[FFML] [FanFic][SM][NETTG] Terra in Tokyo Ch. 17 (of 27) "Much Better Than Regular History!"

[Benjamin A. Oliver]

I considered waiting until Monday to post this since it was so big,
but... I'll delay other chapters, not this one.  This one requested
politely to me to be posted.

I came back to make sure this chapter got written.  If you read no
other chapter of this series, read this one.  Big thanks to Esa
Karjalainen for keeping the faith when no other sane man could, and to
Larry F, whose patience has endured for so long.

Recap:

What has gone before... Terra Incognita, this story's designated Black
Hole Mary Sue, has been through a lot.  She joined the Sailor Senshi,
saved their lives a couple of times, got Tuxedo Kamen to follow her
around, got the crap beat out of her not nearly enough to justify her
actions, and then she hurtled into the past and now finds herself
faced with freaky impossible odds at the end of the Silver Millennium.

Oh, and apparently she Quantum Leaped into a person that killed all of
the other Sailor Senshi of that time.  Yeah, people weren't too happy
about that.  So, she snuck off and grabbed the Sailor Moon
transformation stuff and it turns out it's WAY more powerful than
anything in the present.

Plot?  What's that?  I'm just here to rig up the explosions.  With
rock and roll music and crazy overpowered mecha--YEAH, BABY!!

Last chapter mentioned this was revisionist history, and this chapter
continues that theme.

Going to do an abbreviated disclaimer on this one.  Reba West, Carl
Macek, Nekki Basara, Galen Marek, and Mazinger Z have my most sincere
apologies.  If this chapter fails to deliver on its promise of
epicness, please feel free to return it for a full, free,
no-obligation refund.  Right, then.  With that out of the way, let's
go blow stuff up! Torpedoes away.

Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!!
Terra in Tokyo
Final Mix

---Chapter 17:  Much Better Than Regular History!

	Smoke and blasted debris filled the sky from the constant aerial
bombardment from the massive Terran fleet floating in low orbit over
the ravaged Lunar surface.  The seemingly fragile shell around the
sprawling citadel wavered and shook with every brutal volley.  On the
ground, millions of armored soldiers marched stiffly forth from troop
carrier skiffs toward the last remnant of civilization on this world.
Everything about the Moon spoke of failure and defeat.  It was all too
certain that, shortly, the end would come and nothing could ever rise
from these ashen ruins.

	Huddled behind a half-collapsed stone wall, Terra Incognita, imbued
with the full planetary powers of Sailor Moon, couldn't help but voice
her discouragement to herself.

	"Hoo-kay," she muttered, "on second thought, this is way more of a
problem than I thought it was going to be."

	"So?" she replied to herself aloud.  "You're Sailor Moon now.  You've
got all that power.  What's the matter?  Don't know how to use it?"

	"Not really," she whispered back.  She looked at her hands and tried
to tease out the energy she had tricked into activating for her.
"Ow!"  All she managed to do was burn her fingers under her gloves.
"Crap."

	She heard the roar of a small craft as it landed slightly beyond the
wall near where she hid.  The shuffling of feet onto the ground gave
her the clue that it was probably another troop ship.  "Double
crap..."

	A black-armored soldier came around the corner.  "Ah-HAH!"  He
pointed at her and waved for his fellows to come over.

	Sailor Moon suddenly remembered she had a wand this time.  "Ahah to
you too!"  She pointed her wand at the man.  Nothing happened.  She
waved it.  "C'mon, c'mon!"

	A small platoon suddenly came at her, thrusting, hacking, stabbing
and slashing with their swords.  They knocked her over and jammed
their weapons into her face and chest.

	Tiny forcefields sprang up around her skin to deflect the blows.  The
blades glanced harmlessly off of her outfit as well.  She swung her
arms to fend the soldiers off.  Her powers made it so she could brush
them off easily on an individual basis, but them coming all together
was like trying to rip off a team of ravenous squirrels.

	There was a flash of light and a set of roses flashed past Sailor
Moon's attackers' faces.  The stems were thrown with such force that
they stuck into the stone around the girl.  The soldiers were thrown
backward by a magic generated by the roses.

	"No way!" Terra whispered in disbelief.  She looked up to see a
masked man in a tuxedo and top hat standing atop a wall.  "Tuxedo
Kamen!!"

	"I am Prince Endymion of the Earth Kingdom," the masked man
announced.  "Join me in the fight against the false play-queen
Beryl... or die."

	Sailor Moon frowned.  "Not... Tuxedo... Kamen...?"  The man looked
just like him.  She looked at him intently and could tell that he
could have been his clone.  And yet something about his demeanor was
very different from the young man she knew and loved.  A moment later
she remembered the name.  Endymion, someone that Princess Serenity had
been talking to.

	"Traitor-prince!" the leader of the enemy soldiers hissed in a
guttural, not-quite-human voice.  "You dare defy our Great Leader?!"

	In the next instant, Endymion moved in a flash in front of the
armored man.  The soldier of Earth choked and coughed up a mouthful of
blood.  Endymion had taken the man's own sword and impaled him with
it.  The enemy commander's eyes drained of life and he crumpled to the
ground.  "No second chances, remember?"

	Endymion looked at the other soldiers.  "What say you?"

	The group, a team consisting of very strong-looking and
battle-hardened men, instantly bolted.  The prince drew his mouth into
a disdainful snarl, pulled out two handfuls of roses, and threw them.

	As if impaled by javelins, all of the enemy soldiers fell and did not
move again.

	Endymion turned towards Terra.  "Hello, Sailor!"  He seemed to take a
moment's delight in the other's attire.

	"Heya, good lookin'!" Sailor Moon teased back.  She couldn't help
herself from blushing.  Even discounting the identical outfit, this
guy really did look a lot like Tuxedo Kamen.  Even though he just
messily killed a whole bunch of people without a second thought, she
still found him quite attractive.  In fact, the whole "rescue" thing
was a definite plus in her book.

	With practiced, gentlemanly manner, the man helped her to her feet.
"Princess, I came as soon as I heard.  Truly, you have taken upon
yourself the power of Sailor Moon."  He smiled and put a finger to her
lips when she started to say something.  "None but royal blood of the
house of Serenity may wield these powers.  Since the Queen was busy
with the shield, I knew it could only be you."  He peered closely at
her face.  "The glamour disguising you is very strong, though.  I can
hardly recognize you."

	"Yeah, I remember that Sailor powers tend to do that," Terra said.
"So, what's a nice guy like you doing out here helping a failure of a
Sailor Soldier like me?"

	"When I heard that Sailor Moon went out alone to face the Dark
Kingdom of Earth," Endymion replied, "I thought to myself... that is a
very brave girl.  Why should I cower behind a barrier and wait for the
end to come?  What would be the point?  We would have our love,
briefly, but... your example gave me courage."

	"Had no idea you liked me that much," said Terra.

	He drew close.  "How could you ever doubt?"

	Prince Endymion kissed her.  It was sudden and it wasn't just any old
kiss.  It was one of those long, passionate ones that lit Terra's
brain on fire, made her blush all over her body and left her mouth all
tingly.  When it was done she slid limply onto the ground and briefly
knew what it felt like to be made completely out of strawberry Jell-O.

	Terra's logic center wondered how Endymion got away with being so
lovey-dovey with Princess Serenity while at the same time professing
his undying devotion out here to Princess Terra.  She chalked it up to
Moon Kingdom culture being really weird.  Maybe it was common practice
here to date two princesses at once.  Maybe Endymion was keeping it a
secret from one girl or the other.  On the other hand, every part of
her body except for her brain didn't care why.  This hot guy, with all
of his combat skill, stood by her and was ready to help.

	"Some might say that drooling is unladylike," commented the masked man.

	"Oh, right!  Sorry."  Embarrassed, Terra wiped her mouth.

	Endymion helped her stand once again.  "Tell me," he said.  "What was
your plan once you got out here?  How do you intend to save your
kingdom?"

	Terra shrugged.  "I don't know.  I was just feeling all guilty about
what happened to all of the Sailor Soldiers, I figured that I'd just
try to go down fighting."

	"Do you mean against all of the armies now on the ground?"

	The girl nodded.

	Endymion smiled and shook his head.  "Noble, but ultimately
pointless.  There are too many of them, even for a fully trained
Sailor Soldier.  Princess, I know you haven't had training, but you
will need to learn how to use your powers quickly."

	"I'd really like to learn," Terra replied.  "Have any tips?"

	"I've got an idea.  Come, follow me."

---

	Earth's prince quietly led Terra to a very sturdy-looking tower.  Its
thick metal-reinforced walls looked like they'd be able to take a
nearby nuclear strike.  In fact, the pock marks on its walls indicated
that it had taken several direct hits already without causing
significant problems to its superstructure.

	"This looks like a good, defensible position," Endymion said, and
then turned towards Terra, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked
her in the eye.  "Do you remember what kind of powers the Sailor Moon
of old had?"

	Terra wondered how Endymion had managed to either brush his teeth,
procure a breath mint or put on an expensive cologne.  The air around
him was sweet and pleasant.  "Sailor Moon," Terra began, trying to
remember some of the things Usagi could do, "could throw her tiara and
catch it when it came back?"

	"That was one thing, yes," the man said with a nod.  "Her main power
is telekinesis.  She can move things with her mind."

	"Cool," said Terra.

	"Take off your tiara and try to make it hover."

	Terra took off her headgear and experimented with it.  She tried
tossing it up, but had to catch it since it didn't float.

	Endymion leaned towards her ear and whispered, "Look inward, and
believe in yourself.  I know you can do this."

	Sailor Moon closed her eyes and examined the powers available to her.
 Her black power remained crushed and useless.  Green was still gone,
and Red remained at a moderate ebb.  She looked below to see a great
golden river of dangerously fast and chaotic power.  Even though she
remembered wrestling with the Sailor Moon powers in order to activate
them less than an hour prior, it surprised her how big it was.  It
reminded her of her black power at its strongest.

	"The power is yours," Endymion whispered.  "It will come when you call."

	Sailor Moon gently reached into the yellow river and willed it to
come.  It wasn't like she was trying to make it do things; it was more
like she was asking it to come.  She focused it at the object
physically in her hand.  She could feel the tiara lift out of her
grasp as if held by another set of hands created by her power.

	Terra drew a breath and grinned in wonder.  It had worked!  She could
use Sailor Moon's power!

	Endymion took the tiara and returned it to Terra's forehead.  "Now
let me tell you my plan.  The armies below?  We can never defeat so
many, not with the fleet above.  The fleet?  It has destroyed many
other worlds; we stand no chance alone and they have ships to spare.
The only thing that can stop this war is to stop the leaders."  He
pointed skyward.

	The girl recognized what he pointed at.  It was the command ship,
grand in its scale and terrible in how its weaponry relentlessly
bombarded the barrier surrounding the citadel.  "How do we get there
to fight them?"

	"We're not going to it," he replied.  "IT is coming to US."

	Terra processed what he was saying.  "You're asking me to--"

	He kissed her on the forehead.  "Believe in yourself."  He stopped.
"No, don't believe in yourself, believe in ME, who believes in YOU.
For all this time, our friends and loved ones have suffered.  For all
this time you stayed true to me, even when all others doubted, and
here we stand alone against a corrupted Earth.  Who do the Dark
Kingdom think we are!?"  Endymion pointed at the command ship.  "LET'S
PULL THEM OUT OF THE SKY!!!"

	"What?!" Sailor Moon asked incredulously.  "You're insane!  That's a
far cry from moving around a tiara!  That thing's MASSIVE and it's
gotta be a hundred miles away!"

	"You're a Sailor Soldier now, Princess," Endymion said encouragingly.
 "That kind of scale means NOTHING to you!"

	They could hear the roar of fighters in the distance.  A projectile
shell impacted on the tower below them, followed by another shot that
impacted a short distance away, spraying rock shrapnel at an angle
that barely missed them.  Terra deduced that they had been spotted by
the enemy.

	"It's really our only chance.  Reach out, in the name of the Moon,
and GRAB that starship, or we will die without having made a lick of
difference out here!"

	Terra saw the conviction in his eyes past the mask.  He really did
believe in her that much; that she could really do this.  "Okay.  I'll
try."

	"Look, do it or don't do it.  None of that 'try' stuff!"  Prince
Endymion took out a short cane.  Pressing a button, it extended into a
long polearm.  "I will protect you for as long as I can while you
figure it out."

	Terra gave a half-smile.  "I'll believe in you, like you believe in me."

	She lifted her hands to help herself focus on what she planned to do
to her target.  She called for the powers of the Moon.  They responded
and flowed from the brooch at her chest into her arms.  She visualized
the ship and could feel its distance.

	Twirling his staff into a sort of kinetic shield, Endymion deflected
a shell that would have hit where Terra was standing.  He strained as
the momentum transferred away from them.  The bomb glanced away and
fell downwards before exploding midair halfway down the tower.  A
piece of the projectile's shrapnel clipped the brim of the man's hat.

	Terra could feel the power working.  It was if she could touch and
sense the texture of the command ship within her fingers.  She tried
twisting, but the object didn't move.  It stayed firm in its location.

	"Its engines, shields and antigravity generators are among the most
powerful ever created!" the prince called over to her.  "You're really
going to have to work at it!"

	Terra nodded and took a deep breath and tried again.  The power
reached out and gripped the vessel.  Twisting and pulling, she started
to have an effect.  The ship's thrusters fought with her for every
inch, but it gradually rotated to face her.  Her brooch's temperature
rose by a few degrees.

	"Good!  Now rip it down!!"

	The command ship ceased bombarding the shield around the citadel and
the two atop the tower could see the guns readjusting to target them.

	Endymion cursed.  "I can't deflect its main gun if it gets a direct
hit on you!  When you're moving it, see if you can keep it from
getting a lock!"

	Terra nodded again and grunted with the effort.  As the guns twisted
to face her, she turned it again, forcing the gunners to readjust.
She tried to keep them guessing, but those efforts kept her from
noticeably pulling the object closer.

	Smaller craft, like giant metallic wasps, came out of pods in the
sides of the command ship.

	Endymion's eyes narrowed and he took out a pair of roses.  "Fighters incoming!"

	Several other ships in the fleet had apparently gotten new orders
because they turned away from bombarding the capital and started to
send huge energy bolts toward the tower.  For the most part, their
shots were way off their mark, but Endymion did have to intercept a
few.  He seemed to breathe a bit each time he had to block.  He
started being able to almost instantly deflect, but a couple of times
the attacks came too close for comfort.

	Terra's fingers tensed, her jaw clenched, and she glowed slightly
with a golden aura.  She yanked downward with all her metaphysical
might and started to force the command ship downward.  Her progress
was slow because the ship's engines rotated backwards and ignited to
further resist her.

	Six fighters finally made it into range for a strafing run.  Endymion
deflected a few shots and threw a well-aimed rose into one of their
cockpits, shattering the glass and injuring or killing the pilot.  The
fighter crashed into the unoccupied cityscape below.  The others
circled back around for another run.

	A spiky structure exploded on the command ship.  The pressure from
Terra's grip plus the force from resisting her must have overloaded
something.  The main guns shot into the landscape around the tower;
Terra's efforts kept them from scoring a direct hit, but she could
feel the heat and debris deflected painfully off of her clothes and
legs.  The ship slipped upward by a degree when the noise and light
from a second nearby barrage from the main ship almost made Terra lose
her focus altogether.

	Endymion brought down two more of the fighters, but one broke off
from the rest and circled away from him.  He threw a rose but it
rotated to have the floral projectile impact harmlessly into the
fuselage.  It headed directly towards Terra.  Its guns started firing.
 While the scintillating strikes did not immediately reach her, the
noise in her ears made Terra wince in pain.

	Realizing she wasn't going to get help in time for this one, Terra
released her grip on the ship and focused on the fighter.  It halted
midair, firing repeated shots that missed her but impacted on the
stone beneath her, tearing into her boots and almost making her lose
her footing.  She staggered and got a better angle on the attacking
craft, then threw it to the side.

	The thrown fighter smashed into the other remaining one and exploded.
 Above, the command ship rose higher into the sky, further away than
ever.

	"We're losing it!" shouted Endymion.

	Terra panted, grasped at the burning jewelry on her outfit to try and
pull it away from her chest, then when that didn't help, she threw up
her arms in frustration.  "I'm just not enough for this!"

	"Look, if you don't get that command ship down, we're DEAD!"

	Sailor Moon took a deep breath and looked downward, finally grasping
the gravity of her situation.  Now that everything relied on her and
she actually managed to do something useful with her power, she just
wasn't enough.  If only there were some way to boost her strength,
just for a little while.  All she would need is a few seconds....

	More fighters appeared in the distance.  This wasn't going to get any easier.

	Terra wracked her brain for a solution.  It proffered a memory of a
note which she had read when she had first obtained her current
magical tools: "Moon Crisis," for dire times.

	"Moon Crisis," Terra whispered.  The power within her pulsed
momentarily.  This was it.  This had to be the solution.  "Moon
Crisis!" she shouted.  "Make Up!!!"

	That did it.  The powers of the Moon flared even brighter, and
encased her in a sphere of pure light.  She could feel her strength
grown and her attire change.  White metallic barrettes appeared in her
hair.  Her skirt turned white with yellow and blue fringe.  A golden
belt appeared about her waist.  The ribbons on the back of her outfit
turned white and doubled in size and length.  She gained multilayerd
translucent white shoulderguards.  Her heart beat faster and faster
and would not let up.  A huge golden aura, like great transparent
butterfly wings, grew around her.

	Time seemed to slow down.  Terra drew a breath.  The power was
scalding, but she was still in control of her actions.

	Endymion's eyes went wide.  "Impossible!  That's--!!"

	Super Sailor Moon found the command ship in the sky.  She reached out
with her power, which instantly engulfed the vessel.  One of the
engines struggled with her grip and then exploded in a massive
overload, taking out a decent-sized chunk of the ship's stern.  Terra
pulled, and with comparatively little effort the craft descended.
Armor plates buckled under the force of the pull and black smoke
poured out of the cracks.  A loud roar pierced the sky and much of the
alien technology cracked apart as the vessel fought to stay aloft.

	With the same effort she had been exerting previously, the ship came
downward and smashed into the fighters that had been heading towards
the pair and it continued to accelerate.

	Her eyes aflame and her teeth clenched, Terra pulled and pulled.  She
felt a dark, triumphant exhilaration within her.  Something cracked
just above her suppressed black power and a small trickle, like blood
from a vein, slipped out droplet by droplet.

	When the ship approached them and neared the ground, Sailor Moon
slapped her arms downward, driving the ship's nose into the dirt.  The
resulting crash and friction shattered windows, destroyed armor
plating, smashed lower decks, and spat up geysers of molten metal from
the ship and glass from the superheated ground as it dug a trench in
its travel towards their location.

	Her face twisted in a cold pleasure of the destruction she had
caused, and she continued to pull even harder.

	"Amazing!" whispered Endymion, but he stopped when he eyed the
command ship's velocity and trajectory.  "Okay, that's good.  We have
them now!"

	Terra continued to focus on her target, dragging it through the
remnants of the city and crushing parts of the upper decks with her
power.

	Then her latest transformation gave out.  Her whitened, enhanced
clothing returned to the blue-highlighted sailor suit of Sailor Moon.
She breathed out a hot breath that steamed in the air, then went to
her knees with an empty look in her eyes.  "Whoa..."  The edges of her
outfit sizzled a bit and the gem at her chest was white-hot.  "Ow...
ow... owwwww...."

	The command ship's momentum brought it to the edge of the tower.
Endymion scooped up the limp, fallen girl and leapt high into the air
just as the fallen vessel slammed into and ripped apart the huge
structure upon which they had stood.

---

	Within the barrier, at the highest point of the Lunar Citadel, Queen
Serenity gripped the shield crystal tightly while it poured a constant
white light into the sky, reinforcing the shield against the
relentless bombardment.  She could scarcely believe it when the
assault lightened, and then stopped.  She thought she was dreaming
when she saw the command ship crash spectacularly into the ruins
outside.

	A signal from a nearby crystalline control panel drew her attention.
She was being contacted.  On her command, an image appeared in the
air.  It was of a young woman with long black hair, a short white and
red dress, who carried a croquet mallet.

	"I am Rear Admiral Skuld of the Asgard High Command," said the image.
 It flickered and moved in a way that hinted the image may not have
been Skuld's true shape.  "Your allies have been trying to contact you
for what seems like forever and only just now pierced the
interference.  What is your status, Serenity of the Silver Millennium
Alliance?"

	"We are just barely hanging on," Serenity replied.  "One city
remains.  And not for long if we do not get help soon."

	"The Flotilla will arrive in approximately three of your hours.  Are
you able to hold out for that long?"

	"If you had asked me five minutes ago," said Serenity, "I would have
said no."  She gazed at a pair of figures dropping onto the deck of
the felled enemy vessel.  "But I think our chances may have just
improved!"

---

	Prince Endymion levitated softly downwards onto the command ship's
empty deck.  As he did so, he looked down at the girl in his arms.
The ordeal he had just asked her to endure had taken its toll.  He
hoped his beloved would be all right.  Her brooch had cooled to a
light red and she was obviously exhausted.

	By all rights, what she had worked out in mere minutes should have
been nearly impossible without years of focus training, but what the
Princess achieved went beyond merely being a natural at Sailor Soldier
magic.  To have become, even for a few seconds, the Legendary Super
Sailor, was miraculous to say the least.  Such a feat had not been
accomplished in millennia.

	"You are so special to me," he whispered to her, and gave her a kiss
on the forehead before placing her on the boards.  "Rest now,
Princess.  This next battle... is mine."

	Serenity smiled and nodded at him.  "Hey, thanks!  I could sure use a
break after that one."  Her left eye twitched from the strain.
"Hummina hummina hummina..."  She sat up and held her head.

	Although she had been acting strangely ever since she became Sailor
Moon, Endymion could imagine his love's face behind the disguise.  It
gave him courage that she was here to help him face their enemy
together.  He would need all that courage and more to defeat the
traitors, who under Metallia's curse were now each individually more
powerful than he was.  His main hope lay in the chance that at least
some of his enemies had been injured, if not outright killed, in the
crash.

	His hopes dampened somewhat when a large bulkhead opened with a hiss
to reveal a group of soldiers, clad in the same black as the platoon
he and Sailor Moon had faced below.

	He bared his teeth and held his hands wide.  "Is this all Beryl sends
against me?!  What an insult!!"

	"We are more than enough to deal with YOU, puny human!" spat back the
group's leader.  "We are now all mighty her YOUMA!"  He beat on his
chest loudly.

	"More like Negamafoozles," muttered Serenity behind the prince.

	"Enough."  Endymion tilted his top hat forward at the indoctrinated
commander.  "Join me against the false queen or die."

	"Hah!"

	They rushed at him with spears and swords, which he parried with his
quarterstaff before smashing several of them in the back of the head
or spine.  Each went down, bleeding and unconscious or dead.  One
soldier he caught under the neck with his arm.  There was a sickening
crunch and the youma fell limp.  He then delivered a kick, which could
shatter bones, into the chest armor of the final opponent.

	The final soldier cried out in pain and confusion as he flew off the
deck and through the air until he smacked hard into the ground, more
than three hundred feet below.

	Endymion strode forward and called, "What's the matter, Beryl?
Afraid of me?  Kill my father and take his throne, then try to seduce
me with his blood on your hands, and you refuse to fight?!"

	Glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness beyond the bulkhead.
Demonic beasts, part serpent and part lion, came out of the ship and
screeched.  There had to be more than twenty of them.  They glowed
with an unholy, steaming aura, black in the center and red at the
edges.  Their jagged teeth showed as they opened their gaping maws to
scream a horrific battle cry.

	"Another insult!" spat Endymion.  He raised his hands towards his new
set of foes.  "Earth," he intoned with glowing golden eyes as energies
gathered to his hand, "Smoking Bomber!"

	A huge bolt shot from his hands into the midst of his enemies,
vaporizing the ones hit directly, then exploding in the center to send
out shredding stone shrapnel in a deadly hemisphere.  Nothing but
chunks of twitching tail and flesh remained.  They soon turned to ash
and blew away.

	"FACE ME!!!" Endymion shouted into the smoke.  As the obstruction
cleared, it became apparent that his attack had taken a huge chunk out
of the top of the ship.  Without its shields to protect it, thought
Endymion with a cold satisfaction, this vessel would be little more
than scrap metal against a planetary avatar's strikes.

	Yes, he thought to himself, though Beryl claimed the throne, the
right to rule and the planetary power that came with it still belonged
to him.

	"So be it," said a woman's voice from the cloud, "Great Prince Endymion."

	"Queen" Beryl stepped forward.  She was a tall woman with red hair,
red eyes, and very prominent fangs.  She wore a floor-length strapless
cleavage-revealing purple gown and glowed with the same evil presence
as her minions.  She was beautiful once, Endymion mused, but her lust
for conquest and devotion to eldritch forces had robbed her of any of
her attractive qualities.  Drunk on whatever power she had discovered
on her journeys, she had changed into this heartless THING that stood
before him.

	"Join me, my love," teased the vile woman as she assumed a pose that
he imagined she must have thought seductive.  "We can rule the solar
system together as husband and bride!"

	Endymion spat on the floor.  He shook his head and curled his lips
back in anger.  Her suggestion made him want to vomit.  "You vile,
horrid creature.  How dare you.  How.  Dare.  You."

	Without another breath at her, Endymion unleashed his Smoking Bomber.
 The ship rocked from the force and tilted at a slight angle.
Shattered pieces of the bridge flew away and the deck cracked.

	The haze soon parted.  Endymion swore when he saw that not only had
Beryl been unaffected by the strike, her five "Heaven's Kings" had
emerged from the ship.  They stood with hands lifted a barrier raised
to protect their "queen" from his strike.

	"Come now, Endymion," cooed Beryl.  "You mustn't be so violent.
After all, you are here with friends!"

	The man set his gaze upon what remained of his former friends.
Master Assassin Zoicite floated in the air, reclined and looked back
at him with amusement.  Grand Sergeant Kunzite stood with dual energy
blades ready to strike.  Great Seer Nephrite had his arms crossed in
preparation to cast a spell.  His most intelligent friend, Master
Strategist Jadeite, now looked at him with utter disdain.

	"Friends?!" said Endymion incredulously.  "You slay them, brainwash
their bodies, turn them into monsters like you, and dare speak the
word 'friend?!'  You are no friend to ANYONE."

	The fifth member of the Heaven's Kings moved in front.  He was a very
tall man and wore a heavy concealing helmet with huge, sharp horns.
His thick patterned green and black armor, Gaea's Embrace, had once
been an heirloom to his kingdom and now it rested upon the body of a
mass murderer and a genocidal maniac.

	Not even his friend once, the Supreme Commander had willingly joined
the traitor Beryl, brainwashing and taking with him the entire Earth
fleet, which the commander had made mightier than all the others in
the sector combined.  He, more than anyone else, was to blame for the
fall of the Solar System and the horrible predicament in which they
now stood.

	"Supreme Commander Thomas," greeted Endymion with venom in his words.
 "Your name is as unnatural and unholy as your deeds."

	"Queen Beryl," said the armored man with voice that boomed and echoed
from within his helmet, "it appears that our prince has brought a
friend with him."  He pointed past Endymion to the Princess, who still
lay panting on the ground.  "I believe she wishes to join us?"

	Sailor Moon looked up at the tall Heaven's King.   Her eyes flashed
with recognition.  "Star Light Knight?!" she whispered loudly.

	Endymion's heart skipped a beat and his blood ran cold when he
realized how much his beloved was in danger.  He moved in front of
Thomas.  "No!  I am your opponent!"

	"What a wonderful idea, Supreme Commander!" Beryl said.  "Look at how
our happy prince moves to protect her!  Can it be that the Moon's
princess has decided to take upon her the mantle of a Sailor Soldier?
Endymion will have no need of his so-called beloved when he finally
sees reason.  Tell me, Thomas, would you like her for a concubine?  A
slave?  A pet?"

	The Supreme Commander folded his arms and let forth a long bellowing
laugh.  "I might, my Queen.  I might.  Will you allow me to take her
down below for some 'fun' before she is turned?"

	"Take her!" laughed Beryl.  "With Metallia's might, we are more than
enough to subdue your new king!"

	Endymion threw a rose at Thomas as he stalked towards Serenity.  It
bounced harmlessly off.  He fired Smoking Bomber after Smoking Bomber
into the relentless man, but each time the attacks failed to so much
as scratch his tarnished armor.

	Zoicite flashed in behind him and held him in a restraining grip.
Desperately, Endymion struggled against his captor's grip, but it was
like being in an iron cage.

	"Shh," hushed the effeminate blond man, "it will all be over soon,
and you'll be one of us!  Ah-ha-ha-haa!"  His laugh sounded like a
demon's cackle.

	Continuing his walk, Thomas peered down at the girl and asked, "How
do you like the sound of that, 'Princess?'  My slave until all is
conquered?"

	With fear in her voice, Sailor Moon looked back and said, "Look, if
it's all the same to you... how about YOU join US instead?  That
sounds like a great idea, doesn't it?"

	The armored man laughed again.  "Join you?  Betray everything that
we've worked towards for years?  Try and stop the inevitable that we
have set in motion?  The Moon Kingdom is lost, Princess.  Your best
chance for survival... is with me, and Earth."

	"What if I don't wanna survive?!" the girl shot back.  "Ever think
about that?!"

	"Hah!  You're suggesting a last ditch hopeless struggle?"  His voice
was mocking.  "Death and glory to us both as we stand toe to toe
against the worst horrors the solar system has to offer?"

	"Um," Sailor Moon hesitated, "Yeah?"

	"That," replied Supreme Commander Thomas, "has to be the BEST idea
you've ever had!!"

	Beryl frowned.  "What?"

	Endymion stared at the armored man.  "What?!"

	Zoicite staggered backward, clutching his face when a high-caliber
bullet struck his face.  "AAAAH!!" he screamed in pain.  Dazed, he
fell onto his back with a huge welt on his forehead.

	Shocked at his sudden release, Endymion looked back towards Thomas to
see him wielding a huge pair of firearm pistols.  He fired shot after
shot at the surprised entourage of Beryl and her Heaven's Kings.
After taking a few direct, painful, staggering hits, they finally
raised a barrier to deflect the remaining shots.

	Thomas took out a grenade and threw it at Beryl's feet.  The
resulting explosion obscured their view.  Kunzite's energy blades flew
out of the smoke but missed everyone by a wide margin.

	Endymion wasted no time in getting to Sailor Moon and picking her up
for an escape attempt.

	The Ex-Supreme Commander beckoned Endymion over.  "Come with me if
you wanna live, Tux-boy!"

	Endymion considered fleeing through the air, but stopped when he saw
all of the ships and fighters gathered around the area.  He looked
long and hard at Thomas, imposing and unwelcoming in his dark knight
attire.  The prince knew that trusting this man, even a little, was
patently absurd.

	Thomas took off his helmet to reveal a youngish face and short black
hair, not entirely unlike his own.  He waved Endymion over again.
"Dude," he said.  "C'mon!  This is gonna rock!"

	Endymion rushed over to him.  Beryl had had him, he knew.  With
Zoicite there to trap him and four others more powerful than he was to
fight against, there was no way Beryl would have had to get at him or
Serenity through trickery.  He had lost and this man, whatever his
motives, was their only chance.

	Thomas made a large rotary firearm appear and aimed it at the deck.
Three seconds later and a full circle made with Endymion struggling to
keep ahead of the line of fire with Sailor Moon in his arms.

	"It's been a blast," said Thomas to the false queen as she emerged
from the smoke.  "So long, and thanks for all the nukes!"  He held
Endymion and Sailor Moon close, then stepped hard on the deck and the
big chunk of flooring dropped out from beneath them.  The three
disappeared into the darkness below.

	Beryl quickly made it over to the opening.  "TRAITOR!" she screamed
after the trio.  "TRAITOR!!!"

---

	Princess Serenity ascended the winding marble staircase to the shield
generator plaza.  She looked on with worry and astonishment at the
proceedings outside.  She held a hand to the fabric of her white dress
and took a hopeful breath.  When she reached the top, she addressed
the Queen.  "Mother?  I have come to help strengthen our defenses."

	The elder Serenity smiled at her sideways, cautious hope in her
expression.  "Come, my wonderful daughter.  I welcome your assistance.
 Every moment will count.  Place your hands atop the crystal and
focus."

	The Crown Princess did so.  The energies flowing into the barrier
around the city brightened by half a shade.  A pulse went up and
gradually constructed a transparent golden honeycomb just under the
main shield.  The young woman gasped at the sudden pull of energy out
of her, but soon rallied and once again stood firm.  She soon found a
balance that allowed her to speak.

	"I am troubled, Mother.  Not just for the doom that awaits us
outside, but... I cannot find my Endymion!"

	"I know where he is."

	"You do?  Would you tell me?"

	"He has gone outside to face our enemy directly.  No, please do not
leave me.  We cannot go to him now, and it is because of him that any
hope still remains."

	"Can it be?"  The princess's eyes widened.  "He has brought down
Earth's mightiest ship by himself?"

	"Not by himself.  The last Sailor Soldier fights alongside him, now
joined by the most unlikely of allies.  I have seen this, from afar."

	"The last Sailor Soldier?  I thought they had all perished!"

	"Your sister has taken upon herself this responsibility."

	The princess's jaw dropped.  "Terra would do such--"  She stopped.
"She COULD do such a thing?!"

	"I do not know what this means," the queen admitted.  "Nevertheless,
if she is willing to help us in this, our darkest hour...."  She
sighed and shook her head.  "We cannot exactly afford to be picky."

---

	Endymion and Thomas scrambled through the ruined lower decks,
climbing over fallen debris and crushed crew members.  Sailor Moon had
regained enough of her strength to walk by herself.  The prince was
glad for that--his beloved probably had not been permanently harmed by
the strain she had been putting herself through.  However, this new
turn of events with Beryl and his former friends made him worry.  He
knew they would be stronger than him, but he had felt confident he
would be up to the challenge.  Alarmingly, he thought, his best
strikes could not even scratch them with Beryl's strange new power
flowing through them.

	More than that, Ex-Supreme Commander Thomas confused him greatly.
"Thomas, why did you lead the attacks against the other worlds?"

	"I dunno."  Continuing on his path, Thomas merely shrugged and
replied, "I was just following orders."

	"Just following orders?!" asked Endymion incredulously.  "Under your
command, millions of soldiers and billions of innocent people have
been slain!  Don't you feel any remorse at all for the crimes you have
committed?"

	"Not really."  Thomas looked back briefly and studied the other man's
doubtful expression.  "Dude, seriously, I don't feel sorry for
anything I did.  I was under orders, against my will, and that's it.
Now I'm on your side, and much happier, let me tell you."  He grinned
at the girl.

	"Well I for one am glad you're helping us out now," Sailor Moon said
with half a smile.  "It's nice to know you're actually kind of, sort
of a good person here too."

	Thomas glanced back at her, frowned and shook his head.  "I'm better
than YOU," he muttered, "I know that much."

	Sailor Moon's eyes filled with comprehension.  "You were working with
HER.  But now that I'm here instead...." She trailed off and looked
down at nothing in particular.  "Wow."

	Endymion could not sort out what the side conversation between
Serenity and Thomas meant, but one thing he kept going over and over
in his head was that this madman seemed perfectly at peace with
himself despite all that had happened.  "Gods, man, if you had been
willing to join the fight against Beryl, why did you wait until now to
take action?!"

	"Heh," Thomas laughed derisively.  "Let's see, why wouldn't I disobey
orders?  How can I help you understand?  I know.  Let's have a
friggin' gigantic world-destroying shadow-beast breathing down YOUR
neck and bossing you around with unspeakable threats.  Then let's see
how quickly YOU join the counter-insurgence."

	"World-destroying shadow-beast?" Endymion asked.  He had heard the
rumors about there being a malevolent force behind Beryl's actions; a
monster using her as a means to an end.  "You are speaking of
Metallia?"

	"I'm talking about the one behind this whole mess," Thomas replied,
briefly glancing back to make sure Serenity stayed close to them.  His
voice was angry.  "If it wasn't for that horrible being, I'd still be
married, and my daughter would still be alive."

	"I'm sorry.  I didn't realize you had lost a child to these events."

	"Sweet little thing.  Orange-redhead.  Loved to dress up."  He
growled.  "I can't even remember her face anymore.  That monster put
something in my head to try and make me forget about her to make me a
better slave.  BUT I REFUSE!!"  He punched the wall, leaving a huge
dent.

	Endymion shook his head.  "Still, it would have been better to die a
good man than be an instrument of genocide!"

	"If I had a choice, I would have, like I do now."  Thomas tore aside
a collapsed bulkhead to allow the trio entry into a cavernous room
filled with more of the fightercraft that Endymion and Sailor Moon had
faced when bringing the ship down.  "I would have gone out in a blaze
of glory first."

	"So you're free now."

	"Feh.  I'll never really be free."

	"You're just resisting?  Is that it?"  Endymion stopped.  "Are you
going to turn on us when your willpower fades?"

	"You tell me!" Thomas said in a voice that was nearly a shout.  He
turned toward Serenity.  "Okay, 'Princess,' how do you want to go
about doing this?"

	Sailor Moon blinked.  "Um.  You know them best.  What can we do to
stop Earth from winning?"

	"Letting me think for myself now, huh?  So that's the game.  Okay."
The armored man cracked his knuckles.  "We're no good against Beryl
and them directly. Not right now.  We need to whittle away at their
support."  He turned to Endymion.  "Are you familiar with the strategy
called 'Peeling an Onion?'"

	Endymion nodded.  Of course he knew about it; it was a basic military
tactic on how to wear down a strong enemy.  Cut away at the outer
layers of an enemy's support; even if the part looks inconsequential,
it gradually deprives the enemy of key resources and makes them easier
to defeat.  But, he thought wryly, just like peeling a real onion, the
ones who try to do it more often than not wound up in tears.

	"Okay," Thomas continued.  "Earth's might includes its space fleet,
its ground army, then super soldiers such as your brainwashed friends,
Beryl herself, and at the core, Queen Metallia."

	"Each one of those layers," Endymion protested, "would take more than
just the three of us to eliminate!"

	"Maybe."  Thomas switched on the lights in the damaged bay, which
illuminated a single large fightercraft, three times the size of the
others, silver with green highlights and paneling.  "If we can get
this thing to run, we might be able to do enough damage to the fleet
to make it less of a threat."

	"One fighter?" asked Endymion.  "Against the ENTIRE fleet?!  It'd be
a slaughter!"

	Thomas slapped him on the back so hard it stung.  "That's the spirit!"

	"I meant OUR slaughter," Endymion clarified.  "Anyway."  He examined
the vessel.  He had not seen this particular design before.  "What's
so special about this one?"

	The armored man walked up and banged on the metal.  "My personal
project.  It's got modular construction, an imported Invid
protoculture reactor, turbocharged afterburn G-stone bionics, and it's
plated with premium reinforced Gundanium alloy steel."

	Thomas delivered a deep kiss to the fuselage of the craft.  "Named it
Lynne, after my..."  His face went blank.  "There had to be a reason."
 He shrugged.  "Anyway, it'll take several direct hits if it comes
down to that.  Problem is, I didn't finish programming its avionics
and I didn't get to upgrading its weapons.  Lynne's built-in guns at
the nose aren't much more powerful than the other fighters; they
wouldn't get past our destroyers' shields."

	"So if it can't win against the other ships, why bother using it?"
asked Sailor Moon.

	"Pfft.  Like I need to tell YOU."

	While the prince remained curious about Sailor Moon's behavior, he
had not heard of any of the elements of construction that Thomas had
referred to.  But then, the ex-commander always had been experimenting
with strange new technologies.  Endymion took a step closer to the
craft.  "How long, do you think, we have to get it working before our
foes catch up with us?"

	"About zero seconds."  Thomas drew back, then turned around and sent
his fist straight into the bridge of Zoicite's nose.

	"AAAH!"  Zoicite let out a yelp and staggered backwards.  He
recovered long enough to take another bullet to the forehead.  He fell
and two more shots hit him in very painful places.  "OW!  ARGH!"

	"And stay down."  Thomas blew the smoke off of his weapon's barrel.
He holstered the gun and kicked aside the Heaven's King's writhing
body before focusing back on Lynne.

	Endymion dropped into a combat stance when a group of three
serpentine youma flipped into the fighter bay behind their
lightning-quick leader.  Zoicite had become incredibly fast, he noted
to himself with horror.  Before being bound to Beryl, he had been the
most skilled at stealth, evasion and slaughter of any in the Terran
army.  The fact that what should have been lethal hits now seemed to
barely stun him made his transformation all the more frightening.
Aside from the pain, all being shot seemed to cause now were
rapidly-disappearing bruises.

	The prince drew a set of roses and hurled them at their attackers.
One fell quickly with a stem in the brain.  Another was wounded in the
shoulder and let out an agonized screech.  Endymion clenched his fist
and ropes of jagged thorns erupted from the rose, rapidly pulling
around the youma's neck.

	The final youma lunged at Endymion, claws and teeth gleaming in the
artificial light, hungry for human flesh.

	Sailor Moon lifted her hand and the creature froze midair.  It
struggled in her telekinetic grip for a moment before she flung it
hard against the wall.  The youma made some crunching noises and did
not get back up when it hit the floor.  For a moment, she looked
surprised at what she did.  "Let me get this straight.  Are youma
people?"

	"Kind of, sort of, not really," Thomas replied as he opened a panel
and started keying things in.  "Are corpses people?  How about robots?
 How about me, for that matter?"  He shook his head and threw up his
arms when the panel in front of him flashed red and shut off.

	"Egads."  Serenity shook her head.  She apparently had not gotten the
answer she desired.  "Youma are made out of PEOPLE!"

	"How is it going?" inquired Endymion as he dispatched another youma
that had come through an opening near to where Thomas stood.

	"Not good," replied the ex-commander.  "I don't suppose any of you
know how to tie in a protoculture reflex furnace to a G-stone matrix
without overloading the RX-7 conduits, do you?"

	"You don't know how to make it work?!" exclaimed Endymion.

	"Look, all I did was find a bunch of cool tech from across time and
space and stuff it into the biggest chassis I could find," Thomas
replied, taking a moment to shoot Zoicite in the head again when he
started to get up.  "I figured we'd sort it out later; make a family
project out of it!  It was supposed to be a sweet sixteen gift to my
girl when we got it up and running!"

	Endymion glanced around to try to locate Serenity.  He suddenly
couldn't find her.  After a moment's panic and worrying that she had
been taken by the corrupted Earth forces, he soon spotted the
sailor-suited girl inside Lynne's cockpit, her fingers busily
hammering away at a keyboard.

	"This looks SO much like that one game at the arcade back home!"
Sailor Moon called over to him.

	"Sailor Moon!" Endymion shouted.  "Get out of there!  It's an open
canopy; you're a sitting duck!"

	[Operating System Rewritten!!] Lynne's internal speakers boomed
throughout the bay.  The computer sounded like it had the
digitally-filtered voice of a girl with annoyingly too much "cutesy"
in her attitude.  [Reflex Furnace Activated.  G-Stone Engaged.  RX-7
Controls Operational.  Beginning Startup Sequence.]

	Thomas backed off as the fighter's construction readjusted itself.
The cockpit lifted itself into the air while wings and landing gear
folded back and around to become arms and legs.  Half of the engines
became a sort of built-in jetpack while the rest readjusted to various
places on the craft, including feet and torso.

	"Hot dang," muttered Serenity.  "What do you know?  That actually
worked!  These controls are looking more and more familiar."

	"Sweet!" shouted Thomas.

	Nephrite and Jadeite emerged from the darkened hallway and raised a
barrier to block Thomas's latest shot.

	Sailor Moon pushed a button on the panel in front of her.  Streams of
mass-driven projectiles shot forth from the fighter's head and
impacted the barrier surrounding the three Heaven's Kings.  At first
it seemed to make a difference but Nephrite's power rallied and
expanded the bubble.  With a mighty roar, the barrier flashed outward
and shattered the glass in the cockpits of the nearby fighters.

	Lynne's frame shook and the mecha fell onto its back, but nothing
broke.  "Wah!" Sailor Moon cried when she landed.

	Endymion hurried over and climbed into the cockpit behind the young
woman.  "Sailor Moon," he said, "do you even know how to pilot this?"

	"Oh yeah," the Sailor Soldier replied as she rubbed the back of her
head.  She had apparently hit it in the fall.  "Did it a bunch back
home.  Broke the record a couple times in a row.  Then I met this guy
called Centauri and I learned to pilot these ships called Gunstars
against the EVIL Kodan Armada!"  She paused.  "No, wait, that was a
movie.  Hmm."  She rubbed her bonked head.

	"My love, what... WHAT IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"

	Thomas scrambled into the third seat behind the other two.  He pushed
a button on the side, which sealed the canopy.  "I bet," he muttered.
"Hey, hot shot?  How about you show off your mad skills to your new
boyfriend and we reminisce about old times later!"

	Sailor Moon gripped the controls and a manic gleam came to her left
eye.  "Mwa ha ha ha haa!  Let's rock and roll!"

	"You're sure full of weird surprises today, boss."  Thomas made an
instrument appear in his hands which looked like it had a combustion
motor wired into it.  He plugged the instrument into the external
speakers, then slipped on a pair of dorky spectacles.  "You got it!"

	Endymion sighed.  "I give up.  Yes, whatever.  Let's rock and roll."

	The engines on the transformed fighter flared to life.  Nephrite had
a powerful-looking mystic circle about him on the ground below him.
"I call upon the power of the stars.  Strengthen my strike so that it
may pierce my enemies!"  He aimed a finger at the occupied cockpit.
"Rigel, Sirius, Cassiopeia--"

	A harsh discord of sound disrupted Nephrite's spell.  He was forced
to cover his ears in pain.  Bizarre, unnatural string instrument noise
blared from Lynne's external speakers.

	"LET'S GO!  LET'S BREAK THROUGH!!" Thomas sang while Endymion shook
his head in disbelief.  "TO THE DAWN WE DREAMED OF!  IT'S STILL FAR
AWAY, BUT--MAYBE--WE CAN MAKE IT THROUGH~~!"

	The distraction allowed Lynne to stand up, kick open the bay door,
and allow Endymion, Thomas and Sailor Moon to make their escape.

---

	Queen Serenity watched the huge fighter bay in the side of the felled
command ship break open and a mechanical humanoid shape slipped out.
Its parts shifted and transformed into the shape of a large, sleek
fighter, similar to the other small Terran craft that had been the
scourge of defenders and refugees alike.  It dodged a few shots from
the bay, turned skyward and began to ascend.

	"What is that?" asked the Princess.

	The elder woman lifted a hand from the shield battery and touched the
control panel.  A magnified image appeared to her left.  She could see
the three seated in the cockpit. "It is," she said, "your sister and
Endymion--"

	"And the Supreme Commander of the Terran fleet?!" cried Princess Serenity.

	"I told you they had been joined by the most unlikely of allies."

	"But... Thomas is a murderer of the worst kind!"

	"That's what I said.  Unlikely."

	"He ordered the deaths of seven planets' worth of people!"

	The large fightercraft sped upwards toward the fleet.

	"Yes, I admit I do not fully understand--"  Queen Serenity blinked.
"It looks like we are getting a signal from the fighter on all
channels."  She switched it on.

---

	Thomas had stopped singing as soon as they left the bay.  Endymion
marvelled as Sailor Moon effortlessly dodged several dozen shots from
a nearby low-orbit destroyer.  The fighter's guns flared to life and
bombarded the craft, but each shot failed to penetrate the vessel's
energy shield.

	"Cheap foreign machine guns!" growled the princess and broke off from
the attack.  "Dang it!"  Several enemy fighters had started to pursue
them.  Ever since she sat in front of the fighter's controls, it was
like she became a completely different person.  "DANG IT! DANG IT!
DANG IT! DANG IT!!"  Her demeanor had gone from calmness to a seething
rage.

	"Told you I hadn't upgraded the weapons yet," muttered Thomas.

	"You're all useless!  Can't either of you do something to bring their
shields down?!  THIS SUCKS!!"  She pounded angrily on her seat.
"SUCKSUCKSUCKSUCKSUCKS!!"

	"Good idea," muttered Thomas.  "How about you give 'em a call and ask nicely?"

	"Give them a call, eh?"  Endymion noticed some of the controls at the
sides of his seat.  "Thomas, am I reading this correctly?  You have a
voice uplink to the public announcement systems on every ship in the
Terran fleet?"

	Thomas's eyes lit up.  "Yeah!  And everyone else in the solar system
too!"  He grinned.  "Wait, I got it.  Patch us in!"

	The prince activated the broadcast signal and spoke into the
microphone.  "All Earth vessels, this is your prince speaking!  Stand
down and join us against--"

	Thomas shook his head.  "It's hopeless, Tux-boy.  They're all
brainwashed and turned into monsters."  He flipped a switch, a loud
tone signaling that he had patched in his microphone to the
communications system.  "All awesomely over-equipped Earth ships, this
is your ex-Supreme Commander speaking.  I just recently submitted my
resignation, but hey, they didn't lock out my codes yet so I have one
last order to distract and mesmerize you while I upload this
handy-dandy system-crippling virus: LISTEN TO MY SONG!!"

	The armored man began jamming on his instrument anew and started
singing again.  Endymion's eyes almost popped out of his head from the
sonic disruption.  The readouts from the G-stone matrix suddenly shot
astronomically high.  "What the--?!"

---

	As mother and daughter watched from atop the Lunar Palace, strange
music and singing played from the signal.

	"Let's go, let's ignite the sky!
	 It's so big and far away,
	 But maybe we can make it through as long as we have love!
	 If you listen to my song!"

	Princess Serenity's ponytails drooped, followed by her expression
when she watched Terra's fighter dodge past dozens of enemy craft
without taking a single hit and shooting down other fighters with
barely an afterthought.  "They've gone mad."

	The Queen opened her mouth to respond, but could not think of
anything to say to that.  "I... am not inclined to disagree right
now."  A glow slowly faded from around all of the Earth vessels.
"Wait, do you see the ships?"

	 "It's so easy--my li'l sweetheart!
	 Soaring through the night sky,
	 My sweetheart heart rides on the wings of hot-blooded emotions,
	 Shooting down all this sadness and hatred!"

	Terra's craft swung around and unleashed a barrage into several key
sectors of the nearby destroyer.  No shield prevented the guns from
hitting this time.  The destroyer's reactor must have gone critical,
because the large ship exploded seconds afterwards while the fighter
sped away, continually dodging small bursts of energy sent by the rest
of the fleet, which had taken notice of the one attacking them.

	"My sweetheart, I know you're gone;
	 So what?  I know you still hear me!
	 Let's take destiny head-on.
	 Across however many millions of light years;
	 Charge!  My li'l sweetheart!"

	Thomas continued playing his instrument, the music of which stirred
something warm in the hearts of both elder and younger Serenity.
Terra's fighter then began to shine with a new light.  The bolts from
its cannons seemed to grow larger, packing a much bigger punch when
they struck their targets.  Another destroyer went up in flames,
followed by two more.  Precise shots found their mark.  Not a single
round appeared to be wasted.

	"Let's dance!  The stars are singing too!
	 We can do it, if only for a moment.
	 If we spread our wings--ROCK WITH ME!!
	 BABY, we can handle it, so... don't let go of my hand!"

	The fighter shifted into its humanoid shape again.  Metal from other
sections of the craft remodeled into a large rifle that popped into
the large robot's hands.  Most of the Earth fleet was closing in on
the robot; dozens of ships fired their cannons toward Terra's craft.

	"Listen to my song!  Give us some power!
	 Don't give up, even 'till the end!"

	Parts of the fighter's armor took on a golden hue.  The robot held
its hands wide and an energy field appeared around the craft,
absorbing and deflecting the incoming shots.  Enemy bombers launched
from each ship, surrounding the mechanized humanoid.  They deployed a
series of spiked mines into the area.

	"Soaring through the darkness,
	 My sweetheart paints a bright-red trail in the sky!
	 Leaving fireworks and excitement in her wake!"

	Taking aim with its gun, the robot fired its side thrusters to go
into a fast spin.  Bolts lanced forth, slowly at first, but they came
out faster and faster until a flowery blossom of death illuminated the
sky, destroying the mines and hundreds of enemy fighters, as well as
severely damaging the larger ships that had the misfortune of being
nearby.

	"Tonight you're everyone's li'l sweetheart!
	 Telepathy and powers flying!
	 Hatred's hold is weakened;
	 Overflowing emotions are in everyone's soul!
	 Charge!  My li'l sweetheart!"

	A much larger Earth ship, a dreadnought, fired its main cannon at
Terra's fighter and launched missiles at it.  The robot's upper half
shifted into the flatter, sleeker fighter form to move out of the way.
 As the missiles came close, the hybrid fighter/robot flashed aside
and grabbed the missile, flinging it into the dreadnought.  The huge
ship took heavy damage in its bow, completely disabling its main gun,
but it continued to launch fighters.

	"Soaring through the night sky,
	 My sweetheart heart rides on the wings of hot-blooded emotions,
	 Shooting down all this sadness and hatred."

	With seemingly little effort, the half-robot aimed with its rifle at
the incoming craft and obliterated them all one by one.  Stray shots
deflected harmlessly off of its armor.

	"My sweetheart, I know you're gone;
	 So what?  I know you still hear me!"

	The final five ships in the fleet moved into place around the large
fightercraft.  They locked their tractor beams on it and had
apparently diverted most of their power to the effort, since their
bombardment had stopped.

	The hybrid craft struggled with powering its thrusters for a short
while but was unable to move or rotate into a firing position.
Several shots tore into its ammunition pods, which broke off and
exploded a short distance away.  It shifted into a humanoid form again
and took several direct hits in its armor plating, shuddering with
every blow.  Large cracks appeared along the fuselage.

...

	"Your 'Death Blossom' just drained the energy cells!" Endymion
shouted while smoke poured out of the conduits to his side.  Despite
this, Thomas continued jamming away on his song.  "We can't break out
of their tractor beams!  We're out of ammunition and our armor is
about to fall apart!"

	"No ammunition?"  Panting heavily, twitching and grinning like a
maniac, Sailor Moon released the controls and held up her hands,
focusing her energies on a piece of the fightercraft just outside.
"How's this for ammunition?! MOON... BROKEN MAGNUM!!"  She made a hard
punch forward in the air.

	Endymion shielded his eyes from the brightly-lit panel when he saw
how high the G-stone power levels skyrocketed.

...

	The robot held out a fist, which began to rotate on its joint, faster
and faster and shined a bright golden.  The metal fist tore off of the
craft, spraying bolts and twisted metal, and became a glowing disc
which blasted in an arc towards the ships as if driven by a powerful
rocket.  Upon reaching the first, it ripped through its core without
losing momentum, as if the vessel were made of tissue paper.  It
repeated this three more times, tearing a huge hole through each
craft.

	 "Let's take destiny head-on.
	 Across however many millions of light years!"

	A glow surrounded the final ship.  This one was very large--another
dreadnought.  The light signalled shields going back up.  The glowing
fist deflected off of it, then arced back around again and struck
again.  Glancing off each time, it struck hard in five more places
before losing power.  The dreadnought charged its main gun and opened
fire.  A ten-meter-wide pillar of destructive energy shot towards
Terra's fightercraft and hit it head-on.  The remnants of the
fighter's head and cockpit armor quivered and pieces began to crack
off.

...

	Sailor Moon stood up in the cockpit, her boots on the armrests of her
chair.  The brooch at her chest glowed red hot.  Outside, the robotic
limbs mirrored her movements telekinetically by the robotic limbs
outside.  "MOON... BIG BANG PUNCH!!!"

...

	The robot's parts shifted around to bring the most armored pieces to
the front.  Legs and arms became giant fingers which closed around the
cockpit to shield it from the concentrated beam.  The thrusters failed
to fire but the craft nevertheless propelled itself forward by an
unseen force.  When its latest transformation finished, it had turned
into something resembling one huge fist.  The entire craft glowed an
even brighter gold than before.  The fist pushed its way through the
beam and up the gun's barrel.

	"Soaring through the darkness,
	 My sweetheart paints a bright-red trail in the sky!
	 Leaving fireworks and excitement in her wake!"

	Bypassing the shields by traveling up the beam, the fighter tore
through the dreadnought's center and came out the other side, leaving
behind a gaping, glowing molten hole.  The final dreadnought exploded
a moment afterward.

	"Everyone can feel you, li'l sweetheart!
	 Telepathy, like sparks flying!
	 Overflowing hot-blooded emotions are burning!
	 Charge!  My li'l sweetheart!"

	The fist rearranged itself back into a humanoid robot form.  The
fighter carrying Terra, Endymion, and Thomas coasted lower in the sky.
 Sizzling and with sparking bits hanging off, it struck a triumphant
pose.

	"The entire Terran fleet," said Serenity in disbelief, "has been
destroyed?!"  She checked the sensors.  "Not a single ship is left!!
How...?!"

	"That man...."  Still in awe over the voice, the music and the song,
Princess Serenity whispered in a small voice as she tried to express
precisely how she felt about Thomas's singing, "I wanna have his
babies!"

	Her mother stared at her, then back towards the sky.

---

	"Incredible," commented Endymion at the results of their efforts.
"Wonderful job, Sailor Moon!  You did it!"

	Sailor Moon sunk back into her chair with a goofy grin, giggling like
a mental patient.  "Hey yeah, I did, didn't I?  Hehe!  I did something
right this time!  I knew all that time and money I spent at the arcade
wasn't wasted!  Wait 'till I tell Mom!"

	The prince glanced back at Thomas.  "Also, that was a nice song," he
added.  "If you don't listen too closely to the lyrics, that is.  Who
was it about?   Who is your 'little sweetheart?'"

	"Meh."  Thomas shrugged.  "I guess I've been with too many women over
the years.  I don't even remember her name."

	The fighter's residual golden glow faded and an apparition appeared
in the space just beside Thomas in the back seat.  Terra and Endymion
glanced backwards to see the transparent visage of a young girl with
orange hair.  She was probably barely eleven years old and wore a
stylish outfit that looked quite adorable on her.  A soft puffy ribbon
bounced as she tossed her long ethereal hair away from her left eye.

	Thomas's eyes went wide.  "You!  You were helping us this whole time!?"

	"Yes."  The child nodded.  "Making the fighter stronger? Making the
G-stone work with everything else?  That was as much as I could do.
The piloting and your amazing singing?  That was all you.  I don't
have any strength left to stay with you anymore.  Bye now, Daddy.  I
know you won't remember me for much longer."

	"I will NEVER forget you."  A single tear fell from Thomas's cheek.

	"You can't stop it.  But thank you for trying so hard.  No one else's
mind could have lasted that long but yours.  Thank you.  And thank you
for singing me one last song."

	"You're... welcome, kid.  It was all for you."  Thomas was bawling by
this point.  "See you around.  Love ya, babe."

	"Goodbye, Daddy!"  The ghost waved and floated away, disappearing
into stardust, followed shortly after by her fading, echoing voice.
"Goodbye!"

	The trio was silent for a while.

	"So that was your daughter?" Sailor Moon asked after a while.

	Thomas looked at her blankly.  "Who?"

	"The one you're crying about?"

	"Crying?" Thomas produced a handkerchief and wiped his face off.
Still red in the eyes, he said, "Why would I be crying?  That song was
awesome!  And those explosions?  The best I've seen in a long time!
Nothing to be sad about here.  If anything, it's gotta be tears of
joy."  He sniffed and busied himself with repairing a panel to his
side.  He added with a cracking voice, "Now we've gotta figure out
what to do next."

	Endymion locked eyes briefly with Sailor Moon's.  They shared a frown
and after a while the girl turned her attention back to the fighter's
controls.

---

	On the deck of the fallen command ship, Queen Beryl stared with shock
and awe at the scene of destruction that had taken place above.
"IMPOSSIBLE!!" she spat.  "THAT TRAITOR!!"

	Jadeite stepped forward and bowed.  "My Queen, it was highly unlikely
that a single fighter, even a superfighter such as that, could have
performed such a feat."

	"Again!"  Beryl lifted a hand toward the damaged, falling craft in
the sky.  She glowed with a red aura and focused.  After a short
while, she gave up and stomped angrily on the deck.  "He was put
through the same conditioning as all of you!  Why will he not respond
to Metallia's call?!"

	"Thomas always was stubborn," muttered Kunzite.  "I was resistant as
well, I remember."  He smiled evilly.  "Not for too long, though, Your
Highness."

	"He's ruining EVERYTHING!!  We needed those ships and their might to
bring down the Moon Kingdom's defenses!"

	"Take heart, Great Beryl," Jadeite said calmly.  "All is not lost."

	"Oh?"  Beryl glared at him.  The way she held her globed staff
indicated that his next words had better contain good news or he would
dearly regret speaking at all.

	Jadeite nodded.  "We must merely go to Plan B of our efforts."

	"Ah, I had forgotten."  Beryl nodded.  "Proceed, Jadeite."

	The blond Heaven's King made gestures in the air.  A pair of youma
dressed in concealing clothing appeared by his side and bowed.

	"Bring out the shaped charges!" Jadeite commanded.  "Set them all and
bring that shield down!  Tonight you shall taste human flesh!"

	The youma cackled with excitement, each hefting a large, half-meter-long disc.

	"Use them all!"

	"But we only need--"

	"USE THEM ALL!!"

---

	Terra worked the fighter's controls.  She couldn't believe how easily
flying this thing had come to her.  Even now she didn't seem to have
much of a problem shifting it back into an airplane shape and cruising
around with what little power remained.  She barely remembered the
last couple of minutes; the entire fight was a bit of a blur,
including everything she had said under that--whatever she could call
it--berserker haze.

	The Star Light Knight's analogue in this time or dimension seemed way
more serious than the person she knew.  Back home, she never would
have figured him for a family man, and it wasn't just because he was a
robot there.  She felt sad for what the princess whose body she
inhabited had done to him, to take control of him, make him her slave,
and even make him forget his own daughter, but couldn't begin to guess
what kind of mental tricks she had employed to accomplish the feat.
It was true Terra knew a little about mind control, but nothing that
would have such a permanent effect.  She would eventually have to
think about it to find a solution, but for now she had more pressing
matters to deal with.

	"What are they putting around that shield?" Terra asked.  She tilted
the craft so that she could point toward the city below outside the
cockpit window.  Thousands of tiny shapes placed device after device
in rows along the top and edges of the hemispheric barrier.

	"Those are Jovian bunker busters," replied Thomas.  "I designed
those.  They're shaped charges that I had manufactured to sink the
continents on Jupiter.  Each one can punch a ten-foot hole through a
quarter mile of steel.  They'll need a couple of minutes to warm up,
and then BAM!"  He clapped his hands.  "They'll knock out whatever's
beneath them.  Thought I kept my stash secret."  He glanced over at
Endymion.  "Guess one of your old buddies found me out."

	The prince looked grim.  "Is there any way we can destroy them, shut
them down, or in any way stop them from going off?"

	The ex-supreme commander shrugged.  "Got a teleportation machine that
can target the whole network simultaneously and beam them away in less
than a quarter of a second?  Got any ammo left to shoot the youma
placing them?  Can your telekinetic powers move them without setting
off the failsafe sensor?"  When no one responded, he said, "That's
what I thought.  Those things are going off and that shield is going
down!"

	Endymion immediately activated the communications system.

---

	A new signal came to Queen Serenity's attention.  A transparent
square floating in the air showing Endymion's face appeared nearby.

	"Prince Endymion!" squealed Princess Serenity, her face turning red.
"You should know, I was completely and utterly NOT impressed by
Commander Thomas's awful singing or his music!  Truly!"

	"Such a terrible liar," muttered the Queen.

	"But...?"  The man on the screen frowned.  He glanced aside, towards
the front of the craft, then back and forth a couple of times.
"Sailor Moon, you're not Princess Serenity?!"

	"I never said I was!" Princess Terra's voice came in faintly.  She
gasped.  "You mean you thought I was--?  This whole time?!  And the
kiss?!  And the... stuff?!"

	Princess Serenity gasped.  "Endymion, you were cheating on me?! With
my sister?!"

	"A moment ago, you had eyes for someone else as well," noted the woman.

	"Shh!" the girl hushed her mother.

	"I didn't!" declared Endymion emphatically.  "I mean, I didn't
know--I apologize--I am afraid I feel very awkward at the moment!"

	"Calm yourself, young prince," soothed Queen Serenity.  "What is the
reason for your message?  You three have our deepest thanks for your
heroic efforts."

	"Our 'heroic efforts' are not enough!" Endymion said, clearly trying
to force his way past his embarrassment.  "Beryl's army is planting
bombs!  You can probably see them by now.  These ones were strong
enough to sink the Jovian continents!  Even if the shield protects
you, I think you can expect a ground assault very soon!"

	Queen Serenity looked upwards to see the network black dots lining
the outside of the barrier.  She activated the public announcement
system.  "Lunar High Guard and all able-bodied volunteers, report to
the outer walls of the citadel.  Our defenses may be breached within a
short while.  You must hold the line for as long as--"

	The tremendous roar cut off her voice when the sky ignited.

---

	The cockpit canopy automatically polarized to a darker shade when the
explosives went off.  Terra still had to shield her eyes from their
intensity.  Shockwaves rocked Lynne's frame hard and, despite the
vacuum of space and soundproofing afforded by the craft, ear-piercing
sounds bounced around the enclosed space.

	Terra fought with the controls, which shook and rattled apart in her
hands.  Panels sparked and shorted out.  The left wing ripped off and
rock pellets started to pelt the underside of the cockpit.  Lynne went
into a tailspin.  Unable to do anything with the fighter's controls,
she reached out with the powers of the Moon and tried to right the
craft.  As she did, she saw huge boulders flying through the air,
ripped up from the edges of the citadel from the focused explosions.

	Sailor Moon moved the craft out of the way of the first few rocks.
She struggled to keep the fighter from falling, but it was no use.
The best she could do was guide it on its descent.  The vibrations
from turbulence threatened to tear what was left of Lynne apart.

	As the brightness faded, Terra could see the citadel below.  As the
misty remnants of its shield faded, she noticed that some of the
higher structures were singed, but on the whole the place was intact.

	Terra breathed heavy and felt the burn of the brooch on her chest.
It kept getting harder and harder to maintain control over the
battered three-seater.  "Can't... do this... much longer!"

	Endymion glanced back at Thomas.  "Can you fly by yourself?"

	"No."  Thomas shook his head.  "But I can fall with style."

  	"Good enough," Endymion said.

	Thomas breathed a long sigh and lightly caressed a panel.  "G'bye,
girl.  I'll miss you."

	"Ready?" Endymion asked Terra, who panted with sweat running down her
brow and nodded.

	"Allons-Y!!!" shouted Thomas as he pulled the release on the cracking
canopy, which instantly ripped off.  The air pressure sucked the three
passengers out of the craft and into the sky.  Endymion grabbed Terra
and used his powers to slow their descent.

	Rotating into a full, shameless dive, Thomas accelerated past them
downwards at five feet per second per second.  Then, as if that were
too slow, rockets on his combat boots ignited and more than quadrupled
his descent velocity.

	Lynne spun apart as it fell, spraying bolts and shrapnel on its way
down until it finally crashed into a small hillside swarming with
youma and exploded with a resigned puff of residual energy.

	Terra felt a moderate sense of loss over the transforming fighter.
It had been the one thing she was really good at, and it helped her
make such a difference in this war that she had been thrown into.

	It had also helped her murder probably thousands of people, another
part of her mind responded.

	"Yes, but they were all bad," she whispered back.

	"Do you really know that?" she pressed herself.

	"I have to believe that."

	Cradling her in a way that was, to her, enjoyably close, Endymion had
apparently heard her whisper in the thickening air.  "What are you
whispering about?"

	"I think I'm sad I had to kill a bunch of people," Terra replied.

	"Don't be," Endymion said.  "I've seen what those poor people go
through when they're turned into youma.  Believe me, you did them a
favor."

	"So," Terra continued to pass the time as the ground grew larger
below, "you're not in love with Princess Terra after all?"

	Endymion paused and his expression went taut.  "No," he said after a
while.  "I'm sorry."

	The girl breathed a sigh of relief.  "I am SO glad.  Can't say I'd
respect you if you did."

	Behind his mask, the man looked at her quizzically.  "Hey," he said
in a way that hinted that he felt insulted, "you don't HAVE to be so
happy about it, you know."

---

	Queen and Princess Serenity had made it off of the shield generator
plaza in time before the battery had exploded from the overload.  A
large piece of the palace had caved in from the detonation.  They
could no longer use the war room with all of its gadgetry useful for
directing the defenders, but at least no one had been hurt.

	The Queen lamented the loss of their main source of protection.
Earth's access to such fearsome weaponry as to disable it so quickly
weighed heavily on her mind.  What other surprises would they have in
store now that they could attack directly?  Would it be a repeat of
what had happened to the other worlds or did Beryl have something
special in mind for them?  As the grand finale of a massive campaign
it seemed likely.

	What else could they possibly do to protect themselves?  All she had
left were a few thousand soldiers plus however many volunteers they
could arm to make their last stand against the millions upon millions
of Terran troops that marched ever nearer to the gates.  Hundreds of
thousands of their enemy had been slain in the detonation but the
armies outside did not seem to notice or care about their loss.

	There was a time, she reflected, that her mere possession of the
Ginzuishou, the Silver Crystal of the Imperium, would have warded off
even the thought of attacking the Moon.  She could have flattened even
all of the armies now attacking if she were at full strength.
However, her ordeal with her adopted daughter but a few days ago had
left her drained.  Further use of the crystal was out of the question.
 Not only would it certainly fail, but it would also likely kill her
in the process.

	This was all Terra's fault, she started to reflect, but stopped
herself.  This was all her own fault.  Such hubris, to think that a
few kind words, gifts and sparing affection could change the nature of
that... child.  She may as well have attempted to befriend a meteor
strike.  It was a mistake, plain and simple--a complete failure of
reason!  That mistake had cost her nearly everything.

	And yet... what she had seen last night, in the girl's eyes, was so
very different from anything she had known from Terra.  So very...
human.

	A dark green flash descended from the sky.  At first, the Queen
backed off and thought it might be a bomb, but she quickly realized
that it was a man.  He swung around upright from his dive and slammed
heavily into the ground a short distance away, throwing up dirt and
leaving a crater.

	When the dust parted, the armored green man remained for a moment in
his kneeling position, and then stood.  Queen Serenity recognized him
as Supreme Commander Thomas, who had apparently defected to help his
prince to take back his kingdom, or perhaps some other reason she
could not fathom.

	"Hey there," Thomas greeted her, waving a hand.

	Beside her, the Princess held up her hands to her face and bobbed up
and down.  "That was SO neat!"

	Serenity's bodyguards raised their weapons, but the Queen waved them
off.  "Supreme Commander Thomas," she greeted warily.  "What is your
business with us?  Are you friend or are you foe?"

	"That depends," he replied.  "Are you fighting a hopeless last stand
to the last man to defend against impossible odds?"

	The Queen considered her response.  "We are indeed."

	Thomas knelt on one knee.  "Then I offer you my services as wielder
of the greatest force known to the universe."

	Princess Serenity nearly swooned at his rich, sensual voice.  "Are
you speaking of love?"

	"No."  The tall armored man shook his head and stood to his full
height.  "I am talking about..."  He lifted aloft his string
instrument--a Terran internal combustion guitar, the Queen
recognized--and declared, "The power of ROCK!"

	The Princess swooned anyway.

	Ignoring her daughter's lack of decorum, the Queen nodded and said,
"The Moon Kingdom gladly accepts your offering of colloquial demon
music."  In the distance, they heard the clash of weapons and cries of
wounded soldiers.  She tilted her head and wryly added, "However, are
you sure you would not rather render your services to us as a soldier?
 You see, we are in somewhat short supply."

---

	As Endymion took them gradually downward, Terra saw the walls of the
citadel slowly get swarmed and overtaken by the youma horde.  The
soldiers seemed to be trying everything in their power to buy everyone
else further in just that much more time.  The outer ring of men
collapsed.  Soldiers attempted to pour out cauldrons of caustic liquid
to slow the onslaught but were cut down in the act.  For every youma
they managed to hold off, five men would perish.  It was heartbreaking
to see this, what was most certainly the end of a once-great
civilization.

	And here she was, doing nothing about it.

	"Moon Crisis," Terra whispered, "Make Up."

	Endymion tightened his grip and let out a gasp when he felt the power
radiating from her.  Her outfit changed again to the whiter, frillier
version.  She could feel the power burning through her.  In the corner
of her eyes, she could see her brooch gleaming brightly.

	With her hands lifted as Endymion adjusted to hang onto her, she
formed great downward-facing plumes of force in the air, and released
them like missiles toward the ground.  One tore into the youma army
nearest the entrance to the citadel, tearing up trenches of broken
earth and carved marble.  A second one ripped through the air nearby,
either shredding or throwing back dozens more youma.

	In all, she had destroyed over a hundred of them; but that was a mere
drop in the bucket compared to the numberless concourses ready and
eager to replace them in the assault.

	She took off her tiara, as she had seen Usagi do countless times, and
charged it with golden energy.  It soon became a great disc in front
of her.  When she felt it was large enough, she made a move to launch
it towards the youma army.

	Terra gasped and clutched her chest, then instantly withdrew her
gloved hands in pain when she touched the white-hot brooch.  Her heart
felt like it missed a few beats.  What she had been trying to do had
apparently been too much for her.  Panting and eyes wide, she flung
the energy disc downwards, hoping that it would do some damage to
their enemy before she ran out of power again.  Her vision went
blotchy and she could feel her body going tingly and numb.

	"Not now!" she screamed at herself.  "Just a little more--just a little more!"

	Her bright super outfit returned to its normal red, white and blue
hues and she passed out.

---

	Endymion landed shortly after, not too far away from where Thomas had
hit the ground.  The angle at which he held Princess Terra had blocked
his view of the results of her desperate attack.  He could hear some
cheering in the distance, around where the outer wall had been
assaulted moments before.  Whatever she did, it must have helped.

	Queen Serenity broke off from her conversation with Thomas and
hurried over to them.  "Prince Endymion!" she greeted.  "I am
gratified to see that you made it!  Your efforts coming down has
bought us a few minutes' respite."  She looked at her adopted child.
"How is she?"

	The prince looked down at the sleeping girl cradled in his arms.
With one hand, he brushed back a lock of her bangs back from her face.
 The Terra he knew had always kept herself aloof from everyone else,
never even joining play with friends her age, much less throwing
herself into the heat of battle and using every last ounce of strength
she had to save human lives.  He wondered what had provoked the
change.  Despite his better judgement, he discovered that he actually
felt a hint of affection for her, and her bravery against such odds.

	"She's exhausted," Endymion replied after a while.  "When... or WHERE
did she ever learn how to become a Super Sailor?!  It's been thousands
of years--I thought it was a myth any of them could do that!"

	Queen Serenity did not even blink at what he said.  "Terra is always
full of surprises.  Not all of them good."  She motioned to a pair of
young girls for them to come closer.  "Angel?  Dewdrop?  Take her and
go."

	Endymion leaned down and the girls--he didn't pay attention to either
of their appearances--held Princess Terra under the arms and ankles
and, working in perfect unison, carted her off to the palace.  As they
went, the girls kept looking back in shock at Thomas.

	"We have seconds, not minutes," the Queen said.  "Millions of youma
are about to carve a path to us through the only remaining free people
in the solar system and I am completely out of ideas.  I need a
solution that works.  Do you have a suggestion?"

	Endymion looked at her.  "You are the Queen of the Silver Millennium
Alliance.  Isn't it obvious?  I think you have no choice left but to
use the Ginzuish--"

	The woman looked into his eyes and shook her head.  "Not an option."
Her stern expression left no room for argument.

	The prince was shocked at her reaction.  Why wouldn't she use it? he
wondered.  It was what she was famed for; it was one of the big
reasons why the immortal royal family of the Moon had ruled for the
last eternity and a half.  However, using the Crystal at full power
frequently killed the user.  Could that be it?  "Why not?  Are you a
coward?!  Are you afraid?"

	"Everything I know and love will die unless we succeed tonight,"
Serenity replied.  Her eyes, while they demonstrated great strength,
also displayed a great vulnerability as she spoke.  "Do you seriously
believe that I would fail to sacrifice my life if I thought that it
would make a difference?"

	Endymion's blood went cold.  All this time, even when he had been
fighting hopelessly against the legions on Earth, escaping through
space, and fighting here on the Moon, he had thought that they had
this one ace in the hole.  If everything else failed, they had the
Queen to make one last sacrifice to save them.  It seemed that he was
mistaken.  Even he, a prince of the Earth, had fallen into the trap of
believing that the ruler of the Moon was capable of saving them.  "I
apologize.  I have no idea what can help us.  They are too many
outside.  Can you still fight?"

	"For whatever little good it will do."  The Queen nodded.  "I can still fight."

	Endymion focused his will and allowed his tuxedo to shift back into
his black breastplate other armor.  He drew his sword.  "Then we have
no other choice.  We fight them.  The outcome will be what it may."

	Princess Serenity came closer, followed closely by Thomas.
"Endymion!" she called with delight at seeing him.  "I've missed you!
I was so worried!"

	"Sweet armor," Thomas commented at the other man's attire.  "Let's be
honest here, though.  You looked way better with the mask."

	"Right back at you, four-eyes," retorted Endymion.  "I think it'd be
a huge improvement if you stuck your helmet back on and welded it
there until you hit puberty."  Seriously, he thought, was this the
time for that man to tease?

	"Two-shave, my good man."  Thomas took off his goofy-looking glasses.
 "Anyway, I know how to win this.  Imagine: if only everyone could
fight, in the name of the Moon, as a Sailor Soldier could--"

	Endymion disliked the man's smug attitude.  "Please, enlighten us on
how we can do that."

	"There is a way, but it requires a ritual that fills the hearts of
our people with the strength to face this."

	"What ritual?"

	"Look, do you want me to spend the time explaining it to you or
rather I just take care of it?  I'll need all of you on board for
this."

	"I know of this ritual."  The Queen looked at Thomas.  "It has not
been performed since ages' past and its secret has been long
forgotten, but if you have somehow discovered a way to perform it, do
it now."

	"Sounds good."

	"How do we begin?"

	"You," Thomas said and pointed at Endymion, "find me a really buff
Jovian musician.  You'll know they're good if the only prized
possession they brought here while fleeing their home was a set of
drums."

	"You," the armored man pointed at the Queen, "do you play an instrument?"

	"I," started the elder Serenity, obviously taken aback by the
question, "am a virtuoso at the lever harp."

	"Harp," echoed Thomas uncertainly.  After a moment, he grinned.
"Yeah, I can work with that.  With some upgrades.  Cool.  Do your
'queeny' thing and direct the war effort while I'll go grab and fix up
your harp."

	Queen Serenity stared at him.

	"You," Thomas pointed at Princess Serenity.  "Can you sing?  Do you
know 'Planet Dance' or 'Power to the Dream?'"

	"I can," began the princess uncertainly, "read sheet music?"

	"Sweet.  I've got some here."  He handed her a sheaf of papers, then
dusted his gloves off.  "Read up on this and everyone meet back here
ASAP. Let's blow this place away!  Artistically, I mean!"

	The man dashed off.

	"What does this have to do with fighting a war?" Endymion called
after him.  "Are you making a band or are you actually going to do
something useful?!"

	"YES!" came back the emphatic, enthusiastic reply.

---

	Queen Beryl groaned, laying broken and flat on her back in a
smouldering crater.  For a moment, she thought her life might slip
away, but then she felt the harsh renewal power of Queen Metallia
flowing through her veins.  She coughed and choked as it forced her to
her feet.  She could feel the smashed, roasted tissues of her body
mending while a vile dry voice in her mind berated her for her
stupidity.

	"Forgive me, Queen Metallia," Beryl whispered in a raspy tone while
her burns slowly and painfully disappeared.  "I will not fail again!"

	The new ruler of Earth recalled what had happened.  The girl that
Prince Endymion had carried as he floated down into the
citadel--Sailor Moon--was more powerful than she had imagined.  The
sudden surge of energy that she displayed caught Beryl by surprise
while she had been gloating over what was to have been a swift capture
of the Lunar capital.

	Her four Heaven's Kings had been away, mixed in with other parts of
the army, while she stood back to observe the delicous victory from
afar.

	The golden energy disc had arced through the air, cut a path along
the ground through the army, and crashed straight into her before she
could react.

	Beryl held up her staff and raised a barrier around herself.  It
would take a little extra effort to maintain, but she would not be
caught off-guard again.  Through Metallia's mind, she could sense
Thomas's presence inside the city, very near to Serenity.  She
attempted to exert her will over him.  Although she could feel that
Metallia's power had utterly consumed him, he failed to follow any of
her whims.  How could that be possible?  No matter how strong a man's
will, no one could be thus engulfed and retain control over their own
actions for long.

	The Queen laughed evilly.  Except herself, of course.  She was
different.  She felt certain her pact had protected her from any undue
influence.  Her will would remain her own.

	Besides, who would ever want to disobey Metallia anyway?  The very
idea was unthinkable!

	The woman called forth her magics and projected an image of herself
into the sky.  "Pitiful creatures, you poor sorrowful defenders of the
Moon!" she announced to the public.  "Gaze upon our army and think of
what fate awaits you!  Even now your leaders refuse to help you.  They
will sacrifice you, and for what?  Give up, and join us, and you will
become more of our mighty youma!  Resist, and die painfully... and
then you will join our ranks anyway!"

	She let out a rich laugh and dismissed the image.  In the distance
could see Lunar soldiers on the wall cowering in fear.  She smirked in
satisfaction.  Their horror and despair was as sweet to her as a rare
wine.

	"Press the attack!" Beryl commanded her youma.

---

	There was a large, open gazebo in the palace courtyard they selected
as a stage.  Thomas had located the Queen's personal instrument and
attached some odd electronic devices to it.  Endymion convinced a
tall, muscular refugee from Jupiter to bring her tribe's prized
one-of-a-kind ceremonial drum set.  She had short spiky green hair
that identified her as a working-class commoner and wore a tight
outfit that showed off her chiseled abs and broad shoulders.

	Endymion felt she had a sort of rugged amazonian beauty to her, but
he much preferred the more delicate and refined women found, for
example, in Lunar culture.  Glancing back occasionally at Princess
Serenity, he remembered some of the happy moments when they first met.
 Unbidden, thoughts came back about Princess Terra's brave struggle to
bring down the enemy command ship.  She had looked positively
resplendent in the moment when she briefly took on the white,
exquisite form of a Super Sailor... and yet so delicate and vulnerable
when he carried her to safety.

	He shook his head and forced himself to think of other things.  Now
was not the time to second-guess himself, especially not with regards
to a love as deeply-seated as his for Princess Serenity.

	When he finished assisting the drummer in getting her equipment set
up, the prince went back to the others and heard the final pieces of
their conversation.

	"Our drummer is ready," said Endymion, pointing backwards to the
muscle-bound Jovian, who gave her drum set a brief test and gave a
thumbs up.

	"Good!" Thomas replied.

	"What do I do now?" inquired Endymion.

	"You," said Thomas, "sit back, do nothing, and watch how a REAL man
wins a war."

	Endymion glared at him but decided not to continue the dispute.  Time
was too short to let an argument waste precious moments.

	The Star Light Knight's expression softened.  "Look, don't get me
wrong; I like you, kid.  That's why I hate you so much."  He held out
a large flat device, similar to what had been used to destroy the
shield.  "I want you to have this."

	"A shaped charge?"

	"My last one.  Has sentimental value.  And I dunno, maybe it'll come
in handy someday."

	Endymion took it.  A weapon was a weapon, he supposed.  "Thanks, I think."

	"Your public announcement system reaches the whole citadel area?"
asked Thomas, turning towards the Queen.

	"Yes," replied Queen Serenity, "and a few miles beyond."

	"Even better.  How's the sound fidelity?"

	"They can hear every tone and inflection of my voice when I issue a
decree."  The Queen appeared to understand at least some aspects of
his plan.  "If you are going to send a message, perhaps to inspire
them and counteract Beryl's fear-mongering, I recommend that you do
not use your name."

	"What's wrong with my name?"

	"In some languages in the past few days, 'Thomas' has become
synonymous with 'genocidal maniac.'  It will be detrimental to any
inspiration you may otherwise have provided."

	"I see your point.  So what do I call myself?  I can use a stage name."

	The Queen thought about it for a moment.  "How about," she said, "the
Star Light Knight?"

	"Heh.  Stupid, extravagant, and yet weirdly heroic.  I like it."

	"Very well, then I dub you the Star Light Knight, one of the newest
and greatest heroes of the Moon Kingdom.  Are you ready to begin?"

	The newly commissioned Star Light Knight donned a pair of tinted
spectacles.  "I was born ready."

	Queen Serenity activated the public announcement system and spoke,
"Everyone, I know times seem difficult and victory seems impossible...
but I must ask you to rise and continue to hold the line.  Listen to
our words--heed our song.  I give you... the Star Light Knight!"

	"Hey everybody," Thomas said.  "I'm the Star Light Knight and we've
got a special show for you tonight.  We're gonna show Beryl that she's
not the only one that can empower the people.  Stand up, draw your
swords, face the enemy... and, like your boss just said, listen to our
song!"

	The Jovian drummer started with a heart-thumping lead-in.  Endymion
could tell that she was a master musician with the precision and
emotion that she poured into what she may have believed would be her
last performance ever.  Queen Serenity joined in with her huge
pedestal-mounted harp, adjusting the tones to best accentuate the
drummer's performance.  Her fingers almost blurred at times as she
fought to keep up with the tempo and make the notes sufficiently deep
and resonant to appeal to the correct emotions.

	Finally, the Star Light Knight started in on his guitar, blending
seamlessly with harp and drums.  With the public announcement system
active, he began to sing.

	"All right, let's get started; it's doomsday night!
	 Why are you feelin' scared?
	 Get back up!  Feel some courage in your heart!"

	In the distance, heads turned skyward to see a projection of the
singing group, focused on Queen and Princess Serenity.  Some of the
soldiers who had sunk to their knees in despair took heed and started
to regain their focus.

	"We're on a paradise flying through the sky,
	 With strong people forgetting their energy;
	 Now hurry up!  Let's bring it back tonight!"

	Princess Serenity took a deep breath, put down her sheet music, and
joined in with the song.  She harmonized with the Star Light Knight.
Only an expert could tell that her voice was shaky; that she was
afraid, but most would only hear the beautiful tones.

	"No more wasting time, before your chance
	 Flows on by you just like a dream!"

	Golden energy radiated outward, first from Queen Serenity, followed
by the Princess, which slowly expanded with every word she sang.
Starting nearby, the eyes of people flared briefly with the same
golden power that their ruler radiated.  Some soldiers that had been
wounded stood back up, none the worse for wear.

	"Hey everybody!  Let's wake up your inner light!
	 And let's dance, dancin' this one last dance!"

	Endymion glanced upwards to see flaming projectiles coming their way.
 He recognized them as shells from either the cannons or trebuchets
that Earth's ground forces had brought.  The Moon's ground cannons on
the inner walls shot upward and intercepted most of the projectiles,
destroying them before they could hit, but several made it through.
Endymion at first reflexively reached for his sword, but he stopped
himself and aimed a Smoking Bomber towards the oncoming shells.  He
destroyed one, then another, but a single one came through and hurtled
directly at the stage.

	Thomas stopped singing once he finished his line and leapt upwards to
kick the projectile.  Whether it was his armor protecting him or that
he hit it just right, the shell's silent explosion deflected away just
beyond where it would have harmed the other individuals on stage.  His
left hand glowed and his lips moved soundlessly.  He must have been
casting a spell to dampen the noise so as to not interrupt the song.

	When Endymion and the Star Light Knight worked to block the incoming
bombardment, Princess Serenity took over the melody entirely.

	"Liars sing a sad song of giving up;
	 No thanks! We don't want them around!"

	Golden energy spread in wisps across the ground, seeking out everyone
in the citadel who carried a sword.  Atop the main wall, defenders'
weapons glowed brightly.  Suddenly, they seemed to be able to hold
their own against the youma hordes.  Whereas before it took more than
five ordinary men to defeat one youma, one man seemed more than
capably a match for three or more.

	"The tides of war that keep on changing,
	 And the unseen sweat and tears,
	 Bring victory into my heart!"

	It was an amazing change in the flow of the battle, but it still was
not nearly enough yet to make a difference.  It was still thousands
against millions upon crumbling stone walls.

---

	The left flank of the assault, probably a fifth of the brainwashed
youma army, stopped in their tracks and listened to the music.  As the
words, drum beats and string plucks resonated within their bodies, the
black aura around them faded, replaced in short order by the golden
glow radiating from the palace.  Pieces of reptillian flesh, claws and
inhuman appendages turned to dust and fell from their frames.

	The commanding officer, a bearded man with bad teeth and
strange-looking eyes, appeared as though he had just woken up from a
terrible nightmare.  He blinked and observed his surroundings.  He
turned and faced his men.  "We're free!  Those sanctimonious Moon
people broke Beryl's hold--thank the gods!"  He held his sword, which
glowed golden.  "And they've given us power!"

	He observed the artillery group in the center of the Earth onslaught,
outside of his division and through two others.

	"Signal the Lunar commanders.  We will join them in their defense!
We cannot afford to lose this source of protection on our minds!
CHARGE!!"

	The freed Earth soldiers let out a triumphant cry and threw
themselves into battle against their former comrades.

---

	Soon, the bombardment ended.  S.L.K. rejoined the musical arrangement
with his guitar and song.  He and the Princess danced together on
stage in a way that was decidedly not appropriate for the ballroom...
or for people that were not married, for that matter.  Smiling in awe
of each other and and with their eyes locked, they continued to sing
at each other.

	"No more wastin' love -- don't make love pointless;
	 There's always be someone who's looking just at you!"

	Endymion saw the clear chemistry between Princess Serenity and Thomas
on stage.  He felt quite jealous, but since the singing seemed to be
having such a huge effect, he decided it would be best to not
interrupt.

	"Hey everybody!  With your hearts beating as one!
	 Give a shout, dancin' this one last dance!"

	The music continued unabated, echoing across the landscape.  A large
group of the Earth army shone golden and actually seemed to be
fighting against the rest of Beryl's group.  They must have been freed
from her control!  But they seemed to simply be going berserk; their
thrusts were the result of angry, desperate people, not of skilled and
disciplined soldiers as he knew they should be.  Artillery from the
main group had already begun to tear into their ranks.

	The realization hit him that those were his people now out there;
freed from Beryl's brainwashing, they were the last remaining true men
and women of Earth!  With them, with their numerous, empowered hosts,
they all stood a chance to survive this--if they all pulled it
together.

	Endymion glanced between Princess Serenity, who at the moment seemed
utterly fascinated with Thomas, and the hundreds of thousands of Earth
soldiers that he knew needed his guidance.  The princess and the
ex-supreme commander continued to sing together.

	"No more wastin' love!  I want to love you!
	 Throwing our heartbeats towards tomorrow!

	The Prince of the Earth dashed off towards the freed army as quickly
as his powers would carry him.

	"Hey everybody, wake up the light!
	 And let's dance, dancin' this one last dance!"

---

	Queen Beryl's crown fell off and her mouth fell when she realized
that she was losing control of large parts of her army.  Her four
Heaven's Kings came to her side.

	"Do not listen to it, my Queen!" Nephrite shouted.  "It is a vile
ritual from the Moon Kingdom!"

	"How do we stop it?!" shrieked Beryl.

	"Kill the singer," suggested Kunzite.

	"If we remain together and focus our energies," Jadeite said, "we may
be able to prevent further losses!"

	"Zoicite!" Beryl cried.  "Infiltrate the citadel and kill that
insufferable princess!  STOP THAT SINGING!"

	Zoicite bowed and vanished in a swirl of flower petals.  In the
distance, they heard the previous song end and a new one begin.

---

	Endymion met the freed commander outside the walls of the citadel
while the Princess's and Star Light Knight's voices continued their
new song, accompanied by drums, guitar, and harp.

	"The moon is rising to begin another fight;
	 TONIGHT TONIGHT--we're gonna make our move!"
	 Your eyes are shining as your swords sparkle in the dark!
	 A SIGN OF THE TIMES--this time is for you!"

	The commander saluted him.  "My Lord, Prince Endymion!"

	Endymion waved at him.  "Well if it isn't old Rusty Ironeyes!  I
thought your brain was gone for good!"

	"Dazzle me with your night moves as we turn to the music
	 Finding mystery in the pounding grooves as our spirit grows!"

	Rusty shook his head.  "We didn't get hit that hard by the
brainwashing.  Thank the gods for that song!  But you know I'm lousy
at tactics.  We're dropping like flies out here!"

	The Prince drew his sword.  "I noticed!  Let's see if we can fix that!"

---

	For the first time in a week, Queen Serenity's heart filled with
hope.  From her place on the stage and from the display to her right,
she could tell that the situation had improved from "We are all going
to die!" to "We just might take a few of them with us!"  Her fingers
worked the harp furiously.  The Star Light Knight made some notes that
were very difficult to match on her instrument of choice.

	"DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN--NO NO NO!
	 DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN--NO NO NO!
	 DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN--NO NO NO!
	 BABY, DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN!"

	Serenity felt the strength from the Moon channeling through her and
dispersing outward to every noble heart on the planet in whose heart
resonated the will to fight.  This ritual would not have worked
without something that inspired the people.  However, when she read
about this working in ancient times, she imagined something more on
the scale of a rousing speech to victory rather than a song.  In
retrospect and seeing it in action, a song made a lot of sense.

	"HOLY LONELY LIGHT--you gotta make it;
	 Just believe you're invincible!"

	The Queen was not particularly fond of the music style; she liked
things that were more subdued and dignified.  However, her daughter
seemed to really be enjoying herself.  The princess threw her whole
heart and soul into the songs she and the armored man belted out.
This reflected in the ever-increasing strength of the aura pouring out
of the girl.

	"HOLY LONELY NIGHT--you gotta find the answer'
	 There inside--you just take the chance!
	 We'll be there!"

	Days ago, Serenity had been worried that the girl would never be
ready to take over responsibility for the kingdom.  The passion she
showed now certainly seemed to reflect that she was ready for more
serious responsibility.  Perhaps, if they made it out of this alive,
she would soon be a worthy successor to the powers of the Ginzuishou
Crystal.

	"Even if this world were mine I would not give away my love;
	 I'm not the kind that says that love has a price!"

	Her fingers and muscle memory able to keep up with the music,
Serenity looked for Endymion among the crowd of commoners that had
gathered around the stage.  There were some from every world.  People
from Mars in their red desert silks, Jovians in their tribal regalia,
and even the Saturnians and Plutonians in their varied concealing
robes.  They were cheering and, in some cases, dancing to the music,
but Endymion was nowhere to be found.

	"I don't know what you're telling me;
	 If the feeling is real inside--
	 Is it truth or lies I'm not gonna be wasting time!

	The readouts indicated that the casualties among Lunar forces had
dropped considerably, while the corrupted Earth army had started to
take very heavy losses from the empowered troops.

	"Dazzle me with your night moves as we turn to the music;
	 Finding mystery in the pounding grooves as our spirit grows!"

	Serenity's jaw dropped when she gazed downward at the battlefield
beyond the walls.  The forces of Earth friendly to the Moon seemed to
have gained the advantage over a large part of Beryl's army.

	"DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN--NO NO NO!
	 DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN--NO NO NO!
	 DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN--NO NO NO!
	 BABY, DON'T LOOK BACK AGAIN!"

	The Queen could hardly believe what she was seeing--they were
winning.  They were actually winning!

	"HOLY LONELY LIGHT reach for it--
	 reach out to the sparkling sky--"

	The Princess's voice cut off suddenly.  The drummer gasped and stopped playing.

	The Queen looked over to see what had happened.  "SERENITY!!" she
screamed, standing up and knocking over her harp.

	A huge gray crystalline spike protruded from the Princess's chest.
"M-m... mother--"  She staggered for a moment, but the spike soon
vanished with a hissing of high-temperature smoke, leaving an empty,
burned cavity, and she collapsed.

	The Queen did not even think to check for an attacker.  She rushed to
her daughter's side.  She only saw blank eyes and an empty expression.
 The princess had been dead before she even touched the ground.

	She heard the explosive noise of gunfire and looked up to see Master
Assassin Zoicite above her, poised to strike with a crystal spear.  A
large flattened lump of lead fell from his forehead and he collapsed.

	"Dang it!" S.L.K. shouted, holding a smoking gun.  "I let my guard
down for one second for a good long riff--WHERE THE HECK IS TUX-BOY
WHEN YOU NEED HIM?!"

	Shaking with grief, Serenity glanced between Zoicite, her slain
daughter, and the battle raging outside the walls.  She reached for
her wand.

	The Star Light Knight grabbed her wrist.  "She's gone!" he said.
"You can't do anything for her.  Getting yourself killed too won't
solve anything!"

	A shell exploded nearby.  The golden energy that had been flowing
outward dimmed by a few shades.

	S.L.K. looked into her eyes and said, "You have other people that
need you now.  Look around you.  The ritual will fade if not
maintained.  You're the only one left that can keep it going now."

	Serenity almost could not keep herself standing because the pain in
her heart was so great.  But she saw the people she had noticed
before, all looking to her for their salvation.  "What do I do?"

	Zoicite once again began to stand.  Another shot from S.L.K.'s weapon
returned him to the ground.

	S.L.K. said.  "You need to sing your people something."

	"But I am not a singer!"

	"The ritual doesn't care at this point--it just needs some kind of
melody--FROM YOU--to keep it going!  Here's an idea--sing something
about winning.  You figure it out while I take care of Zoi--you know,
to make sure nobody dies on stage again."

	Serenity nodded.  "I will try."

	"Good!"  S.L.K. threw his guitar over to the drummer and said, "Here!
 Take over!"

	The drummer started playing the guitar.  She was not exactly an
expert guitarist; some of the notes came out wrong and warped.  As if
to keep things interesting, she played a simpler rhythm than before
with her feet while fussing with the new instrument.

	Slowly and painfully, Serenity laid her slain daughter on the ground,
crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyelids.  She stood
up to her full height, attempted to bolster her resolve, and opened
her mouth.  The woman's voice cracking and full of grief, she
desperately attempted to come up with some words to sing.

---

	On the battlefield, Endymion had heard what had happened to his
beloved, his betrothed, the Princess Serenity.  A glance at the
projection in the sky confirmed his worst fears.  She was dead.  Gone,
forever.  The armies too had felt a sudden change in their strength
with her passing--something that had been lost would never return.

	The monsters started to overtake them as their power faded.  Now at a
severe disadvantage, their ranks began to fall.  At the front of their
lines, many were cut down by the youma as they pressed their
advantage.

	The prince cursed under his breath.  As if echoing what his heart
felt, he could hear his soldiers mourn with him.  The youma they faced
cheered in their horrid pitchy screeches.  He yelled back against his
enemies' mocking laughter.  Tears flowed down his cheeks and he took
several breaths while grief took him.

	Endymion shouted at the sky again, this time in anger.  He reached
into himself and drew out the power of the Earth.  A blue aura
suffused his body and glowed within his eyes and upon his sword.  His
eyes dried but tear stains remained upon his face in the dirt from the
fighting.

	The youma advance stopped in front of him.  "All soldiers of Earth,
hear me now!" he shouted.  His voice echoed throughout the land in
front and behind him.  "Join your true prince now or be struck down by
my wrath!"  His blue aura burned brighter than before.

	The blue glow reflected in the loyal troops behind him, the blue of
the Earth mixing with the gold of the Moon.  They returned his
rallying shout with a battle cry, lifting their swords.

	"For the Princess," said Endymion, lifting his sword forward.

	"FOR THE KING!" added Rusty Ironeyes, and many other men and women
wearing the armor of Earth joined in.  A few scattered individuals
within the youma ranks lost their youma appearance and took on the
same glow as the other freed humans.

	"BERYL!" Endymion yelled across the battlefield towards the evil
queen's location at the other end of the field.  "YOUR REIGN ENDS
TONIGHT!  CHARGE!!"

	As Endymion ran across the battlefield, Queen Serenity stood on the
image above them, and found her voice to sing.  "Life is only what we
choose to make it," Serenity began somberly, and then rhymed, "Let's
just take it... Let us be free!"  Gradually, with the help of the
music, she seemed to find her voice.

	"We can find the glory we all dream of.
	 And with our love, we can win."

	Some of the soldiers winced at some of her off-key moments, but they
nevertheless continued to soak in the power of the Moon and used it to
their advantage with every swing, matching the youma blow for blow.

	"Still, we must fight or face defeat.
       We must stand tall and not retreat.
       With our strength we'll find the might.
       There's no fight we can't fight... together!
       All together,
       We can win!"

	Thus increased in strength, the large group that Endymion led tore
into the youma ranks, hacking and slashing their way towards the foul
leaders of the enemy army.

      "Blessed with strong hearts that beat as one,
       Watch us soar.
       And with love that conquers all
       We'll win this battle, this last battle.
       We will win... We must win...
       We will win... We can win...
       We can win!

	Demonstrating a prowess previously unknown even to himself, the
prince's sword flashed back and forth, bisecting every enemy soldier
he encountered as if they were made of soft snow.  Many of the youma
simply turned to dust instead of bleeding out as men.

	"As the battle goes on we feel stronger.
	 How much longer
	 Must this go on?
	 Each and every day we dream of winning,
	 And beginning... a new life!"

	Even as her ranks collapsed, Queen Beryl seemed to nevertheless
relish the chance to meet Endymion on the battlefield.  To her left,
freed human troops charged, and with a swing of her staff, dozens of
men went flying as if they were rag-dolls and spasming with harsh
black electrical energy.  The ranks to her right collapsed under the
loyalist onslaught.  She sent them flying with the same small amount
of effort.

	"Still, we must fight or face defeat.
       We must stand tall and not retreat."

	Finally, Endymion stood alone to face Beryl by himself.  Kunzite,
Nephrite and Jadeite moved in front of her to block him.  Beryl waved
them off.  Obediently, they bowed and moved aside.  The woman beckoned
him to come closer.

	"With our strength we'll find the might;
       There's no fight we can't fight--together!"

	Endymion let out a battle cry and charged with his sword drawn.  He
swung and his sword bounced off of a barrier around her.  As he
staggered backwards to regain his footing, she laughed and made a
sideways wiggling gesture with her index finger, suggesting that he
was being naughty.

	"All together,
       We can win!"

	The Prince put away his sword, cracked his knuckles, and fired off
multiple Smoking Bombers at her.  The ground ripped and tore away, but
the shield surrounding the queen held strong.  She raised her staff
and sent black and blue lightning at him.

      "Blessed with strong hearts that beat as one,
       Watch us soar.
       And with love that conquers all!"

	With his arms raised to block the energy, Endymion fought through the
lightning bolts, pushing forward towards her.  She laughed as his walk
grew slower, weaker, and lower.  Finally, breathing hard and his eyes
still defiant, he found himself kneeling at her feet.

	"We'll win this battle; this last battle!
       We will win! We must win..."

	Beryl reached down to caress his chin.  Endymion reached behind his
cloak with his left hand and swung out a flat device that he pressed
up against a smaller inner barrier around her.  Beryl's eyes went wide
and she only had time to glance down at it as, clutching tightly to
it, he hit the trigger with his thumb.  It took half a second to warm
up.

	"We will win! We must win...
       We will win!! We can win!!"

	The resulting explosion engulfed Beryl but sent Endymion tumbling
backwards, his face badly burned and armor cracked and splintered.
His his left hand and arm hung to his side, his bones shattered and
useless.  Nevertheless, eyes burning with blue light, he stood back
up, and with his right arm raised his sword.

	"Now that we have reached this last encounter.
	 Where are we now?"

	Kunzite leapt into action, hurling two huge arcs of energy at the
prince.  Endymion swung his sword twice with all his might, splitting
the energy blades, which passed harmlessly around him and exploded
some distance away into the ground behind him.  His magic sword
shattered an instant later from the intense heat and strain from
deflecting the abilities of his brainwashed former comrade.  The pain
from his severe injuries caught up with him and he cried out in agony
as he fell to one knee.

	 "What shall be now?
	 How could we have come so far to give up?"

	Angry and bleeding, Beryl stood from the trench left by the exploding
shaped charge.  She dropped her broken staff and muttered something
before raising her hands and conjuring a huge, jagged stone spike.
She aimed the point at Endymion's chest.

	"We won't give up,
	 We can win!"

	Endymion clenched his teeth and focused.  The aura around him sprang
up brighter.  He pulled out a rose, took one second to aim it, and
flung it at Beryl as she threw her stone spear at him.  His rose flew
with a strong force and determination, greater than any of his Smoking
Bomber casts and with more force than anything else in his life.

	"Still, we must fight or face defeat.
       We must stand tall and not retreat."

	The rose shattered Beryl's stone spear and nailed her squarely in the
chest, staggering her and making her clutch at the wound in pain.
Thus impaled, she crumpled downward, screaming out for assistance.

	Meanwhile, the shards from Beryl's spear continued in their path and
impaled Endymion in multiple locations across his body, but not in his
heart.

	"With our strength we'll find the might.
       There's no fight we can't fight together!"

	Enraged, Nephrite levitated into the air and prepared to hurl an
energy blast at the prince's battered form.  Then, a huge meter-wide
bolt of energy came down upon him and shook his barrier, forcing him
to downward.  Two more strikes hit him hard and drove him to the
ground.  Shocked, he and everyone on the ground looked skyward from
where the attack had come.

	"All together,
       We can win!

	Far into the sky, a silver shape appeared in a light wave of blue.
Moments later, several more metallic shapes appeared, followed in
short order by vessels that had the sheen and appearance of polished
wood.  They started bombarding the youma army, whatever part of it had
not been freed from Beryl's brainwashing.

	"All together,
       We can win."

	Clutching her wound where the rose stayed impaled, Beryl glanced up
at the starships that had arrived, and at her failing army.

	Above, Serenity's winded image finished her song by declaring
fervently, "We... can... win!!!"

	Dozens of shots impacted against a barrier that Jadeite had raised
around them both.  Their defenses weakened and slowly crumbled under
the bombardment.

	"NO!" cried Beryl.  "I AM THE RULER AND QUEEN OF EARTH!"

	"Wrong," replied Endymion.  "*I* am the ruler, and KING of Earth!"

	"THIS... CANNOT... BE!!"  After a while, Beryl's expression faded
from rage to confusion, and finally fear.  "RETREAT!!!" she shrieked,
and activated a device on her upper arm.

	A dark, sparking portal appeared behind her.  Dozens more appeared
across the landscape near pockets of youma soldiers.  Nephrite and
Jadeite picked her up, one under each arm, and carried her into the
nearest one.  Kunzite followed.  Dazed, with clothes torn and with
multiple bruises on his head and body, Zoicite appeared in a swirl of
flower blossoms.  Glancing back to give a pained expression to the
prince, he departed as well.

	Many youma hurried through the portals or otherwise vanished,
apparently having some sort of teleportation or recall abilities.  The
ones who could not escape were either slain or returned to their human
state.  The portals soon vanished.

	Triumphant shouts and cheers echoed throughout the land.  Groaning
from his injuries, but bolstered, at least temporarily, by the thrill
of victory, Endymion held a hand to his most painful wound, and stood.

---End of Chapter 17

And now it's time for... MIND YOUR MANNERS!!! with Sailor Nuke.

(Terra pulls the Earth command ship out of the sky)

Sailor Nuke:  Today we learned that--

(Sailor Moon's outfit ends up white and exaggerated when she becomes
Super Sailor Moon)

Sailor Kawaii:  Cute outfits and lots of ribbons win wars!

Sailor Nuke: Nooo!  We learned that--

(Princess Serenity sings a song and they win the war.)

Sailor Kawaii:  Singing songs around the campfire is a great way to win!

Sailor Nuke:  Nah, how about...

(A single fighter blows up the entire armada.)

Sailor Nuke: If you can figure out how to rewrite the operating
system, bring down their shields, and never miss a shot, then you can
BLOW 'EM TO BITS!!

(Prince Endymion loses his love and cries out before going on to
defeat Queen Beryl.)

Sailor Kawaii:  Or how about if you love someone very much--

Sailor Nuke: --it gives you the power to change history and make
everything explode!!

(The allied flotilla arrives and starts bombarding the youma army.)

Sailor Kawaii:  Sailor Kawaii says.  Tee-hee!

Sailor Nuke:  Heh.  Sailor Nuke sez.  BWAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!


Citations (Gotta cite your references--wouldn't be proper if you didn't!):

For reference, I watched the following material, over and over again,
until my eyes were red and I found myself quoting bits randomly
throughout the day, all in preparation for this chapter:

Sailor Moon Silver Millennium "Destined" Events (Pretty dramatic.
Just needs more mecha, starships, another princess, and ArbyFish):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dyCyOW34G8

Bringing Down the Star Destroyer (The Force Unleashed):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nJ-B7xTAyo

Broken Magnum (GaiGaoGar):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkJPpxakY2Y

Big Bang Punch (Shin Mazinger):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwG3wL1Srco

Gunbuster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkyZS5E9Y8I

Planet Dance (Macross 7)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=fJOxJzr5qp0&feature=endscreen

Totsugeki Love Heart (Macross 7):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GLvBLO-blY

Holy Lonely Night (Macross 7):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh25-V63IBk

Do You Remember Love (Macross):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wckZcVFLU24&feature=endscreen&NR=1

We Will Win (Robotech):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln18cpx8SGc

-- 
Benjamin A Oliver
benjamin.a.oliver at gmail.com

Technical Writer / Translator
M3 Engineering & Technology

Master of Science in Management Information Systems
Eller College of Management
University of Arizona

Writings: Fan Fiction
http://boliver.florestica.com/

Webcomic: Nuke 'Em 'Till They Glow!! The Early Years
http://nettg.com