January 1995
There were three homemade banners strung above the table, each in a
different language. The first was in kanji, the second in English (supposedly
the native language of those present) while the third was a pictographic
script almost unknown on Earth. The only five people in the world who could
read it were gathered in this room. All three said the same thing, "Celebrating
two years free from the Dark Kingdom", and were written in the same
neat hand.
The table was almost a literal groaning board under the weight of the packed
buffet. To say it was excessive for a party consisting of five people was
to radically understate the case. Azurite tried to work out how long it
had taken Titanite to prepare this bounty.
"You're going to be eating leftovers for a month."
Calcite seemed resigned to it. "At least. Just how much room do you
have in your fridge?"
"Why do I suddenly have the funny feeling I'm leaving here with a
garbage bag full of food? Seriously what the hell's got into her. Last
year she didn't do anything this excessive?" She nodded towards Pyrite.
"Maybe we don't live here anymore but it's not like you never see
us!" Pyrite didn't notice her nod being deep in conversation with
Margrave. This might have worried her had she not overheard the names Picard
and Kirk and caught enough to know they were debating which had been the
best captain. Probably just learned treklore so she'd have some way to
catch his attention and get me worked up. Nice try. Something alarming
suddenly occurred to her.
"Ti didn't do anything crazy like invite the Senshi?" Shit, that
was just the sort of thing she might do. She glanced over to the entertainment
centre where Titanite was fiddling with the karioke machine. She looked
frustrated for a moment then was suddenly holding a medium sized mallet.
Calcite winced as his sister pounded it three times against the casing
with a determined expression then beamed as the indicators blinked on.
She dropped the mallet and it faded as it fell, vanishing entirely on the
first bounce.
"My sister, the technical expert." Ti headed over to the table
and began fiddling with the burner under a fondue pot.
"So Cal, was that machine a rental?"
"It was, but I think I just bought it. Anyway getting back to your
other question, no it's just the five of us. Not that she wouldn't have
invited them if I'd let her, but she knows when I'm really adamant."
"Good thing you gave her back all her junk or you couldn't threaten
to confiscate it again." Calcite sighed and nodded.
"I didn't have any choice after she managed to create psychoplasm
artifacts. Make anything stable and you get your cartoon stuff back, I
told her. Now if she could just learn to make something besides hammers
... Anyway the reason we've got so much food is Ti decided to throw herself
into this get-together as a way of working off some steam."
"Something wrong?"
"Boyfriend trouble at school."
"She told you that? Cause if you heard it from Margrave I'd take it
with a grain of salt."
"She hasn't said anything about the matter to either of us."
"So how do you know that's what bothering her?"
"My keen sense of observation coupled with an intimate knowledge of
my sister. Also two days back when she got home she nearly tore the door
off its' hinges, slammed it loudly enough to wake the dead, announced that
all boys were scum and then barricaded herself in her room."
"Ah. Try to talking to her?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"The wall opposite her bedroom is covered in mallet dents. Should
have bounced them off my shield instead of ducking. She calmed down but
she was refusing to talk to either of us about whatever happened. Margrave's
not even trying, says this isn't her field of expertise."
"That's a relief. Her advice for boy trouble is probably, 'rip his
throat out!'"
"She's not quite that extreme. Break his legs maybe but ... Anyway
I've made it clear to Ti if she wants to talk I'm ready to listen. But
I think she's uncomfortable with the idea."
"Besides being her brother you're the closest thing she's got to a
father figure. Ti thinks a lot like a human teenage girl and I've observed
there are things they won't tell their parents."
Calcite's reply was dry. "I've noticed. You're something of a sister
figure to her..."
"And to you or you'd have noticed me a few years back." Calcite
flushed. "Just teasing. Try not to take everything so seriously. It
all worked out okay ... " She glanced over at Margrave, "...
more or less." She didn't add the rest out loud. "You're a smart
guy Cal, but your judgement tends to shut down when it involves women.
Is it your karma to keep screwing yourself up romantically? Well at least
it can't get worse." As she thought this Calcite continued.
"Getting back to Ti, you might have better luck. Want to have a word
with her? See if she needs a shoulder to cry on?"
Azurite considered. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. If she just
wants a sympathetic listener I'm willing but if she's looking for advice
... I doubt any of my teenage experiences parallel hers or are at all relevant.
We matured a lot faster, we had no choice. I mean before I was her age
..." She nodded at Pyrite. "Ti's growing up under radically different
standards from us. It's not just the four of us vs the world anymore thankfully.
Frankly I can't really advise her ... she still has those two friends?"
"Ikeda and Hayashi? Sure. She's got others but she's closest to them."
"They might be the better choice to help her get over whatever happened.
At least you can be sure it wasn't physical abuse. Any boy who tries anything
she doesn't like would regret it very quickly."
"And as there haven't been any reports of boys turning up with massive
mallet induced trauma we can rule that out."
Across the room Margrave's ears twitched. "Lucky girl. I would have
enjoyed being able to hammer a lot of scum during my youth. Except I'd
have used a spiked steel one instead of those wooden things."
"Sorry I didn't catch that." Pyrite looked politely baffled.
Partly because he had no idea what she'd just muttered but mainly because
they were actually having a conversation without her attempting to seduce
him. With Azurite just on the opposite side of the room where she could
watch them both easily that was a real surprise.
"Hmmm ... Sorry just woolgathering. Anyway my point was Kirk had the
cojones you need to build a galaxy spanning empire. Anyone threatened his
people and the prime directive went out the window. Picard's a sensitive
new age wimp. If the old generation hadn't pacified the galaxy so thoroughly
Picard wouldn't be able to get away with being such a wuss." Margrave
actually did watch a bit of Star Trek though she preferred to cheer on
the Klingons. The original versions from before they'd needed reasons to
cause trouble. Pity they always lost.
"I have to disagree. Kirk's tactics would have worked in the short
term but in the longer view you'd get buried anger and hate which would
inevitably explode."
Margrave snorted. "Perhaps, but does the long term really matter to
us? We've got ... I don't know ... another forty years maximum left. Ironic,
the humans are so much weaker and disease prone than us. But it's been
centuries since any youma lived much past sixty. Even considering the competition
element we aren't a long lived race. Azurite's made it clear she won't
burden children with being the last of the youma, I have no maternal instincts
and Ti'll never find a male youma so it's just the five of us. Assuming
the Senshi don't decide to finish what they started another fifty years
and we're extinct as a species. Who cares what happens on this world after
that?" Pyrite twitched slightly as he stopped himself answering.
Margrave picked up the jump in Pyrite's apprehension. Like Humans Renegades
had no idea what they gave away on the olfactory level. Or perhaps Pyrite
did know but what could he do about it? You can't control your scent. Still
what did it mean? Sudden contemplation of his own mortality? Inability
to counter her argument? Fear Azurite was jumping to the wrong conclusions
about their conversation? Sometimes her heightened senses generated more
questions than they answered.
Pyrite kept his face blank while he wondered if he'd given his findings
away somehow. No, she'd never been in his new lab or his old one in this
house while it was still operating. He hadn't even told Azurite yet. Unless
Margrave had turned mind reader she couldn't know. She was just stating
her worldview, that's all. One depressingly widespread among humanity which
was why they were wrecking their, and our, biosphere. If they knew they'd
be living in their own filth for centuries they might take a longer view.
As everyone here except Margrave will have to learn, he thought. But not
now, the bombshell would wait until it was just Azure, Cal and him.
"So what's up?" His younger cousin's voice jolted Pyrite out
of his brief introspection.
"Just talking Star Trek and youma philosophy."
Ti rolled her eyes. "Figures. Why does everyone think I'm the obsessed
one in this group?"
"Can you create anything except mallets yet?" She stuck her tongue
out at him. "I'll take that as a no. Incidentally, get the karioke
machine working again?"
"Matter of fact yes. Got a song picked?" Quickly, "Humming
that theme doesn't count."
"I can't sing. So I'll do 'Lucy in the Sky with diamonds'. I can't
possibly do worse than Shatner."
"Margrave?"
"'Bad to the Bone'. Ah our illustrious leader rejoins us. By the way
if you're going to set up an affair with Azurite don't do it when I can
overhear."
Pyrite just smiled and Azurite didn't even twitch. "Not even close."
"I've been convinced to take it easy today so you can enjoy your celebration
of our homeland's sorry end."
"You're not celebrating?"
"Not its destruction. In case you've forgotten I was right at home
in the Dark Kingdom. I positively thrived."
"Hadn't realized you were such a patriot. Sorry we spoiled your plans
to die with the place."
"Don't get me wrong I have no regrets about surviving. My point is
I didn't have to worry about exposure and it was an ideal environment for
youma."
"Ideal?"
"Absolutely!" After a moment Margrave conceded, "Except
for the hidebehinds, them I can do without. Okay I don't miss the dire
butterflies either ... or the deadwalkers ... not to mention the mimic
fungus ... I can live without the burrower eels ... Then there were the
..." She kept on in this vein for a few minutes. "Okay apart
from 90% of the wildlife and most of the youma the place was perfect. What's
so funny?"
"Perfect except for everything and everyone in it?"
The catwoman scowled. "It's the principle of the thing! You know what
I mean!"
Azurite nodded. "Yeah, you feel some perverse need to stick up for
the place despite hating it as much as the rest of us."
Margrave hissed and Ti decided she'd better break this up before it escalated.
"Cal, how about a toast?"
"Well it's a little early but why not?" Hopefully Margrave wouldn't
drink as much as she had the previous year. During that first anniversary
celebration she'd sulked all evening while emptying his liquor cabinet.
Which had lead to her becoming extremely maudlin over losing the Kingdom
before challenging Azurite to a fight. Azurite had ignored her as Margrave
could barely stand by this point. This seemed to infuriate her and she
charged Azurite. At least she tried to. Staggered forward with purpose
was a better description. At which point she'd caught a toeclaw on the
carpet, tripped and gone down hard then started snoring like a rusty saw.
They'd left her to sleep it off, stepped around her the rest of the night.
Azurite said it was purely by chance she spilled the chocolate fondue while
clearing up the dessert dishes. Not that she was going to lose any sleep
over it. At any rate it didn't wake Margrave up though her mood the next
day was fairly foul faced with both a hangover and having to cut off the
matted fur. The following few days had been more chaotic than usual.
Things had been much quieter since Azurite and Pyrite moved out a few months
ago and the feuding became mainly long distance. Though never dull. Things
never seemed to quiet down in Tokyo these days. Though most of the more
bizarre events were dismissed as urban myths throughout the rest of Japan
and would be totally unknown in the rest of the world if not for the internet.
Cynics might say the large number of webpages devoted to the Senshi had
less to do with a belief in their existence than in the brevity of their
attire. Regardless of how many people truly believed in them there was
a large market for anything bearing their image. This was particularly
attractive to toy companies due to the lack of copyright on their images.
Resulting in the mass merchandising of all the Sailor Senshi, including
the pseudo Senshi Polaris & Arcturus. Which was how the laser discs
which comprised tonight's entertainment had come to be made.
Titanite had managed to make Calcite agree to sit through the animated
Sailor V movie. It had been a bit harder to get Azurite to agree to watch
the Sailor Arcturus movie again as she was heartily sick of it. But she'd
agreed to it just this once. Margrave was looking forward to the chance
to heckle Azurite's performance yet again.
There was a pop and a cork sailed across the room. Margrave idly slashed
out as it passed and bisected it. Half of it angled off and just missed
Azurite's face. She didn't flinch and Margrave shrugged mentally. As the
Dom Perigon bubbled out Calcite filled the glasses. Titanite was under
the age to drink but it would take a lot more than this to get past her
renegade metabolism so where was the harm?
Calcite paused for a moment to make a toast. He'd meant to scribble down
a few thoughts but he'd never got around to it. Have to ad-lib. "Well
here we are again. Two years ago we ... most of us, bid a farewell to the
Dark Kingdom and we've never looked back. While things didn't work quite
as planned and we still find ourselves unable to leave Tokyo we don't regret
our new lives. While we've been doing our best to live quietly we have
had a few adventures. Some of which could have been avoided." Titanite
blushed. "Still what's done is done so let's not dwell on that. Quite
a few remarkable things happened in the past year. Margrave and Azurite
actually spent an evening being nice to one another." Azurite scowled
and Calcite dodged a cuff from Margrave. He continued without pausing.
"Titanite unlocked her psychoplasm shaping abilities and has proven
girls with mallets are indeed very dangerous to cross." Titanite blushed
again. "Pyrite ... well thanks to Ti we've confirmed that your dimensional
absorption theory is right. As for me ... I've learned that migrating to
another version of Tokyo is not an option. Unless I ever decide I want
to become a demented martial artist or a girl crazed gun for hire. And
I think I'm screwed already up enough." Everyone laughed. "So
a toast to the start of our third year on Earth. And the hope that life
will begin to make sense."
They were draining their glasses when the beeping started. Everyone looked
at the coatrack. Pyrite strode over and withdrew a pager from his jacket.
He studied it for a moment then swore quietly.
"I'm afraid we aren't off to a very good start."
"What's wrong?" Azurite was looking edgy. She knew when he was
really rattled.
"Remember the gatepoint? Sorry, stupid question. According to this
the gate's been activated. Something's coming through from outside."
Calcite tensed. "And we're the only ones who know it?"
"Probably. The sensors have never picked Senshi activity around that
area so I don't think they know it exists. Right now all I can tell you
is there's two entities. Their gate seems unstable so it's screwing up
the sensors."
"Which means go have a look for ourselves." Azurite caught his
look and nodded. There was a flicker to his side and he saw Ti wearing
her Sailor Polaris costume. Before she could speak he said, "If I
forbid you to come you'll just teleport there yourself. So you'll be safer
if you come with us." She stood there with her mouth open. Azurite
frowned but couldn't disagree with his logic. Calcite vanished, reappearing
in his bedroom. He opened a dresser drawer and slid on the wristband. Downstairs
Azurite retrieved her purse, withdrawing her transmuter bracelet and activated
it. Her clothing shifted into the Sailor Arcturus pattern. A moment's thought
and she activated the bracelet's second pattern. Her boots morphed to a
flat heel design, otherwise the costume was unchanged. It was too icy outside
for messing around on stilettos no matter how good her balance. Calcite
reappeared wearing his grey body armour. His face flickered as he activated
his glamour and became the taciturn English superhero Gray. Azurite was
about to link to Calcite's jump initialization when she saw Pyrite's clothing
morph. It shifted to become an ST : Next Generation Captain's uniform,
minus the insignia and with the black and red reversed. His face shifted
as he activated a glamour of his own design.
"What the hell are you playing at?"
"On site inspection. Whatever's going on might need me on the scene."
Azurite choked off the protest she was about to make. "Just hit the
ground and shield if any shooting starts." He nodded. "What's
with the face? It look sort of familiar."
"You and Ti are masked Senshi but I decided it wasn't my style so
I designed this glamour to conceal my identity. Picard's face with Kirk's
eyes and hairline." She sighed, she'd had to ask. At which point Margrave
ducked back into the room wearing a transmuter bracelet. Pyrite recognised
it as Ti's original. Months ago he'd replaced them with a design keyed
to the wearer alone. He'd done that to prevent accidental activation in
case the transmuter was lost or stolen.
"Not leaving me behind are you." She tapped the bracelet and
the minimal clothing she'd been wearing melted and reshaped itself. Her
new outfit was reminiscent of the playboy bunny attire except cat ears
and a two foot long furry tail substituted for the bunny ears and powderpuff
on the backside.
"There we go, one secret identity. In case this is trouble I'd like
to know what we're up against. Then I can decide whether to run or fight."
Margrave wasn't actually that keen to find a fight. But in case the renegades
never came back she'd want to know what did it and why. Instead of cowering
here waiting for it to find her. Besides this might not be a threat and
could be interesting.
Azurite smiled faintly. "Curiosity killed the cat."
"You wish!"
Calcite just looked at her. "You don't leave here looking nonhuman.
And you're not going to blow the Catharine identity by using that!"
Margrave just grinned. "Not a problem." Her features shifted
and she became a familiar looking blond as the glamour overlaid her body.
Calcite sighed. Pyrite studied her in puzzlement. Why did he recognise
her? He'd never seen Margrave use this glamour before.
Azurite muttered, "Michelle Pfeiffer."
That was why she looked familiar. "But why ....?"
"Catwoman." Of course. That explained it.
Margrave wrapped herself around Calcite as the Renegades linked their teleport.
A flare of light and the house was empty.
Like many January days in Tokyo it was bitterly cold outside. So it wasn't
surprising that the park was deserted. Not that there was any reason to
be here, the flowerbeds and trees were bare, the walkways were slippery
and the ground covered with a thin dusting of snow. So there was no one
to hear the howl as the black whirlpool opened in midair. It expanded to
a diameter of seven feet, the last six inches cutting into the ground.
It suddenly contracted to a six feet circle then pulsed and resumed the
larger size. Its size slipped again and an observer would have noted the
pulsations were irregular in occupance. This same hypothetical observer
staring into the vortex would have seen two bright figures within. Two
figures either growing in size or getting closer.
The detached feeling filling Makoto Kino's mind vanished abruptly as she
slammed headfirst into cold concrete. Reality returned in a hurry and she
reached for her stinging cheek. Then froze. For a moment her glove appeared
to waver as if the transformation was deactivating. Then it was as solid
it had always been, though still far from its' once pristine white. What
the hell was she doing staring at her glove? She had to take the lay of
the land immediately! Get up and ... why was it so bright? It couldn't
be! She looked up into the sky. It was darkening as dusk approached but
it was almost cloudless. There was no denying that the sky was blue! She
felt her eyes running. She was surprised, she hadn't thought she had any
tears left.
"It's so beautiful." She forgot all her hard learned combat experience
and just gazed upwards. No thought of ambush or studying the terrain for
cover. Then the sound of Ami swearing penetrated.
Ami was frantically punching commands into her terminal with her free hand.
The other arm cradled the assemblage of crystal rods it was linked into.
Even to Makoto's untrained eye something looked very wrong. The gateway
was fluctuating wildly, faster and faster. There was a sound like sheet
metal tearing and it collapsed inward. Within a second it was gone. Ami
slammed the crystalline machine to the ground and screamed, "Lousy
piece of youma junk!" The crystals had lost their yellow glow and
were now either merely transparent or a dull white. She kicked the hapless
device, it slammed across the park and impacted a tree resulting in a small
shower of snow as the branches shook. Makoto reached a hand towards her
friend. "Easy Ami. We made it!" She hesitated then looked around.
"At least we're somewhere else. That much went perfect." Ami
looked as if she was about to slap her but she regained enough self control
to stop herself. Her voice was low and angry.
"You don't understand. The gateway has completely collapsed! That
alone wouldn't be a disaster but the warpgenerator has burned out!"
"Well if you repair it ...."
"How! It's magic not technology based! It's not even human magic.
I was barely able to integrate my computer into it and gain control its
functions. Twisting it to our specifications was nearly impossible. An
80% chance of success was the best I could manage!"
"80%?!" Makoto was staring at her. "You mean there was a
20% chance it wouldn't work." She was hoping Ami would nod but she
shook her head.
"No. I mean once I got it working there was a 20% chance we wouldn't
make it through the gateway."
"Well great. Thanks for sharing that with me!" Makoto was looking
angry herself. "Why the hell didn't you tell me."
Ami met her gaze. "I couldn't take the chance you'd refuse."
Makoto managed to choke down her angry denial. Quietly she said, "I
am not a coward. I would not have hesitated." She ignored the voice
inside which jeered she'd run at the North Pole. That had been different.
She'd sworn never to fail like that again. And what if I hadn't? We'd both
have died there Ami. I saved your life but I don't think you thank me for
it. All it meant to you was you've had to watch the world crumble around
you. Well I've had to suffer that too. You think you're the only one smart
enough to be torn apart? I know what's happened, how everyone suffered.
I've known its hopeless for months but I've kept going. Why can't you trust
me?
"Sorry." The curt voice broke through her self pity.
"What?"
"I said I'm sorry. You're right, I should have told you the risks.
I ... I was afraid you'd say no. A failure of will on my part."
Just when she'd decide Ami had become a heartless bitch she'd do something
like this. Hesitantly, "Well, I guess you've had reasons to doubt
me ..."
"Don't be stupid we'd all have been slaughtered back then even if
you hadn't been hurt. Now, question is where are we?"
Back to business. Makoto collected her thought. "Well I've been looking
around and the skyline looks like Tokyo before ..."
Ami nodded. "We've travelled dimensions but there's no way to be certain
this is the right one. Now that I stop to think about it if this is the
world we were aiming for then we should be okay." Makoto looked puzzled.
"Our mystery senshi must have had her own method of travelling dimensions.
If she's on this world we can have her open the gate back home."
"So all we have to do is find her."
Ami smiled mirthlessly. "I wouldn't worry. Senshi seem to be drawn
together either by fate or chance. If there's Senshi on this world it's
inevitable that we'll meet them." She sighed. "The only real
question is if there's a Sailor Moon or equivalent on this world. If there
is and she's got the ginzuishou we've got a chance." She didn't speak
her next thoughts aloud.
"If there isn't and it's hopeless do we look for a way back or stay
here? Whatever problems this world has it can't compare to the nightmare
ours has become. Dammit I didn't choose this life, it was chosen for me
before I was born. Why do we have to keep fighting? Haven't we sacrificed
enough? If I stay here then I don't have to kill Ryo. What did we do that
was so terrible in first lives that we were damned like this. I want my
life back!"
"Ami!" She felt Makoto's hand on her shoulder. "You were
zoning out again."
Ami brushed her hand off. "I'll have to watch that." Makoto took
no insult. Ami seemed to have decided that showing any chink in her icy
shell meant weakness. Being cold and logical was how Ami kept going. As
for me, I guess I keep going because I'm too stupid to accept we're beaten.
She shook her head at the thought. A lousy reason, but it's all I've got
left apart from Ami. Without each other to keep us going we'd fold up and
die.
Ami had crossed over to where she'd kicked the device. She punched in a
command and the computer retracted the probes it had linked into the device.
She had no real idea of this machine's capabilities. It came with no manual
and she'd have to puzzle it out. A lot of times she'd just say "do
this" and it would. Then she'd have to figure out how and try to deduce
principles from that action so she'd learn other functions. It was obviously
part of a larger whole but it refused to provide any information about
the main system. Some sort of security lockout. But who'd established it
and why? Luna hadn't known, Artemis she'd never asked. If he'd known the
knowledge died with him.
The air shimmered and five figures materialized behind them. Makoto stared
at them in wonder. The men she didn't know, she'd got an indistinct look
at two of the three figures who'd passed through. Perhaps the local equivalents
of Tuxedo Kamen. The third she recognised, the unknown Senshi. Standard
senshi uniform with a yellow skirt and bow. Wearing a yellow mask similar
to the one Minako had worn in her days as Sailor A. The woman in the playboy-kitty
getup looked oddly familiar but it was the final figure who caught her
attention. She looked to be in her early twenties. Instead of white her
bodysuit and gloves were a bright red. The rest of her outfit seemed a
bit heavy on the black leather and spikes. What kind of Senshi did they
have around here anyway?
Titanite was very surprised that the Senshi had got here before them. She
was even more surprised by the appearance of Sailors Mercury and Jupiter.
Both looked like they'd been through rough times. The most minor change
was their hair. Jupiter's was cropped back into a bowl cut shorter than
Mercury's had been. Mercury's was cut even further back into a severe crewcut.
A little shorter and she'd look like Sinead O'Conner. The costumes of both
had obviously seen better days. The skirts and ribbons were frayed, patched
and stitched. Instead of white the bodysuits and gloves of both were grey
with miscellaneous stains. Their boots were travelworn and tattered.
On top of that were the physical marks on both. Jupiter had a large white
scar running the length of her left thigh. Mercury's bodysuit was obviously
still skintight but no longer smooth. Instead it showed bulges and lines
all over her torso and breasts. Which hinted at injury underneath. Both
looked thinner than she remembered, almost gaunt. What in the name of whatever
gods there were had happened to them?
Makoto watched the Senshi in yellow carefully. There seemed to be recognition
in her eyes. Yet she didn't call her name or act like a close friend. What
did that mean? Rival Senshi like those other two, Poseidon and Heaven?
Arrogant pair of ... They'd brushed her and Ami off as useless then tackled
the Overlord themselves. She shook the distain off, no one should suffer
a fate like theirs.
Pyrite hadn't been idle during this period. How the Senshi had got here
first he didn't know but he was ignoring them to concentrate on scanning
the area. The readings were clearing with the disappearance of the unstable
gate but he was unable to pick up any alien presence in the vicinity. As
there were no teleport signatures he had to assume the entities had left
on foot. In which case they must have been extremely fast as he wasn't
picking anything up.
Then it struck him. Two entities, two Senshi! What if they were the interdimensional
intruders! He had to tell the others! He was about to speak when he realized
how Azurite, Calcite and Margrave were watching the Senshi. Being more
practical they'd drawn the inference almost immediately. Well they were
all standing here staring at each other. Someone should say something.
He was about to speak when he heard a shocked exclamation from the Sailor
Mercury variant.
She was looking down at the computer in her hand in horror. At her feet
was what appeared to be a warpfield generator. Groups of those them had
been used to punch the gateways between Earth and the Kingdom. Like most
of the devices created by Beryl's pet scientists they were inefficient,
bulky and used magics that should have been obsolete centuries earlier.
Good grief, he'd produced hand held units with much greater range that
could open an existing gatepoint. Admittedly it was easier to travel from
Earth than the Kingdom and vast banks of the generators had been needed
to create the initial gate to Tokyo. But give him the same resources and
he'd have it done in half the time, with a tenth as many generators and
created a much more versatile gateway. You'd have to be crazy or desperate
to try crossing to another universe with one of those. The Kingdom had
been part of Earth's overall continuum and it was still nigh impossible
to get anywhere with one of those. That's when reality penetrated his technical
assessment. The Mercury lookalike screamed "Youma!" and the Jupiter
replica looked to her in confusion.
"They're youma! The Dark Circle itself!" While her comrade was
trying to digest this she dropped her computer which promptly vanished
and raised her hands. Then everything went crazy.
Azurite shoved him hard sending him flying backwards. Calcite was about
to toss Titanite aside when Margrave grabbed her and dashed away. Calcite
and Azurite leapt away in opposite directions as the bolt of focused cold
tore through the space the group had occupied. The battlecry that accompanied
this didn't contain the words "Shabon" or "Mercury".
It sounded a lot more like, "DIE YOU [unintelligible, possibly obscene]
BASTARDS!"
Makoto was still trying to make sense of what Ami had just said when she
opened fire on the group. Makoto's combat instincts kicked in and she summoned
power, turning to help her friend. Ami spun to fire on the Senshi in red
then danced aside as something tore down and shattered the concrete in
front of her. Makoto aimed a lightning strike at the landing red Senshi
which went wild as the man in grey hit her with a shockwave. She hit the
ground rolling and fired off a swarm of small ball lightning in his direction.
While he was dodging she snapped to her feet and got moving. Ami and the
red Senshi were still duelling. Ami had shut up and was fighting in her
methodical and lethal pattern. Except it wasn't working and Ami was having
to dodge windbursts which snapped limbs off the trees. They didn't look
strong enough to kill, just disable. Looked like the youma wanted them
alive for torture.
Watching from ground level Pyrite was getting worried. The Senshi were
fighting to kill while Cal and Azure were still trying for a capture. A
ball charged with a stunning burst of energy tore towards the Jupiter clone.
She dodged aside and answered it with a lethal bolt of electricity. Calcite
had already shifted positions. Pyrite cursed. They must think killing these
Senshi would bring the others hunting for them. In fact they still didn't
know for sure these weren't the Senshi who belonged here. They could have
left this dimension by a different gate (if there were now any other gatepoints
in the world) and returned through this one. Neither of the Senshi were
giving their attack cries. They were fighting silently with a ferocity
that could match a youma's.
Margrave was huddled low, keeping Titanite under her. She must be trying
to keep herself within Titanite's shield. Titanite broke Margrave's grip
and dashed towards the fighting. Pyrite started to rise then thought better
of it. Last thing Azurite needed was another distraction. A Polaris Missile
screamed towards the Mercury duplicate as she threw a mallet at the Jupiter
lookalike. Her cry of "Polaris Hammer!" warned the latter so
she dodged that but got caught by the fringe of Calcite's shockwave. This
wasn't good. Ti was distracting the Senshi for now but that also gave them
another target. If Cal and Azure couldn't take the Senshi down immediately
they'd switch to fighting to kill to protect Ti.
Margrave scuttled over to join him. "Pyrite, how about you teleport
us out of here?"
"What!"
"I have this habit of dying when I'm struck by lightning or my body
temperature drops to minus 100 degrees."
"Run out on everyone?!"
"Be sensible damnit! We're out of our league with those power levels.
Your shield won't last a second against their attacks. We're just a distraction
to them."
"I'm not abandoning them."
"I'm not asking you to, this will help them. I grab Ti, race back
here, then you teleport the three of us home. Without any of us to worry
about Cal and Azzie will mop the floor with these lunatics."
"It won't work!"
"Sure it will!"
"That's not what I mean. We drag Ti out of here and she'll teleport
herself back immediately. Which means she'll jump blind into a warzone."
Margrave swore. He was right. Have to get to Ti, knock her out or daze
her at least then get back to Pyrite. He could come with me ... No, that'll
distract Azurite and this is the wrong time to do that. Right now we can't
afford to lose her. How the hell do I get to Ti without being flash frozen
or electrocuted?
She was wondering this and Calcite was distracted lightning lady from Titanite
when she heard footsteps approaching rapidly. Shit, were those reinforcements
for the Senshi?
The answer to that could be found a few minutes earlier not far away. Despite
the cold a group of five girls was wandering the streets. Usagi Tsukino
was shivering the most and looking for someplace warm and with food to
duck into. If only Mamoru-chan had been around, they should be together
on this day of all days. But he'd had to leave town suddenly. A distant
aunt in Kyoto, one of his few remaining relatives had taken sick. She was
unlikely to recover. They weren't particularly close but he'd felt a family
obligation to see her before the end. It would have been difficult to explain
Usagi's presence to his cousins (not to mention to her parents) so she'd
had to stay behind. Despite what today meant.
Last year, same as this year they'd all met at the shrine. They hadn't
talked about the events of exactly a year ago but they'd all felt they
had to be together. The same thing had happened this year. At least she'd
managed to ditch Chibi-Usa. Her daughter to be had taken a look outside
and said only an idiot would go out on a day this cold. So Usagi had better
hurry up and kept going.
After the inevitable tussle she'd got going. Luna had chosen to stay behind
in the warm house and relax as there were no crisis currently. When she'd
got to the shrine Makoto, Ami and Minako (sans Artemis, same reason as
Luna) were already there. They'd talked, eaten the snacks Makoto brought
along (which lead to the inevitable scuffle between Usagi and Rei), and
avoided all mention of what this date meant.
Two years ago they'd won their first major victory. In many ways it was
also their greatest defeat. Today they were more powerful, things would
be different if it happened again. But back then ...
The attack on the Dark Kingdom was in many ways a debacle. Only Sailor
Moon survived to enter the Kingdom. She freed Mamoru from Beryl's control
but almost immediately had to watch him die to protect her. What she'd
done next was not done for vengeance but to protect the Earth. She'd unleashed
the full power of the Ginzuishou and destroyed both Queen Metallia (who'd
merged with Beryl) and the world of the youma before dying having burned
out her life force to power the attack. That should have been the end of
it. Instead it was a new beginning.
Somehow the six of them had been reborn without any memory of what they'd
become in the preceding year. The Ginzuisho had acted on Usagi's final
wish for a normal life for herself and her friends. But normality was no
longer possible for them and a few months later they'd regained their memories.
They never spoke about their final moments at the North Pole. But they
never forgot them.
Today they'd all felt restless and had gone out walking despite the cold.
Usagi had gone along with this at first but was now approaching her whining
threshold. She felt her teeth chatter and was about to suggest a retreat
when Minako spoke.
"Y'know I ran into that youma girl about a week back." That broke
the silence. Minako had been trying to think of something to say. They'd
been walking quietly for a few minutes which turned her thoughts places
she didn't want them to go. She'd been reminded of the matter by seeing
the discarded box of a Sailor Arcturus doll stuffed in a trashbin. According
to the wrapper this doll was equipped with "Power arm for special
whip cracking action. Authentic Arcturus design whip included". A
slight addition on the part of the toy manufacturers as Azurite's costume
lacked that accessory.
At any rate this reminder of Sailor Arcturus had lead to remembering Sailor
Polaris which triggered the recollection of the recent meeting."
"What youma girl?" Makoto looked puzzled.
"Sailor Polaris! The one who was in my school? Sister of my old enemy
Lord Calcite."
Rei nodded, "I remember her. That was about a year ... year and a
half ago. Lotta stuff's happened since then."
Ami chimed in, "Chibi-Usa, the Black Moon, the Deathbusters, Neptune,
Uranus, Pluto and Saturn ..."
Makoto picked it up, "Also Fiore and all the other stuff. No shortage
of things. Haven't really thought about the youma Senshi in ages. I knew
they were out there but ..."
That reminded Usagi of something. "I remember now, Haruka-san asked
me a few months ago if we were friends with Sailor Arcturus. I said yes
and I'd thought Polaris seemed nice. Shame they decided to avoid us."
Rei frowned. "First I've heard about that."
"I forgot to mention it."
"Figures. You'd forget your head if it was nailed on."
"Take that back."
"Why should I?"
A brief razzing duel began but stopped almost immediately as it was too
cold to expose your tongue for long.
Minako was feeling rather ignored. "Hey! I was the one with the story!"
"Sorry, go ahead Mina-chan."
"That's more like it. This was a little over a week ago and I was
out on my own for a change." She decided not to mention that was because
her date had stood her up. What she didn't know was the boy in question
had a morbid fear of cats and had seen Artemis riding on her shoulder as
he approached from behind. He'd turned around and left sure he could never
get on with a girl who liked cats. "Now I was walking down the street
when I saw these three girls approaching ..."
**********************************************************
Fuming over having been stood up Minako stalked along the street. Just
let the some supernatural idiot cause trouble tonight. She wasn't looking
where she was going so it took Artemis's frantic hiss to make her look
up and see she was about to walk into a trio of girls. She immediately
turned, as though she'd sighted her destination and had never been going
to hit them, and walked straight into the street's retaining wall.
Artemis had jumped away just before impact and shook his head as Minako
went down. The middle girl asked Minako, "Are you all right?"
and reached down to help her to her feet. The dazed Minako reached out
automatically then saw her rescuer grin with recognition. "Aino-san.
It's been a while."
Minako let the brunette help her to her feet as she tried to work out who
she was. Suddenly she knew. She was about to address her as Sailor Polaris
when she realized they had company. The two girls on either side of the
pseudo Senshi. She got lucky and remembered the names. "Hobbes-san"
"Titania. Though I prefer Ti."
"Ti-chan, you know her?" The girl on the right sounded a little
unfriendly. As though she suspected Minako was here to steal her friend.
She was a little on the chubby side but still pounds away from being fat.
Being bundled up against the cold made her look heavier than she really
was. Short black hair, about three inches smaller than Minako. The girl
on the left was just a little shorter than Makoto but a lot slenderer.
She wore round frame glasses and seemed to be sheltering behind Polaris.
Definitely the shy type.
"Indeed I do Meiko-chan. This is Minako Aino. We were in the same
school for about six months. But then we moved and I had to transfer. As
I met you guys when I did that everything worked out. Aino-san these are
my friends Meiko and Kaori ... Sorry I should say Ikeda and Hayashi. I
still keep getting that 'give your family name except to close friends'
bit wrong."
"Guess it comes from not being born around here."
"I guess." She seemed naturally bubbly. Not as much as Usagi
but more like Minako herself under normal circumstances. Minako felt herself
cheering up a bit until something occurred to her. Somewhat coldly she
asked, "How's your brother."
She didn't seem to notice the tone. "Oh he's fine. Still takes things
way to serious but there's times that's a very good thing. I can get a
little ... what a cute kitty." She kneeled down to pet Artemis. He
purred as she rubbed his ears. There was an odd faint scent clinging to
her. Like cat and yet ...
"May I ... may I pet him?" It was the shy girl, Kaori. She looked
embarrassed at asking. Minako nodded and Titanite (that was her real name,
Minako recalled) relinquished her place. Kaori mumbled something about
her parents not letting her have any pets. Titanite asked Minako a few
questions about school and seemed glad to hear Saito-sensei was doing well.
Minako repeated the gossip that she'd be getting married soon.
"So your brother got over her. Get anyone else?" That got a snort
from Meiko and a headshaking.
"Yes. She's living with us actually. Meiko thinks Margrave ... full
name's Catharine Margrave, is a character."
"Is she?"
"Well she's a free spirit. But she's never dull and a lot of fun."
Kaori straightened up and handed Artemis back to Minako. "Thank you."
"No problem, he likes attention. Just don't preen so much or Luna
will kick you out again." The last was directed to Artemis.
Meiko decided to try a friendly overture. If Ti-chan liked this girl she
must be okay. But then Ti got on with everybody in school. Except the bad
girl types and they went out of their way to avoid Ti. She'd originally
hung around with Ti for protection. Then found she really liked the English
girl and they had a lot of common interests. Ti had been the one to bring
Kaori into their little circle and she'd gained a friend she wouldn't have
had otherwise due to the other girl's shyness.
"So was Ti-chan the softball ace at your school?"
Minako looked surprised and Kaori chimed in. "Ti-chan's great. She
can hit a ball farther than anyone. She's got more home runs than the rest
of the team combined. She's a great catcher too. If she could just pitch
better she'd be a perfect all round player. But she's getting much better!"
Kaori suddenly went red, embarrassed at gushing on at a total stranger.
Titanite looked a little embarrassed herself. She tried not to overdo it
but even holding herself back she was a better athlete than anyone else
in the school. If they ever saw what she could really do they'd totally
freak.
Minako shook her head. "No. At least not as far as I remember. I don't
really follow softball. It's not a proper sport." Before Meiko could
take offense Ti asked, "So what is a proper sport?"
"Volleyball! And I'm number one at that!" Minako spent the next
few minutes going over her accomplishments. Ti noticed her friends eyes'
glazing over and as politely as possible suggested they had to be going.
With an exchange of goodbyes the trio continued on their way. Minako looked
after them. Everything seemed okay and yet ... Artemis suddenly jumped
to the top of the wall and raced after the girls. Minako ducked into a
bus shelter and waited for his return. Ten minutes later he was back.
"Well?"
Artemis shrugged. At least to the extent a cat could. "Well nobody
suddenly turned into a demon queen and said, 'Hah, we fooled Sailor Venus!'
Far as I can tell the others are just ordinary girls."
"Far as you can tell?"
"According to everything my senses tell me Titania, or Titanite which
I believe is her real name, is also a normal girl."
"Ah. So what were they talking about?"
"Well about if she liked her current school better than the old. Which
she does. Then your name came up."
"What'd they say?"
"Well I don't want to gossip ..." He caught the look Minako gave
him, "... But I'll make an exception. The heavy one asked why you
kept asking about her brother. She looked around for passersby. There were
none and she didn't spot me. Then she said, 'Well keep it to yourselves
but when we were in the same school she had a major crush on him.' Then
the shy one said she could understand that because he's very handsome.
Then she blushed, guess she's got a crush on him. With that the talk turned
to boys and I left."
Minako scowled. "She told them I had a crush on him!"
Artemis eased his left rear leg up to scratch behind his ear. "Well
I guess she could have told them the truth. Something like, 'Well back
when Minako was Sailor V my brother was her Arch Nemesis, Lord Calcite.'
Course that wouldn't exactly help matters."
"Okay, I get the point. Let's go home."
*************************************************************
Usagi looked at Minako in surprise. "You had a crush on your arch
enemy? Like Romeo and Juliet. How romantic."
Minako felt one of those giant sweat drops forming and it was far too cold
for that. "I didn't have a crush on him! She just made that up to
satisfy their curiosity!"
Usagi didn't seem to notice. "And I thought you said you were fighting
him over in England. How about that!"
Makoto grinned and poked her, "You slacker."
Rei glared. "Never date the enemy!"
Ami gave her a look of mock sorrow. "I'm really disappointed in you
Mina-chan."
Minako begin to heat up which would have kept the teasing going a lot longer.
Except suddenly the stillness of the day was shattered by the howl of powerful
wind and the crackle of electricity.
It was coming from the nearby park. Coincidentally enough the place they'd
first met Sailor Arcturus and the fake Zoisite. Usagi took everyone by
surprise by saying, "Let's transform and check it out!"
Rei stared at her in disbelief. "Are you feverish?"
"No. I've just realized I'll be a lot warmer as Sailor Moon. If I
could survive the North Pole then a Tokyo winter will be a cinch."
Everyone else face faulted. While they were doing that Usagi invoked the
change.
"Moon Cosmic Power Make Up!"
She felt the familiar transformation. The cold receded to a minor annoyance
despite now wearing a lot less in the way of clothing. Everyone else decided
to follow suit.
"Mars Star Power, Make Up!"
"Mercury Star Power, Make Up!"
"Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!"
"Venus Star Power, Make Up!"
As soon as the change was complete Mercury took out her computer and
scanned the park. She frowned. "There are four ... correction five
entities throwing a lot of power around in there. It's identifying three
of them as Gray, Sailor Arcturus and Sailor Polaris. The other two are
unidentified." In fact the computer was signalling scanning error
regarding the other two. She'd never seen it do that before.
"Let's go!" With that they followed Venus into the park. Easily
leaping the fence bearing the sign. "Park closed. No Winter Maintenance."
Inside the park the fighting continued unabated. Ami countered her opponent's
fireball with an ice burst. It blinked out immediately and she realized
it was a decoy. She was slammed backwards towards a tree by a very localized
gale. Ami spun in the air and managed to hit it feet first. She bounced
away throwing another cold burst towards her enemy. This wasn't good. These
youma seemed tougher than the others they'd faced. Only natural if they
were this universe's version of the Dark Circle. Thankfully none were displaying
Overlord level power. She'd tried to blind them with her fog attack but
it hadn't worked. These youma didn't have to depend on visual contact,
they must have aura sensing powers. Maybe those were more widespread than
she'd thought.
Makoto was feeling tired. Minimal food and rough living were bound to take
their toll. She had the terrible feeling the grey man could have killed
her by now had that been his intention. The Senshi she'd first seen three
months back had seemed to be more distraction than danger. At least before
she'd run into one of those spheres. She was at bay and preparing to go
down fighting. At least until someone she'd never expected to see again
arrived unexpectedly.
Minako dropped out of the sky and surveyed the situation. At which point
her jaw dropped and she glanced behind her. Rei landed beside her and did
the same. Another Ami landed on Minako's right and gasped at the sight
of her counterpart. Makoto saw her Ami smile. The odds had just shifted
their way. Makoto saw an unscarred version of herself land by Ami's side
and stare at her. At which point Sailor Moon made her entrance landing
dramatically by Rei's side. Her feet immediately went out from under her
and she did a pratfall. As she went down she knocked Rei's feet from under
her. Rei fell onto Minako, Minako onto Ami and Ami onto Makoto. The entire
group went down like a row of dominoes.
This provided a momentary distraction which Ami seized advantage of. She
had an unobstructed shot at the youma senshi in yellow. The man in gray
spun to blast Ami as the Senshi in red took aim for a kill shot. A blur
slammed into the girl and knocked her out of the blast's path.
Margrave barrelled into Titanite sending the two of them flying. The landing
wasn't one of her best. Her skull rang as her head hit the pavement. She
swore loudly. That bitch in blue was going to pay for this headache. "You
all right Ti?"
Ti seemed a little dazed. "Fine but why ...? MARGRAVE!" Ti sounded
shocked, something was very wrong! Was she bleeding? Margrave raised a
hand toward her head and probed. Suddenly she realized the arm was covered
with white fur. She'd lost her glamour when her head hit. OH shit! Right
in front of the Senshi! They were on their feet and looking this way (except
for Mars who was glaring at Sailor Moon). She felt herself panicking. She'd
been revealed before the worst possible people. Ti squeezed her hand and
whispered, "Use the cute scenario." She regained enough presence
of mind to nod. Think like an anime catgirl.
Sailor Moon goggled at the catwoman then remembered the other Senshi. Pointing
at the fake Mercury she intoned. "How dare you impersonate Ami-chan.
Oops I mean Sailor Mercury and how dare you impersonate Sailor Jupiter.
We may not have copyrighted these identities but no one else is allowed
to use them! I am the one and only Sailor Moon and on behalf of our trademarks
I will punish you!"
"What!?" The fake Mercury looked astonished. "Usagi have
you lost your mind. I'll explain who we are later. Right now we have to
kill these youma."
"That reminds me. How dare you try to kill the only youma to adapt
peacefully to life on Earth. Even if Sailor Arcturus's dosinji are outselling
mine. Besides I liked Sailor Polaris when I met her and Minako's got a
truce with Calcite so ... hey how did you know who I am? I mean why did
you call me Usagi, I'm Sailor Moon!"
Makoto felt the world slipping out from under her. "What ... what
are you talking about?" Then she heard her own voice.
"I'm the one and only Sailor Jupiter. If you were going to copy me
you could have at least got it right. You make me look like some sort of
slob. And you got the hair wrong!" She was going to add the I will
punish you part but stopped at the look of total confusion on her ... on
the fake's face.
Ami had pulled her computer from its dimensional pocket and was looking
from it to her battered doupleganger. The other Ami just stared at her
for a moment, then she began to laugh. It wasn't amused laughter it was
the laugh of a woman who's been the victim of the ultimate practical joke.
"Hahahah ... they're siding with the youma ... hahaha ... they're
probably allies ... Hahaha it was all for nothing ... I ..." The hysterical
laughter became a sobbing fit and the tattered Ami folded over and wept.
No one seemed to know how to respond to this and they just stared at her.
The Senshi with confusion and the Renegades with hostility as they suspected
a trick.
Makoto dashed over to her friend's side. Ami was curling up against a tree.
There was a semicircle of people around them. Too many to watch. "Come
on Ami don't do this too me." She pleaded with Ami while trying to
keep her eye on everyone. "You can't fall apart now. Not after all
we've been through. I need you. We can still fight our way out ..."
There was a light touch at her throat. She reached up and touched a metal
collar.
The man in grey glided from behind her. He was holding an identical collar
which he flung into the air. It detonated about twenty feet up.
"You can either surrender immediately or I can blow your head off.
After your friend tried to kill my sister I have to say I'm not too fussy."
Makoto took her hand from the collar and looked him in the eye. Then you'd
better kill me because I'll die before I let you take me alive!"
"In case you've forgotten you two started all this."
"Excuse me." Sailor Moon looked confused. Not a particularly
unusual occurance but she had reason. "What is going on?"
"We don't really know." Calcite indicated the two senshi, one
standing defiant, one weeping uncontrollably. "These two warped in,
took one look at us, screamed "Dark Circle" then tried to kill
us all.
"But where'd these imposters come from?"
"They aren't exactly imposters." When the shooting stopped Pyrite
had got to his feet. He'd remained largely unnoticed during recent events.
"They arrived here from an alternate universe." He pointed to
Mercury and Jupiter. "I believe these are your counterparts from another
dimension. Why they came here and why they want us dead we don't know yet."
Now Jupiter looked confused but Ami nodded as though everything suddenly
made sense. "That explains why she has my DNA and the computer was
indicating anomalies. It couldn't explain there being two of us."
Jupiter looked at her scarred counterpart. "You're Sailor Jupiter
too?"
"No!"
"Then who are you?"
"Makoto Kino, Sailor Zeus." She looked down at her friend who'd
fallen silent. "This is ..."
"Ami Mizuno, Sailor Hermes." The other Ami uncurled herself.
She wiped her eyes and studied the group then looked back to Makoto. "Sorry
I let you down Makoto."
"I understand. We can't be strong forever." She reached down
and took Ami's hand. "End of the line."
"Inevitable I guess but we did our best." She looked out at the
circle of watchers. "Thanks for letting me collect myself. Now let's
get it over with."
"Get what over with?"
"Kill us because we're not going to surrender to you!"
The two stood and waited for the end. All was silent for a minute. Then
Calcite broke the puzzled silence. "I think there's been some sort
of misunderstanding."
"Don't play with me I saw the readings. You're Calcite!"
He looked around. "I guess everyone here knows that." His glamour
dissolved and the two shuddered. Hermes glanced over to the Senshi in yellow.
"I know who you are!"
Titanite looked confused. "Everyone knows that as well. I'm Sailor
Polaris, that's Sailor Arcturus."
"BULLSHIT!" Sailor Zeus glared at them. "I just figured
out who you'd look like without those masks! You're Princess Titanite and
she's Lady Azurite!"
Sailor Moon frowned at Titanite. "You're a princess too? You never
mentioned!"
"First I've heard of it."
Azurite looked at her accuser. "Yes, I'm Azurite. But I'm no lady!"
"Margrave already know that."
"Stay out of this!"
Zeus was about to bellow again when Hermes cut her off. "Wait Makoto.
Perhaps I acted prematurely." She looked to the other man. "You're
Pyrite?" He nodded and dissolved his glamour. This was the first time
the Senshi had seen him.
After a moment Jupiter began, "You look like ..." before Azurite
took his arm.
"He's already taken."
Throughout this Calcite had kept watch on Zeus and Hermes. If either made
a move to attack he was going to detonate the collar. Neither seemed about
to, the hostile looks of both were dissolving into confusion.
"You're friends with the youma?!" Hermes looked at the in disbelief.
Minako glanced at Calcite. "Friends, no. But we're no longer enemies."
"You're at peace with the Dark Kingdom?"
Usagi looked confused. "The Dark Kingdom? That's long gone."
Grudgingly Rei added, "The turtle destroyed it two years ago."
Zeus just gaped while Ami struggled to understand. "But these youma
...? How ... ?"
Calcite answered. "We fled just before the end. We're all that's left."
"But that's not possible!"
"That's what happened."
Zeus found her voice. "But in our world you ruled the Kingdom. And
you went on from there to conquer the Earth!"
"That's ridiculous. Beryl was the Queen. Anyone who challenged her
died. Usually not as soon as they'd have preferred."
Hermes looked him in the eye. "The Calcite we know merged with Metallia,
killed Beryl, then took over the world. But not before he'd killed Usagi
Tsukino, Sailor Moon."
Calcite returned her stare. "You are out of your mind, I'm a renegade.
I wouldn't do anything like that. None of us would!"
There was another moment's silence broken by Pyrite. "I would say
we've just found the divergence point between the two worlds. Here the
Kingdom was destroyed two years ago today and the youma race reduced to
five ... well six individuals.
Hermes studied him coldly. "In our world one year ago the Senshi tried
to attack the Dark Kingdom before Metallia resurrected. Only Makoto and
I escaped the North Pole alive. After that the youma took over. We came
to this world looking for assistance in fighting them."
"I'd like to suggest we hold a truce until we've gotten to the bottom
of this."
Hermes considered the overwhelming opposition, the condition of this world
and the fact that she'd started the fight. "Very well until I know
more I will refrain from hostilities as will my partner."
Zeus nodded. "Okay, I want some answers." A pause. "Uhh
... about this ring ..."
Calcite smiled faintly. "I have a paranoid streak so I'm leaving it
in place until I'm sure you won't shoot us in the back."
Usagi seemed about to say something then remembered the Renegades hadn't
started the fight. "Well I guess that's it for now. I didn't get to
punish anybody!"
Azurite jerked a thumb at Margrave (who'd been overlooked in the recent
confusion). "Well you could punish her, she'll probably enjoy it."
"Margrave resent that. She no like being punished!" She glanced
at Calcite. "Well ... maybe sometimes but ..." She realized Sailor
Moon was staring at her.
"What's that?"
Polaris quickly strode over to Margrave. "That's Margrave, she's our
... pet. We found her in another dimension." Which was true if not
the whole truth. Margrave quickly dropped to her haunches and leaned against
Titanite's leg. She began to purr and Ti scratched her head.
Sailor Moon beamed. "She's so cute!" She rushed over and began
petting the cat. Margrave kept purring even when Usagi stroked her the
wrong way. Mars, Jupiter and Mercury shook their heads at the sight. Azurite
muttered, "I don't believe this" and kept watching Hermes and
Zeus. Calcite did the same while Venus kept an eye on him.
Pyrite cleared his throat. "I'd like to suggest we go somewhere warm
to figure out what's going. Or does everyone plan to stand around this
freezing cold park indefinitely?"
Sailor Moon stopped petting the catwoman. "Yeah. It's cold and I'm
getting hungry."
Inspiration struck Titanite. "We could go to my place. It's warm and
there's a ton of food that needs eating!"
"Really!" It sounded like she'd just become Sailor Moon's lifelong
friend."
Calcite winced and raised a hand to his brow. Then groaned aloud.
End of part 1
