Souls of Fire #11: Ascension 



              Ranma 1/2 VS Sailor Moon 



  Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@Nhotmail.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.  



---------------------------------------------------- 



World Parliament, Geneva 



  The process of justice was proceeding quickly, Ayame 

noted, as she was escorted through the empty hall, 

flanked by two Peacekeepers, one to each side.  She 

kept her head high and proud despite her hands being 

bound in front of her with simple handcuffs.  Despite 

the fact that she had no intention of making an escape 

the precaution was necessary.  



  The people of Earth needed a quick scapegoat to blame 

all their problems on, of course.  As with the Black 

Moon that came before them, the Fenril Knights expected 

no better treatment.  All of them understood and 

accepted that when they surrendered.  



  No sooner had Ayame made her televised surrender her 

followers hiding in the Mishima compound, as well as 

allies from all around the world, came out of hiding.  

The Peacekeepers were very eager in securing their new 

prisoners, as they were hovering outside the city 

limits for quite some time.  Ayame remembered their 

faces: Higure, Shang Long, Dumas, and many other 

technicians, being lead away in surface vehicles, but 

there was special arrangements made for the leader of 

the Fenril Knights.  



  Effectively, she was separated from her comrades, and 

she had to accept that.  She wondered what they would 

do with Shion's body when they came across it in the 

compound... provided they found their way in, of 

course.  It was inevitable that they would find it, 

but Ayame knew they could do nothing to it, and the 

Night Hammer would remain untouched, too.  



  She recalled the aerial view of Crystal Tokyo-- or 

what was left of it-- after the Dead End Buster fired 

its maiden shot.  Although the weapon was nowhere near 

full power, it did enough damage to open up a twenty- 

meter deep crater, about a quarter mile around the 

Crystal Palace, the sole survivor of the hit.  It was 

a strange sight to behold, as only enough of the 

structure survived that could fit in a sphere centered 

at one end of the palace, where Sailor Moon stood to 

use her Silver Crystal.  



  Ayame later learned that all of the staff in the 

palace survived the blast, but the Silver Crystal and 

the Sailor Senshi were drained.  She smiled to herself, 

knowing that, despite the heavy gamble, everything was 

going exactly as planned.  



  The rest of Project Endgame would have to be carried 

out by Ukyo and Kanna, she knew.  



--- 



Palace of Solitude, Nemesis 



  "Ow!" complained Kanna, as Ukyo injected her 

hypodermic needle into the tactician's arm.  "Be 

careful with that!"  



  "Sorry," the okonomiyaki chef apologized.  "It's not 

like I do this every day."  



  "Mind telling me what this's about?"  



  "It's antibodies for the Chaos cells," Ukyo 

explained.  "We got them off the Sailor Senshi we 

captured and released a while ago.  All they'll do is 

eat the Chaos cells."  



  Kanna nodded.  Ukyo, having lived on Nemesis for 

quite some time, was far more privy to what was going 

on in the fringes than she.  In particular, Ukyo had a 

much better idea why they needed to get rid of the 

cells, and purged them from her own body earlier.  Both 

Sypha and Cinder's physiologies worked too different 

for the Chaos cells to be effective in the first place, 

so they never needed to be treated.  And, strangely 

enough, it turned out that Shizuka's Chaos cells died 

out on their own, but somehow Kanna suspected it had 

something to do with Deathclaw's possession of her.  



  No matter, anything beat having the cells at this 

point.  



  As Ukyo finished her work Kanna glanced toward 

Mousse, who was already treated.  Her eyes fixated on 

his bandaged hands, and knew that the Chinese warrior 

would not be going to battle anytime soon, thanks to 

the handicap.  To a warrior, it was likely one of the 

worst things that could happen.  



  "So Ayame surrendered, huh?" Ukyo said, breaking 

Kanna's train of thought.  



  She nodded.  "It's up to us now."  



  "That's funny," the chef said, "because I tried to 

convince the Sailor Senshi to surrender, too."  She 

laughed lightly, then shrugged.  "Well, I guess things 

are going to work out... just not the way I wanted."  



  "They're called plans, and they were meant to be 

broken," added Kanna jokingly.  



  "So what was the rest of it?" asked Mousse, tapping 

his bandaged hands on his knees.  



  "From here on we're looking at the Mekani," Cinder 

stated, entering the chamber, followed by Sypha and 

Shizuka.  The cloaked warrior's mechanical eye whirred 

as it rotated inward.  "However, the next step depends 

entirely on the Sailor Senshi to carry out."  



  "Yeah, don't you just hate that?" muttered Shizuka.  



  Sypha, the black sorcerer, cast a glance at Ukyo.  

"So, Great Leader," she said sarcastically, "what is 

our next move?"  



  Ukyo cast a dirty look back.  "I'm working on it."  



  "You've been working on it for over a day," Sypha 

pointed out, and there was an obvious edge in her 

voice.  "There must be something better to do than 

wait."  



  "If you can think of a better way to bring the Dead 

End Buster here, feel free to elaborate," Ukyo 

offered.  



  "As a matter of fact," the sorcerer said, producing 

her crystal ball from her sleeve, "I do."  



  "We really can't ask Wiseman's help this time," 

Kanna added, knowing full well that they had nothing to 

offer him.  "We need to do it ourselves."  



  "And I wouldn't have it any other way," Sypha assured 

her, her ruby lips curving into a devious smile.  "I 

didn't spend time researching means to force open the 

Gate of Heaven for nothing; the principles I theorized 

can be applied here."  



  Shizuka lowered her head, shaking it and groaning.  

"Here we go again."  



  She reached into her sleeve and produced her 

favorite shotgun, one of her few surviving weapons.  

As the rack mounted on the top was still filled 

completely with unspent bullets it marked the weapon as 

being unused during the last battle with the Sailor 

Senshi.  Shizuka opened the barrel, and slid the bullet 

that was already loaded out, and held it up to the 

light as if to study it.  Without making any obvious 

observations the priestess slid the bullet back into 

the chamber.  



  "So when do you want me to go back?" she asked 

finally, and Kanna was perplexed that Shizuka figured 

it out so quickly, despite being in the dark about 

Sypha's plan.  The Crystal Spider herself had no idea 

what the black sorcerer was up to.  



  Kanna didn't know what scared her more: the fact that 

Sypha came up with a plan, or that Shizuka figured it 

out before her.  



--- 



Internal Security, Crystal Palace 



  The only word that could describe the air that hung 

over the Sailor Senshi and the palace workers was 

'devastated.'  



  Having barely survived the Night Hammer's onslaught 

by using the Silver Crystal to erect a shield at the 

last moment, Sailor Moon felt completely drained from 

the weight of the world pushing against her.  In her 

desperation she realized she used up too much of the 

crystal's power, and it would take some time for it to 

reach it's previous power level.  Yet, it would charge 

slower the more she felt defeated.  



  There was no fighting that, as, if Uranus and Neptune 

were correct, the Mekani invasion party was poised to 

attack Earth sometime tomorrow.  And that said nothing 

about how long it would take for Nemesis to get hit, as 

that was much closer to the invasion fleet, and there 

were still people living there.  At worst they had less 

than twenty-four hours to save the Nemesians from the 

machines.  



  "What I don't understand," Mercury said, trying to 

stir ideas in the pot, "is why the Fenril Knights 

haven't moved the people from Nemesis already, if they 

know what's coming."  



  "At this point I don't think it matters," Mars 

pointed out.  "We've beaten them, but they also forced 

us to heavy losses."  



  "So now we don't have the Silver Crystal," Uranus 

said.  "That doesn't mean we give up.  I'll fight the 

Mekani even if it kills me."  



  Neptune nodded in agreement.  "The enemy forced us 

into this wall on purpose, however."  



  "To think, they wanted US to surrender," scoffed 

Uranus.  



  Could they have fired the doomsday weapon on purpose, 

even if they knew what was coming? wondered Sailor 

Moon.  At first glance it hardly made sense, as the 

Fenril Knights loved Earth more than anything, and they 

were purposely throwing the planet into danger.  They 

wouldn't do that unless they were planning something 

even bigger, something the Sailor Senshi hadn't 

considered before.  



  "They asked you to surrender?" she asked Uranus.  



  "Yeah, but they were just blowing steam...?"  Uranus 

caught her own words, realizing something was wrong 

with that assessment.  



  "Or were they?" Neptune considered, pausing to 

think.  



  "Perhaps there is something else going on that we 

haven't considered," Mercury said.  "What else did they 

say?"  



  "Something about how it's better to be on the same 

side when the Mekani arrive," Uranus answered.  "They 

refused to halt their little war over it, though."  



  "Where's their leaders?" asked Sailor Moon, suddenly 

getting an idea.  



  "Ayame, their supreme commander, is in Geneva," Mars 

reported.  "The world parliament wants to put her on 

trial as an example."  



  "But she's not the only one," Mercury pointed out.  

"The Fenril Knights was run by three people."  



  "Does that count their Nemesian commander?" asked 

Neptune.  



  Mercury shook her head.  "We also lost track of Kanna 

and the others, as they were not part of the group 

detained by the Peacekeepers."  



  "So do we talk to Ayame or to Ukyo?" asked Mars.  



  Sailor Moon eyed both Mars and Mercury, one after the 

other.  "Both.  Sailor Mars, I want you to get to 

Geneva and convince Ayame to help us.  Sailor Mercury, 

I need you to find a way back into the Fenril hideout 

and figure out how to communicate with Nemesis."  



  "What do you want us to do?" asked Uranus, speaking 

for Neptune as well.  



  "I want you two to rest," ordered Moon.  "You two 

need to rest from your journey to fight the Mekani 

when they arrive."  



  "But..."  



  "We need you two back in fighting shape as soon as 

possible," she interrupted.  "As we are now we can't 

hope to beat a large invasion force.  Right now it's up 

to the Fenril Knights to make the next move."  



--- 



Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace 



  Sailor Moon threw herself on the mattress on her 

grand bed, absolutely weary from using her energies to 

protect her friends and people.  



  "They never intended for us to die," she realized, 

saving those words for when she was alone.  It was a 

concept the others might have difficulty understanding 

at this point, considering the mess the Fenril Knights 

made.  "The Fenril Knights wanted to make a point...."  



  "Yes," another voice whispered.  "They wished to 

prove that the world could survive without the Silver 

Crystal."  



  Sailor Moon was not surprised to see the reflection 

of the hooded Death Phantom in the ceiling crystal.  

"They would never think to do that unless they were 

certain they could thwart the Mekani invasion."  



  "And certainly, it is true."  The image of the Night 

Hammer appeared beside Death Phantom's hood.  "This is 

the airship that bears the Dead End Buster, the final 

weapon of the Deathbusters which was never completed.  

With this they hope to wipe out the bulk of the 

invading force."  



  "The bulk?"  



  "They cannot win with this weapon alone."  



  "Which is why they left us alive."  



  "However, they never expected Vizier to figure into 

their plans.  He is the only one who could ruin my 

plans for this world."  



  "Vizier?!"  Sailor Moon remembered the two-headed 

monstrosity well, as it was the creature responsible 

for the Chaos plague virus.  "Wasn't he destroyed?"  



  "You never questioned the true nature of the beast, 

have you, Sailor Moon?" Death Phantom replied coldly.  

"The creature you destroyed long ago was merely the 

macro form of the virus."  



  She thought back to the battle.  The creature Vizier, 

despite its ugly appearance and toothy mouths... every 

movement it made spores containing the virus were 

released.  Despite the strangeness that Death Phantom 

was suggesting, it made sense.  



  "Vizier IS the virus," she concluded.  "The monster 

we destroyed that time was a being completely infected 

with its cells."  



  "The Fenril Knights no longer have a use for Vizier's 

cells," Death Phantom informed her.  "Even now they 

purge the cells from their bodies, now that Vizier has 

found the one who will become his new host body."  



  "The host... it's Pantyhose Taro, isn't it?"  



  "The energy from the crystal you destroyed in your 

last battle triggered the cells," continued the hooded 

man.  "All souls shall become one, and he will become 

a god.  The Mekani will be the agents to the Sovereign 

of Silence."  



  "If Nemesis is preparing for the invasion," Sailor 

Moon said, "then that means the Mekani's invasion path 

is through there.  But the rim of the galaxy is away 

from Nemesis's current position, so...."  



  "The Mekani have already established themselves in 

Tau Ceti," Death Phantom informed her.  "How else could 

your Uranus and Neptune discover them quickly?  A great 

war is already being waged in Tau Ceti, the system of 

ancestry, and that is the reason Pharaoh 90's spawn no 

longer care for Earth.  They are busy saving their 

own hides."  



  "And you?"  



  "I plan to return home, and you should think of the 

same."  



  "Home?"  



  "Tau Ceti."  



  He had to be lying.  "I belong here on Earth."  



  "Think about it, Sailor Moon.  Did you believe the 

Silver Crystal and the Black Crystal were indigenous 

to this system?  How much of the Nemesian chronicle did 

you read, for real?"  



  She had to admit to herself that she had not touched 

the histories at all, and shook her head.  



  "The Moon Kingdom, your kingdom," explained Death 

Phantom, "would not go out of its way to defeat an 

enemy of another planetary system, would it?  Your 

kingdom prided itself on peace and harmony, and you 

wished to spread that throughout the galaxy."  



  "However, in the same system was the dark twin of 

the Moon Kingdom... the Empire of Nemesis.  They did 

not share the same views as their celestial neighbors, 

and wished to expand their sphere of influence not 

through peace and cooperation, but through force of 

arms.  In that respect they came into conflict with the 

Moon Kingdom first."  



  "A great war raged across Tau Ceti between the Moon 

Kingdom and the Empire of Nemesis.  "For the first time 

in universal history the Fenril Knights and the Sailor 

Senshi waged a terrible war whose sights were never 

seen since the wars first erupted against Chaos eons 

ago.  Each side, however, possessed an artifact that 

reflected the world upon which they lived: the Silver 

Crystal of the Moon Kingdom, and the Black Crystal of 

the Empire of Nemesis."  



  "The Moon Kingdom put the Nemesians at their knees, 

and brought the war to their homeworld with the 

intent of destroying the Black Crystal they believed 

orchestrated the conflict to begin with.  The Black 

Crystal resided at the heart of the world, and it was 

there the last of the Fenril Knights fought the Sailor 

Senshi, and lost.  The Sailor Senshi of that time 

succeeded in destroying the Black Crystal...."  



  "But they also ended up destroying the rest of the 

planet as well," Sailor Moon knew.  



  "There was nothing to be done, and the evil Empire 

was demolished, scattering its moons out of orbit.  

One of them eventually became known as Nemesis, the 

dark moon that erratically visits this solar system.  

The survivors of the disaster eventually died out."  



  "However, even though their dark kingdom was 

destroyed, and the Black Crystal was no more, the 

Empire of Nemesis left behind their most dangerous 

weapons.  As the disciples of Chaos the destruction of 

the original Nemesis brought about the birth of the 

entity now known as Pharaoh 90, and not even the Sailor 

Senshi could stop him."  



  "In the wake of eliminating the Black Crystal they 

were in no condition to battle Pharaoh 90, and were 

forced to flee to this solar system.  Leaving their 

homeworld behind they settled here to usher an era of 

peace and happiness, leaving Pharaoh 90 behind in Tau 

Ceti alone.  They thought the creature would die out on 

its own and forgot about the past, looking forward to 

their era of peace, the Silver Millennium.  They now 

had the chance to start over, overlooking a young race 

on planet Earth.  They vowed they would never make the 

mistakes they had done to Nemesis again."  



  "It's not okay to destroy an entire world for the 

convenience of survival," Sailor Moon knew.  "Without 

the history we can't learn from the mistakes of the 

past."  



  "From that point on a cycle of destruction would 

begin," the Child of Chaos added.  "The light would 

eliminate the rising darkness, and only then would the 

light suffer elimination itself.  Then darkness would 

rise yet again, only for light to return to start the 

cycle anew.  It is depicted in the example of the 

former empires of old to the birth of Pharaoh 90, and 

such is how it will continue until this Cycle of Chaos 

is broken."  



  "Because we defeated the Fenril Knights again?" Moon 

wondered.  She shook her head.  "The game is not over 

yet, Death Phantom."  



  "Perhaps.  Perhaps not."  The dark man was conceding 

to no side.  



  "Both the Silver Crystal and the Black Crystal are 

still in play.  The cycle hasn't regenerated yet."  



  "And what do you intend to do about it?" taunted the 

hooded man.  "The decision may be made for you."  



  Sailor Moon began to say something, but held her 

tongue, realizing that offering to negotiate with the 

Mekani Directors would be a meaningless gesture to the 

mechanical plague.  It was hard experience in the past 

when the attempt was first made, as she nearly lost her 

life in an encounter with the Mekani Director.  They 

were only interested in a world's natural resources, 

and killed or assimilated everything that got in their 

way.  



  The Mekani could not be bargained with, that was 

certain.  



  Focusing her attention back to the ceiling, Moon 

realized that Death Phantom vanished without a trace, 

just as he had come.  She was unsure what he was trying 

to get her to do this time, as this was far less 

obvious than their previous encounter.  



  "Death Phantom, what are you up to?" she asked aloud.  



--- 



  "It was propecized in the Moon Kingdom of old that 

the destruction of Chaos heralded the coming of the 

Children of Chaos... the five beings that were foretold 

to avenge their father on the light.  The first of 

them was Pharaoh 90, birthed long after the defeat of 

Chaos, when his disciples were annihilated by the 

light.  A being of pure dark energy Pharaoh 90 embodies 

the dark energy of the shattered Black Crystal, and in 

revenge would seek to transform his home, Tau Ceti, 

into a bastion of Chaos, then proceed to follow the 

light to this world, Earth."  



  "The second of those foretold was Queen Neherenia, 

born in the light of the Moon Kingdom and in the 

darkness of the void.  Two shades of an entity, 

Neherenia would sow chaos in the Moon Kingdom, creating 

conflict from within their 'safe' borders.  It would 

only make way for the third."  



  "That third was Queen Metallia, the manipulative 

nightmare born from the hearts of humankind that lived 

under the shadow of the Moon Kingdom.  The resentment 

and fear of humans brought to life, Metallia succeeded 

in destroying the Moon Kingdom, and ushering the end 

of the Silver Millennium."  



  "However, it was not the end, for the royal court 

survived and reincarnated into new lives.  The court 

would continue to walk the path of the Moon Kingdom 

they left behind, until the fourth challenged their 

undisputed rule: Vizier, a viral mass born from Tau 

Ceti seeking the light.  Threatening an apocalypse of 

the world the royal court called home this beast would 

ruin all to destroy a few."  



  "But the last, known as Death Phantom, would emerge 

and complete the prophecy of Chaos.  The Black Crystal 

of old returned, as had the agents of the Moon 

Kingdom's rivals, for one final battle, reinacted from 

the age so long ago, before the prophecy.  It would be 

the last of the Children of Chaos that fulfilled the 

elusive prophecy... a prophecy to avenge the father... 

a prophecy whose meaning I alone understand."  



  "It is my destiny," Wiseman declared to himself, 

his hand waving over the crystal ball in his lap.  

"The conflict of Order and Chaos draws to a close, and 

a new era of uncertainty awaits us all."  



--- 



R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries 



  The atmosphere of the underground compound seemed 

spooky to Shizuka, as she kept both her hands on her 

shotgun despite the fact that no one should technically 

be around and about.  The entirety of the technical 

staff and the administrators all exited the compound 

at various points, and while the Peacekeepers still had 

no idea how to get inside it was only a matter of time 

before they pinpointed an entrance, judging from the 

concentration spread of the prisoners when they 

emerged.  



  The only ones left behind were, of course, Shion and 

Thanatos, and both were sitting in Shion's quarters.  

The boa constrictor, feeling useless as usual, gave 

the priestess a piece of his mind about how he was 

being treated lately, and he wouldn't shut up until 

Shizuka promised to come back for him and Shion later.  

She hardly wanted either of them still around when the 

Peacekeepers found their way inside, much less allow 

them to find the remaining weapons.  



  She forced open the door to the control center 

manually, as Ayame saw it fit to turn on security 

measures before leaving.  While that did little to bar 

Shizuka's own passcodes, it still wouldn't let her into 

the new control center anyway.  She was glad that Kanna 

informed her the override, but would have preferred 

her personal codes instead; the door was very heavy, 

and Shizuka was barely strong enough to get it open 

even a crack.  



  Many of the consoles were still lit and active, but 

Shizuka was only interested in one of them.  She 

approached one of them, and found the control board for 

the crystal prisms intact.  Unsheathing one of her 

swords, the priestess raised it high, and brought it 

smashing through the board.  



  That part of her business concluded, Shizuka pushed 

the sliced debris away, and produced a remote control 

box.  Pulling a chord out from the bottom she plugged 

it in to the outlet, and punched in a few commands on 

the keyboard.  A series of text and numbers scrolled 

down the screen, eventually being replaced by a 

slowly-filling bar.  



  Downloading the master control of the Night Hammer 

was only the beginning, Shizuka knew.  She sheathed 

her sword and wiped her forehead, then turned to leave, 

knowing it would take some time for the controls to 

download and wipe themselves from the mainframe.  



  In the meantime, there were other things she could 

do to pass the time-- primarily to use the teleport 

tube to transfer the weapons to the Night Hammer.  All 

of the Fenril equipment would be moved in one grand 

gesture, courtesy of Sypha Blade.  



--- 



Prison, Crystal Palace 



  Akane helped Ranma down the stairs, having one arm 

around her neck as support while the martial artist 

hobbled down on one foot.  One of the burning questions 

in Ranma's mind was his uncertainty to his fate, and 

despite the warnings from the doctors he wanted to get 

an answer straight from the horse's mouth.  



  The Peacekeepers, despite being rather ineffective 

during the war, seemed far more intimidating when they 

were in charge.  Two stood at each side of the bottom 

of the stairs, facing each other across the narrow 

hall in their crisp, clean, white uniforms, with stone 

faces.  Akane kept her eyes fixated straightforward, 

trying to avoid the piercing gaze of the trained 

Peacekeepers.  



  They walked without breathing a word, and Akane was 

certain Ranma recognized many of the faces in the 

cells.  Most of them, Akane knew, were technicians 

working under Mishima Heavy Industries, left over from 

a bygone age, awaiting punishment.  Some of them were 

members of resistance pockets that were scattered 

around the world here and there that surfaced after the 

Black Moon invasion.  They, too, seemed eager to get 

their punishments dealt to them.  



  Ranma motioned Akane to stop when they nearly passed 

the cell which Higure Furui, the old man and wind 

mage, occupied by himself.  Higure looked very tired, 

and appeared much older than Akane remembered in the 

brief times she saw him, as if he were going to die at 

any moment.  



  "Master Higure?" Akane said, wondering if the old 

man was dead already.  



  Apparently, and fortunately, that was not the case, 

as Higure slowly opened his eyes, and craned his neck 

toward the bars.  "Ah, I see you two still have your 

freedoms."  



  "Hey old man," Ranma said, trying to sound more 

confident about the future, "we ain't licked yet."  



  "Perhaps, but we here on Earth are finished," Higure 

replied solemnly.  



  "So why hasn't Ukyo come back yet?" wondered Akane.  



  "Because Ayame is playing a strict game of politics 

at the moment," explained the old man.  "In fact, if 

you were to go through her declaration of surrender 

more closely, you would find several loopholes in it."  



  "Yeah, because only the guys here on EARTH 

surrendered, huh?" guessed Ranma.  "She said nothin' 

about Nemesis."  



  "Precisely."  



  "Is that where Kanna, Shizuka, and Mousse disappeared 

to?" asked Akane.  



  Higure shrugged.  "It was up to them to leave or 

stay, but I would venture they left."  



  "Huh, just like them to get up and run," muttered 

Ranma.  



  "Hey!" they heard, a shout from down the hall.  



  Akane turned to see who was coming, and exclaimed, 

"Ryoga!"  



  "You look well," noted Ranma.  



  Ryoga laughed as he approached, picking up on 

Ranma's stray comment.  "More than I can say for you!"  



  "What're you doing here?" asked Akane.  



  "I needed to come," Ryoga answered, dropping his 

light-hearted tone.  "When I heard that Crystal Tokyo 

was taken hostage I tried to come back.  I would've 

gotten here sooner, but I got lost...."  



  Ranma shook his head.  "Geez, they didn't even fix 

that in you?"  



  "I see you and Akane are back together."  



  "Yeah, but I didn't need no crystal to do it."  



  "It doesn't matter which of us gets passed through 

the light of purity," Ryoga said, "because... even 

though I'm too late for the battle, I can at least 

stand with you guys at the trial."  



  Both Akane and Ranma gasped.  "You're kidding!" they 

cried.  



  Ryoga nodded.  "Even though I deserted you guys when 

you needed me... and even if I won't get tried for what 

happened... I'm going to stick by you guys."  



  "Ryoga... for what it's worth," Ranma said, 

speechless, "thanks."  



  "Our time for trial would have to wait," Higure 

pointed out.  "We are in line after Ayame, after all."  



  "Ayame?"  Ryoga blinked, as if he didn't understand.  



  "As leader of the Fenril Knights she is directly 

responsible for the uprising," explained Higure.  "In 

the eyes of the world, the blame needs to fall on 

someone.  Since the leaders of the Black Moon Family 

evaded justice by their deaths, the world was left 

without a scapegoat.  This time, they have one."  



  "That's unfair!" protested Ryoga.  



  "It's your world," Ranma pointed out.  



  "I'm sure they'll do the right thing," Akane said, 

wishing that she believed the words herself.  Despite 

being pure of evil, people were still people, and 

sometimes thought irrationally.  The world was wronged, 

and they felt, as a whole, the need to blame someone 

for it.  



  She hoped Ayame knew what she was doing.  



--- 



World Parliament, Geneva 



  Ayame wished she had an idea what she was doing.  



  Buried under the ground, locked away in a prison 

with only a grate used for illumination, the leader of 

the Fenril Knights could barely hear the sound of the 

growing mob outside the building, yelling and demanding 

justice to be served.  They were not finished from 

their rampage over the Black Moon Family, not by a 

long shot.  



  And somehow, it was this aspect of humanity that 

Ayame wished was disposed of by Neo Queen Serenity.  



  She kept her head low even as she heard the prison 

door open, and someone enter.  High heels echoed 

throughout the dank, ten-by-ten cell, with only the 

bars to separate her from Sailor Mars.  



  "You look well," Mars said awkwardly, obviously 

unsure of herself.  



  Ayame chuckled softly.  "Well, well, it's you.  I 

almost expected King Endymion, but perhaps he's too 

sour over what Kanna did to him?"  



  "He's actually trying to intercede on your behalf, 

believe it or not," Mars informed her.  "The world 

parliament is swayed heavily by the people you wanted 

to put the power back into, and they're already poised 

to throw the book at you without a proper trial.  King 

Endymion is trying to reason with them, and not just 

because of loss of due process."  



  Despite her mood, the leader smirked.  "You figured 

it out, didn't you?"  



  "I don't care who engineered it, but at this point, 

we need each other," the senshi said bluntly.  "That 

was the only reason you fired the Dead End Buster on 

us, wasn't it?  You needed a trump card because you 

knew you couldn't win."  



  "I know these things," Ayame replied softly.  "I also 

know that our fates lie in your queen's hands."  



  "But why?" asked Mars.  "You placed yourselves in our 

hands, and yet you've got the most powerful battleship 

known to man.  That Night Hammer you have out there 

could wipe out the Mekani fleet by itself...."  



  "No, it can't," interrupted Ayame.  "We did the 

math, and if the Mekani are smart they won't bunch-up 

all their warriors in one place.  The Night Hammer 

needs time between shots to recharge, and any time 

like that would give the remaining Mekani enough time 

to land on it and tear it apart.  And the Night Hammer 

is one big chunk of natural resources, you know."  



  "So you need someone to defend the Night Hammer 

between shots," Mars said in understanding.  "Why us?"  



  "We lost too many in our war, and we're just about 

out of hands and bodies.  Unfortunately, as I said 

before, my fate is sealed right now, and even I don't 

have control over the Night Hammer at the moment."  



  "And what about the others?  Kanna, Mousse, and 

Shizuka fled, and were not detained."  



  "You tell me what they're doing."  



  "If I were them, I'd be working on a way to get the 

Night Hammer off Earth and into the Nemesis space."  



  "I'd say that would be a good idea."  



  "But you're not saying it's so."  



  Ayame nodded, and Mars did the same.  The leader of 

the Fenril Knights smiled, finally finding something to 

like in the Sailor Senshi.  "And if they were doing 

that, they'd have to avoid the Peacekeepers at all 

costs, otherwise I'd be in real hot water."  



  "I'll see what I can do for you," Mars promised, 

ready to turn away, but stopped.  "One more thing, 

though...."  



  "What?"  



  "Why did you guys fire on us?  For real, I mean.  The 

Mekani could have been defeated easier if we had the 

Silver Crystal at full power."  



  Again, Ayame laughed.  "Other than the obvious ploy 

to get you to ask us for help... there IS one other, 

and it's far more important to us.  By asking us to 

help you, and not turning to the Silver Crystal, we are 

proving to you and the rest of humanity that we do not 

need to rely on magical artifacts and whatnot, because 

we can still depend on our ingenuity.  The Night Hammer 

is the ultimate expression of cooperation, Sailor Mars, 

and it's the finest creation made by human hands.  I 

want Earth to remember us for this final gift we bestow 

upon them, because our potential still has yet to be 

tapped.  Without boundaries, our power is limitless."  



  Sailor Mars offered a smile, and Ayame knew that she, 

too, found something to respect in the 'enemy.'  "In 

another time, we all could've been friends.  In a 

place without the battle, we could have helped each 

other more."  



  "We still can," Ayame assured her.  "Never forget, 

however, that the battle was necessary, and the people 

who lost their lives in it will not be forgotten.  In 

fact...."  



  "What?"  



  "You can still save one: Hokuto Takemasa is still 

trapped in the shadow stream."  



  Mars nodded.  "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not 

promising anything."  



  "That's all I ask.  Oh, and one more thing...."  



  "What's that?"  



  "Just because we surrendered to you, and are working 

toward cooperation, doesn't mean that all of us are 

going to be nice and friendly with you," Ayame warned.  

"In particular, you have to watch out for Sypha Blade, 

Shizuka, and Cinder.  Their lives were far more 

affected by the world revolution than the rest of us, 

and their hearts are much less forgiving."  



  "The hating needs to end," Mars knew.  



--- 



R&D Control Center, Mishima Heavy Industries 



  Stepping back into the control center, Shizuka was 

pleased with herself now that the control box was 

finished downloading the primary controls.  She quickly 

unplugged it from the socket, and typed in a few keys 

into the console keyboard to make sure the information 

was encrypted and wiped, now that the download was 

complete.  



  Although she was by no means any proficient with 

computers Shizuka learned much from Shion; simply 

wiping data wasn't good enough because there were some 

tricks to recovering them.  Even though the data could 

be recovered in its entirety given time, encrypting 

the data first helped guarantee that wouldn't happen at 

some critical juncture.  Also, that left option the 

need to recover it as well, in case something happened 

to the original copy.  



  On the other hand, recovering the wiped copy was 

something only Shion knew how to do.  



  She caught a red button blinking out of the corner 

of her eye, and turned her head to see.  Pressing it, 

the main viewscreen flickered to life, revealing what 

the remote Mishima watchers discovered while running 

their current security directives.  



  "Well, well, well," Shizuka said to herself as she 

watched Sailor Mercury descend the stairs into the 

compound.  "Looks like the game's become more 

interesting by the moment."  



  Flipping the screen switch off, the priestess ran to 

another console and queued the rest of her transport 

list, then grabbed her shotgun from up her sleeve.  She 

glanced back at the monitor to double-check to see that 

Shion and Thanatos were on the que.  Finding the list 

to her satisfaction, Shizuka ran the program, then 

held her shotgun to her left hand, and drew one sword 

with her right.  



  "The hunt's just beginning," she muttered.  



--- 



  Finding one of the hidden entrances to the Mishima 

compound was a simple matter once Sailor Mercury 

secured the information from Akane, as it required only 

a certain button sequence keyed into a public pay 

phone booth.  A hidden elevator took her down through 

several layers of earth, past the sewers and into the 

stairwell, where she had to make the rest of the trek 

on foot.  



  She descended more floors than she cared to count 

before reaching the common level, where the command 

center, living quarters, and service area were located, 

and the place where she could most likely get her 

information.  At the stairwell's door there was one of 

the standard keypad locks, and Mercury typed in her 

override code she installed when she last tampered with 

the Mishima mainframe.  Surprisingly enough, the door's 

lock clicked, allowing Mercury to enter.  



  The lights were kept at a dim, low-power consumption 

level, a stark contrast to the brightness she 

remembered.  The white halls were thrown in a dark 

shade of gray, and nothing in the area gave impression 

of any sign of life.  



  If she remembered correctly, the control center was 

straight ahead.  Mercury picked up her pace, running 

through the empty halls, her footsteps echoing off into 

nothingness, coming to a stop at the T-intersection 

from one of the side halls.  



  Strangely enough, the door was left ajar.  Mercury 

poked her head inside, staring down into the command 

bowl, and saw that all functions were shut down.  



  "Mizuno!!" she heard, the voice carried from down 

the hall opposite the door.  It was quickly fired by 

the unmistakable sound of gunfire.  



  Instinctively, Mercury ducked, hearing the heavy 

bullet zip over her head, through the door, and 

richochet off one of the walls and crack the main 

viewscreen.  Instantly she knew it was Shizuka, and, 

not wasting time to get shot at again, Mercury got up 

and bolted back the way she came.  



  She tried to imagine the common level in her head, 

and formulated the key points from which Shizuka could 

intercept her down one of the halls.  Crossing the 

first intersection Mercury was surprised to see that 

Shizuka had already caught up to her, and the priestess 

fired another shot.  



  Ducking behind the wall Mercury quickly glanced 

around, and ducked into the nearest door.  She looked 

around quickly, finding that it was the kitchen 

section, one of the ill-used areas of the compound, 

since very few of the Fenril knew how to use the 

equipment well.  Steel pans and utensils hung from 

ceiling racks, unused, over an empty grill.  Set aside 

on a large table was one deep soup pot and several 

large barrels to satisfy the sweet tooth of the 

technicians, as in chocolate syrup.  



  She quickly ran toward the other end of the room, 

but Shizuka chose that moment to enter.  The priestess 

raised her shotgun up in her left hand, and squeezed 

off another shot.  Mercury ducked her head down behind 

the barrels, and the bullet exploded through two of 

them easily, spilling the contents out.  Utilizing the 

reloading time to her advantage Mercury tried to run 

again, but her foot slipped in the spilling syrup, and 

she crashed onto her back.  



  Mercury heard the telltale snap from the shotgun, and 

knew Shizuka was finished reloading.  She glanced 

under the table, and saw an open sack of rice standing 

there.  Quickly rolling over she grabbed the sack, and 

threw it over her head the moment Shizuka came into 

view.  



  "Hey!" she heard Shizuka cry, followed by the 

clatter of her shotgun falling.  



  Mercury quickly got up to her feet, spinning around 

to throw a Shabon Spray.  Mist unfurled from her hands, 

and she heard Shizuka take several wild swings in the 

air with her sword.  Discretely avoiding the wild 

swings Mercury slipped past the angry priestess and 

made her escape.  



--- 



  "Blast it," Shizuka cursed, "I can't see a thing."  



  "Don't play her game," warned Deathclaw, speaking 

through his host's mouth.  "Use a talisman."  



  "What good'll that do?!  I haven't been able to use 

those since I landed in this crappy city, and for good 

reason if the gods are destroyed."  



  "Fool, you have me.  The power of the talisman is 

not borrowed from a god; it is a gift of devotion and 

trust between a god and his followers.  Genbu may be 

destroyed, but I am much closer than he ever was."  



  Snorting, Shizuka sheathed her sword again, and 

fumbled through her sleeves for a blank talisman.  She 

quickly wrote out an incantation, and held it out in 

the air.  The paper talisman glowing, the mist was 

quickly sucked into it until it was all gone, and the 

talisman burned into ash in Shizuka's hand.  



  "Wow... that's... cool!" she exclaimed, surprised.  

The priestess reminded herself to experiment more with 

this newfound discovery.  



  Shizuka looked around the empty kitchen, realizing 

that Mercury managed to escape.  She kicked away the 

spilt sack of rice, and reached down to collect her 

shotgun, annoyed that the chocolate syrup was spilling 

all over the floor, not that she was in the mood for a 

shake in the first place.  



  She froze in place, an idea hitting her.  Scooping 

up her weapon, Shizuka walked around the mess to the 

other side of the table, and her suspicion was 

confirmed.  



  "Getting sloppy now, aren't we, Mizuno?" Shizuka 

said to herself, following the syrup footprints left by 

the Sailor Senshi.  



--- 



Sky Deck, Night Hammer 



  Cinder's metallic toes scraped against the dark 

surface of the flat deck of the Night Hammer, but did 

little to scratch the energy collectors themselves.  

Every square centimeter of the sky deck was lined with 

the collectors, all running together down to a special 

power plant below decks, and channeling it back up to 

the Dead End Buster, the single, huge turret that 

marked the only outstanding feature on top of the 

airship.  



  He paused to stare up at the turreted cannon, 

scratching his steel chin out of sheer habit, even 

though it never itched.  The only reason he felt the 

need to scratch it was due to his inborn psychokinetic 

abilities.  It was those same abilities that made 

Cinder a prime candidate for his devious operation in 

the first place.  



  As a salamander warrior and a loyal retainer to his 

liege, Cinder voluntarily traveled to the Earth side of 

the planes in order to become stronger and to better 

serve his lord.  However, disaster struck, and one 

event lead to another, turning the kami into a test 

subject to malicious human scientists.  They replaced 

all the broken limbs of his body with metal 

prosthetics, including his left eye, and attempted to 

assert control over the fire master.  It was they who 

named him 'Cinder,' a name used among the humans 

alone, as none were worthy of his true name.  



  Cinder eventually defied his masters and escaped, but 

the events left him stranded on Earth, effectively 

living with the humans in exile.  It was during this 

exile he met fellow exile Sypha Blade, who was deep in 

concocting a mad scheme to find a way home.  It was 

during this exile he met and trained Miranda Kusao, a 

girl with much potential and zeal.  It was during this 

exile he met the others.  



  The salamander kami hardly thought of his human 

acquaintances as friends or close allies, but they did 

have their uses.  The girl, Miranda, however, in 

particular reminded Cinder of himself toward his liege, 

in that of a warrior retainer.  For a time it amused 

Cinder that a human would go to great lengths to 

please him, whether it was slicing rocks with her bare 

hands or polishing Cinder's magnificent obsidian 

scales.  She alone earned privileges for her service, 

and it was her treasured honor to know of his secret 

among the humans.  And yet, the others still found out 

by themselves in due time.  



  Among his human acquaintances, Cinder found he missed 

Miranda dearly.  Even though it was a guilty pleasure 

for a retainer to have one of his own, the company 

could not be beat, especially considering the only 

other people Cinder would talk to would be other exiled 

kami like Sypha.  



  Ah, the other exiles... it was likely they were still 

in hiding from their human oppressors.  Cinder envied 

them, as they lived on this world long enough to know 

the tricks of disguising their true nature very 

convincingly.  Considering them Cinder was a newcomer 

at this game, and as such his disguise merely consisted 

of a heavy traveling robe.  People such as Sypha got 

around their appearances with shape-shifting magic.  



  Cinder tore his thoughts away, and focused back on 

the task at hand.  He allowed his mechanical eye to 

scan the surface of the sky deck, noting that the black 

crystal chunks he installed at the edges of all three 

triangle points of the deck were in position and ready 

for the next step.  Sypha would not begin until after 

Shizuka fulfilled her part-- that of moving the 

equipment from the Mishima compound to the Night 

Hammer.  After that it was all up to the black 

sorcerer.  



  Summoning magic usually operated across different 

planes, but doing so within a plane was very 

uncommon, especially for something as large as the 

Night Hammer.  



--- 



Palace of Solitude, Nemesis 



  Sypha Blade watched with her reptilian eyes as Mousse 

entered the chamber.  The Chinese martial artist's 

composure remained tall and proud despite his new 

handicap-- the bandaged hands at his sides.  Without 

proper intervention it was possible he may never be 

able to use them again, and Sypha did not have such 

healing magic available to her, being a black sorcerer.  



  "What do you want?" he asked impatiently.  



  "Down in the storage shed you'll find several barrels 

of black powder," the sorcerer explained.  "Gather what 

maintenance droids are available and disperse it all 

in a pattern around the city as given in this scroll."  



  She produced a roll of paper in her metal claw, and 

tossed it on the table.  Mousse stared at it for a 

moment, then gently unrolled it with his hands slowly.  

If the weapons master was in any pain Sypha could not 

see it.  



  A sign of strength, the Chinese sorcerer thought, 

nodding to herself.  



  Mousse's eye level raised back up.  "This looks like 

a summoning circle."  



  "Very good," Sypha replied.  "On a city-wide scale, 

no less.  It shouldn't take too long, really."  



  "So you're going to draw more power from the people?" 

he asked, sounding jaded.  



  She shook her head.  "They won't provide enough 

power for what I'm doing.  I'm going to utilize the 

five black spires surrounding the city, the black 

crystals, and the planet's energy itself.  So yes, it's 

one giant summoning circle, with us at the center."  



  "You SURE the Mekani will be coming this way?" Mousse 

asked, doubtful.  



  "Take a star chart, and draw a path from Earth to 

Tau Ceti; that's where the Mekani are based," Sypha 

suggested.  "Nemesis does not lie within that direct 

path, but it's certainly close to it."  



  "What's so great about Tau Ceti, anyway?"  



  "The beginning, and the end."  



  Both Mousse and Sypha turned their eyes in surprise 

toward Wiseman, who appeared suddenly to the side of 

the table, levitating in his usual position.  



  "Wiseman!" Sypha gasped.  



  "The pawns are not moving fast enough," the hooded 

old man complained.  "It is time to induce proper 

incentive."  He waved his hand over the crystal ball in 

his lap, and Sypha saw the image of the Crystal Palace 

within.  



  "I've got a better idea," offered Sypha.  "If the 

Sailor Senshi are following the timetable we set as 

scheduled, then all we need to do is manipulate one 

variable, rather than several."  She produced her own 

crystal ball from up her sleeve, balancing it with her 

claws.  The silhouette of a man appeared within.  "I 

suggest our mutual friend, Vizier...."  



--- 



  Ukyo tried to relax, sitting back against the wall 

in the indoor bath.  



  The bath room was one of the few places in the 

Palace of Solitude the okonomiyaki chef truly enjoyed, 

as the surroundings was mostly dark, black, and 

dreary.  The bath, in contrast, was brighter-- at 

least, better-illuminated than the rest of the palace.  

It was said that the water was pumped straight from 

Lake Diamond outside Darkhold, and that the minerals 

in it were good for healthy skin.  



  In any case, it felt great.  



  "Ditto," agreed Kanna, who was lounging herself a 

couple meters to Ukyo's left, and the chef realized 

she spoke aloud.  "This is the best spring water I've 

ever felt."  



  "It's bath water," Ukyo pointed out to Kanna the Hot 

Spring Junkie.  "And this is a bath."  



  "But it's still natural from the lake!" argued Kanna.  

"It's only unnatural in that it's artificially heated 

by the bath."  



  Ukyo shrugged.  "Fine, whatever.  I don't care."  



  She heard Kanna move a little closer.  "Since when 

did you become the uber-pessimist, huh?"  



  "I'm tired," the chef complained, "and I was planning 

on relaxing before the next battle.  Instead, I have 

to share a bath with you."  



  "What's so wrong about that?"  



  Ukyo eyed the Crystal Spider lazily out of the corner 

of her eye.  "You overanalyze."  



  "No I don't."  



  "You just did it a little while ago with the bath 

water."  



  "Oh."  



  Ukyo sighed, glad that Kanna finally decided to shut 

up.  She sunk lower into the water, allowing it to run 

all the way up to her chin.  She concentrated on 

nothing, trying to relax naturally.  



  Yet, something was bothering her.  



  "Kanna."  



  "What?"  



  "Why haven't we surrendered along with the others?  

At least that way we wouldn't have to fight."  



  "We have to fight now, because we blew up their 

palace," the Crystal Spider pointed out.  "Which, of 

course, was a calculated risk."  



  "You guys shouldn't have done that," Ukyo replied, 

too weary to be annoyed.  "If we just let them keep 

their ace in the hole we wouldn't have to do all the 

things we're doing now."  



  "And if we didn't, what do you think'd happen to us 

all, then?" asked Kanna, a serious edge in her tone.  



  Ukyo sat up again, and faced the other girl directly 

for the first time.  "I have no idea," she admitted.  



  "See, I don't like things like that, without a 

certain, probable outcome," Kanna replied.  "At least 

this way we have a pretty good idea what's going to 

happen-- whichever way it goes."  



  "Provided we can beat the Mekani," the okonomiyaki 

chef added.  "I'd think they'd be a bit more advanced 

this time around than before; after all, the guys we 

trashed last time didn't have room to advance their 

technology in their dimensional prison."  



  "I'm aware of that.  Just hope we can beat them."  



  "'Hope' was the last thing left in the box," Ukyo 

knew.  Somehow, it seemed that it wouldn't be enough.  



  "Okay, Pandora, whatever," Kanna said, shrugging.  



--- 



R&D Hangar, Mishima Heavy Industries 



  "Would... you... like to swing on a star," Shizuka 

hummed low to herself, taking careful, deliberate 

steps with her shotgun forward.  "Or carry moonbeams 

home in a jar...."  



  The expanse of the hangar bay made itself more 

apparent by the moment as the teleport tube 

dematerialized heavy armors left and right, all of 

which was headed for the equivalent on board the Night 

Hammer.  Shizuka caught a movement of shadow in the 

corner of her left eye, and quickly swung around and 

squeezed off a shot.  The bullet ricocheted off one of 

the walls and disappeared, but now Sailor Mercury was 

driven out of hiding, as she ran for another hiding 

space.  



  "Or would you rather be a fish?" the priestess 

finished, reloading her firearm quickly.  "They do say 

the most dangerous game is man."  



  "There's no reason to be fighting anymore!" she 

heard her quarry shout, her voice echoing loudly.  

"The Mekani are set to attack at any day now."  



  "So now you're here, trespassing where you're not 

welcome," Shizuka shouted back, closing the chamber of 

her shotgun, as more columns of light dematerialized 

the surrounding weaponry.  "You're not stupid, but why 

are you defying us even now?  The only reason would be 

if you wanted to stop us from reclaiming the Night 

Hammer!"  



  "No, listen to me!" Mercury pleaded.  "That's not it 

at all!  We just want to help."  



  "Help?  Help!  From you?!"  Shizuka contained her 

amusement, raising her shotgun again, scanning for an 

irregular shadow off the walls.  "Have I got a bridge 

to sell you!!"  



  "If we destroy each other now, the Mekani might win," 

pressed Mercury, appealing to reason.  "Then none of us 

will be safe."  



  "We don't need YOUR help; you need OUR help!" Shizuka 

corrected.  "Between me, Master Cinder, and Sypha, plus 

the Night Hammer, we can't lose!"  The hunter withdrew 

three steel cards from up her sleeve with her free 

hand, noticing a movement of shadow.  "Besides, the 

only people I forgive for things you did are my 

friends, and you're not one of 'em."  



  She threw the cards in the sailor soldier's direction 

and heard them embed into the walls, one after 

another.  This time she forced Mercury out into the 

open, and with such a pressed movement her palms were 

already glowing in pale blue energy.  



  "Shine Aqua Illusion!" she cried, unleashing a 

torrent of water.  



  Shizuka stood her ground, holding out her free hand 

in a stop sign.  Just mere millimeters before the 

aqua strike hit an ethereal force burst from the 

priestess's palm, forming an instant, perfectly- 

circular, flat shield.  Mercury's water attack washed 

over and around the shield, barely missing Shizuka on 

all sides.  



  Mercury gasped, surprised at her sudden display of 

power.  "How?!"  



  Shizuka's eyes flashed momentarily as she gave a 

feral grin.  "Come now, Mizuno," Shizuka/Deathclaw 

said, the ghost dragon asserting himself, "did you 

think it would take long at all before I could master 

my reacquired ability?"  



  "'Reacquire?'"  



  The priestess shouldered her shotgun, and plucked a 

bead hanging from her left sleeve.  She held it up for 

Sailor Mercury to see, holding the red bead between her 

index and middle fingers.  "The power of a priestess 

is derived from her special bond with her god... but 

now, I AM a god!!"  



  "Fools think our ability is limited only to 

exorcisms," the dual entity continued.  "Spoiled by 

their flimsy anime they think the sole role we serve is 

to banish evil spirits.  It's only natural that they 

are wrong, and it's only natural that I can use this to 

my advantage!  It's only natural that I possess that 

which they cannot defeat!"  



  She raised the bead high, then quickly slammed it 

onto the ground, cracking its surface.  A beam of light 

issued from the crack, splitting the bead in two with 

its intense power.  "Take her down... Summon Beast 

Hydra!!"  



  The light burst like a miniature nova, and the beams 

of light gathered into distinct shapes.  Three snake- 

like heads formed, each joined on one body.  The light 

died completely, leaving the three-headed snake, easily 

as large as Shizuka, to glow with the same ethereal 

haze as Deathclaw.  Unlike the ghost dragon the hydra 

was by no means skeletal, but it was monochromatic 

nonetheless, as if the monster itself were a ghost.  



  The hydra's snake heads snapped and hissed at 

Mercury, gazing at her with hungry eyes.  



  "A ghost summon beast...?" Mercury muttered.  



  "The memory of what once was will endure forever in 

the minds of those who remember," Shizuka/Deathclaw 

explained.  She directed a finger toward Mercury.  "Go, 

Trikhanra!"  



  Each of the three snake heads reared their heads 

back, then launched simultaneous volleys of spittle.  

Mercury ducked, allowing all three volleys to soar over 

her head.  Behind her, the spittle collided with the 

back wall, each bursting with elemental power.  



  The left head, Shizuka knew, spat tiny bolts of 

fire, which burst upon impact.  The middle head spat 

a highly-corrosive acid, and it was now tearing a hole 

in the metal wall across the hangar.  The right head 

shot high-velocity pockets of solid air, visible in the 

human sight, but no less deadly than the other two 

projectiles.  



  "Too bad; I've got a weapon for every occasion!" 

gloated Shizuka/Deathclaw.  



--- 



Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace 



  Sailor Moon nodded thoughtfully as Sailor Mars 

finished reporting the details of her encounter with 

Ayame in Geneva.  She focused her eyes back onto the 

viewscreen, where Mars stood waiting for her next 

order.  



  "What do you think?" she asked finally.  



  Mars shook her head.  "I don't know.  Ayame openly 

admitted to everything we suspected, and then some.  

And she's in prison, and probably going to get tar-and- 

feathered... and she's still making demands."  



  Ayame wanted Hokuto released, Moon knew.  On the one 

hand doing so would also release Sailor Jupiter from 

the same prison, but on the other hand there was no 

telling what the Shadow Weaver would do upon being 

released.  In effect this was what Sailor Moon desired, 

but everyone knew the variable was Hokuto; even Ayame 

hinted as much in her careful words.  



  Yes, the leader of the Fenril Knights spoke very 

carefully indeed.  Her formal surrender speech, for 

instance, indicated that her forces and allies would 

surrender-- on Earth.  That said absolutely nothing 

about who was on Nemesis at the time of the surrender, 

as Sailor Moon came to understand, and it was likely 

designed to fool the world parliament rather than her.  



  It was the crafty plan, if dangerous.  



  "I'll see about releasing Hokuto," Sailor Moon 

decided.  "It'll have to wait, because we need to 

eliminate the Chaos plague cells in our guests."  



  "Before the virus spreads again?" wondered Mars.  She 

shook her head.  "But that would've happened a long 

time ago...."  



  "It's not for that, but because Vizier may be able to 

control them," Moon revealed.  "The beast who sourced 

the original plague on Earth long ago survives as the 

virus, and it has been waiting for a strong host body 

which to take over.  Unfortunately, he's found one."  



  "That guy...."  



  "We need to find him, too, before it's too late.  

Mars, please return as soon as possible; the battle may 

begin at any moment."  



--- 



Palace of Solitude, Nemesis 



  Ukyo's eyes stared at the targeting grid, leaning 

forward in her chair and propping her chin up with her 

left arm.  She tapped the table with the fingers of her 

right hand, thinking over the possibilities in her 

head.  



  "B-7," she announced.  



  Across the table, Kanna stared up at Ukyo, annoyed.  

"You sunk my battleship...."  



  "If you two are through," Sypha interrupted, barging 

into the chamber, "I have important business to take 

care of."  



  Ukyo looked up from her game board.  "What's that 

supposed to mean?"  



  The black sorcerer produced her crystal ball, and 

the image of the Night Hammer appeared within.  "All I 

want is to attract the attention of Pantyhose Taro to 

the airship.  So I need one of you to come up with a 

decent semaphore flag."  



  "Not a literal flag, right?" Kanna hoped.  "I flunked 

sewing."  



  "Why do we want HIM on the Night Hammer?" wondered 

the okonomiyaki chef.  "He'd just trash it or 

something, the way the scoreboard's playing out."  



  "The Sailor Senshi know they need the Night Hammer as 

much as we do," Sypha pointed out.  "In fact it's just 

to get them on the ship faster, as well as get rid of 

a potential threat.  We're speeding things up, so we 

need Pantyhose Taro on the airship.  I know one of you 

knows him better than I do... so what does he want?"  



  "Power?" guessed Kanna.  



  "A better name?" Ukyo volunteered.  "But he can't get 

even that, because Happosai is dead."  



  "Does he know that for sure?" asked Sypha slyly, her 

mind working a devious plan.  "Does he, really?"  



  "Oh god, I'm not dressing-up as the old geezer," Ukyo 

said, groaning.  "He'll never buy it, anyway."  



  "I'm not interested in appearances," the sorcerer 

snapped.  "If there is even a slim chance that he could 

get what he wanted most, then he won't be able to 

resist taking it, won't he?"  



  "So what do you have in mind?" asked the Crystal 

Spider.  



--- 



R&D, Mishima Heavy Industries 



  "You know, Mizuno," Shizuka decided, stifling a 

yawn, "you're boring when I go all-out."  



  Sailor Mercury ducked behind the deactivated robot, 

pressing her back against its back as the ghost hydra 

pummeled its forward armor with acid, flame, and ice.  

She knew for a fact that Shizuka was holding back, and 

probably for good reason.  



  Somehow, Mercury knew it was more for the sheer sport 

of it, rather than any desire to preserve her life.  



  "Let's see," the priestess ranted, holding out her 

hand and counting down fingers, "I could wait here and 

waste you."  She lowered a finger.  "Or I could leave 

and assume you died."  Shizuka lowered another finger.  

"Maybe a little of both, and I'll wait five minutes 

before I go, or maybe I should just kill you myself."  

She shook her head as she came down to her thumb.  

"Naaaah...."  



  Another column of light appeared, and focused itself 

on an armor next to Mercury's position.  The armor 

vanished into nothingness in the light, sucked up by 

the so-called teleport tube.  If she wasn't mistaken 

her armor shield would be next.  



  She steadied herself in readiness to turn and blast 

the ghost hydra the moment the robot vanished, but 

Mercury realized that nothing was hitting it anymore.  

Risking a glance Mercury looked around the armor's 

tough body, and saw that Shizuka withdrew the monster.  



  "By the way," Shizuka said, her voice much closer 

than before.  Mercury glanced upward, and saw that the 

priestess was sitting on top of the ruined robot's 

shoulders.  "Why don't you run along and tell your 

queen that I sent you?"  



  She held up a remote control, flipping open a clear 

plastic case that housed a large, thumb-sized, red 

button.  Sailor Mercury had a very good idea what that 

meant.  



  As the teleportation tube surrounded the armor and 

Shizuka, she told her, "Boom."  



  Deciding to take her chances, Mercury grappled onto 

the robot's arm.  She felt every molecule of her body 

dissipate from her person, and soon felt nothing at 

all as the light consumed her.  



  She found she had shut her eyes, and forcefully pried 

them back open.  The hangar area of the R&D block was 

gone, replaced by a darker hangar area of similar 

make.  Had the area been damaged like the R&D was 

Mercury would've thought she was still in the 

underground compound.  



  Looking upward, Shizuka was nowhere to be seen.  The 

remote control she was holding earlier lay balanced on 

the shoulder's surface, antenna extended with a small 

white flag that read, "Fooled you."  



  Deciding there was no time to figure out where the 

Fenril went, Mercury headed toward the exit, to see for 

herself if she was really on the Night Hammer.  



--- 



Sky Deck, Night Hammer 



  Wind whipped against Cinder's cape as he watched 

Sypha's 'semaphore flag' in progress.  He had little 

inclination to acknowledge Shizuka as she joined him 

on the deck, and barely registered from the edge of his 

mechanical eye that she, too, was looking up into the 

sky.  



  "That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen," she 

declared, looking up at the hastily-erected hot-air 

blimp.  



  "Yes," the fire master agreed, watching the monitor 

on the blimp's side continually spin a message that 

'Pantyhose Taro is a weak loser.'  "If he doesn't mind 

being called 'weak' his name will certainly get his 

attention."  



  A thin black beam coming from somewhere in the 

crystal jungle below lanced out at the blimp, and 

Cinder was forced to shield his real eye when the 

blimp fireballed.  His mechanical eye filtered out much 

of the noise, but Cinder didn't need to know even that 

much to know that Taro got the message.  



  He noted that Shizuka was turning her attentions 

to another part of the sky, and sure enough from the 

top of one of the buildings a huge, boomerang-shaped 

wing was launched, with one man hanging off from the 

bottom.  Pantyhose Taro's wing sliced quickly through 

the air, and the moment his shadow was cast over the 

sky deck the martial artist released his grip.  



  He quickly collected himself, and the heart crystals 

he captured remained in perfect orbit around his body 

at all times.  



  "You fools," Taro hissed, his voice carried downwind 

from the head of the sky deck.  "How DARE you cast my 

name like that?"  



  "You called it," Shizuka said, glancing at Cinder.  



  Cinder said nothing, as his attention was on 

analyzing Pantyhose Taro.  The man's right hand, which 

used to be where his Deathbuster star was located, was 

now hidden by a large, heavy black glove, one that 

reached all the way up the length of his arm and ending 

at the shoulder.  It was an elaborate article, but the 

robed salamander understood the feeling completely; it 

was a distraction to think about the scars hidden 

beneath the concealment, and perhaps also a source of 

shame.  Cinder bore that sentiment every day, and out 

of courtesy refrained from analyzing beneath the 

glove.  



  "So now I see we are both crippled," Cinder told the 

martial artist.  "The question is, is the extent 

merely physical, or is there deep, mental scars as 

well?"  



  "I'm nothing like you, cripple," Taro shouted.  "I am 

a god."  



  The salamander laughed.  "Fool, I can lay claim to 

that title as well.  I am YOUR god, the spirit your 

people created out of their nightmares.  You are 

nothing more than one of those people, deluded to think 

they could walk the graces of the kami."  



  "Then let me show you...!"  



  Shizuka gasped.  "Master Cinder... he's not what he 

seems!"  



  "What?" he asked, hardly surprised.  



  "I just felt it now," she pressed, elaborating on her 

premonition.  "There's another sharing his soul... just 

as I."  



  "Vizier, no doubt," Cinder snorted.  "I've heard as 

much, but so far I'm not impressed."  He raised his 

right claw back, and his left claw forward, igniting 

both palms in flames.  The fire master barely felt the 

increasing temperature of his steel arms, and mentally 

focused on increasing their intrinsic melting point, 

knowing the fight would be long.  



  Yes, his 'creators' were wise to ensnare a 

psychokinetic warrior.  



--- 



Infirmary, Crystal Palace 



  "There, that should do it," Sailor Moon said, wiping 

her forehead as she finished removing the Chaos cells 

from the last of the Fenril Knights.  



  Ranma sat up in the bed, flexing his fingers.  As the 

volunteer to be the last to be cleansed he seemed in 

good spirits.  "You didn't just purge me, you healed 

me...?"  



  "It was the least I could do," Moon replied.  "It 

was brave of you to throw away the dark power to save 

us all."  



  "Eh," he scoffed, "don't think nothing about it.  

It's what you would've done, I guess."  



  "What'll you do now?" asked Akane, looking toward 

Sailor Moon.  



  She held up her wand.  "I've thought this over, and 

at the request of your leader, Ayame, I'm going to let 

Hokuto back into this world."  



  Ranma immediately jumped up and held the wand fast.  

"No, wait!  You don't have any idea how bad that is!"  



  "You're just like Sailor Mars," Moon noted.  "Maybe 

it is a bad judgement on my part, but knowing you 

Fenril Knights it wouldn't be the first time."  The 

comment left a bitter atmosphere in the air.  "But, no 

matter how bad it might be, I have to trust her.  I 

want to trust you, as I do all of you.  The hate must 

end if we wish to see true peace."  



  "Eh, that's not it, though..." muttered Ranma, but 

he allowed it to trail-off, unwilling to speak of the 

issue further.  He released his hold on the wand, and 

glanced at Akane nervously.  



  Stepping away from the bed, Sailor Moon held her 

wand up high, and closed her eyes to concentrate.  She 

focused her will through her hands and into the wand, 

and turned it in a counter-clockwise motion, preparing 

to trace a portal to the shadow plane.  



  Suddenly, she felt the weight of light upon her, and 

lost concentration on the portal.  She looked out 

toward Ranma and Akane, but they were on the other side 

of a column of light.  



  No, it was because she was in the center of it.  



  Sailor Moon had no time to react as the light flared 

into a blinding light, then disappeared completely, 

replaced by complete darkness.  She collapsed to the 

ground, rubbing her eyes to adjust to her new 

surroundings.  She planted her palms onto the floor, 

and felt the cool metal beneath her feet.  



  There was another flash of light, followed by several 

more, each with decreasing intensity.  



  "I'm sorry about that," she heard, "but there isn't 

much time left."  



  She recognized Sailor Mercury's voice instantly.  

"Sailor Mercury?"  



  "We're on board the Night Hammer, the Fenril 

airship," she explained.  "The transport device was the 

fastest way to get you all here."  



  "It could've been worse," Moon heard another say, 

and knew it belonged to Ranma.  



  Her eyes having adjusted to the dim lighting, Sailor 

Moon looked around, and saw that the remaining Sailor 

Senshi were present, along with Ranma and his friend, 

Ryoga Hibiki, who seemed quite disoriented.  



  They heard a loud rumble from above.  "What's going 

on?!" cried Sailor Mars.  



  "Pantyhose Taro is attacking the ship," Mercury 

informed them.  "Two others are already battling him, 

but we can't let him damage the Dead End Buster."  



--- 



  "Ranma!" Akane cried, suddenly alone in the infirmary 

after two columns of light abducted him and Sailor 

Moon.  



  Her eyes adjusted back to the room's normal light, 

and she glanced to where Sailor Moon stood earlier.  

She was tracing a circle in the air, that much Akane 

knew, but what she didn't understand was why the 

partial circle was still there, glowing.  



  There was no time to think of it, and Akane rushed 

out of the room, intent on finding out what was going 

on.  



  Unseen by eyes, a thin, dark ooze dripped out of the 

incomplete circle.  



--- 



Palace of Solitude, Nemesis 



  "Excellent," Sypha said, watching Cinder battle Taro 

by himself on the windy sky deck.  "All the pawns are 

in place."  



  She heard the double doors open behind her.  "I got 

your circle traced," Mousse reported, sounding a bit 

weary.  His eyes fixated on the viewscreen ahead.  

"Hey, they're there...."  



  The black sorcerer turned away, facing the weapons 

master.  "I'm going to begin the summoning ceremony.  I 

want no interruptions.  Incidentally, keep me informed 

of what's going on; I don't care if Pantyhose Taro 

stays on the sky deck or not, but I'd rather he be 

dead."  



  "You got my vote," agreed Mousse.  



--- 



  "Left hand, green," declared a maintenance droid.  



  Kanna and Ukyo lowered their hands down to reach 

the green circle on the Twister mat, but this time they 

ended up bumping into each other and collapsing.  



  "God dammit, we must be really bored," Ukyo decided, 

sitting up and glancing at the droid.  "There's got to 

be a better way to kill time than this."  



  "I suppose you don't want an answer to that," the 

droid replied.  



  "Hell no," Kanna called.  She propped her chin on 

her hand.  "When the hell is the Night Hammer coming, 

anyway?"  



--- 



Sky Deck, Night Hammer 



  "Your age is showing, old man!" Taro taunted, dodging 

fiery punches from the robed salamander.  "The time of 

the old gods has passed!"  



  "And it is here where your arrogance will fail you!" 

Cinder shot back, his mechanical eye displaying the 

careful calculations he was making while distracting 

his enemy with distracting blows.  



  Pantyhose Taro merely believed he was too good for 

the retainer, but Cinder wasn't interested in landing a 

blow.  He reared his right claw back again for another 

punch, and predictably, Taro dodged it.  However, the 

whelp was likely now aware of what the fire master was 

up to all along, as Cinder's steel talons grabbed hold 

of one of the orbiting heart crystals.  Black 

electrical energy arced in its orbit, all the way back 

to Taro's heart.  



  "What the...?!" Taro gasped in surprise.  



  "So arrogant of you to maintain your source of power 

so freely!" Cinder said, taking the reversal in 

stride.  He closed his claw even further, and splinters 

broke off the surface of the glowing red crystal.  "You 

are no god...!"  



  "Master!" he heard Shizuka cry in warning.  



  The salamander felt a sharp pain in his arm clutching 

the heart crystal, and realized that he was being 

attacked by another.  He quickly shot a glance to 

the left, and his mechanical eye focused on one Sailor 

Moon, holding out her wand.  



  "Hold it!" she cried.  "That heart crystal you're 

intending to destroy belongs to a human being!"  



  "You fool, the dead have no use for this wretched 

shell of a soul!" Cinder roared.  Planting his right 

foot on Taro, he pushed backward and yanked the heart 

crystal from his orbit, and sent the martial artist 

sprawling across the deck.  



  He held up the heart crystal for the other to see.  



  "No, wait!" Sailor Moon cried.  "I can restore them!  

You can't...!"  



  "You have no understanding at all of the concept of 

life and death, do you?!" the salamander raged, anger 

flaring his flames.  The wind continued to whip against 

his cloak, and the flames of his hands fanned along 

with them.  "When the spark of life is torn from the 

flesh, the soul is granted its final reward.  How do 

you suggest that I punish my disciple in such a 

manner as this?"  



  "Mira's heart crystal," Shizuka realized.  "You can 

tell...?"  



  "You are no human," Cinder continued.  "No human 

would dare deprive the departed of final peace!"  



  "No, stop!!!" Sailor Moon screamed, almost pleaded.  



  "Master, look out!" the priestess warned.  



  The fire master had not been oblivious to the 

recovering Pantyhose Taro, and silently thanked the 

girl for her initiative as she headed off the attack 

intended for him.  The two locked their arms onto 

each other, each appearing just as strong as the other 

in the struggle, but Cinder knew Shizuka was far too 

weak to handle her opponent.  



  He glanced back toward the opposing posse, and saw 

that Ranma was dressing-down Sailor Moon with some 

words, his hand on her shoulder as he spoke.  Her 

extended arm wavered in place, but Cinder knew the boy 

would hold no sway over her.  



  Mustering all the force behind him, Cinder crushed 

the heart crystal in his claw, shattering it into a 

million pieces.  He thought he saw the traces of a 

ghostly visage wisp into nothingness, but thought 

better of it.  



  "Miranda Kusao, your soul is finally at peace," he 

eulogized.  "Join those who lay their lives for their 

masters in honor."  



  Without turning, Cinder ordered, "Keep him busy, 

girl.  The others are mine."  



  "Hah, easy for you to say," Shizuka muttered.  



  "Delicate souls," Taro hissed.  "I smell them within 

you, dragon spawn...!  I hunger for them!!"  



  "Then come and get them, puss-for-brains!" Shizuka 

snarled angrily.  



  Cinder held out his arms toward the Sailor Senshi, 

and the traitors Ranma and Ryoga... seven opponents in 

all.  Totally uneven, he decided, but then, the battle 

was always in his favor.  He wasn't the valued loyal 

retainer of Lord Kolvar na Strakil for nothing.  



  "I will defeat all of you," he challenged, his 

chasm voice carried by the wind.  "I will avenge my 

lord and master, my people, and my disciple... and I 

will destroy whoever gets in the way of the kami!!"  



  Ranma stepped forward, ahead of the others.  "If it's 

a challenge you want, you've got it!"  



  The boy behaves as if he was going to finish it all 

by himself, Cinder noted.  His fists flaring with a 

greater fire, he raised them up in the air, and brought 

them down quickly in an X-pattern.  Flames rocketed 

across the deck in the pattern.  "Fire Cross!"  



  And it was Neptune who stepped up to the plate.  

"Deep Submerge!"  



  A torrent of water jetted from her hands, but the 

force behind the Fire Cross was too much for the water 

force, transforming it to steam instantly and 

continuing its path.  The seven opponents scattered as 

the fire attack exploded with the full fury of the 

annihilated peoples.  



  "Cinder, you bastard!" he heard Ryoga shout.  "We're 

all on the same side!!"  



  Unfortunately for Ryoga, the fire master was standing 

over him, emerging from the smoke like a specter.  

"Twice now you've betrayed our cause, Hibiki.  Worm.  

You dare defy the will of gods, but I will not allow 

a third time!"  



--- 



  "I've had enough of you," Pantyhose Taro snarled, 

strengthening his hold on Shizuka enough such that she 

was forced to release her own grip.  "No matter how 

strong you think you are, you'll always be weak.  No 

matter how much heart you give, you'll never compete 

with the likes of me!"  



  He lifted her up with one hand, holding her by the 

neck.  



  "Bullshit," she cursed.  "You know nothing!"  



  "Shizuka!!" someone cried, probably Ranma.  



  "I pity anyone whose soul is as weak as yours," she 

spat.  "Better to have a frail body and weak mind than 

a weak soul.  You're no different than the other souls 

Deathclaw captured; you are a prisoner to your 

parasite."  



  "I'll soon rectify that!" he promised.  "Your use has 

come to an end, Shizuka; Deathclaw will become one with 

me, and I'll show you how frail and weak you really 

are!"  



  "Oh geez, you called me by my actual name," the 

priestess snorted, jeering to the last.  "I'm so 

privileged."  



  "Now," Taro declared, "the souls Deathclaw has 

hoarded over the centuries are mine!  I don't care for 

one heart crystal's loss when I can have hundreds more 

of similar quality and power!"  



  Black lightning crawled up his gloved arm, bathing 

the priestess of Genbu in dark energy.  The energy 

gathered at her heart, threatening to steal that which 

made her Shizuka.  



  But in all of it, she was laughing.  



  "What's so funny?!" he demanded.  



  "You're too late," Shizuka declared, laughing 

despite herself.  Unseen, hidden in her sleeve, she 

activated the charging mechanism of the Night Hammer.  



  Lightning rained from the sky, and the energy 

collectors that made up the deck illuminated.  All 

were blinded by the mass of energy collected for the 

second time from all around Earth, and the Dead End 

Buster hummed with power.  



  At the same moment, the three black crystal chunks, 

placed strategically around the Night Hammer, began 

to glow with their own, hellish light.  



--- 



Palace of Solitude, Nemesis 



  "It is done!" Sypha declared, finishing the summoning 

ceremony.  



  Instantly she teleported from her secluded chamber, 

and reappeared in the command center, satisfied that 

Kanna, Ukyo, and Mousse were still present and 

attentive.  Each held their eyes on the main 

viewscreen, watching as the five spires surrounding 

Darkhold illuminated the night sky with violet 

lightning.  A violet column of light emerged, 

enveloping the entire city in hellish energy.  A large, 

wedge shape flashed into view above, and Sypha knew 

her incantation was successful.  



  "Now the final battle begins," she declared.  







--------------------------------------------------- 



Author's Notes



  Stay tuned for the conclusion.  





--Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOhotmailSPAM.com) 

http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/index.html 



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