CHAPTER 20
"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!!!"
"AIYA!!!" The screams of the last shadow choked off as it disintegrated.
Sailor Venus chuckled and made a V-sign. "Yes! Sailor Venus did it again!
hahaha! I'm invincible!"
After a few minutes of self-congratulations, Sailor Venus began to pay
attention to her whereabouts. She was in a desert, a empty land of rolling
sands. Fortunately, the weather was surprisingly cool.
"Hm...That hunk must have a twisted sense of humor. How could he have
send such a pretty girl like me to a..a...DESERT! Humph!" Venus snorted and
continued walking. "When we get out of this mess, I'm going to make sure Adelaide
and Mika take me to a beauty saloon....sigh....my poor, beautiful skin...."
Unnoticed to Sailor Venus, the sands were beginning to shift behind her...
it rose to a man's height and fell apart, revealing a muscular, bronzed skin
man. He wore only sleeveless tunic and long loose black trousers. Quietly, he
raised the staff in his hand. A ray of pure energy blasted towards the blond girl
in front of him.
Her instinct screaming, Sailor Venus ducked and coughed as the energy hit
the ground, causing a cloud of dust to fly up. "Hey! That's not fair! You--"
Venus gaped as she stared at the handsome dark stranger before her....only
remembering to duck a second time as another ray zoomed towards her. Inwardly,
Sailor Venus wondered why were all the bad guys handsome ones?
"Welcome to my dimension, sailor Venus, I am Ral, master of the desert,
Second Commander to the Shadow King." Ral thumped his staff in the ground,
courteously waiting for Venus' reaction.
"Huh! Why do I care what's your rank? You work for the Shadow King and that
makes you my enemy! Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
Ral quickly raised his staff and blocked her attack with it. Thus breaking
the head of the staff.
"Don't you dare look down on the Sailor Senshis, we are here to punish you."
proclaim sailor Venus smugly, inwardly laughing at his surprised expression.
Ral ignored her taunt and threw his staff aside.
"Very well...then I'll just have to treat you accordingly."
"Huh? You're--YIKES!!!" Venus have a strangled yelp as the ground beneath
her began to sink. "VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!" Her glowing chain caught hold of a
nearby cactus and pulled her up. But as she steadied herself, a heavy weight
landed on her body and pushed her to the ground.
Shocked, she could only stare at Ral. He gave a faint smile at her surprise
as his big hand tightened his grip around her throat. Venus struggled and tried
to escape but Ral positioned his body over hers and effectively secured her
struggling body, his other free hand also caught her two wrist into a deadlock.
Nearly suffocating, Sailor Venus nonetheless felt embarrased at his proximity
and did the sanest thing she could think of : "AIII!!HENTAI!!!HELP!!!!"
Ral blinked in surprise, his grip momentaryly softening. Venus quickly
jerked her body, throwing him off balance. She scrambled up, face blazing red
and pointed her finger at him: "You..you...MONSTER!! VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY
SHOCK!!VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!!!" Her two attacks came swirling towards Ral, made
even more dangerous by her embarressed fury. Ral quickly rolled aside, but unable
to avoid her attacks. It hit him square on the shoulder and he grunted in pain.
"SANDSTORM!!" Ral growled, surrounding Sailor Venus in a blinding tornado.
She nearly choked as sand entered her nose, eyes and mouth, cutting off her
oxygen. Ral approached her struggling form and prepared to deal the killing
blow. "SAND GRANITE ATTACK!!"
Suddenly, a glowing chain shot out of the tornado, catching Ral round the
waist. He gaped as it pulled him towards the tornado, causing him to release
his attack.
"AIIIYAA!!!" Venus screamed as her senses exploded in pain. She fell to her
knees, blinded by the sand, half unconcious with pain. Gritting her lips as her
hair and her blood flew about in the tornado, Sailor Venus concentrated all her
powers on the tugging chain in her hand. "You..asshole...you ask for it....
VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN!!!!" Several crackling golden chains shot out, slicing Ral
as he struggled ineffectually against the firm grip of the chain round his waist.
He choked on his own blood as one chain snapped his throat...he landed onto the
sands with a loud thud
The tornado dissipated, Sailor Venus collapsed onto the sands. She groggily
made a weak V-sign, wincing as thousands of needles shot through her hands.
"I...I...I..w..win...hahah..hahah.." SAilor Venus watched with apparent
disinterest as the ground beneath her began to grow red. "...I..I'm..hurt...
haha...red..i..isn't...my color..." she mumbled as her vision began to grow dim.
"Good...luck...Usagi...."
=========================
The Shadow King smiled as a pair of pale hands caressed his arm. He gazed
at the shadow-minion grovelling in the ground before him: "Janus and Ral did
well..."
"Yet they were defeated." spoke the owner of the pale hands, her melodious
voice ringing out in the hushed chamber. She lay her head against the Shadow
King : "This game of yours could be a folly, surely we could easily destroy
the others...."
"No, my dear. This game will tire them out and easily make them vulnerable
when they finally arrive here. What have we to fear? We already have the
Saturn Crystal...the crystal of destruction..now we only need the Silver Moon
Crystal and the Golden Crystal."
"What about the other? The child of that accursed Myrona?!" demanded the
lady, her long black hair tumbling down her shoulders as she straightened
herself. "I will not allow her to live!!"
"Indeed." agreed the Shadow King, his eyes glowing with a red hungry fire.
"She will remain alive to see her friends die before her eyes...after that
we'll just have to torture her to death."
"Hahahaha...my dear husband...you are so devious." murmured the lady.
"Of course...hahaha.." the Shadow King joined in her laughter, his face
twisted into a malicious mask of evil...yet deep within his conciousness...the
one who called himself Zakros stirred and screamed.....
=========================
A cold wind blew past Tuxedo Mask. He tightened his cloak around him, breathing
out faint steams as he trudged through the ice-covered land.
"Usako..." he whispered as his shivering form continued their lonely journey.
He was tired, sore, and cold. He had already walked for an hour with no sign of
anyone. At the beginning, he had woken to a barren land of rocks, then snow
started to fall...
In a few minutes, the gentle snow had become a heavy blizzard. Tuxedo Mask
nevertheless strode on, his thoughts all on Sailor Eternal Moon...and Sailor
Cosmo Gaia....
'Odd...I've been thinking of her almost everyday.' mused Tuxedo Mask, wincing
alightly as another bone-biting wind blew past. 'She seems so..familiar...."
His thoughts were interupted by the abrupt stop of falling snow. He started
in surprise as a sad melody came floating through the silent air.
"Who's there?" called Tuxedo Mask. Then a small shape hesistantly came out
from behind a snow covered rock. It was a little girl...a shivering little girl
dressed in temple robes, her two pigtails now frozen into icicles. She stood
there shivering, staring at Tuxedo Mask wit her doe's eyes. Her hands were
clutching an ordinary brown flute.
"Little girl, what are yoiu doing here? What's your name?" asked Tuxedo Mask
as he quickly threw his cloak over her, deeply concerned over her apparent frozen
state.
"A..a monster..took me away..threw me here...frightened..play music..." the
little girl poured out her troubles in a rush.
"What's your name?"
"Trisha."
"Very well, Trisha, you've no need to worry now, I'll get you out of this
horrible place."
Trisha's eyes lighted up: "promise?"
"I promise." said Tuxedo Mask solemnly, smiling as Trisha drape her arms
trustingly round him.
"Thank you..you're so nice." murmured Trisha as Tuxedo Mask carried her.
Tuxedo Mask smiled indulgingly but then that smile turned to a frown as he
found he could not move his feet. Looking down, he was shocked to find them
both caste into ice!
"What's wrong?" Trisha heard Tuxedo Mask's short gasp.
"No..nothin Trisha...." He tried move his arms but they too stuck..Now even
Trisha felt like a heavy block of ice..all cold and heavy...cold...A terrible
realization dawned on Tuxedo Mask as he stared at the little girl in his arms.
"You aren't lost...are you Trisha??"
Trisha suddenly gave a short laugh and jumped down from his frozen arms :
"You were a fool, Tuxedo Mask, a sentimental fool." She waved her arms and
grew quickly to an adult's height. Her body rounding out to the gentle curves
of a young woman. "I am the Second Commander of the Shadow Queen, Istrisha.
I am also known as the Ice Queen." she gave a icy smile towards the man before
her.
"You...what..d..do you want..." chattered Tuxedo Mask, his mind beginning
to grow numb with cold.
"Oh, I guess I wanted to add you to my collection since you're so kind,
but I also have to take your Crystal out for my Shadow Queen, she needs to
rejuvenate herself."
"Humph...HIYAH!!!" Tuxedo Mask broke free of the restraining ice with an
effort and threw a rose towards Istrisha. She quickly avoided it and turned
to see Tuxedo Mask stumbling away...
"Run all you can....Tuxedo Mask...but you can never escap my dimension..."
purred Istrisha.
Tuxedo Mask leaned against a large frozen rock, his breath coming in short
gasps. Using his cane, he stroved to break the icy lock around his feet. Finally
they were free and he quickly massaged them to return their circulation.
A whistling sound alerted him to his danger and he rolled half a feet away
as silver ice daggers hit the ground near him.
"I found yoouuu..." sang Istrisha. She then blew another tune on her flute.
Tuxedo Mask groaned as a pair of snow man rose of from the snow covered ground.
'Why me?!' he wondered as he threw roses at them, ineffectually slowing their
advance. He remembered Sailor Cosmo Gaia's battle with Hades' vampyres and a
small smile quirk the side of his mouth.
A cold weight landed on top of him and he landed on the ground, the breath
knocked out of him. Both monsters stod over him as Istrisha stepped nearer.
"Foolish fool...did you think that flowers could stop my minions?" A small
dagger appeared in her hand. "Now...GOODBYE!!!!"
At the same moment, a bright light shot out from Tuxedo Mask's chest and
vaporized the two monsters over him, Istrisha yelped and scuttled backwards.
Tuxedo Mask squinted his eyes at the hovering bright light, it slowly took
the shape of a white cane with an ornate design apon it...exactly the same
cane that was held by his future self!
"How..." Tuxedo mask wondered as the cane gently came to rest apon his
outstretched palms. The medallion round his chest had caused this...the
medallion....
Almost as if a magic word had been said, all his memories came rushing back...
how he received it from Mika...his past battles...princess Serenity...his past
life......
A line of tears ran down his face as he recalled the final secret of his
childhood....now he finally remembered....He tightened his fist around the
cane.
"So..you DO have a hidden trick, not bad..now try this! ICE BLIZZARD!!!"
screamed Istrisha.
Tuxedo Mask got up, his clothings suddenly shimmering. Suddenly, he was
transformed into King Endymion. Without even flinching, he upheld his staff
and whacked Istrisha's attack aside, he then released a ball of golden fire
towards her.
"WHAT!!" Istrisha screamed as she quickly stamped out the flames on her
body, she turned to stare at the changed man before her. Now he seemed much
more nobler and wiser....
"I have to find my friends but to do that..I must defeat you...I'm sorry."
Endymion raised his staff once more and a golden glow began to surround him.
Istrisha gasped as she started to melt..her world..her body...it was all
melting in Endymion's golden heat.
"NOOOOooooooo............"
Endymion opened his eyes when Istrisha's horrified scream faded away, now
he was back again to the rock terrain he had once woken to...He turned and
saw his own reflection in the last remaining ice sheet. His hair had turned
lighter and he now wore a light purple royal outfit with a long cloak behind
him. No longer would he appear as Tuxedo Mask...he was now King Endymion....
"Usako...Mika...wait for me..." he said as he hurried on...his cloak
fanning out as he ran forward to the castle in the darkness at the far horizon. (
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