No notes necessary from here on out. If you've been reading faithfully,
it's a wild roller-coaster ride to the finish. If not...
go back to the first chapter and start from there.
The majority of characters in this story are owned and/or copyrighted by
Naoko Takeuchi, DiC, Disney, Bandai, Toei Animation, Seagull Entertainment,
Graz Entertainment, Sunrise, Mixxzine, Saban, Playmates, and probably a half
dozen other corporations which I've neglected to mention. I should add for
the benefit of their respective legal departments that I make no claim to
the characters which the previously listed or referred to companies have
copyrighted, and I am not making any money from the distribution of these
stories (if I were, do you think I'd still be working at McDonald's?)
The characters which do not appear in either the Sailor Moon or Ronin
Warriors shows are mine. Touch them and die.
Now that that's out of the way...
Crystal Scouts #13
"Twisted Crystals"
Darkness.
Enveloped in darkness.
The Purple Sailor felt as if she were swimming in an endless sea
of darkness.
Slowly, surely, inexorably, she fought her way to the surface. It
seemed to take forever, like swimming through Jello, but at last she broke
through.
She opened her eyes--or, at least, she thought she did; the darkness
still remained. She closed her eyes, then opened them again. Yes, they
_were_ open--the darkness now was a shade lighter than before.
The Purple Sailor quickly checked herself over. One small victory--
she was still alive, and all her parts were still attached. Now, to find
out where she was...
How did I get here? she thought. The Purple Sailor really didn't
know. The last thing she remembered was rising off the ground--being lifted
by somebody or something. After that, the darkness, up until now.
Blindly she groped through the darkness, arms outstretched in front
of her, trying to ward off the things she could not see and that the brain
always conjures up when immersed in blackness.
The Purple Sailor's searching fingers finally brushed up against
a wall.
The wall, however, was protected by some sort of power. Lightning
thundered in the Purple Sailor's head and energy coursed through her veins.
She had the sensation of being hurled backward before the darkness
swallowed her again.
Sailor Jupiter sat silently in the dark, listening for someone--
anyone--else. She heard movement somewhere off to her right--fellow Scout
or enemy? Only one way to find out...
Sailor Jupiter began to make her way over to the other being. She
was still roughly three yards behind it when she caught the flash right in
front of her face.
The other being had been the Purple Sailor--and she was flying
backwards, straight toward Sailor Jupiter. She quickly maneuvered herself
into position to catch the flying Crystal Scout, nearly spraining her ankle
in the process.
The surrounding darkness seemed to be lightening now, from a dim
gray to a brightness approximating that of a sunny day. Sailor Jupiter
surveyed her environment, searching for more Scouts.
All ten of the others were here, in various states of consciousness.
Some were groping blindly about, sheepishly dropping their arms when it
became bright enough to see. Sailor Jupiter herself could now see that what
she had thought was solid ground was not solid--in fact, it wasn't even
there at all.
The twelve Scouts were all inside a large dome, which was dark, yet
still opaque. It had been this barrier that the Purple Sailor had
accidentally stumbled into.
Sailor Jupiter could also see that the ten others were standing,
sitting, or lying on what seemed to them to be solid ground. Each of their
ideas of ground was pointing in a different direction--a very disconcerting
effect, Sailor Jupiter had to admit.
"Scouts under glass," she said, a little bitterly.
"I'm not giving up yet!" Sailor Venus yelled. "Venus Crescent Beam
Smash!"
The beam of light impacted the dark shield. It flared briefly,
then died.
"Hey, a little help here?" Sailor Venus demanded, frustrated.
"Fire--Blaze!"
A wall of flame hit the dark shield. It too flared and died,
leaving no mark whatsoever on the shield.
Everybody knew what that meant--their most powerful attack had
failed. No way out...
The lights suddenly seemed to flicker. Someone--something--was
approaching...
A shadow approached the dark shield. The shadow was blacker than
jet, and dimmed the bright light around it, making it seem larger than it
truly was.
Finally the shadow drew close enough to the shield for the Scouts
to identify it.
The Commander.
"You are amazingly resilient!" the Commander said admiringly. "I
had expected at most for two or three of you to be awake, but nine...ten,
counting the one who summoned me by blundering into the shield. She should
be fully recovered right about...now."
As if on cue, the Purple Sailor's eyes blinked open. "What
happened? Where are we?"
"Legitimate questions, which I suppose I can answer for you, to give
your souls some measure of peace before you depart for the next realm," the
Commander replied. "You are now on a Black Moon spaceship in Earth orbit.
While it is not my own personal craft, it was once the flagship of the Black
Moon--and it still is, I suppose, since all the others have been destroyed,
thanks to you, Princess."
"Princess?" the Red Sailor asked Sailor Moon.
"You didn't tell them who you are, my little time-traveling Rabbit?"
the Commander asked in mock surprise. "That you're Rini Warren, Princess
Small Lady Serenity, the future Queen of Crystal Tokyo?"
"Princess? _Crystal_ Tokyo?" the Red Sailor said in disbelief. Her
red eyes came into full focus, blazing brightly. "You _lied_ to me."
Sailor Moon hung her head, not in shame, but more in regret. For
the third time in her life, keeping a secret from her friends and teammates
had cost her dearly.
Sailor Jupiter raced toward the barrier of the dark shield to face
the Commander.
"Be careful," the Commander warned without sincerity. "You should
already know that the shield carries a charge."
The Commander's warning cut off all but the last few words of Sailor
Jupiter's outburst. "...on crystal crosses!"
"Because I am not a cruel sadistic pig like that fool Rubeus," the
Commander answered. "I prefer not to dirty my hands if I can help it.
After all, that's what henchmen and subordinates are for--right, Princess?"
Sailor Moon refused to answer.
"Besides, the purpose of this dark shield is not only containment,
but also annihilation," the Commander continued. "It's not only protected
from all your elemental attacks so that you can't escape, it's also slowly
running out of air so that you'll all suffocate. Even after all the trouble
you've given me, you're still receiving a relatively painless death. Now,
so I don't have to listen to you grovel for your meaningless existences, I'm
going to leave you to prepare for my triumphant entry into Tokyo."
The Commander spoke sadly, mockingly, to Sailor Moon. "I'd like to
keep you as a trophy, Princess, but who would I show you off to?" The
Commander gave a sad shake of the head. "Enjoy your last breaths, Scouts."
The Commander vanished, instantly brightening the surrounding light.
"You _lied_ to me," the Red Sailor repeated, a little most strongly
this time.
"I didn't exactly lie to you," Sailor Moon tried to explain. "I
just didn't tell you the entire truth."
"Leaving us to draw our own conclusions," the Red Sailor snorted.
"Talk about Machiavellian."
"Listen to me," Sailor Moon replied hotly, her own reddish eyes
beginning to blaze. "If we get out of here alive, we can discuss it later.
Right now we have more important problems to deal with."
The Red Sailor snorted again.
"Purple Sailor, you're the smallest Scout here," Sailor Moon said,
reasserting her authority, doubled now that the fact that she was royalty
was public. "You feel up to a mission?"
The Purple Sailor shrugged. "Anything that'll get us out of this
prison."
"We've got one chance. If it works, we're out of here. If it
doesn't..." Sailor Moon shrugged. "We're all dead."
"What are you planning to do?"
"On the count of three, I'm going to try to blow a hole in the side
of the shield. If I do, you're going out through it. Find the switch,
lever, button, whatever that shuts this thing off. Ready?"
The Purple Sailor nodded. "Ready."
Sailor Moon's hand flashed behind her back for a split second,
somehow drawing out a small pink wand.
"One."
The Commander had said that the dark shield was protected from all
elemental attacks.
"Two."
All that the Commander knew existed, that is.
"Three."
All except one.
"Pink Sugar Heart Attack!"
A succession of small pink hearts shot out from the end of the wand,
growing in size as they neared and impacted the dark shield. The affected
area of the shield began to glow pink, continuing to brighten in intensity
until a heart shaped piece fell from the shield.
Sailor Moon ended the attack, even more surprised than the other
two conscious Sailor Scouts that it had worked, but hiding it well for the
seven Crystal Scouts, who were unaware of the attack's relative weakness.
"Go!" she ordered.
The Purple Sailor needed no prompting, diving through the heart
shaped opening as it began to shrink. It closed completely as she landed
on the floor below.
Sailor Moon said a few words under her breath, though no one else
heard them. They were meant for her as much as for the Purple Sailor.
"Good luck. Stand strong..."
The Purple Sailor crept quickly and quietly through the corridors
of the spaceship. She was trying to find her way around, as well as keep
out of sight of the Commander. She turned a corner into a large room...
And looked up to see the same dark shield she'd just left behind.
Magical deception? No, not really...now that the Purple Sailor
thought about it, she _had_ circled back on her own path. Which meant
she'd probably just taken a grand tour of the crew's quarters. She had
been lucky not to run into the Commander, if that had been the case...
The Purple Sailor quickly checked around her. Bingo--off to her
right was a blinking console, decked out with hundreds of buttons, levers,
gadgets, and gizmos.
Button, button, who's got the button...
Seventeen switches, five levers, and twenty-four buttons later, the
dark shield vanished and the eleven Scouts fell the short distance to the
floor. Sailors Mercury and Mars were cradled by the Blue and Green Sailors
respectively. Neither of them had yet regained consciousness--a very bad
sign.
"Good job, Purple Sailor," Sailor Moon congratulated.
"Thanks," the Purple Sailor acknowledged. "What now?"
"We go find the Commander."
"I disagree," the Red Sailor said, still trying to keep some measure
of control over her Crystal Scouts. "I say we teleport out of here and
regroup. We're on enemy turf right now--no telling what the Commander could
still do to us here."
"Don't you get it?" Sailor Moon replied. "We're down to the last
enemy. We defeat the Commander, and it's all over. We can take the Rainbow
Crystals back, and you can go back to your normal lives."
"If you're lucky," the Red Sailor said harshly. "Quite frankly, I
don't think you're worthy enough to have the Rainbow Crystals back."
"You have no _right_ to make that judgment!" Sailor Moon exploded.
"Possession is nine tenths of the law," the Red Sailor retorted.
"Umm...could you two quit arguing and try to read what this says?"
the Orange Sailor interrupted, pointing at the console screen. "All I can
make out is 'San Francisco'."
"Don't look at me," the Blue Sailor said, still struggling with
Sailor Mercury. "I've never seen anything like it before, and she's only
now starting to regain consciousness. Besides, her computer's been
destroyed anyway..."
"I think I can handle it," Sailor Moon said confidently, settling
into the chair in front of the console. "Let's see," she said, beginning
to mumble to herself as she translated.
She suddenly stood up, spinning out of the chair and racing down
the spaceship's corridors. The Red Sailor flashed a glance back at the
console before running off after her.
"What was that about?" Sailor Venus asked, flabbergasted.
"I'm not exactly sure," the Orange Sailor said. "But I think I
heard her say 'weapons locked'."
Sailor Moon rushed down the corridors of the spaceship, vaguely
aware of an echoing set of footsteps behind her. She glanced over her
shoulder as she turned a corner--the Red Sailor, as she'd expected. No
matter--she can follow me if she wants to, thought Sailor Moon. _I'm_ not
the one who's acting like a psycho...
Sailor Moon continued on, down the twisting corridors. The smooth
metal sides of the hallways were infrequently interrupted by doors, but so
far none of them had been the one Sailor Moon wanted. She raced by another
one, which said "Commander's Quarters"--too late to deal with that problem,
now that a bigger one had presented itself.
Sailor Moon whipped around another corner, only to find herself back
in the huge shield room that she'd left to begin with. Off to her right
stood the item she'd been searching for--a three-foot black crystal set in
a black crystal base. It figures, Sailor Moon thought. Corollary to
Murphy's Law: you will always find something in the last place you look.
She grabbed hold of the black crystal, trying desperately to wrest
it from its base. Dark energy coursed through her as she struggled with it,
causing her face to contort in a grimace of pain.
No burst of power from the moonbeam was going to help her shatter
the black crystal this time...
Sailor Moon shifted her grip and pulled harder.
The Red Sailor stood transfixed, stunned by Sailor Moon's actions.
What is she doing? she thought.
A voice in her head answered her.
She's trying to save your life and those of the other Scouts, not
to mention the three quarters of a million citizens of San Francisco!
Wh--who are you?
Would you believe me if I said I was your conscience?
I--I guess so.
The voice snorted. You don't really know what to believe anymore,
do you?
Huh?
What to believe. What to think. About Sailor Moon. About
_anything_.
That name set the Red Sailor off again. She _lied_ to me!
And heroes don't lie, right? Is that it?
Yes!
You're wrong. Heroes _do_ lie. They _have_ to, to protect
themselves and others that they care about.
_I_ don't!
Have you told your parents? Did you call them when you first used
that Rainbow Crystal and say, "Guess what, Mom and Dad. I'm a superhero
now!"
No.
Then you lied to them, didn't you?
No, I...I just didn't tell them the whole truth.
Leaving them to draw their own conclusions, the voice echoed her.
How Machiavellian.
That's different...
Not really. Put it this way--if, when you'd first met, she'd told
you she had come for the Rainbow Crystals because she was a princess in line
for the throne of Crystal Tokyo and she had to take them back to the future
to save the lives of her parents the king and queen, would you have given
them to her?
No.
Exactly. That's why she was helping you out, trying to gain your
trust--at least until the Commander let the cat out of the bag.
She still could have _told_ me!
Once again, would you have believed her?
Once again, the Red Sailor was forced to admit the truth. No.
Remember this, the voice said before fading out. Heroes have to
hide behind masks--hide from the world, from each other, sometimes even
from themselves.
The Red Sailor was galvanized into action. She rushed toward Sailor
Moon and the black crystal, slamming her shoulder into the crystal with a
perfect football block. The black crystal snapped off at the base.
With a heave and a shudder, the Commander's spaceship began to break
apart. The Scouts scattered seconds before the console exploded in a shower
of sparks.
"Come on, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Venus urged. "Where are you?"
"Right here," came the reply, although a little weak. She was being
supported by the Red Sailor. "We've got to teleport out of here."
"What about Sailors Mars and Mercury?" the Blue Sailor asked.
"They're still not fully conscious yet."
"Put them in the center of the circle and link up anyway," Sailor
Moon said, although her voice was a little less confident this time.
"They'll be brought with us."
Sailors Mars and Mercury were quickly but gently placed on the floor
as the other Scouts took their places in the circle.
"Sailor Teleport!"
The twelve Scouts found themselves on a rocky desert plain lit by a
yellowish-gray light.
"What went wrong?" asked the Red Sailor.
"You fell into my trap," the Commander's voice rang out. "I had
actually hoped that you would escape my dark shield so that I could bring
you here."
"Where are we?" Sailor Moon demanded.
"You're on what's left of Nemesis, the tenth planet. You know it
as the Black Moon." The Commander sighed sadly. "When I die, this planet
dies with me. Even if you defeat me, you will find no victory."
The Commander finally removed the brown hooded cloak that had hidden
its wearer's identity for so long. The Commander was revealed as a
beautiful--coldly beautiful--girl with light brown hair and eyes. She wore
a brown military-style suit, as well as an inverted black moon sigil on her
forehead.
"It's a _girl_..." Sailor Venus murmured, surprised.
"Not just any mere _girl_," the Commander flared angrily, as her
outfit flashed to an elaborate brown princess gown and back again. "I am
Princess Amber, younger sister of Princes Diamond and Sapphire and third in
line to the throne of the Black Moon. I have brought you Scouts here so
that you can see the planet that you destroyed before you die."
"Not likely," Sailor Venus shot back. "You're outnumbered twelve
to one."
"_Ten_ to one," Princess Amber pointed out mildly. "But I intend
to tip the odds back in my favor." She stared at Sailor Moon. "Princess,
I would enjoy changing you back into the Black Lady."
Sailor Moon's jaw set and her eyes blazed. "Never."
Princess Amber shrugged. "I don't have the necessary level of dark
energy to do it myself. However, there are other ways--such as by forcing
you to swallow a pure heart crystal."
Sailor Moon blinked. _Where_ had Princess Amber learned _that_?
"But, unfortunately, I can't spare one for such a diversion,"
Princess Amber continued, producing a small device which looked similar to
a remote control. "I need one to power this device, which will collect the
Rainbow Crystals from you Crystal Scouts. I won't tell you it won't hurt a
bit, because it will. But first I need--"
Princess Amber abruptly vanished.
The Scouts frantically searched around them.
"Where'd she go?" Sailor Jupiter asked, hard pressed to detect
Princess Amber's whereabouts, even with her heightened senses.
Princess Amber reappeared, directly behind the Yellow Sailor.
"--a victim."
The Yellow Sailor never knew what happened.
Princess Amber's clenched fist exploded from the bow on the Yellow
Sailor's chest. The fist opened to display two crystals--one the Yellow
Rainbow Crystal, the other a bright eight-pointed star-shaped crystal. The
fist close again and withdrew, leaving the Yellow Sailor to slump lifelessly
to the ground. Her yellow hair fell into and mercifully covered her staring
sightless yellow eyes.
The Purple and Indigo Sailors both charged toward Princess Amber,
each shouting equally imaginative, yet rather similar, battle-cries, the
basic theme of which was what they would do with Princess Amber's various
body parts before finally allowing her to die.
Princess Amber quickly placed the star-shaped pure heart crystal
into her device, scanning each of the Crystal Scouts in turn with it. The
six remaining Crystal Scouts screamed in extreme pain as their Rainbow
Crystals erupted from their chests, flying straight into Princess Amber's
waiting hand. The six Crystal Scouts collapsed, as their sailor suits
faded back to their street clothes.
"It's three to one now, Sailor Venus," Princess Amber announced,
displaying the seven Rainbow Crystals in her hand. "Would you still like
to bet on your inevitable victory?"
A collective moan from the fallen Crystal Scouts answered her,
which soon rose to an inhuman howl. Surprised and momentarily distracted,
Princess Amber whirled to investigate the disturbance.
"What's going on?" Sailor Venus whispered.
"Mina never told you about Zoisite and the gathering of the Rainbow
Crystals?" Sailor Moon asked her.
"A little. I never was very big on history." Sailor Venus' brow
furrowed. "Mom told me she wasn't exactly in on that case, if I remember
correctly."
"She wasn't, at least not in the beginning," Sailor Moon agreed.
"But each Rainbow Crystal was inside one of seven carriers. When the
Rainbow Crystal was removed, they changed into monsters."
Princess Amber returned her attention to the Sailor Scouts. "My
calculation of the odds was wrong," she said coldly. "Three to _seven_."
Tori raised her head and reached her arm out toward Sailor Moon.
Her eyes were already glowing with an evil red flame, and her fingers were
beginning to sharpen into claws. She spoke two words in a harsh raspy
voice, just barely recognizable as her own.
"Help us..."
Comments, pleading requests, hate mail?
Direct it all to: r_strata@hotmail.com
See you next time...
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