Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows of the Past ❯ The Fires of Destiny ( Chapter 5 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Hello! I'm back at it again! As always, the characters in this story
aren't mine, unless they were created by me. The ones not created by me are
owned by Naoko Takeuchi, Bandai, DiC and other large corporations. I won't ever
say that I own the characters, unless I do, so there!
Also, if I step on anyone's toes by using characters similar to theirs, my
bad. I can't read every fanfic that is posted on the internet or anywhere else.
It's almost humanly impossible.

Shadows From the Past
by: M. H. Torringjan

Part five: The Fires of Destiny

Raye awoke in the middle of the night, disturbed by a dream that she had
had. It was another one about her mother. Raye had always been disturbed by
these dreams, but recently, the dreams had been growing in intensity. She was
beginning to become worried about herself, and perhaps even her future. She
decided to check the sacred fire for any signs of trouble.
As she sat down at the fire, she felt a presence in the room. Chad was
asleep by the door. He would cause her no trouble in her reading. Raye
concentrated on the warmth of the flame. She felt the presence fill her as she
looked into the fire.
"Sacred fire, show me the answer which I seek," Raye began. "I must know
what is wrong with me."
Raye looked at the flame for a moment. As she looked, she saw many
sights, all in a second. Most of them, she couldn't clearly make out. One was
her mother's casket, empty. Another was of Raye at her current age standing
next to her mother. The final was of Raye lying in a bed of roses with her
friends standing over her.
These views disturbed Raye and completely overwhelmed her. She was
flooded with different feelings. The strongest was sadness. She didn't like to
think of her mother's death. Another was fear; what did the bed of roses
mean? And what was with her standing next to her mother? She didn't want to
think about it. She was too tired. But, she was too awake to sleep. She hated
being that way, especially this early in the morning. It was cold, so Raye
decided to go back to her bed. She was asleep in fifteen minutes, by some
miracle.

Rubeus looked at the healing chamber with disgust. Jupiter had pushed
Mercury into the sewer, breaking Mercury's leg, then went and got herself healed
by Sailor Moon. The whole affair smelled of conspiracy. Rubeus couldn't afford
those sorts of mistakes. He knew that his attack force of one Scout would fail
against a full-fledged force of five Sailor Scouts. He would send a Droid with
Mercury on her next mission to ensure triumph.
"Droid Juggernaut, come forth!" The Droid that approached was as tall as
a one-story city building, and about as tough. About as fast and smart, too.
It looked like a tank with eyes and a head on the top of its hatch. He had
designed it so that it would take no damage from any Scout-originated attack.
It had only one weak point, and the Scouts had lost it before they were even
Scouts.
He looked over at his mirror to choose his next target. It didn't matter
which one he went after. The pair would win anyway. He chose the old man who
had caused so much trouble to Zoicite when she had tried to capture him. It
would be an easy enough target, and perhaps a chance to kill a Sailor Scout.
All he had to do now was wait for the blasted healing chamber to finish its
work. The thing had never gotten any use before that, and it had to go through
all these system checks, dusting the cobwebs off and all that. For now, he
would wait.

Raye awoke at seven o'clock. She had to get ready for school quickly.
She needed some food after her little prophecy the night before. She was
getting bored. She hadn't been in any battles in the past two days, and she had
a lot of pent-up energy that she would need to let out.
Raye left at about seven thirty for school. She hated it that she didn't
go to school closer to the Temple. She hated having to leave Grandpa unguarded
for such a long time. On her way to school, she came across Luna.
"Luna, hi!" Raye greeted.
"Good morning, Raye!" Luna responded cheerily.
"Has anything happened in the past two days that I need to know about?"
Raye asked.
"Yesterday, Hercules got taken. We got Lita back."
"That means that you're off guard duty! Can you go to the Temple and look
after Grandpa until I can get back there this afternoon?"
"Of course, Raye," Luna said. She considered asking Artemis to come with
her, but she knew that he would just be trying to make passes at her. She
wasn't about to ask Rigel for obvious reasons. She figured that she could fly
it solo for one more day and hoped that she could do better than she had
guarding Hercules.
Luna went in the direction of the Temple in the fastest manner possible,
taking every shortcut she knew. Raye watched her go, and hoped that Grandpa
would be all right under Luna's supervision. She hurried back on her way to
school again, and she hoped that she wouldn't be late because of her meeting
Luna. Raye hadn't told Luna about her visions because she wanted to be sure of
what they meant herself.
Raye got to her school on time, but just barely. She sat down at her seat
next to her friend, Jessica Tanten. She was a little taller than Raye, had
black hair, and weighed a little more (give or take). Shee was overly religious
and about as smart as Raye. As she sat down, Jessica greeted her.
"Hi, Raye! What a beautiful day that we've been blessed with," she said.
"What's new with you?"
"I had a weird vision last night," Raye responded.
"What was it about? Did it show your death or something? You look about
as white as a sheet when you talk about it."
"Well, I'm not sure." She went on to explain what she had seen, paying
special attention to the bed of roses.
"Sounds pretty rough. I hope it's not what we think. That would suck if
you died."
"I was thinking the same thing, but not quite in those terms." Raye sat
in quiet thought until class began with a lecture on French history.

Luna sat in the courtyard of the Temple, watching Chad and Grandpa do some
training. Grandpa was showing Chad the correct way to meditate or something.
Luna didn't really care. She was just there to do Raye's job while Raye was at
school. She watched as Chad and Grandpa sat in the courtyard, motionless.
People were walking past the gate, seeing if the place was open to sell any good
luck charms, or at least at what hour they began selling. Luna got so bored
sitting in the tree, that she fell asleep for a while.
When she awoke, Grandpa and Chad were gone. She ran around the courtyard,
looking frantically for the two. What she wanted to know was, why would the
Negaverse take a son of a well-off family like Chad. It's like they would have
any use for him.
Luna went inside, where she found the two eating lunch. It was noon time,
wasn't it? Luna stayed out of sight where the two men wouldn't see her. She
was getting bored with this job, and she began to wonder why she had taken it.
It was because Raye needed someone's help when I was the only one around, Luna
told herself.
After lunch, Chad tuned up his guitar and began to play a bit. Luna went
outside to escape the faults that Chad's fingers made on the guitar strings.
She wanted to get out of there, but she had a job to do. She would deal with
Raye when she got back from school.

Serena ate her lunch with a ravenous appetite, as usual. Lita and Michael
watched the other kids running around, playing or joining their friends for
lunch. They had finished their food long ago, and were waiting for Serena to
finish. Serena looked up from her food for a moment and saw Rigel sitting in
the bushes, urging her and the others over to him.
"Rigel, what's up?" Michael asked as he and Lita got to the dog.
"There's a new monster out and about, or there will be soon. We'll need
all the help that we can get to beat it."
"How do you know that?" Lita asked.
"I got a message from Central Control that they've picked up a new reading
coming from where these Droids are coming from," Rigel answered. "It's heading
towards us slowly but surely."
"Wait a minute," Serena said. "If we know where these things are coming
from, then why don't we just go up there and annihilate them now?"
"Tell me something, Serena. How do you think that five Sailor Scouts will
do against an army of a thousand Droids? A hundred thousand?"
"Good point. Never mind."
"We need to be prepared for the attack. It's almost a given that the
Droid will be tough enough that we'll all need to be there if we plan on beating
it."
"All right. When is it supposed to get here?" Michael asked.
"At its present rate, it will get here at about five o'clock this
afternoon."
"Rigel, who is this Central Control anyway?" Serena asked. "Luna talked
about it a lot before Artemis and Mina joined us, but now she doesn't say a
thing about it."
"Central Control is the group of people who gives us our orders. If I
understand correctly, they are a small number of technical geniuses who we hired
for our use. They monitor Earth for us and tell us what our best next move
would be. Artemis was working for them at one time."
"Wait, let me get this straight," Michael said disbelievingly. "You hired
them, and they're giving you orders."
"Yeah, that's about the size of it. Bureaucracy sucks, eh? Now, back to
the point. I want us to meet after school at the Temple so that we can be ready
for the attack, wherever it hits."
"Works for me," Michael said. The bell rang, and Serena and the others
went back into their classes. Serena didn't like the idea of going back in.
She hated geography class.

Mina got out of her class at the normal time, and prepared to go home.
She was met by Artemis outside the school, and he had some important news to
tell her.
"Mina, we've gotta talk. There's going to be trouble in about thirty
minutes. We've got to go to the Temple. The others are there, and they're
ready for action already."
"What sort of action?" Mina asked. "Is there another Droid?"
"Good guess. We've gotta hurry, because the others are going to need all
the help they can get. Do you have your transformation stick?"
"Sorry, Artemis, I forgot it today," Mina said.
"After I reminded you three times to take it with you. Let's hurry and
get it. We don't have much time." The pair rushed to Mina's home and grabbed
her transformation pen to take it with them. She got to the Temple at exactly
five o'clock. The sky was getting darker by the second, and there was a large,
black portal opening by the tree in the courtyard. The others had already
transformed and were forming a defensive arrangement around the portal. They
were prepared to send the threat back into the portal where it had come from.
"Venus Star Power!" Mina called out, changing into her Sailor Scout. She
took a place beside Europa, preparing to attack the instant that she saw the
Droid. "Ready for some action, Europa?" Venus asked.
"Always am," Europa answered, half of a sly grin crossing his face.
"Don't you get hurt. I've just known you for a day or so, I don't want to lose
you already."
"You underestimate my abilities," Venus said.
As the five Sailor Scouts watched, a giant tank-looking form came out of
the portal, followed by Mercury. Mercury was carrying a sword that had been
given her by Rubeus for the attack. It looked about as tall as Mercury, and
about as powerful as her. Moon wondered how Mercury could stand to hold
something like that for so long. When both the soldiers were through, the
portal closed.
"Mercury, what are you doing?" Jupiter asked.
"You shouldn't have betrayed us, Jupiter. We were going to spare your
life, but now, we'll just have to kill you," Mercury yelled as she raised the
sword to signal the robot to attack.
The cannon on the Droid's arm targeted the Scouts and fired a stream of
fire their way. All of them were able to dodge the attack easily.
"Jupiter Thunderclap, ZAP!" Jupiter called as she shot a barrage of energy
towards the giant Droid. The Droid stuck out a dish-type apparatus from its
chest, blocking the lightning and sending it back towards the Scouts. Jupiter
was at ground zero when the bolt struck the ground, and was thrown for a loop.
The others were at a safe enough distance that they only felt a grand tremor and
a slight shock. Mars rushed to check on her fallen friend, leaving the other
three to do battle with the giant Juggernaut.
"Venus, how about that combo?" Europa said.
"What is it?" Venus asked.
"The Earth Shocker!" Rigel answered from his hiding place.
"Earth Shocker!" the two called out at the same time. A beam of energy
ran out of Venus, meeting with a vine from the ground where Europa was standing.
The vine rushed through the ground until it reached the Droid's position. A
moment later, under the Droid, a blast came from under the ground, knocking the
Droid on its side. Juggernaut immediately began working on getting up. Small
jets came out of its side and started blowing it back upright. Sailor Moon took
this opportunity to use her Scepter.
"Moon Scepter, Elimination!" Moon called out, charging her Scepter's power
level to the top. She let loose with a blast that hit the Droid, who sucked the
energy into its own power systems. It had a momentary boost of energy, which
righted it completely. It began moving forward at an increased speed. It
didn't look like it was going to stop, either.
"Mercury Ice Storm, Blast!" Mercury called out, sending waves of freezing
rain over the helpless Sailor Scouts. Sailor Moon could feel herself slowing
down, and she took her brooch off. The brooch opened as Sailor Moon tapped its
power.
"Moon Crystal Healing, Activation!" Moon yelled. The Imperium Silver
Crystal channeled its power into Mercury, purging her of the evil that was in
her. Amy fell forward, asleep from exertion. Sailor Moon, still slowed from
the freeze that she had felt, got Amy to safety. Then, there was only one more
problem.
Europa, Venus, Mars, and Moon rushed to where the Juggernaut was going
after Grandpa. The Droid ripped the roof off the Temple to get to the old man.
"Man, that'll cost a pretty penny to fix, eh, Mars?" Europa said.
"That guy's gonna pay for that!" Mars said through gritted teeth. "I
wanna take him out!" She rushed up to the foot of the Juggernaut and started to
attack it. "Mars Celestial Fire, Surround!" The flames went in rings around
the base of the Droid, causing minor burn marks on its metal. When the Droid
sensed this, it reached down with its large mechanical hand and batted Mars back
into the others. It reached into the frame of the building and grabbed Grandpa.
It opened another portal behind it and turned to leave. Mars got one last good
look at it when it went through the portal. On its back was a symbol that
looked very familiar. The symbol resembled a bauble that she had seen in
pictures of her mother.
Finally, all the pieces were starting to fall in place. The key to
beating this Droid laid in Raye's mother somehow. She would have to ask Luna
about it after she had helped the others.
Everyone reverted to their original forms and was going back to help one
of their friends. Mina and Michael were helping Jupiter, who had woken up when
the Droid had gone through its portal, while Serena was helping Amy. Raye went
over to help Amy. Amy was only asleep, and not wounded. Mina and Michael helped
to get Jupiter to the remains of the Temple. When they got there, she reverted.
"What happened?" Amy asked when she woke up.
"It's a long story," Raye said to her friend as she went to check on Lita.
She wished that she knew how to work Amy's computer so that she could check
vital signs and whatnot. At that time, Chad emerged from the place that he had
been hiding in for the duration of the attack. He was white and shaking like
Serena usually did.
"Raye, what did that thing do to our Temple?!" he exclaimed.
"What does it look like it did?" Raye asked, slightly annoyed at Chad's
denseness. "It trashed the place. Man, what are we gonna do? We're out of a
place to live." Serena felt sorry about what had happened to Raye. She felt
like she had to do something.
"Raye," Serena began cautiously, "I'm sure that my parents wouldn't mind
letting you stay when they hear what happened."
"Serena? You'd do that for me?" Raye asked disbelievingly.
"What about me?" Chad begged.
"My parents don't like boys in the house," Serena said. "Especially not
older guys."
"Bummer. I guess I'll just have to get another job and make some money to
rent an apartment." Chad looked slightly downcast at the prospect of having to
work.
"Come on, Raye! We've got to talk to my parents and convince them to let
you stay with us!" Serena said as she started off in the direction of her house.
The sky had cleared up after the Juggernaut had left, and it was almost like
nothing had happened now. Except for the crumbling building and the fire-trucks
and police cars gathering at the scene. The smoke from the wreckage rose into
the sky, adding a certain air of triumph to the afternoon. Triumph for the
Negaverse, at least. All the other Scouts left feeling down and out. Mina and
Michael decided to try and make something out of the afternoon by going to a
movie together. Lita and Amy went to Amy's house so that Lita could give her
the work that Serena had collected for her over the past two days from school.
Tuxedo Mask watched from the top of a nearby building. He dearly wished
that he had gotten there in time to help the Scouts, who seemed to have needed
it by the looks of the Temple. Well, its remains, anyway. He might have been
able to save Grandpa if he had tried. Of course, that could just be some major
delusions of grandeur talking there. He could see that they had gotten the last
of the group back. They had done well enough without him for the past couple of
days, but he felt that he would need to help them soon.

Rubeus sat in his mirror room gloating over his victory. He knew that the
Juggernaut would do the job. Who needed that Scout anyway? She was a wimp when
it came to fighting anyway. He listened to the screams and yells of those in
the prisoner chamber for a minute. He loved listening to their tormented calls
for help. Those gave him such a high.
Juggernaut was recharging and getting some upgrades. It would be ready
for another strike the next day. The Scouts wouldn't have a chance against the
new Juggernaut. He watched his mirror as the firefighters tried to make sure
that the Temple was safe and the police interrogating anyone who had the
slightest idea of what had happened. Rubeus gave a laugh at the sight of part
of the Temple collapsing on some workers. That would sting in the morning.

Serena and Raye had reached Serena's house and were building up the
courage to ask the elder Tsukinos for permission to let Raye stay. Luna was
feeling proud of Serena for making the choice by herself to help out Raye.
"Okay, so we'll start off by telling them about the Temple, then, we'll
wing it from there," Serena said.
"Okay, but you're doing the talking," Raye said. "You know better how to
handle your parents than me."
"I'm not arguing with you on that," Serena said, leading Raye into the
living room where her parents were watching the news on TV. There was a report
on about the Temple's destruction.
"Hello, Serena," Mrs. Tsukino said in greeting. "Have you heard about
what happened to the Temple on Cherry Hill?"
"Yeah, I was right near there when it happened," Serena said.
"Do you know what happened exactly?"
"No. I would have stayed to talk to the police if I did."
"I wonder what will happen to those people who lived in it. Your friend
Raye lives there, doesn't she?" Mr. Tsukino said.
"Yeah, and that's what I came to talk with you about."
"I wish that there was something that we could do for them," Mrs. Tsukino
said. She didn't know that Raye was standing right outside the room.
"There is," Serena said. She beckoned Raye to enter. "Raye needs
someplace to stay until she can get another place, and..."
"I know what you're thinking, Serena," Mr. Tsukino said, "And I think that
it'll be a tight squeeze for everyone, but we should be able to handle her
staying here." Raye couldn't help but express the relief that she felt, and Mr.
Tsukino saw it. "We're a bit short on beds, so you'll have to sleep on the
couch down here."
"I don't mind," Raye said. "I'm just thankful that you're being so
generous."
"Nonsense," Mrs. Tsukino admonished, "You're one of Serena's friends. We
should help you when this sort of thing happens, just don't make it a habit."
She got a laugh out of her joke. She was the only one, though. "Anyway, you go
and get your stuff that you'll need, and we'll get you set up down here."
Raye and Serena left the house and headed towards the remains of the
Temple, hoping that they would be able to salvage some clothes from the
wreckage. They were able to get through the police line easily enough when they
said that they were the Temple's caretakers. Most of the rooms were full of
rubble, and dangerous to enter. Raye was able to push her way into her room
with little trouble, and she got a suitcase full of clothes and hygiene items to
keep with her. The thing that made her the angriest at the droid was that he
had taken Grandpa, although it was followed closely by trashing the Temple.
Raye got into Serena's house and sat around for the rest of the night,
meditating out of everyone's way about what her visions had meant, completely.
She got nothing that she hadn't already figured out. She finally gave up and
went to talk to Luna. She told Luna about her visions and the conclusions that
she had come to during the battle.
"That is truly puzzling, but I think that I know how to solve it," Luna
said. "The Droid had a sign on its back that looked like the bauble of your
mother's, right?" Raye nodded. "Then, we'll have to get this bauble. It holds
some magical potential, probably. We won't know unless we get it from her
directly."
"Do you mean digging her up?" Raye asked offensively. She didn't want to
dig up her mother.
"No, I mean get her to give it to us," Luna said, laying her head down to
get some sleep. Raye wondered what Luna had meant by that last statement, and
she dwelt upon it until she went to sleep. She slept calmly for the rest of the
night.

End of part five

Coming up: The Dead Come Back

Well, that's the end of this chapter, too. Five down, four to go. As
always, E-mail me with comments, suggestions, flames, etc. at:
jmh6187@uncwil.edu. I'll read anything that is sent to me, because I just
*love* getting E-mail. See you later!