Standing slowly on her feet she was surprised to find her legs steadier
than she had imagined. Having been dressed in her fuku for the past
few hours since Lord Takeuchi had left her, and using the aquamarine stone
on the ring that Deus Mercury had given her, she had recovered faster than
she had hoped. She no longer felt the lightheadedness that she had
at first, and she could finally move her left arm, if only a little, but
she knew that her muscles were beginning to heal from the recent atrocity.
She found herself being sustained by the anger of the heartache that she
had endured, although she knew that the muscles which only been recently
sliced apart by the knife that she now wore on her waist could not operate
fully, she felt capable for any challenge that would come in her way.
De-transforming, she tiptoed out of her bedroom, and found the whole corridor
to be completely isolated, normally, it would have bothered her that no
one was guarding the security of the whole wing, but after the harsh exchange
she had had with Lord Takeuchi, and her destination at the present, she
was glad that the forces were concentrated in the wing that Lady Kimiko
Akiru was staying. With her eyes fixated in front of her, she took
little notice of her surroundings, although her senses continued to be
alert for any moving creature. Her mind was drawn on one, and only
one matter, the entering of the vast room of electronics that she had become
so accustomed due to the constant interaction she had with them.
As she entered the room, she became engulfed in another universe, although
to her, it seemed only an extension of her arm, the world of brilliant
flashing diodes was a universe completely alien to most. The panels
of lighted buttons threatened to drown the unknowing visitor in a mystical
robotic life that Ami commanded. Sitting on a dark leather chair,
she hurriedly typed a few buttons to erase the events of the past minutes
in the computer records, then, she systematically replayed sections of
old records to be recorded on top of the erased moments, and until she
could find her injured friends which would mean that there were witnesses
to their entry. Until she could ascertain the extent of the injuries,
she could not determine the best way for their escape, but she could guess
that it would require the opening of the porthole thus she also disabled
the security cameras and records in the room.
Lady Kimiko Akiru opened the steel door of the security room quietly, and
smiled to herself as she saw a figure frantically typing on the keyboard,
she could already guess who it was altering the records of the system.
The typing subsided earlier than she had imagined, and she found that she
could no longer disguise the noise of pulling out one of her Shurikins
under the sound of typing. Once the metal against metal sound was
heard in her action, silence evaded the room; Ami knowing that she
was there with a weapon, and she knowing that she could not kill Ami behind
the protection of the leather chair.
Suddenly, she heard Ami scream, “SailorMercury
Planet Power, Make Up!” As soon
as her arm was flung into the air, she darted away from the chair to take
cover behind the machinery in the middle of the room. As she darted
away, Kimiko threw the first of the many throwing stars she had in her
hand, leaving a trail of the Shurikens following the direction that Ami
had dove to.
Closing her eyes, Ami hoped that she had indeed recovered as much as she
felt when she first got on her feet, seeing the wicked edges of the stars,
she knew that she only had one shot had disarming her opponent. She
pulled the wrap from her shoulders and held the center of it in her hands,
then prepared herself for only attack that would successfully freeze Kimiko
Akiru in her steps. Although she knew that the product of her attack
would not last for too long, she hoped that it would allow her enough time
to get her friends into safety. Closing her eyes, she took a deep
breath, and stood from her position, holding the middle of the wrap, she
threw the two ends at Kimiko Akiru, “Double
Shabon Deep Freezing!”
The attack no longer threatened to chill Kimiko’s body, instead, her body
began to change into a queer color of blue, starting from the very point
of contact with SailorMercury’s chain her body became ice… Her short
yelp of surprise and pain did not penetrate the soundproof walls of the
security door, and as soon as she became a solid block of ice, SailorMercury
return to her lay-man form and left the room without hesitation to help
her friends in need.
SailorMoon’s fuku began to shimmer as it slowly disappeared from Usagi’s
body, leaving an injured schoolgirl amongst the soft synthetic grass in
the garden of the Kuriverse Go. The other senshi gathered around
her in concern, seeing the pale and sweaty Usagi completely immobilized
after her entrance into this atmosphere. They could see that she
had bore the brunt of the damage from the intrusion into the security system,
although they themselves felt drained, Usagi had by far been the worst
affect. They touched her forehead lightly to wipe of the cold sweat
and fanned her, trying to get more oxygen into her, but her eyes began
to lose their sparkle, her breath their deepness, and her heartbeat was
waning. Clutching her hand, they whispered urgently, “Usagi-chan,
you have to hold on!”
Their final moments with Usagi was interrupted by a soft sound of footsteps
behind them, then, “oh god, what have I done?”
They wheeled around to see an exhausted SailorMercury standing with her
hands covering her mouth, in complete shock to see the usually rosy-cheeked
Usagi’s face much paler than her own struggling to survive. Kneeling
down beside her, she used her visor to check for vital signs, and to calculate
the extent of damage that had occurred. “Hurry, we have to bring
her back to Earth for hospitalization or she might not leave.”
Standing up, she motioned for the girls to pick Usagi up and follow her.
SailorJupiter immediately complied and picked Usagi onto her back, “how
do we get her back?”
“The teleportation facilities they have here, which means that we will
have to go and retrieve the Kurozuishou Go by ourselves.”
“But we’ll never get it if we don’t have her with us! We won’t be
able to heal everyone in here, and they’ll be trapped here forever!”
SailorMars protested.
“If we don’t bring her back, not only will she not be able to use her healing
powers, she won’t make it back home alive, we’ll just have to test our
luck this time. We have to hurry, someone knows that you guys are
here, I’ve only managed to freeze her temporarily, she’ll probably be free
in about 5 minutes’ time.” Mercury’s pace quickened as if to prove
the urgency of the situation and stripped ahead of the others.
SailorVenus hurried to catch up with her and using the slapping skills
she had learnt from Jupiter, she whacked Mercury’s back with all her might,
“hey, looking at your fuku, you’ve just had a new transformation, your
attacks can’t be weaker, you used to be able to freeze people for weeks!”
The sight of Mercury flinching and half collapsing from the smack had not
escaped any of the scouts, they rushed forward to her and grabbed her to
give some support. “De-transform, NOW!” commanded Mars.
“I’m alright, I really am…” protested Mercury weakly.
“No you’re not, now do it.” Mars continued to urge at her demanding
tone.
Mercury sighed, “I’m recovering quickly now,” looking at their faces, she
looked at her feet and quietly whispered the words for de-transformation.
“Oh my god! You are not alright, look at all those bandages!
You should have called us earlier to get you away from that person.”
“It’s not his fault, it’s another girl, she was his fiancé by arrangement
who was very happy with my being there, so she tried to kill me, she knows
that I am SailorMercury, and once she defrosts, she’ll run off and tell
everyone, that’s why we have to hurry.”
“But if you’re not up to shape, and SailorMoon is out of action, how are
we going to…?” Jupiter asked.
Ami’s brow pressed together in thought, it quickly cleared, “my computer,
we can simulate attacks! We don’t have time to waste, we have to
hurry! SailorMercury Planet Power,
Make Up!” She took off, with the
others trailing behind her towards the teleportation room.
The ice slowly began to crack from the body of Lady Kimiko Akiru, the ice melting from the heat of the wraith from her mind and the depths of hell that her soul had been sold to. She cracked the ice from her hands as she pulled it close into a fist, shards of thin ice fell from her body when she moved her stiff limbs, “you will pay for this, Mizuno, you will pay!”