*Note: This section _should_ answer _most_ of the mysteries in the
series. It was also so *really* long, as I had a lot of questions to
answer, that I divided it into two sections (part 12 A, part 13
B).
Neptune raced forward, her Deep Aqua Mirror showing her the way.
"Left!" she shouted at Uranus, who immediately did so... and came to
a halt.
"Nani?" Saturn asked, almost slamming into Hades, who stopped
behind Poseidon.
"What the..." Uranus took out her Space Sword.
In front of them was the end of the pipe maze, which led into a...
forest?
"It's an illusion," Poseidon said, her tone flat. "And a very good
one, too good. The Senshi Kurai must have combined their powers to
create it, just for us."
"But a very dangerous illusion," Hades murmured. "Nothing part of
the illusion can hurt us, but anything that's real and is hiding
there can."
"Damn..." Uranus swore.
"Can't turn back," Neptune said, seeing that the entrance to the
pipe maze had disappeared.
"Well, let's do it," Saturn said, Silence Glaive in hand.
"Hai," Hades said, her Chronos Staff ready, and Poseidon's Trident
was posed for battle as well.
They ran through the forest, sinking deeper and deeper into the
dense greenery.
"I don't like this," Poseidon murmured. "It's too quiet..."
Uranus nodded, but continued running forward. Suddenly she
slipped, yelling, falling down a sheer cliff that appeared out of
nowhere.
"URANUS!" Neptune screamed, grabbing hold of her hand. (Reminds
you of Sailor Stars and S)
Poseidon, Hades, and Saturn all pulled Neptune, who pulled Uranus
up. Gasping, Uranus looked down into the endless pit that she had
almost fallen into. Neptune knelt down, giving Uranus a hug.
"Don't ever do that to me again," she whispered softly to her
partner. Uranus nodded in response.
Luna, who had gone with that group, peered over the edge of the
pit. "That was too close," she said.
"The trouble's just begun..." Hades said, her eyes straining to
across the pit to see tens of glowing eyes peering at them, watching
them.
"We're being surrounded," Saturn said, and Poseidon turned to see
that more eyes were watching them from behind them. Waiting.
"What are they waiting for?" Neptune asked.
A dark shriek pierced the air. The eyes fitted to bodies that
became visible. Black bodied creatures, with dark red eyes, dark red
hair. All of them were laughing, dangerous, hysterical, low
laughs.
"Shadow Crystallies," Hades said.
The shadow crystallies moved forward slowly, savoring their
soon-to-be-won triumph.
***
"Dead Scream..." Pluto whispered, destroying the Shadow
Crystallies in her path.
"Sunaru Heaven Fall!" Sunaru said, killing off more of the fiends
with her Heaven Sword.
"Proministic Flaming Solar Kiss!" Sun yelled, and her katanas'
attack cleared the path. Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, and Cronus ran by, and
the others followed.
"They just keep coming," Sun muttered as she ran. "Damn, it's a
trap."
They ran up the mountain of illusion, being chased by more
crystallies.
"Cronus Tranquillity Slash!" Cronus screamed, sharp blades of
purple light breaking the monsters that were in midair above Sailor
Moon.
The Shadow Crystallies continued their pursuit, and the Senshi
continued to run upwards, reaching nowhere, just trying to
escape.
Sailor Moon tripped, falling onto her side, her body scraped by
sharp rocks on the path.
"Usako!" Tuxedo Kamen yelled. Just then shadows appeared over
Sailor Moon, and lept on top of her.
"Sailor Moon!" the others screamed.
"Aphrodite Hatred Arrow!" a voice called in the distance. Flying
orange arrows pierced the crystallies, shattering them.
"Ares Destruction Flare!" a second one called, flaming blasts of
fire shooting out, destroying the last of the crystallies.
"Nani?" Sunaru looked up. "That can't be-?"
Two girls floated in the air above them, regarding them
seriously.
"Aphrodite! Ares!" Cronus exclaimed.
"I'm warning you," Sunaru said softly, "we won't go back
willingly..."
"We don't want you to come back," Ares said quickly, her eyes
intense. "We need your help!"
"What? You need _our_ help?" Sun said, her voice dubious.
Aphrodite nodded. "Look, we haven't much time. Pretty soon Beryl
will realize that we aren't there anymore..."
"Beryl!" Moon gasped, growing extremely pale. Artemis, who was in
this group, stood in front of Moon protectively.
"Hai," Ares answered, waving her hand impatiently. "She's taken
over our Princess. Please, we need you to help us!"
"Hecate?!" Sunaru and Cronus yelled.
"Hai! You have to help us! Please! Hecate and your friends' lives
depend on you!"
"How do we know this isn't a trap?" Tuxedo Kamen asked
suspiciously.
"Aphrodite never lies!" Cronus snapped angrily. Her eyes were
swirling with worry and anxiety. "Besides, we don't have any other
choice. Either we help them, or die here!"
Pluto nodded. "Cronus is right. It's our only chance to free our
friends."
Aphrodite sighed with relief. "Arigato," she said, passing her
hand over the others, and in a flash they disappeared.
***
"Zeus Lightning Strike!" A green flash of lightning struck the
Crystallies that were about to stab the unprepared Uranus.
"Hermes Energy Plague!" The blue mist absorbed the Crystallies
that Hades and Saturn were fighting off.
"Zeus! Hermes!" Poseidon exclaimed as she saw the two Senshi Kurai
behind them. "Why are you helping us?"
"Poseidon, Hades," Hermes said, her voice choked and hurried, "if
you still care for Hecate, you must come with us now!"
"Nani?" Poseidon said. "Hecate? What's happened to her?!"
Hades was similarly pale with worry.
"She's been possessed," Zeus said quickly, her eyes frantic, "by
Beryl! We thought that Beryl was dead but apparently she's not and we
don't know what to do but we have to save her and we have to save
your friends but we can't without your help since it's your spell on
the cell and-"
"ZEUS! CALM DOWN!" Uranus snapped, exasperated with the girl's
incoherent babblings.
Poseidon and Hades nodded. "We must go with them."
"Wait, what if it's a trap?" Luna asked. "They could be
lying."
Hades shook her dark green head. "No, Zeus never babbles or has
hysterical breakdowns unless it's for real."
Zeus nodded. "Hai, she's right, please, please, please help us or
else we'll all die and we can't let that happen and we can't let that
witch take over your planet and we've been so blind and oh! I'm going
on again!"
Uranus waved her hand, signaling Zeus to stop. "Motormouth, stop!
We'll help!"
"We really have no choice," Neptune said slowly. "Even if this is
a trap, it's the only way to get out of this illusion."
"Hai," Poseidon agreed, admiring her sister's intellectual
reasoning.
"Good," Hermes said, and murmuring under her breath, she let out a
cloud of blue mist, and they all vanished.
***
"Sunaru!" Poseidon exclaimed.
"Cronus!" Saturn said.
Everyone quickly reemerged into one group. The Senshi Kurai were
watching the reunion worriedly. Once everyone was settled, they
looked around. They were in a large room with walls and turns
everywhere, like a maze.
"Where is this place?" Pluto asked.
"This is the dungeon maze," Aphrodite said. "I know it doesn't
look like a dungeon, but it is. The Inner Senshi's cell is down this
way. We must hurry!"
Running down the passages, the Senshi Kurai led the way. Finally
they came upon a large, open area, with a single door in the middle
of the wall directly in front of them.
"There it is!" Hermes said. "Poseidon, we need you to release your
spell on it now-"
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," a voice interrupted
smoothly.
"Nani?"
A man came from out of the shadows, his blue eyes fixated on them,
swirling hypnotically. He had pale, white hair, and he wore white
armor. In his hand was a sword made of crystal.
"Who are you?" Zeus demanded angrily. "What are you doing here? No
one knows how to get here but us!"
"Ah, but you're wrong there, Princess Zeus," he said, smiling
coldly. "Apparently I do, or I would not be here, would I?"
"What do you want?" Sun snapped.
"Just my share of revenge," the man remarked casually.
"Nani? We don't even know you!" Cronus bit out.
"Not you, Princess Cronus," he said. "Endymion." He pointed his
sword at Tuxedo Kamen. The sword vibrated, and Tuxedo Kamen turned
into his prince form, Prince Endymion.
The senshi and the cats all gasped.
Endymion had an odd, intense look on his face as he stared at the
man. The face was extraordinarily similar to his own... "Chi...
Chikyuu?!" he said.
Chikyuu smiled. "So you _do_ remember. Good. Our sister did do
something useful for once." He smirked at the exclamations on his
'our sister' part. Looking at them, he said with deliberate
carefulness: "Didn't you know? I'm Prince Chikyuu, Prince Endymion's
twin brother!"
"It can't be!" Sailor Moon said, nearly fainting. Uranus and
Neptune caught her before she hit the ground.
"Brother?" Luna asked. "Endymion had a brother?!"
"Chikyuu?" Endymion repeated, confused. "But... you're dead! You
died a long time ago... in the kingdom on Earth!"
"Poor older brother, always the one everyone loved, always the
oh-so-wonderful heir... Never really knew _what_ happened to me, did
you? You and father and Athena couldn't even bother to _search_ for
me, could you?" His voice was infuriated. "Never even attempted to
come find me... No matter... I saved myself, and then I went to the
Moon Kingdom. Of course, you couldn't stop then. Oh no, it wasn't
enough that everyone worshipped you, that all the girls always liked
you better. You just _had_ to have the one girl I really love fall in
love with _you_! But it doesn't pertain any longer... I have no
feelings for her anymore, and I only serve only master, Queen
Beryl."
"Beryl? What's she done with Hecate?" Poseidon demanded.
Chikyuu shrugged. "Who cares? When I'm done with Endymion, it
won't matter what happens anymore."
"You're not going to get the Prince," Uranus snarled. "Space Sword
Blaster!"
Laughing, Chikyuu deflected the attack with his sword. "Did I
forget to mention that my Crystal Sword absorbs any transferred magic
attacks? No? Oh well." He leapt up, and brought his sword down upon
Endymion.
Endymion already had his sword though, and it saved him from
having his head taken off.
"Prince!" Saturn said. "Saturn Silence Shot!" The ball of energy
was, true to Chikyuu's word, absorbed by the Crystal Sword.
Meanwhile, Endymion took advantage of the momentary weakness and
kicked his brother in the chest. Chikyuu went flying across the
room.
"Gaia!" Chikyuu snapped after hitting the wall. "Take care of
those pesky Sailor Senshi!"
Gaia materialized in front of Chikyuu, her eyes blank, then
flashing red. She smiled a grotesque smile of pure evil.
"Terra-chan!" Sailor Moon gasped, recognizing the girl
immediately. "She's Gaia?"
Gaia responded by throwing out her right hand, a wave of black
energy causing the Senshi and the cats to be thrown against the walls
of the area.Only the Senshi Kurai, Saturn, Moon, Endymion, and
Poseidon remained up, the others on the ground. However, Chikyuu and
Endymion started battling again, leaving the six girls against
Gaia.
"Terra-chan!" Saturn pleaded. "Don't do this! Don't you remember
us?"
"Terra?" Gaia asked, tilting her head to one side. "Who's that?"
She let out another wave of energy, and Zeus, Hermes, and Ares were
on the ground.
"Terra-chan! Stop!" Moon yelled out, tears running down her face.
Gaia laughed, and with a final motion, swept the rest of the Senshi
to the floor.
"Usako!" Endymion cried, seeing Sailor Moon hit a wall, falling
down.
Chikyuu knocked the sword out of his hands and tripped his brother
to the ground. "Now, Endymion, you will die... Like you should have
before, for stealing Hecate from me!"
He drew back his sword and thrust it towards Endymion's chest.
"MATTE!"
Chikyuu was flung away from Endymion, the sword clattering to the
floor harmlessly.
Gaia stared at her hand in shock. "Why did I do that?" she
whispered. She fell to her knees, holding her head with both
hands.
"Terra-chan?" Moon whispered softly. Looking into Gaia's eyes, she
saw Terra, not an enemy.
"Usagi-chan?" Gaia looked up, confused. "What's happening?"
Her eyes flashed red again, and she groaned, holding her hand to
her head, gasping.
"Terra!" the others cried out.
"What's going on? What's happening?" Gaia shrieked to herself,
hitting her hand on the stone floor. "What's wrong with me?"
"Terra..." a voice whispered softly. "Terra..."
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Gaia screamed, her eyes wide, her face
terrified. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
While the Senshi were watching this scene, Chikyuu moaned,
reviving. Looking up, he shook his white head, then moved over to get
his sword. Reaching for it, he slowly stood up. His body hurt all
over, but he must complete his revenge...
Gaia looked up, and she saw Chikyuu with his sword behind
Endymion, who was watching her.
"NO!" Gaia screamed. "Get away from there!" From out of nowhere, a
yellow rose appeared in her hand and she flung it towards Chikyuu,
and it entered his armor. He dropped the sword and fell again, though
not mortally wounded.
"A yellow rose...?" Hades whispered. "Sailor Earth?"
Gaia was crying, in pained confusion. "Why won't anyone help me?"
she screamed. An odd yellow symbol appeared on her forehead, a circle
with two perpendicular, intersecting lines in the middle.
"The symbol of Earth!" Artemis said, waggling his tail around.
From the four sections of the symbol came four separate yellow
balls of light that floated up away from Gaia. Gaia fell on her side,
having fainted. The four balls landed in front of her unconscious
body, forming the figures of four girls...
To be continued...
Part 13
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