At long last, another chapter is complete! And for those of you who have
been asking me "Where's the action? When will we get back to the
fighting?" (okay, nobody's actually asked me that, but if you've been
thinking it, this will apply to you), here it is! Prepare for full-on
Sailor Scouts vs. Mewtwo action!

... after a brief word of thanks to my prereaders, without whose help
this chapter would be almost exactly the same as you see it, but without
those small edits that make a world of difference. If you'd like to join
this illustrious crew, let me know! Benefits include that good feeling
you get deep down because you've helped me, as well as being the first
to see the new chapters as I write them. You want that, don't you?


A General Time Paradox
Chapter 14: Sailors Reunited

    Sailor Jupiter leaned against the wall of the Crown Arcade to catch
her breath. One mad run carrying Tuxedo Mask, followed by a difficult
battle against Ryoko and then another top speed run back to her starting
point, had taken all of her energy. She was the first one back; she
could only pray that she was not going to be the last. The thought that
some of the others might not have survived their battles seemed
ludicrous - after all, they were Sailor Scouts, and they had survived
everything that had been thrown at them until now. But their strength
was in their teamwork; separated from each other, there was a chance
that the enemy would overpower them. Not to mention that the invincible
armored enemy had probably managed to track one of the others down and
had her all to itself for the duration of the battle with Ryoko. She
wouldn't believe that one of her friends was dead - not without proof,
at least - but it seemed likely that the Sailor Scouts would never fight
as a full group again. And with Mars out of the battle as well... things
didn't look hopeful for the home team.
    Still, the forward thinker in Jupiter demanded that she forget about
the worst that could happen to her friends and figure out her own best
course of action. With no sign of the enemy in the area, there was no
reason to leap into a battle she wasn't ready for. So her best bet would
be to stay where she was and recover while she waited for the other
Sailor Scouts to join her. Nothing else mattered, she told herself, but
her mind continued to race, making it nearly impossible for her to
relax.
    Minutes passed, and each tick of the clock in Jupiter's head added
its own fraction of certainty that none of the other Sailor Scouts were
going to make it to the meeting point. But she had to keep her faith and
wait for them. Alone, there was nothing she could do.
    "Hey! There's Sailor Jupiter!" shouted an excited voice from down
the street. Jupiter looked up to see both Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus
running toward her at full speed. She pushed herself from the wall and
went to meet them halfway for a big group hug.
    "I'm so glad to see you guys!" said Jupiter.
    "Same here," said Venus. "We were afraid Mewtwo had gotten to you."
    "Mewtwo?" asked Jupiter. "Is that the name of that thing in the
armor?"
    "That's what Lina called it," confirmed Venus. "But whatever it's
called, I don't look forward to meeting it again."
    "Everything will be all right," Sailor Moon assured them. "Sailor
Mercury will be here soon, and I know she'll have a plan."
    Jupiter's earlier doubt cast its shadow over her once again. "I hope
she makes it back alive."
    "What do you mean?" asked Sailor Moon, completely clueless.
    "I mean, there were only five of us when we got attacked by Mewtwo
before. It didn't come after me and Tuxedo Mask, and it didn't go after
you two, so..."
    The other two moved their lips silently as they performed the mental
calculations. Venus was the first to arrive at Jupiter's conclusion.
"So, it must have gone after Mercury?"
    "Well, that's all right then!" Sailor Moon said optimistically. "If
anyone could figure out how to fight Mewtwo, it's Sailor Mercury."
    "I sure hope you're right," replied Jupiter. "But I have a bad
feeling...."
    "There's nothing to worry about," Sailor Moon insisted. "She'll be
here any minute. I can feel it."
    "But what if Mewtwo gets here first?" asked Venus, picking up on
Jupiter's concern. "Without Sailor Mercury, there's no way we'll be able
to come up with a useable plan."
    "Don't count us out just yet," Jupiter reprimanded her. "Maybe we're
not geniuses like she is, but we're not helpless, and I'm not going to
stand here waiting for her because I don't think I can do anything.
We've all got brains, and there's nothing wrong with them!" She glanced
aside at Sailor Moon, who selectively failed to notice.
    Venus half-smiled. "You're right, Jupiter. We've got no one to
depend on but ourselves."
    "I don't know..." said Sailor Moon hesitantly. "I don't want to
doubt my friends."
    "Don't think of it that way," replied Jupiter. "We're not saying
that she won't come in time. We're just making sure we have all our
bases covered. When Sailor Mercury shows up, we'll have a plan already
set up, and she can start from there. And if it happens that Mewtwo
beats her here," she added with a shrug, "we'll have a chance to defend
ourselves."
    Sailor Moon pondered Jupiter's words carefully. "Okay," she agreed
at last. "Let's put our heads together and come up with a way to beat
Mewtwo!"
    The girls nodded and formed a huddle in the middle of the street.
"Let's see," Jupiter began. "My electricity wasn't able to get through
Mewtwo's barrier, and neither was Sailor Moon's tiara. So I guess we'll
have to try Venus' Crescent Beam and see how that works."
    "I've still got the Crescent Moon Wand," Sailor Moon pointed out,
holding the device up to demonstrate. "I was going to try using it
before, but I didn't get the chance."
    "Good," Jupiter encouraged her. "We need to come up with every
possible scenario."
    "So, what do we do if neither of those attacks work?" asked Venus.
    Jupiter sighed. "I don't know. I'm fresh out of ideas."
    "Maybe we'd be better off planning an escape," suggested Venus.
    "I don't think that's an option either," said Jupiter. "Mewtwo can
lift us right off the ground like it did before, and we wouldn't even be
able to move. Whatever we do, we're going to have to make our stand as
soon as it shows up."
    "I've got it!" shouted Sailor Moon. "We can hide somewhere nearby,
and when Mewtwo shows up, we blast it with every attack we've got all at
once!"
    "An admirable idea," said a deep voice in the minds of the Sailor
Scouts, "but I'm afraid there is a significant flaw. I have been
monitoring your minds since we met, so I know where you are at all
times."
    "It's here!" Jupiter shouted unnecessarily, spinning around to look
for the source of the voice. The street was empty except for the three
Sailor Scouts and a few cars still parked along the curb. It didn't
occur to her to look up until it was too late. She felt herself float
up, her feet losing contact with the ground, and the familiar sickening
weightless sensation gripped her again. The other two girls echoed her
surprised squeal as they, too, rose above the street surface. Mewtwo
descended from the sky to their level, its impassive stare examining the
three of them as if it had never seen them before.
    Venus managed to recover her senses quickly and leveled her finger
at Mewtwo. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!"
    Mewtwo didn't bother to acknowledge the beam as it struck the
invisible shield and dissipated in a harmless ripple. Instead, it moved
its hands in a complicated pattern, causing the three girls to spin and
bob in the air. "Enjoy your last moments of life while you can. Soon, I
will make you beg for death just as Sailor Mercury did."
    Sailor Moon gasped in horror. "What did you do to Mercury, you
monster?"
    "That word again..." said Mewtwo, apparently very displeased at the
sound of it. "I do what I am ordered in exchange for my freedom. What is
so monstrous about desiring to be free?"
    "No one can force you to hurt innocent people," countered Sailor
Moon. "Someone as powerful as you can always ACK!" Her body tensed as
one of Mewtwo's fists clenched tightly, cutting her sentence off
prematurely. Sailor Moon's hand rose to her throat, grasping at air as
her jaw fell open and her tongue involuntarily protruded from her mouth.
A strangled gurgle escaped her lips.
    "Shut up," Mewtwo deadpanned. "I know that you do not fully
understand my situation. The 'advice' you offer is useless to me."
    "Stop that!" shouted Jupiter. "You're killing her!"
    "In case you hadn't noticed," Mewtwo returned disdainfully, "that is
the intention."
    Jupiter growled angrily, but forced herself to resist the urge to
stick her neck out any further. From what she'd seen already, Mewtwo
would have no problem turning away her attack and counterattacking with
lethal force while not letting up at all on Sailor Moon. To her right,
Venus clenched her fists, similarly frustrated but equally powerless.
    Suddenly, Mewtwo released its choke hold on Sailor Moon, leaving her
alternately coughing and gasping for air. "Strange," it said. "I don't
understand your thoughts. I am trying to kill you, yet you feel...
something with which I am not familiar. There is fear, and yet there is
another emotion. You seem to genuinely wish to help me."
    "It's called compassion," offered Sailor Venus, immediately wishing
she hadn't.
    "Com-pas-sion." Mewtwo performed the mental equivalent of rolling
the unfamiliar syllables on its tongue. "Caring for another enough to be
willing to make a sacrifice on that one's behalf? Why would you feel
this toward someone who is trying to kill you?"
    "Because..." Sailor Moon forced out through her crushed throat,
"it's not... your fault...." She had to stop for several sharp breaths
every time she ran out of air.
    "An interesting philosophy," mused Mewtwo. "Taking into account the
enemy's motives in addition to their actions when evaluating one's own
emotions... clearly, if it reduces willingness to fight against a
dangerous opponent, it is a weakness." It extended a paw, and Sailor
Moon doubled over in pain. "I must know what drives you to weakness,
human. I must discover how far you must be pushed before you are ready
to fight." Sailor Moon reeled several more times as Mewtwo attacked her
again and again.
    "Stop it!" Jupiter shouted despite herself. "She can't fight back!"
    "She does not try," Mewtwo corrected her, continuing to pound Sailor
Moon with its mind. "She withholds her most powerful attacks because she
sees no reason to harm me. The fact that I threaten to end her life is
not sufficient for her. Why is this?"
    "There is no reason to kill anyone, ever," replied Venus, terror
sapping the emotion that would normally have permeated her speech.
"There's always another way to solve your problems. That's what Sailor
Moon believes."
    Mewtwo chuckled, giving Sailor Moon a momentary reprieve before it
resumed the beating. "Ah, yes. Belief. The process of accepting a
proposition as true on a purely emotional basis when there is no
evidence to support it. Once again, emotions prove to be the cause of
weakness."
    Sailor Moon braced herself against the continuing psychic blows and
fought for the air to speak. "We... may... be... weak... but... our...
wills... are... strong!"
    "Breaking your body would be no challenge," agreed Mewtwo. "I shall
break your will as well, and then you will be completely broken."
    "Never..." moaned Sailor Moon. "You'll... never...." The next blow
struck her square in the face, and her head dropped as a trickle of
blood ran from her nose.
    "You may be strong-willed," Mewtwo admitted, "but your spirit
struggles with itself. It seeks survival, acceptance, peace.... My will
is focused on the fight. Therefore, when our wills collide in battle, it
is I who am the stronger."
    "There's more to strength than being able to fight," Jupiter put in,
although she had no clue why keeping Mewtwo talking seemed like a good
idea.
    Mewtwo turned its eyes on her for the first time, instantly making
her regret her decision. "Is that so? Then show me this strength of
which you speak." An invisible force pounded her in the stomach,
emptying her lungs in one violent burst. Her vision faded to a dull
beige plaid, and she had to fight to stay awake and prevent it from all
going black.
    Venus watched helplessly, nearly bursting with the desire to shout
something, or attack Mewtwo, or do anything at all so that she didn't
have to passively watch her friends being tortured. But that would
condemn her to share their fate. If she couldn't protect them, the least
she could do was avoid catching Mewtwo's attention and keep herself in
fighting shape.
    It worked for about twenty seconds, which she counted to herself as
a way to keep calm, before Mewtwo shifted its focus to her. A lump
formed in her throat as the blue lights in the visor burned into her.
"You are the one I saw earlier, before you assumed your current form."
    "What do you want with me?" asked Venus, her voice laced with fear.
    "That is what I hope to discover by examining you," it replied.
"Humans are such diverse creatures.... I feel that I could learn volumes
from each one of you."
    "What do you learn by hurting us?" she asked, searching for a way to
dissuade it from continuing its painful investigations.
    Venus felt Mewtwo's mind pressing on her body from all sides as it
responded to her question. "I learn that, for all that they laud their
superiority over Pokemon, humans are in fact weak and inferior
creatures. I learn that, while I have been a slave to humans my entire
existence, I have in fact gained nothing through that alliance." It idly
curled a hand into a fist, curling Venus' body backward into an arch,
and continued talking to itself over her screams. "Perhaps this is what
Chronite meant by setting me free. By defeating the Sailor Scouts, the
most powerful of humans, I will prove that Pokemon, and not humans, are
the superior race, destined to rule the world with humans as our
slaves!"
    "You haven't beaten us yet!" Venus defiantly forced through her
tightly clenched teeth, setting her jaw to prevent the screams from
escaping.
    "True," agreed Mewtwo, much to her dismay. "That is indeed a
problem. But it will not remain a problem for much longer." Venus felt
two sharp jolts on the sides of her head, and the world was suddenly
spinning in a dizzy rush. The logical part of her brain shut down,
preventing her from thinking in words any longer. Her consciousness was
reduced to a series of mental scribbles, jagged shapes of pain tearing
through a contorted background.
    Sailor Moon raised her head with an effort that felt like pulling it
out of a vise. "Stop that!" she shouted. "Leave them alone!"
    Mewtwo shook its head disdainfully. "There is still so much I do not
understand about humans." It raised its paws, and all three Sailor
Scouts' bodies stiffened straight as boards. "Fortunately, I have plenty
of time to learn."
*************************************************
    Amy sat up suddenly and shook the cobwebs out of her head. "Where am
I?" she asked. She was sitting on a hard floor, surrounded by - she had
to wait for her eyes to focus - shelves full of cans and pouches of all
sizes. Her left hip was throbbing painfully, and it took her a few
seconds to remember why. But once she did, the entire torture session at
the hands of Mewtwo played back through her mind, sending shudders
through her body. She had no idea how she'd escaped, or where she'd
ended up; but as long as she was free of Mewtwo's terrible curiosity,
she was in a good position.
    The same couldn't necessarily be said of the other Sailor Scouts,
though... if Mewtwo had managed to track her down, it could certainly
find the others as well, and who knew how much time it had had while she
was unconscious to do just that? Then again, what guarantee was there
that it wasn't searching for her right now? There was no telling how
secure this room was as a hiding place - although the fact that she
apparently hadn't been found yet was a good sign.
    Deciding that she couldn't rely on her safety until she'd figured
out where she was, Amy carefully pulled her left leg in, testing her hip
to make sure she'd be able to walk. There was a dull ache as her leg
moved, but no sudden stab of the type that would indicate a problem. The
only anomalous feeling was that of her heel hitting something on the
floor, pushing it aside. She looked down to see what it was, but what
she saw only proved that her eyes still hadn't recovered completely. It
appeared to be the Mercury Computer, intact and no worse for having been
shattered to pieces earlier that day.
    She blinked several times, afraid to touch the device for fear that
it was a cleverly constructed trap. It couldn't possibly actually be the
Mercury Computer. Then again, she had to assume that whoever had rescued
her had also left it here for her, which would imply that it was not
only safe, but advisable, to investigate it. Timidly, she scooped up the
computer and flipped the lid up.
    GREETINGS, SAILOR MERCURY, said the screen. INITIATING USER
INTERFACE.
    Amy stood up, watching the screen as the computer went through its
startup sequence. It appeared to be functioning, at least, and it had
recognized her identity. Still skeptical, she waited for the prompt and
typed in the command to access her personal data. Much to her surprise,
the computer instantly responded to her request; and even more
astonishingly, all of her settings were exactly as she had left them.
The list of files didn't appear to be missing any entries, and a quick
browse through a few random files confirmed that their contents were
intact. However it had happened, what she held was an exact copy of her
old computer, data and all.
    A thought struck her, and she quickly tapped in a new command.
"Computer, retrieve the entry from Sailor Mercury's journal concerning
the penetration of an enemy barrier."
    NO MATCH, responded the computer.
    "That's impossible!" she protested, entering another command.
"Access the Silver Millennium Data Archive and find the file."
    ACCESS DENIED, said the computer. ARCHIVE CANNOT BE ACCESSED FROM
THIS NODE.
    "Denied? But I was just...." Amy's voice trailed off as she realized
what had happened. Even though the copy was identical to the original
from her perspective, the data server from the Silver Millennium could
tell the difference, and wouldn't allow access to anything less than the
authentic Mercury Computer. The local copy of the file that she'd been
using was also gone, as was the entirety of her temporary directory. In
other words, there was no way to find out the end result of the former
Sailor Mercury's research.
    Amy resolutely set the computer aside. It was worthless to her
without the information she needed. If only she'd had more time to read
it while she still had access to the archive, or she'd thought to make a
copy of the file! But there was no time to bemoan the loss. As a Sailor
Scout, it was her duty to get back into the fight and protect her
friends, whether or not she had an answer from an expert.
    With a shout of "MERCURY POWER!" she was suited for action. Mercury
pulled down her visor and retrieved her computer. "See if you can locate
Mewtwo," she commanded it.
    SUBJECT LOCATED, said the screen. Her visor displayed a map of the
local area, marking her position as well as Mewtwo's with arrows. The
two markers were farther apart than she had expected, but still only a
few minutes away, if she ran at top speed and took a few shortcuts. She
committed the path to memory and packed her computer up again, mustering
her determination to fight against any odds.
    But as she left the building and wound her way through the streets
and back alleys of the Juuban District, her mind kept wandering back to
the few cryptic clues in the journal entry as if the solution could be
deduced from pure logic where the former Mercury's months of research
had failed. The combined powers of the Sailor Scouts could create a
breach in a shield if concentrated in a single spot for ten seconds, but
some other element was necessary to exploit that breach.... There had to
be a way to use it all to defeat Mewtwo, but how?
*************************************************
    How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? Days? It all felt the same
anymore. The agony of torture stretched as far as she could remember
into the past as well as the future. Existence was pain - she had a
name, and a home, and friends; but any attempt to visualize any of those
things ran into the same barrier of pain and drew a blank. There was no
outside to this world where everything was pain, no escape -
    No! She could not allow herself to let go like that! She had to
focus on something, anything... had to break free of the enclosure and
return her consciousness to the real world. She dug down deep, sought
any memory that was within her reach. Only one thing emerged from the
haze - a shining light, with a multifaceted crystal at its center. It
was a hole in the pain, and she moved toward it. She cupped her -
something - around it and let its warmth envelop her.
    Sailor Moon awoke. She was floating helplessly in Mewtwo's grip, her
body's pain so complete that she could no longer feel the individual
blows from the hostile mind. Everything was silent, even though she
could see Sailors Jupiter and Venus screaming just to her left. She
wondered if something was wrong with her ears, or she'd suffered some
kind of brain damage; but losing her focus made the world start to slip
away again. She concentrated on the image of the Silver Imperium
Crystal, blocking out everything that threatened to send her back into
the void.
    Her fingers curled around the handle of the Crescent Moon Wand, and
a new sensation broke through - the reassurance that the object in her
hand could give her strength. That was followed all too quickly by fear
that she might drop it and lose the one thing that could save her. But
she focused on the crystal, willed it to give her the strength to fight
back.
    At last, her body began to move. It felt like swimming through thick
soup, as if she'd been buried alive and was trying to claw her way to
the surface through six feet of packed earth. The wand in her hand
weighed as much as a car as she lifted it with her numb arms. Yet,
somehow, she found the power within her, and the wand reluctantly rose
at her command until it was directly between her and Mewtwo.
    The pain ebbed, and for a second, she thought that the Silver
Crystal was protecting her. Then Mewtwo's voice cut through the silence,
and she knew that it had merely stopped attacking her for the moment.
"What are you doing?" it asked. "Do you intend to strike me with that
wand?"
    Sailor Moon tried to reply, but her mouth was as unresponsive as the
rest of her body. It took all of her strength merely to hold the wand
where it was.
    "Your thoughts are so confused that even I cannot read them,"
announced Mewtwo. "How can you hope to accomplish anything when you
can't form a coherent thought?"
    "Wiiiiiiilinnnnnnnnn," moaned Sailor Moon. Her voice sounded as if
she was hearing it underwater, and she had to force herself to breathe,
reminding herself that she was not going to drown.
    "What was that?" asked Mewtwo.
    "I wwill win!" Sailor Moon repeated, finally feeling the strength of
the Silver Imperium Crystal within her. "I will defeat you!"
    "You have no idea how to do that," Mewtwo declared confidently. "I
can read your every thought, and you don't have a plan."
    She hated to admit it, even to herself, but the enemy was right. As
determined as she was to win, she still hadn't come up with a way to
beat Mewtwo. But she would find it, somehow.
    "I doubt you'll find a way to stop me," replied Mewtwo. "Your
precious crystal can't block the influence of my mind. It may be able to
keep you conscious, but you are still as helpless as your friends."
    Her friends.... She had to protect them! Something was burning
within her, an energy that she'd felt once before. Her body was filled
with the power to defend her friends, ready to burst out of her at any
moment. The words came to her as if by divine inspiration. "COSMIC MOON
POWER!" she shouted, pushing her life energy into the crystal.
    The beam of light that shot out of the Silver Crystal startled
Sailor Moon nearly as much as it did Mewtwo. Before the armored Pokemon
could react, the beam smashed into its shield, sending it flying down
the street with a surprised grunt. Sailor Moon dropped to the ground as
Mewtwo's concentration broke. Her feet touched down briefly, but her
weakened legs gave way and she fell unceremoniously onto her rump.
"Ow...."
    She felt a strong tug on her arm, and looked up into Jupiter's
concerned face. Jupiter's mouth was moving, but she couldn't make out
the words at first. Then, a tiny noise broke the silence as her hearing
slowly returned. "-ll right? Sailor Moon? Can you hear me?"
    She nodded. "I can now."
    "Can you stand up?" asked Jupiter. "We've got to get out of here
before Mewtwo recovers!"
    Sailor Moon got to her feet with Jupiter's help. "What about Venus?"
    "I'm fine," Venus groaned from her own position on the ground,
sounding not the least bit fine but willing to fake it in the interest
of escape.
    "So, it appears that I have underestimated your power," said Mewtwo
as the three Sailor Scouts gathered. The air grew hazy around the
Pokemon as it stepped forward, its armor clanking with each footfall.
"Or was it your willingness to fight that I underestimated? Either way,
it is plain to see that even your most powerful attack has had no effect
on me." It stopped where it was and stretched out its arms in a pose
that showed off its unharmed form even as mist circled around it, hiding
it from view. "The game is over, Sailor Scouts. It is time - what?" Its
'voice' broke off as the fog thickened, filling the street and covering
Mewtwo and the Sailor Scouts in its opaque depths. Sailor Moon grabbed
Jupiter and Venus' hands before she lost sight of them as well.
    A pair of feet hit the street behind them. "Sorry I'm late," said
Sailor Mercury. "Follow my voice, quickly!"
    Sailor Moon choked back her exclamation of joy. "We're right behind
you, Sailor Mercury!" she said. Mercury's footsteps took off through the
fog at a run, and Sailor Moon followed them with the other two girls in
tow.
    Mewtwo's voice roared in their heads. "WHERE ARE YOU?" it demanded.
    Sailor Moon felt a powerful wind cut right between herself and
Sailor Venus, tearing their grip apart. "Venus!"
    "It's got my leg!" Venus cried out.
    "Hang on!" shouted Sailor Moon, grasping blindly in the fog for
Venus' hand.
    "No!" Venus shot back. "Get out of here before it finds you too!"
    Sailor Moon's hand closed around Venus' wrist and immediately felt a
strong tug as Venus' arm was nearly pulled from her fingers. She
tightened her grip and pulled as hard as she could while Jupiter tugged
on her other arm. Much to her surprise, Venus popped free of Mewtwo's
grip with a cry of pain and fell to the street. Sailor Moon knelt over
her, ignoring the rush of wind past her as Mewtwo continued to reach out
blindly. "Venus, are you okay?"
    "I think my ankle's twisted," she moaned. "You're gonna have to
leave me here."
    "I'm not going to leave you behind," said Sailor Moon. She slid her
arms under Sailor Venus and picked her up. "If I have to carry you
halfway across the city again, I will." Something brushed past her leg
as she stood up to run toward the silhouette of Sailor Mercury that was
barely visible through the dissipating fog. She jumped at the cold touch
and nearly dropped Venus.
    "Come on!" Jupiter hissed loudly. "The fog's clearing! It's going to
find us!"
    "I can cover us for a while longer by using my Bubble Splash again,
but Mewtwo would hear the sound and track us," said Mercury.
    Sailor Moon hefted Venus and followed the sound of Mercury's voice,
weaving slightly to avoid the increasingly frequent blind gropes from
Mewtwo. She felt the air shifting behind her and sped up, emerging from
the fog right out front of the Crown Arcade. Paying more attention to
what was behind her than what was in front of her, she ran right into
Sailor Jupiter, who had stopped in the middle of the street. The three
girls collapsed in a heap.
    Mewtwo hovered above the girls, its arms crossed in a way that
suggested impatience bordering on anger. "When you don't know where you
are, your thoughts don't betray your positions. But you cannot be blind
forever, and what you see, I see."
    Sailor Mercury bravely stood in front of Mewtwo and raised her
hands. "MERCURY BUBBLES SPLASH!" she shouted, not bothering to hide her
power now that she'd been exposed.
    The fog thickened again as the bubbles burst, but Mewtwo's amused
laughter echoed in the heads of the Sailor Scouts. "This is some kind of
game to you, isn't it? You think you can hide from me?"
    Mercury leapt aside on pure reflex, feeling the skin of her left
upper arm burn as Mewtwo's attack grazed her. That was no attempt at
telekinesis; Mewtwo was going for the kill now. Another bright blue
flash gave Mercury barely enough time to throw herself to the ground as
another beam of psychic energy tore through the air where her head had
been, scattering the water vapor in its path.
    Sailor Moon shrieked in the distance as one of the missed attacks
nearly hit her, and Mewtwo's attacks began to fly in that direction,
splitting the air with wide blue beams. It didn't take long for Sailor
Moon to figure out that she needed to keep quiet, but she had to perform
some fancy acrobatic maneuvers to duck and dodge the increasingly
accurate blasts. Her grip on Sailor Venus loosened, and the other girl
slipped from her arms and rolled to safety.
    Mewtwo's form was easily visible now in the middle of a large hole
in the fog cover, and the rest of the fog was thinning from the repeated
psychic attacks that were stirring up the air. Mercury edged toward
Sailor Moon, keeping as quiet as possible and trying not to think about
where she was in relation to any landmarks that would give Mewtwo a
clear picture of her location. Her foot hit something soft, and she bent
down to see what it was. It rose to meet her halfway, and she found
herself peering into Venus' face through the dense ground-level mist.
She motioned for Venus to move toward Sailor Moon, and the two of them
crawled toward the dim shadow that was the target of Mewtwo's attacks.
    As they approached Sailor Moon's location, a large shadow loomed to
their left. Mercury turned, hoping that she'd found Sailor Jupiter, but
the shadow was far too large to be human. "Hello again," Mewtwo said
casually. "It's time for you to die now."
    Sailor Mercury's heart leapt into her throat as the blue light
emanating from Mewtwo's body intensified until it formed a corona. Her
hair stood on end as Mewtwo's energy continued to increase, building to
an undoubtedly fatal attack. There was no way to escape, but standing
still was suicide. "Run, everyone!" she shouted, spinning around to
search for a direction to flee. The corner of a brick building stood out
in the fog, and she ran toward it, praying that the others would be able
to get away while she kept Mewtwo busy.
    Two sets of running footsteps feel into synch with Mercury's,
dashing her hopes to pieces. Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter were
following her, and the sound of a third, erratic gait behind them
signaled Venus' best attempt to keep up. "I wanted you all to split up!"
shouted Mercury. "Mewtwo is going to kill all of us!"
    "That doesn't matter!" Sailor Moon shouted back. "Splitting up
nearly got us all killed before. This time, we stick together!"
    The fog thinned as they neared the corner that Mercury had seen
before, revealing a second corner just to its right. They were running
into an alley. But as the water vapor all around them took on the blue
glow of Mewtwo's aura, they knew that it was too late to turn back.
Death would claim them if they missed even a single step.
    The sound of their footsteps seemed to echo from all directions as
they passed through the mouth of the alley, and the smell of rotting
garbage assaulted them from the shadowed corners. But the sensations
were distant, like they were coming from another world. The far wall
appeared through a haze even though Mercury's fog hadn't reached the
alley. "Iitt'ss aa ddeeaadd eenndd!" she shouted, only now beginning to
feel her body slowing down.
    "Ccaann yyoouu ffeeeell tthhaatt?" asked Jupiter. "Iitt'ss tthhaatt
ttiimmee ddiissttoorrttiioonn aaggaaiinn, jjuusstt lliikkee llaasstt
nniigghhtt!"
    Mercury turned to look over her shoulder and see how the time
distortion was affecting Mewtwo, but her head was as slow to respond as
her mouth was. She had barely brought Mewtwo into her peripheral vision
before the cracks began to appear. They quickly spiderwebbed throughout
the sky, casting the world into a mosaic of colored shreds. Chills ran
through Mercury's body as she brushed against the non-space between
space, and parts of her body randomly went numb as the space they
occupied was torn apart.
    The Pokemon hovered at the mouth of the alley, completely hidden
within its blue glow. "I do not like this sensation," it announced. "I
will finish you quickly, and leave this world."
    "Hhee'ss nnoott sslloowweedd ddoowwnn?" Sailor Moon observed.
    The energy gathered into a giant ball in Mewtwo's hands. "Psychic
attack."
    "Nnoott iiff Ii ccaann hheellpp iitt!" shouted a determined voice to
Mewtwo's right.
    Mewtwo slowly turned its head to face its new opponent, but even
before it could bring her into view, a picture had formed in its mind.
She had long dark hair and wore a sailor uniform with a red skirt.
"Another Sailor Scout? Impossible!"
    Sailor Mars drew a spirit ward from her clothing and held it between
two fingers. "Ii ccaallll uuppoonn tthhee ppoowweerr ooff Mmaarrss!" she
chanted, and the limp paper became a flat, rigid sheet. She drew her arm
back and hurled the ward at Mewtwo with all of her might. The paper
spiraled through the air as if guided by a divine hand, navigating its
way between the cracks on its route to Mewtwo. As Mewtwo watched, the
ward sailed easily through Mewtwo's energy shield where one of the
cracks had split it open, proceeding unimpeded until it struck a patch
of bare pink fur above the armor on Mewtwo's right arm and burst into
flame on contact.
    All at once, the world turned upside down. The blue light winked out
instantaneously as Mewtwo fell to the ground, clawing at the burning
paper on its shoulder with stubby metal fingers that couldn't grasp it.
As the last of the light vanished, the universe collapsed into one piece
again with a thunderous clap that slowly became a high-pitched squeal.
    While the other Sailor Scouts ran from the alley to meet Sailor
Mars, Mercury waited behind, listening to the sound. "Its scream is
audible, not telepathic," she remarked. But what interested her about
the situation wasn't the scream. Sailor Mars' spirit ward was a solid
object, yet it had passed through Mewtwo's energy barrier using the
breach created by the cracks in space. Whatever those cracks were, they
set Mercury's spine on edge; she had no intention of trying to recreate
them even if it could lead to their foe's defeat. But the technique
she'd read about in the old Mercury's journal had done exactly that,
effectively - it created a breach in a barrier which a solid object
could pass through. And now that Sailor Mars was with them, they could
perform the technique... but how could they use it to their advantage
without falling victim to the weaknesses noted in the journal? There had
to be some simple element that she was overlooking which would bring all
of the pieces together....
    Meanwhile, the other Sailor Scouts were examining every inch of
Sailor Mars' body in disbelief, having exhausted the necessary quota of
congratulatory grateful hugs. "Not even a scratch!" Sailor Venus
exclaimed. "How did it happen?"
    "I don't know," Sailor Mars replied. "I thought I was dead, and then
I woke up totally healed." She glanced uneasily at Mewtwo. "Are you sure
it's a good idea to stand right next to that guy? I don't know how long
the ward will hold him."
    "Sailor Mercury will be out here any second," Sailor Moon said
confidently. "We're not leaving her behind again."
    At that moment, Mercury did indeed emerge from the alley, calling
out excitedly. "Sailor Moon! Your tiara! That's the key element that was
missing all along!"
    "Missing element?" repeated Sailor Moon. "I don't get it. Is this
one of those brainy things I'm not supposed to understand?"
    Mercury stopped right in front of the others. "Sailor Moon didn't
exist during the Silver Millennium. That's why Sailor Mercury never
found the solution she was looking for. But we have everything we need
to beat Mewtwo right here!"
    "I understood that last part," said Jupiter, clenching her fists
eagerly. "What do we do?"
    "Sailor Moon, use your Tiara Magic, but don't throw it just yet,"
instructed Mercury. "Everyone else, gather around her and follow my
lead."
    Sailor Moon nodded and removed her tiara. It became a discus that
floated just above her hand. "Now what?" she asked.
    "Hold it over your head," said Mercury.
    Mewtwo's body jerked suddenly. "I... WILL... KILL... YOU!" Its
stubby fingers finally managed to grasp the burning spirit ward, and it
peeled the paper away. The ward burned up completely, leaving not even
ash behind.
    "Whatever you're planning, Mercury," said Jupiter, "you'd better do
it quickly!"
    Mercury swallowed nervously. She'd hoped for a bit more time to
prepare the attack, but now everything rested upon Mewtwo being stunned
for long enough. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her Planet
Power, praying that her hastily conceived plan would work.
    She felt the power surging through her and knew that the time was
right. "Here we go!" she shouted. She raised her hands and pointed her
palms at Sailor Moon's tiara. "By the power of Mercury!" she shouted. A
stream of water gushed from her hands toward the discus, wrapping it in
a bubble. 'Yes!' she thought to herself. 'It's working!'
    Jupiter was the first one to understand. "By the power of Jupiter!"
she shouted, extending her hands toward the discus. Lightning shot from
her palms into the bubble of water, where it became a crackling mesh of
sparks.
    Next, Mars raised her arms. "By the power of Mars!" Plumes of flame
leapt from her palms and collected into a fireball in the center of the
bubble. The fire continued to burn on the surface of the discus,
heedless of the aquatic environment.
    Finally, it was Venus' turn. "By the power of Venus!" Pure love
energy poured from her hands and flowed around and through the violent
mixture of elements surrounding the discus, blanketing the entire
concoction in its warm glow.
    "And by the power of the Moon," finished Sailor Moon. The four
elemental energies swirled together into a homogenous white light that
was blindingly bright, yet not painful to look at. "Let our combined
powers strike down our enemies!" she chanted, winding up to throw the
powered up projectile. "SAILOR SCOUTS COMBINED TIARA MAGIC!"
    Mewtwo stood up to face the tiara as it approached. "Useless." The
blue lights flared in its visor, and the tiara spun off to the side,
missing Mewtwo by half the width of the street.
    "No!" cried Mercury. "We were so close!"
    Sailor Moon screwed her eyes shut and focused all her thoughts on
the errant attack, willing it to turn around and strike Mewtwo from
behind. The discus circled through the air like a boomerang and
reoriented itself on its target. Mewtwo flew up out of its path, and the
discus barely missed taking off Sailor Mars' ear as it sailed right
through the ranks of the Sailor Scouts.
    "So, it's a battle of wills you want?" asked Mewtwo. "That is a
fight that I WILL win." It laughed at its own joke even as its eyes
glowed and it sent the discus off course again.
    "Come on, guys, help me!" pleaded Sailor Moon through clenched
teeth. "Your energy's in it too! If we all work together, we can beat
Mewtwo at its own game!"
    "What are you talking about?" hissed Venus as she dodged another
attempt by Mewtwo to destroy the Sailor Scouts with their own attack.
    Mercury picked up Sailor Moon's meaning immediately. "Everyone,
concentrate on the tiara," she commanded. "Use your mind to move it like
Sailor Moon does!" Without waiting to see if the others understood, she
concentrated on the energy that she'd put into the attack and felt it
circling overhead. She closed her eyes and let an image form in her
mind, seeing the discus as clearly as if she was looking at it. She
could feel the life within the tiara as well as her own energy in the
water, and she knew that Sailor Moon was giving it everything she had.
    Mercury did her best to steer the discus, but it continued on its
own course despite her efforts. The most she managed to do was make it
wobble a bit in flight as it curved through the sky and shot downward to
attack the Sailor Scouts again. Mercury's reflexes warned her to move,
but every ounce of her strength was devoted to the mental battle. Then,
the discus took a sharp dip in mid-dive, and she could feel that Sailor
Jupiter was working with her. Mars and Venus joined simultaneously
shortly after that. As one, the five minds grasped the tiara and halted
it millimeters from Sailor Moon's nose, then sent it spinning back
toward Mewtwo.
    Mewtwo's blue aura filled the entire sky as it poured everything it
had into stopping the approaching tiara. It sank slowly to the ground,
then fell to its knees as beads of sweat began to appear on every inch
of exposed skin, rapidly evaporating in the heat of Mewtwo's exertion.
Still the tiara continued to advance, until Mewtwo had to throw itself
aside to dodge. "So, you think you can overpower me if you work
together?" it asked as it stood up. "Well, think again! I can still read
your minds, and I know every move you plan to make!" It leapt aside as
the tiara sliced through the air where it had been, then teleported to
the far side of the group of Sailor Scouts, placing them directly in the
tiara's path. The discus arced easily over the Sailor Scouts and homed
in on Mewtwo again, forcing it into the sky.
    "This cannot go on," said Mewtwo, panting with exertion. "Forget
these silly mind games. I have my own path to victory!" It clenched its
fists, and the Sailor Scouts rose into the air toward Mewtwo. Their
concentration broke as their bodies were twisted into agonizing
positions. "Now, scream for me!" commanded Mewtwo. "Scream before you
die!"
    "Never!" shouted Sailor Moon. She held the Crescent Moon Wand in
front of her body like a shield.
    Mewtwo laughed. "That little toy? You know it has no power over me!"
    "A distraction," whispered Sailor Moon as the tiara buried itself in
the armor protecting Mewtwo's chest. "I guess you can't concentrate on
so many things at once."
    Sparks arced across Mewtwo's entire body, and the Pokemon screamed
in pain as it fell to the ground, letting the Sailor Scouts fall as
well. They all stood up to admire Sailor Moon's handiwork. "You did it!"
Venus congratulated her.
    "That was amazing!" agreed Jupiter. "I thought we were goners for
sure!"
    "Don't celebrate yet, everyone," warned Mars. "It might not be
finished just yet."
    Indeed, Mewtwo's screaming ended quickly as the sparks died. Mewtwo
stood up, its chestplate and backplate dropping to the ground as it
righted itself. The gloves and boots split apart and fell off as well,
and Mewtwo reached up with its misshapen hands to remove the helmet from
its head. What stood before them now, unclothed, was a gaunt yet
powerful-looking beast with softly glowing lavender fur. Its long arms
and squat legs terminated in triads of digits that were as round as golf
balls, and appeared useless for grasping. The tail that protruded from
its back attached to the rear of its catlike head. Its face was flat and
triangular, with a tiny mouth and eyes that held all the intelligence
that they knew Mewtwo to possess.
    Mewtwo raised its arms and examined its hands as if seeing them for
the first time. "My armor... destroyed. I had forgotten this feeling. I
had forgotten what it felt like... to be free."
    The Sailor Scouts watched as Mewtwo flexed its muscles and tested
its body's capabilities without the armor. "It seems to have forgotten
about us," observed Mercury.
    "Maybe that armor was controlling him," said Venus. "Now that we've
gotten rid of the armor, it's probably not our enemy anymore."
    "The Mercury Computer did say that the armor was restrictive,"
Mercury recalled.
    Sailor Moon cleared her throat and bravely stepped forward. "Um,
Mewtwo...?"
    Mewtwo raised its head to look at her. "You destroyed my armor," it
said matter-of-factly.
    "Yes, that's right," replied Sailor Moon. "Is that bad?"
    "No, no," said Mewtwo. "I'm actually quite grateful."
    Sailor Moon heaved a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad...."
    Mewtwo raised its hand and sent Sailor Moon flying into the sky.
"Now I remember why the humans put me in that armor. They were afraid of
my awesome power!"
    Venus and Jupiter scrambled to catch Sailor Moon as she plummeted
back to the ground. "I changed my mind!" shouted Venus. "It's not
friendly at all!"
    Mewtwo's entire body emitted the familiar blue glow as all five
Sailor Scouts rose into the air. Sailor Moon reached for the nearest
hands, but the girls were torn from each others' grip and flung in
opposite directions, forming a wide circle around Mewtwo. "Ah, ah, ah,"
it mocked them. "I'm afraid I can't let you use your combined attack
again."
    "Why are you doing this?" shouted Sailor Moon. "You're free! You
don't have to kill us!"
    "Oh, but I do," replied Mewtwo. "It was humans who built that armor
and made me wear it. It was humans who hid me in a cage and used my
powers as they saw fit. It is humans who even now fancy themselves the
owners of the world, even going so far as to silence the very power that
they created which could rise above them and destroy them all!"
    The Sailor Scouts stared in muted horror as the Pokemon issued its
ultimatum.
    "I finally understand my destiny," announced Mewtwo. "This is the
power that was created to rule the world! The humans who sought to
control me will die, all of them... and those before me shall be the
first!" It held its paws in front of its body, fingers pointed inwards,
and a giant ball of blue light formed between them. At once, the
universe split apart again, but Mewtwo ignored the instability and
stared straight into the eyes of Sailor Moon, who was directly in front
of it. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for freeing me from my
prison," said Mewtwo, without the slightest hint of gratitude. "I
promise that your deaths will be swift."

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

LEO: I can't drive since my license got suspended.
HYDE: What did you do?
LEO: I dropped it in a glass of soda, and it just hung there, like,
suspended... then while I was looking at it, I ran a red light.

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