Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Fragility of Time ❯ "The War Prayer" ( Chapter 17 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: etj4Eagle 
The final battle with the Dark Kingdom draws closer.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.29.2001 | Pages: 10 | Words: 7.3K | Visits: 259 | Status: Completed
The final battle with the Dark Kingdom draws closer.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.29.2001 | Pages: 10 | Words: 7.3K | Visits: 259 | Status: Completed
The Fragility of Time
Chapter 17: "The War Prayer"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 12/6/00
Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story,
all rights are owned by others.
If you distribute the story, do only
so freely and inform me of where you post it.
_______________________________________
Kunzite stood on a forested hill overlooking the city of Tokyo. "Soon, very soon my
people you will be freed of your bondage. You have suffered long enough under the
rule of the Lunarians, but a new dawn is fast approaching, an era when us Tehrans
will take our rightful place in the galaxy." As much as he wanted to move quickly and
grasp that new dawn he saw, he knew that to move too fast now would destroy
everything; an error that Beryl had unfortunately made too many times in her lust for
power and vengeance.
With anticipation and Beryl's impatience driving him forward, he still managed to
avoid the fatal mistake of rushing, which befell his predecessors. Hence in his desire
to avoid making a costly mistake by moving too fast, he was giving the Senshi a day
to recuperate before he delivered his ultimatum; a cornered animal fights back with no
concern for its life, but back off a bit and it is easy to kill. The same was true with
war. Allow time for this morning's events to sink and they might just give up the
Ginzuishou. Not that Endymion or Serenity would be spared by said action, though
the lives of the others could possibly be spared. One of them, Venus had caught his
eye, and he had the feeling that she had before as well. She could never replace
Zoisite, but she could make a good concubine.
* * * * * * * *
Tsukino residence
Usagi sat at the table slowly placing the food from her plate into her mouth, not
interested in the food, thoughts from the afternoon's activities instead were on the
forefront of her mind. Beside her sat ChibiUsa who was having no trouble shoveling
the food into her mouth. Though, the little girl still noticed her mother's worried
expression and was hence also worried.
"Usagi, honey, is there anything wrong" asked her mother.
Usagi looked up from her plate, her initial reaction being to just tell her mother that
everything was all right, but mother's could always see straight through those lies, she
should know she was one herself now. "I visited the ruins of my kingdom today.
Mother's spirit showed me all that happened during the fall including my friends
being cut down by the enraged Tehran army.
"I don't want it to happen again. I don't want them to sacrifice their lives for me. But
after last night, the final battle is inevitable and soon. I…" she trailed off unable to
talk anymore.
Ikuko saw the grief and worry that her daughter tried to hide and wished that the fates
had not burdened her daughter with such responsibilities. She wanted to be the good
mother and take her daughter up in her arms and solve her worries for her. But she
could no longer solve the problems and help carry the responsibilities that her
daughter now shouldered.
"Usagi don't worry. You are Sailor Moon, you will dust them for sure!" said a very
enthusiastic Shingo.
Everyone at the table turned to look at Shingo, with varying levels of surprise in their
eyes. The only one not taken off guard was Luna. She alone knew how he really felt
about his sister, though Usagi did also have a good idea. Lately her role as Usagi's
mentor had grown to also include Shingo. Her regular interaction with Shingo began a
couple weeks after he had learned that his sister was Sailor Moon
>> "Err… Luna could I talk with you?" asked Shingo, fumbling for words.
With a nod, Luna followed Shingo into the room, hopping up onto his lap as
he sat down. He petted her for a bit, trying to find the right words to express
his feelings.
Luna could easily sense the unease that he radiated and decided to help him
out. "It is about your sister, Usagi, isn't it?" she asked.
"Hai, I thought I knew Usagi, but she is Sailor Moon."
Luna knew where some of his frustrations were coming from; he did have a
massive crush on Sailor Moon after all. "You love your sister right?"
"Hai, of course."
"Do you believe that Usagi has what it takes to be Sailor Moon?"
Shingo thought long and hard about that one. He remembered the times she
had shown surprising strength in facing hardships for others. One time many
years ago came to mind when she defended him from bullies at the park. And
of course, there was her relationship with ChibiUsa. "Hai, I may tease her, but
I have always believed in her. She has always been there for me when I need
her."
Luna looked approvingly at Shingo as he continued, "But what about me. I am
nothing compared to her. She is a princess and one of the Sailor Senshi."
"Shingo, Usagi does not think any less of you or your family, having learned
the truth about herself. She loves you dearly and only wishes to bring you
happiness."
Shingo looked into Luna's face, the tears on his face clearly visible, "You
mean it Luna?" As Luna nodded and purred even more strongly he began to
accept what she had told him.
As Luna left his room, she passed Usagi who shot her a questioning look. She
said nothing, not wanting to betray Shingo's confidence. However, as she later
found out, Usagi had been able to figure out what had happened without her
having said anything. Later that night after Luna had left to go visit Artemis
and the rest of the family had headed off to bed, Usagi had henshin and gone
into Shingo's room.
Hearing a knock at his door Shingo looked up from the book he was reading.
"Come in." he called. As the door opened his mouth hung open while his book
flopped to the ground, as in walked Sailor Moon. She walked over to his bed
and sat down next to him.
Grapping his hands she held them in her lap before beginning. "Shingo-kun,
you are my brother in this life and that is all that matters. I may have been a
princess in my former life and will be queen in the future, but you are and
always will be my brother." Usagi wrapped her brother up in a hug. "Shingo I
will always love you."
Shingo looked at his sister, with tears once again in his eyes, "Thank you,
Usagi." Usagi felt a mothering instinct come over her and pulled Shingo in
against her chest. He did not resist and instead allowed himself to be wrapped
up in her warmth, sharing in her strength as Sailor Moon. > Once more, she tried to go up to the Senshi dressed in pink, whom this time
was sitting on a log. As she walked towards the log, the ground seemed to
shift from that of a peaceful forest to a mountainside and then finally to a
cratered landscape bare of life. The log became a rock and what was a lake
became a child looking up at a blue planet hanging in the sky, the planet Earth.
Arriving at the rock she turned to look at the Senshi to ask her if she could
sit down there, but the Senshi no longer sat there, instead a woman sat there.
For some reason she felt like she should know this person, but the link was not
forthcoming. Instinct taking over she began to curtsey.
"No need to be so formal Hotaru-chan, it is just the two of us." The lady said
while waving off her curtsey. Then indicating to the vacant spot on the rock.
"Have a seat princess."
Hotaru sat down and then looked closely at the other lady. She had elegant
silver hair in the same style as ChibiUsa and Usagi and on her forehead lay a
golden crescent moon.
"I am sure that you have questions, but it is not time for those to be answered.
Only when you awake will you find the answers you seek princess. I brought
you here so that I could say that I am sorry for everything, and that I am happy
that you will finally be able to find happiness under my daughter. Don't worry
about taking care of my grand-daughter, you are already more than you know
and for both me and my daughter I thank you."
As Queen Serenity finished speaking, the scenery once again shifted, back to
that of earth. As Hotaru looked around she realized that the women she had
been talking to had vanished. "Hotaru-chan!" came a call and she turned to
see ChibiUsa running towards her. > The scenery had changed back to that of the Earth from that of the moon.
She stood with ChibiUsa at the side of a large field and nearby stood a large
machine with the remains of wooden crates next to it. "What do you think it
is?" asked Hotaru.
"Let's find out." ChibiUsa replied. Following ChibiUsa towards the machine,
she noticed that ChibiUsa seemed to be wearing an outfit that resembled that
of Sailor Moon and then looking down at herself, she noticed that she too was
wearing a Sailor Fuku. Though in her case, her fuku did not resemble any of
them and she was carrying a large pole arm as well. With a shrug, she put the
puzzlement aside for the moment to look at the machine. It gleamed brightly
in the afternoon sun, clearly labeled on its sides with the word "ACME."
Hotaru wondered to herself.
As ChibiUsa began playing around with the controls, she looked around the
field. Scanning it, she realized that the ground was flattened, as if a stampede
of both large and small creature had passed through. Near the center of the field, two distant objects caught
her eye. Looking closer, she realized that they were people, who were just now
slowly getting up from the ground, looking very worse for the wear.
"Tigger-chan!" cried ChibiUsa interrupting Hotaru's investigation of the field.
Turning to look at her cohort she noticed that ChibiUsa now had a picture of a
tiger on some kind of screen that was attached to the machine. Hotaru wanted
to voice a word of caution to ChibiUsa, but she suddenly found herself unable
to speak as ChibiUsa pressed a throbbing green button marked with the word
"On."
Activated, the machine began to whirl as lights flashed along its length. Her
ears picked up what she thought to be "Oh no." coming from those two in the
field. Unconsciously taking a step back, she looked up at the top of the
machine as its roof began to pull back. "Well I guess we now find out what
this machine does." she quietly said.
"The Wonderful thing about Tiggers,
"Is Tiggers are Wonderful things."
Came the singing of a male voice from inside the machine. And an orange
tiger like creature bounced out from within. Landing on its tail, it proceeded to
pounce out onto the field. The arrival of Tigger was met with a cry of "Sugoi"
from ChibiUsa.
A second voice from within the machine joined the first who was now a fair
way down the field.
"Their tops are made out of rubber,
"The bottoms are made out of springs."
Hotaru was now confused by the appearance of that second one. Then a
thought began to cross her mind about what this machine was and what had
happened here. Her fear was confirmed when a third and fourth Tigger joined
the song in its third verse.
"They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy,
"Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun."
From down the field Hotaru could distinctly here the cries of fear coming from
the other two, as they cried "Not again." and "Please someone save us." By
now the machine was spitting out a new Tigger every second and the field was
quickly becoming a mess of Tiggers pouncing and trouncing, with those other
two being at the dead center of all the action.
"But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is,
"I'm the only one."
Having finished the song, they immediately began singing it again. ChibiUsa
appeared to be enjoying the scene, however Hotaru realized that they might be
in a lot of trouble. As she thought about picking up ChibiUsa and making a
run for it, for some reason she felt a lot stronger being dressed in this Senshi
garb, a portal open to her side. Two heads popped out of the portal, after
looking both ways they addressed her and ChibiUsa: "psk you may want to
come with us. Those two are not going to be happy with you reactivating
Eagle-sensei's cloning machine." one of them said. she thought. While she did not remember much, she
no longer felt worry for ChibiUsa, knowing somehow that her friend was all right.
* * * * * * * *
Juuban Junior High School
Haruna watched as Usagi and company entered the classroom, on time this time.
They did not arrive with much time to spare today, all
having slept late that morning. So, instead of chatting with the other students they
headed straight towards their seats. Sitting down, Usagi took a moment to get
ChibiUsa set for the morning, making sure that the little girl had her work out and
knew what lessons she should do during the morning lessons.
Haruna waited patiently for Usagi to take care of her task, not at the least bit annoyed
with the delay. The other student's had also noted Haruna delaying the start of
instruction for Usagi, and then thinking a bit further realized that every day ChibiUsa
was here Haruna seemed to be in a much better mood. One of those days Umino had
tidbits about serious set backs in Haruna's love life and they had all expected her to
very harsh that day, instead they got a much more mellow Haruna. Consequently, they
all were becoming quite happy to see ChibiUsa walk in with her cousin.
Later as they broke for lunch, Usagi caught Umino pacing nervously at the school
door, something clearly on his mind. "Umino-san is something wrong?" she asked.
"Ah, Usagi-san, didn't realize you were there." he replied. "What would make you
think that something's wrong?"
"Aside from your nervous pacing and the scared look on your face?" she supplied.
"Oh." He said then after a pause, "It is Naru."
"Huh? You like Naru?" Usagi asked a little too loudly
"Ssh, not so loud. I need your help Usagi-san. What should I do so that she falls for
me?" he asked.
* * * * * * * *
Afternoon
Across Tokyo, TV screens lost their signal, going to static. Frustrated viewers flipped
through the channels searching for a signal. Then only moments later the static on all
channels resolved into an image of a silver haired individual wearing some sort of
military uniform. Behind him stretched beautiful fields. "Princess Serenity as acting
leader of the earth, you will turn over the Ginzuishou to us. Otherwise, I will be
forced to destroy more of Tokyo. We have suffered enough under the tyrannical rule
of the Silver Millennium and from this point forward us Tehrans are free, we will take
our rightful place as rulers for this solar system. Turn over the crystal within 48 hours
and I will consider letting you live." the man demanded.
Then as quickly as the strange transmission came it was gone, returning the viewers to
their normal programming. While its intended viewer missed the original airing, many
others of importance did catch it. Until now, those people had refrained from taking a
side in this war. Their men had begun to ally themselves with one side, even though
they had orders to detain that side as well. But, now a decision point had been
reached, no longer could the current policy be maintained. A response was needed;
only one response was possibly, to make official what the soldiers had already
decided amongst themselves.
* * * * * * * *
Crown Arcade during the transmission
For what seemed like a long absence from the arcade, Usagi and company spent a
relaxing afternoon playing video games. After school had let out Usagi had suggested
coming here, and was quite surprised when Luna readily agreed with her. They after
all were still children and should have an opportunity to enjoy this time when they
weren't busy dealing with the Dark Kingdom, and furthermore with the final battle
starting to loom on the horizon they all needed to be fully relaxed and rested if they
expected to be victorious.
Looking up from the Sailor V game Usagi noticed that Ami once again had her
computer out; standing up she walked over to the blue haired girl. "And what do you
think you are doing? I thought I told you to have some fun."
Ami looked up, her face turning red attempting to eak out an excuse she said "But…."
However, Usagi did not give her any opportunity, as she quickly reached over,
grabbed the Mercurian computer and closing it placed it in her subspace pocket.
"You will get this back after we leave the arcade, and only if you actually play some
of the games and enjoy yourself." Usagi declared. Giving in, Ami moved off towards
one of the game consoles. Sitting in front of the game, a smile broke her face as she
began playing. The game of course was a strategy/puzzle one, but Usagi decided to
take her victories where she could.
Returning to another game as well Usagi muttered to herself about wireless computer
networks. She of course did not understand anything about them, only that apparently
the Central Command computers and Ami's computer were on one, which meant Ami
could access everything she needed from her palmtop. After Ami had told them of her
announcement this morning, Usagi had very quickly realized that she should have
been more careful in unlocking full access to the main computers. Previously with the
only access being at Central Command itself, Usagi had thought she would have been
able to keep Ami from spending too much time with the computer system. But, with
Ami able to access everything from the palmtop, keeping Ami from getting too
absorbed was now a very difficult task. Though the confiscation solution seemed to
work well enough. Turning her attention to the game, Usagi began to engross herself
in it, till about an hour later a shout distracted her.
"YES!!" heads in the arcade turned to regard a suddenly blushing Ami who at some
point had moved to one of the fighting games.
"That's very good Ami, but next time you win one of the matches you don't have to
let the entire arcade know." Minako said to her friend as she put an arm around a very
red Ami and sat her back down on the stool.
"Hey everyone, the Defense Minister is about to make an announcement!" called a
man as he popped his head into the arcade before disappearing back out to spread the
news. The Senshi looked amongst themselves with puzzlement and concern before
joining everyone else in leaving the arcade and searching for a TV.
They and many others crowded into an electronics store's TV section. The open space
was now packed shoulder to shoulder with people wanting to know what was going
on. Only a few moments after their arrival, the TV signal broke away from its regular
programming to reveal the Defense Minister. "Ladies and Gentlemen as of four-
fourteen this afternoon cable signals in the Tokyo area were hijacked by an unknown
party and used to deliver the following transmission. The camera zoomed in on a TV,
which was beside him on the stage. After viewing Kunzite's transmission, the camera
zoomed back out to focus on the Defense Minister.
"We do not know who this person is. As for Princess Serenity, she is apparently the
one known as Sailor Moon, beyond that, we know nothing else about her. This person
claming to speak for the Earth made a threat against both Princess Serenity and the
sovereign nation of Japan. Our nation does not take to threats lightly nor do we
negotiate with terrorists.
"Consequently, this announcement is a declaration of war against both our nation and
our allies. We will stand firm against this threat and urge all our allies to join us in
standing against these terrorists. This man claims to speak for the people of the earth,
however he does not speak for the people of Japan. Additionally the other world
leaders have given me their assurances that he does not speak for their nations as well.
"Princess Serenity if you are watching this, we the people of Earth do not stand beside
this fellow, instead we stand with you. Do not worry yourself about our well being. If
these forces win this war, all of humanity is doomed. We are a strong people and will
face whatever hardships are necessary; our sacrifice will bring you honor."
As the screen went blank, a calm hush fell over the crowd as they absorbed what had
been said. And, then soft applause was heard, an applause that very quickly
snowballed into a deafening roar, leaving the Senshi bewildered. Usagi looked around
not quite sure what to make of the applauding crowd. A crowd, which had begun to
notice that it held in its center a group of bewildered girls and began to instinctively
move back.
From the back of her mind, knowledge of how to proceed came to Usagi, lessons
learned from her previous life. The Guardians looked at their leader unsure of how to
proceed, but knowledge began to flow into their minds as well as Usagi's stance
changed. While the crowd was moving back away from the group of six girls, it had
not yet turned its attention towards them. However, the cries of: "Moon prism power,
Mercury Star Power, Venus Star Power, Mars Star Power, Jupiter Star Power Make
Up!" changed that, causing it to turn inwards to the regard five pillars of energy that
began to erupt, while at the same time moving even farther back. Usagi herself simply
allowed her form to flow as she shimmered into her princess form.
Now standing in the center of the crowd were the Guardians, Princess Serenity and
her daughter ChibiMoon. "I thank you all for your support. We will not forget your
sacrifices; I grieve for everyone that gets injured in this war. However, even if the
price is high I cannot let this evil return to destroy Tokyo and Earth, my home."
While her speech might have been short, the crowd did not care. Applause ran out
again, but even louder this time, and a pathway opened leading towards the door. As
Serenity began walking out with her daughter and Guardians in tow, she would
occasionally stop to great people along the corridor, instinct from the past now
guiding her every move. Leaving the store and reaching the street, she reached out her
arm as her transformation broach appeared in it. With a call she was Sailor Moon and
the Senshi were off, running along the roofs, while the crowd they had left behind
continued to grow even larger.
* * * * * * * *
Mamoru missed both the ultimatum and the subsequent announcement by the Prime
Minister as he had been spending the afternoon studying in the library. Deeply
immersed in his organic chemistry text, he suddenly felt the urge to stand up as a
strange feeling overcame his body. He did not know what to make of it, as the feeling
was a warmth of the sort when he became Tuxedo-kamen, but more subtle and it felt
as if it was coming from his soul, but from without as well. He felt energized and
reassured as the energy began to slowly and then more quickly build up in his soul.
And then suddenly it busted out and washed over his body as golden energy.
When the golden flash died down, Prince Endymion of the Earth now stood in his
place. Looking down he realized that only for the second time this life he was in his
prince form. he wondered. Attempting to return
to his other form he found that he could not, the energy still swept too strongly
through his body. Another energy rippled through his body signaling the change of
Usagi to her princess form. Deciding to go look for answers he began to climb down the stairs and
out of the study area. As he walked down and out, he noted to his puzzlement that no
one appeared to be around.
Arriving at the
Student Union he noticed a large crowd gathering, walking up to a person at the rear
he asked him what was going on. Endymion frowned as the guy began recounting
Kunzite's message and then Japan's response. As the student finished telling his tale,
he for the first time really looked at Endymion and saw the armor he wore, his eyes
going wide in the process.
"You have been of great assistance my friend." Endymion spoke. He had planned on
speaking softly, but instead his voice carried strong over the crowd and it turned to
regard its prince. Seeing them turning expectantly, Endymion addressed his people,
"My name is Endymion, the Earth and I are bound as one with one soul. My people,
the evil that threatens us is an ancient one, but this time it will not send us into
another dark age. We will resist its siren call and not give into hate.
"The man who spoke the threat used to represent the planet as one of my generals, but
he betrayed you and me when he fell to that siren's call. He no longer speaks for the
people of Earth. Together with the help of the Sailor Senshi we will defeat this evil
once and for all!" Endymion ended his speech by thrusting his sword up in the air, an
action, which was met by cheers from the crowd. Starting with Tokyo and then
spreading across the globe the energy of earth, that of the golden energy of life began
racing back in forth from person to person. As it did so, it grew stronger and in
response, Endymion felt himself growing stronger. With that strength, the persona of
Endymion began to awaken and memories of the past began to return. He knew who
these Dark Kingdom generals really were, how they had been seduced along with the
rest of humanity, and the disgrace of his people as they slaughtered the peaceful
people of the Moon. 'Never again' he vowed to himself.
Coming out of his thoughts, he realized that he was in a bit of trouble as the crowd
had dramatically increased in size, getting out was not going to be easy. But, then in a
flash of golden energy he was gone, and he found himself back in the top reaches of
the library where he had been studying. This time when he tried reverting back to
Mamoru, the change occurred instantly, as the power had finished awakening.
he thought to himself before returning to his studies, knowing that he
would have to go talk with Usagi and the others later that night.
* * * * * * * *
Elsewhere
Kunzite sat in a little café smugly watching the other patrons first panic as his
transmission was broadcast and then again when the Prime Minister came on. As the broadcast
ended he turned back to the paper he had been reading, the story had attracted his
attention as apparently that other mysterious force had decided to attack the other
night as well. He still had no clue as to who this other force was or what their goals
were.
The sound of applause pulled him out of his contemplation. Looking around the room,
he was surprised to see everyone applauding the Prime Minister's decision. Listening
in on a nearby couple's conversation, he heard one of them saying that he did not care
if he fell in this war, as long as the Sailor Senshi won it.
Then suddenly he felt pain wash
over his body as he collapsed to the ground. Summoning dark energy he flushed his body and the pain vanished.
Hearing the summoning of Beryl, he
teleported out of the café.
* * * * * * * *
Kunzite looked up from where he kneeled into the eyes of the fuming Queen Beryl.
He did not know what had her irritated, but figured that it had to be associated with
the strange sensations that had been hitting him since his return from Tokyo.
"Kunzite, I don't know what you did, but you have nearly destroyed the energy
streams that I have acquired." She accused him.
"What do you mean my queen?" he humbly asked
"Somehow shortly after your ultimatum to Sailor Moon, a massive surge of gold
energy swept across the planet. As a result, the energy streams that I have collected
were disrupted. Thankfully, they are still providing sufficient energy to awaken
Metalia. However we can no longer afford to waste energy fighting Sailor Moon to
retrieve the Ginzuishou."
Later as Kunzite left Beryl's throne room, the bit about the gold energy kept coming
back to his mind. He knew it to be important somehow, but the specifics seemed to be
just out of his grasp.
* * * * * * * *
In a space that had no dimensions while having every dimension at the same time,
existed a being, a being that had been in this prison for nearly eternity. At one time, it
was what some called female, but that was long ago, before the power it had gathered
made those distinctions meaningless. It was the loser of a power struggle, banished to
a real life version of Hades. And so, here it remained trapped in the very fabric of the
megaverse. Once before a being had found it and released it, allowing it to seek
revenge on the one whose blood had been responsible for her banishment.
But, as powerful as it was, it was no match for the power of its opponent, who by
sacrificing her own life had sent her back to this prison. But, the prison of her
worshipers was not perfect and they had escaped. Now, they were ready to bring her
back, and she would finally be able to gather the power she deserved and kill the
others who were responsible by blood.
The initial spells connecting her to the earth had already been cast. The first of those
spells just let her converse with her "master," a term that she found very amusing. But
lately the summoner had begun to send her energy to feed off of, preparing her for the
traversal and the anchoring spells to open the portal were beginning to be cast. The
one thing she had to give her summoner credit for, Beryl did know how to cast the
spells without alerting anyone else. That being the reason why they had been able to
surprise the people of the Silver Millennium, any other caster would have alerted the
Sailor Soldiers, and she would have had to face them upon crossing into this world, a
battle that she probably would have lost.
To say she was pleased with the progress so far, would have been an understatement.
She was a patient being and the internal politics of the Dark Kingdom did not interest
her, only the accumulation of energy for the transfer. And, what Beryl did not realize
was that even those failed missions had helped to prepare the earth, meaning that less
energy would be required. And, then recently something had happened, and she could
feel herself being quickly drawn to the planet. Which is why she was not upset at all
when the Ginzuishou fell into the hands of Princess Serenity. The girl's mother had
barely defeated her, killing the girl would not be difficult.
An energy wave rushed along her connection to the Earth and through her body.
Reeling back from the hit she focused her consciousness trying to find out what had
happened. Sending her senses back down the connection to the Earth, she discovered
something that made her worried. The energy signature of the Earth had begun to
change. Someone was trying to unite the power of the planet. This energy wielded by
the right person could prevent the gateway from being opened. Gathering her energy,
she summoned Beryl's attention.
* * * * * * * *
Outside of Tokyo
thought Diana. She had spent most of the day walking
towards Tokyo; at least she thought she was going the right way. But, her feet were
getting tired and her tummy growled for some food. She saw up in front of her a
diner, her mind made up she headed towards it.
Inside the diner, patrons mostly sat on the bar stools watching an old TV showing the
evening's news. Many of the patrons had been there since earlier that afternoon when
the news was first broadcast. But had stayed there talking with others of the town and
travelers about what it meant. The reporter currently was interviewing some people in
the Juuban district who claimed to have seen this Princess Serenity and her Sailor
Senshi earlier that day. The camera moved off the reporter for a moment to focus in
on a sketch of what this Princess Serenity might look like from the descriptions of
these bystanders. The drawing was amazingly detailed and the reporter mentioned that
the government also agreed that its sources suggested this to be the appearance of
Serenity as well.
A twinkling of a bell marked the arrival of a new patron. One of the waitresses looked
up and then moved toward the door to welcome the visitor. As she walked toward the
guest, she wondered where the child's parents were. "Can I help you miss?" she asked
The girl looked up unsure of how to respond. She was sure of what she wanted, but
unsure if she really should be doing this. At any moment, she might bolt to the door
and disappear out into the evening. However, as she looked up, the waitress caught
site of the crescent moon on her forehead.
"Here come on in child, you look like you could use
something to eat and some rest." The waitress said. As she began to lead the girl to a
seat, she added "My name is Sasami, if I may ask, what is your name?"
"Diana." The girl replied.
"Diana, that's a sweet name. From that crescent moon on your forehead I assume you
must be associated with Princess Serenity."
The last line caused Diana to stumble in shock "Nani-ka! What did you say?" she
asked unsure of her hearing.
"Why Princess Serenity has the same crescent moon on her forehead." Still seeing the
child confused, she continued, "The news all evening has been about Princess
Serenity and her Sailor Senshi. Here take a seat I will get you some food." With that,
the waitress disappeared into the back.
* * * * * * * *
Beryl knelt alone in front of an altar. Torches lined the room and a deep red mystical
energy ran along the floor in intricate patterns. Before her, she could feel the presence
of Metalia begin to take form, far more solid now than ever before. The energy
patterns on the floor flared brightly as a strong wind swept outward from the altar,
indicating the opening of the partial gateway. Looking up, Beryl looked into the mass
of energy that was Metalia.
"Queen Metalia, you wished to speak to me?" Beryl asked.
"It is time. The Earth has begun to awake, we cannot let it give birth to its own Sailor
Senshi, we must move now. Begin your spells. The Senshi will arrive before you can
finish them, Kunzite and your youma will act as a distraction."
Beryl smiled as she realized her aspirations were quickly approaching reality, even
with the failures of her pathetic generals. "But what about the Ginzuishou?" she
asked.
"Do not worry about that crystal, it matters not to me. I will pluck it from the hands of
Serenity and give it to you." Metalia replied, and then smiled internally as she saw
Beryl perk up with that.
Beryl from where she knelt sent Kunzite a mental command informing him of the
change in plans and then began casting the spells, the spells that would fully open the
portal. As she began each spell, she grabbed one of her manna streams and connected
it to the spell. Very quickly, the energy radiating from the room had reached a
blinding level of darkness and the Earth and the solar system began to shudder in
response.
* * * * * * * *
A little earlier
"Usako." called Mamoru as he spotted his love. She quickly changed directions to
plow into him for a kiss, with her friends not far behind. After satisfying her demands
for kisses, he asked the questions that had been on his mind. "Usako did you feel
anything strange today?"
"Not really." she replied, but then remembered her transformation to her princess
form and thought that might be what he was referring to. "I did take my princess form
a bit."
"I know I felt that, but before that I felt a strange energy, which caused me to take my
form as Endymion."
"I wonder." Replied Ami as she quickly pulled out her computer, which Usagi had
given back to her a little while earlier. Everyone turned to look at Ami, awaiting her
answer. "Thought so, Mamoru like each of us gets his powers from his planet.
However, till now the Earth has essentially been dormant, but now it is swarming in
energy. Hmm so is the Moon, I don't suppose" the last bit she mumbled to herself, but
was heard by the others and caused Usagi to blush heavily. "As to why you took your
prince form, you were just responding the sudden increase in energy that flowed into
you from the planet when it awoke."
Mamoru suddenly collapsed to the ground, as an urgent beeping noise from the
computer interrupted the conversation. "Mamo-chan what's wrong?" cried Usagi,
barely avoiding becoming hysterical. Beside him, ChibiUsa also knelt down in pain,
not as much as her father, but still feeling it. "Ami-chan what is happening to them?"
asked Usagi.
Ami for her part was rapidly typing away at the computer. In her fast paced typing she
suddenly whipped out her hand and henshined into Mercury only missing a few beats
in her typing. She slowly spun around with her visor deployed no longer typing.
"Shimatta, it has begun."
By this time, Mamoru had been able to return to his knees and ChibiUsa had fully
recovered. "They have begun opening the portal for Metalia, haven't they?" he asked.
"Yes, the spells have been cast. There is now a massive dark energy dome in the artic.
The spell being used is fairly crude and it is affecting everything around it. The whole
solar system is reverberating in pain, in particular the Earth."
"Well guess it is time for us to go pay them a visit." supplied Makoto.
"Sorry can't do that yet, the energy readings are so massive that I have not been able
to localize the zero-point yet. It will take another few hours at least." Replied Ami.
"In that case lets each go home and get some rest and dinner first. We will meet back
at the shrine at 8:30." Stated Usagi
"Hai" they all replied and then broke up.
* * * * * * * *
The soft music of a violin filled a house with its music. The music drifted its way past
its two listeners washing them its warmth. With a sudden abruptness it stopped and its
creator shivered suddenly very cold. "The seas, something is happening." Declared
Michiru to her audience.
Haruka quickly stood up and went to wrap up the freezing Michiru. "Are you sure…"
she began to ask, but stopped as a bright violet light flashed across the room.
The flash departed revealing an orb, which contained a furious storm of energy. As
Setsuna stood in front of it, a staff shaped like a key formed in her hand. The orb
quickly settled itself down on the staff, and as it did so, violet energy shot out of the
staff and ran along Setsuna's arm to caress her body. As it retreated it left Sailor Pluto
behind.
Pluto pulled up her staff swinging it around before planting it down on the ground and
looking into the orb, seeing the confirmation of what she had suspected. And knew
her time here was short; she could already feel the pulling of the gate seeking its
guardian. "It has begun. Go now and join the princess, tonight the war will be won or
lost." As she felt herself being pulled faster and faster away from this time, she added,
"I can not participate in this battle, the gate must be protected. I can not fight its
command." And with that, her grip on linear time was lost and she found herself
standing in front of the Gate of Spacetime.
With a swing of her staff, she unlocked the gate, laying the stream of time to bear in
front of her eyes. The mists had yet to resolve into a single future, though a couple of
paths began to become more visible than the others. Charging her staff she was
prepared should the timeline go awry, to slam closed the gate for all time in this
timeline.
* * * * * * * *
Elsewhere
A child sat in her room doing her homework. If any had been in the room with her
they would have been scared as her body glowed a soft violet while a smile crossed
her lips. She stood and looked out towards the distance feeling immense energy
radiating from that direction. Grasping some of that energy with her small hand she
grinned even more. "Soon." was all she said. With that, she returned to her desk,
oblivious to what had just happened.
-End chapter 17
Endnotes:
-Gomen Nasi for taking so long on getting this chapter out. It has actually
been mostly finished for a couple months now. I had the edited copy sitting on
my computer for a real long time before getting around to incorporating the
changes. But don't worry 18 is also finished and should be following this one
out shortly. Classes just ended this past week, so I had those to deal with,
initiation for my fraternity this past weekend. But with the semester
intersession coming up, I should be able to get a fair amount of work done and
my writing.
-Finally, it has reached this point. This last chapter was pretty hard for me to
write, being a semi-slow chapter in the midst of many fast paced ones. But
next time it is the battle at D-point.
-I have come to realize that I may have been a bit too subtle in the scene that
was supposed to let you know the planet that Urawa's powers were now allied
with. They are allied with the Planet of Destruction, Saturn.
-The two poor folks who were the unfortunate sufferers of the reactivation of
my Tiger cloning machine are Lady Heartfire and Patch my compadre in
havoc is Lady Rainbow and all her infinite personalities. This particular
sequence is a result of a chat I had with the three, which afterwards I thought
would make a really nifty dream for ChibiUsa or maybe Hotaru.
-Oh for anyone trying to visit my site, I apologize for the broken links. Just
discovered that apparantly at some point geocities had changed to a case sensitive
web server. Hence all the links to the story directory no longer worked. Sorry
about that, but it is now mostly fixed.
Chapter 17: "The War Prayer"
Author: etj4Eagle
Email: etj4Eagle@yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/etj4eagle
Lasted Edited: 12/6/00
Disclaimer: A reminder I own none of the characters of this story,
all rights are owned by others.
If you distribute the story, do only
so freely and inform me of where you post it.
_______________________________________
Kunzite stood on a forested hill overlooking the city of Tokyo. "Soon, very soon my
people you will be freed of your bondage. You have suffered long enough under the
rule of the Lunarians, but a new dawn is fast approaching, an era when us Tehrans
will take our rightful place in the galaxy." As much as he wanted to move quickly and
grasp that new dawn he saw, he knew that to move too fast now would destroy
everything; an error that Beryl had unfortunately made too many times in her lust for
power and vengeance.
With anticipation and Beryl's impatience driving him forward, he still managed to
avoid the fatal mistake of rushing, which befell his predecessors. Hence in his desire
to avoid making a costly mistake by moving too fast, he was giving the Senshi a day
to recuperate before he delivered his ultimatum; a cornered animal fights back with no
concern for its life, but back off a bit and it is easy to kill. The same was true with
war. Allow time for this morning's events to sink and they might just give up the
Ginzuishou. Not that Endymion or Serenity would be spared by said action, though
the lives of the others could possibly be spared. One of them, Venus had caught his
eye, and he had the feeling that she had before as well. She could never replace
Zoisite, but she could make a good concubine.
* * * * * * * *
Tsukino residence
Usagi sat at the table slowly placing the food from her plate into her mouth, not
interested in the food, thoughts from the afternoon's activities instead were on the
forefront of her mind. Beside her sat ChibiUsa who was having no trouble shoveling
the food into her mouth. Though, the little girl still noticed her mother's worried
expression and was hence also worried.
"Usagi, honey, is there anything wrong" asked her mother.
Usagi looked up from her plate, her initial reaction being to just tell her mother that
everything was all right, but mother's could always see straight through those lies, she
should know she was one herself now. "I visited the ruins of my kingdom today.
Mother's spirit showed me all that happened during the fall including my friends
being cut down by the enraged Tehran army.
"I don't want it to happen again. I don't want them to sacrifice their lives for me. But
after last night, the final battle is inevitable and soon. I…" she trailed off unable to
talk anymore.
Ikuko saw the grief and worry that her daughter tried to hide and wished that the fates
had not burdened her daughter with such responsibilities. She wanted to be the good
mother and take her daughter up in her arms and solve her worries for her. But she
could no longer solve the problems and help carry the responsibilities that her
daughter now shouldered.
"Usagi don't worry. You are Sailor Moon, you will dust them for sure!" said a very
enthusiastic Shingo.
Everyone at the table turned to look at Shingo, with varying levels of surprise in their
eyes. The only one not taken off guard was Luna. She alone knew how he really felt
about his sister, though Usagi did also have a good idea. Lately her role as Usagi's
mentor had grown to also include Shingo. Her regular interaction with Shingo began a
couple weeks after he had learned that his sister was Sailor Moon
>> "Err… Luna could I talk with you?" asked Shingo, fumbling for words.
With a nod, Luna followed Shingo into the room, hopping up onto his lap as
he sat down. He petted her for a bit, trying to find the right words to express
his feelings.
Luna could easily sense the unease that he radiated and decided to help him
out. "It is about your sister, Usagi, isn't it?" she asked.
"Hai, I thought I knew Usagi, but she is Sailor Moon."
Luna knew where some of his frustrations were coming from; he did have a
massive crush on Sailor Moon after all. "You love your sister right?"
"Hai, of course."
"Do you believe that Usagi has what it takes to be Sailor Moon?"
Shingo thought long and hard about that one. He remembered the times she
had shown surprising strength in facing hardships for others. One time many
years ago came to mind when she defended him from bullies at the park. And
of course, there was her relationship with ChibiUsa. "Hai, I may tease her, but
I have always believed in her. She has always been there for me when I need
her."
Luna looked approvingly at Shingo as he continued, "But what about me. I am
nothing compared to her. She is a princess and one of the Sailor Senshi."
"Shingo, Usagi does not think any less of you or your family, having learned
the truth about herself. She loves you dearly and only wishes to bring you
happiness."
Shingo looked into Luna's face, the tears on his face clearly visible, "You
mean it Luna?" As Luna nodded and purred even more strongly he began to
accept what she had told him.
As Luna left his room, she passed Usagi who shot her a questioning look. She
said nothing, not wanting to betray Shingo's confidence. However, as she later
found out, Usagi had been able to figure out what had happened without her
having said anything. Later that night after Luna had left to go visit Artemis
and the rest of the family had headed off to bed, Usagi had henshin and gone
into Shingo's room.
Hearing a knock at his door Shingo looked up from the book he was reading.
"Come in." he called. As the door opened his mouth hung open while his book
flopped to the ground, as in walked Sailor Moon. She walked over to his bed
and sat down next to him.
Grapping his hands she held them in her lap before beginning. "Shingo-kun,
you are my brother in this life and that is all that matters. I may have been a
princess in my former life and will be queen in the future, but you are and
always will be my brother." Usagi wrapped her brother up in a hug. "Shingo I
will always love you."
Shingo looked at his sister, with tears once again in his eyes, "Thank you,
Usagi." Usagi felt a mothering instinct come over her and pulled Shingo in
against her chest. He did not resist and instead allowed himself to be wrapped
up in her warmth, sharing in her strength as Sailor Moon. > Once more, she tried to go up to the Senshi dressed in pink, whom this time
was sitting on a log. As she walked towards the log, the ground seemed to
shift from that of a peaceful forest to a mountainside and then finally to a
cratered landscape bare of life. The log became a rock and what was a lake
became a child looking up at a blue planet hanging in the sky, the planet Earth.
Arriving at the rock she turned to look at the Senshi to ask her if she could
sit down there, but the Senshi no longer sat there, instead a woman sat there.
For some reason she felt like she should know this person, but the link was not
forthcoming. Instinct taking over she began to curtsey.
"No need to be so formal Hotaru-chan, it is just the two of us." The lady said
while waving off her curtsey. Then indicating to the vacant spot on the rock.
"Have a seat princess."
Hotaru sat down and then looked closely at the other lady. She had elegant
silver hair in the same style as ChibiUsa and Usagi and on her forehead lay a
golden crescent moon.
"I am sure that you have questions, but it is not time for those to be answered.
Only when you awake will you find the answers you seek princess. I brought
you here so that I could say that I am sorry for everything, and that I am happy
that you will finally be able to find happiness under my daughter. Don't worry
about taking care of my grand-daughter, you are already more than you know
and for both me and my daughter I thank you."
As Queen Serenity finished speaking, the scenery once again shifted, back to
that of earth. As Hotaru looked around she realized that the women she had
been talking to had vanished. "Hotaru-chan!" came a call and she turned to
see ChibiUsa running towards her. > The scenery had changed back to that of the Earth from that of the moon.
She stood with ChibiUsa at the side of a large field and nearby stood a large
machine with the remains of wooden crates next to it. "What do you think it
is?" asked Hotaru.
"Let's find out." ChibiUsa replied. Following ChibiUsa towards the machine,
she noticed that ChibiUsa seemed to be wearing an outfit that resembled that
of Sailor Moon and then looking down at herself, she noticed that she too was
wearing a Sailor Fuku. Though in her case, her fuku did not resemble any of
them and she was carrying a large pole arm as well. With a shrug, she put the
puzzlement aside for the moment to look at the machine. It gleamed brightly
in the afternoon sun, clearly labeled on its sides with the word "ACME."
Hotaru wondered to herself.
As ChibiUsa began playing around with the controls, she looked around the
field. Scanning it, she realized that the ground was flattened, as if a stampede
of both large and small creature had passed through. Near the center of the field, two distant objects caught
her eye. Looking closer, she realized that they were people, who were just now
slowly getting up from the ground, looking very worse for the wear.
"Tigger-chan!" cried ChibiUsa interrupting Hotaru's investigation of the field.
Turning to look at her cohort she noticed that ChibiUsa now had a picture of a
tiger on some kind of screen that was attached to the machine. Hotaru wanted
to voice a word of caution to ChibiUsa, but she suddenly found herself unable
to speak as ChibiUsa pressed a throbbing green button marked with the word
"On."
Activated, the machine began to whirl as lights flashed along its length. Her
ears picked up what she thought to be "Oh no." coming from those two in the
field. Unconsciously taking a step back, she looked up at the top of the
machine as its roof began to pull back. "Well I guess we now find out what
this machine does." she quietly said.
"The Wonderful thing about Tiggers,
"Is Tiggers are Wonderful things."
Came the singing of a male voice from inside the machine. And an orange
tiger like creature bounced out from within. Landing on its tail, it proceeded to
pounce out onto the field. The arrival of Tigger was met with a cry of "Sugoi"
from ChibiUsa.
A second voice from within the machine joined the first who was now a fair
way down the field.
"Their tops are made out of rubber,
"The bottoms are made out of springs."
Hotaru was now confused by the appearance of that second one. Then a
thought began to cross her mind about what this machine was and what had
happened here. Her fear was confirmed when a third and fourth Tigger joined
the song in its third verse.
"They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy,
"Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun."
From down the field Hotaru could distinctly here the cries of fear coming from
the other two, as they cried "Not again." and "Please someone save us." By
now the machine was spitting out a new Tigger every second and the field was
quickly becoming a mess of Tiggers pouncing and trouncing, with those other
two being at the dead center of all the action.
"But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is,
"I'm the only one."
Having finished the song, they immediately began singing it again. ChibiUsa
appeared to be enjoying the scene, however Hotaru realized that they might be
in a lot of trouble. As she thought about picking up ChibiUsa and making a
run for it, for some reason she felt a lot stronger being dressed in this Senshi
garb, a portal open to her side. Two heads popped out of the portal, after
looking both ways they addressed her and ChibiUsa: "psk you may want to
come with us. Those two are not going to be happy with you reactivating
Eagle-sensei's cloning machine." one of them said. she thought. While she did not remember much, she
no longer felt worry for ChibiUsa, knowing somehow that her friend was all right.
* * * * * * * *
Juuban Junior High School
Haruna watched as Usagi and company entered the classroom, on time this time.
They did not arrive with much time to spare today, all
having slept late that morning. So, instead of chatting with the other students they
headed straight towards their seats. Sitting down, Usagi took a moment to get
ChibiUsa set for the morning, making sure that the little girl had her work out and
knew what lessons she should do during the morning lessons.
Haruna waited patiently for Usagi to take care of her task, not at the least bit annoyed
with the delay. The other student's had also noted Haruna delaying the start of
instruction for Usagi, and then thinking a bit further realized that every day ChibiUsa
was here Haruna seemed to be in a much better mood. One of those days Umino had
tidbits about serious set backs in Haruna's love life and they had all expected her to
very harsh that day, instead they got a much more mellow Haruna. Consequently, they
all were becoming quite happy to see ChibiUsa walk in with her cousin.
Later as they broke for lunch, Usagi caught Umino pacing nervously at the school
door, something clearly on his mind. "Umino-san is something wrong?" she asked.
"Ah, Usagi-san, didn't realize you were there." he replied. "What would make you
think that something's wrong?"
"Aside from your nervous pacing and the scared look on your face?" she supplied.
"Oh." He said then after a pause, "It is Naru."
"Huh? You like Naru?" Usagi asked a little too loudly
"Ssh, not so loud. I need your help Usagi-san. What should I do so that she falls for
me?" he asked.
* * * * * * * *
Afternoon
Across Tokyo, TV screens lost their signal, going to static. Frustrated viewers flipped
through the channels searching for a signal. Then only moments later the static on all
channels resolved into an image of a silver haired individual wearing some sort of
military uniform. Behind him stretched beautiful fields. "Princess Serenity as acting
leader of the earth, you will turn over the Ginzuishou to us. Otherwise, I will be
forced to destroy more of Tokyo. We have suffered enough under the tyrannical rule
of the Silver Millennium and from this point forward us Tehrans are free, we will take
our rightful place as rulers for this solar system. Turn over the crystal within 48 hours
and I will consider letting you live." the man demanded.
Then as quickly as the strange transmission came it was gone, returning the viewers to
their normal programming. While its intended viewer missed the original airing, many
others of importance did catch it. Until now, those people had refrained from taking a
side in this war. Their men had begun to ally themselves with one side, even though
they had orders to detain that side as well. But, now a decision point had been
reached, no longer could the current policy be maintained. A response was needed;
only one response was possibly, to make official what the soldiers had already
decided amongst themselves.
* * * * * * * *
Crown Arcade during the transmission
For what seemed like a long absence from the arcade, Usagi and company spent a
relaxing afternoon playing video games. After school had let out Usagi had suggested
coming here, and was quite surprised when Luna readily agreed with her. They after
all were still children and should have an opportunity to enjoy this time when they
weren't busy dealing with the Dark Kingdom, and furthermore with the final battle
starting to loom on the horizon they all needed to be fully relaxed and rested if they
expected to be victorious.
Looking up from the Sailor V game Usagi noticed that Ami once again had her
computer out; standing up she walked over to the blue haired girl. "And what do you
think you are doing? I thought I told you to have some fun."
Ami looked up, her face turning red attempting to eak out an excuse she said "But…."
However, Usagi did not give her any opportunity, as she quickly reached over,
grabbed the Mercurian computer and closing it placed it in her subspace pocket.
"You will get this back after we leave the arcade, and only if you actually play some
of the games and enjoy yourself." Usagi declared. Giving in, Ami moved off towards
one of the game consoles. Sitting in front of the game, a smile broke her face as she
began playing. The game of course was a strategy/puzzle one, but Usagi decided to
take her victories where she could.
Returning to another game as well Usagi muttered to herself about wireless computer
networks. She of course did not understand anything about them, only that apparently
the Central Command computers and Ami's computer were on one, which meant Ami
could access everything she needed from her palmtop. After Ami had told them of her
announcement this morning, Usagi had very quickly realized that she should have
been more careful in unlocking full access to the main computers. Previously with the
only access being at Central Command itself, Usagi had thought she would have been
able to keep Ami from spending too much time with the computer system. But, with
Ami able to access everything from the palmtop, keeping Ami from getting too
absorbed was now a very difficult task. Though the confiscation solution seemed to
work well enough. Turning her attention to the game, Usagi began to engross herself
in it, till about an hour later a shout distracted her.
"YES!!" heads in the arcade turned to regard a suddenly blushing Ami who at some
point had moved to one of the fighting games.
"That's very good Ami, but next time you win one of the matches you don't have to
let the entire arcade know." Minako said to her friend as she put an arm around a very
red Ami and sat her back down on the stool.
"Hey everyone, the Defense Minister is about to make an announcement!" called a
man as he popped his head into the arcade before disappearing back out to spread the
news. The Senshi looked amongst themselves with puzzlement and concern before
joining everyone else in leaving the arcade and searching for a TV.
They and many others crowded into an electronics store's TV section. The open space
was now packed shoulder to shoulder with people wanting to know what was going
on. Only a few moments after their arrival, the TV signal broke away from its regular
programming to reveal the Defense Minister. "Ladies and Gentlemen as of four-
fourteen this afternoon cable signals in the Tokyo area were hijacked by an unknown
party and used to deliver the following transmission. The camera zoomed in on a TV,
which was beside him on the stage. After viewing Kunzite's transmission, the camera
zoomed back out to focus on the Defense Minister.
"We do not know who this person is. As for Princess Serenity, she is apparently the
one known as Sailor Moon, beyond that, we know nothing else about her. This person
claming to speak for the Earth made a threat against both Princess Serenity and the
sovereign nation of Japan. Our nation does not take to threats lightly nor do we
negotiate with terrorists.
"Consequently, this announcement is a declaration of war against both our nation and
our allies. We will stand firm against this threat and urge all our allies to join us in
standing against these terrorists. This man claims to speak for the people of the earth,
however he does not speak for the people of Japan. Additionally the other world
leaders have given me their assurances that he does not speak for their nations as well.
"Princess Serenity if you are watching this, we the people of Earth do not stand beside
this fellow, instead we stand with you. Do not worry yourself about our well being. If
these forces win this war, all of humanity is doomed. We are a strong people and will
face whatever hardships are necessary; our sacrifice will bring you honor."
As the screen went blank, a calm hush fell over the crowd as they absorbed what had
been said. And, then soft applause was heard, an applause that very quickly
snowballed into a deafening roar, leaving the Senshi bewildered. Usagi looked around
not quite sure what to make of the applauding crowd. A crowd, which had begun to
notice that it held in its center a group of bewildered girls and began to instinctively
move back.
From the back of her mind, knowledge of how to proceed came to Usagi, lessons
learned from her previous life. The Guardians looked at their leader unsure of how to
proceed, but knowledge began to flow into their minds as well as Usagi's stance
changed. While the crowd was moving back away from the group of six girls, it had
not yet turned its attention towards them. However, the cries of: "Moon prism power,
Mercury Star Power, Venus Star Power, Mars Star Power, Jupiter Star Power Make
Up!" changed that, causing it to turn inwards to the regard five pillars of energy that
began to erupt, while at the same time moving even farther back. Usagi herself simply
allowed her form to flow as she shimmered into her princess form.
Now standing in the center of the crowd were the Guardians, Princess Serenity and
her daughter ChibiMoon. "I thank you all for your support. We will not forget your
sacrifices; I grieve for everyone that gets injured in this war. However, even if the
price is high I cannot let this evil return to destroy Tokyo and Earth, my home."
While her speech might have been short, the crowd did not care. Applause ran out
again, but even louder this time, and a pathway opened leading towards the door. As
Serenity began walking out with her daughter and Guardians in tow, she would
occasionally stop to great people along the corridor, instinct from the past now
guiding her every move. Leaving the store and reaching the street, she reached out her
arm as her transformation broach appeared in it. With a call she was Sailor Moon and
the Senshi were off, running along the roofs, while the crowd they had left behind
continued to grow even larger.
* * * * * * * *
Mamoru missed both the ultimatum and the subsequent announcement by the Prime
Minister as he had been spending the afternoon studying in the library. Deeply
immersed in his organic chemistry text, he suddenly felt the urge to stand up as a
strange feeling overcame his body. He did not know what to make of it, as the feeling
was a warmth of the sort when he became Tuxedo-kamen, but more subtle and it felt
as if it was coming from his soul, but from without as well. He felt energized and
reassured as the energy began to slowly and then more quickly build up in his soul.
And then suddenly it busted out and washed over his body as golden energy.
When the golden flash died down, Prince Endymion of the Earth now stood in his
place. Looking down he realized that only for the second time this life he was in his
prince form. he wondered. Attempting to return
to his other form he found that he could not, the energy still swept too strongly
through his body. Another energy rippled through his body signaling the change of
Usagi to her princess form. Deciding to go look for answers he began to climb down the stairs and
out of the study area. As he walked down and out, he noted to his puzzlement that no
one appeared to be around.
Arriving at the
Student Union he noticed a large crowd gathering, walking up to a person at the rear
he asked him what was going on. Endymion frowned as the guy began recounting
Kunzite's message and then Japan's response. As the student finished telling his tale,
he for the first time really looked at Endymion and saw the armor he wore, his eyes
going wide in the process.
"You have been of great assistance my friend." Endymion spoke. He had planned on
speaking softly, but instead his voice carried strong over the crowd and it turned to
regard its prince. Seeing them turning expectantly, Endymion addressed his people,
"My name is Endymion, the Earth and I are bound as one with one soul. My people,
the evil that threatens us is an ancient one, but this time it will not send us into
another dark age. We will resist its siren call and not give into hate.
"The man who spoke the threat used to represent the planet as one of my generals, but
he betrayed you and me when he fell to that siren's call. He no longer speaks for the
people of Earth. Together with the help of the Sailor Senshi we will defeat this evil
once and for all!" Endymion ended his speech by thrusting his sword up in the air, an
action, which was met by cheers from the crowd. Starting with Tokyo and then
spreading across the globe the energy of earth, that of the golden energy of life began
racing back in forth from person to person. As it did so, it grew stronger and in
response, Endymion felt himself growing stronger. With that strength, the persona of
Endymion began to awaken and memories of the past began to return. He knew who
these Dark Kingdom generals really were, how they had been seduced along with the
rest of humanity, and the disgrace of his people as they slaughtered the peaceful
people of the Moon. 'Never again' he vowed to himself.
Coming out of his thoughts, he realized that he was in a bit of trouble as the crowd
had dramatically increased in size, getting out was not going to be easy. But, then in a
flash of golden energy he was gone, and he found himself back in the top reaches of
the library where he had been studying. This time when he tried reverting back to
Mamoru, the change occurred instantly, as the power had finished awakening.
he thought to himself before returning to his studies, knowing that he
would have to go talk with Usagi and the others later that night.
* * * * * * * *
Elsewhere
Kunzite sat in a little café smugly watching the other patrons first panic as his
transmission was broadcast and then again when the Prime Minister came on. As the broadcast
ended he turned back to the paper he had been reading, the story had attracted his
attention as apparently that other mysterious force had decided to attack the other
night as well. He still had no clue as to who this other force was or what their goals
were.
The sound of applause pulled him out of his contemplation. Looking around the room,
he was surprised to see everyone applauding the Prime Minister's decision. Listening
in on a nearby couple's conversation, he heard one of them saying that he did not care
if he fell in this war, as long as the Sailor Senshi won it.
Then suddenly he felt pain wash
over his body as he collapsed to the ground. Summoning dark energy he flushed his body and the pain vanished.
Hearing the summoning of Beryl, he
teleported out of the café.
* * * * * * * *
Kunzite looked up from where he kneeled into the eyes of the fuming Queen Beryl.
He did not know what had her irritated, but figured that it had to be associated with
the strange sensations that had been hitting him since his return from Tokyo.
"Kunzite, I don't know what you did, but you have nearly destroyed the energy
streams that I have acquired." She accused him.
"What do you mean my queen?" he humbly asked
"Somehow shortly after your ultimatum to Sailor Moon, a massive surge of gold
energy swept across the planet. As a result, the energy streams that I have collected
were disrupted. Thankfully, they are still providing sufficient energy to awaken
Metalia. However we can no longer afford to waste energy fighting Sailor Moon to
retrieve the Ginzuishou."
Later as Kunzite left Beryl's throne room, the bit about the gold energy kept coming
back to his mind. He knew it to be important somehow, but the specifics seemed to be
just out of his grasp.
* * * * * * * *
In a space that had no dimensions while having every dimension at the same time,
existed a being, a being that had been in this prison for nearly eternity. At one time, it
was what some called female, but that was long ago, before the power it had gathered
made those distinctions meaningless. It was the loser of a power struggle, banished to
a real life version of Hades. And so, here it remained trapped in the very fabric of the
megaverse. Once before a being had found it and released it, allowing it to seek
revenge on the one whose blood had been responsible for her banishment.
But, as powerful as it was, it was no match for the power of its opponent, who by
sacrificing her own life had sent her back to this prison. But, the prison of her
worshipers was not perfect and they had escaped. Now, they were ready to bring her
back, and she would finally be able to gather the power she deserved and kill the
others who were responsible by blood.
The initial spells connecting her to the earth had already been cast. The first of those
spells just let her converse with her "master," a term that she found very amusing. But
lately the summoner had begun to send her energy to feed off of, preparing her for the
traversal and the anchoring spells to open the portal were beginning to be cast. The
one thing she had to give her summoner credit for, Beryl did know how to cast the
spells without alerting anyone else. That being the reason why they had been able to
surprise the people of the Silver Millennium, any other caster would have alerted the
Sailor Soldiers, and she would have had to face them upon crossing into this world, a
battle that she probably would have lost.
To say she was pleased with the progress so far, would have been an understatement.
She was a patient being and the internal politics of the Dark Kingdom did not interest
her, only the accumulation of energy for the transfer. And, what Beryl did not realize
was that even those failed missions had helped to prepare the earth, meaning that less
energy would be required. And, then recently something had happened, and she could
feel herself being quickly drawn to the planet. Which is why she was not upset at all
when the Ginzuishou fell into the hands of Princess Serenity. The girl's mother had
barely defeated her, killing the girl would not be difficult.
An energy wave rushed along her connection to the Earth and through her body.
Reeling back from the hit she focused her consciousness trying to find out what had
happened. Sending her senses back down the connection to the Earth, she discovered
something that made her worried. The energy signature of the Earth had begun to
change. Someone was trying to unite the power of the planet. This energy wielded by
the right person could prevent the gateway from being opened. Gathering her energy,
she summoned Beryl's attention.
* * * * * * * *
Outside of Tokyo
thought Diana. She had spent most of the day walking
towards Tokyo; at least she thought she was going the right way. But, her feet were
getting tired and her tummy growled for some food. She saw up in front of her a
diner, her mind made up she headed towards it.
Inside the diner, patrons mostly sat on the bar stools watching an old TV showing the
evening's news. Many of the patrons had been there since earlier that afternoon when
the news was first broadcast. But had stayed there talking with others of the town and
travelers about what it meant. The reporter currently was interviewing some people in
the Juuban district who claimed to have seen this Princess Serenity and her Sailor
Senshi earlier that day. The camera moved off the reporter for a moment to focus in
on a sketch of what this Princess Serenity might look like from the descriptions of
these bystanders. The drawing was amazingly detailed and the reporter mentioned that
the government also agreed that its sources suggested this to be the appearance of
Serenity as well.
A twinkling of a bell marked the arrival of a new patron. One of the waitresses looked
up and then moved toward the door to welcome the visitor. As she walked toward the
guest, she wondered where the child's parents were. "Can I help you miss?" she asked
The girl looked up unsure of how to respond. She was sure of what she wanted, but
unsure if she really should be doing this. At any moment, she might bolt to the door
and disappear out into the evening. However, as she looked up, the waitress caught
site of the crescent moon on her forehead.
"Here come on in child, you look like you could use
something to eat and some rest." The waitress said. As she began to lead the girl to a
seat, she added "My name is Sasami, if I may ask, what is your name?"
"Diana." The girl replied.
"Diana, that's a sweet name. From that crescent moon on your forehead I assume you
must be associated with Princess Serenity."
The last line caused Diana to stumble in shock "Nani-ka! What did you say?" she
asked unsure of her hearing.
"Why Princess Serenity has the same crescent moon on her forehead." Still seeing the
child confused, she continued, "The news all evening has been about Princess
Serenity and her Sailor Senshi. Here take a seat I will get you some food." With that,
the waitress disappeared into the back.
* * * * * * * *
Beryl knelt alone in front of an altar. Torches lined the room and a deep red mystical
energy ran along the floor in intricate patterns. Before her, she could feel the presence
of Metalia begin to take form, far more solid now than ever before. The energy
patterns on the floor flared brightly as a strong wind swept outward from the altar,
indicating the opening of the partial gateway. Looking up, Beryl looked into the mass
of energy that was Metalia.
"Queen Metalia, you wished to speak to me?" Beryl asked.
"It is time. The Earth has begun to awake, we cannot let it give birth to its own Sailor
Senshi, we must move now. Begin your spells. The Senshi will arrive before you can
finish them, Kunzite and your youma will act as a distraction."
Beryl smiled as she realized her aspirations were quickly approaching reality, even
with the failures of her pathetic generals. "But what about the Ginzuishou?" she
asked.
"Do not worry about that crystal, it matters not to me. I will pluck it from the hands of
Serenity and give it to you." Metalia replied, and then smiled internally as she saw
Beryl perk up with that.
Beryl from where she knelt sent Kunzite a mental command informing him of the
change in plans and then began casting the spells, the spells that would fully open the
portal. As she began each spell, she grabbed one of her manna streams and connected
it to the spell. Very quickly, the energy radiating from the room had reached a
blinding level of darkness and the Earth and the solar system began to shudder in
response.
* * * * * * * *
A little earlier
"Usako." called Mamoru as he spotted his love. She quickly changed directions to
plow into him for a kiss, with her friends not far behind. After satisfying her demands
for kisses, he asked the questions that had been on his mind. "Usako did you feel
anything strange today?"
"Not really." she replied, but then remembered her transformation to her princess
form and thought that might be what he was referring to. "I did take my princess form
a bit."
"I know I felt that, but before that I felt a strange energy, which caused me to take my
form as Endymion."
"I wonder." Replied Ami as she quickly pulled out her computer, which Usagi had
given back to her a little while earlier. Everyone turned to look at Ami, awaiting her
answer. "Thought so, Mamoru like each of us gets his powers from his planet.
However, till now the Earth has essentially been dormant, but now it is swarming in
energy. Hmm so is the Moon, I don't suppose" the last bit she mumbled to herself, but
was heard by the others and caused Usagi to blush heavily. "As to why you took your
prince form, you were just responding the sudden increase in energy that flowed into
you from the planet when it awoke."
Mamoru suddenly collapsed to the ground, as an urgent beeping noise from the
computer interrupted the conversation. "Mamo-chan what's wrong?" cried Usagi,
barely avoiding becoming hysterical. Beside him, ChibiUsa also knelt down in pain,
not as much as her father, but still feeling it. "Ami-chan what is happening to them?"
asked Usagi.
Ami for her part was rapidly typing away at the computer. In her fast paced typing she
suddenly whipped out her hand and henshined into Mercury only missing a few beats
in her typing. She slowly spun around with her visor deployed no longer typing.
"Shimatta, it has begun."
By this time, Mamoru had been able to return to his knees and ChibiUsa had fully
recovered. "They have begun opening the portal for Metalia, haven't they?" he asked.
"Yes, the spells have been cast. There is now a massive dark energy dome in the artic.
The spell being used is fairly crude and it is affecting everything around it. The whole
solar system is reverberating in pain, in particular the Earth."
"Well guess it is time for us to go pay them a visit." supplied Makoto.
"Sorry can't do that yet, the energy readings are so massive that I have not been able
to localize the zero-point yet. It will take another few hours at least." Replied Ami.
"In that case lets each go home and get some rest and dinner first. We will meet back
at the shrine at 8:30." Stated Usagi
"Hai" they all replied and then broke up.
* * * * * * * *
The soft music of a violin filled a house with its music. The music drifted its way past
its two listeners washing them its warmth. With a sudden abruptness it stopped and its
creator shivered suddenly very cold. "The seas, something is happening." Declared
Michiru to her audience.
Haruka quickly stood up and went to wrap up the freezing Michiru. "Are you sure…"
she began to ask, but stopped as a bright violet light flashed across the room.
The flash departed revealing an orb, which contained a furious storm of energy. As
Setsuna stood in front of it, a staff shaped like a key formed in her hand. The orb
quickly settled itself down on the staff, and as it did so, violet energy shot out of the
staff and ran along Setsuna's arm to caress her body. As it retreated it left Sailor Pluto
behind.
Pluto pulled up her staff swinging it around before planting it down on the ground and
looking into the orb, seeing the confirmation of what she had suspected. And knew
her time here was short; she could already feel the pulling of the gate seeking its
guardian. "It has begun. Go now and join the princess, tonight the war will be won or
lost." As she felt herself being pulled faster and faster away from this time, she added,
"I can not participate in this battle, the gate must be protected. I can not fight its
command." And with that, her grip on linear time was lost and she found herself
standing in front of the Gate of Spacetime.
With a swing of her staff, she unlocked the gate, laying the stream of time to bear in
front of her eyes. The mists had yet to resolve into a single future, though a couple of
paths began to become more visible than the others. Charging her staff she was
prepared should the timeline go awry, to slam closed the gate for all time in this
timeline.
* * * * * * * *
Elsewhere
A child sat in her room doing her homework. If any had been in the room with her
they would have been scared as her body glowed a soft violet while a smile crossed
her lips. She stood and looked out towards the distance feeling immense energy
radiating from that direction. Grasping some of that energy with her small hand she
grinned even more. "Soon." was all she said. With that, she returned to her desk,
oblivious to what had just happened.
-End chapter 17
Endnotes:
-Gomen Nasi for taking so long on getting this chapter out. It has actually
been mostly finished for a couple months now. I had the edited copy sitting on
my computer for a real long time before getting around to incorporating the
changes. But don't worry 18 is also finished and should be following this one
out shortly. Classes just ended this past week, so I had those to deal with,
initiation for my fraternity this past weekend. But with the semester
intersession coming up, I should be able to get a fair amount of work done and
my writing.
-Finally, it has reached this point. This last chapter was pretty hard for me to
write, being a semi-slow chapter in the midst of many fast paced ones. But
next time it is the battle at D-point.
-I have come to realize that I may have been a bit too subtle in the scene that
was supposed to let you know the planet that Urawa's powers were now allied
with. They are allied with the Planet of Destruction, Saturn.
-The two poor folks who were the unfortunate sufferers of the reactivation of
my Tiger cloning machine are Lady Heartfire and Patch my compadre in
havoc is Lady Rainbow and all her infinite personalities. This particular
sequence is a result of a chat I had with the three, which afterwards I thought
would make a really nifty dream for ChibiUsa or maybe Hotaru.
-Oh for anyone trying to visit my site, I apologize for the broken links. Just
discovered that apparantly at some point geocities had changed to a case sensitive
web server. Hence all the links to the story directory no longer worked. Sorry
about that, but it is now mostly fixed.