Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Unmei no Hoshi ❯ Episode 8: Sailor Triton shutsugen! Atarashi hoshi no tanjou! ( Chapter 8 )

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon: Unmei no Hoshi

Destiny of Stars

by P.H. Wise

Episode 8: Sailor Triton shutsugen! Atarashi hoshi no tanjou!

(Sailor Triton appears! The birth of a new star)

The conclusion of the final battle, and what came after.

"Some sacrifices are necessary."

Key: Speech surrounded by < > is intended to represent japanese.

~~~~~~~~~~

She floated in the midst of the darkness, curled up in a fetal position. Time had no meaning here. Minutes were hours, hours were days, days were months, months were years, and all faded into nothing.

The Void.

Who was she? She couldn't remember. The darkness had stolen that memory from her. She hated it, and yet, at the same time, it seemed comforting to her.

She continued to fade.

Time stretched out, and nothingness stretched out. Soundless, empty, dead. She wondered if she were dead. That sparked another thought in her. 'What is death?'

"These are my last words," she told the audient void. She paused a moment... and then realized that she could think of nothing suitable to say, so she contented herself with, "Goodbye."

Before the Void could claim her, a change came in the darkness. A Presence appeared there with her, though to her, it seemed as though it had always been with her, despite the fact that it had not in truth been there a moment before. It glowed with a watery light, and yet it was warm and full of love. The warmth of the Presence made her aware of just how cold she was; her very soul seemed on the verge of freezing solid. She shivered.

A voice came from the Presence. Whose? Her mother's? What is a mother? That voice. The voice was her mother. She remembered that voice.

"Why are you here?" it asked.

She frowned. "Here?"

"Why are you here? Why aren't you fighting?"

The girl's frown deepened. "Fighting...?" she asked, not quite understanding what was being asked of her. She wished that the Presence would stop talking and just let her rest and enjoy the warmth of its light. She told it so.

"Are you giving up?" it asked, its voice full of worry and grief.

"Giving up?" the girl echoed. That sounded wrong somehow. Very wrong. Somehow, though she knew little else at that point, she knew that she would never give up.

******

Alice stared down at the almost completely faded body of Tenoh Arashi, tears still flowing down her face. Nearby, Hyali knelt before the evil altar, babbling in a strange and horrible tongue. He seemed unaware of everything else around him.

Alice shivered. Her reasons for doing what she had done; reasons that had seemed so very important before, were now like a handful of straw. She wished that she knew what to do. She wondered if her mom would have known what to do, and then cast the thought aside. Her mother was far away, and could not help her. Nor could her father.

She had always hated being the victim. To be helpless was the greatest evil that she knew. She had wanted to be able to stand on her own. So now, she had gained great power, and would never have to be a victim again. Yet somehow, it wasn't worth it.

Alice had realized the truth of the matter; the ends do not justify the means. She had aimed at four and had tried to add two and three to reach it. Now, much to her horror, she found that she could not. No matter how she worked the numbers, two and three added together would never reach that sum. The means would add up to their own end regardless of what she wanted, and that end would be, at best, but a twisted reflection of what she had aimed for.

The taste of that ill-gotten power was bitter in her mouth. She felt sick to her stomach.

******

She floated in the midst of the darkness, and yet, in the midst of the darkness there was a warm blue-green light. Although she knew little else, she knew that she would not give up. Unbidden, images flashed here and there in the darkness, accompanied by sound, and smell, and touch, and taste. The taste of the sea air. The sight of a beautiful sunset. The smell of pine-trees. The texture of a hard cover book. The music of songbirds. Abruptly, a solid memory took shape.

>>>>> A young red-haired girl, maybe ten years old, walks through an

>>>>> empty house. The lights are off, and it seems that no one else

>>>>> is there. She calls out for her mom and dad, and there is no

>>>>> response. She walks down a short hallway into a living room... >>>>> and suddenly, the lights come on, and everyone shouts,

>>>>> "Suprise!" There is Kino-san, holding a birthday cake, and there

>>>>> is Minako, holding a present. Next to her is Lady Mercury and

>>>>> Lady Mars. The door opens, and in walk Haruka and Michiru,

>>>>> followed closely by Hotaru, who is no longer so little as she

>>>>> once was.

>>>>> Oh, and there on the couch sits Neo-Queen Serenity.

>>>>> Regal, proud, dignified... pigging out on a bag of cookies? Some

>>>>> things never change, it seems. "Happy Birthday!" they all shout.

The girl smiled. Her tenth birthday. How could she have forgotten that? She suddenly felt less cold than she had before. Other memories flashed before her eyes. Learning the violin from her mother. Learning martial arts from Kino Makoto. Hanging out at the Crystal Palace. Makoto's daughter - Yuubiko, and the fun times the two of them had together at the Senshi 'family picnics'. Picking on the pink spore. Using the Sacred Fire as a means of watching movies. And then...

>>>>> The same red-haired girl, four years old this time, sits in

>>>>> Michiru's lap at a window seat on a train, watching as the world

>>>>> rolls by. Next to Michiru sits Haruka. All three of them look

>>>>> very happy, and every now and then, Haruka points something out

>>>>> that can be seen out the window - once a flock of birds, once an

>>>>> otter, splashing in the river that the train tracks run along

>>>>> side of, and once a group of very odd looking trees. When Haruka

>>>>> points these things out, the red-haired girl laughs and claps >>>>> her hands with delight.

Her smile grew wider... and then suddenly, the darkness around her seemed to boil, and many unpleasant memories appeared before her eyes. Loneliness. Always travelling, never making friends. Always loneliness. Always on the outside, looking in. The few treasured friends that she did make... she usually never saw them again, though she still wrote to some of them. Getting in TROUBLE for using the Sacred Fire as a means of watching movies. And then, the spiders.

<<<<< Arashi, ten years old once again, is riding on a train in the

<<<<< Boston area. The train rumbles to a halt, and everyone gets off

<<<<< at the station. Her parents decide to go for a walk, and

<<<<< take her with them.

<<<<< Haruka and Michiru begin to speak about things that Arashi does

<<<<< not understand, but much of what they said she tended not to

<<<<< understand anyways. They were adults, after all, and she only a <<<<< child. In any case, Arashi gets bored and sits down on an old,

<<<<< rotten log that lies on the ground nearby. Unfortunately, the

<<<<< log is rotten through to the point that even Arashi's slight

<<<<< weight causes it to collapse in on itself... and even more

<<<<< unfortunately, the log is home to a large number of poisonous

<<<<< spiders, all of which come crawling out to greet their visitor.

<<<<< She is bitten many times, and has to be rushed to the hospital,
<<<<< screaming the whole time.

She flinched, fear growing in her heart. More unpleasant memories were shown to her; her parents scolding her, her getting into trouble (she had quite a few of the 'getting into trouble' memories. It seems that she did that a lot.) Kazuko being transformed. That last one nearly drove her into the depths of despair. Another vision flickered across her awareness, and though it was not a part of her waking memories... it was familiar, somehow. A woman in golden armor stood over her, laughing at her as the world she had sought to defend died screaming.

It was then that the girl realized that she was under attack. Something was fighting her, trying to force her to remain here. She gritted her teeth, trying to find something with which to fight the counterstroke of the dark power. She reached for the very core of her being, intending to use her own spiritual energy to fight back against the darkness, and found it... gone. A vast emptiness lay at the core of her being. In the place of who she truely was, there was a great numbing nothingness which was slowly spreading outwards to consume everything.

She began to panic.

******

Alice Grant rose to her feet. She knew that what would happen this day was wholly dependant on her, and that knowledge weighed heavily on her. For several long moments she stood paralyzed as the balance of the two warring Destinies tipped this way and that. Yet finally she made her choice.

She summoned forth all of her power and flung it at the one known as Hyali, who was now dancing and gibbering madly in the light of the gibbous moon. Caught off guard, he never had a chance. A shaft of purple light shot out from Alice's hand and pierced the High Priest, striking him down in the very hour of his victory. He fell to the ground, dead. Yet that was perhaps a kinder fate than he would have recieved at the hands of the Awakening One.

The Things took notice of her then. They screamed and warbled, reaching for her with their smothering claws, and tendrils, and suction cups, and paws, and wings, and hands, and various deformed flopping appendages. They didn't reach her in time. She rushed foward and seized the glowing starseed, and tore it free from the evil altar. Tendrils of dark energy writhed madly through the air as the mighty magics of the summoning were disrupted. Several struck the ocean, and where they hit, the water turned instantly to steam. Others struck the ruined town of Innsmouth, leaving great destruction in their wake. The Things which filled the town turned and ran, and slithered, and crawled away... and were caught up in the destruction even as they did so, their bodies vanishing into the wild magics that had been let loose.

But no destruction had touched the Devil's Reef, and as soon as Alice tore the crystal free of the altar, a loud crack as if of thunder split the air. With a terrific flash of light, Alice Grant was flung to the ground.

And then the Things set upon her.

Her screams did not fill the night for very long, terrible though they were.

The starseed floated freely in the air now, and the altar that once held it was reduced to a shattered heap. Great amounts of Alice Grant's blood splashed over it, and yet could not gain purchase on its surface; no stain of the sacrifice that had freed it clung to that pure glowing crystal.

Yet the Great Old Ones are not so easily thwarted. Although the starseed was free of the altar, it was still being used to keep the gate open, and Tenoh Arashi was now so far faded that only the faintest outline of her body could yet be seen.

Around the remains of the altar, the barrier still stood, seperating Uranus and Neptune from their faded daughter. Uranus fought desperately against the THINGS that had emerged from the vortex, and Neptune stood serenely, glowing softly as she directed her talisman at her daughter's broken form.

******

Light.
Everywhere, light.

It was at once blinding and wonderful, warm and terrible.

The girl seemed now like a shadow before that great shining object, yet even as its light threatened to wash her away, she staggered foward, reached up, and seized it.

In that moment, the girl was suddenly able to to draw upon that which made up the very core of her being; her living soul, merged with her star-seed. The Presence seemed relieved at this turn of events. The sigil of Triton appeared on the girl's forehead - Air above a storm with water below. Power filled her, and the world around her shattered like glass.

******

The seas around the dark reef surged and boiled madly, and suddenly, many great and misshapen arms were thrust through the vortex. They were closer in shape to an octopus' arms than to that of a human, yet they were as different from the arms of an octopus as the arms of the octopus are from the arms of a human.

The sight of these appendages filled Uranus with dread, but she was the only one who marked them. She forced herself to look away; she was unable to bear the sight of what was coming forth, and felt that, perhaps, it would be dangerous to try.

The sense of evil around the reef intensified yet again, if that was possible at this point. The Awakening One, the Great Cthulhu was emerging at last.

Its warbling cry echoed across the reef, bringing with it a horror that seemed to seep up from the very earth itself. The cry smote the ears of the two Senshi, driving them to their knees. Neptune recovered first, and never once did she falter in the task that had been set before her.

The arms of the Awakened One pulled at the edges of the Gate... and the distortion in space stretched, widening to a seemingly impossible degree. Through the Gate there could be seen a place of horror and madness. To look upon it was to go spiralling into the utmost depths of insanity. From that place, the Great Cthulhu arose in triumph.

Yet in that moment, a small glowing thing appeared in the air directly above Arashi's nearly transparent body.

A henshin wand.

Neptune lowered her talisman, her eyes shimmering with yet unshed tears. The glow around her faded.

Arashi's eyes opened and she rose to her feet. Though she was still faded, her eyes were now clear and full of life. "I won't let this go any further!" she cried as she seized the henshin wand.

As Tenoh Arashi spoke, the croaking, the warbling, the screeching and various other noises ceased. Silence filled the reef as every creature upon it turned and looked at her, waiting to see what strange doom had befallen. Even the Great Cthulhu Itself paused and sent the weight of Its gaze down upon the tiny faded creature that stood before the Gate.

Holding the henshin wand aloft, Arashi shouted in a voice more clear than she had ever achieved in her lifetime, "TRITON PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!"

Arashi's blue-grey starseed flared brightly, and lo! the vortex burst asunder as that which had created it was claimed by its rightful owner. The Great Cthulhu let out an inhuman cry of agony as its arms were shredded to pieces by the sudden destruction of the gate. The power which had awakened it now sealed it away again. Never even in a thousand millenia had it felt such agony as ripped through its body in that moment!

Down it sank, struggling every inch of the way, down into Ry'leh, where it slowly healed the damage that had been done to it over the course of many years, and eventually sank back into its fitfull slumber. What finally became of the creature; this tale does not tell.

In that moment, the dread which hung over the earth like an oppressive cloud passed away. The blood was cleansed from the moon, and he became as snow. The darkness was lifted, the stars shone bright and clear once more, and in the east there glowed the promise of the coming dawn.
The starseed floated to Arashi and sank back into her chest, and as it did so, life and solidity returned to her form with a suddenness that was almost shocking. The barrier around the ruined altar vanished.

A great light sprung up around Arashi, and within this light she spun in a full circle, tracing a line with her henshin wand. Thunderclouds seemed to gather above her, and a pillar of water flowed upwards from the line that she had traced, concealing her form. A moment later, the water fell away, revealing Sailor Triton, clad in a dark grey skirted fuku with navy blue ribbons. She ran her left hand through her hair and assumed a fighting stance.

Words came to her mind then, and she found herself saying them before she had time to consider them. "The stormy moon of Neptune is my guardian deity, soldier of storms, Sailor Triton!"

"Arashi-chan!"

"Hime-chan!"

Uranus and Neptune were quick to rush to Triton's side, and though they desired nothing more than to catch her up in a heartfelt embrace, there were other matters that needed attending to; namely, the hundreds of chaos spawn that covered the reef around them like maggots on some dead, rotting thing.

Most of them were Deep Ones - the hideous fish-frog creatures, and yet there was also a vast assortment of other monsters, creatures too horrible, too nightmarish to describe. Although they now had little hope of ultimate victory, the lesser spawn of Chaos were not by any means ready to give up.

There upon the Devil's Reef, the three Senshi did battle with the horde of chaos spawn. What can be said of such a battle? The entire reef was crowned with lightning. The wind, the rocks, and even the great ocean itself rose up against the horde, falling upon them with great wrath. Throughout the battle there resounded cries of, "DEEP SUBMERGE!", "WORLD SHAKING!", and "TYPHOON BOMBER!" as the Three let loose their attacks. Is that not enough? The power of the Shadow, already broken by the birth of the new star, was scattered to the four winds.

******

When the last of the chaos spawn had been dispatched or driven off, the Outer Duo finally acted on what they had desired to do since the very moment that their daughter had come back to life; they hugged her, and she returned their embraces whole-heartedly.

"Arashi-chan!" cried Neptune, "We were so worried! We thought we had lost you!"

"I thought you had, too," said Triton, and she burst into tears; tears of sorrow, tears of joy, tears of relief. In that moment, their joy was like that of one who, having long been sick with a terminal illness, suddenly awakens to find their health restored and the day full of promise once again.

Several minutes later, Triton found Alice Grant, or rather, what was left of her, lying near the shattered remains of the altar. Her face was pale, her body smashed. What beauty it had once held was gone, for Alice had died in the greatest of agony. Yet she had also died well.

Wordlessly, Sailor Triton turned away from her parents and walked to the fallen girl.

Neptune looked upon the fallen girl and grimaced. Uranus glanced at her questioningly, and Neptune shook her head. At once, Uranus' expression became filled with pity.

Triton did not see the silent communication that went on between her parents, though if she had she would have, perhaps, wondered at what had passed between them then. She reached down and shook Alice, taking no heed of the pool of blood that stained the ground beneath the girl, or of the grevious injuries that covered her, rendering her nearly unrecognizable... or the fact that her left arm was missing. She had heard that... it was possible to survive... her vision blurred for a moment. Abruptly, Sailor Triton realized that she was crying again.

She heard a pained cough from somewhere to her right, and glancing in that direction, she saw that Tetsuro, still clad in his armor, had at last begun to move. Yet Triton was not at all concerned with Tetsuro; she knelt down and put a finger to Alice's neck. Although it should have come as no suprise to her from the condition of the body, Arashi refused to accept the truth until she had no other recourse. There was no pulse. Alice Grant was dead.

Briefly, her vision blurred once more, and it seemed to her that her heart had become so heavy that she wondered if it were made of lead. Tears leaking from her eyes, Tenoh Arashi - Sailor Triton - whispered, "Some sacrifices are necessary. <Wasurenai.>"

******

As the first light of dawn came to rest upon his face, Tetsuro awoke.

He lay face down on an outcropping of rock near the edge of Devil's Reef, his arm still thrown protectively over the body of the creature that had once been his sister.

He sat up.

In the east, the sun was rising. On the reef were many misshapen bodies, and in the sea around the reef floated many more. And there, sillhouetted against the light of the rising sun, stood three of the Sailor Senshi.

Wait... three Senshi? The first two were Uranus and Neptune, but he couldn't quite make out the other. He squinted, trying to discern the identity of the third. For a moment he thought it was Terra, but then he realized that she still lay just a few feet away from him. Red hair? That sparked a thought in him: where was Arashi? Was she alright? If she was, he was going to kill her. Somehow, he KNEW that this was all her fault.

"Hey, where's Arashi?" he tried to say. What came out was more like, "UUUuuung...."

That drew their attention, at least. They walked to where he sat, and on the face of the red-haired Senshi, there was a look of great concern. Her eyes were rather bloodshot, and although his vision was swimming a bit, it seemed to him that she had been crying. "Oka... er, Neptune, Uranus, we need to get him to a hospital."

"Where... .rashi...?" he finally managed.

Uranus and Neptune smiled faintly at that. Again it was the third Senshi, who peered out at the world through a cloud of sorrow, who answered him. "Don't worry, she's safe. Uranus and Neptune already took her away from here."

"..mn... I'm gonna kill her for this.. this is ALL her fault." he said.

Triton rolled her eyes, and the Outer Duo exchanged glances.

"Right." said Triton, more out of resignation than anything else.

Tetsuro glanced to his sister. "... can anything be done for her?" he asked.

Neptune spoke then. "She will be taken to Crystal Tokyo. There, I'm sure that the Queen will restore her."

Tetsuro smiled.

******

Tetsuro was taken to the Boston Hospital. Reporters swarmed the place when they heard that Uranus and Neptune had been the ones that brought him in, though they learned very little from Tetsuro, even when he had recovered enough to speak with them. It seemed that he genuinely did not want to talk about what had happened.

The doctors there were amazed that he was alive at all, and even moreso that he had managed to heal from his injury enough that it was no longer life threatening. When he had recovered sufficiently to travel, he accompanied his sister back to Crystal Tokyo. She, still a phage, went under heavy sedation (and heavy guard). Yet there was hope, for Neo Queen Serenity posessed the ability to restore her humanity.

As for Steven Marsh... the creature that he had become was never found. It may be that after the battle of Devil's Reef he swam down into the depths of the ocean and joined his kin in their underwater cities. Yet if he did, then fate was kind to him, for two days after the battle, Neo-Queen Serenity and her court came to Innsmouth, and it and all of the surrounding waters were purified. The underwater city that lay closest to the reef was destroyed. The stain that had lain on the earth for countless years was at last washed away, and the sun shone bright and clear upon that land once again.

The media set upon the story like sharks in a feeding frenzy, but managed to get very little actual information out of it. What they learned was that, apparently, an anti-Serenity religious group called the Esoteric Cult of Dagon had kidnapped Tenoh Arashi and three of her friends. Ms. Grant was said to have died saving the lives of the other three. Even so, Tenoh Arashi, Shiro Kazuko, and Shiro Tetsuro all would have been killed had it not been for the timely arrival of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune on the scene, who quickly destroyed the cult and the monsters that it had managed to summon up.

The visit of Serenity and her court to the area in the aftermath of what came to be known as 'the New England incident' brought great comfort to the hearts of a people who had been greatly troubled by the despair that had come upon them during that night, though they knew not whence it had come.

As for Robert Marsh and the trade agreement between the United States and Japan... well, Robert Marsh had disappeared on the night of the New England Incident. With the primary negotiator gone, the negotiations were now pretty much nonexistant. When his connection with Innsmouth was revealed, an official apology was sent to the government of Crystal Tokyo.

******

Arashi sat on her bed back in her home in Boston. Outside her window, the world was filled with shades of grey. It was raining, and the noise of it created an odd music on the roof of the house. The cut that she had recieved from the Sword of the Deep had healed fairly quickly, but it had left a scar across her collarbone. It was aching again. It never ached when the sun was shining. She put a hand to the scar and sighed.

Six days had passed since Tetsuro and Kazuko had left for Crystal Tokyo. Three days since Alice's funeral. In all that time, Arashi had not been back to school. For the first two days, she had not even left her room, but then her parents had come in and talked with her for a long time.

When they had finished talking, she'd felt a whole lot better, and had agreed to go to a school that they apparently wanted her to go to now that she had awakened as a Senshi - the Crystal Tokyo Institute for the Paranormal. Apparently, they would be able to teach her how to use her power more effectively at that place. Arashi had told them that she didn't want people to know about Sailor Triton. They smiled and said that it wouldn't be public knowledge unless she made it so, but the other Senshi would need to know. And so far as the school went... well, Arashi was fairly familiar with the idea of lesser senshi.

Some girls with a high degree of paranormal ability (and indeed, some boys as well, though the number of these is FAR fewer... for understandable reasons) and an even higher degree of the strange condition that some called being a 'fangirl' (or fanboy), had been known to take the appearance of Sailor Senshi, and indeed, were unable to use their powers without taking on this appearance. The teachers at CTIP hated it, of course - if little Aiko forgot her Sailor Fuku, she wouldn't be able to learn anything in magic class that day. Even for the ones who actually were capable of something similar to a henshin... so much of their power was directed towards the transformation (especially in the case of the starlight types) and one or two specific attacks that they never realized their full potential (unless by some chance, the teachers were able to help them move past this block on their abilities).

It bears mentioning that in reality, most people did not know that there was any difference between a lesser and a true senshi, and that 'those loser fangirls' were in fact very popular at their schools. Nevertheless, Arashi shared Tomoe Mirai's sentiments on the matter of the fake senshi (with the possible exception of one Shiro Kazuko, who seemed cool enough).

Needless to say, the idea of being associated with THEM was not an appealing one. Arashi silently vowed to avoid it at all costs. It was not long before she had devised a plan by which she could learn to use her power without being associated with those 'loser fangirls.'

The day after the talk with her parents, Serenity and the Inner Senshi showed up at the house. They spoke for a long time with Haruka and Michiru, and afterwards, every single one of them went up to talk to Arashi. They were a great comfort to her, and though she cried for some time, the time afterwards was spent talking and laughing and flushing with embaressment. 'Sailor Triton' was not discussed. The embaressment came primarily from the stories that they had to tell that went along the lines of, "Do you remember the time..."

Strangely enough, the most embarressing of all the stories was one that Arashi actually didn't remember; she had been too young at the time that it had happened. Still, their descriptions of it painted a vivid enough picture in her mind.

> Every year, the Senshi would gather together for something of a

> family picnic. That particular year, Arashi had first been learning

> how to talk, and so...

>

> "<Arashi-chan,>" Michiru began, "<Can you say 'mama?'>"

> "<m... m... mama>!" Chibi-Arashi had said.

> Everyone had grown excited then and set about to get little Arashi to

> say their names.

> "<Hime-chan,>" Haruka had said with a grin, "<Can you say 'other

> mama?'>"

> "<o... ot... papa!>"

> Everyone sweatdropped.

> "<Ne, can you say 'Serenity?'>"

> "<Odango!>"
> "<No! Se re ni ty!>"
> "<O da n go!>"
> Usagi had glared, while everyone else just laughed, saying, "She's

> Haruka's daughter alright."

That story had certainly set Serenity's eye twitching.

Those few hours spent with the Inners were the first fun that Arashi had had since That Night. Serenity did little but pig out on snacks and read Arashi's manga, but somehow, it was still fun to have her around. Arashi sensed that within that rediculous woman who still appeared so very young, there was compassion enough to create paradise on earth were it to ever spring forth. It was then that she realized that it HAD sprung forth, and paradise on earth was a very good description of Crystal Tokyo.

But they could only stay for two days. All too soon they returned to their paradise, and Arashi remained in Boston with her parents. It was somewhat ironic that had Tetsuro waited but a little while before departing for Crystal Tokyo, his sister might have been healed without the need for that journey.

But as Arashi sat there in her room, listening to the whisperings of the storm that raged outside her window, she became aware of several voices floating upstairs from the kitchen. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed. She stood up and headed downstairs.

"<There was no Sailor Triton in the Silver Millenium.>"

That had been Michiru's voice.

The voice that responded to her mother's was familiar. It brought to mind images of red eyes and green hair.. but Arashi couldn't put a name to the image.

"<That is correct. There was no Sailor Triton in the Silver Millenium,>" said the voice, "<but there is now.>"

Arashi frowned faintly. Who WAS that?

"<There's something you're not telling us.>"

Silence was the only response to that particular statement.

Can bigsweatting produce a sound? If a butterfly flaps its wings in China, is there rain instead of sunshine in New York? No one knows. But strangely enough, our red-headed eavesdropper was completely certain that both of her parents had big sweatdrops over their heads right about now.

"<I suppose you're not going to explain this?>" Haruka said, making it into more of a statement than a question.

For some strange reason, Arashi got the distinct impression that the voice's owner was smiling mysteriously as she said, "<Is it so difficult to accept? Arashi is not the first to appear, after all.>"

"<That still doesn't tell us why,>" said Haruka.

"<Do you remember the Sailor Starlights?>"

Michiru answered this one. "<Un. Senshi from outside our solar system.>"

"... <Masaka!>" That was Haruka's voice.

"<But that can't be possible...>" it was Haruka again. "<We all remember the day when Hime-chan was born, and of whom.>"

"<Yes,>" replied the stranger, "<but what of her previous existence?>"

"<But why would a Senshi from elsewhere be reborn as a representative of our solar system?>"

"<Why indeed?>" asked the stranger, sounding for all the world as though she knew the answer.

Arashi's frown deepened, and she walked over to the door to the kitchen and flung it open. "Mama, papa, is there a guest?" she asked.

Haruka and Michiru sat at the kitchen table, both of them seeming just slightly annoyed with their guest. Another sat with them, calmly sipping a cup of tea; one who had laboured long and secretly to ensure that events would take the turn that they had in fact taken, though none of those present knew of it. There sat Sailor Pluto.

For a long moment, Arashi stood silently, plainly not recognizing the Senshi of time. Though she had heard much about Pluto, she had never actually seen her in person before. The realization of who this person was came to her but gradually.

"Arashi-chan, this is..."
"Pluto." said Arashi, interupting her mother. Her expression hardened, and she began to glare at the red-eyed Senshi. "You could have stopped all this from happening!"

Pluto nodded.

Haruka and Michiru exchanged glances and remained silent. They had already had this particular conversation with Pluto.

Arashi floundered for a moment, not having expected that response, but she was quick to recover. "Well, why didn't you!?"

"It had to happen. You would not have awakened otherwise."

"I could have been killed, damnit!"

Pluto raised an eyebrow. "You weren't."

Arashi found herself at a loss for a moment or two. The moment passed, and she said, "... One of my friends was."

"Some sacrifices are necessary," said the green haired Senshi, without missing a beat.

Arashi reacted as though she had been slapped. She recoiled, staring at Pluto in disbelief. The fact that she believed the words of the Senshi of Time only made it all the more painful. Wordlessly, she turned and ran back up to her room, new tears forming in her eyes.

******

Haruka shook her head as Arashi ran from the room. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.

"Yes."

Haruka sighed. Pluto was.. incredibly frustrating sometimes.

'Sometimes?' Ok, all the time. "Great," she said, "So is she going to be living in the shadow of that night for the rest of her life? She saw things that it would have been better for her not to have seen. Hell, *I* saw some things that it would have been better for me not to have seen." Something flickered at the edge of her awareness; an image, half glanced out of the corner of her eye.

*Ry'leh*

Haruka flinched, shutting one eye tightly as if it would some how help her not to see the memory of that place, even half glimpsed as it was. When she looked up, she realized that the atmosphere in the room had changed significantly; both Pluto and Michiru were looking at her, Michiru with worry, Pluto with what would be best described as 'slight concern.'

"I'm fine," she said.

Michiru's expression of worry faded slightly,

Pluto's expression softened. "She'll recover." she said. "Though her spirit is not young, it is joyful, and SHE is young. Already the horror of it is fading from her mind, though the memory will never altogether leave her. She will be wiser for it." After a short pause, she glanced at Haruka and murmered, quietly enough that only Michiru could hear, "And She will recover as well."

Michiru nodded, the worry finally leaving her eyes.

And so the evening passed them by. Or in Pluto's case, 'and so she passed the evening by.' Sailor Pluto was gone the next morning.

******

Days passed, and Arashi was able to finally go back to school and finish the miserable remainder of the semester. Yet even if the days were miserable, Arashi was not (or at least, not entirely), for Pluto had spoken truely. The wounds, both physical and emotional that had been given to the red-head on that fear-shrouded night in shadowed Innsmouth were soon healed, though their scars remained.

Arrangements were made for her to live with Makoto and her daughter this next semester (her own parents had other duties to attend to, and could not return to Crystal Tokyo for another several months). Although Arashi had wanted to stay with Hotaru, she was not terribly disappointed to be staying over at Makoto's house. She liked Makoto well enough, and she looked forward to seeing Yuubiko again.

When Arashi learned who she would be staying with, she immediately wrote the following letter and sent it out, postmarked to Kino Makoto's home in Crystal Tokyo.

Dear Yuubiko,

Hey, how are you? It's me, Tenoh Arashi. I met you at one of the senshi family picnics several years ago. I'm doing alright. Sort of. Mom and Dad are sending me back to Tokyo so that I can attend CTIP, and since Hotaru ne-chan doesn't have room for me, I have to come and stay with you and your mom. You go to CTIP, right? Do you know a girl named Shiro Kazuko? I've been trying to find out if she's recovered yet. She didn't take too well to being kidnapped by those ugly fish-men that lived beneath one of the reefs nearby.. oh, did you know about that? They were dragging people kicking and screaming into the ocean and eating them, or something. Of course, okaasan and otousan put a stop to that.

Anyways, I'm going to be in Crystal Tokyo in a couple months - My ship will arrive on January 8th. I just thought I'd let you know beforehand. I think your mom already knows about it. I'll see you then!

Sincerely,

Tenoh Arashi

As the day of departure approached, Arashi felt a growing fear-tinged excitement. She had never actually been on her own before, and although she was only going to stay with Kino-san, it still seemed like an adventure to her (although she wasn't too happy about having to be seperated from her parents).

Michiru took it far better than Haruka did. and that evening, Arashi embarked upon the ship bound for Japan, and her parents were there to see her off.

The moon shone brightly that night; more brightly than it had for many days. Its light reflected on the ocean formed a shimmering road to the sky. On that road the ship sailed, carrying Tenoh Arashi home.

--=- THE END -=--

--=- OMAKE -=--

Neptune: "Wait! We must combine our power to defeat this monster!"

Uranus: *nods* "Then let our powers combine! URANUS CRYSTAL POWER!" *aura appears around her*

Neptune: "NEPTUNE CRYSTAL POWER!" *aura appears around her*

Triton: "TRITON PLANET POWER!" *aura appears around her*

*The three auras merge, and there is a brilliant flash of light. A Sailor Suited being rises from the place where the three lights merged*

"By your powers combined... I am SAILOR PLANET!"

--=- OMAKE END -=--

--=- OMAKE -=--

Arashi immediately scowled at the Senshi of Time. "Sailor Pluto! You whacked me on the head with your staff back in episode 1! I will NEVER FORGIVE YOU! Prepare to die!"

Pluto sweatdropped.

--=- OMAKE END -=--

--=- OMAKE -=--

For a long moment, Arashi stood silently, plainly not recognizing the Senshi of time. Though she had heard much about Pluto, she had never actually seen her in person before. The realization of who this person was came to her but gradually.

Michiru: "Arashi-chan, this is..."

Arashi: *interupting Michiru* "Pluto . . . I just have one question for you . . ."

Pluto: *raises an eyebrow and waits for Arashi to ask the question*

Arashi: "When we're in Senshi form, why the hell are our skirts so damn short!?"

Haruka: *sweatdrop*

Michiru: *sweatdrop*

Pluto: "There are things which Man Was Not Meant to Know, and this is one of them."

Arashi: *sweatdrop* >.<;;

--=- OMAKE END -=--

--=- THE END -=--

Author's note: To those who would raise the issue of Triton not actually being a planet (as in 'Triton Planet Power'), I can only respond, "What, do you think that Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are stars?" For that matter, where can I find stars called 'Fighter,' 'Healer,' or 'Maker?'

Furthermore, yes, there are very good reasons for this Senshi's rebirth into the Sol System. If you would know them... well, you'll have to wait for the sequel. ;)

Oh, I suppose I should note at this point that Sailor Moon does not belong to me, nor does any aspect of the Cthulhu mythos. Please don't sue me. I am but a poor starving college student. It wouldn't be worth your time.

THE COMMON WEAKNESSES OF HUGE OUTER HORRORS

Most Huge Outer Horrors have one big weakness. It varies for each different Outer Muchkin, but the most common ones are:

1. A spell or magical rite which will cast them back into limbo.

2. A single vulnerable spot where a good thwack will kill them.

3. Having to have a physical conduit to maintain their power. You know - the type that can be physically destroyed.

4. Having to inhabit a human body.

5. Needing a certain planetary conjunction to regain their power.

These may seem pretty daunting for normal players. But you are a munchkin, so for you these are trivial problems and the solutions are easy:

1. Get the spell and force a magician or cultist to cast/perform it.

2. Fire a cruise missile at the spot. Or at every part of them, for that matter.

3. Chuck it into a nuclear reactor.

4. Kill the body.

5. Find out which planets are required and destroy the most crucial one. No conjunction, no monster.

- from The Munchkin's Guide to Power Gaming (from Steve Jackson Games)