre world."
"'Bizarre' would hardly describe it," the priestess
pointed out. "In this insane world we're the only sane
people left."
---
R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"All functions have been transferred," Dumas informed
Ayame. "Every function handled by the original C.C.
will now work here."
"That's good to hear," Ayame said. Forcing the
technicians to work without sleep was a terrible idea,
but it has been eight hours since Kanna made her
world broadcast, and everyone was too on-the-edge to
get some sleep. There was still a good sixteen hours
before the final decision would come in, and it would
take just as long for the Dead End Buster to be
finished in setting-up.
When Higure informed her that Ranma brought in his
girl Ayame hardly gave it a second thought; there was
better things to occupy her mind with than one guy's
personal desires. This girl, Akane, appeared harmless
enough, but then, so did Mizuno.
On the other hand, the Sailor Senshi couldn't be dumb
enough to pull the same trick again, she decided.
Both sides had sixteen hours to finish up their final
battle, and then the world parliament would decide
their fates. However, it wouldn't be over until the
battle ran its course, no matter which way the decision
went, as both sides wished to resolve their differences
once and for all.
Even without her robot army, which was spread all
across the world at key locations, Ayame knew she would
win.
One of the monitors flickered to life, as there was
no main viewscreen as in the other chamber. Kanna's
image appeared. "Ayame," she said in greeting.
"Yes?" There was no time for pleasantries.
"Do you want me to come back?" she asked hopefully.
"I made sure King Endymion is going nowhere." The
camera panned to the side, revealing the captured king
tied, bound, and gagged on the back of one of the
aerial CRONOS units, with two of the king's assistants
looking on, horrified.
"Do as you wish," Ayame replied, knowing she didn't
have a choice in the matter anyway. "As you said, the
king isn't going anywhere."
Her face all smiles, Kanna's transmission ended, and
soon the master tactician appeared before her leader,
using the power of her black crystal shard.
"Do you have any idea how the parliament will go?"
asked Ayame, curiosity overcoming her.
To her disappointment the Crystal Spider shook her
head. "Honestly, I don't know if my speech was
riveting enough. Looking back at it I think I made a
couple mistakes...."
"Can't do anything to help it now," the leader
decided. "In sixteen hours, we'll know, but in the
meantime, we fight."
---
Training Hall, Mishima Heavy Industries
"Look at this, Akane," Ranma stated, holding his
black crystal necklace in his left hand. Standing in
the middle of the empty room he glanced at Akane, who
stood with her back against one wall. "With this thing
I've managed to control the air a bit."
"Your Hiryu Shoten Ha attack," Akane knew, "relies on
a clash of temperatures to create a whirlwind blast.
Is that how you're doing it?"
He nodded. "It's kinda like how it was when I was
fighting Saffron that time... just heat up the air
around me so it doesn't depend on the opponent anymore.
I think I can also use it to cool my body temperature
more, and the blast will be much more fine."
"But you haven't thrown anything that lasted much
longer than five seconds, from what I've seen," Akane
pointed out. "Even if you didn't have total control
at the time... what makes you think you can maintain
a blast?"
"I'm not sure I want anything to last longer than
five seconds anyway," Ranma replied, shrugging. "I
don't think I could concentrate long enough to keep
the spiral going, so quick blasts will have to do.
Combined with my speed I think it'll more than make up
for that problem."
Akane shook her head. "Always the same Ranma," she
muttered to herself. "Won't there ever be time for
ourselves?"
"Did you say something?" asked the martial artist,
obviously unaware.
"Nothing," she answered quickly, slightly
disappointed. It's the same Ranma, all right; his love
for the art was unmistakable.
And then she wondered how long it has been since she,
too, threw a punch in combat. It seemed like an entire
lifetime ago, and watching Ranma theorize on how he
can use the black crystal stirred old feelings in
Akane's mind.
Exercising every day simply wasn't enough, she
knew. She was missing the old feeling of fighting
against the odds for the one she loved, and somehow
Sypha Blade offered her a chance to rekindle it, even
if it was never the sorcerer's intention. Whether it
was stopping Ranma from killing Sailor Moon or blowing
up the Mekani device before it annihilated the Crystal
Palace, Akane felt good about accomplishing something.
Fighting in of itself was not evil, she realized,
but what sets us and the Sailor Senshi apart is why we
fight.
---
Internal Security, Crystal Palace
Sleep would not come to those residing in the Crystal
Palace, and for the past eight hours the technicians
and specialists worked straight with the threat of
total annihilation hanging over their head. Sailor
Mercury typed away on her palm computer, using it as a
substitute for the main computer's functions, ever
since the EMP shockwave hit the city.
The number one priority, Sailor Moon said, was to get
the shield generator program back up and running
before the Fenril Knights decided to launch their
inevitable final attack. Pressure mounted as Mercury
continued to reroute and simulate the main computer's
functions, but her computer could only do so much; it
couldn't hope to match the main's processing power.
While there was no difficulty in rerouting functions
there was the problem with getting the palm computer
to actually run the frequency modulation program,
which was forcing Mercury to over-clock her computer.
The palm computer was attached to a number of heat
sinks and spare memory drives, and even Mercury knew
this makeshift main would never hold for more than a
day, much less sixteen hours.
All they had to do was keep it running for sixteen
hours, Mars pointed out earlier. Easier said than
done.
Mercury paused in her programming, wiping her
forehead and sighing wearily. The closest technician
stopped to ask if he should take over, but she
declined the offer, knowing that she was the only one
who could fix the system quick enough. After all, she
was the one who designed it in the first place.
"And even then," she muttered to herself, "we never
thought all the scenarios through. Perhaps we need to
schedule an attack on the city every time we change the
defenses," she added jokingly, although Mercury found
no humor in it.
The Fenril hacker-mercenary, Shion, managed to break
through Internal Security's barriers easily without
breaking a sweat, and in under five minutes, no
less, judging from the time his electronic probing
started to when he started taking down systems. Sailor
Mercury wished she had his help, but wishing wouldn't
salvage his mind out of the shockwave sent into his
brain. In the brief microseconds before she was
utterly consumed by the electronic-disrupting wave she
knew it would be enough to shut his brain functions
down, and if he wasn't dead already he wouldn't be
coming around anytime soon.
It seemed that whenever the enemy could become a
potential ally, they had the terrible habit of dying
soon thereafter. The thought irked Mercury, and she
shook the idea from her head.
That's just ridiculous, she decided.
And yet somewhere in Mercury's mind she heard herself
saying, "But it fits."
Sailor Moon mentioned that Miranda Kusao suddenly
appeared and actually defended her from Pantyhose Taro,
but paid with her heart crystal. Shion, too, was
willing to listen, and he was taken out by an unknown
force. Shizuka, even though she refused to see
eye-to-eye, sacrificed herself to contain Deathclaw,
as the others said. Last Mercury knew Shizuka was
still in a coma, and she'd likely stay that way until
Deathclaw could be destroyed... if he can be, that is.
Mercury sighed again, knowing that she spent enough
time taking a break. Stretching her arms out and
flexing her fingers, she resumed with the task at hand.
---
Crystal Garden, Crystal Palace
The surroundings were not as familiar as the
interior of the Hikawa shrine, but to Sailor Mars it
would have to do, considering no one was allowed to
leave the palace walls with the threat of attack
impending.
She sat in a relaxed, meditative position in the
midst of the lush, green grass, with only the sound of
a running stream being the only noise in the enclosed
garden. While the others busied themselves preparing
the defenses in their own way, it left Sailor Mars with
absolutely nothing to do that was immediately
apparent.
What she needed now was a focus.
She thought about lighting up a fire and divining
an answer to their problems, but Mars shook her head,
knowing that no real answer would come of it. The
Fenril Knights surely suffered great losses to their
numbers, and despite the threat of their own
destruction they keep on fighting. Mars knew that she
and her friends felt the exact same way.
What they needed was a way to resolve their
differences, because it was clear that the Sailor
Senshi and the Fenril Knights were fighting for the
exact same thing, when all the superfluous barriers
were torn away.
More people would die, and there would be more
suffering, that was certain.
Mars peered at the stream before her, and her mind
flashed briefly back to the shadow stream, the dark
substance superimposing over the clear water. She
remembered the coldness of shadow, the existence of
that between the darkness and light, existing in full
in neither of their entireties. Despite that, the
stream was cold, dark, black, and utterly devoid of
the light.
On the other hand, shadow was very commonly
associated with darkness, even though it was not
quite the same. This was the only way she knew Hokuto
of the Shadow Weavers was wrong, as the shadow was
predisposed toward the darkness. Both are defined by
the light around it.
It was unavoidable that the darkness should seek out
the light, Sailor Moon once said, as they wish to
grasp that which they cannot touch. It was a tragic
life, but Mars had no sympathy for those who would
ruin the lives of others to gain the unattainable.
On the other hand, there were those from the light
that embraced the darkness, such as the Fenril Knights.
Some of them, particularly Shizuka, refused to believe
that mankind was inherently aligned to the light. At
least they recognized what they were doing, and acted
accordingly; Mars came to realize the Fenril Knights
went out of their way to remove the non-combatants from
ground zero, something which many other opponents had
little care to do.
They still clung to their humanity, therefore it
was a matter of luck and skill to sway them away from
the darkness.
---
Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace
Sailor Moon cut off the communications channel with
Luna and Artemis, who explained in detail what
transpired in Geneva, and the current state in which
King Endymion was being held hostage.
Hundreds of Mishima robots, emerging from hidden
factories in key locations around the world, took over
many large cities and focal points in every continent
in teams of threes, each bearing a large chunk of the
Black Crystal, which surely indicated that Death
Phantom managed to scrounge much power for his dark
artifact since their last meeting. There were too many
chunks to count, and Luna wasn't sure why the Fenril
Knights would spend their resources on such a venture,
but Sailor Moon had a good idea what they were up to.
The Fenril Knights were using the crystal chunks to
gather energy in localized areas, that much was
certain, but what they were planning to use it for she
did not know. The Black Crystal, by its very nature,
absorbs power in order to grow.
She wanted to ignore her own plight and flee to
Geneva to rescue her husband, but another part of her
refused to abandon her friends and subjects to the
Fenril Knights. Many times enemies thought they could
use her feelings toward Endymion against her, but
Sailor Moon proved time and again that it would only
strengthen her resolve.
The war never should have happened, but it was too
late to think along those lines now.
She glanced at the nearby wall clock, and saw that
eight hours passed since Kanna Rajura forced her demand
on the world parliament. In sixteen hours her
subjects would decide the future of the world, but if
Sailor Moon knew the Fenril Knights they would only use
that as an excuse to wipe her off the map, as they
intended all along. Giving themselves a time limit
only meant they found an edge-- one which had yet to
make itself apparent.
Leaving her thoughts of Endymion behind, Sailor Moon
turned and walked out the door, knowing that the battle
was about to begin.
---
Indeed, her feeling was correct.
Arrayed in a row atop a skyscraper overlooking the
Crystal Palace was the remaining Fenril Knight
warriors. Kanna stood out in center, her left foot
propped up on the knee-high railing, staring down at
the assembling force of Mishima robots, all pulled from
staging locations outside Crystal Tokyo.
To her right was Ranma and Akane, the latter who
chose to ditch her silly tuxedo costume for something
more practical-- that is, borrowed clothes out of
Shampoo's belongings. Kanna had no opinion about
Ranma's girl, even if it seemed she popped up out of
nowhere, but Wiseman assured her that she would not
act against them.
On her left stood Shizuka, then Mousse. While
Shizuka ditched most of the weaponry she raided from
the armory she still kept the wrist-mounted bolt
launchers for good measure. On the other hand, if one
looked toward Mousse she would understand where the
rest of the weapons had gone, as he looked far more the
walking armory this time around. He slowly unloaded
his burden on the ground, setting a grenade launcher
here, and a tripod for the mini gun there. Kanna had
no doubt that Shizuka planned on using all of it...
eventually.
Kanna produced a remote control device, this one
a rectangle of a box, with several knobs and buttons
arrayed across the top, serving as a master control of
the Mishima robots amassing below. She glanced back
at the Crystal Palace, knowing that the energy shield
was still quite down.
There was no better time to attack than now.
"Gentlemen," she announced, holding out the remote
control, her thumb over one button, "this is your
wake-up call!"
---
"I've got it!" Sailor Mercury cried enthusiastically,
just as Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars entered the
security office.
Without hesitating, she powered on her new program.
---
Kanna narrowed her eyes in disbelief, and she heard
Shizuka shout out a profanity, as the energy blasts
from the Mishima army washed over the now-erect energy
barrier around the Crystal Palace.
"Not again," groaned Mousse.
"Now what?" complained Ranma, irritated.
"We don't have time for this," Shizuka agreed,
looking toward Kanna expectantly.
She nodded, keying several buttons on the remote
control. "Fine, Sailor Senshi, you wanna play this
game? Issuing general command order: Omega Strike!"
At a single command of a button the entirety of the
gathered Mishima robot army rolled forward at an
accelerated pace. One after another the robots
slammed into the energy shield, each hit causing a
massive wash of an energy ripple across the dome, each
vaporizing the offending machine. One after another
the robots plowed kamikaze-style into the offending
barrier.
---
"What are they doing?!" Mars shouted, aghast that
the enemy would throw away their army in such a
manner.
The main viewscreen generated the situation
perfectly, however, and soon the energy shield
shattered into nothingness. Flaming debris lined like
a wall where the energy barrier's border once stood,
and the remaining Mishima robots plowed through.
Mercury's computer flickered one, and died in front
of her. "They've exhausted the last of our energy
reserves in the emergency generators." She glanced
back over her seat to the others, worry in her eyes.
"They still have enough robots to level this place."
"Looks like we're going out," Sailor Moon decided,
sighing wearily.
---
In no less than thirty seconds the five Fenril
watched as Sailor Moon, Mars, and Mercury emerged from
the bowels of their palace and proceeded to spread out
and demolish the remaining, twenty-or-so robots.
Kanna folded her arms, staring down at the enemy in
amusement, then played around with her necklace in
anticipation.
"Fire, water, storm, and ice," she muttered. "Look
at them, at how they cannot possibly win without their
magic to back them."
"Then you find a way around it," Shizuka voiced as
she stood behind the turreted mini gun Mousse finished
setting-up. The tactician noticed the priestess was
aiming her sights at Sailor Mars.
"So which one do you want?" Kanna asked the others,
although she had an idea what each of them wanted
already.
"I call dibs on Sailor Moon," Ranma said quickly,
raising his hand.
"Mercury's mine, then," Kanna decided. She eyed
Akane, raising an eyebrow when she noted her long
face. "What, you wanted her?"
"It's not that," Akane replied, shaking her head.
"It's just... it's not necessary to fight."
"If we don't fight," the Crystal Spider countered,
"I can assure you that the war will go on, no matter
what decision the world parliament comes up with. This
is our last battle; we have issues to resolve with one
another. This battle is necessary because we haven't
settled our personal differences yet."
"And what do you expect out of me?" Mousse said,
complaining. "There aren't enough of them to fight."
"Hey, you didn't call," Ranma pointed out, shrugging.
"Bee-ess!" Shizuka shouted, unleashing her hail of
bullets toward the enemy below.
"You can have what's left when Shizuka's run out of
ammo," Kanna told the Master of Hidden Weapons,
smirking as Mousse groaned in irritation.
---
As Sailor Mars ran for cover from the hail of
bullets Sailor Mercury cast her eyes about, looking for
the source of the attack. She tapped a hidden button
behind her ear, turning on her visor. She scanned
upward, and magnified the source.
"Fenril Knights," she informed Sailor Moon, raising
her arm. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
Her arrow of purity fired off into the air, sailing
with the precision of Mercury's visor. Switching it
off she didn't need it to see that the attack hit its
mark, creating an explosion at Shizuka's mini gun.
She felt the wind shift behind her and ducked just as
Kanna swung her scythe across, nearly slicing Mercury's
head off. Mercury spun about with her leg extended in
order to sweep, but Kanna hopped over it in time, then
jumped back for distance.
"At least you'll be more of a challenge than your
king," Kanna snorted.
---
Sailor Moon faced-off against Ranma, who stood
beside another girl she didn't recognize. They
exchanged quick, silent words, and the girl rushed off
for safety as the martial artist clutched his necklace
in readiness.
"Why must we fight?" she asked, even though she knew
the answer. There was no harm in trying to reason with
him.
"Because I don't like living in the same world as a
parasite like you," Ranma shot back in a low tone. "I
saw what you did, and you're only hungry for more
souls."
"What are you talking about?"
The black crystal glowed in Ranma's hand, and Sailor
Moon knew this battle would be different from the last.
There would be no escapes, no primal instincts, and no
second chances; this was all or nothing.
Ranma held his free fist back. "You beat me once
before, but you weren't fighting Ranma Saotome. I'm
Ranma Saotome, and I accept your challenge!"
---
Sailor Mars's eyes watched as Shizuka calmly drew
both her swords, holding each of the viper-pommel
weapons underhanded. Mousse stood behind her with his
arms folded in his sleeves, having salvaged what he
could of his mobile armory with numerous guns slung
over his shoulders.
"Long time no see," the priestess of Genbu said,
her eyes to the ground. She waved her arms back,
deftly avoiding cutting herself with the blades.
"Is this a double team, or are you fighting me
yourself?" asked Mars, nudging her head toward Mousse.
"Oh, I assure you, it's one-on-one," Shizuka replied
lowly, slowly raising her eyes to meet her nemesis.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
Mars gasped, as when Shizuka's mouth opened next the
voice was not only her own, but that of the ghost
dragon Deathclaw. Speaking at once, they said, "In
this case, you can never win."
"Deathclaw," the soldier of fire muttered. "Let
Shizuka go!"
Shizuka/Deathclaw laughed, as if amused by Mars's
plea. "You don't get it, do you, prostitute? We are
not merely host and parasite, but symbiotes. We draw
power from each other, and not from a mystic weave as
you do. This time, it will be you who will be
punished."
"It doesn't have to be this way!"
"Why not?" This time it was Shizuka alone who
spoke. "You and your friends took away everything that
was important to me."
"We found your family!" Mars continued. "It wasn't
hard finding them in the records. Your parents are
still alive, and so are your brother and sisters. You
have a family to go back to."
"How little you know," Shizuka said, shaking her
head. "You know I was given to the Shrine of the Four
Gods to be trained as a priestess when I was four, but
you don't know why. You fool, you think that I
consider them my family?"
"What are you saying?" wondered Mars, realizing that
the news was producing the wrong reaction.
"I am the eldest child of that Minazuki family," she
explained darkly. "As the eldest child and eldest
daughter I could not carry the family name. In
consolation my parents decided they would groom me to
become a bride... but somewhere on the way they made
two important discoveries. One, my mother was to bear
my younger brother. Two, they discovered that I could
not bear children myself, which made me the most
ineligible bride."
Sailor Mars shook her head, wishing what Shizuka was
saying was untrue. It was too incredible.
"They couldn't bear to kill me and legitimize their
heir as the eldest child, so they 'mercifully' sent me
to become the most useless occupation ever, and one
which guaranteed I would never bear the shame of being
without children. To my younger brother and sisters,
I'm dead and don't exist. MAYBE my brother remembers
me, but I wouldn't count on that... but really, they're
no family of mine. My family is already dead."
"I remember their names and faces, but I could never
see them again. The only ones I had left were Shion,
Hokuto, and Mira, and you took them all away from
me. I'm the last one, and after that nobody will ever
know what you did to me."
"I don't have the talent like Ranma does," she
continued, "nor do I have Shion's intelligence. I'm
not powerful like Hokuto, or charismatic like Ayame, or
gifted as Ukyo, or dedicated as Shampoo. I'm not
strong like Mousse, or as fast as Tatewaki, or as agile
as Kodachi. Nor do I have Mira's tenacity or Sypha's
conviction, or Higure's experience, or Cinder's
code of honor. I'm not cunning like Kanna, sneaky as
Taro, or charming as Ryoga. I'm just Shizuka Minazuki,
and I know the truth."
"The truth is the most powerful weapon of all," she
added, raising her bladess before her. Lowering her
head, Shizuka yelled out a battle cry and charged.
Hastily, Mars threw a fireball at the charging
priestess, but she ran through it as if it were never
there. She ducked under the first overhead swipe,
then tucked and rolled to the right before the second
could cleave her from the other side. She quickly got
back to her feet, and immediately flipped backward as
Shizuka took another wild swing with her left arm.
"I am dead!" the priestess declared, "and I march
into battle to get my life back!!"
Her fighting style is unorthodoxed, Mars noted. The
way she holds them, and the way she swings them, is
like an extension of her arms. Or rather, as if her
arms were the blades themselves. Reach definitely
isn't a factor here, as the swords were only a bit
longer than the length of her arms.
Shizuka seemed to catch on to Mars's thoughts, and
quickly sheathed her right blade. She rolled her
left sleeve back quickly, revealing an arm-mounted
bolt projector, and Mars knew it was time to start
running.
High-velocity bolts rained behind her, embedding
themselves in the palace's crystal wall or corpses of
the Mishima machines, with Shizuka madly firing in her
enemy's general direction and trailing. The bolts
launched in pairs, but in the speed of a machine gun,
and it was all for Mars to hope that the device would
run out of ammo soon from the way Shizuka was wasting
the bolts.
Either her own thoughts came true or Shizuka decided
to switch tactics-- Mars hid behind one of the robot
corpses as Shizuka pulled her right sword out again,
and ran in her direction. Shizuka leaped into the air,
intending to dive with her blades downward, but Mars
was paying too close attention to the attack to get
hit, and easily dodged. She threw a high kick toward
the priestess's head before she could recover but
Shizuka ducked lower to the ground instead of standing
instinctively. Mars hopped over a quick slash at her
feet, and sought higher ground on top of the corpse.
Turning around quickly she summoned her flame. "Fire
Soul!!" she cried, unleashing a bolt of her own.
Shizuka turned over onto her back while lying on the
ground, and kicked herself off the corpse and away
from the fire attack. Quickly getting back to her
feet the priestess quickly planted her swords into the
ground and threw back her left sleeve to fire more
bolts. Mars dropped down behind the robot corpse as
the bolts flew over her head, but this time there was a
telltale clicking in Shizuka's weapon.
"Out of ammo," Mars realized.
Risking a glance Mars looked over the corpse and saw
Shizuka discarding the arm weapon. Instead of
immediately picking up her swords again she threw back
her right sleeve, revealing a second bolt projector.
"Always carry a spare!" Shizuka cried, showering the
area with more bolts.
---
Kanna thrust her naginata-style death scythe three
times in Mercury's direction, each missing but coming
in a hairline's width of connecting. Despite avoiding
the actual blows Mercury felt the slice of air slash
at her, and her new scars were proof of it.
"You're too weak to fight," Kanna hissed, drawing
her weapon back. "You can barely keep up with me as
is! Give up before you lose your life."
This time Mercury completely avoided the slash
thrust, taking a side-step to the left. She summoned
up her energy and threw blinding mist, shouting,
"Shabon Spray!"
Her enemy would have none of that, withdrawing her
death scythe and spinning it quickly. Using the speed
of the spin like a fan Kanna dispersed the mist easily,
however, it was only a decoy. Mercury pivoted around
Kanna's position and threw a raging torrent in her
direction.
Catching the full brunt of the attack from the side
Kanna cried out in surprise, but managed to remain
standing despite getting hit. Allowing the attack to
run its course Kanna switched her weapon into scythe
mode, and swept it in a wide arc, forcing Mercury to
jump over it.
"I'll admit, you're more of a challenge than your
king was," the Crystal Spider said, "but it makes you
no more fit!"
"Fit for what?" replied Mercury. "War?"
Kanna let out an angry cry as she charged Mercury,
holding her scythe back in what apparently was going to
be a wide arc attack. Mercury purposefully back-
stepped until she felt the presence of a robot corpse
behind her, and leaped over it backward at the last
moment. She heard the sound of the scythe slam and
tear against the metal, followed by Kanna's angry
obscenities trying to get her weapon unstuck.
"Why are you prolonging this war?" the soldier of
water asked, walking around the head of the corpse,
trying to give the appearance that she was not going to
attack.
For what it was worth, Kanna was too busy trying to
get her death scythe out of the corpses' armor. "And
you for fighting it?"
"Brilliant people such as yourself don't need a war
to define them," Mercury continued. "Your idols were
distinguished in wartime, but that wasn't the only
place where they could be recognized."
"It's the best place!" hissed Kanna.
"You don't have to fight. We don't have to fight.
Battles are not the only place to exercise the mind."
The Crystal Spider, despite being no closer to
unwedging her weapon, chuckled to herself. "You fool;
you think, just because I left you a profile to hack,
that you know everything about me? Do you remember
when I asked you to send flowers to David?"
"Yes, I remember. You wanted to apologize to your
old friend."
This time Kanna removed her grip from her death
scythe, as if she were giving up, but she turned and
faced Mercury with angry eyes. "Why did you do it?"
"What?" She was trying to think of what the Crystal
Spider was up to.
"Why did you send the flowers?"
The answer seemed obvious to Mercury, but she knew
there had to be a trick to it somewhere. Kanna was too
smart to ask such a simple, naive question. "Because
I wanted to do you a favor."
Mercury surprised herself, having said that answer.
She wanted to believe it was, "it was the right thing
to do," but somehow the words were never spoken that
way. And she had to admit it, she wanted to use it as
a means by which to lure Kanna away from the enemy.
And apparently that was the point Kanna was driving
at. "You never stopped to think why that came up that
time, did you? You never realized that I could've just
as easily did it myself. You never realized I was
baiting you, and I hooked you, line and sinker. You
did it because you wanted a favor. What would that be,
exactly?"
To that Mercury could give no answer.
"Favors, Mizuno," the Crystal Spider continued. "It
is how things get done. Deals, concessions... call it
what you want, but your queen offers and asks nothing
in return. I can't trust that." She raised a fist,
shaking it angrily. "You think I went to war because
I like it? You think I have to prove something? I
don't need to prove anything; I've proven it already!
I'm a frickin' genius!"
"Then why have you sided with the enemy?!" Mercury
shouted. "Why have you...."
"Sided with the Death Phantom?" finished Kanna,
producing a reaction of surprise out of the senshi.
"Oh, don't you worry, I know all about Death Phantom
and the Children of Chaos. We all do, and we accept
it, and we accept him for what he is-- and that's why
we get along so much. But, as I said, Mizuno, people
don't get things done without favors."
"If we want something that he can provide, we need
to provide him something he wants, too. Think about
it; the reason the Black Moon Family failed was due to
the fact that Wiseman and Black Moon's leaders were
using each other, and they eventually weakened
themselves enough that Sailor Moon could step in and
mop up the mess."
"We, on the other hand, learned from their mistakes,
and he did as well. We cannot afford to cannibalize
each other in this war. We wanted the citizens of
Crystal Tokyo removed, and in return we gave Wiseman
the services of Sypha and Cinder. We wanted chunks of
Black Crystal... we got them provided I secured him a
new body."
Mercury felt a premonition in her head, and thought
back to her encounter with Wiseman while undercover
with the Fenril Knights, and the events following.
"Death Phantom wanted to possess my body."
"Unfortunately, you thwarted that plan, and we had to
resort to using Taydome's body instead," Kanna said
grimly. "We still got what we wanted, even if it
didn't work out as well as I hoped."
"You needed to remove the people of Crystal Tokyo in
order to attack us without holdbacks," Mercury knew,
"but why do you need the Black Crystal?"
"Tell me, Mizuno... did you use that crystal prism we
gave you much?"
It was then the soldier of water realized what Kanna
was up to. "The radiation from the Black Crystal
serves to undo the magic of the Silver Crystal, doesn't
it?"
"Perhaps," the tactician replied, unwilling to give
any ground to her enemy. "The radiation of the Black
Crystal serves as a counter to the Silver Crystal's
magic... but you don't know...!"
Suddenly, Kanna reached over and grabbed her death
scythe. Its bladed end flared with a brilliant white
light, breaking through the cracks in the corpse's
armor. Mercury shielded herself from debris as the
armor exploded spontaneously, throwing up much smoke
and dust.
Her eyes peeked back in the corpse's direction, only
to see a silhouette in the smoke, then Kanna, with her
scythe raised back, leaping through the wreckage.
"You don't even know HALF of what's going on!!" she
screamed, continuing her relentless attack.
---
R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
"They are fighting long and admirably," Higure said
in awe. "Even without taking breaks in-between they
have managed to tie up the Sailor Senshi for nearly
three hours now."
"Only because they're all playing with chickens,"
Ayame pointed out. She folded her arms, lowered her
head, and shook it, disgusted that the Sailor Senshi
were blatantly trying to buy time for themselves for
some reason. Turning toward Chief Dumas, she asked,
"What's our ETA for the Dead End Buster?"
"About ten-to-twelve more hours should do it," the
engineer reported. "We are trying to shave more time
off that, but it's becoming rather difficult."
"You'd better find some short-cuts, because we aren't
going to have much time left," Ayame warned. "The
Sailor Senshi are reserving their powers on purpose,
and making our guys waste theirs. Ranma's still
looking strong, so he's pacing himself well. Kanna
already wised-up to this idea from the looks of it, and
is pacing herself accordingly. Shizuka, on the other
hand, is being a complete idiot and wasting all her
ammo. The only thing going for her now is she has
Mousse as a back-up, and he's still fresh."
"In other words, they will run out of energy sooner
or later," Higure interpreted. "We have also detected
two energy surges approaching this world from space."
"Not Sypha and Cinder?" asked Ayame.
"They would not use such unconventional travel," the
old man pointed out. "I believe their charges managed
to elude them."
"Damn," cursed the Fenril Knight leader. "It's got
to be Uranus and Neptune. How long until they arrive?"
"If they keep their pace up, they will arrive in only
six hours. In our favor, I would point out that they
would be exhausted, too, so they may not be able to
contribute as much as we think."
"Fights can't last for sixteen-hours straight without
fatigue," Ayame knew. "By the time we deploy the
buster, everyone'll be too tired to do anything about
it, no matter what happens out there."
"Was that your real plan?" asked Higure.
"Kanna isn't the only one who can think," the leader
said, smirking. "I don't expect our guys to win, but
I do expect them to come back alive. What I really
expect is a tired, battered, fatigued Sailor Moon,
helpless to the Dead End Buster. No matter what she
does, she's at our mercy."
---
Ranma let out an anxious roar as he threw another
screw punch forward, mindful to manipulate the air
around him to his advantage. A spiraling gale of wind
pierced through the air, tearing it like a spear as it
traveled in Sailor Moon's direction.
As typical for the powerful Sailor Senshi, Moon
drew a circle in front of her with her wand, and an
invisible barrier deflected the blast of wind. Ranma
could barely make out a slight cave in the shield as
his attack lit up the shield, but the tornado blast was
far too weak to push very far inward. The violent
wind washed around and over Sailor Moon harmlessly, as
it had done before.
"C'mon!" Ranma shouted, annoyed. "Attack me
already! Blow me up or something, at least something
bigger than your stupid lasers. This is getting
really boring."
"Ranma!" he heard Akane shout, from her spot on top
of the palace's outer wall, well away from the battle.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"
"What's the point in fighting if your opponent
doesn't fight back?!" he yelled back, irritated.
"Even though this battle must be fought," Sailor Moon
said finally, "it's no wish of mine that any more of us
die over it."
"Isn't it a little late for that?!"
"The killing must end!" she pleaded. "You're
fighting intending to destroy me and everything around
me, but I can't repay that in kind."
"Feh," Ranma scoffed, lowering his guard in his
arrogance. He faced to the side, exposing his left
flank to Sailor Moon, and folded his arms. "I didn't
know it until a little while ago, because I couldn't
see it, but I realized that you've already killed many
of my friends."
"Ranma, what are you doing?!" demanded Akane,
sounding even more frantic.
Just as he expected, Sailor Moon refused to take
advantage of such an obvious invitation to attack.
"Seeing Akane made me realize how much I missed the
people I wanted to avoid for years. Shampoo was pretty
strong for a girl, and a great fighter, even if she was
a bit crude. You also got your hands on Ryoga, the
only guy I considered my rival, and turned him into a
grocery bagger."
He flashed a cold stare at Sailor Moon. "Answer me
one question, though."
"What?" Sailor Moon asked, perplexed.
"Why did you let Ryoga keep his soul and not the
others?" the martial artist asked bluntly, his anger
barely contained in his composure. Ranma resisted the
urge to simply blast Sailor Moon while she was coming
up with the answer, but thought better of it, knowing
that was the kind of thing the others might do.
But Sailor Moon responded with a confused expression.
"Stealing souls? What are you talking about?"
"Don't deny it!" Ranma cried, unable to contain
himself any longer. Feigned stupidity would not be
tolerated out of the enemy. "I saw their bodies! You
have Kuno, Miranda, and Shampoo over there, with their
souls sucked out of their bodies. You're preserving
the bodies for your own ends, leaving them empty shells
so you can use them when your body dies, is that it?!"
"No!" denied the senshi. "That's not it at all! We
never stole their heart crystals; one of our own,
Sailor Venus, had hers taken as well!"
"What?" That was news to him. "I thought Kodachi
killed her."
"Your friend Kodachi may have won, but we don't know
for sure, but the one thing we're certain is that both
lost their heart crystals."
He looked into Sailor Moon's eyes, and somehow knew
she wasn't lying. Ranma shook his head, trying to
shake off a probable hypnotic trance, but the feeling
was still there. There was something in her words that
rang of truth.
Could it be...?
"If you're not the one stealing their souls, who is?"
he asked finally.
Ranma heard a scream, and knew it was from Akane. He
turned his head back toward the palace wall, where she
should have been. Instead of her lone self there was
another, standing tall and proud, with Akane in his
strong hold. Even at a distance Ranma knew who the
attacker was, and it had nothing to do with the
telltale pantyhose tied around his waist.
"Pantyhose Taro!" he shouted.
"Don't call me that!" Taro cried, holding Akane
tighter and clamping his hand over her mouth. "Well,
Femme-boy, looks like you were the fool the whole
time, blaming it on her."
"Let her go!" Sailor Moon demanded, stepping up
beside Ranma.
"YOU killed them?!" Ranma couldn't believe what he
was hearing, even if the words came out of Pantyhose
Taro's mouth. "Why? I thought you hated the Sailor
Senshi, too!"
"I do, but you never learn, hermaphrodite." Taro's
gaze fixated on Ranma, giving the martial artist a
sudden chill. "I don't suppose you recall that we were
once going to steal heart crystals, do you? I was the
only one who could do it, as the others are too
incompetent to do something so simple. Maybe if you
were smart you'd have realized that heart crystals can
augment people."
"You stole their souls for power," Moon accused.
"In order to beat me you turned on your own? How could
you?"
"At first it was because they got in the way," Taro
admitted. "But, after capturing the rubber girl's
heart crystal I've had time to reinvigorate myself,
away from everybody else. During my recovery from our
previous battle I learned that I could siphon the
crystal's energy and use it as my own. The girl's
skills became my own."
"Miranda was a powerful martial artist already, and
it makes you stronger still," Ranma realized. The girl
he hardly wanted to know was a worthy opponent, and she
at least had enough skill to keep up with Ranma
himself. Combining it with Taro was definitely a bad
thing.
"It wasn't enough," Sailor Moon said.
"Of course not; if you can shrug-off Femme-boy's
attacks, even with his magic eight-ball, then of course
I need to be stronger!" Pantyhose Taro proclaimed
proudly. "I didn't come back to Crystal Tokyo
unprepared, though; I needed something to defeat my
former allies. So I blew up an EMP bomb I stole while
I was running around."
"You're the one who beat Kagami, not Mercury," Ranma
realized.
"I really wanted to get all the robots in the
spread, but I couldn't resist offing Four-eyes. After
getting rid of him I stumbled across even more heart
crystals. What a surprise it was to see that even that
girl Kodachi was harvesting heart crystals, too! It
made victory that much sweeter. And not only that, but
I've got one of the Sailor Senshi in the process."
"Who could've imagined that I could become a god by
making all of you part of me?" Taro said, holding out
his other hand. A luminescent globe of energy appeared
in his palm, and Taro closed his fist around it,
winking it out of existence. "But I don't need parlor
tricks like that Sailor Venus uses to beat you; the
other three are more than a match for you, Femme-boy."
"Don't call me that!" Ranma shouted angrily, feeling
his anger rise higher with each moment. He felt the
black crystal on his necklace resonate with power.
"Ranma," Sailor Moon whispered, "your crystal...!"
"I should've known all along," the martial artist
said. "The entire time I've been fighting the wrong
person." He raised a fist, and it trembled greatly.
"All this time... the enemy was right in my face, and
I wouldn't let myself see it...."
Pantyhose Taro laughed in genuine amusement. "Funny,
that. Rubber-bitch said the exact same thing just
before I killed her. Do you think you're strong enough
to beat me when she couldn't? Do you really expect to
defeat a god?!"
He tossed Akane aside, throwing her off the side of
the wall to fall on the inside. She crashed with a
loud thud, and Ranma's crystal resonated much faster,
matching his temper.
"I don't need to hide behind your girl, Femme-boy,"
Taro decided, cracking his knuckles. He held out his
right palm, revealing the Deathbuster star displayed
prominently. "All I need is the power within myself!"
"Don't let him anger you!" Sailor Moon warned. "He's
trying to get you to make mistakes!"
"I don't care," Ranma hissed angrily. "He's got
Kuno, Kodachi, Miranda, and Shampoo... and he's not
going to get away with it!!"
The Deathbuster star glowed, crackling with black
lightning. From its abyssal bowels emerged a heart
crystal, followed by another, and another... until all
four of Taro's collected heart crystals revealed
themselves. Ranma could hear the echo of their owners'
voices in his head, begging for release.
And yet, Shampoo's voice was not among them.
---
Only Shizuka Minazuki could hear the voice of
Shampoo in her mind, as she was yet another prisoner of
the curse of Deathclaw, but such desperate cries from
lost souls were far from her thoughts as Mousse handed
her back her grenade launcher, reloaded with the last
of the shells.
She saw Sailor Mars duck behind another of the
Mishima robot corpses, and the priestess of Genbu aimed
and fired. The machine exploded, sending smoke and
debris up in the air as Shizuka discarded the spent
weapon for the last time.
Holding her hand backward, she ordered, "Gimmie the
Fire Buster Mark III."
One hand was a big mistake in hindsight as Mousse
unceremonially dropped the heavy weapon on her.
Shizuka collapsed onto the ground under the weight of
the weapon, her eyes fixated on the sky above and the
dark clouds rolling in.
Worst of all, she couldn't get up.
"My turn," Mousse declared, discarding all of his
other armory equipment. The weapons master was
obviously itching to fight.
"Uh... Mousse?" Shizuka yelled, almost pleaded. "I
can't get up...."
"Relax," Mousse told her. "I'll take care of this."
Too weak, Shizuka decided. Maybe Mousse was doing
her a favor, after all.
There was still plenty of time before the zero
hour to finish the Sailor Senshi for good.
---
"Come on out!" demanded Mousse, already feeling his
sleeves for the nearest tethers, his eyes scanning for
Sailor Mars. He knew for certain Shizuka wouldn't be
lucky enough to take her out with the grenade launcher,
at least with her luck. "You're dancing with me now!"
He eyed the flaming debris where the last corpse
explosion emerged, and the intensity of the heat forced
him back a little. Nevertheless, Mousse kept his eyes
trained on Mars's last known location, and studied the
movement of the fire.
One of the flames was getting closer.
"Clever," he muttered, jumping straight up in the
air. In effect Shizuka gave Sailor Mars more places
to hide and snipe, what with all the flaming robot
corpses in the courtyard. Reaching the peak of his
jump Mousse tossed several tethers, weighed down by
yo-yo's, but they incinerated before they could make it
through the blaze wall.
Okay, Shizuka, you just made this game interesting
for me, didn't you?
No sooner had his feet reached the ground Mousse was
already dodging and tumbling from a barrage of
fireballs, counting six as he went, knowing that six
was the typical cap that Mars could muster at a time,
judging from his observation of the Shizuka fight. He
quickly estimated Mars's probable location and flicked
out his left sleeve, throwing three free throwing
knives in that direction. He could make out no
distinguishing roar over the crackling flames, and
assumed he missed, then proceeded to find a better
attack location.
Mars was giving him little options, as she
constantly hid behind more of the flaming corpses and
threw more fireballs his way. Mousse finally decided
to ignore attacking her in that position, realizing
that he would be wasting ammo that way.
He eyed the Crystal Palace, and smirked.
Turning around, he yelled, "Catch me if you can!" At
top speed the Master of Hidden Weapons leaped up,
landing at the opening of a second-story window, and
kicked his way inside.
---
Shizuka craned her head up enough to see that Mousse
was taking the battle inside the palace, and Mars was
in pursuit, entering the same second-story window that
the Master of Hidden Weapons did before.
Lying back on the ground again Deathclaw said, "This
is unacceptable."
"No shit," muttered the priestess, essentially
talking to herself. She pushed the fire buster off
her body, allowing it to roll a little away from her.
She felt her body move, trying to get up despite her
exhaustion from running around for hours. Shizuka
knew Deathclaw was trying to force her back on her
feet, but unlike a puppet master the ghost dragon could
not force her to do what he wanted.
"C'mon, you're going to have to do better than
that," Shizuka said. "I'm not letting Mousse finish
her off."
---
Toying with the enemy was a hard thing to do on
Kanna's part, but she had to congratulate herself on
her self-restraint.
Effectively, she and Mercury were trading blows as
each hid behind a Mishima machine's corpse, hiding out
like gunslingers in a Western. Either of them could
probably gung-ho and blow up the other outright, but
the fact of the matter was they were dead tired from
fighting for straight hours.
Kanna estimated they were soaking up around five to
ten minutes between each trade-off attack, with neither
of them gaining ground. The Crystal Spider labored to
breathe, and she imagined that Mercury was feeling the
same way-- she hoped. There was no other plausible
reason why Mercury hadn't won if the case were
otherwise.
She looked down at her left wrist, pushing her
loose sleeve back to check her watch. Kanna stared
down at the watch for several heartbeats, then closed
her eyes and concentrated when she realized that the
hands were a blur to her vision. Concentrating on
three deep breaths, the Crystal Spider opened her eyes
again, and saw that she had a few more hours to go.
"Bloody hell," she cursed between breaths, "I can't
go on like this."
Releasing her hold on her death scythe, Kanna picked
up the necklace that hung around her neck, and stared
at the crystallized spider encased under a layer of
clear amethyst, as if looking for guidance. The
bauble that was passed through her family was the very
thing that gave Kanna her nickname, and it was a
rather ordinary piece of jewelry. However, a small
part of her wondered, since her days as a little girl,
if the necklace were magic.
Ever since she was a little girl the necklace seemed
to bring Kanna good luck, and she usually looked to it
when presented with a difficult situation. In times
before she would be granted the insight to pull her way
to victory. While it was likely not magical, Kanna
thought it was a good psychological diversion.
The necklace was telling her it was time to quit.
She paused to consider giving Mercury a parting shot,
but thought better of it, realizing she would have to
concentrate on the black crystal prism to get out of
her battleground.
---
Ranma spent threw several blasts in Taro's direction,
and even occasionally allowed Sailor Moon to get a
shot in. Pantyhose Taro, however, seemed to be taking
it all in stride, basically shrugging-off whatever
attack was thrown at him easily.
The fact of the matter was, Taro was playing with
them.
The four heart crystals orbited around Taro like
electrons to their nucleus: two traveling on the same
path each, in orbits opposite the other, never coming
into contact with one another. Black electrical
energy surged every once in a while toward Taro, the
nucleus, as he drew strength from the souls.
Taro's got the speed of Kuno, the agility of Kodachi,
the skill of Miranda, and his own martial arts prowess
behind him, Ranma thought. It's almost like fighting
all four of them at once, except there was only one
enemy body to deal with.
"It's no use," Ranma muttered.
"We can't give up!" encouraged Sailor Moon. "For
your friends, and mine, too... we can't lose!"
Ranma cast a glance in Akane's direction, who had
retreated away from the palace wall since being
released by Taro. His eyes met hers, and Ranma saw the
concern in her expression.
Taro had to pay.
Despite Sailor Moon's warnings, which fell on deaf
ears, Ranma rushed Taro head-on, the black crystal
hanging from his neck glowing a constant violet hue.
Anger and frustration transformed into raw power as
Ranma's adrenaline kicked in, and he threw several
rapid punches and kicks in succession.
Pantyhose Taro dodged each and every blow, his hands
in his pockets. Ranma's anger burned brighter as he
could not land a single blow on his opponent, not even
one of the orbiting heart crystals if he wanted to.
A single, quick strike, too quick for Ranma to see,
was all it would take to pull the martial artist out
of the engagement. Ranma paused to stare down at his
chest, and saw that Taro slashed it open, drawing the
barest traces of blood in a clean scar. The pause was
all that was necessary for Taro to continue his
relentless attack, as he quickly pummeled Ranma on top
of the head, then planted his foot in his chest and
kicked Ranma away.
He sincerely wished that Sailor Moon used that
opportunity to launch her own attack, but instead she
was there to break his fall. Ranma cast a quick glance
back at her, and hissed, "What the hell are you doing?
Attack him!"
"Ranma, listen to me," Sailor Moon said, her voice
hard and serious. "You have to let go of the crystal;
you're letting it use you!"
"Nobody, not even a crystal, uses me!" Ranma
declared.
"Please!" she pleaded. "The Chaos cells in your body
are preventing you from beating him. You're trying to
do everything by yourself, and we can't defeat Taro
unless we work together."
"Work together," the martial artist repeated in
consideration. Ayame stressed the same thing from day
one, and Ranma knew just as well as she did what
happened when everybody went their own directions. It
resulted in a fiendish bastard like Pantyhose Taro.
"Are you taking your time?" taunted Taro, folding his
arms. "Or are you adding another girl to your harem?"
Ranma lowered his head, raising a hand to clutch the
black crystal hanging around his neck. "Ayame, Akane,
and Sailor Moon can't all be wrong," he decided,
talking to himself. "Even if their words and goals are
different...."
He heard Sailor Moon gasp in surprise as he tore the
necklace apart, yanking it off forcefully. Ranma
barely felt the pain.
Lifting his head up, he faced his enemy. "Yo,
Pantyhose Taro!" He ignored Taro's obligatory
protest, and wound his arm for the pitch. "Catch!"
"What the...?!" Taro gasped, as the resonating black
crystal flew through the air in his direction. In
haste he raised his arms up, black lightning forming
around his palms....
The resulting explosion threw Ranma off his feet, and
he felt himself fly backward until he smashed into the
wall behind him, probably the palace wall. The
intensity of the light blinded him so much that he had
no idea what was happening, but soon the light died
out, giving way to darkness as consciousness slipped
from him.
---
A violent tremor shook the whole of the palace,
causing Mars to lose her balance as she hunted for
Mousse in the palace halls. The tremor lasted for no
more than seven seconds by her reckoning, but that was
enough of a window of opportunity for Mousse to make
his attack.
She tumbled backward as knives, thrown terribly due
to the sudden tremor, landed on the ground in front of
her. Mars quickly stood up and summoned a Fire Soul,
sending it down the hallway, but it was too slow to
catch her opponent, who ducked into an adjacent hall.
Even though the palace was technically her home
ground advantage, Mousse was the one who was making the
rules.
The moment the fireball soared past him the Master of
Hidden Weapons reappeared, and threw several tethered
weapons her direction. Mars saw that she had nowhere
to run, and tried to summon another fireball, but the
tethers quickly wrapped around her arms and legs. She
stood back against the pull from Mousse, as he tried to
force her off her feet.
"Not so hot without your hands, huh?" Mousse taunted,
dragging his chains back in slowly. "You've thwarted
me for the last time, Sailor Mars!"
Mars, despite being preoccupied with struggling
against the chains, noted that Mousse was covering his
hands with his sleeves as he dragged her in. While the
cloth would serve to protect his hands somewhat, it was
still cloth. But there was only one way to find out.
"Alright, you," she hissed, "three's a charm!"
She rotated her hands around and clamed down on the
chains holding her arms, and summoned her flame.
Unfortunately for Mousse, the third time was the one
that would finally do him in as Mars superheated the
chains in her hands. The intense change in temperature
quickly ran down the length of the chain, and Mousse
screamed in pain as he shook his arms about, trying to
release his hold on the chains. Long length of
reddening chain fell down and out his sleeves before
Mousse was freed from his self-made trap.
As Mars loosened the chains from her limbs Mousse
clutched his burnt hands close to his chest, both
steaming hot. She felt a moment of pity for the
martial artist as he screamed endlessly, but it
transformed into shock and surprise when the
temperature changed yet again in the air, this time
coming from behind.
She felt the spray of an icy liquid on her back and
hair, bringing the overall temperature to the opposite
Mars gave Mousse only moments before. Mars looked
down at her arms, which seemed stiff, and saw that they
were frozen solid, encased in ice in a matter of
microseconds.
"Leave him alone," Shizuka warned, the nozzle of the
fire buster emitting vapor. Mars looked over her
shoulder and saw the weapon trained on her, and knew
her rival got her this time.
The priestess of Genbu threw the buster back over
her shoulder, and pushed her way past Mars, and stopped
only for Mousse, who was too much in shock to say
anything intelligible. She reached down and grabbed
his hands, and stared at them, turning the palms
upward to see.
She then raised one of them for Mars to see, and the
soldier of fire saw they were severely burned. "Take
a good, long look at this, prostitute!" She released
Mousse's hands, and grabbed her fire buster again.
"I won't let you harm my friends... ever again!"
Shizuka aimed her fire buster, twisting the nozzle
counter-clockwise once, and squeezed the trigger.
"Shine Aqua Illusion!"
Mars realized she had her eyes shut, and forced them
open as Sailor Mercury's attack zipped down the cross
hall and speared through the fire buster. A massive
elemental explosion of fire and water erupted, and
steam emerged from the impact point. Mars heard an
explosion, and knew the Deathbuster weapon was the
source.
She could make out a silhouette emerging from the
steam cloud, but Mars could not move her arms. It
proved that defending herself became unnecessary, as
Mercury emerged, looking quite tired, but unhurt.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Mars nodded quickly, despite the shiver in her body.
"Now I know how a Popsicle feels," she replied
jokingly. "What happened to Shizuka?"
"She and Mousse escaped," Mercury answered, staring
down at Mars's frozen arms and chest. "We'd better get
you defrosted before your body breaks apart from the
cold."
"What happened to the others?"
She shook her head. "Kanna retreated, but I don't
know about Sailor Moon and Ranma. I think they were
the cause of the tremor a little while ago."
---
Where Sailor Mars was suffering the effects of
extreme cold, Mousse agonized over his burnt hands, but
he finally managed to control his yelling and screaming
as Shizuka dressed the wounds with the equipment
raided from the district hospital.
He stared down once at his hands, now being bandaged
tightly by the priestess, then out the window, toward
the Crystal Palace. Despite night having fallen there
was enough illumination from the moon to see some of
the details of the structure. An entire section of the
wall appeared cracked, as if by some massive
explosion. Mousse wondered if Ranma was the cause.
"Stop moving around," ordered Shizuka, her words
muffled as she held the end of the bandage tape in her
mouth to tear off the rest of the roll. Despite having
her weapon blow up in her face, at least the priestess
of Genbu seemed to be in her usual spirits.
'Seemed' was the key word.
"Uh, Shizuka... about back there," Mousse struggled
to say, trying to find the right words, but feeling
awkward despite himself. "Am I really your friend?"
She spat out the tape in her mouth, eyeing Mousse
carefully. "You aren't going to laugh or something,
are you? Or get sentimental or whatever crap you
Chinese Amazons do? Because I don't particularly like
both." She lowered her eyes, and started on his other
hand. "Besides, it was a slip of the tongue. Your
well-being doesn't matter to me."
And despite such a brush, Mousse understood
perfectly. "I see. You're such an idiot, galloping in
there like your weakling self."
"Shut up," Shizuka replied, keeping up the pretense
for a while longer. "At least I'm not the one that got
burned, you dumb moth."
Inwardly, he smiled, knowing this was exactly the way
things should be.
---
Pantyhose Taro cradled his right arm carefully as the
four heart crystals continued to orbit around his body.
He stared down at his palm, where the Deathbuster star
once was, replaced by bloodied, exposed bone.
"I'll get you for this, Femme-boy," he vowed,
flexing his ruined, skeletal hand into a fist. "You
got lucky this time, but no amount of trickery can
defeat gods like me!"
He felt the Chaos cells flowing into his ruined
hand, quickly repairing the damage done, but Taro knew
the real scar would never heal until his enemies were
all destroyed.
---
Ranma felt as if the world were dropped on top of
him as he stared up at the ceiling, blinking out the
blur in his eyes. He thought he saw a dark shape
staring down at him, and for a moment he thought it was
Akane.
"Ranma?" she asked.
Yes, it was Akane. "Uhh... Akane...?"
"You'll be okay," she assured him. "You beat
Pantyhose Taro."
Ranma blinked, the words not registering in his
mind at all. "I won?"
"Yes!" she said, obviously overjoyed. Ranma felt
her warm hand touch his.
"He's still out there," he knew.
"Don't worry about it," Akane told him, "you just
rest and recover. Sailor Moon will take care of the
rest."
Sailor Moon. Ranma tried to sit up, but he felt a
sharp pain shoot up his spine, and he was forced to lie
down again. "Dammit."
"I told you to rest, dummy!" Akane yelled.
In the space of seconds the situation became much
more clearer to Ranma, and his senses were on full
alert. "Akane, what happened to the others?"
She shrugged. "They must have run away. The other
Sailor Senshi beat them back."
"Where are we?"
"In the palace, where else?"
"What time?!"
She told him, and the answer was not the one he
wanted to hear.
Ranma raised his hand, brushing off Akane's, and
grabbed her arm tightly. "You've got to get out of
here, now!"
"W-why?!"
"Trust me! You won't survive if you stay here!"
"But I won't leave without you!" she cried. "So
what's going to happen?!"
---
Standing out in the courtyard, no one could find a
trace of Pantyhose Taro, as in her last encounter.
Sailor Moon, however, wasn't looking toward the sky for
a sign of the traitorous Fenril Knight, but for the two
globes of light that descended from space.
Beside her Mars and Mercury exchanged glances, then
watched along with Moon as Uranus and Neptune landed
from their long, hazardous journey through the stars.
"Welcome home," Sailor Moon said in greeting.
Both Uranus and Neptune were kneeling, despite their
obvious exhaustion. Uranus looked up toward her
leader, and stated, "I only wish the circumstances were
better, Your Highness."
"We would've been here sooner, but the enemy on
Nemesis detained us for some time," added Neptune.
Sailor Moon glanced at both Mars and Mercury, then
back to the travelers. "The Nemesian Fenril Knights?"
"'Fenril Knights?'" echoed Uranus, confused. "I
thought they were remnants of the Black Moon Family."
"It looks like we're all going to have to do a little
catching-up, then," Mercury determined. "A lot has
happened...."
"And if we don't act soon... the Mekani are poised to
invade in three days," Neptune warned.
"Three days?!" Mars exclaimed. "That soon?"
"That's what your 'Fenril Knights' said," Uranus
confirmed. "But, take into consideration that they
told us that a day ago, so we really only have two days
before they arrive."
"One thing just leads to another," groaned Mars,
shaking her head.
Almost on cue, jinxing the situation, all five Sailor
Senshi felt the earth move beneath their feet. A
violent tremor, much larger and more wide a scale than
the black crystal's explosion, shook the city.
"What's going on?!" Sailor Moon cried.
---
R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
The mobile, remote watcher drones panned about for
the main viewscreen, displaying the greatness of the
Dead End Buster in its entirety. Water cascaded down
its surface as it ripped through the surface of the sea
The mighty airship, easily as large as the high-rise
Mishima office building on its side, slowly craned a
large cannon barrel downward toward its target.
Ayame looked back toward Higure, and the man standing
next to him, who she learned was Shang Long, the leader
of the Cult of Orochi. The blind man dressed similar
in style to a Buddhist monk, and carried a staff of a
metal head and rings, the head fashioned in a sunburst
pattern. He wore an oversized sun hat that easily
concealed his face in shadow, and while it would
disrupt the field of vision for most people the blind
Shang Long had no use for eyesight.
"This Dead End Buster is nothing more than the
cannon mounted on a platform," Higure noted.
Chief Engineer Dumas nodded in agreement. "The
platform is dedicated only to keeping the cannon up in
the air, and it required a high power output. In
secret we prepared a second engine, this one much
larger and more powerful than the one we used to power
the Mekani device."
Indeed, Ayame saw that the entire airship looked
more like a flying turret. The platform was shaped in
a delta pattern, with the triangular head facing the
same direction as the cannon. The cannon's base was
located at the foci of the platform to offer a better
sense of balance while in the atmosphere. The entire
platform was flat and featureless, save it was
covered with numerous black panels.
"The main cannon utilizes salvaged kami technology
from Yamato's main cannon," Shang Long explained,
referring to his god's traditional underworld fortress.
While the fortress Yamato normally resided in the
underworld of the Kami Plane it existed in the exact
same location on Earth due to the efforts of the Sailor
Senshi. Essentially, the Dead End Buster was another
gift from Higure's allies.
"Yamato's main cannon derives its power from eight
fundamental sources of energy, particularly the
elements, converting them into a single, concentrated
blast," continued the cult leader. "Since travel and
gates to other planes has been sealed, we had to look
to other sources of energy."
"Would it have been easier to siphon extra power from
the new engine?" asked Higure.
"It would drain too much energy from actually keeping
the airship in the air," Dumas replied. "We had to
improvise yet again."
"The fact is," Ayame informed the old man, "Kanna's
mission wasn't just to take over Geneva, but to place
special black crystal chunks in key locations around
the world. Those key locations also happen to be at or
near centers of high population density. We are going
to power the Dead End Buster by siphoning a little
energy from everyone around the world, essentially a
larger-scale version of what we did for Crystal
Tokyo. Given our previous results, with this many
people they'd hardly notice it."
"And in order to divert the energy to the buster,"
Dumas chipped in, "we also placed into orbit sixty-
four special satellites in secret. Their sole purpose
is to redirect the energy flow from each of the black
crystal chunks to the Dead End Buster's collector." He
pointed to the flat of the platform. "All that empty
space you see is one giant energy collector."
"In essence, we will never run out of energy so long
as there are people living in this world!" Ayame
declared, watching the Dead End Buster reach its
zenith. The cannon barrel steadied itself toward the
primary target, the Crystal Palace.
"Thanks to the cooperation of Deathbuster technology,
kami technology, Wiseman's magic, and our own human
ingenuity, we have created the ultimate weapon!" the
leader of the Fenril Knights said grandly. "Now, my
friends, I present to you..." she gestured toward the
main viewscreen, "the Mishima airship 'Night Hammer!'"
---
Sailor Moon glanced up toward the flying cannon, and
shielded her eyes as violet lightning rained from the
heavens. The dark energy blotted out the sky,
illuminating the darkness of the night and bombarded
the cannon's platform.
Her eyes widened in amazement as the platform glowed
momentarily, and realized that the weapon was gaining
in power. The barrel's end began to coalesce with
energy, and she knew what was going to happen.
This was how the Fenril Knights planned to end the
war all along, and they are willing to sacrifice some
of their own to make it happen.
Sailor Moon knew she had only a few seconds to find a
way out of this situation as she frantically tried to
sort out a solution from her mind.
---
Ayame leaned over the console under the viewscreen,
her thumb hovering over a large, red button set apart
from all the others. She asked the technician working
at the station away after he set up the weapon, as she
desired the honor of giving the Dead End Buster its
first shot herself.
"May God have mercy on your soul, you soul-eating
bitch," she whispered, lowering her thumb quickly.
---
From their vantage point, well away from ground zero
on the high-rise Mishima Heavy Industries building,
Kanna, Shizuka, and Mousse watched the Dead End Buster
ready to fire, and each shielded their eyes from the
intense violet light.
Turning her back away from the inevitable conclusion,
the Crystal Spider shouldered her death scythe. "It's
not over yet," she declared, vanishing into thin air.
Both Mousse and Shizuka looked toward each other and
nodded, turning their backs and vanishing just as the
cannon unleashed its fury on Crystal Tokyo.
---
World Parliament, Geneva
"We have deliberated for twenty-four hours," said the
appointed regional governor, given the task of breaking
the news to the world. He stood in the same room Kanna
used earlier to broadcast her original message, and
while no one else was in the room he felt the entire
world was watching him. "And we have come to an
unanimous decision."
"In light of the Fenril Knights' insistence that we
evaluate the rule of Earth-- whether it belongs to Neo
Queen Serenity or the people-- we weight all options
and considered every possibility imaginable. It is to
our conclusion that we the people of Earth are the
subjects of Neo Queen Serenity, and nothing can ever
change that."
"It is not enough that the people rule themselves, as
we also need guidance and direction toward our goals of
a better future. We need a nexus from which we can
draw strength from in order to move on. We need a hope
that can lead us through our darkest times, whether
they be invasion from beyond the stars, or from within
our own society. We need a mother, who's love and
caring can guide humanity's destiny to a bright
future for our children."
"It is to our recommendation that the Fenril Knights,
their leaders, proxies, allies, and army, are to be
placed under arrest for charges of high treason against
humanity. Terrorism will not be tolerated on this
Earth, and you are no exception. By recommendation of
the world parliament we order all members and
associates of the Fenril Knights to lay down their arms
and surrender. Your fifteen minutes are up."
---
R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries
Ayame slumped back in her seat as the world
broadcast came through the interference of the world-
wide energy siphon for the Dead End Buster, and buried
her face in her hands.
The rest of the occupants of the control center
remained silent, as no one dared to make a peep. Ayame
vowed not to cry... not because her side lost, but
for the fact that the war was over. The most exciting
time of her life came and went in an instant.
"Everybody," she whispered to herself, "thanks
for everything."
Silently, she stood up from her chair, and turned
around. She saw that all eyes were on her, waiting for
her to speak. Ayame's eyes glanced toward Higure, the
old man who managed to survive the chaos even though
those many years younger died. Her eyes passed to
Shang Long, a participant in the shadows of the war,
and a critical part in getting the Dead End Buster
completed. Then she saw Dumas, Taydome's replacement,
and Ayame saw sadness in his eyes, in that his work was
over.
Her eyes passed to the rest of the gathered
technicians, and realized that this may be the last
time all of them would be together like this. It was a
moment Ayame wished would never pass, as she was the
leader of the finest terrorist group history has ever
known.
I'm the leader.
Nothing needed to be said, as all of them understood
the significance of the announcement from the world
parliament. No one cried, no one shouted in anger, and
no one made a move to shrug it off-- this fate was
accepted by all.
She turned around, and stared down at the console
before her. Looking back up at the Night Hammer in the
viewscreen it seemed silly that the Fenril Knights
would dare to surrender, but they were no ordinary
terrorist group, they were the finest. Ayame opened a
communications channel to the world parliament,
flipping a pre-selected switch. Her next words would
decide the future of her people, but she needed no
time to consider them; Ayame had the words prepared a
long time ago.
Fifteen minutes, indeed. This phase of endgame was
merely the beginning, and the final act had yet to
play out.
"I am Ayame Mishima, leader of the Fenril Knights,"
she said, forcing her strongest voice to the fore.
"On behalf of my allies and associates here on Earth,
we surrender ourselves to the world parliament and the
people it governs."
----------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes
It's not over yet....
--Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOhotmailSPAM.com)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/index.html
<!-- End File -->