And here we go again. All comments are, as always, welcomed.
Aaron Nowack
"Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis."
http://www.geocities.com/anowack/ (for now)
Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack
Chapter 3: Inferno of Battle
"Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war!"
-Anthony, 'The Tragedy of Julius Caesar'
***********************************************************************
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, whose creative
talents far exceed my most humble own. Distribution and other rights to
Sailor Moon belong to lots of different companies that I do not own. I
make or imply no claim to ownership of Sailor Moon or its characters.
However, the text of this fanfic and all original characters presented
within are mine, and should not be used without permission. Thank you.
***********************************************************************
Ixitar knelt before his lord, the stench of fear surrounding
him. Already the vultures had started circling in for the kill. A force
from the Mountains of Desolation, a powerful alliance on the northern
border of Jadeite's territory, was approaching the borders of his
domain. A fleet sent by Pesilitar, the new Overlord of Tempest Island,
would arrive shortly after them. He had no resources left to fight off
the attackers. His only hope was that Jadeite would take offense to
such conflicts, and move to stop him.
Jadeite motioned for the Overlord to speak. Stammering, Ixitar
began. "Lord Jadeite... I regret to inform you that the Senshi have
somehow managed to defeat my forces, and I have no more to send against
them. I can no longer continue operations against them."
Jadeite frowned, and the fear stench intensified. In the crowd,
Ixitar heard Asphara whisper something to her consort Ishamanar, who
laughed and nodded in reply. "I see only your own cowardice, Overlord
Ixitar. You were not there to lead your forces, and they were defeated
because of it."
"My Lord Jadeite, I have always been your loyal servant!
Please, grant me mercy! I beg it of you!" Ixitar pleaded.
"Beryl would have put you into the Eternal Sleep for this
disaster. But, I will be more merciful." Jadeite pointed one finger at
the cowering youma. "Incinerate."
Ixitar's barely begun thanks turned into a scream of terror.
"No, Lord Jadeite! Please, mercy, mercy..." The youma resumed
screaming as he caught on fire. The ever present low rumble of
conversation came to a halt as Ixitar slowly burnt. The stumbling
figure was wreathed in white flames and the stench of burnt flesh filled
the stale air. After what seemed an eternity, Ixitar collapsed and the
screams stopped. Soon, all that was left was a pile of white ash.
Silence reigned for several more moments.
Jadeite smiled. "So perish all who fail me. Or defy me." He
looked pointedly at the emissary from the Mountains of Desolation.
The emissary, a massive minotaur like creature, stepped forward,
no fear evident in his posture. "I believe that the Mountains will be
most willing to accept your claim to the throne, if you will grant us
the territory formerly held by Ixitar."
Jadeite nodded. "Granted." A small price to pay, for securing
his weakly defended northern border. He ignored the glare from
Pesilitar. Perhaps that Overlord's insolence would have been dealt with
at once, but Nyxan, another Overlord, lay a restraining hand on the rash
youma's shoulder, and Pesilitar backed down.
The emissary bowed. "With your permission, I will lead the next
strike against the Senshi, to demonstrate our strength."
Jadeite sized up the emissary for a moment. "Very well. Bring
me back the Senshi's heads." The minotaur seemed smart enough that he
must have a plan. Perhaps this battle might be worth observing in
person.
***********************************************************************
On Earth, things had been quiet for just over a week, much to
the relief of the Senshi. Though they had been relatively easily
defeated, four youma attacks in two days had exhausted them. All
efforts to contact Pluto failed, much to the disappointment of both the
Inner and Outer Senshi. Whatever answers they had hoped for would have
to wait. Of course, that was the reason Pluto was gone at all. She
knew she could not aid them, not in that fashion.
Pluto stared silently at her second most important charge, in
the center of the small courtyard that was the heart of her fortress,
Castle Charon. On a raised dais, ten concentric circles surrounded a
simple mural of the sun.
With a sure stride, Pluto stepped forward until she stood before
the outermost, darkest circle. She carefully placed her staff into a
small hole, a practiced gesture. She reached out with her senses through
the hole, meticulously examining the vistas now open to her.
She probed the first boundary she felt. As expected, it was
broken and decaying. Pluto kept her mind's touch delicate, to avoid
being attacked by one of the creatures within. What areas she could,
Pluto strengthened, but most were damaged beyond repair. A grimace
appeared on her face as some of the inhabitants started to force their
way through. Until recently, the damage had seemed to be stable, and
even beginning to reverse itself. Now, the barrier was decaying faster
than ever before.
Pluto then turned to the second barrier. This one was flawless,
impermeable. No being of Metallia's might had intervened when Queen
Serenity had laid down this ward. However, Pluto was no less thorough
in her examination of this one then she had been in that of the first.
An undetected breach here could be a disaster. Particularly with the
Champions awake.
This duty complete for now, Pluto removed her staff from the
hole. She turned her face upward, staring for several moments at the
distant sun, and remembered a time far in the past. A time when the
dark, silent castle that surrounded her had been filled with life and
cheer. A time when every generation, twenty of the most powerful people
in the solar system would journey here to train and be forged into a
team. An unbreakable team, upon whom billions of people had depended. A
team that had been held together by a history stretching throughout
almost eight thousand years.
Pluto also remembered how that team had been sundered. She
recalled the angry voices, the barely restrained attacks as over a
decade of bad blood came to a boil in one terrible day. She remembered
how Saturn and Ares had confronted each other, weapons crackling with
energy. Most of all, she remembered a handful of sentences, words that
still haunted her sometimes to this day, ten thousand years later.
"This is all your fault, Pluto." He had filled her title with
hatred, refusing to use the name he alone now knew. She had often
requested, politely and otherwise, that he not use that name again, but
somehow it still hurt. "All that follows comes from your decision. For
fifteen years, this has been brewing." For far more than fifteen years,
she knew, but she could not tell him that. "But it still need not have
happened." Again, he was wrong, but her tongue remained silent. "You
made your decision, and Queen Serenity acted on it. The blood of all
who die as a result is on your hands, daughter."
He had stormed out of the room, and had boarded the spaceship
for Mars by the end of the hour. The next time they met, he had been
leading a squad of assassins sent to kill her.
***********************************************************************
Tamori glared at the uncooperative pink liquid. Whatever this
stuff was, it wasn't like anything he had seen before. There were traces
of what could be some sort of genetic material, but whatever they were
made of wasn't DNA or RNA. Which fit, he guessed, as the liquid wasn't
supposed to come from Earth, or even the solar system.
The college student briefly shuddered at the thought. He had
known that what had happened at Mugen High was odd, but this was more
than he had expected. Alien invaders bent on world destruction, demonic
possession, the works. And some of the victims were right under this
roof. Apparently, the cute little baby had been a twelve year old girl
a few weeks ago. Spooky.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, Tamori went back to trying to
find something the odd liquid would react with. He wished he had some
of those... daimon eggs... the Professor had called them, so he could
observe the reaction with them. Or on second thought, maybe not. He
liked his heart where it was, thank you very much.
Wrapped up in his musings, Tamori didn't notice the soft
footsteps behind him until the person began to speak. "Hello?"
Tamori turned around, seeing a six year old girl with blackish
hair and startling purple eyes. "Um... who are you?"
The girl smiled. "I'm Tomoe Hotaru. Who are you?"
Tamori blinked. Twice. "Uh... I'm Inusha Tamori, the lab
assistant. Er... weren't you a baby this morning?" The words sounded
weak in his own ears. What had he gotten himself into?
The girl who called herself Hotaru giggled. "Sort of. I
think."
Tamori saw the door at the top of the stairs leading down to the
lab open. One of the three women who boarded at the Tomoe place,
Michiru, if he recalled correctly, stepped into the room. "Tamori, have
you seen... Hotaru?!! Tamori, what happened here?"
Tamori smiled weakly at Michiru. "Good question."
Hotaru tugged on Tamori's lab coat. "Tamori, what's that?"
Tamori saw that the girl was pointing at the beaker of pink liquid.
"Another good question. That's what I'm trying to find out."
Somehow he knew something weird was going to happen.
Hotaru frowned. "I don't like it. It feels bad." Tamori
almost saw a flicker of an image on Hotaru's forehead as she glared at
the beaker. However, his attention was diverted as all the samples in
sight turned into what looked like water.
Tamori stood open mouthed. For an instant, he had felt...
connected to something greater than himself. Images had seemed to
appear before him, but vanished before he could see them. Memories had
been recalled, only to vanish like mirages. This job was really weird.
But, at least it wasn't boring. Nobody, not even him, noticed the word
he had softly whispered.
"Saturn."
***********************************************************************
Ikawa sat back as his "date" continued describing the latest
exploits of Usagi the meatball head. She definitely painted a very
different picture of the other girl than Mamoru did the few times he
could be convinced to speak of her. It seemed as though this time Usagi
had stumbled over what Rei described as an imaginary, deceased, homeless
turtle.
As Rei continued to wax elegant over her best friend's multitude
of shortcomings, Ikawa mused over his "relationship" with the girl
before him. He told himself that it was nothing more than a game, but a
small, rebellious part of him said otherwise. The rest of him objected
strongly to that sentiment. Not only had he only known her a few days,
but she wasn't even in high school yet! Hell, if you looked at it the
right way, he was eight thousand years older than her! But... but
nothing.
Ikawa glanced around the sunlit cafe, wondering when the next
youma attack would come. He needed to be ready for it when it did. The
worst part of being a defender of justice, millennia of experience told
him, was not the fighting, but the waiting. If he had some backup, he
could try to take the fight to the enemy - assuming he could find where
Beryl was hiding now. No backup was available, though. Any hopes he
might have had of forging some sort of truce with the Senshi seemed to
be rapidly disintegrating.
He really did need to find and Awaken his brethren. It was
obvious that the trigger for his Awakening had been the same as always -
exposure to a source of magic of the appropriate element. There was
only one source of such magic now - the Senshi. If he could expose his
unawakened brethren to them... but the question was, how would he set up
such an occurrence, much less actually find the others or recognize them
when he did?
Part of that question was answered as his gaze settled on a
pretty redheaded waitress, who was currently serving, or perhaps
gossiping, with a group of girls at a table on the other side of the
cafe. The first thing he noticed was one of the group matched the
descriptions he had heard of the mysterious Usagi, and in fact, he
thought he might have seen her once or twice before. He guessed she was
probably spying on the "date". The second thing that he noticed was
that he recognized the waitress.
The redhead was a perfect likeness of Aphrodite's last
incarnation. Indeed, now that he realized that, he could practically
feel the energy radiating off her. Her every motion brought back
memories, from peaceful scenes on Luna or Pluto to the bloodstained
battlefields of Venus. Indeed, the Planet of Light, the most peaceful
of the ten elements, had been home to some of the bloodiest fighting of
the war, while Mars, the Planet of Fire, the most warlike magic, had
hosted only a single battle of consequence... Vulcan's Gap. He
remembered the mixed feelings of triumph and disgust as flight after
flight of flaming arrows had slammed into the chaotic mass of fleeing
loyalists-
An irritated snort interrupted Ikawa's recollections. He looked
up to see Rei glaring at him.
"You know, it isn't polite to look at other women when on a
date," she stated.
"Sorry... she just reminded me of someone," Ikawa replied, a
little embarrassed.
"Well, she should! You know Mamoru's friend Motoki, right?" Rei
said, and Ikawa nodded briefly. Rei grunted, still irritated. "She's
his little sister, Unazuki."
***********************************************************************
It was a particularly dark corner of the Dark Kingdom. Powerful
warding spells prevented even Jadeite himself from learning of what was
occurring in this small chamber, deep within the catacombs that lay
beneath his very own palace. Even one who was present could not see
what was occurring, for in this hidden sanctum darkness ruled unopposed.
"Do you think Malvaar will survive?" The speaker was referring
to the former ambassador from the Mountains of Desolation, recently
departed to confront the Sailor Senshi.
"Perhaps. He's both strong and cunning. He wasn't the second
in command of Kunzite's legion for nothing," the other figure present
replied.
"You could be right. We must make plans for either case." The
first speaker paused, testing the wards again.
"Aye. However, our ultimate goal remains the same, regardless."
The second conspirator began to pace nervously. "We must find the
Diamonds. If we can get all five, victory will be assured."
The other youma nodded. "One will be enough, if we have the
energy. Though if we don't have any, all the energy in the universe
won't do us any good."
"Where is the one that Beryl used? She had to have had one!"
The second let a small amount of irritation into his voice.
"I think someone has found the Flame Diamond. Perhaps Jadeite
discovered it in Beryl's chambers?" the first asked.
"We've searched those ten times over. They were picked clean of
anything with even a scrap of power long before Jadeite reappeared," the
second responded. He continued, "In any case, what should we do about
Asphara?"
The first smiled. "Don't worry. She is under control."
The second did not share his companion's mirth. "I hope you're
right."
Hidden in the darkness, Asphara smirked. The second speaker
spun about, his eyes unerringly finding her. "You let her in here?" he
asked, real anger in his voice.
"It is more than safe," the first speaker responded.
"I trust you - I suppose I must by now. Her... I do not. I
want her gone."
"As you wish." The first speaker gestured, and Asphara
vanished.
"Does she know what we plan?"
"Not yet. You're far too nervous about this, my friend."
The distinctive click of claws being extended and retracted
could be heard. "I have a right to be. I'd not want Jadeite to learn
of this, and there are others I'd like to face even less."
***********************************************************************
It was an ordinary day. Ikawa pounded his desk in frustration.
Part of the reason was his ponderings about yesterday's revelation of
Aphrodite's identity. The more immediate reason was the failure of his
sixth attempt to get the graphing program he needed for a math
assignment to run properly on his computer. Whatever the problem was,
it was beyond his own rudimentary skills with the infernal device.
"OK... who to ask for help?" Ikawa mused mentally. "Perhaps...
yeah. Meno ought to know, if anyone would."
Ikawa stood and left his one room apartment. He walked down the
hall of the run-down building, which catered to the college student on a
budget who didn't want to live on campus. He stopped in front of a door
labeled Urawa Meno. There he paused a moment... he didn't know much
about the man who lived in this room, for all that they shared half
their classes. What he did know was that he was something of a computer
expert.
He was about to knock when the door swung open revealing the
room's inhabitant. Meno gave Ikawa an odd look before brushing back his
long, white-gray hair and saying, "Oh, hi. Fuarku Ikawa, right? Do you
need something?"
"I need some help getting that graph program from math class to
work," Ikawa began.
Meno smiled. "OK. I'll see what I can do for you. " The two
headed back down to Ikawa's room. It only took Meno a few moments to
determine the problem. "See, Ikawa? This program was written for older
computers - it won't run very well on a new machine like this." He took
a disk out of his pocket, and inserted it. "The latest version,
however, should." The computer whirred briefly as the program
installed. "There you have it."
Ikawa grinned. "Thanks."
Meno rose and headed towards the door. "No problem." After he
left the room, Meno gave an odd little smile. His little brother had
been right once again - which made him likely to be right about the rest
too. Ikawa ought to get the message he had placed on his computer
tomorrow. Meno checked his watch, and noted that he still had a few
hours to kill before he had to head to the park.
Inside the room, Ikawa was working on the math assignment, but
the vast majority of his attention was spent on developing a plan for
his next encounter with the Senshi.
***********************************************************************
The sun was starting to get low in the sky when the Dark Kingdom
strike force finally made it through the dimensional barrier. No one
noticed the three massive figures that appeared in a shadowy grove of
trees.
Malvaar paused to give final instructions to his companions.
"Remember, stick together. And if the Senshi show up, start preparing a
portal out of here."
The two lesser youma nodded, and with a mighty roar, the three
minotaurs burst from the trees, swiftly beginning to drain energy from
the unlucky bystanders. First by ones, but then by dozens, the humans
began dropped.
This activity set off alarms on Ami's computer, and within
moments, she had the other Senshi on her communicator. "Listen up. I've
detected another youma attack... down by the park." After hearing the
confirmations from her teammates, she dialed the number of the Tomoe
house, and informed the Outer Senshi as well.
Back at the park, the roof of a nearby building was disturbed by
a whirl of flame, as Jadeite teleported there. He gave a brief moment
of attention to establishing his cloaking spells before settling down to
watch the events to come.
Moments later, Ares arrived at the park. He avoided the youma's
attention, and hid behind a tree. He then waited for the Senshi's
arrival.
***********************************************************************
The Senshi, minus Pluto, gathered at the far end of the park.
Mercury quickly tapped away on her computer. "OK, I'm picking up three
youma energy signals." She frowned. "If what I'm getting is correct,
each of them is roughly five times the strength of the youma we've been
facing normally."
Venus smiled. "You know the saying, the bigger they are, the
more pennies they save!" The other Senshi gave their teammate an odd
look, and her smile widened. "Just kidding."
Sailor Moon spoke up. "Does anyone know if Pluto's coming?"
When the others replied negatively, she sighed.
Uranus merely grunted, and muttered something that might have
been "Good riddance," though only Neptune was close enough to tell.
"Let's get this done with," she said an instant later in a louder voice.
"Neptune and I will take one of them. Can you five take the other two?"
Sailor Mars nodded curtly, and the two Outer Senshi raced
towards the youma. A few instants later, the others followed. Uranus
was the first to attack, with a long range World Shaking. A barrage of
other attacks quickly joined it.
The three youma reacted with speed that belied their large size.
One charged towards the Senshi, running straight through a Burning
Mandala, apparently only minorly hurt. The second dodged to one side,
avoiding the Senshi's attack. The third, and largest, calmly caught the
World Shaking in one hand, ignoring the other blasts that slammed into
it's thick hide.
Then, the minotaur laughed, raising the captured attack in one
hand. "I'm afraid you have bit off a bit more than you can chew,
Senshi. Know that I, Malvaar, second in command to Lord Kunzite, will
send you to your graves to avenge my lord!" With that he released the
World Shaking, sending it speeding back to its caster.
Uranus was fortunately able to dodge the worst of the attack,
but was still thrown to the ground by the force. Neptune released a
quick Deep Submerge to cover her partner, before helping Uranus to her
feet. Elsewhere, Mars and Jupiter teamed up, sending powerful blasts at
the charging youma.
This youma soon was among the Senshi, and bashed Venus to the
ground with a single powerful blow. The fallen Senshi managed to get
off a Crescent Beam, though to little effect. In response, the youma
delivered a kick to her side that would have easily shattered a normal
person's ribs before heading towards Sailor Moon, continuing to ignore
the fire and lightning raged around it.
Looking to buy time, Mercury cast her Shabon Spray with
practiced ease. With the youma blinded, Mars and Jupiter circled around
behind it, while Sailor Moon began to prepare her attack. Elsewhere,
Tuxedo Kamen had arrived in the park, and was fighting to keep the
second of Malvaar's servants from entering the fray. Malvaar himself
was keeping back, preparing a portal back to the Dark Kingdom. Just
outside the battlefield, Urawa Meno first gasped and then smiled as he
observed Mercury's maneuver.
As soon as the magical fog faded, the youma facing the Senshi
received a three pronged attack. This was finally enough to overwhelm
the minotaur, and with a roar of pain, the monster dissolved to dust.
At this, Malvaar gestured. His surviving servant broke off his
melee against Tuxedo Kamen, retreating towards his master. Malvaar
slammed one fist into the ground, causing what felt like a minor
earthquake, throwing the Senshi to the ground. Then, without a further
word said, the two youma vanished, returned to the Dark Kingdom. Unknown
to anyone, Jadeite followed with a smile.
***********************************************************************
Ares also smiled as he saw the youma depart. It was time to put
his plan into action. He spent a brief moment to focus himself as the
Senshi began to rise. Then, he moved. He leapt into the battlefield,
shocking the Senshi with his sudden appearance. With a brief prayer
that he had developed enough strength to pull this move off, Ares
plunged his sword into the ground.
"Raging Inferno!" Ares smiled as the ground surrounding him
exploded into flames, throwing the Senshi into confusion. Though he
nearly collapsed from the effort of casting that spell, he kept a
careful eye on his target.
As soon as the flames died down, Ares raced forward and grabbed
Sailor Moon, roughly pulling her to her feet before dragging her a few
feet back and placing his sword at her neck. "Don't try anything, or
Serenity here gets it," he stated unnecessarily. He did his best to
ignore the fear coming off the girl, the tremors he could feel running
down her spine.
The Senshi were stunned, afraid to act. However, Tuxedo Kamen
growled a began to pull out a rose. There was no way Ares could react
fast enough to stop that attack.
Ares forced a smile onto his face. "Don't try the rose thing,
Endymion. If I lose my grip on the sword, Serenity's lovely throat gets
slit." Tuxedo Kamen froze.
Jupiter glared at Ares. "What do you want?"
Ares's weak grin vanished. "Nobody needs to get hurt just now.
All I want is Sailor Venus."
"What?" cried the named Senshi, more than a little surprised.
"Here's the deal. I don't trust you people, and I'm sure you
don't trust me. I happen to need your help, Venus. Nothing dangerous,
I assure you."
Uranus grunted. "You're right I don't trust you. Why should we
now?"
"Because you aren't exactly negotiating from a position of
strength at the moment." Ares forced himself to move his sword closer
to Sailor Moon's throat.
It took Venus only a moment to decide. "I'll do it." She
quickly stilled the other Senshi's protests, saying, "He's not that
strong. If he tries anything, I can handle him." She stepped forward.
"Release Sailor Moon."
Ares roughly shoved Sailor Moon forward, sending her stumbling
to the ground. He then nodded to Venus. "Come with me." He headed
off, and Venus followed.
***********************************************************************
Sailor Venus silently walked behind Ares, wondering what the man
who called himself the Champion of Mars was up to. She noticed that
Ares was going on a very roundabout path to the north, probably trying
to avoid crowds or make her get lost, she figured.
Ares wasted no time talking to her. After what seemed like an
uncomfortable eternity to Venus, Ares stopped. The street was empty, and
Venus noted that it was near the Osa-P and the Crown Arcade. Ares handed
her a blindfold. Venus looked at him quizzically.
"Put this on," he said simply. Venus grimaced. There went any
chance of discovering any useful information from this. After she
complied, Ares began to lead her by the hand. She quickly lost her
mental idea of where she was, long before the two suddenly stopped once
more. After a few moments, Ares grabbed her arm and raised it.
"I want you to fire a weak Crescent Beam in the direction you
are now pointing," the Champion ordered. Wondering what he could
possibly want, Venus hesitated. Could he mean to use her to kill
someone? Ares tightened his grip, and said, "Don't worry. All you're
pointing at is a wall." After another moment, Venus finally complied
with his command.
After she sent out her attack, she heard someone moan briefly.
She frowned. The Crescent Beam she had fired had been too weak to hurt
anybody. Hadn't it?
Venus heard Ares talking to someone else. "Don't go anywhere.
I'll be right back." She was then lead away by Ares, who after a while
removed the blindfold. "You can go now," Ares stated. He then left
Venus standing in the middle of a deserted street.
Venus darted into an alley and detransformed, then headed off to
report what she had done and seen.
***********************************************************************
Not far away, Furahata Unazuki slowly rose to her feet. The
rush of memories had slowed, but not stopped. A battlefield, with the
dark red blood soaking into the even darker red soil. The thrill of
victory, as she stood on a balcony of a palace, with a cheering crowd
waving red and black banners. The depths of interplanetary space.
The memories were unsorted and numerous. Unazuki floated
through them, trying to somehow reestablish her self image. "I am me. I
am myself. I am Aphrodite... and Unazuki," she thought, as the memories
slowly began to settle, already starting to fade away. However, her life
had been changed. She looked up, and saw a familiar figure.
Ares had also detransformed, and Ikawa now walked to where he
had left Unazuki. He smiled as he approached the shaken young girl. Her
expression brightened as she saw him approaching. "Deinas?" she
questioned.
He shook his head. "It's Fuarku Ikawa now, Unazuki."
Unazuki grinned. "I think I recognize you. You're friends with
my brother?"
As the two began to walk off, he replied, "That's right."
"So, what's the situation?" Unazuki asked.
"Too much to explain quickly. The Senshi are here, obviously,
and the youma are striking too. I'm not sure whose n charge there,
though. Kunzite is dead - the youma who struck today swore to avenge
him." Ares explained.
The two continued to walk, Ikawa catching Unazuki up on recent
events and making plans.
***********************************************************************
At the Gates of Time, Pluto nearly swore once more. The
situation was quickly moving closer to disaster, but it wasn't as bad as
it could have been. She had seen that her joining the battle would have
been an utter disaster, as both Hades and Hermes would have Awakened and
joined the fight. These surprise reinforcements might have been able to
carve a bloody swathe through the already exhausted Senshi's ranks. She
couldn't have taken that risk.
Once more, she railed against the prohibitions that bound her.
She would have loved to be able to explain the situation to the Senshi
and prepare them for what was coming. However, for some reason unclear
to her, this would lead to the destruction of all she had worked for.
And her future self wasn't being helpful, either. She had refused to
answer any of her questions, and now wasn't even responding to her
calls.
This was bad. Three Champions Awakened, and more likely to
come. This was very bad. And for some reason, she had to let it
happen.
***********************************************************************
Author's Random Revised Ramblings
1) This chapter was the first to feature me complaining that it took
longer than I expected. This revision also took longer than I expected.
2) I also originally commented that my use of Unazuki was part of a
struggle to keep the new character count low. I already knew this
struggle was futile.
3) Like usual, I'm still not happy with this chapter, but I think it's
not going to get much better within the limits I've set for these
revisions.
4) Thanks go to Michael Chase for his comments on the original version
of this chapter. I believe I failed to credit his comments on the
original Chapter 1 in the appropriate revision, so thanks go to him for
that too.
5) Previous revisions are not yet archived anywhere, but are available
upon request. The original version of the fanfic can be found at
http://www.fanfiction.net/~aaronnowack
6) For the curious, the "released" dates for these are based on the date
of the chapters being available on RAAC, not the dates of their postings
to the FFML or Fanfiction.Net.
Released: November 01, 2000
Revised: August 20, 2003
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