Souls of Fire #15: Endgame, part 3-- Judgement Day Ranma 1/2 VS Sailor Moon Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYChotmail.com) http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/sm/index.html Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Ranma 1/2 and characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Proper licenses belong to respective properties and characters. This file can be freely distributed so long as it appears in its complete form and proper credit. No part may be reproduced for monetary gain without permission from the author. ---------------------------------------------------- Command Center, Basilisk Kanna could not believe her eyes as a white bolt of energy lanced out from the Crystal Palace on the main monitor. She switched views, watching as it expanded outward, bathing the Griffin overhead with white energy. Soon more energy lanced out at the Mekani soldiers below. Then five larger energy bolts lanced outward from the Griffin, with one immediately colliding with the incoming Hydra. Explosions rocked the Griffin as the energies lanced onward, and Kanna knew it was the Silver Crystal. Yet, if one of the bolts hit the Hydra.... "No way," was all the Crystal Spider could say before the white brilliance consumed the Basilisk. She never felt the destruction, nor would she ever know the destruction that would follow. --- Siege Zone, Crystal Tokyo Blinking was all it took to miss the excitement. Neo Queen Serenity stood there, on the balcony, dumbfounded, with the Silver Crystal cupped in her raised hands. Only moments before Shizuka was lunging at her, with her spectral claw, ready to slash the queen's throat open, but now the priestess of Genbu stood on the rail, wide-eyed in disbelief, with her eyes passing from her chest back to the queen. Events seemed to slow to a crawl, but Neo Queen Serenity knew it was King Endymion's rose, thrown from within the chamber, that impaled Shizuka through the heart. Before she knew it the girl was spiraling backward and down the height of the tower. --- Mousse watched as the priestess of Genbu plummeted to her death, and tried to find his voice, but another, more immediate danger cast its shadow. The moment he tore his eyes away he realized that Meka-Thanatos, sparking from being overloaded by Neo Queen Serenity's crystal, was falling. With Sailor Pluto nowhere to be seen, Mousse cursed his luck, and his life, never able to think who would avenge his own death. --- The mechanical snake having fallen, and two trusted allies having been destroyed in less than thirty seconds, Cinder forgot about Sailor Saturn entirely. He turned his attention on the wrecked Meka-Thanatos, analyzing it quickly with his mechanical eye. He then peered at the high balcony above, where Neo Queen Serenity stood, her expression betraying shock-- probably at the amount of damage being done only moments after she released her energies. Cinder turned back toward Sailor Saturn, and threw away the Young Phoenix, spreading his arms out in invitation. "Finish it," he instructed her. "I shall regain my honor in death by a superior opponent." Saturn nodded, holding her Silence Glaive steady. There was no further need for words, nor any need to argue further; she understood the Way of the Warrior well, as the Sailor Senshi, too, were retainers themselves... retainers of the superior enemy. He never felt the cold blade run through his armored chest, nor the splintering of obsidian scales. Cinder would never feel again, as he felt the circuit grafts within him lose power. It was all a glorious, monumental failure. --- Ranma's fist, empowered by the energies gravity granted him, smashed through Ziel's defenses-- no, not defenses at all-- burying the Wind-User into the street with monumental force. Although he attacked with wind blades and spirals, Ziel himself was using his own spiral as a shield around him, which made it difficult to land a hit on him. However, since it was still a spiral, entering at the right point-- directly above-- offered a major hole: the eye of the storm. Glancing back, he noticed Ukyo come back to her senses. She kept her head low, cradling it in pain, as her body was not trained enough to match the strain Ranma put himself through. And, apparently, Ziel was similarly weak, as he made no movement at the bottom of the shallow crater. "You okay, Ucchan?" he asked. "Shit," she whistled, glancing over the rim, "what the hell did you do...?" "I guess I hit him pretty hard, huh?" Ranma said with a shrug. He turned away. "Now we've got to deal with Hokuto, right?" "Wait," Ukyo said. "We can't just leave him like this...." "Tell you what," the martial artist said. "You take care of him, and I'll deal with Hokuto. Besides, I want to show that punk Shion a thing or two." "You aren't going to beat him up, too, are you?" she asked, slightly concerned. "You're hurt, too." "I'll survive," Ranma insisted, forcing a smile. "I've faced things worse than that clown." --- Both Shingo and Chika blinked their eyes back to a normal level, now that the brilliant flash emanating from the Crystal Palace had come and gone. Although it seemed to last forever, it in fact was only a second. The two agents stared out the window, toward the sky. Where the Griffin occupied the sky before was an empty, clear sky. "My god," Shingo gasped. "No kidding," agreed Chika. "What the hell was that?" --- World Parliament, Geneva Ayame rubbed her eyes, unwilling to lower her pistol with the knowledge that the Mekani drones were likely still advancing, despite the flash attack. Her senses coming back to her, Ayame stared outward toward the incoming Mekani horde... and realized that the drones were no longer advancing. Squinting, her vision found traces of arcs of electricity dancing across each of them, indicating some kind of overload. A new weapon? she wondered. And yet, the area around her seemed to have lightened up a bit, and the sky revealed why: the Kraken was gone. "Is it over?" the Chief Executive asked herself. --- Siege Zone, Crystal Tokyo All of it seemed so surreal. Neo Queen Serenity dropped to her knees, oblivious to her husband's constant calls of her name, oblivious to the fact that she saved a world from ecological disaster. She felt numb all over her body, unable to feel anything save for what lay inside, tormented by what she knew to be true: in order to save the Earth her friends... and daughter, paid with their lives. "No," she whispered, her voice shaking. The Silver Crystal delivered on all that it promised, and more, as it did indeed annihilate the invading Mekani warships. She recalled the voices urging her to use it, in order to spare the Earth from such a travesty that occurred today. The queen buried her head in her hands. "No...." Shizuka dared Neo Queen Serenity to save herself or the Earth-- she achieved both, at the cost of the girl's life. Not only her life, but the lives of all those who allied with the Mekani. Human or kami, they too had the right to live, and in an instant it was taken away by the Silver Crystal's light. "No!!" --- Both Saturn and Pluto remained silent, watching as King Endymion gave up trying to break Neo Queen Serenity out of her moment of sorrow. The world king turned to face the last two Sailor Senshi of the nine planets, sadness in his eyes, unhindered by the mask he wore. "All our enemies have been beaten," King Endymion said, "but at a heavy cost." "I know," Pluto said, nodding slowly, keeping her voice even. "Such is the price of our actions." "Perhaps time...?" She shook her head. "There are laws that should not be broken for selfish ends." Saturn nodded in agreement. "We can't become the tyrants those people believed we were. To rule the laws of existence would place us beyond humanity and righteousness." Endymion wiped a tear from his eye, trying to remain bold despite the situation. "Then I believe it is time we resumed our duties. The Earth still needs us to look after it, and we must ascertain the extent of the damage. We may yet have enemies among us that we're unaware of. As of now, I'll act in my wife's place. I'm counting on you two." "Yes, Your Majesty," Pluto replied, with a bow, followed by Saturn. --- General Hospital, Crystal Tokyo The Peacekeepers found Shion's body several hours later, having been crushed when the ceiling of the underground complex collapsed around him. It seemed that the energy wave the Silver Crystal emitted also reached the Section Director, and, thanks to his direct link to the system, it instantly killed him-- long before the ceiling could. Ranma sat in one chair outside the room Ziel Kagura lay in, his head in his hands, leaning forward. The martial artist felt the aches he ignored during the battle acutely now, amplified by his failure to turn-up with Hokuto in the ruins of the Inner Circle fortress. The Peacekeepers themselves were not turning anything up, either. He sat up, and stared down the hall, as Ayame Mishima appeared, pushing her Vice Executive along in a wheel chair. Although Ukyo was supposed to remain lying in bed to recover, it seemed that her attitude and position somehow won her the ability to get out of her room-- if only for a little while. "How're you feelin'?" he asked. "Like a train hit me, what else?" Ukyo replied sarcastically. She cocked her head toward Ziel's door. "How is he, anyway?" "Still unconscious, I guess," Ranma answered, shrugging. "The doc said I really nailed him, and if he didn't come in any sooner he wouldn't have made it." "So Ziel is going to make it, huh?" Ayame said. "I guess the Second will have to do." She sighed. "He's probably the only other person beside Shion who knows where Hokuto is. Then again there's always Shingo and the other cell leaders... that is, if we can find the rest of them. Section vanished back into whatever hole they emerged from." "Ranchan," the Vice Executive said, "Ziel probably isn't going to come around anytime soon... why don't you go see Akane or something?" But Ranma shook his head. "I can't... not now, at least. Even if I didn't promise... Shizuka's dead, and so is Super-nerd. And maybe I did overdo it on this guy; I don't beat-up weaklings out of habit, you know." "Well, at least you could join us," she offered. "I mean, at our... well, wake. For old time's sake." "Too many of our friends are gone," Ayame agreed. "It's the least we can do." The martial artist shrugged, and folded his arms. "I'll think about it." "Other than that," the PK Executive said, "the world is pretty smashed-up. Lots and lots of drone corpses all over the siege areas, and it's taking a lot of time and resources to clean them up. We can't even find a trace of the warships... so either they've escaped or the queen was right." She shivered involuntarily. "I got a bad feeling about this." "What? The war's over." "That's not what my gut is saying," Ayame replied, her look becoming more serious. "I just feel like something big's going to happen, and we're not going to notice it until it's too late." "That's what we're supposed to look after," Ukyo said. "Now that the Sailor Senshi are gone, it's up to us PKs to deal with it." She shrugged. "It's probably Section, anyway; nothing we can't handle." Ranma leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. He couldn't imagine what Ayame or Ukyo were thinking.... He forced his eyes open quickly, realizing that he was being watched, and not by either of the PKs. Out of the corner of his eye, in the hall away from the two girls, he caught sight of a shadow, but an instant later it was gone. "Did you see that?" he shouted, pointing his finger down the hall. "See what?" asked Ukyo, her attention grabbed. "There was someone there!" Ranma explained quickly. Instantly he was at his feet, and he pedaled himself down the hall. "Ranma!" his friend cried. His attention, however, was elsewhere. Ranma's heart raced, the exhilaration of the chase consuming him. Coming to the end of the hall at a T-intersection, he glanced in both directions, and saw the shadow duck into a room-- a closet, he guessed, the door left ajar slightly. He was at the janitor's closet in a flash, but, throwing open the door, Ranma could find no one inside. Inspecting the small room further, he could see no signs of escape, nor any avenue by which one could escape. "What the hell...?" Ranma heard the rushed clatter of footsteps, and he glanced out the door to see it was Ayame, a pistol raised upward in her right hand. "What's wrong?" she asked. "I thought I saw someone spying on us," he answered, starting to doubt himself. "Maybe I'm just seeing things...." --- Prison Block, Crystal Palace Shingo remained silent as he sat up in bed, the only major piece of furniture in the palace jail. The crystal chamber, he recalled, was a place he shared with his friends back during the original revolt against Neo Queen Serenity, but this time, he was alone, save for his fiancé, the Peacekeeper agent Chika, who stood outside the bars. He remembered his previous jail time well; for no apparent reason Shingo was taken from the others for an audience with Neo Queen Serenity herself, as if he were the ring leader. However, it was nothing of the sort; he was being shown favoritism because the Queen of the World once masqueraded as his sister in the old world. He remembered the feelings clearly: betrayal, hate, distrust, and embitterment. Shingo had to be the selfless one by agreeing to return as a productive member of society-- if only for his parents' benefit. The queen likely knew he was lying, but somehow she could not find the heart to banish him along with the others, as he wanted. All the time growing-up Shingo never imagined that his klutzy older sister was Sailor Moon. He somewhat admired the heroine of the city, for destroying what monsters that threatened the populace. But... his own sister... how could she not be able to trust even him? That cat, Luna, even; she was probably sniping him behind his back. Who knew what secret life those two lived during the day? Usagi Tsukino was no simple reincarnation-- she was a creature that never existed; a figment created as a guise for Sailor Moon, who eventually became Neo Queen Serenity. Neo Queen Serenity... a ruler who would wish for a perfect utopian society at the expense of the qualities that made one human. A world frozen in crystal, as his old friend Kenji put it. Shingo wondered what happened to him after he was banished to Nemesis, which lead to if his descendants were killed during any of the Black Moon Wars. "Shingo," Chika said, breaking his train of thought, "you haven't said a word since they brought you here. Please, just for me... we need to put an end to Section's threat." "Section is the only hope we've got," Shingo replied coldly, unable to meet Chika's eyes. "The Master Director knew what he was doing." "Unfortunately, he's..." she choked on the word, "...gone. I... you... don't know how that feels, do you? With him Section will collapse, too." "I lost my sister; I thought she was my sister," he replied. "Trust me, I know." "The holdout is meaningless. The Mekani lost." "The other cells won't quit until they feel like they've lost," Shingo replied, knowing it as truth. "I only let you guys take me; my own cell's probably cut me loose already. I wouldn't know who took over, and so I'm out of the loop. I'm pretty useless to you." "You might still be able to help us," Chika insisted. "At least... us." "Perhaps," he granted, "but it's not going to happen overnight. The judges aren't going to be very lenient with me, you know. I don't expect any good treatment this time around, since all the other punishables are either dead or dying. I'm the next one on the ladder, I guess, unless Ziel recovers. The world, at least, needs a scapegoat for the loss of life... the Sailor Senshi, and the princess, too." "True," Chika said, nodding. "I guess there's some things in human nature no one can change." "It's a start," Shingo replied, sighing. "The Master Director wished it would go even further, one day." "Shion," the PK operative said, closing her eyes. Remembering his face, Chika could almost feel her step- brother watching her even now. --- Ballroom, Crystal Palace The expansive ballroom was used for special occasions-- usually parties thrown by the royal court in celebration of certain events. Those of high station, in their elegant dress, would frequent these halls, to mingle with the rest of the high society. Today, however, dusty trenchcoats and grungy clothes were the order of the day, as none of the party-goers-- made up primarily of PKs that came directly from the field-- had enough care to present themselves after the disasters they've witnessed. Ayame wheeled Ukyo into the chamber, pausing for moments at a time to nod and shake the hands of her operatives. Her eyes scanned the room, noting that Chika was nowhere to be seen. She came to a stop, however, when King Endymion, in his usual resplendence, appeared, grabbing Ayame by the arm. "Your Majesty!" Ayame said, surprised. "Good to see you, Chief Executive," Endymion greeted. "I was meaning to see you earlier, but now isn't the time or place. I'll be seeing you after the party, yes?" "Yes, sir!" she replied, and Endymion released his hold. She spotted Hotaru and Setsuna easily, as both stood near the curtained stage area at the end of the room. Both Sailor Senshi reverted to their civilian guises so as to not attract as much attention, although most of the PK operatives were aware of their identities. It pleased Ayame that the two remaining soldiers decided to fit-in with the rest of the crowd. "Hey," greeted Ayame, raising one hand from the chair to wave. "Glad to see you could make it, Ms. Mishima," Hotaru said, bowing respectfully. "Ayame will do," the Chief Executive replied, giving a quick nod toward Setsuna. "How's Her Highness?" "Broken," answered Setsuna. "We were fortunate to escape this conflict with our lives... however, it will not spell the end of the conflict." Ukyo nodded in agreement. "The Mekani probably won't stop. Maybe it won't take them forty years to assemble another strike force." "All the more reason why we need the queen's backing on the new projects," Ayame said, scratching her chin. "We barely competed with the horde this time; the next time we won't be so lucky. We need weapons." "You may just get it," Hotaru replied. "Without the other Sailor Senshi...." "But enough of that serious talk," Ukyo interrupted. "This is a party, right? Right now we should be thankful we got away with our lives, and...." She scoffed over the absurdity of her own words. "Damn it, it doesn't feel right, though." Ahead of them, the curtains to the stage jerked open violently, and all lights in the ballroom dimmed. Only two spotlights remained on, focusing on the whole area viewable of the stage. PK operatives all over the room murmured concern, and Ayame's ears detected some of them were reaching for their sidearms. The shadow of a head popped out against the light, emerging from the left curtain. "Wow!" she said, her voice amplified by the speaker system. "There's a lot of people here!" A second shadow head appeared-- another girl. "Oh, isn't that marvelous! It's a wake for the dead!" The first emerged from the curtains, an outline of a shadow. Ayame roughly-guessed at the outline, deciding that it was a summer-dress school uniform. She tore her eyes from the stage, and glanced back to the spot lights, but there was no one standing there. By the time she turned around again the second girl emerged, having a roughly-similar outline, but slightly-taller. The first shadow, A-ko, produced a skeleton dummy, and held it out for the audience to see. She waved it at the second shadow, B-ko, playfully. "See! The dead do walk today!" "Hey!" protested B-ko, shrinking away from the skeleton shadow. "Put that away!" "What is this?" wondered Ukyo. "Some kind of sick joke?" Tossing the skeleton aside, A-ko instead produced a spherical object, holding it out with one hand. "They say that the Earth exists in peace and harmony!" "No, really?" B-ko said, with mock surprise. A-ko produced a second object, dangling from a string. She dangled the wedge-shaped object over the sphere, bouncing it around up and down like a useless yo-yo. "But then, someone else enters the playground, and says the party's over!" "Oh no!" B-ko cried, her hands to her face. "What ever shall we do?" A-ko bounced the sphere-- and it was apparent that the object was a rubber ball. "They say we can put all our hope together, and drive them off!" "With this!" B-ko finished, holding out another, smaller sphere. She tossed it at A-ko's dangled wedge, and the wedge flew backward, then swung back, like a pendulum. A-ko simply tossed the string over her shoulder. Both shadows faced toward the audience, holding out 'V' signs with their free hands. "And that," they said in unison, "is how you save the world!" Tossing the ball upward, both shadows pirouetted back to the corners whence they came. "Hold it!" Ayame cried, finding her own sidearm in hand. She pushed herself past Hotaru and Setsuna, and vaulted on-stage. Glancing toward the left, where A-ko disappeared, the Chief Executive was pegged on the head by the rubber ball. Moments later the spotlights vanished, and the ballroom returned to its original luminescence. Shaking her head, Ayame gathered herself and entered the backstage area, the barrel of her pistol doing the searching. She lowered her weapon, realizing that the two vandals were probably long gone by now. "Who the hell were those people?" she wondered. --- Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace No one was allowed entrance to the royal quarters, not while Neo Queen Serenity wished to be alone. Even her husband, the king, was ejected from the area. Her head was buried in her arms, lying at the end of her colossal bed. Over and over again, she flushed tears over the consequential deaths of her closest friends-- and her only daughter. "Why?" she repeated to herself again. "Why, why why...?" "My goodness," someone said, "you certainly ask a lot, from one question!" The queen raised her eyes above her arms, suddenly alert. "Who's there?" A shadow emerged, cast against the far wall opposite Neo Queen Serenity. The world monarch could not make out any outstanding features, but knew instinctively it was a woman. The shadow, C-ko, continued, "Could it be possible that you've never suffered such a permanent loss? Can it be, that there be a warm heart in this crystal prison?" "Who are you?" C-ko held out her arms, and made a bunny with the shadow play. "The poor rabbit, alone! No one to turn to, nor anyone to share your thoughts with! All those friends, a thought long gone." "Show yourself...." "And maybe," the shadow said, ignoring the queen's words, "just maybe, the rabbit can learn." In the blink of an eye, the shadow disappeared, melting in with the rest of the shadows cast. "Wait!" she cried, sitting up. "Come back!" And then she knew it was pointless, for the intruder had vanished. --- General Hospital, Crystal Tokyo Ranma was instantly brought out of his reverie when he heard screaming from within Ziel's room. Standing up quickly, he glanced down the hall, noting that the doctors had been alerted to something, and they were in a rush. Quickly, the martial artist slipped inside ahead of them, and the instruments monitoring Ziel were beeping like mad. The Wind-User himself was shaking violently, and, worst of all, screaming his head off. "What the hell?!" "Stand aside!" the doctors cried, pushing themselves past Ranma. "He's having some kind of an arrest!" Ranma stepped out of the way, allowing the doctors to get to work at the machines. One of them tapped a monitor, and announced, "I don't understand! It's not natural!" "RAAANMAAA!!" Ziel shouted, his wild eyes piercing past the doctors, and toward the martial artist. Before he knew it Ziel was bursting off the bed, slamming the doctors between him and Ranma with unnatural strength. Leaping out, he grabbed Ranma by the scruff of his shirt, and threatened to drag the martial artist down with him to the floor. Holding the arm tightly to maintain his stand, Ranma screamed, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ziel, for his part, was struggling for breath, but one look into his eyes and Ranma knew that the Wind- User was being tortured from within. "It's... it's... unreal...." "Yeah, I know that!" Spastically, he shook his head. "No! All of it!" He struggled to find his voice, and Ranma knew that Ziel wasn't going to last much longer. "This place... all of it... none of it's real!!" A heartbeat later, it was over, and Ranma found himself holding Ziel's arm up by himself, now that the Wind-User's grip loosened. He stood staring down at Ziel, holding his arm in shock, as the doctors tried to examine the patient... but somehow, Ranma knew it was all useless. It was too surreal. Standing over the dead body, Ziel's words tumbled in Ranma's thoughts over and over, and suddenly, he saw the truth. --- Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace Ranma ran through the halls of the palace at a brisk walk, the knowledge gained pushing him onward. Where there were guards stationed he plunged through without waiting for them to allow him passage. Although he could feel them at his feet, Ranma simply did not care about such trivial problems. As he rounded the corner Ranma almost ran into the king of the world himself. "Hey, King Endymion," he said. "I'm looking for the queen." "Greetings... Ranma Saotome," King Endymion returned. "I'm afraid she doesn't wish to see anybody at the moment... perhaps you can come back later?" At that moment the guards pursuing Ranma arrived. "Your Majesty!" The king waved them off. "Guards, leave us. Ranma here is my guest." "If you say so, sir," the lead guard replied, saluting before departing. When the guards vanished, Ranma wiped his forehead. "Thanks." "Repay me some other time," Endymion replied. "Perhaps you can tell me what's so important." Ranma eyed the monarch curiously. "Umm... Your Highness... aren't you too good for that 'common speak' of yours?" "Why, whatever do you mean?" he asked. "Well, you know... I thought you royalty-types always talked like 'high-and-mighty' stuff." The king shrugged. "Anyway, I've got to tell the queen something," he insisted. "It's too important." "Well, my friend, if you insist, I cannot stop you," Endymion said, stepping aside. "The royal chambers are right down that hall." Nodding, Ranma picked up his pace, but the king called, "Oh, Ranma? One more thing." "What's that?" "Next time you come... can you dress a bit less- ragged? It makes you look bad." Turning away from the king, Ranma muttered under his breath, "Yeah, right, bozo." --- After leaving the presence of Ranma King Endymion continued down the hall, stopping at the entrance to the meeting hall. Opening the door, he found Ayame Mishima already inside, her back toward the door, apparently reading a report handed to her sometime between the wake and the meeting. "I see you're early," Endymion said. Ayame continued shuffling through papers, then closed the file folder shut and threw it on the table. "You know, Your Highness, the more we move on the worse things get. It wasn't just those two doppelgangers we saw; my agents have been filing reports that they feel like they're being watched all the time." "I see." "And, thing is, I believe them," the PK Chief said, turning around to face the husband of the world monarch. "Ever since the Mekani were destroyed we've had one weird thing happen after another. All the Section top executives are dead or captive. All the Mekani generals are dead. What the hell is going on?" --- Neo Queen Serenity sat up from her lying position in bed, as Ranma kicked the heavy double-doors to the bed chamber open easily. "Ranma Saotome?" she gasped with surprise. "Hey Queenie," he called rudely, making fast steps to the edge of the bed, "we need to talk." "Why have you come?" Serenity asked. "I wished to be alone." "Well, ya gotta mourn later, because we've got bigger problems," Ranma continued. "Ziel just died." The queen's eyes lowered sadly. "When will it end?" "That's not the thing, though," the martial artist continued. "It's HOW he died. Look at me!" Despite the order coming from one of her subjects, Neo Queen Serenity instantly snapped awake, and saw Ranma for the first time. His clothes were torn in places, as if he were slashed many times, and his face dirtied with blackened spots. Yet despite the scruffy look, she could see the seriousness in his eyes. "I've seen the way he's died before," Ranma added. "His mind was being flayed on the inside, something an esper knows how to do. Not only that, but after he died... I noticed that Ziel didn't cast a shadow." "No shadow?" "And he warned me... that nothing was real. Or some- such weird thing like that, but the thing is, he's got to be right. Hokuto woke-up." Neo Queen Serenity stared at the martial artist, blinking. "I... I do not understand...." "After the last war Section somehow found Hokuto, and she was still alive," Ranma explained quickly. "They intended her to wake-up... to use as a weapon against whoever won this war. I mean, heck, everyone thought she was going to wake-up, but nothing happened. The thing is, she's already awake, and what we're living through right now IS her weapon." "If what you say is true," the queen said, somewhat skeptical, "then why has she not shown herself?" --- Ballroom, Crystal Palace "Did you hear what happened?" A-ko asked her partner, appearing in the now-empty ballroom, on-stage once again. "Yes!" B-ko said, nodding enthusiastically. "They say that someone just died!" "Right! And not just anybody, either!" "Oh! Who could be next?" --- Meeting Hall, Crystal Palace Hotaru pushed Ukyo's wheelchair inside the meeting room, with Setsuna trailing behind her. The well- furnished room was thrown into chaos, as PK operatives surrounded the area where Ayame had fallen only a few minutes before. Ukyo glanced toward the side, where King Endymion cradled a wound on his shoulder, and was bleeding profusely. Another PK agent was tending to the king, and thus the Vice Executive PK paid him no mind. Ordering her men to move aside, Ukyo saw the body of Ayame. Her boss lay sprawled on the ground, face-down in a pool of her own blood. The former chef shirked back when she noticed the clean hole that drilled through the back of Ayame's skull, and leaked blood and brain matter. "Ugh," she coughed, feeling like retching. "What the hell...?" "It was a clean shot, ma'am," one of the operatives reported. "Even if we got here sooner it would be too late. The boss died instantly... but from what, we don't know." "What about the king?" "He's our only witness," the operative replied. "He said something came out of the shadows, and attacked them. Ayame protected him." "The shadows?" Hotaru echoed. "Then why not kill the king, too?" asked Setsuna, her eyes cast at Endymion. "It's likely Ayame found out something our shadowy friends didn't want to leak out," Ukyo concluded, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Whoever they are, they know their stuff." Turning back to the head operative, she ordered, "Clean this mess up. I want to know who did this, and when we do, I want to flog them, personally." --- Extra Hall, Crystal Palace It seemed that in every building there was one room which the owner had no idea what to do with, and it was relegated to storage. In a lonely hall between the ground level and the prison level, devoid of regular use, coffins were set up, housing the bodies of those who died in the last battle. Three such wooden coffins were erected on pedestals, one for each of the former Fenril Knights that died attacking the palace, placed away from the eyes of people. Only Neo Queen Serenity and her trusted aides had access to this mysterious hall, as she wished to avoid tempting others to defile the bodies. The preservation magicks held over the bodies were very lasting, and it would be difficult to remove any defacement. Ranma trailed behind the world monarch, a chill running up his spine at the thought of seeing dead friends... ones he wished would still be alive now, despite their annoyance. No one deserved to die the ways they did. Yet, paying respects to the deceased was the last thought on either of their minds. The coffin to the left served as the resting place for Shizuka Minazuki. Although she appeared fine now Ranma tried his best to block-out the details of her tragic demise, but he couldn't help but note that her neck was adjusted back to a natural place. Unlike the other two he had seen her alive only a day before. He wondered if she found the destiny she was looking for. He peered over to her right arm, noting that the spectral claw was missing, leaving a stump. Mousse's body was reconstructed to the best of the mortuary's ability, and Ranma winced at the thought of getting crushed to death. His glasses were shattered, and thus discarded. Cinder remained in the third coffin, and, despite the magicks at work, it looked like it was a struggle to keep the kami's body together. Almost immediately after dying the salamander's scales began to disintegrate, so there were many patches showing through to the metal wiring within. Ranma wondered if Cinder really had any bones in that body. Yet, thanks to the inspection, both he and Neo Queen Serenity safely came to the same conclusion. "It is as you said," she said, "they are missing their shadows. It is a detail easy to miss, given other sources to cast their own shadows." "Thing is, what does it mean?" wondered Ranma. Ranma tensed up, his intuition telling him that there was something moving in the shadows, out of the corner of his eye. Before Queen Serenity could ask what was wrong, Ranma was already tackling her, barely in time to avoid the shadow lance flying out from one of the walls. With Neo Queen Serenity down on the ground Ranma jumped back to his feet, and he caught sight of the shadow form from which the spear originated. "Dammit," he cursed, "she's quick!" The shadow said nothing, and three more lances flew out of its two-dimensional form, taking on a third dimension. Ranma weaved his way around the attacks, dodging each spear easily. And then he noticed that the shadow creature's head was bobbing up and down, as if laughing. Scanning the area, the martial artist noted that shadow spears were jutting out of every available shadow in the room at the four walls. "What is going on?" Neo Queen Serenity cried. She gasped, catching sight of the danger Ranma saw. "Damn, Hokuto," Ranma muttered, "stick it all in a pin cushion...." Shadow spears rained on the two from all directions. Ranma's eyes could not track all the attacks at once, and instantly he knew that he and the queen were as good as dead. He raised his arms instinctively. Several heartbeats later, Ranma opened his eyes, and lowered his arms. Replacing the spears was a white, misty haze, and the deadly shadow weapons were nowhere to be seen. He glanced down at Neo Queen Serenity, who appeared shaken, but unhurt. "What the...?" "Shadow is only as strong as the light around it," a voice said. "Who are you?" asked the queen, bringing herself back to her feet. "You saved us." "This parody of existence," continued the rescuer, "is but a shadow of reality." Both Ranma and Neo Queen Serenity stared upward, their eyes feasting on a bright wisp floating overhead. As the voice continued, the wisp resonated in an equal pattern in response. "What the heck are you?" asked Ranma. "Zedaji, of the Mystral Whole," the energy wisp introduced himself. "I was placed commander of the Charybdis by the Mekani Alliance, and it is my duty to represent my people in the best manner possible." "Mekani Alliance?" echoed the queen. "Then... there are more than just the Mekani...?" "We have a common enemy," Zedaji continued. "The threat we found in the Silver Crystal was nothing compared to this Shadow Weaver. This entity's power dwarves your crystal a thousandfold." "You mean Hokuto, right?" Ranma wanted to know. "We know she's the one doing this." "Where is she?" demanded Neo Queen Serenity. "What is going on?" "The entity you refer to as Hokuto exists here," answered the Mystral. "Here, in this Shadow Reality, you are imprisoned, along with the remaining key players in this power struggle. All of your world and the sphere around it are being consumed in time. The Hokuto entity will stop at nothing to destroy those players that dare to shatter this reality." "She's killing people who know the truth?" wondered Ranma. "That doesn't sound like her at all." "I fear," Zedaji added, "now that the messenger is gone, I am the only remaining link. The shadows cannot touch my form easily." "None of this is affecting you, then," Neo Queen Serenity said, sorting out the Mystral's words herself. "Then, the shadows...." "Watch them carefully," advised Zedaji. "I must move to protect other interests at stake. In the meantime, you need to be careful if you wish to escape this parody world." Along with the warning, Zedaji vanished, passing through the ceiling as if were never there. Neo Queen Serenity and Ranma passed puzzled glances to each other. "Watch the shadows?" paraphrased the martial artist. "Have you seen them?" asked the queen. "Before you came, one of them spoke to me. Perhaps that is what Zedaji refers to." "So you think he means they're not all on Hokuto's side?" guessed Ranma. "That still doesn't explain where Hokuto is, or why she's doing this... whatever it is." "The only way to ensure our protection from the shadow weapons is a light of our own," the queen realized. "However, we need a degree of darkness in order to see, so the best option would be to weaken the shadow whenever we possibly can. Higher lighting or very little lighting will serve equal ends in that respect." --- "People are getting killed left and right," Ukyo complained, waving her arms, then slamming the arms of her wheelchair. "It's getting intolerable." Ukyo, Hotaru, and Setsuna joined Ranma and Neo Queen Serenity in the Extra Hall, following a summons and the installation of extra lighting sources to dim the shadows. The coffin lids were closed shut out of Ranma's preference to get rid of the distraction. "King Endymion is resting now," Setsuna added. "He was bleeding bad, even from that one hit." "Good thing he didn't know what Ayame did, then," Ranma said. "Then again, that guy gives me the creeps...." "I don't think that matters much, since we're probably all going to die anyway," Ukyo said with a shrug. "If that energy entity you spoke of," Hotaru began, "is telling the truth, then we need to escape Hokuto's little trap." "Zedaji implied we had to find Hokuto before that can happen," Neo Queen Serenity replied. "She is definitely on to us, and she will try to eliminate us the first moment possible. For what reason, however, we do not know." "Fine mess Shion got us into," Ranma scoffed. "I mean, how the hell are we supposed to figure this one out, if even the Mekani don't know?" "Well, think," Hotaru suggested. "Ever since everyone else died a lot of strange things have gone on. All the Mekani except for Zedaji are dead. Ayame got shot through the head. Ziel was mentally crushed. Shadow people started appearing all over the place, and people are being watched." "And Endy's thinks I'm looking bad," Ranma added. "So what?" Ukyo said, giving her friend a look. "King Endymion may be suspect, actually," Setsuna said, drawing stares. "How can my husband be involved?" asked the queen evenly. "First of all," Setsuna began, facing the monarch, "King Endymion's speech pattern has changed since the battle. Secondly, he was alone in the meeting hall with Ayame, when she was killed. Yet, why is King Endymion hurt?" "Perhaps Hokuto tricked her into jumping in the way," offered Ukyo. "But that's inconsistent with the evidence," the disguised Sailor Pluto pointed out. "King Endymion was standing closest to the exit during the attack. The attack originated from the opposite end of the room, where Ayame was... so he says. If she got in the way, there would be plenty of space between her and the king. Also note that, if Ayame saw the origin of the attack, her body would be lying on her back, not on her face." "Then what are you saying?" asked Neo Queen Serenity, although it was more of a formality than an actual question. "King Endymion attacked Ayame while her back was turned with a shadow weapon," Setsuna formulated, folding her arms. "That is the only way she could have fallen face-first like that, and leave no evidence of a weapon. It's also not improbable, judging from where the king could stand, that he could do it." "And he could wound himself," added Hotaru, "just to make appearances, and shift any suspicion off him?" "Sounds like a good conspiracy theory," Ukyo granted. "But it's still a bit far-fetched to me." "With both the queen and the princess out of the way, the rulership would shift to King Endymion," Setsuna pointed out. "If he's the one behind this, it's the only logical answer." "But why?" asked the queen. "Why would he do such things?" "Well, look at that!" a voice yelled. "Someone needs another piece of the puzzle!" Toward one of the side walls, a weak shadow emerged, in the outline Neo Queen Serenity saw before. "What is King Endymion?" asked C-ko. "What is he... but a parody in a parody world?" "Who're you?!" demanded Ukyo. "Reality is decided in the mind," continued the shadow woman. "The truth that is an illusion is no truth at all." Just as quickly as it appeared, the shadow C-ko vanished. "This," Ranma said, shaking his head, "has got to stop. It's getting way too weird...." --- Ballroom, Crystal Palace "Did you hear?" B-ko asked A-ko. "They're asking for the king's head!" "No way!" A-ko denied, pirouetting across the stage. "Who would've thought?" "They say he's not the real king!" "What's real, for real?" "Isn't that a corundum?" both said at once, before pirouetting off-stage again. --- Inner Sanctum, Crystal Palace Kicking the doors of the bed chamber wide-open for the second time that day, Ranma was unprepared for what greeted him, Ukyo, Sailor Saturn, and Sailor Pluto. Tentacles as black as night rushed out to greet them, entwining them quickly. Neo Queen Serenity, standing behind the four, was left unmolested by the attack. She entered on her own resolve, the shadow tentacles not daring to travel any closer to her. The shadow tentacles emerged from a single point behind where King Endymion was standing, with half his face concealed by shadow thanks to the lighting. "You are not my husband," she accused. "Reveal yourself, Hokuto Takemasa!" "Is it really not I, King Endymion, Usako?" he asked, a malicious smile forming on his face. "Or is it that you aren't who you think you are? Which is it?" "I do not know what you speak of!" "Come now," the false Endymion said, "tell me you've figured everything out now. Without you I'll be free to usher a new age of peace and harmony. A true Age of Light-- something which you failed to create, by refusing to obliterate the darkness." "What...?" The shadow tentacles flooded over Endymion's form, blackening him with dark ooze. The form weakened a moment, then transformed and congealed. The shadow substance parted, completing Hokuto's transformation back to her true form. "Gray, shadow, neutrality," she scoffed. "Such things don't exist. It's all Darkness and Light, Black and White. The universe is a continual struggle between the two, not of those in-between. Vizier showed me such. I will forge this new era, and you, my dear queen, are going to witness it. You will watch as I transform Earth into a true Bastion of Light!" "That is not possible!" the queen cried. "Light cannot exist without the Darkness!" "Is that what you foolishly believe?!" Hokuto cried angrily. "All of you humans... you pathetic creatures will experience the Light. All of you shall be reborn into the model subjects in my glorious empire!" Hokuto's shadow extended outward quickly, touching Neo Queen Serenity's own. Shadow-substance hands emerged, grasping at her skirts and legs. The queen screamed in shock, as she felt herself sink into her own shadow. The Shadow Weaver cursed suddenly, and Serenity felt another presence enter. White wisps illuminated the shadowed chamber, and she knew Zedaji returned. "You damn Mystral!" she cried. "Your meddling comes to an end!" Neo Queen Serenity felt the Mystral's energies tug at her, trying to pull her from the shadow, but the shadow hands proved much stronger. Struggling, she tried to resist as best as she could, but the shadow easily over came her... and dragged Zedaji along with her. --- "Where are we?" "This is the shadow. It is the border between the two realities." "Realities?" "If Hokuto has her way, she will reincarnate you back into her fantasy world, to be her puppets for all time. That is her true intention; Hokuto wishes to rule in her own mind." "She believes that all there is to existence is the Light, because of the last battle." "What happened?" "When Vizier was trapped in the barrel of the cannon with Hokuto, naturally, he jumped bodies, and took Hokuto for his own, then escaped. However, Hokuto was stronger than Vizier at the time... and they fought for an eternity in the plane of her mind. In effect, she lost her mind in a sea of Darkness, and struggled to find the Light again. She is no longer the Hokuto we know, but a faint echo of what used to be." "In other words, truly insane." "Who are you people?" "Faces you know, and have yet to meet. We exist here, in this Shadow Reality, as True Reality has not passed for a nano-second. Life, as you creatures would describe it, is flashing before your eyes." "Then the Scylla has not fallen yet?" "No. In fact, Shizuka is still about to kill you, and you have not yet activated the Silver Crystal. It looks kind of funny to see that." "We would have liked to have Ziel communicate all this to you, but Hokuto got him first. We tapped into his dream mind, and she knew it would ruin everything." "But the Mekani... I met Zedaji. I do not understand...." "I suppose the best place to start is at the beginning." "The web... the one the Mekani spread from their home galaxy... we are merely the edge of the web. The mechanized army is moving outward in expansion, in order to follow their primary directive-- to survive." "In fact it was in this other galaxy, one adjacent to our own, that the Mekani Hive was birthed, but their origins are far more recent than their creator's story. I speak of another race-- the one that fathered the Mekani-- they are the M'tora. Levitating, conical- shaped creatures with huge eyes and ten tentacles, two of which are longer than the others, with a sharp beak in their midst-- often contributing to the image that they resemble squids... somewhat. Their size is as large as a human head, but they dress with long capes and shoulders that it appears they are humanoid, like us. It's a deadly advantage they hold over other races." "The M'tora are probably one of the oldest races in the universe-- their evolutionary development has gone so far that they are unparalleled in psychic mastery and science. It was this that lead them to arrogance, and their near-destruction. You see, the M'tora had rivals, and in order to eliminate those rivals they escalated to unimaginable heights in warfare. It reached a point where all these races, in a galactic- scale war, nearly annihilated themselves." "The M'tora and other alien races realized the error of their ways, and, lying on the brink of extinction, they forged an alliance based on the common goal of survival. Although each of their powers have shattered thanks to the climax of their war, together they became strong again. However, their numbers were decimated far beyond their former glory, and thus in order to maintain hold on their empires they devised a creature by which to police their territories." "After a time this alliance devised a Hive Mind-- a powerful computer which was designed to serve the goals and carry out the wills of its masters. An army of creatures, cheaply constructed, spread out to reclaim any territories lost after the war to other minor scavenger forces, or police borders. Using physical designs to inspire fear in the people they wished to subjugate, these creatures were the Mekani." "By nature the Mekani will operate in the most efficient manner possible. The Hive will relegate orders to generals in a rigid hierarchy, where only the leaders have any semblance of intelligence; all other Mekani are drones. Although one of their prime directives is to seek out and absorb technology, they are not dumb enough to ignore an inferior technology for such a case when it may be desirable. In fact, the Mekani will prioritize efficiency so much that they will often discard regular uses of technology we might find useful-- such as energy shields-- because they soak up too much power-- power that can be useful in other systems." "Nor were they programmed stupid. Their creators were so well-versed in artificial intelligence that they plugged-up any logical loophole imaginable... and those that came up later were easily remedied. In a sense the Mekani do have the ability to reason and have the capacity for higher thinking, but often they will hide this fact and play on their image of fear-- the mechanical locusts that seek only to consume all in its path. Psychological weapons, the M'tora know, are very powerful, and cheap, weapons." "Many thousands of years past, and the Mekani moved to conquer the galaxy its masters inhabited. This so- called Mekani Alliance welcomed those who wished to bask in their glory, and swept aside those who would remain unaligned to their cause. Any distrust from past wars were erased as unity took hold on a galactic scale, and for a time the Alliance remained content. The member races of the Alliance became known as the Aligned Peoples-- those who shared the vision of a universal order in the cosmos." "However, one day explorers from another galaxy arrived. The Alliance thought nothing of it, until later that same race came to invade their galaxy. Although the invaders were wiped-out easily, the Alliance determined that it could no longer remain complacent with just bringing order to their galaxy-- but to other galaxies as well. In the name of universal order the Alliance dispatched the Mekani to all neighboring galaxies." "The Aligned Peoples cannot be underestimated." "In time the Mekani expedition came to find Earth, and discovered a force in the Sol System that could threaten the Aligned Peoples' hold on the galaxy. To that end the Mekani-- along with a detachment of the member races-- made their journey to this system, and summarily wiped-out any perceived threat on the way. When they arrived on Earth the object of their search was nowhere to be found...." "At some point in Earth's history, the human race effectively put an end to the threat themselves." "Unfortunately for the Aligned Peoples, the humans living there at the time were powerful sorcerers-- the High Men, and perceived the invaders as threats. They attempted to wipe-out the entire expedition, hurling powerful magicks from their sky castles, but some of them managed to crash on Earth to continue the war. Many years past as human magic-users and Aligned Peoples warred, until the sole M'toran member of the expedition usurped control over the Mekani on the planet for his own ends." "You'd think the Mekani would rebel by themselves... but they can't. You see, the Hive Mind isn't just a computer, but it's also made up of the people behind the Alliance in the first place. It's not the core conscience of a computer, but the organic mind of a M'toran behind it. Their psychic mastery allows them to achieve untold ends with their machines. In effect those siding with the Mekani subjected themselves to the wills of the M'tora driving them. Later technological advancements allowed other members of the Alliance to command them as well, but never as effectively as with a M'toran. In fact the M'tora need not control directly, whether in an interior cockpit or a remote post, but through a dummy unit. The dummy unit was essentially a special genetically- engineered M'toran that served as an extension of its will." "The expedition members were unaware of this, of course; only the elite heads-- those involved in the original war-- knew of it. When the Mekani turned against the Aligned Peoples these abandoned people in turn sided with the High Men. The Mekani Director-- or rather, the M'toran commanding it-- determined that the goals of the expedition were lost, as the Aligned Peoples wished for personal gain rather than serve the Alliance. But, in the end, the combined power of the humans and the Peoples outmatched the Mekani hordes, and they cast great magicks to expel them from this plane, into a dark void of nothingness. This void was made by creating an artificial Earth in a parallel demi-plane, and all traces of the Mekani were taken with it-- including the means by which the Peoples could return home." "The Peoples became known as the kami. It was their intention to live out the rest of their existence on their demi-plane, away from the Alliance that would seek them out as traitors, and to seal the Mekani they could not hope to annihilate on their own. Such was the magical energies that went into the creation of the demi-plane that new kami spontaneously-birthed for a time. Time proved their deception a success, as the Alliance bothered them no further." "However, not all of the kami had sided with the humans in the war. In particular, one is remembered-- Sagila, the Lord of Black Moon, a powerful dragon. He was tried for crimes against the alliance of kami and cursed for all eternity-- by fragmenting his soul and forcing him into unlife." "That creature is better known as Deathclaw." "You see, the nature of Deathclaw's curse is this: he cannot know a final death until he can find the one who possesses the other half of his soul. He cannot know the joys of living... but somewhere along the line Deathclaw discovered he could reclaim that by possessing a willing individual. However, that never lasted long, as eventually the body died-- either from the host's arrogance or by being consumed by the ghost dragon's will. The cycle repeated itself until at last he found the other half of his soul, in a girl that mirrored his temperament perfectly." "That girl is Shizuka. When she dies Deathclaw will know a final death." "In time the kami alliance fragmented, where two distinct factions developed-- the Celestials, who lived on the surface and in the sky, and the Infernals, who lived under the ground-- warring over interests and conflicting ideas. Along with this several renegade kami refused to live in the demi-plane-- the Kami Plane, as it became known-- and lived on Earth as outcasts of their people. Along with the decline of magic with the fall of High Man the kami on Earth lived to become legends-- legends such as Grendel, Orochi, Merlin, and Bahamut are but a few examples. By the Common Era these legendary High Men and rogue kami disappeared into obscurity, and few such individuals still roam the Earth today." "In order to enforce the border between kami and man four leaders of the Aligned Peoples emerged: Seiryu, Byakko, Genbu, and Suzaku. Their sacrifices forged a bond of cooperation between the dying High Men and the kami, and these High Men became the priests of the Four Gods. However, since the High Men met near-extinction thanks to the Mekani War, they had to turn to their lesser brethren to carry on the tradition. These people would serve to safeguard the border between man and kami, as well as hunt down the remaining renegade kami and deliver them to the Kami Plane, where they belonged." "The Four Gods exist only in spirit and not in form, and like Deathclaw, they manifest only in a host body. However, not only must the host be willing, but it must be suitable to the gods' tastes, whims, and wills... and must be of purity, requirements which are harsh but nonetheless enforce their guardian spirits." "The kami and Mekani stranded on Earth-- which they believed were completely wiped-out-- became a black footnote in the Alliance history, but they never kept their eyes off Earth, for such time which it may once again display some sort of threat to the structure of their order. Even as we speak they continue their expansion from their home galaxy, to bring unity to the chaos holding this universe." --- "The Shadow Weavers are descendants of the High Men," the voice continued, a voice which the queen recognized. "The threat the Mekani perceived was when Queen Serenity of the Moon Kingdom used the Silver Crystal to wipe out the Dark Kingdom. They feared it could be used against them in the same manner. Yet they never imagined that the High Men themselves-- subjects in your Silver Millennium-- could pose a threat." "Our goal was to revive the power of the Four Gods," Sypha Blade explained, appearing out of the shadow to Neo Queen Serenity's eyes, dissolving her guise as the C-ko shadow. "We were collecting artifacts once used by those Guardian Spirits, seeking only the Rings of Zoltani now that Kanna located the Dragon Beard Tassles. The Mekani were intrigued by the success the Four Gods had in maintaining harmony, so they wished to reproduce it. They would install Cinder, Mousse, Shizuka, and Kanna as the Guardians of Suzaku, Byakko, Genbu, and Seiryu, respectively. They would do with the world as they saw fit, so long as they quelled any threat to the Mekani Alliance that existed on Earth." "Sypha?" Neo Queen Serenity said, surprised. "Wiseman allied with the Mekani," she explained, "and we along with him. The Mekani are primarily interested in bringing order, not destroying. The ones trapped on Earth wished to rape the planet out of revenge for their imprisonment. They wished to remove the Crystal Court from their seat of power and install the Four Gods as regent powers, in order to quell the threat forever. As members of the Alliance we will not fail." "And yet, we never anticipated a greater threat," said another voice, this one belonging to a Mekani. "Hokuto the Shadow Weaver." "You are...?" "Director Mezzat. Or rather, an extension. A dummy unit has been installed in this vessel, parasiting off one of your two Sailor Senshi that refused to cooperate with the Aligned Peoples. The other remains on the Charybdis in Zedaji's care. The true Mezzat is still in Tau Ceti, directing orders here." "The M'tora are strong in this regard," added Sypha. "Neptune and Uranus were easy to bend to their will." "But that's not the issue," said another, the shadow form of A-ko dissolving to reveal Shizuka. "What's at stake now is to destroy the Shadow Reality." "And by that," said Kanna, appearing as the B-ko shape dissolved, "you, alone, can decide." "Why me?" asked Neo Queen Serenity. "Hokuto perverts reality around you, and you alone," Shizuka answered calmly. "We... we are mere specters, anchored here in a split-second, awaiting the moment for reality to exert itself once more. The mental plane Hokuto has constructed is powerful one, which can only be broken by the one who initiated it." "And that's you," Kanna finished. "Me?" "The Silver Crystal is a great source of Light energy, which is why Hokuto immediately parasited you. Her present state of mental deterioration requires her to feed on another to survive." "You can only escape in death," another said, making an entrance. Neo Queen Serenity recognized the form as Mousse. "If you remain here, you will become trapped in this shadow, unable to challenge Hokuto." "Then I must go back," she decided. "Excellent," Mezzat said. "And then what?" asked Shizuka. "What will you do, once you've broken the Shadow Reality?" "What do you mean?" asked the queen. "You will have a chance to do it all over again," the priestess of Genbu pointed out. "The question is, will you?" Neo Queen Serenity lowered her head. "I cannot say." Silently, Shizuka nodded. "It's as I expect. Then you do deserve to be lent our power." Neo Queen Serenity's eyes opened in alarm, as the forms around her transformed into balls of light. Swirling around her like fireflies they gathered like a protective shield. She saw more of the energy globes appear out of the shadow, to join the others. Those that had perished joined her, and Neo Queen Serenity felt the warmness offered by the Sailor Senshi... and her daughter. She felt the energy from others coursing through her, with the likes of those such as Mezzat, Sypha, and even Shion joining in. She almost heard Ayame whisper her "Good Luck." Bathed in energies lent to her by friends and foes alike, Neo Queen Serenity expelled the darkness around her. --- "No way," Hokuto hissed in disbelief, as a shining beacon of light emerged from the shadow pool where Neo Queen Serenity disappeared to. "What the hell is that?!" Ranma cried, from his bound position on the ceiling along with Saturn, Pluto, and Ukyo. "It's her!" Saturn cried with joy. The white radiance that bathed her form faded away, melting the features of the being once known as Neo Queen Serenity. Rising in her place, Eternal Sailor Moon emerged. "Sailor Moon," Hokuto said flatly, unamused. "It's over, Hokuto," Eternal Sailor Moon declared. "There is no such a place existing with pure Light, or pure Darkness. Vizier changed you into nothing more than a shadow of what you used to be." "That's funny," the Shadow Weaver said, "that's always what others thought of you. All talk, no substance. You made the world worse than it already is by pretending it was better than before." "Perhaps," she granted, "but now I understand. I've made the mistake of being unable to see another's point of view. Ours is not the only one in the universe. The Mekani are afraid of us, and that's why they attack. The people want to be able to defend themselves, without the help of the Sailor Senshi... and that's why they rebel against us. They don't want to limit their horizons; they want to stand on their own and take their place in the cosmos. I tried to afford everybody the freedom that was their right." "Freedom isn't a right, it has to be earned!" Hokuto cried. "That's what your enemies believe. Are you saying they're right?" "No, I didn't," Moon said. "But, if I can't even understand that, I'm not fit to rule this world. There is no one right in the universe." "The only right is the Light!!" Hokuto railed angrily. "Evil such as Wiseman and the Mekani must be exterminated!" "And by following that course of action, you yourself become evil!" "If it takes becoming evil to discover true good, then so be it!" Hokuto's shadow tentacles speared outward toward Eternal Sailor Moon, but she charged headlong into the oozing mass. She deflected each blow with a swipe of her hand easily, and waded her way toward the source of the problems. "If there's one thing flawed with the Mekani form of harmony," Moon cried, "it's that fear will generate hate, and hate will lead toward war. War will only breed more hate, and the cycle will continue." "And your form of harmony requires the impossible cooperation of billions of individual minds!" Hokuto countered. "The only true harmony lies in One! Me! My vision!" More shadow tentacles emerged, splitting off the ones already past Moon, much like thorns on a rose. Her forward velocity slowed, Eternal Sailor Moon tried to smash away the newly-forming thorns, but the field was becoming thicker by the moment, obscuring her from Hokuto. "Don't give up!" Moon heard Ukyo shout from the ceiling. "You're almost there!" Ranma encouraged. "Don't hold back!" Saturn cried. "Your Highness... finish it!" Pluto insisted. "What are you waiting for?" demanded Hokuto. "Don't you listen to your friends and allies? There's nothing stopping you from destroying me." "Even if you are a parasite, and unable to live on your own," Eternal Sailor Moon said, struggling against the push of the tentacles, "your life still matters!" "Such is what I'd expect out of a weakling like you!" Hokuto scoffed. "But, you know what? You're only denying yourself the truth. The reason you haven't used your true power against me is because I AM you." For a moment Eternal Sailor Moon was pushed back a distance by the tentacles, and, somehow, she knew it was true. "You won't kill me because, if you do, you'll wake up and die by Shizuka's hand," she gloated. "If necessary, we'll fight for all eternity, and the result will still be the same. You are your own worst enemy." "It works both ways," the Eternal soldier muttered. "Eh?" "You won't kill me because you'll die, too," Moon pointed out. "You're just as afraid of dying, if not more. The others were right; you're nothing but a parody of your former self. The real Hokuto died back on the Night Hammer. You're like Vizier... afraid of dying your final death." She faltered a moment. "And perhaps I was afraid, too. I never should've been alive right now, because I was afraid of growing old and dying. I convinced myself that the world couldn't possibly do without me, so I made sure to guarantee my own, and everybody else's, immortality. I was afraid to let others solve problems on their own, because I didn't trust them to." "It is as you said," she concluded. "I'm my own worst enemy." Cupping her hands forward, Eternal Sailor Moon forced a blast of energy through the thorns of tentacles, then forced her way through. Hokuto's barrier barrage intensified, but for each obstacle put in her path Eternal Sailor Moon destroyed them in half the time it took to erect them. Before she knew it, she was at the center of the black tentacle mass. Hokuto simply stood there, her arms at her sides, staring at Moon coldly. "What are you waiting for?" she said mockingly. "Kill me." Eternal Sailor Moon raised her arms, but hesitated. "Just as I thought," the Shadow Weaver said with a snort. "We're just going to have to start all over again. Maybe the second time around, you'll just give up." "I understand now," Moon said. "Hokuto was fighting to keep Vizier contained. She got lost in the Dark power, and struggled to find a way out. She became obsessed with achieving the Light, having experienced the Darkness so fully. She awakened, and sought the Light that was the Silver Crystal. She wanted to create a world where the Light rules all, in her vision of it. She could not hope to achieve this in a real world, so she created a sub-reality to rule. She wanted to show that all were in the wrong, and that she was the only right." "But, Hokuto's body was no longer able to support her. She needed to survive somehow. She chose me, and became a part of me, to exist for all time in her own world, trapping those around her in it. She wished to escape the reality, as I have done. She wished for a perfect world so bad that she eliminated those who didn't share her vision. She knew she could live forever in the mind of another who ran the same as she did." Eternal Sailor Moon placed her hands on Hokuto's shoulders, and stared straight into her eyes. "There will be no more running. The fantasy ends now, and the world will guide its own destiny. We are one and the same; when the dreamer dies this nightmare ends!" Transforming into light, Eternal Sailor Moon stepped back into herself. --- Command Center, Scylla The young Sailor Moon tore her attention away from Mezzat's damaged Mekani body, and noted that Sypha was pulling herself back upright. "The ship's still falling!" Moon cried frantically. Sypha placed her free claw on her forehead, cradling it in pain. "What?" "I don't know what'll happen," young Moon continued, "but if we crash the Earth as we know it will end!" Instantly, the black sorcerer was awakened from her pain, and she grasped her dragon pearl orb tightly. Standing to her feet, she looked down at Sailor Moon. "I suppose there's only one thing to do about it, huh?" In a bright flash, Sypha Blade vanished. --- Levitating in the air below the falling Scylla, Sypha's orb flared brilliantly, and she allowed it to consume her whole body. Against the cold airs of the Arctic, Sypha felt her body stretch and congeal, extending outward quickly to rival the length of the Scylla easily. When her transformation spell was complete, Sypha emerged in her true, glorious kami form as a Celestial Dragon of Chinese legend. Orienting herself on her back in the air the dragon caught the Scylla, but the weight of gravity pushed her down along with it. Sypha pushed against gravity with all the strength she could muster, but she could barely slow its descent. Blast, she cursed mentally. This serpentine body isn't strong enough.... Her dragon pearl glowed brightly, offering Sypha more energies. She felt the descent slow slightly, and she quickly calculated how much more energy she would have to expend to clear the danger zone. Fine, she thought, if it's going to take everything, that's what you're going to get! I don't care how, but this Earth is my home... and there isn't a chance in Hell I'll let it all be destroyed by something so trivial as a flood.... Living forever was overrated, anyway. --- Siege Zone, Crystal Tokyo Ranma smiled to himself as he completed his descent, that Ziel had the split-second opportunity to avoid his devastating blow. He felt the force he gathered smash through the street, creating a crater where Ziel should have been. Reaching the bottom, the martial artist collapsed in the hole he created, exhausted. He smiled to himself. "I guess there's a second chance there, Wind-User...." --- Shizuka never felt the cold slash, nor any pleasure in attacking, as she stood over Neo Queen Serenity's fallen body. Although no blood poured from the world monarch's body, the priestess knew well enough that the damage was within. Inside her, Deathclaw told her, "It was no will of yours or mine that brought this event, but her own." Her eyes passing from King Endymion, standing hostage to the spectral claw, to Neo Queen Serenity, Shizuka declared, "And so ends the dream. Good morning, Earth." --- Shion regarded the body Hokuto discarded in his mind, shutting off the monitoring machines that all agreed that she met her final passing. He removed his glasses, wiping his forehead before replacing them, then turned to leave the chamber she occupied for so long. "Things do have a way of turning-out okay," he said smugly. "Now, the real work begins." --- Dawn "Weeks passed quickly after the last battle in the short-lived Third Black Moon War. In a move that surprised the World Parliament, but not those involved in Hokuto's trap, the Mekani ceased their attacks entirely." "The world mourned the loss and passing of Neo Queen Serenity openly. Only we truly understand why she chose to save the world, and perhaps, in time, the rest of the human race may understand. But now is not the time to mourn, because the future is still uncertain." "Princess Serenity turned down the chance to ascend the throne, and King Endymion supported her fully. It was then up to an advisory council, formed from members of all sides involved in the war, to determine how to next proceed from here. At the very least, Mezzat's secondary body on the Basilisk was present to present the Aligned Peoples' case and grievances. Kanna, Shion, and Ayame busy themselves with this as well. They still debate over the issue." "It would go untold to the rest of the world the sacrifice Sypha made, in expending all her energies, including her life force, to ease the Scylla's death dive. The Mekani warship now rests on the ice, and the Mekani are repairing it round the clock to make it spaceworthy again. Cinder, despite his distaste for cold environments, journeyed there to pay his respects to the last Celestial Dragon. With Neo Queen Serenity gone that warrior no longer feels the need to continue his vendetta." "Despite being embittered over her Shingo Tsukino could not help but feel the loss for the queen. He reminisced over the old days with Chika, who spends her time listening and comforting him. Disaster only serves to bring these two closer as they learn to understand one another." "Mousse still feels somewhat cheated that he couldn't get Neo Queen Serenity himself, but now that she's gone the Master of Hidden Weapons seems to have calmed down a bunch. He's disappeared as well, returning to the old woman Cologne to train, and figure out what to do with his life now." "Shizuka and Deathclaw vanished, not wanting to be found, I suppose. She explained to me all about what she wanted out of the war, and now she's going to wait and see what happens next. She told me that, if the world needs another good nudge, she'll be back to give it a big shove." "Ziel somehow found respect in Ranma, probably for sparing him the pain the second time with the last hit. Without any pressing need to be anywhere he joined Ranma and Ukyo on their trip to see friends and family again. They've probably got stories to tell." "Uranus and Neptune are recovering from their ordeals as Mekani hosts, but the scars are slower to heal. They would never speak of the travesties they had to face while captive, and respectfully, no one ever asked. The other Sailor Senshi struggled to find something to do with themselves, although talk has been going around as to whether or not they should return to their civilian lives once again." "If the need ever rose, I would've died for Neo Queen Serenity. She never asked me to, and she'd never ask me to, anyway. I always wondered, as the Soldier of Death, what it felt to be the one who had to watch loved ones die, as I was too used to the notion of sacrificing myself for them. Life is a precious commodity indeed." "I hope that Hokuto Takemasa has, at last, found true peace." --- "Immortality... something which distorts time. The immortals believe they have all the time in the world, and are unable to appreciate life because of it. One of the joys of living is knowing you have a limit, and you try to push yourself to the fullest." "Hate may be a product of war, but it is a part of human nature. It was something which was denied in this society. It is unrealistic to believe that one can eliminate war by changing human nature-- it is then humans are no longer humans." "Humanity is not alone in the universe. There are those that do not share in the humanocentric ideals that existed here. Humanity must not remain content in its perceived superiority, or it should be destroyed." "The mother has released the child from nurture; now it is up to the child to decide its own destiny. It is a future which is yet uncertain and will be difficult, but there are those here who can guide it... but never control it, to its destiny." Shizuka emerged from the Altar of the Sun, having relayed her report to the departed spirits. She sighed deeply. "Fool. In choosing to die the queen ditched responsibility of living the consequences of her terrible rule." "It is time," she heard Deathclaw say. The priestess nodded. "Yes. Let's go home." ---------------------------------------------------- Author's Notes Thank you for reading! --Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NOhotmailSPAM.com) http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/index.html