12/31/00
11:20 PM
Sailor
Moon was rather pleased with herself. There was some bit of poetic justice
to the day and time of the attack. They planned to have Flute defeated
by midnight one year after his first assault on Earth.
She couldn’t help but wonder if she’d remember this by some strange paradox or not, so she was getting a good look around what had once been a shiny, succesfull metropolis. It was now cracked and broken. Rubble and glass lay everywhere. The few buildings that were still standing did so precariously. Among them, the poor and withered survivors ecked out a meager living on trading, fighting, and searching the rubble for scraps.
That LA was about to be cleansed.
“Up there!” Sailor Moon pointed unneccesarily. Their objective was visible now over the rotting city skyline.
He had worked so hard for this. He had done everything in to prevent just such an occurance. He had held victory in his hands, only to have it slip through his fingers thanks to those Sailor Scouts! Somehow, he had underestimated them...somehow.
So he stood there, knowing he had set himself in a trap. The jaws were no doubt about to close on him forever.
There was a tingle in the back of his mind, screaming for his attention. He looked over at the table on the otherwise empty floor. The Pluto Star Crystal was flashing like a purple beacon.
“We know already.” the aquabelle nodded and continued running. “It means the Pluto Star Crystal is nearby. Now we have to move quickly because if our stones are going off, so is Flute’s.”
“I hate it when they know we’re coming.” Mars shouted. And she was right. No chance for a surprise. They could so easily be led into a trap.
“We just have to watch ourselves.” Mercury reminded them.
He was in much better condition than he had been when he first arrived. Immediately, the doctor and little boy were taken with each other. She herself had patched him up, and now he was in full health. She was so glad Amy had sent him to her.
She sighed again.
Amy; where was she? What was she up to? Was she still alive? Diane just had to trust that her daughter, Sailor Mercury, knew what she was doing.
“How are we going to get in?” Sailor Moon asked. “The door is magnetically locked and it still has power.”
“I’m trying to figure out the codes right now.” Mercury said. Her computer was connected to the lock and was running every ten digit combinations it knew. However, there were a ten billion possible combinations. The little computer could only test them so fast and there was no way to tell if the door was double coded. “Screw it.” she snapped, losing her patience. She unpluggged the little computer. Concentrating, she brushed her hand over the surface off the wall. Ice trailed her fingers and when she had a large enough section frozen, she punched her hand through. Inside, she found what she was looking for and yanked out a handful of wiring.
There was a click.
“Well, that’s that.” the water scout said to the startled Sailors Moon and Mars.
“Um,” the moon princess tugged her collar, “right. Let’s go then.” And she passed by as Mercury held the door open.
“Don’t ever let me make you mad.” Mars chided.
“Shuttup!” the aquabelle giggled before following.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” Sailor Moon said, “We split up and check floors by threes, okay? Mars, you get the first floors, I’ll take the seconds, and Mercury, you get thirds, got it?”
“Right.” Mercury nodded.
“Check here.” Mars agreed.
“When you find something, call someone else. We’ll meet up top.” and with a cry of “let’s do it,” they were off.
This floor of the tower was empty space save for the pillars that held up the roof. There were no walls save for the ones blocking off the stairwell from the rest of the vast floor. It was a perfect place to fight.
He wandered over to one of the only two pieces of furniture here. It was a mohogany desk with multiple scratches over the surface. On it were two things; the weapon with the Pluto Star Crystal inside and one of the retractable staffs. He placed the former into a pocket of his uniform and opened the latter in his hand, whirling it around. It made a terrifying, windy noise as it moved through the air.
He soon found himself near the door of the stairwell, waiting for them. He practiced moves that he had been having a little trouble with, preparing himself for the fight to come. “It will be easy.” he thought. The Sailor Scouts are no match for the new powers of the Pluto Crystal. And certainly they are no match for me.
He heard the echo of footsteps from the stairs and he paused, tensing. The heavy firedoor clicked, then flashed open and Flute wasted no time jabbing the staff at the incoming Scout.
The bladehead entered Sailor Mars’s belly and exploded out her back in a shower of blood which spattered the white wall behind her. She stood there, her eyes wide in pain and shock, looking up at him. He noticed she was quivering. Her legs were coming out from under her and the only thing keeping her standing was the staff.
“Mars, no!” he heard and then saw the other two Sailor Scouts piling into the room. Sailor Mars looked at the blond girl Flute knew to be Princess Serena. She opened her mouth to say something, but only blood dribbled out.
“Let her go, you bastard!” Sailor Moon cried. Obligingly, Flute kicked Mars in the chest, knocking her from his weapon. She fell backward, collapsing ito a heap on the cold concrete. The other two Scouts instantly ran to her.
“Rei,” the moon princess said to her friend as she knealt at her side. “Reiko-chan, say something. Rei, I’m sorry.”
Mars looked up at her and shook her head. “Don’t be Tsukino Usagi-chan. It will be alright. Just...win this one.”
“God!” Sailor Mercury removed her hand from the blood-slicked belly, running her fingers around in the blackish fluid. Her logical mind told her that the blood was black because it had been running through the liver. This wound alone was fatal. The amount she was bleeding from her back gave her only a few more seconds. The emotional half told her that Sailor Mars... that Reiko Hino... was dying. There was nothing Amy, with all her knowledge could do. She began to cry with Serena.
“I won’t let you die, Rei.” Sailor Moon sobbed. “I can’t lose another friend.”
Painfully, Mars laughed, “It’s not...forever, Usagi-chan. Victory will bring us together again. Mizuno Ami?”
“Hai!” the aquabelle nodded, understanding.
“Usagi. Sailor Moon. Princess... Serena.” Mars looked up at her with those bottomless violet eyes and smiled, “Meat... ball... head.” The smile faded with the color in the fire scout’s face and she stopped breathing. Serena ran her gloved hand over the Japanese girl’s face, closing the eyes.
Without looking away from the dead warrioress, she addressed the man behind them. “You’ve done enough damage, my friend.” And she stood up, her back still to him. “Mercury, you stay with Sailor Mars. I have work to do.”
“Right.” the blue-haired girl nodded sharply.
With that, Sailor Moon turned around and glared angrily at the blue-faced man. “I am Sailor Moon.” she announced, “I am the champion of love and justice. I will right wrongs. I will triumph over evil. And I will avenge the deaths of my friends. I will punish you for what you have done to my home. Surrender the Pluto Star Crystal now or I will kill you to get it.”
“Big words for a princess.” Flute laughed derisively. “You want the Pluto Star Crystal, you have to come and get it.” And he flashed the black wand out to fire a burst of temperal energy.
Sailor Moon responded in kind with her Moon Scepter. With all of her power, she tried to force the eliptical beam of cohesive light through the dark powers of Flute’s crystal. The two kept pressing at each other, hoping the other’s strenght would falter.
Sailor Moon’s went first. Before she could re-establish the Sceptor’s beam, the black force surrounded it and broke the weapon at the handle.
“What did you do to my sceptor?” Sailor Moon stared, surprised, at the broken weapon.
“What does it look like?” Flute asked. He put his wand away and pulled out the staff again. “Now, Princess Serena, you will die!” He leapt at her and slashed the six-foot long bo downward. He as surprised when it sparked against metal.
Sailor Moon was holding another bo. Flute smiled. “So, think you’re a challenge? You’re on.” He stepped back and jabbed. The moonchild spun, perried the thrust away and lashed with hers. Metal cracked against metal again as Flute blocked, then smacked Serena’s staff away. He spun forward, feinting. She fell for the false strike but didn’t leave herself open for the real attack. Flute’s strike fell on steel so hard the weapons crackled sparks again. Sailor Moon tried to go up under Flute’s bo, but he lashed it away. Using the momentum, she spun around and slapped the leading edge aginst his block. He thrust her away and swung low at her back. She quickly blocked it and perried the next three of his attacks in short order.
The two gladiators glared at each other, daring the other to attack next. Sailor Moon spun her bow threateningly before her opponent launched himself at her. Using his momentum, she sidestepped, bringing her bo up to strike. Flute blocked and then pivoted in motion, swinging his staff around to lash against hers.
“You’re well skilled with that.” Flute mentioned, not hiding the frustration in his voice.
“None to bad yourself.” Sailor Moon noted between breaths. With a small warcry, she hauled the spearheaded stick around to crash against his. He pushed upward, knocking her off balance. She was hardly able to regain it in time to defend from his next attack. However, his weight fell upon her strangely and she felt something tear in her right hip. She tried not to show it in her face as the pain rifled along her waist.
The moon princess leapt, flipping above her enemy and striking with the staff while in mid air. She landed roughly, rotated forward and kicked high with the heel of her red boot. The move caught Flute off guard and he was sent reeling backwards. Without waiting for him to regain composure, she launched herself at him, slashing the head of his staff away as she charged and made a quick lash at his knees. He blocked it away and sent a flying elbow into her face, bloodying her nose. She stepped away and jabbed her heel at him again. This time, she narrowly missed his chin, but he grabbed her leg with one had and twisted. Sailor Moon lost her ballance and fell to her rear end, the hurt leg throbbing even worse than before. He jabbed, but she grabbed his staff beneath the spearhead and let its momentum run it to the floor, sinking the blade an inch into the concrete. Just as Flute yanked the bo out, Sailor Moon made a stab of her own at his chest. The sudden movement made her miss her mark but the head ate its way through his left shoudler.
Flute cried out and dropped his weapon, allowing it to clatter on the ground. Sailor Moon did not let off, and she kept pressing until the blue-faced demon had his back to the window glass. One more good shove and he’d be falling to the ground more than a thousand feet below.
“Give up!” the Scout snapped, glaring hard into his red eyes. In pain, he nodded and handed her the Pluto Star Crystal. She took it, watching it glow blackly before her, reacting to the presence of the Imperium Silver Crystal.
“Sailor Moon, look out!” she heard Mercury’s voice. The moon princess was soon aware of a bright flash of light and a heavy object knocking her backward. Her head slammed to the floor and stars swam around her eyes. Her vision cleared in time to see Sailor Mercury lying on top of her. The cute face was grimacing in pain and she was putting out a lot of heat. A trail of white smoke danced up from her back.
“Mercury!” Serena shot up to her knees, holding her only remaining friend close. “Don’t leave me.” but even as she said that, scorched blood spilled from the pockmark in the aquabelle’s back.
“I’m sorry, princess.” Mercury’s sad blue eyes locked onto Serena’s. “I guess you won’t be able to help me deliver the baby after all.”
“Don’t go, Mercury.”
“I don’t really have a choice.” the other Scout coughed out. Sailor Moon felt something brush her had. There was something rectangular suddenly in her palm. “I don’t have a need for it any longer.” the blue-haired girl smiled weakly. “You do...”
“Shhhh.” Sailor Moon put a finger to her lips, “Don’t say anything. Just rest now, Amy. God knows, you need it.” Sailor Mercury let her head fall against the moonchild’s chest. There was a heavy yet very relieved sigh as the aquabelle closed her eyes for the last time. Sailor Moon lay her body down gently, then stood up to glare hard at Flute.
“I am going to kill you!” she growled through clenched teeth.
“With what?” Flute laughed. “Your Moon Sceptor is broken. So are both of our weapons. Neither of us has the strength to fight hand to hand any longer. And the Pluto Star Crystal won’t respond to your commands.
“So we’re even, you see? I don’t have the energy for another blast like that, so I can’t kill you either. And you’re not going to let me have my crystal back. It’s a draw, plain and simple.”
“Is it?” Sailor Moon shut her eyes and put her throwing hand on her tiara. “I hope Mercury was right about this.” she thought. To her elation and Flute’s surprise, the tiara began to glow and then melted into a familiar disk shape. “Moon Tiara Magic!” and she threw it at him. The glowing disk streaked in and flew right past him.
“Ha! You missed.” the red-eyed man thre his head back and laughed. As he did, the Moon Tiara swirved around and tore into his back. His belly exploded outward in a shower of black blood and melted tissue before he was vaporized into dust.
The tiara lacked the energy it needed to return to Sailor Moon, and she let it clatter to the floor. With a heavy sigh, Sailor Moon too fell to her knees. She pulled out the Pluto Crystal and the Moon Crescent Wand. She then opened her locket and removed the Silver Crystal from it’s place, mounting it on the wand.
After scanning the Pluto Crystal, she set it on the ground. She had only about twenty minutes left before midnight, she noted from the chronometer on the mercury computer. Without further wait, she held the Moon Crescent Wand high. “Moon Healing Activation!”
Shimmering beams and sparks fell on the Pluto Star Crystal. The healing energy of the wand forced its way inside the small black stone, forcing the evil out. The surface of the crystal cracked and a moment later, the universe shattered into blackness.