Chapter Ten: Retreat!          


Sailor Uranus suddenly came flying through the air in a sprawl after being thrown, but then skillfully flipped over in the air and landed on her feet lightly. The battle had visibly been hard for her and she looked around quickly for the object of all of her frustration. Her spars with Shadow Jupiter had thankfully given her a peek into some of the fighting styles she was dealing with so she silently reminded herself to thank him for that, after she killed him for turning evil on her. Just as her thoughts were becoming chaotic she turned on her heel and kicked her foot into the open air, though air was not what it found. Her foot connected right with Shadow Uranus's chin and sent him skidding back the way he came from, though he too was able to flip up and land on his feet. Although he was annoyed at being held at a standstill with her, he still had to smile at her achievement, "You fight well for a girl. You can't have defended against all of my attacks on natural talent alone. Have we been practicing with the hardhead Shadow Jupiter?"

"He may have helped a little, but I don't need him to kick your butt. You may have the name of Uranus but you'll never have the true power." Her words were coupled with her Space Sword appearing in her hands, the jeweled blade just asking to take its toll on him. She quickly lunged at him and took a wild swing, one he barely ducked under and jumped back to get some distance from her. He was not longer have a good time with her as he was before.

Some distance away, Sailor Neptune was having a much harder time with Shadow Neptune as the two faced off in protection of the Moon Princess. Shadow Neptune seemed very disappointed at this and set his hand on his hip lightly as they faced off once more, "It's embarrassing to see a senshi of Neptune being this weak. Let me end this quickly, my dear." He used his Thermocline Surge attack on her and the exhaustion in her stance gave away the story to come. Though she evaded the attack directly, she couldn't escape the reach of the explosion and it sent her on her back over where Tuxedo Kamen was protecting Sailor Moon, her body skidding along the ground a bit. She whimpered lightly as she stood up those beautiful eyes looked across just in time to see Shadow Uranus and Shadow Neptune gang up on Sailor Uranus. With a blast from Shadow Uranus, Sailor Uranus also flew over to the others and landed in a twisted position on the ground. Of course it wasn't enough to put her out of the fight and she soon lifted up onto her arms and glared at the two. Sailor Neptune quickly knelt down and her side and placed her gloved hand on her back.

"Are you all right?"

"Just fine." Sailor Neptune watched her strain and stand up with a fierce look in her eyes, favoring her left arm a bit. The worry in her own eyes makes Sailor Uranus smile a little and let her hand fall from her arm, "Don't worry about me, let's just get these guys." Sailor Neptune nodded and stood straight, facing their counterparts with determination. Her lover did the same and their counterparts mirrored them perfectly as they looked over them with confident smiles.

"It seems they are lovers, Uranus. Some things must be true through all the dimensions."

The two evil Shadow senshi looked at the others with great contempt and got ready to finish this battle of with the death of the two Sailor senshi. Sailor Uranus smiled at the notion that the deed would be easy, "Just because you two are strong, doesn't mean you'll win. If there's one thing I've learned over the years is......Sailor Moon has an annoying habit of being able to win over the most foolish of senshi." A small glance from her made Sailor Moon blink and completely get lost in the meaning of that, though Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Neptune smiled lightly at the comment. The two Shadow senshi were oblivious to it all and miffed lightly, wanting to just put an end to all of this. Something else, however, testified to the difficulty that would present. A clone riddled with cuts and gashes suddenly landed before them both just in time to fade away and release the vapor. The two slowly looked at it and then looked over to where Tuxedo Kamen was holding Sailor Moon with a curious blink. What they found was Shadow Jupiter walking up from behind them with his sword grasped in his hand. His peat green eyes were still filled with rage as he eyed the two and passed right by Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon. After he walked by Sailor Jupiter stopped near Sailor Moon and smiled down at her, her fuku being held together at the top by the white fabric of Shadow Jupiter's belt. Sailor Moon was happy to see her friend was okay and even more happy to see what had came about between the two, as it was reflecting in the happiness on her face.

Shadow Jupiter walked up next to Sailor Uranus and continued to glare at the two Shadow senshi before them, "I won't settle with mere clones. It's you two," As he spoke the blade of his sword raised up and he pointed at them both with the tip of the awesome weapon, a flash of lightning surging through his eyes, "That I want."

"Why Kage, I thought you didn't go that way. If you want us, here we are."

Shadow Uranus's taunting just made him smile and he lowered the blade down, though kept it ready to use at a moment's notice. Sailor Uranus, however, smirked heavily and eyed him with a stern look on her face, "You can barely stand up, Kage. How do you expect to fight in that condition?"

"Still looking out for me, huh? No matter what happens.....I'll always honor our friendship, Sailor Uranus." Shadow Jupiter's eyes moved to the side as he smiled and the look on his face made her smile a little bitterly. The tender moment caused Shadow Uranus to sneer and look upon the two with new loathing.

"So you honor her? I was mistaken when I called you hardheaded, Kage. You're just pigheaded!"

"Someone's jealous. I only honor people who deserve it. The only thing you two traitors deserve is the taste of my blade."

The odds were stacking up against the Omega Master's forces and the two bitter Shadow senshi were a little more reluctant to attack this time. From then on out, things only got worse for them. Three more figures came onto the scene after dispatching a bulk of the clones. All eyes moved to the two Sailor senshi and the single Shadow senshi, which made Shadow Uranus wince even more, "Shadow Venus."

"Who else? Nobody else would be accompanied by these fine ladies here. I mean.....is Yamito around?" Shadow Venus blinked a few times and glanced for the leader of the Shadow senshi, but thankfully didn't find him in sight, "Whew, good. The boss gets mad when I say stuff like that. Like I was saying, these two beautiful ladies here wouldn't be seen with any of you, ya know?" The comment made an amused smile cross Sailor Pluto's face but it had a quite different affect on Sailor Venus. Her face burned with a light blush as she looked at Shadow Venus. The three also took place opposing the two Shadow senshi and it brought another level of reluctance to Shadow Uranus's voice.

"Still the flirt, I see. I remember the days when you would say those things to me, Suteki."

Shadow Venus eyed him a moment and waved him off with a roll of his eyes, "Tch, whatever. Keep dreaming." The odds were now mounting against the two and they only imagined that if these ones had done so well against the clones, the others would be soon behind them. Shadow Venus's wandering attentions soon fell on Shadow Jupiter and he eyed the altered state of his uniform. His guessed where the other parts may have gone and idly looked back to Sailor Jupiter where his intuition was proven. Then he looked back to him with a Cheshire grin, "Any reason to show off the bod, eh Kage?" "Be quiet." It was all he got back as Shadow Jupiter couldn't help but smile a bit. Shadow Venus chuckled lightly and stared back forward to the fallen allies that stood before them.

Shadow Neptune was actually looking a bit concerned as he looked around and he spoke in voice that only his partner could hear, "The odds are slowly coming against us. Soon we'll have Mercury to deal with too. I can't tell you how much harder that will make it for me, Kumo."

Just as if it was cued Sailor Mercury walked up with Shadow Mercury close behind. Instantly Shadow Neptune looked up and his eyes fell on the quiet senshi. Indeed a look of hesitation came in his eyes and Shadow Uranus watched with his usual annoyed demeanor. Sailor Mercury stopped next to Sailor Moon and smiled weakly. Shadow Mercury continued on by to the others.

"Are we all here?"

Sailor Moon returned the smile and placed her hand across her arm tenderly, "Almost all of us. I'm happy to see you're okay, Ami."

"Thanks to Kurai."

Shadow Mercury was up standing next to Shadow Venus by now and looked blankly at the other two Shadow standing across from them all. Shadow Venus blinking at him as he saw the look on his face but it was Shadow Jupiter who said something, "They aren't like us anymore, Kurai. Remember who your true friends are."

"I have not forgotten."

Shadow Uranus eyed Shadow Mercury for a moment and then barked in a loud voice that grabbed everyone's attention, "It looks like now we're only missing......."

The rest of his sentence came as silence as he watched a swirl of flames appeared away from all of the others. Shadow Mars appeared from those flames and held another figure close to him with a free arm. Sailor Mars wasn't facing the others like he was but had her chin resting against his shoulder when they appeared. She was either lost in the moment of being held by him, even if it was just for the transport, or she was too weak to move on her own. The former was proven as she finally stepped away from him and looked out over the others as well. His eyes, however, never left Shadow Uranus and Shadow Neptune. He didn't join the others as they faced them and just stood alone with his Sailor counterpart.

"It looks like you two are out of tricks. Now is the time that we let your souls rest."

"No! If you let us, we can help you! The Ginzuishou could....."

"The Ginzuishou is not an option for these two!" Shadow Mars's biting tone cut Sailor Moon off quickly and she looked at him shock. The way he stared at them made her rethink anything she had to say and he could feel the way she was looking at him, "I will not try and help them. They don't deserve it." Sailor Moon could barely believe how harsh he was about these two. Shadow Jupiter wasn't much help for her argument either.

"For once, I agree with you. Let's take them down now."

"I hate to break this to you all but, you won't get that chance." Shadow Neptune quipped and snapped his fingers loudly. Suddenly dozens of portals opened all around them and let an entire army of cloned warriors into the woods to surround them. With the table turned so quickly the Sailor senshi and the Darkened Shadow senshi moved back to protect each other and Sailor Moon. Even Shadow Mars led Sailor Mars over to them and backed in slowly with his eyes moving quickly across the numbers. Sailor Moon looked out at all of the clones and sweated as she held to Tuxedo Kamen's arm tightly. Shadow Mars stepped back next to her and looked down at her slowly.

"We can't win this now, Sailor Moon. Escape is the only choice."

Her blue eyes moved up to him and she could see the genuine concern in his dark eyes. It was enough to make her uneasy and she nodded quickly, "Alright, do you have a plan?"

A light nod gave her little comfort as his eyes wandered to Shadow Jupiter slowly. Before her eyes could follow Shadow Uranus laughed from the midst of the clones and placed a finger along his cheek, "Yamito, dear Yamito. Despite your regard to kill Neptune and I without a second thought, we'll offer you a plea bargain. Leave the Sailor senshi to their fate and come back with us, and we'll let the Omega Master decide what to do about this. Honestly, how hard would it be to betray them one more time?"

The Dark Shadow senshi looked at Shadow Mars for a second and the Sailor senshi quickly did the same. Shadow Mars was still looking at Sailor Moon as she looked up to him with a weary look in her eyes. In a time of all times, he smiled lightly to her and whispered so only she could hear it, "I think I've betrayed you one too many times. The time has come to face the consequences of my decisions."

"Yamito?"

He didn't answer as he turned from her and walked forward beyond the others and faced the two. Shadow Uranus titled his head in anticipation, though he knew what they answer would be. Shadow Mars could see it in his eyes and decided to give him a very loud answer. A flaming aura rose up around him and he quickly threw both of his hands through the air at them, "Mars Fire Wall!" Two walls of fire rose up from the ground and headed towards them quickly, ripping chunks from the earth as they did. The two Shadow senshi were quick enough to get out of the way but many of the clones behind them weren't so lucky.

Shadow Uranus howled in rage as he floated up into the air and stared down at Shadow Mars, "Kill them all!"

"Kage, give us a back door. Sailor Moon, I think it's time for your Sailor Teleport."

Shadow Mars was backing back to the others and watching the hissing clones move in on all of them. Shadow Jupiter quickly nodded and started to gather white energy in his hands. Shadow Venus began to fire into the waves of clones with his Gatling Blast attack and Shadow Mercury let his triad fly through the lines of them. Shadow Mars soon joined them in giving the Sailor senshi enough time to transport out while Shadow Jupiter made the way for the rest to leave.

The Sailor senshi quickly circled up and joined hands to teleport out of there, but the actions of them all quickly aroused suspicion on Shadow Uranus's face. An orange glow covered his hand and he yelled loudly from above, "Trying to escape? Global Eviction!"

A bright energy ball ripped from the ground next to Shadow Mars and caught him off guard. The senshi was hurled back by the energy and hit the ground next to the Sailor senshi, though not one of them could break the circle to help him. It was, oddly enough, Tuxedo Kamen who ran over in front of him and protected him, "Keep it up, Sailor senshi. We'll be close behind!"

Shadow Neptune now was catching on as well and turned his attentions on Shadow Venus, "You won't escape us!" His Thermocline Surge attack came down from the air right into the back of Shadow Venus, catching him completely by surprise. His handsome face hit the dirt as he fell forward and his body went completely limp. Shadow Mercury looked over at him with wild eyes and feared that his friends were being killed right next to him. By now Shadow Uranus had seen the one that would be giving them a path to escape and he got a wide smile as he formed his attack once more.

As the orange energy ripped from the ground next to Shadow Jupiter, it was Shadow Mercury who took the brunt of the impact. As quickly as he flung himself in front of the attack he was thrown away and hit the ground motionlessly next to Shadow Venus. Shadow Jupiter watched in horror and loosely held the white energy ball in his hand. Then rage crossed his face and he slowly looked up to Shadow Uranus, who was actually getting yelled at by Shadow Neptune.

"I didn't want you to kill Kurai! Did you forget the plan? Kurai wasn't supposed to be killed like this!"

"What's done is done. I can't bring him back so quit yelling at me." Both of them were suddenly startled by a loud yelling and looked down to the ground. Shadow Jupiter had left the ball of energy floating above the ground and was charging full speed into the clones, trying to get to the two Shadow senshi. Although his sword was making quick work of the clones, the sheer numbers of them was enough to seal his fate and soon he ran into a wall of angry clones. Several dozen clones all blasted him in unison and sent him skidding back along the ground next to Tuxedo Kamen. Shadow Uranus and Shadow Neptune took great pleasure in seeing that and slowly floated down to the ground in front of them all. By this time the Sailor senshi had all but faded away and left the four Shadow senshi lying on the ground motionlessly. Tuxedo Kamen was the last one standing among the hundreds of clones and looked around with a weary glance.

"Well, well, Tuxedo Kamen. The Sailor senshi may have escaped us for now, but you won't be so lucky. Ready to die like those worthless Shadow senshi?"

"No matter what happens to me, the Sailor senshi will stop you. When I'm gone and the others are remembered, you'll meet your end along with you master."

That brought a smile to the two Shadow senshi's faces and they waved their hand through the air to signal the end for him. The clones started to advance on him but it something he heard made him look down quickly. Shadow Jupiter had one eye barely open and was fighting his labored breathing to speak to him, "Hey, don't just stand there. Use this to get out of here." The white energy ball that he had created floated through the air and came right up to him. Tuxedo Kamen stared at it a moment and then back down to Shadow Jupiter.

"What do I do with it?"

Unfortunately, Shadow Jupiter's eyes were now closed.

He was alone in the middle of an army of clones with a tool he had no idea how to use. Still, he wrapped his hands around the ball and contemplated a few things about the situation. His eyes moved down at the beaten faces of the Darkened Shadow senshi and thought how peaceful they looked. For one moment in time, which seemed to linger forever, Tuxedo Kamen was forced to make a decision, "Does this ball have enough to take them as well? Would it matter if I did? If they somehow were still alive, could I trust the fact that they have reformed? If they turned on the girls again, it would be my doing. Can I take that chance?" His eyes soon moved to Shadow Mars and that is where his attentions stayed. His biggest rival lying on the ground, beaten and lifeless, and yet the object of affection for both Rei and Usagi. Could he live with it if he just left him there? Would he ever be able to look at Rei again? His decision would affect so much in the future that he almost wished he didn't have the choice. Ultimately, he sighed and the ball of energy burst in his hands, obeying his choice and taking the consequences with it.


Sailormoon Omega-Gamma
       By D.D. Rayne



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