There exists good and evil in all human beings. However, it is
rarely in the equal quantities. Everyone is always a little bit more
good or evil. So, it may be true that someone has a good side, one
must always keep in mind that it may be buried under a mountain of
evil.
A cannibal may always tip generously at resturaunts and have
excellent manners.
A murderer may always give to charities or help out at the
homeless shelter.
A thief may save others from peril or always recycle.
Yes, in a way, there are good points to every evil person.
However, should the little good really excuse the greater evil?
I think not.
- ponderings of an anonymous 20th century philosopher
===================================================
Sailor Moon Versus Dungeon Keeper
Chapter 2 - Mistresses, Youma and Skeletons, OH MY!
===================================================
"Just drop the purse, lady, and nobody gets hurt." the street
thug sneered, raising his knife threateningly.
The office lady was terrified. She had very little money, but
she couldn't afford to lose it. It was just enough to pay the bills as
it was.
"COME ON! DROP IT!" the thug snarled angrily, losing his
patience.
Suddenly, the street thug stopped. The office lady blinked in
surprise as his gaze lowered to his left leg, where both of them saw a
pickax sticking out of the thug's left shin.
The street thug howled in pain before a freak lightning bolt
struck him, sending him to the ground, completely stunned. The office
lady decided that fate was on her side for a change.
She turned and ran for the protection of her home, completely
missing the sight of two little green men hauling the street thug away.
Ami reading was nothing new. Ami reading the newspaper was a bit
out of the ordinary. As Usagi and Makoto approached, Ami turned her
attention up towards them.
"You guys, check this out!" Ami said, thrusting the paper out to
them.
Makoto read the headline, "Four hundred missing, little green men
sighted, are aliens responsible?"
"Numerous people all over Tokyo were kidnapped last night and
'little green men wielding pickaxes' were sighted at most of the
reported cases." Ami explained.
"The imps." Usagi realized, frowning.
"Right. Whatever they've done, it's obviously for no good
reason." Makoto spoke up.
"They might be trying to get an army of brainwashed fighters. A
lot of the reported 'little green men' were said to be kidnapping
street thugs who had been hit by 'freak lightning'. The other people
kidnapped were done in the same fashion." Ami told them.
"Four hundred people, though? It was difficult even for the
Black Moon family to control thirty or forty people." Makoto replied.
"We shouldn't underestimate this new threat, Makoto. Luna and
Artemis went to consult with Setsuna about this. And you know when
they're willing to stop pussy-footing around and seek some real
answers, they're serious." Usagi stated.
He was watching the prisons with minimal attention. The only
thing he wanted to make sure of was that no one tried to escape. He
didn't like watching the people inside starve and die, only to have
their bodies rise again as skeletons.
Watching people die at an expediated rate was not entertainment
to him. Far from it. The only thing that kept him from throwing the
people out of his prison and onto a city street was the fact that he
knew their spirits and souls were freed in the process.
In a way, it was a good thing for most of them. After all, they
would only be punished for what they had already done.
But, he had watched them before choosing to capture them.
Thieves, thugs, rapists, murderers, and worse. The four hundred people
dying in his prison would have been sentenced to anywhere from twenty
years to life in prison.
He was giving the system a nice cleansing. No need for the
police to chase down these criminals, no need for the courts to put
them on trial on the taxpayer's dollar, no need for them to sit in a
cell and get fed meals for the rest of their lives on the taxpayer's
dollar.
In essense, he was saving the city of Tokyo hundreds upon
thousands of dollars by killing them off.
He was still a bit queasy at the sight of his new skeletal army.
The magic of his many prisons removed all flesh, organs and
extraneous muscle. The only things the skeletons had were their bones,
their ligaments, a sword and a shield, all of which were magically
charged. The skeletons could operate indefinitely, requiring neither
food nor rest.
The weird thing was that they could still create noise, a
function that allow them to let loose terrifying battlecrys that
unnerved him as they trained in his magical training rooms.
"How is the army doing?" his partner inquired.
"Not bad. I'd estimate that they have about six weeks before
they're no longer capable of advancing in skill. At least not without
some serious magical boosts." he answered.
"Ian," she began, "You're not sounding too confident."
"The skeleton army has nothing to fear from cops or very much to
fear from another army armed with anything less than bazookas and
tanks, but they will not stand against the Sailor Senshi. And THEY are
our real foe. _I_ can take care of all the heavy artillery no problem,
but I cannot handle the Senshi." Ian explained.
"Then you should send some imps to the north pole. There is a
dimensional gate to a crumbling realm. From it, you can gather
creatures known as youma. They will be weak, but given time in a
magically strong area, they'll be a powerful force to be reckoned
with." she told him.
Ian contemplated that location, his brown eyes focusing on his
dungeon heart as he thought.
"You mean, near that crater where I found you?" he asked.
"Yes." she answered stiffly, shuddering at the memories.
"Very well. I'll create some teleport pads. They'll have to
show up in my other dungeons, though." He warned her.
"I would tell them of your offer to be their keeper, lest they
get the impression you're doing this for free..." she replied.
Ian nodded.
It was rare that all the Sailor Senshi met. However, given
Setsuna was the one forming the meeting, Haruka and Michiru were
willing to submit to being with the Inners, while Makoto and Minako
were willing to submit to being with Haruka and Michiru. The four
still remembered what had happened the last time they'd met, back at
the crater site of Mugen Gaken.
The group was in the Tomoe mansion, sitting around a large dinner
table, as it was the only table large enough to host all of the Senshi.
"As you all know, this is a meeting of utmost importance. The
reason being that Usagi and Luna have met up with our next opponent."
Setsuna explained.
"What do you mean, 'next opponent'? How many more do we have?"
Rei asked.
"I can't tell you the exact number, but it's more than three."
Setsuna answered, glancing at Rei before continuing, "This particular
enemy is called the Keeper. He's using an ancient artifact from the
Silver Millenium to expand his power base exponentially. I figure
that, given a month or so, he should be able to give all of us combined
a run for our money."
"What in the world could give him that much power?" Ami inquired.
"Hmmm, how to best say this... Back in the early days of what
later became the Silver Millenium, there were magical devices called
Hearts, which were used by trusted commanders. The commanders who were
in charge of the Hearts were known as Keepers. The Hearts allowed the
Keepers to view their troops movements, health and effeciency. It also
allowed the commander to pull soldiers back when they became too
injured, exhuasted or sloppy to be effective." Setsuna began.
"The Hearts could also create beds, food supplies, training
rooms, prisons, whatever the Keeper could imagine, provided that they
knew how to build them." Luna continued, "They also allowed for the
Keeper to heal their forces, cast spells, among other things. In
essense, the Hearts and their Keepers were war machines, capable of
taking on forces triple their size without losing. They were
considered the best weapon against the monsters that plagued this solar
system."
"Unfortunately, some of the Keepers began using their power to
gather and convert the enemy forces they were sent to destroy. They
moved their Hearts underground and guarded them with dungeons. The
evil Keepers were later referred to as Dungeon Keepers... for obvious
reasons. In time, they gathered a mighty army and attacked the Silver
Millenium." Artemis spoke up, "It was a war of Keeper versus Keeper and
it waged for months, before finally, the last Dungeon Keeper was
banished for all time."
"However, the Queen at the time, Tranquility, decided that the
Hearts were too dangerous to let stay. She had the Great Shield
erected, and had the last of the Hearts destroyed. With the Great
Shield in place, there was less of a reason to fear creatures entering.
Only small creatures, that the Outer Senshi could handle, could get
past the Great Shield." Luna joined in.
"Unfortunately, there was apparently one Heart left. And the one
using it is the one we're facing." Setsuna finished.
"What about the Great Shield? Is it still in place?" Ami
inquired.
Setsuna shook her head, "The Great Shield fell at the same time
the Moon Kingdom collapsed."
"Wait, if this Keeper guy can heal everyone he commands, does
that mean his forces are kinda invincible?" Minako asked.
Luna answered that, "No. There are flaws in the Heart. Once a
creature has been rendered unconscious or dead, he cannot heal them.
His imps can drag the unconscious back to their beds, where they will
revive and heal, but ONLY if the imps can bring them back."
"So, we just gotta beat up the imps before they can do that.
Right." Haruka noted.
"Also, he can't cast most of his offensive spells in areas he
hasn't claimed. Unfortunately, he's already claimed most of Tokyo."
Luna continued.
"How'd he do that?" Makoto asked.
"We have no idea how long he's been operating. He might have
done it during Halloween or maybe people just thought of them as kids
in constumes." Ami explained.
"Well, if his 'goblin' was any indication of the rest of his
army, it'll be no problem beating him." Usagi said, smirking
confidently.
"Given the recent massive kidnappings, I can only assume he's
building an army of the undead." Setsuna spoke up.
"Undead?" came the nervous inquiry from the Inner Senshi.
"He can create either prisons or graveyards. The prisons will
accelerate their hunger, causing them to die of starvation and become
skeletons. But if he kills people and dumps their bodies in the
graveyard, we'll be facing some vampires, too." Setsuna explained.
"Vampires?" Minako squeaked, her face turning blue with fright.
"Yes, and unfortunately, only Sailor Moon or Sailor Mars have the
power to defeat them." Setsuna replied.
"What are you talking about? Aren't vampires afraid of garlic
and stakes and stuff?" Haruka inquired.
"Those would be the vampires of lore. THESE vampires are more
magical than that. Yes, you can beat them, but unless you use holy or
purifying magic, like the kind that Usagi can utilize with the
Guizuishou or Rei can use as a Shinto Priestess, they'll simply
resurrect themselves and come back." Setsuna answered.
Artemis cleared his throat, "Excuse me, but there is still one
thing that they could use. Vampires can't cross water without a
bridge."
Setsuna considered that, "You're right, they can't. But if the
vampire is strong enough, they can still resurrect themselves."
Artemis sighed, "Oh, right."
"How do we go about finding this Keeper before he gets his act
together?" Michiru asked.
"I know that he'll be underground. The only entrances to his
domain, however, will have to be found by finding and following his
imps." Setsuna answered.
"So, we should split up and search the city in teams of two.
Artemis and I will be one team." Luna declared.
Usagi spoke up, "Haruka and Michiru are obviously a team, Mako-
chan and I'll be another, Minako and Ami, and Rei can go with Setsuna."
When no objections came from the group, the group stood up and
transformed into their Senshi forms.
"Remember, this Keeper is NOT to be underestimated. Just because
Usagi took down a goblin with a few hits doesn't mean the rest of his
forces are going to just as weak. Call in for backup the INSTANT you
find trouble." Sailor Pluto warned.
Kale was the strongest remaining youma, and even he was feeling
as feeble as an old man with arthritis. The Dark Kingdom's magic was
fading without Metallia or the Dark Kingdom Generals supplying fresh
energy. And for a youma, it was like a fish finding out that it's pond
was drying up.
Then, something magical appeared. Desperate eyes locked onto
this fresh source of magic, hoping that this magic thing was a new
lease on life, even if it also meant a new leash.
"So, this is what remains of the Dark Kingdom, eh?" Ian murmurred
aloud. He'd seen it at it's height. Back then, it looked like a city.
Granted, it looked like a wax city that was half-melted, but it still
looked like a city.
What remained was more like a dying city or a ruin. No building
was standing, at least not in one piece, and there were weak and sick
youma everywhere.
The youma varied largely, in size and shape, but retained a
largely humanoid appearance. The nearest and healthiest looking one
was a male-looking youma with a golden sword. It stood six feet tall,
with a wolf-like head, and wore once-gleaming silver armor.
The armor-clad youma approached the stranger, "I am Kale, the
guardian of this city. What do you want?"
"I will tell you and everyone here my purpose." Ian answered,
before addressing everyone, "Survivors of the Dark Kingdom, hear me! I
am Ian the Keeper. I am here to offer you a new home. You may rest
and eat freely in my domain, but it will not be without a cost. You
must swear allegiance to me and work for me. It may not seem like a
good exchange, but my dungeon is rich with magic and is more than
enough to keep all of you alive."
Ian flew up ten feet as four crystal pillars rose around where he
was once standing, "This is a portal that I've constructed that will
provide you with access to my domain. If you wish to join me, then you
know my terms. And as a gesture of good will, I will heal all of you."
Ian raised a hand and magical energy flowed into each of the
youma survivors, replenishing their strength enough for each of them to
stand and walk towards the portal. Ian scratched his chin
thoughtfully. Apparently, his offer was more than good enough to
entice all of the remaining youma to join him.
Now he had to gather some more mages to his side. With tireless
skeletons, magical youma and powerful wizards, there would not be much
standing in his way. Even the Sailor Senshi would fall before that
kind of might.
No, there were still plenty of magical beings that he could
entice to his side to ensure a more complete victory. The goblins he'd
discovered were useless and doomed to die anyway. And from the crappy
performance from the best warrior they had, he wasn't going to waste
his time saving them.
There was a lot of fallout minions from the crazy plots of those
who had come before him. He just needed to pick them up.
Haruka was bored. Bored, bored, bored. She had never been so
damn bored in her life. Searches tended to be one of the less
glamorous things that many people didn't talk about because they were
so damn BORING.
At least when they were looking for something like a Daimon, it
was big and noticeable. Imps tended to be about half as tall and not
very visible at all.
She sighed. The city looked even more boring to look at when she
was looking for tiny green men. At least the daimons were female, and
thus, at least worthwhile to look at, in Haruka's opinion. The idea of
looking for tiny green men sounded like a goose chase to Haruka.
Especially in a city with roughly 8.5 million people in it.
Michiru was also bored, but just as she was about to suggest to
Haruka that they try looking elsewhere, she spotted an imp entering a
nearby warehouse.
"Uranus, I've spotted one." Neptune spoke up.
Haruka hurried to Michiru's spot and looked in the same
direction, "Where?"
"It went into that warehouse." Michiru answered, pointing to the
aforementioned building.
"Right, let's check it out." Haruka said.
"What about calling in?" Michiru asked.
"We're not launching an attack, we're just investigating." Haruka
reasoned.
Michiru frowned. Whenever Setsuna gave a command, it was meant
to be followed to the letter. Then again, they hadn't found trouble
yet. An imp couldn't possibly be trouble, especially if three ran away
from Usagi.
The two Outer Senshi leapt over to the building and looked in
through a skylight. The warehouse was darkened and the only light was
coming from the very skylight they were looking in through.
"Enjoying the view?" came an inquiry.
The two Outer Senshi spun to see an armored werewolf tackle them,
sending them all crashing through the skylight to land in the middle of
the warehouse. Haruka shook her head as she sat up, and then silently
gulped.
Over fifty skeletons turned to her and Neptune, raised their
swords and let out a horrific battlecry.
Ian was looking over a tome of various events that he'd watched.
He was troubled by how many events had been totally forgotten or
glossed over by the world in general. Had it not been for the fact
that the Guinzuishou was about as subtle and as refined as a brick, the
events that lead up to his state of power would have been undone
completely when Sailor Moon saved her friends from death and removed
the memories of the Senshi from everyone in Tokyo.
Sailor Moon had only paid attention to what had happened to her
part of the world, never knowing that her first opponent, Queen Beryl,
had started a little 'outreach program' shortly before the death of her
General Nephrite.
After all, it took a lot of power in order to break the seal that
Queen Serenity had placed on the Dark Kingdom, more to send youma
through, and still more to maintain those youma's powers without a
steady feed of magic. The Generals had an advantage in going through
because they were both naturally from Earth and actually generated
magic rather than drained it.
The outreach program had gotten a small group of people with
magical talent, like Ian, and had begun teaching them more and more
about magic, so that the Dark Kingdom could save a lot of the energy
they spent breaking the seal and maintaining their youma.
Ian had already contacted a lot of his fellow mages. Most were
willing to do contract work or part-time, but they had lives and
appearances to uphold, not to mention their own schemes, so they
wouldn't available at all times. Yet, those that remained were more
than willing to help, provided that they got some free land, money and
servants once Ian won.
Still, even with all that he had, Ian felt he needed more forces
to make himself one to be reckoned with.
Then, he found a few entries that intrigued him, [Hmmm, a
chemical compound that created eggs that could possess items and turn
them into monsters... not to mention a special oven that could create
more powerful monsters using a slightly refined formula. And crystal
golems using a gem to simulate intellect... They might not have worked
well for the Witches 5 or the Black Moon Family, but I'm not as stupid
as them. What's the point of sending only one or two minions at a time
when you can overwhelm them with sheer numbers?]
Ian felt a tug of mana. His skeletons were in a fight, being
lead by Kale. Ian walked over to his Dungeon Heart and looked at his
magical map. The fight appeared before him.
His trap had caught two of the Senshi. The fight had cost him
fifteen skeletons, but the two unconscious senshi were now being
dragged back to his prison.
He considered his options. They were too powerful for his prison
to seal off their powers and strength at the same time. But, that
underused torture chamber he'd made a while back had twice the
restraining and sealing magic. He could just bolster it's power with a
thread of mana to make absolutely sure they didn't escape.
But if he was going to use the torture chamber, he might as well
try and convert them to his side. But he would need something capable
of manipulating their thoughts. Something powerful.
His eyes flickered back to his tome. Some of the daimons were
incredibly powerful. Surely, if he directed that power, he could make
a few dominatrix types to fill the job. One man's trash is another
man's treasure.
"Master Ian, we found this with them." Kale spoke, feeling Ian's
eyes watching the scene.
Ian noticed the little pink device, "That looks like a
communicator of some sort."
"One of the stars is blinking. I believe it may alert the others
of our presense." Kale answered.
"Right. I'll pull you all out. Oh, and good work, Kale. Have a
few nights off." Ian told the wolf-youma.
"Thank you, Master Ian." Kale responded.
With that, Ian's will pulled him and the remaining skeletons back
to the safety of one of Ian's many dungeons. Ian turned and walked to
a phone. Time to call in some of his friends to do some alchemy...
"If it weren't for the fact that I figured they'd get into
trouble, I'd be surprised." Makoto muttered darkly as she inspected the
warehouse.
"That's not very nice, Jupiter." Ami told Makoto.
"Then again, they did break Pluto's orders." Minako commented.
"Yes, but we should be more concerned about finding them rather
than assigning blame. We don't know that they weren't surprised while
investigating a possible sighting." Usagi said, agreeing with Ami.
"Both of you are right." Setsuna interupted, "They didn't call in
beforehand, but they were ambushed."
"And how come you can't tell us more than what we can already
speculate until AFTER something's happened?" Makoto inquired.
"Lay off, Jupiter. She's the Guardian of Time, not Miss Cleo the
Psychic, okay? Even if she did know something, she couldn't tell us
more because either it would cause too much of a change in the time
stream." Rei replied.
"How do you know that?" Makoto demanded.
"She asked politely." Setsuna explained.
Makoto sighed. She was getting a headache, "So, can we track
them down or what?"
"There's too much residual energy in the area. Not to mention
the Keeper has been busy for quite some time laying down leylines." Ami
commented.
"How busy?" Minako asked.
Ami turned her computer around to show them a map of Japan, "This
is Japan." Ami pressed a button, "This is where his leylines reach."
Red lines covered Japan like a net or a really messy spiderweb.
"The way I see it, his imps are now claiming roughly three acres
of land every day, and that number is growing as his power extends
further. At this rate, he'll begin moving into China, Australia and
America in one month. Setsuna was right, he'll be on par with all of
us combined in that time. And that's assuming he's not gaining more
power from tapping larger leylines or mana vaults."
"Mana vaults?" Usagi asked.
"They're places where leylines intersect. They're much more
powerful than the normal strands he's collecting right now." Ami
answered.
"Then we need to figure out the pattern on these imps and catch
one so you can analyze it and fast, or else there won't be a Crystal
Tokyo." Minako stated.
=======================================================================
The mysterious ally to Keeper Ian remains... somewhat mysterious,
but what clues will be given about her identity next time?
With the armies of Youma from the Dark Kingdom now in his
service, what will Ian seek out next time?
And what of the fates of Sailor Neptune and Uranus?
Find out the answers and/or clues in the next episode.
Before anyone asks, I'll answer the obvious questions.
Q1. Why is Setsuna living at the Tomoe Mansion?
A1. She's Souichiro and Hotaru Tomoe's legal guardian until
Souichiro is able to get a new job. She's also keeping a close eye on
Hotaru.
Q2. Why isn't Hotaru or Chibi-Usa there at the meeting?
A2. This story takes place after Sailor Moon S, but before Super
S or Stars, meaning Hotaru is still a baby. As for Chibi-Usa, I'm
debating on letting her in. This is, after all, a pretty serious
storyline.
Q3. Shouldn't they be afraid of Souichiro stumbling in on them?
A3. Doctor Tomoe is bed-ridden, as he's still recovering from the
injuries he sustained in the final events of the S series.
Q4. What about the Ayakashi Sisters? Will they be added in this
story?
A4. They're powerless. Their energy base was purely reliant on
the Zachzuishou or Dark Crystal and the Wise Man, both of which are
gone.
Q5. Didn't Sailor Moon reverse time at the end of the first
season? How come Ian remembers events from then?
A5. Okay, we're going to get into my idea of what actually
happened. Sailor Moon didn't really reverse time. What she did was
resurrect her friends (and Mamoru), then removed their memories of
being Senshi (which included them being friends, because the
Guinzuishou is as subtle as a brick).
After all, Luna and Artemis still remembered what happened (being
the emergency reactivation, they couldn't afford to lose their memories
again). AND if she HAD reversed time, there's a chance things might
have turned out differently.
As for the media and such, they probably lost interest (as they
usually do) when there wasn't a steady supply of monster-senshi
activities going on, thus why most of the Sailor Moon crew had been
forgotten until their reappearance in the R series.
Q6. How would Ian find out about the process for making Daimons?
A6. Mistress 9 was fairly weak. I doubt she would have noticed
or cared if someone was watching her. As for the Witches 5, I doubt
they had any respect for each other, so someone scrying on them would
simply make them think it was one of the other witches.
Q7. Why Tokyo, dammit?!
A7. There are numerous answers for why it is always Tokyo being
attacked.
A7.1) There is a series of leylines running through Tokyo,
making it a very valuable target for magic-draining
creatures.
A7.2) There have been numerous bizzare activities in the
Tokyo area, making any further bizzare activities (i.e.
those caused by the villian of the week) less noticeable.
A7.3) The Sailor Senshi are the first and last line of
serious defense against magic-wielding monsters from outer
space. Thus, once they've been dealt with, one can get on
with one's mission. If one CAN'T beat them, then one
didn't really need any of those plans for settling in.
A7.4) The Nexus Points (Sailor Moon & company) draw in
other minor nexus points, (i.e. victim of the week) and
thus, all of one's targets are in one area. Makes finding
one's targets a bit easier than usual in a metropolis as
large as Tokyo.
A7.5) They grab one of their hapless minions, spin them
around until they're good and dizzy, then have them point
at a map. Somehow, Tokyo, Japan is always selected.
A7.6) Japan has more people per square foot than most
others, with large transient populations, and plenty of
wound-up people filled with energy. Energy draining and
random attacks would go almost unnoticed in the real world,
save for a larger than normal increase in the purchase of
energy drinks and people being admitted to asylums.
A7.7) Well, it would be very unfair to conquer the world
starting with the big boys, now wouldn't it?
Q8. So, what's happened to the DK stuff?
A8. Well, to put it in simple terms, it goes like this: Goblins
are deadmeat, Youma replace Trolls and Black Knights, Droidos will
replace Salamanders and Rogues, Daimons replace Dark Angels and Bile
Demons. I haven't decided on whether to replace Dark Elves or
Fireflies.
(
geocities.com/tokyo/island) (
geocities.com/tokyo)