CHAPTER 7

The sailor soldier before them stood still as the last of the light melted away. She then lifted her empty left hand, promptly Sailors Ionus and Magellanus to jump. The soldier took the mask on her nose and lifted it away. She extended her arm to the side and let the mask drop. Her eyes were closed, but only for a moment more before she snapped them open. Brilliant violet eyes stared right at the Guardians. She extended her right foot forward and lifted her right arm up, pointing her mirror, the Mirror of Venu and Cupi, at them. “Aqueous Convulsion!”

The attack that came bore similarities to Sailor New V's “Twin Beams” attack, but it was much more pronounced and clearly more powerful. The spiraling jets of water shot out, breaking from the mirror and becoming two clear disks that circled around a common, unseen axis as they flew at an incredible speed at the Guardians. It flew between Ionus and Charonus, throwing them aside before the two disks separated from their spiraling and connected at one end. They stretched long enough for them to hit the entire Guardian team, throwing them roughly backwards. The water didn't stop there as they wrapped around the team, pulling them together until they were wrapped in watery bindings. “Aqueous Convulsion!” A new set of disks appear, but instead of connecting, one flew at Charonus and the other at Ionus, doing the same to them as they had to the rest. This earned numerous cheers as the students flocked back to see what was happening.

“Argh!” The Guardians struggled with their bindings. Tritonus didn't struggle, keeping her focus on the bindings that kept Neptune, Mercury, and PhobosDeimosian, but it didn't do any good as the mysterious senshi stepped up to them.

“Twin Beams!” The signature attack of Sailor New V cut through the bindings like they were nothing, freeing the three senshi. PhobosDeimosian stood, her eyes level with the senshi before her.

“It is good to see you again,” she said. “Welcome back, Sailor Alrisha.”

“It is good to be back, Sailor PhobosDeimosian,” Alrisha said. She smiled. “I never realized before how much of a mouthful your name is.” She and PhobosDeimosian laughed.

“Laugh and be happy all you want!” Mirandas shouted. “It will all be over soon! We will succeed!”

“No, you will not,” Alrisha said. “We will not let you pick up where you left off. This ends now.” Alrisha pointed her mirror at Mirandas' head. “It is over. Twin-”

“Alrisha, no!” Sailor Moon ran forward a Alrisha looked up at you.

“With all due respect, Sailor Moon, this must end now,” Alrisha said. “They cannot be allowed to continue their task.”

“You can't just kill her!” Moon objected. “That is just horrible!”

“It must be done!” Alrisha argued.

“You'd be just like them!” Mercury said as she and the others joined Moon.

“Look at what they just did to you!” Mars said. “Do you want to be just like them?!”

“You don't understand,” Alrisha said. “It must be done. There is no other alternative. If they finish their objective, our entire system will be obliterated, and so will the Pisces Empire! Twin Be-”

“Venus! Love Me Chain!” Venus whipped her golden chain of hearts at Alrisha, whipping the mirror out of her hands.

“Ow! Are you crazy?” Alrisha shouted.

“Hey, that's out job!” Marineros said. She looked at Mirandas, who nodded.

“Angeline Light!” the guardians shouted in unison. The fishnet on all seven guardians' arms began glowing brilliantly. The powerful force of it dissolved their watery bindings and threw the senshi around them back. Then, the light was suddenly gone. The senshi looked up. The guardians were gone, and so was Sailor Alrisha.

-------

“What happened to Karen?” Tenka asked the teens around her. “That couldn't have been Karen out there! Whoever that was, she sounded nothing like Karen!”

“No, she sounded like Sailor Alrisha,” Amber said, rubbing her temples. “It seems as though Karen couldn't resist the latent personality of her past life like I could.”

“What does that mean?” Makoto asked.

“Well, we were different in our past lives,” Amber said. “We all were, including all of you. With our past lives, and knowledge of our past lives, comes a different personality. When I transform, I feel that other personality within me, trying to poke it's ugly head out. But I resist it's negative aspects and use its positive aspects to my advantage. Karen... clearly couldn't do it.” She sighed. “Of course, this is her first time transforming into Sailor Alrisha. The next time, she should be all right.”

“If there is a next time,” Hotaru said. “Where is she? What happened to her?” Amber shook her head.

“I don't know,” she said. “But it can't be good.” She leaned back against Rei's bed. “My only guess is that the Guardians took her and are planning on using her to complete their task.”

“What IS their task, anyway?” Haruka asked. “Alrisha said something about the total destruction of our system AND of the Pisces Empire. Just how are the Guardians planning on achieving that?” Amber closed her eyes, squinting them slightly.

“I didn't want to say anything about it because I didn't know if they could be listening in on us or not, but now there's no choice,” she said. “Back during the Silver Millennium, after its ceding, the rulers of the Angeline Empire found a way to destroy two enemy systems with one blow.” She opened her eyes and dropped her head forward. “We kidnapped one of the twin princesses of Pisces and brought her here to Sol. We stashed her on Kinsei at first, but after I turned traitor, they moved her so I couldn't rescue her. I don't know where to. The plan was to execute this royal-blooded Piscean here in Sol. This execution would not only result in the utter annihilation of whatever planet she was on, but would connect to Sol's star and collapse it.”

“But how would that effect the Pisces Empire?” Michiru asked.

“The twins of Pisces are connected in spirit and soul,” Amber explained. “Their starseeds are connected, and it's such a special, complicated connection...” She trailed off. “If one twin dies, the other feels it and is effected. I have no doubt that when the kidnapped twin died in our past lives, the other twin suffered quite a bit. But, the death that they planned made use of a rare artifact, the Zlocian Sphere. With it, they could cause the power of the twin's starseed to cause a sort of cascade explosion. The energy would annihilate the host planet, travel to the host star, and cause the star to collapse. The connection between the twins would send the effects through the connection to the other twin, and the exact same thing would happen in Pisces, causing the annihilation of Pisces' lead star, Alrisha.”

The senshi were speechless. “How can they accomplish this now, unless they know the twin was reborn on Earth?” Luna asked. “And if they plan on using Sailor Alrisha to accomplish this, how will it work with her?” Amber tilted her head, looking out the window. “The star Alrisha is the center of power for all of Pisces,” she said. “That is why the Empire's guardian senshi is named after it. Think of the constellation of Pisces. While its stars aren't all a part of the empire, the star Alrisha is. It is no coincidence that it is a part of the constellation, and no coincidence that it is the knot in the constellation that ties the two fish together, for that is exactly what Sailor Alrisha is.” Amber looked to everyone else. “Sailor Alrisha came to Sol looking for the princess because of the connection, for her starseed is also connected to the twins. If they use the Zlocian Sphere on Alrisha, it wouldn't be hard to connect the effects to both starseeds.”

“But what about the Pisces Empire?” Ami asked. “Is it possible for the other twin to still be alive after all this time?”

“There's only one way to find out,” Amber said. “Long ago, Alrisha told me about the powers of the twins. Each were senshi in their own respects, and if one transformed, her starseed would automatically call to its counterpart, summoning the host to the location of the twin.”

“But wait, why didn't they do that then?” Michiru asked. “Why not have the one twin transform and teleport the kidnapped one home?”

“They couldn't,” Amber said. “It's a one-way connection. The power of Cupi is much more powerful that the power of Venu, meaning it is Cupi who calls on Venu, and guess which twin they kidnapped.”

“Cupi,” Ami said. Amber nodded. “But what does this do for us? Unless...”

“You already know where the twin is!” Minako said. “You've known all along!”

“And I didn't say anything, for her safety,” Amber said. “But now, we have no choice. We have to rescue Alrisha, and we can't without the power of Venu and Cupi to find her.” She then stood. “We have to find Alrisha before the Guardians realize she doesn't have the Zlocian Sphere anymore.” Amber turned and headed for the door.

“Wait, what?” Minako asked as they all stood to follow. “Alrisha had the sphere?”

“Yes, and if it hadn't been for you, they would have it right now,” Amber said, opening the door. She turned halfway around and put her hand in her jacket pocket, pulling out the Mirror of Venu and Cupi. “I dived for it just before we were swallowed by the light. The mirror is, in itself, a powerful weapon. However, it hides a secret.” She tapped the blue sphere in the middle. “We managed to steal the Zlocian Sphere just before we both died. We hid it in the blue sphere. It was our secret.” Amber turned back around and left the room.

“This is all way too much,” Usagi said as she followed.

“Tell me about it,” Tenka said. “I mean, you guys are the senshi, not me. If you don't get it, how am I supposed to?”

“Don't worry, Tenka,” Amber said. “You'll understand it all very shortly.” Amber stopped in the courtyard and turned to them. “Come here, Tenka.” Surprised, Tenka stopped walking.

“Wait, me?” Amber nodded and Tenka warily approached.

“I don't believe in coincidence,” Amber said. “I never did, but now that I am a senshi again, I definitely don't. It is not coincidence that Karen and I came to know each other in this life, and it is not coincidence that you and she became best friends.” She extended her hand forward, holding the Mirror of Venu and Cupi to Tenka. “Tenka, you are the twin, the missing princess from 1,000 years ago. You are Sailor Pisces Cupi.” Tenka gasped and took half a step back.

“M-Me?” she asked. “No, there must be a mistake.”

“There is no mistake,” Amber said. “As soon as I came into my powers and remembered my past life, I also remembered the energy of the princess I had helped kidnap. That very same energy flows from you. Tenka, it is you.” Tenka turned her head away a little, her eyes never leaving the mirror. “Tenka, your best friend's life is at stake. Take the mirror, and become the person you once were.” Tenka shifted her eyes up, looking at Amber. She looked at the mirror again and reached for it. Slowly, she touched its cool surface. Then, she rested her palm on it. Finally, she wrapped her whole hand around it. Amber took her hand away as Tenka pulled the mirror to herself. She opened her hand and looked at her reflection. She stared hard at it, and then suddenly it flashed and changed. She gasped and watched the reflection blink with her. It's purple eyes stared in disbelief.

“Amazing,” she whispered.

“Wait, did you just speak?” Tenka gasped and looked around her. She had heard a voice, but it didn't belong to anyone around them.

“Who-Who said that?” she whispered. Amber watched Tenka warily as the blue sphere began to glow a little. The mirrors shimmered as Tenka looked back at them. The purple eyes stared back at her. Then, they were gone as a brilliant light swallowed the mirror, her hands, and then her entirely. The others tensed, unsure as what to expect. Then, the light began to spread as though being blown away by a gentle breeze. In fact, there was a sort of breeze. The light floated away and faded, revealing almost a whole senshi. The uniform looked similar to Alrisha's, but it was glowing and transparent, floating as though not really there, like a ghost of a uniform. Then, the glow began to change shape, turning into a solid uniform not unlike those the other senshi wore.

Her skirt, collar, and high heels were purple and her bow was light blue. Her hair was brown, long, and tied near the end with two blue bands. This senshi took a step back, turning halfway around before backing up further. They could see her eyes were purple and her front bow light blue. She took several more steps back and held the mirror to her chest.

“I call upon the power of Cupi!” the senshi called, clearly Tenka underneath it all. “I call upon the power of Cupi, to bring to me the power of beauty, the power of Venu!” A column of translucent light blue light surrounded her, shooting to the sky. Then, it turned purple. It held this color for a moment. Then, the girls all jumped and screamed when the column bent high above Tenka and shot at the ground with a great quake. Amber fell over, clearly startled, and crawled backwards without a clue to what exactly was going to happen. On the ground were the purple beam touched it, a new column of light began to grow high to the sky. It started white, then turned to light green, and then to brilliant blue. In the column of blue appeared a young woman with brown hair up in a long ponytail. She wore a uniform just like the ghostly one Tenka had before it changed. This one's could be seen to be blue and pale green after the column of light disappeared with a spark. Tenka's column did the same. The two senshi lifted their heads and looked at each other. While Tenka stood still as stone, the other jumped backwards in a comedic fashion.

“By Alrisha's light, I don't believe it!” she screeched. “It happened! It really happened! The twin of my great grandmother lives!” The senshi pointed erratically at Tenka as she slowly lowered to her knees. “I can't believe it! All this time of wondering, and you, PiscesCupi, actually live! You... you look just like my great grandmother! Well, before she got old anyway.”

“Um, thank you?” Tenka said questioningly.

“Say, what happened to your uniform?” the girl asked.

“There's no time for this right now,” Amber said as she stepped up to Tenka. She looked at her. “Sailor PiscesCupi.” Amber then looked at the girl. “Sailor PiscesVenu, it is up to you two to locate Sailor Alrisha before the Guardians harm her.”

“Sailor Alrisha?” PiscesVenu asked, standing up. “You mean, THE Sailor Alrisha?” Amber and PiscesCupi nodded. “Well what are waiting for?! By Alrisha's light, we have to save her!” PiscesVenu raised her fist to the air, shaking it. Then she stopped. “Um, just how do we do that, anyway?” Everyone stared at the girl in shock.

“You mean, you don't know how?” Usagi asked. PiscesVenu shook her head.

“We can figure it out,” PiscesCupi said. She walked over to PiscesVenu. “Together, we make a complete pair, one complete power that is tied together by Sailor Alrisha. We just have to trace it back to her in order to find her.” PiscesVenu tilted her head.

“Well, you're in charge, so lead away!” she said.

“We can use the mirror,” PiscesCupi said. She held it to PiscesVenu, who looked like she was ready to foam at the mouth.

“Oh my, oh my!” she said. “By Alrisha's Light, it's the Mirror of Venu and Cupi!” She jumped up and down, but she settled herself with one stern look from PiscesCupi. She extended her hand and rested it on the mirror. Almost instantly, the senshi could feel a new, stronger power rising from the two senshi.

“I can feel her!” PiscesCupi shouted.

“Oh my, oh my, I can see her!” PiscesVenu raved. “Oh, she is more beautiful than her paintings let on!”

“Great-niece, please focus,” PiscesCupi said. PiscesVenu giggled, then her smile fell.

“We can teleport to her, using the mirror as our guide,” she said seriously.

“Everyone transform and come closer if you want to come along!” PiscesCupi shouted. The girls looked at each other and nodded. Usagi looked to Haruka, who looked back at Michiru, Hotaru, and Setsuna. The three nodded, and Haruka nodded at Usagi.

“Moon Eternal, Make-Up!” Usagi shouted. The others followed, including Amber. They all ran forward to the two senshi. Without warning, bubbles began to appear around them in a ring. They touched and formed a huge bubble that surrounded them all.

“Good luck, senshi!” Luna shouted from the temple. Rays of light shot from the mirror within the hands of the two senshi and began to dance around. They grew brighter, faster, and larger until suddenly, they were all gone.

-------

“The seal is weakening,” Titanos said. “I suppose that means we have to hurry?”

“We would... if we had the damn Zlocian Sphere!” Mirandas shouted. “We've done everything, she doesn't have it!” She beat her fists on the stone alter that Alrisha slept on.

“But she must!” Ionus cried. “We already determined PhobosDeimosian didn't have it back before we killed her!”

“A suggestion,” Tritonus whispered. Mirandas heard her, but typically, the others didn't. They all turned to her after seeing Mirandas do so. “Perhaps Alrisha has the Zlocian Sphere, but was denied ownership of it in favor of our lives?”

“What the hell does that mean?” Mirandas asked.

“The mirror, or course!” Magellanus shouted. “They must have hid it in the mirror!”

“And now the mirror is lost to us,” Marineros yawned. “Sailor Venus knocked it from Alrisha's hands so we wouldn't be vaporized.” Magellanus frowned.

“They no doubt have picked it up,” Titanos said. “We'll just have to pay them another visit.”

“I wouldn't recommend that,” Charonus said as she joined them in the room. “The Pisces Empire is blossoming with activity. Someone from there is now here on Earth.” Charonus crossed her arms. “PhobosDeimosian must have found the twin, and now the other half is here on Earth.”

“They'll be looking for Alrisha,” Ionus said. Mirandas looked at the sleeping senshi.

“She will be of use yet.”

-------

The bubble popped, releasing the senshi into a dark, cold room. “Where are we?” Mars asked. Mercury already had her computer out and running as the others looked around. There were old metal chains that were hooked to the walls and the entrance was half obstructed by a door that was twisted and almost unrecognizable.

“We are several hundred feet below the Earth's surface in an underground cavern,” Mercury said. “These caverns are extensive, and have several access points to the surface, but all are caved in.”

“That's no surprise,” PiscesCupi said. “These caverns have been here for over 1000 years.”

“How do you know that?” Sailor Moon asked. PiscesCupi didn't respond. Instead, she left the room and walked down the hall. The others followed. She finally stopped at a room with 5 different halls. Two were caved in, two were fine, and the fifth...

“That's where I died in the past,” PiscesCupi said suddenly, pointing to the fifth hall. The others gasped. “All of the turbulence on the surface and on the moon caused faults all across the Earth to shift. I was crushed to death in that hall.” She moved to it and put her hand on the wall of dirt that blocked it. “I'm surprised there's still two of the halls left, or even this room.” She stepped back out to the others.

“Do you know which way to go?” PhobosDeimosian asked. PiscesCupi shook her head. The others looked to Mercury.

“There is a large concentration of energy at the point were these two halls reconnect,” Mercury said.

“We should split up,” PiscesCupi said, glancing down one of the caverns. “They sound narrow.”

“Well, they are,” Mercury said, plenty surprised. “How could you tell?”

“There is water dripping down this one,” PiscesCupi said. “The echoes indicate a constricted space.” She looked back to the others, who stared at her with big eyes. “What?”

“You have really good ears,” Saturn said. PiscesCupi shrugged.

“Well, there's some math involved too, with timing and such between the echoes bouncing off the walls,” she, less confidently than before.

“Nonetheless, she is right and we should,” Mercury said. “One is shorter than the other, but the shorter one is the narrower one. We better our chances by splitting up.”

“Well then, let's go!” PiscesVenu said. She literally hopped over to PiscesCupi.

“I'll head down this way,” PhobosDeimosian said, moving to the left path.

“We'll go right,” PiscesCupi said. The senshi looked at each other before silently splitting up. Moon, Mercury, Mars, Pluto, and Saturn went with PhobosDeimosian while Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Jupiter went with the Pisces senshi.

“Here's hoping,” PhobosDeimosian muttered.

“Hoping what?” Mars asked. PhobosDeimosian looked back at her.

“Hoping the guardians don't know weren't coming through these tiny caverns, for one,” she said. “But perhaps more immediately, hoping no one is claustrophobic.”

-------

“Mmm... Where...” Purple eyes opened and Alrisha looked to the darkness that surrounded her. “Where am I?” She looked to her feet and neither saw nor felt anything beneath them.

“Well it's about time you joined the club!” Alrisha looked up at the darkness brightened into light. Floating opposite here was... herself? No, there were two.

“What is going on?” Alrisha asked.

“Oh, we were just having a little chat,” Karen said as she came into focus. She was wearing her school uniform, her arms were crossed, and she looked very unhappy. “A little chat about you.” Alrisha looked to other, who was clearly herself, from some point.

“Don't you recognize me?” the other asked. “I'm you, the one you left behind in Pisces after going to look for the princess. Remember me, Keirana?”

“Wait, what?” Alrisha asked.

“Clearly your turn-about with your personality in the past created an alternate personality within,” Karen said. “Of course, I'm just guessing, but considering how different the two of you are... I'd say I'm pretty close.”

“When you left, you stopped being me,” Keirana said. “You became cold, duty-driven, and unwilling to stop until you found the princess. When you did that, you created a completely different person whom I had to fight the entire time.” She sighed.

“I don't remember any of that,” Alrisha said shortly.

“Well of course not,” Keirana said. “You are now a completely separate personality. I knew everything you were doing because I had to know and I had to get control back, but when I took control, you were too stubborn to see things my way and, once you realized you couldn't get control, you blocked everything out of you recollection..”

“Because you were weak!” Alrisha shouted, her voice echoing endlessly. Karen and Keirana were silent. “You were weak and would have been unable to find the princess.”

“As I recall,” Karen interrupted, “You never found her, either.” Alrisha bit her lip.

“Well, that is because of her interruptions,” Alrisha said. “Her and her socializing, her love affair, her-”

“Love affair?” Karen looked at Keirana. “Love?” Keirana blushed and looked away.

“Yeah, I payed attention to that,” Alrisha said. “I knew it was bad news, having a relationship with that man, but you were so adamant about keeping me from stopping it before it got us killed!”

“Killed?!” Karen shrieked.

“Yeah, that's how we died,” Alrisha said. “I faced off against Beryl on Earth while PhobosDeimosian went to the Moon and while my back was turned he-” Alrisha paused and blinked her eyes as they got watery. Karen heard a sniffle from her left and looked to Keirana, who was rubbing her nose. “He-” Alrisha choked a sob.

“He turned on me...” Keirana and Alrisha sobbed together.

“Who did?” Karen asked, unsure as to whom to talk to. Keirana and Alrisha sniffled together.

“Jadeite!” they cried in unison. Karen gasped as Keirana turned into a glowing mist and moved to Alrisha, combining into one. “Jadeite stabbed me in the back,” Alrisha sobbed. “He stabbed me with-” Alrisha stopped. Karen tilted her head.

“With what?” Alrisha lifted her head, her eyes wide in sudden realization.

“The artifact, it's incomplete,” she said. She looked up at Karen. “The Zlocian Sphere! It was in the mirror, he knew it was, but he still stabbed me with the sword.” She looked to the side, still awestruck, and then she smiled, closing her eyes. “Jadeite, you sly dog you...” She opened her eyes and looked back at Karen, her face suddenly covered with determination. “We need to find that sword.”