Chapter Ten: As Ten Become Six                                





"Hello?"

Eternal Sailor Moon peered into the darkness with a nervous blink, but only her echo answered her. After the intense trip through the portal, she found herself alone in some kind of castle, surrounded by damp walls and a creepy feeling tickling up her neck. Suddenly a voice from another room startled her, though the figure running in after the voice set her fears to rest, "Sailor Moon!"

She looked to Tuxedo Kamen quickly and let out a sigh of relief, then peered around slowly, "Where are we, Tuxedo Kamen?" The tall, dank walls disappeared into darkness near the ceiling and a large staircase sat in the middle of the room, leading up into the endless darkness.

"I don't know, but let's go up and see if we can find some of the others."

She nodded and they started to ascend the staircase, not knowing what waited for them in the darkness above, "I wonder where the others are."


Shadow Mars walked through the thick ferns and trees in some kind of jungle area that he found himself in. Pushing through some of the thick plants, he looked around slowly and spoke in a quiet, almost humored voice, "This was something I didn't expect. Walk through the side of a mountain, and find yourself in the middle of a jungle." After walking through the plants and finding a small clearing, he suddenly had a strange feeling come over him and felt compelled to look down, "What's this?" A curious look crossed his face as he knelt down and retrieved the object, which turned out to be Sailor Mars's henshin stick. Placing the stick into his cape, he looked around for some sort of clue as to where anybody would be, and received it in the form of some loud yelling and threats being yelled out from ahead. He recognized the voice instantly and pulled his mask down from his face, "Rei." Taking a quick glance around, he concluded the heavy trees would hinder his flight and took a deep breath, then ran into the jungle in pursuit of the voices he heard up ahead.

"I'll bet this lake has good fishing." Shadow Venus quipped as he pulled his mask from his face and looked out over the beautiful lake in front of him, "What I wouldn't give for my fly pole right now." He just gazed at the lake for a moment, lost in a trance that the huge body of water surrounded by woods induced on him. Despite the fact that it couldn't be real, he still found the entire sight breathtaking. After a light sigh, he turned his head to the side and looked across the lake, seeing a small fire burning along the other side, "Well, better see who that is and find out where Minako is." He leapt from the ground and flew across the lake, sending two walls of water up behind him. He lightly landed by the fire and looked on a single figure huddled close to the flames, "Minako?"

"Suteki?"

Minako's blue eyes had never been so happy to see him as she stood up quickly and turned to find him there. Feeling her face burning with tears, she ran over to him and leapt into his arms, hugging him tightly and hoping he wasn't an illusion. Returning her embrace, he smiled and closed his eyes slowly, "Why, you look happy to see me, Minako." Looking up at him with a wide smile, she couldn't find any words to say back. With a quick notice of her clothing, he got a smirk on his face and huffed, "What kind of jerk would take you out into the night in just your nightgown?"

"Yeah, who would do such a thing?"

The look on her face made him smile sheepishly and rub the back of his head a little, "Oh yeah. I forgot."

Hugging him tightly once more, she let out a small shiver and closed her eyes, just wanting to hold him just for a moment and not let go. Slowly pulling his cape around her, he looked into the fire and smiled a bit distantly, "You know, if this wasn't a part of the Priests' lair, danger around every corner, the enemy lurking about and you in your nightgown, I would say we should stay the night and do some fishing." She looked up at him and blinked, which forced him to chuckle a bit to himself, "You know, if not for all those things."

The tender moment was shattered by a familiar voice cutting through the night air, "Ah, what a Kodak moment. Get a room, you two."

Looking into the dark, Shadow Venus turned around and stood in front of Minako protectively, "Who's there?"

"You really can't sense anything. I'm starting to wonder about your infamous ability to detect evil." Shibo said blandly and stepped out of the darkness, smirking at them both.

Narrowing his eyes at his mirror image, Shadow Venus miffed a bit and shrugged lightly, "Oh, I felt you. I just didn't think you'd be stupid enough to take us both on."

"Oh, that's a laugh. You can't go Super without putting her in danger because of your ego, and she can't even transform without this." He raised his hand and opened it, Minako's henshin stick hanging between two fingers.

Minako poked her head from behind Shadow Venus and gripped his cape tightly, looking a bit ticked off about Shibo having her stick, "Give that back!"

Letting out a light chuckle, Shibo closed his hand around it and curled his other fingers to them, "Come and get it, suckers."


Ami was walking in an immense desert with nothing in sight, only her own heat exhaustion to keep her company. A blinding sun bared down on her and she let out a sigh, holding her hand to her brow to shade her eyes, "This is very tedious. There's nothing but sand and sky. I wish I could find the others." She started to see something up ahead, it appeared to be a group of trees. She rubbed her eyes lightly and blinked at the sight, "What's that?" She started to run toward it but when she got up to it, it disappeared into the heat waves, "A mirage? I've never heard of one that real."

"What's the matter Sailor Mercury? Your eyes playing tricks on you?" Byoki's voice called from nowhere and startled her. She turned around and looked all around, but not finding any sign of him.

"Where are you? Show yourself, Byoki!"

His voice laughed lightly and then spoke to her very quietly, almost in her own mind, "Not yet, I want to see how that fair skin of yours will hold up to the blazing sun."

"Hmph! I will not play these little games of yours." She said in a matter-of-fact tone and sat down in the sand, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Suit yourself, I'll check up on you later." She just sat there until she started to hear something in the distance, almost like a voice. The sound kept getting louder and she suddenly saw a figure flying towards her.

"Ami!"

She blinked slowly and rubbed her eyes again, "Kurai? Could it be?" She stood up with a smile on her face, but then frowned and looked down slowly, "No, it's probably just another mirage."

Shadow Mercury landed near her finally and pulled his mask off, "Ami, I'm glad I found you. Are you all right?"

She held out a defiant hand and shook her head, "Leave me alone."

"What?"

He looked at her in surprise but she just turned from him, crossing her arms over her chest, "I don't need to be distracted by any more mirages."

"Mirage? You think I'm a mirage?"

Turning her head to the side, she blinked slowly and looked at him suspiciously, "Well, aren't you?"

"Could a mirage do this?" He stepped over to her and leaned forward, kissing her cheek softly and then standing back so she could judge for herself. She blinked a few times and has a taint of red dash across her face. Convinced of his existence, she turned to him fully and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Kurai! It is you."

Smiling lightly, his hands moved to her hips and he pressed his eyes closed, "Good of you to notice." Holding her henshin stick in his hand lightly, he opened his eyes and stared into the endless dunes of sand, "Lets get out of here."


"Holy crap, it's freezing! Talk about the short end of the shaft." Shadow Jupiter mumbled as he walked through a frozen wasteland looking for Makoto, crossing his arms over his chest as the wind howled around him, "Damn, it's cold enough to freeze the balls on a brass monkey. There Dad, I used one of your sayings. I hope your happy." He said to no one in particular, then blew warm air into his gloves and noticed an unusual glow up ahead. His footsteps make crunching sounds in the snow as he walked up and found a transparent energy field covering a cave. He leaned forward and looked through, seeing a room with Makoto lying on the ground unconscious, "Makoto!" He stepped forward to go to her, but the field suddenly shocked him and flung him to the ground hard. He stands up, covered in snow, and looked a little mad at the field, "Oh, want it that way, huh? I got something for ya!" He held both of his hands out to it and a greenish lightning erupted over them, making a wicked grin cross his face. The lightning erupted from his hands in a controlled burst, but was reflected right back at him, much to his dismay. His eyes bulged and he jumped out of the way, letting the blast fly off into the distance and shatter a glacier a few hundred meters away. He stood up once more and cursed, then looked at Makoto, scratching his head in thought, "Now what am I going to do?" He slowly pulled of his mask and blew out a vapor cloud, then soon saw Makoto awakening, "Makoto! Hey Mako!"

"Where am I?" Makoto groaned hoarsely and rose up weakly, holding a hand to her head. She soon looked at the energy field and saw Shadow Jupiter waving his arm and yelling. Seeing his figure made her smile happily and start towards him, "Kage!"

"Whoa, whoa! Don't touch the field! It shocked the hell out of me."

She blinked as his voice distorted a little through the field, but looked around and found something on the wall, "Hold on, I think I found a switch." She pushed the button and a door in the field opened up. He eyed it for a moment and started to step through, but right when he stuck his hand through, the door shut and shocked him once more.

He yelled in pain and pulled his hand back, looking at the field in pure anger, "Ah, you son of a b.......Push the damn thing again!" She winced and pushed the button again, making the door open up. This time he took a few steps back and then ran towards it, diving through the door and landing on the ground in a roll. The entrance once again sealed right behind him and he looked at it with a triumphant grin, "Booyah! Who got the last laugh now, huh?"

"Kage, I'm so glad to see you!"

Makoto quickly ran to him and helping him to his feet, then hugged him tightly with a smile. He put his arms around her just as tightly and nodded, "Yeah, I can see that. I'm glad to see you're safe, Mako-chan." After a moment, he felt the normal temperature where she was and smirked lightly, "Oh sure, I'm out there freezing my butt off and you are in a nice heated room. That's fair." She giggled a bit and nuzzled into him, glad to have the real one in her arms again. Noticing a hallway behind them that appeared to be lit, he nodded his head a bit towards it, "Know where that leads?"

"No."

"Well, I'd rather go in there, than back out there." Leading her into the hallway, he explained about getting the Silver Crystal from the Priests, and plan to kill the Omega Master. Finally, after walking through the winding hallway, they got to a dark room and the flipped a switch to turn the lights on. What they found was Senso and two dozen clones waiting for them, all poised and waiting for them. Makoto winced at the sheer odds and Shadow Jupiter blinked a few times slowly, "Okay, the snow is looking a lot better now." He stepped in front of her protectively and looked at them all, slowly unsheathing his sword from behind him and waving it towards all of them, "Okay, I won't hurt you, if you all surrender right now."

Senso promptly blasted the sword out of his hand and sent it into a wall, then smirked lightly to him, "You always were a joker. Kill him, but take her alive."

The clones all started to rush them, proving to be a little too much for just a Shadow senshi to handle. Shadow Jupiter felt the urge to just attack, but a quick glance to Makoto made him rethink his strategy and sigh, "All right, only one thing to do."

"What's that?"

He quickly turned around and threw her over his shoulder, "Run like hell!" He turned and sped off down the hallway, looking behind him at the hordes of clones following. They reached the field quickly and he set her down onto the ground. Looking back into the hallway, he saw some shadows approaching them quickly and winced, "Damn, too many of them. Hit that button!" She nodded and pushed it, making the door open for them. She turned back to him and he gave her a strange look, "Here, you'll need this, trust me." Handing her his cape, he listened to the approaching voices and winced, then looked at her as she looked at him questioningly. She wanted to ask him what he was planning, but it all became apparent as he looked into her eyes deeply and spoke in a quiet tone, "I love you, Kino Makoto." Before she had a chance to answer those words she had longed to hear, he stepped forward and pushed her backwards through the door and into the snow. The door instantly closed behind her and she sat up in the snow quickly, looking at him with a wild look in her eyes.

"What are you doing, Kage? Push the switch and come on!"

"I didn't get the Crystal. Besides, that wanker of a clone is just begging to be dealt with. I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be. Good-bye, Mako." Despite her protests, he turned around and looked at his ring for a moment, "I hope this works. Jupiter Dark Power Magnify!" She watched as the lightning consumed his body and led to the birth of Super Shadow Jupiter once more. Rolling his neck slowly, he looked down the hall and grinned, "Ohhhhh, I feel good. Come get some." As Makoto watched in horror and yelled after him, he ran back into the hallway with an aura of power around him, ready to dig his own grave at the expense of getting back the shattered Ginzuishou.


"What is with this staircase? All it does is go up and up and up." Eternal Sailor Moon said as she and Tuxedo Kamen were still walking up the stairs. It just seemed to keep spiraling upwards and she sighed heavily.

"What do you suppose we will find up there?"

She looked up the stairs with a glimmer of hope in her eyes and tried to catch her breath, "I hope we find the others, then we will need to find the Outers and the Shadows." A faint glow was a little ways up the stairs and she smiled lightly, "Hey, I think we're near the top. I hope we find the others up there."


Shadow Mars peeked around a tree slowly and found Rei backed up against a tree by Kiga and some clones. She had her hands held out threateningly and Kiga looked a bit annoyed, "Come on, Sailor Mars, just give yourself to me."

She threatened to pound one of the clones and kept her eyes darting in between all of them, "Yeah right, you're just a clone. You're not even a real person, just a duplicate of a much better person."

"Shadow Mars, better than me? That's a laugh. I don't know why you like him and not me. We look the exact same, talk the same and even think the same."

She glared at him and growled in an insulted voice, "You are nothing like him. You're just a weak coward."

"Enough! I've had just about as much of your mouth as I can take!" He yelled and fired a dark blast of energy right at her. It arrived at her and there was a flash of light and an explosion, which made Kiga smile and stand straight. However, as the dust settled, Shadow Mars stood in the way and blocked the blast with his arm, looking coldly over it at Kiga. Kiga twitched and smirked lightly, speaking in a very annoyed voice "Well, if it isn't the leader of the Shadow senshi."

"That's right. And you, Kiga, are a weak coward. She can't even transform, so you pick on her like a bully. We both know what happens to bullies, don't we?" Obviously something from their past, Kiga growled lightly and tried to keep his wits about him, all the while, Shadow Mars secretly pulled Rei's henshin stick out behind his back and held it up to her.

"You think you can defeat all of us together by yourself? Not even Super form is that brave."

Shadow Mars smirked lightly and held his hand up, his ring glimmering in the light, "We will see. Mars Dark Power Magnify!" As the flames consumed his body, Kiga shaded his eyes with his hand and growled, then looked to see Super Shadow Mars standing in front of him and gingerly pushing some of his long, red hair from his eyes with his thumb.

Kiga was not at all amused and waved his hand through the air a bit, "Well, now what are you going to do?" The clones surrounded them and readied to attack, but Super Shadow Mars didn't look at all worried.

"It's not what I'm going to do, Kiga."

Stepping to the side, he revealed Super Sailor Mars with her Flame Sniper attack ready to go. With a look of shock in his eyes, Kiga suddenly was thrown back into the trees by the powerful blast, disappearing from the clearing for the moment. Super Sailor Mars clenched her fist and grinned widely, "That felt so good." Super Shadow Mars just nodded and looked to all the clones with a cold stare, and she looked to him with a blink, "This is your Super form? It's not so bad."

"Thanks to Sailor Moon, I can control it."

"What did she....." Cut short from her sentence by the attacking clones, Super Sailor Mars started to destroy the clones with her attacks and felt good about doing it. Super Shadow Mars was about to join in when a blast of fire came spiraling from the woods and hit the ground where he stood. Jumping back from the blast, he looked to see Kiga walking from the trees with fire in his eyes.

"You're going to pay, senshi! Then I'm going to take care of that little harlot!"

That seemed to strike a nerve with Super Shadow Mars and he stared coldly at Kiga, and even started to walk at him as well, "Don't speak about her in such a way."

"Whose going to stop me?"

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he turned his head stupidly, "Me!" Super Sailor Mars yelled and decked him hard, sending him reeling back and looking furious. Suddenly, Super Shadow Mars appeared right behind him and wrapped his arms around him, trapping him from moving anymore. They both erupted into dark flames and Kiga screamed frantically, the power from Super Shadow Mars saturating his body.

"Looks like this the end for you. So ends your pitiful life, clone."

Kiga clenched his teeth in pain and closed his eyes, trying to get Super Sailor Mars's attention with his words, "If you kill me, you'll kill yourself!"

Super Sailor Mars blinked and stepped right into the plan Kiga laid out before her, "What is he talking about?"

"Didn't he tell you if I am destroyed, he'll be killed as well? If you care for him, you must stop......" Kiga started to explain but Super Shadow Mars glowed brighter and sent him into a high scream from the pain.

"He's just trying to save himself." Super Shadow Mars growled and strained harder, exerting a great amount of energy to cause as much pain to his clone as possible. With a look and a tone that made Super Sailor Mars step back in fear, Super Shadow Mars's eyes turned all black and he leaned his head close to his clone, "Remember Sentaku? I hope you see him on the other side." Weakening him enough, he suddenly threw Kiga into the air uncontrollably. Even the ground began to shake as he concentrated his power and looked up to the figure of the Priest. Bringing his hands together in front of him, a massive and intense fire ball surged around his body and scorched the forest around them, then burst from his hands and flew right into the Priest. Kiga screamed loudly as the fire consumed his body and slowly turned him into vapor, much like any of the other clones. Satisfied with his revenge, he slowly lowered his hands down and winced for some reason, his eyes staying on the swirling vapor that didn't seem to disappear. Super Sailor Mars stared at him a bit longer, disturbed at his apparent evil side, but soon ran over to him and looked to him in worry.

"Yamito, are you all right?"

In the basking silence, he just stared upwards at the vapor circling above them. With a worried blink, she followed his eyes up to the vapor as well, and trembled at the sound of his voice, "And to that end are we righteous, and we are just." Before she had the chance to question him, the vapor suddenly spiraled down through the air and absorbed right into his chest, sending him flying back as if he had just been kicked square in the same place. Skidding to a stop on the ground, his body tightened up as an unbelievable amount of pain surged through his body, giving all of his control not to scream out. Super Sailor Mars quickly ran over to him and knelt down, lifting his head up and a terrified look on her face.

"What was that? What's happening?"

His dark eyes opened fiercely and she could see the pain in them, and it made her stomach churn in emotion. Trying to speak with a calm voice, his fists clenched tightly at his sides, "Kiga wasn't lying by what he said. By killing him, I've just ended my own life as well."

"What? What kind of logic is that?"

The pain appeared to subside for a moment and he laid his head in her arms fully, speaking now even more quiet, "It's a long story that Sailor Moon will have to tell you."

"What? You can't die, Yamito!"

Tears were welling up in her eyes and he just looked at her with an emotionless expression, which made her unwilling start to cry. Oddly, he smiled lightly as his hands laid across his chest limply, "You'll wait for me. I can see it in your eyes." Putting her shaky hand to his face, she shook her head and sent droplets of sorrow onto his clothes, which soon started to sparkle and fade away.

"Don't go, Yami. Please don't go!" Despite her protests, those dark eyes pressed closed and his image faded from her arms like a waking dream.


"Return that to its owner!"

Shadow Venus snarled and clutched Shibo's hands tightly as the two pushed against each other, trying to get an edge to win the fight. Minako watched with an intense look on her face and Shibo laughed lightly, pushing right back into him, "You gonna make me, wimp?"

"You bet!" Shadow Venus yelled and stepped back, throwing Shibo over his shoulder and sending the stick off into the air away from both of them. Taken off guard by the move, Shibo was quick to flip over and land on his feet, bringing a glowing hand up along his side.

"Gah, you're a pain in the butt!" Letting the blast loose, the energy impacted Shadow Venus's chest and send him flying through the air, and soon making a splash as he landed in the lake. Seeing his foe disappear under the waves, Shibo stood straight and laughed, then looked around slowly, "Now, where did that go?"

What his eyes came across was Super Sailor Venus with a determined look on her face, "Right here! Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" Her attack struck him from close range and put him flat on his back, a pained and disoriented look on his face. Walking over to him with a grin, she stood over him smirking and rested her hand on her slim hip, "I bet you thought you could go and just take me from my house in my nightgown in the middle of the night, huh? Only one person can do that and, though you may look like him, you ain't him."

Shibo laughed bitterly and leaned up on his elbows, smiling at her wickedly, "You really care for him?"

"That's none of you business."

With a grunt, he slowly got to his feet in front of her and kept a hand over his chest, "Well, if you care for him, you had better not use that little attack again."

"And why's that?"

"If you destroy me, it'll kill him too, blondie. Why do you think he didn't tell you I was his clone?"

She winced at his words, but shook her head and narrowed her blue eyes upon him, "Your lying. That can't be true."

"True, I could be lying, but can you take that chance?"

She looked to the lake for a moment and let her guard down, long enough for Shibo to jump into the air and look down at her, "Hah, you fell for that? Talk about a blonde!" She looked up to him quickly and winced as he gathered his energy in front of him. Letting out a loud laugh, he was about to use the energy when several blasts of energy pierced through his chest and broke up his blast. An empty look came over his eyes and soon his body evaporated into a mere vapor cloud, revealing Super Shadow Venus floating behind him with his Gatling Blast still formed around his arms. She smiled happily at him, and he promptly gave her the peace sign and a wink. Only a second later, the vapor that still floated in the air shot through at him and absorbed into his chest, making him yell in pain and fall from the sky. She watched in horror as he hit the ground hard and laid there not moving, just groaning lightly.

"Suteki!" She hurried over to him and stared at the expression on his face, like he was being burned from the inside out. After a moment, he opened one of his sky blue eyes and spoke in barely a whisper.

"Oh man, I didn't think it would hurt this much! What a way to go."

"What do you mean?" Her voice wavered slightly as she knelt to him, but he just closed his eyes tightly and his hand suddenly strained open, then fell to the ground with no life left in it. Staring in disbelief at him, she barely found enough breath to whisper as his body started to sparkle and fade away, "Suteki?" His relaxed face slowly faded from her eyes, leaving her in silence except for the light crashing waves of the lake.


"We've been flying for hours. Aren't you getting tired?"

Super Shadow Mercury smirked lightly at Ami as the wind blew his hair from in his face, "I could carry you for another ten....." Suddenly he trailed off and looked around quickly. To her surprise, he stopped midair and moved his eyes around slowly, making her blink and watch him carefully.

"What is it?"

"It feels like....." Once again he trailed away, but this time a blast came from nowhere and hit him in the back. He yelled and they both started to fall to the ground. However, right before they hit the ground, he rolled over so she would land on him. They hit with a very dull thud and he groaned loudly, his face twisting in pain.

She quickly rolled over on top of him and shrieked, "Kurie? Are you all right?"

"I hope not." Byoki said as he floated down in front of them, landing in the sand softly. A big grin covered his face and Ami glared at him in utter disgust, standing slowly and stepping in front of Shadow Mercury a bit.

"What do you want?"

Byoki shrugged lightly and put his hands on his hips, turning his head and looking off into the desert, "Besides you at my side, and his head on my mantle? Nothing."

"You will have neither." Shadow Mercury growled and stood up slowly, then stepped around Ami. Byoki looked at him and sighed, annoyed at his persistence.

"I beg to differ, Kurai. Look around you, there is nothing here. Only I know the way out of this desert and the only one I plan on taking with me is her."

Shadow Mercury narrowed his eyes and suddenly ran straight towards him, "Over my dead body!"

Byoki just rolled his eyes and grinned, holding out a glowing hand, "That's the general idea." Firing a powerful blast, he repelled Shadow Mercury and sent him into a dune of sand, "Maybe I'll just bury you out here." With a devious grin, he fired a second blast that carved a hole out from under Shadow Mercury, making him disappear into the sand. With a third and final blast, he send a wave of sand over him and buried him quite well into the sand. Pleased at his work, Byoki laughed and lowered his hand, looking to the side and finding Super Sailor Mercury glaring at him angrily, "Well now, someone find your toy?"

"Dig him up now!"

Placing a finger to his chin, he thought about it a moment and started to advance on her, "Well.......no."

She narrowed her eyes at him and placed her hands out a bit, then gathered her Aqua Rhapsody attack around her. As she used the attack on him, he just stepped back a few times and growled, then looked back to her with a wicked smile, "Hardly enough to stop me, Sailor Mercury." She winced at the effect of her attack and made him advance on her again. Suddenly the ground shook under them both and a massive column of sand erupted from behind him, sending a figure up into the air. Super Shadow Mercury plowed his fist into Byoki and knocked him to the ground. As Super Sailor Mercury watched in shock, Super Shadow Mercury pulled his triad out from behind him and landed on Byoki, pinning his arms down with his feet and kneeling down to him. A blade of the triad touched against the skin of his neck and Byoki stared up at him silently, his eyes wide with fear. Super Shadow Mercury just reached down and pulled the fragment of the Ginzuishou from his neck, then leaned closer as the blade pressed into his skin more.

"Arrogance was never our strong point. Time for you to meet your end, Byoki."

As the blade started to draw blood, Byoki looked to Super Sailor Mercury quickly and spoke frantically to her, "Sailor Mercury! Stop him! If he kills me, he will die too."

"Is that true?" She asked quietly and stepped towards them both, a worried look on her face, "Kurai, tell me the truth."

Glaring at Byoki angrily, Super Shadow Mercury stopped the blade where it was and sighed, "Yes, but we have to destroy him. It doesn't matter what happens to me."

"It matters to me, Kurai! I don't want to lose you." Although he didn't look at her, he could feel her eyes burning into him and he pulled the blade away slowly. Taking the quick opportunity, Byoki kicked him off his chest and sent him crashing onto his back right in front of her. Quickly floating up into the air, Byoki held his hand across his throat and snarled, watching Super Shadow Mercury stand back up and ready his triad.

"That's it! Now I will destroy both of you! Master, if you can hear me, give me the power to defeat my enemies!"

The sky suddenly went black around them and a surrounded him, much to his delight, "You weak fool. I just realized that by destroying you, I will destroy the Shadow senshi as well. Then I can be free." That quickly changed Byoki's expression as the beam started to intensify and tear his body apart. Letting out a loud scream, Byoki was reduced to a swirling cloud of vapor, floating above them. Descending down before the two senshi, Super Shadow Mercury's eyes dimmed a bit and he placed his triad along his waist slowly.

She winced lightly at the sight of it and it reflected in her blue eyes perfectly, "What is it?"

"The Grim Reaper."

The energy swirled around quickly, then absorbed into his body, throwing him back to the ground roughly. His face twisted in pain and he yelled out, which scared her to no end,. "Kurai, are you all right?" Not able to say a word, he just slowly started to be covered in sparkles and fade away, right before her eyes. She watched in horror as his figure soon disappeared into the heat waves, just the same as her mirages had before. The combination of the immense heat, and the fact she couldn't breath at the moment, caused her to fall to her knees weakly and stare at the empty sand in front of her. Soon after, she fainted and fell to her side, laying under the terrible sun and hoping it was all really just a mirage.


Makoto was still frantically trying find away through the energy field and light tears welled up in her emerald eyes at the thought of Kage alone in there. Falling to her knees before the field she rested his fists on her knees and let her hair covered her face, talking a voice that was angry and scared at the same time, "That Kage! How dare he leave me out here and go back to fight."

Back in the room, Senso began to finally see some activity in the hallway and tilted his head a bit, "It's about time they got back. I hope they brought her back unharmed."

However, Super Shadow Jupiter was the one who walked in and dusts his hands off casually. Giving a devious smile to his clone, he shrugged his shoulders lightly, "Your clones weren't a very good challenge, buckwheat. I hope you prove to be better game." Senso glared at him angrily and got ready for a fight, when Super Shadow Jupiter noticed his sword near him. Sliding his foot under it, he kicked the blade up into his hand and spun it a bit, then abruptly tossed it into the middle of the room, sticking the blade in and letting the handle sway a bit, "Oh, you know me. I love a good game. Whoever gets the blade, will have the advantage." The two circled each other slowly and the blade acted like a mirror, reflecting the two as they moved and gave four images of a single person in the room.

"Well, once you are gone, it looks like I'll have to 'comfort' your little girlfriend."

Super Shadow Jupiter smirked a bit and shook his head, "That's a new one, you trying to psyche me out. You could never take me before, and you won't now."

"Well, before I didn't have a this." Senso said and pulled out a small dagger from his belt, a light smirk now crossing his face.

Super Shadow Jupiter just blinked and eyed him carefully, putting his hands up in a fighting stance, "Well, how treacherous of you."

Senso abruptly lunged at him with the dagger and slashed, stabbed and hacked at him with great skill. Super Shadow Jupiter was dodging the attacks well for a while, but one slash caught him across the shoulder and made him jump back in pain. Holding his hand over the wound, he took a few breaths and glared at Senso, who laughed deviously and spun the dagger around in his fingers, "Did that hurt?"

Super Shadow Jupiter suddenly smiled a bit and lunged forward, catching Senso's arm with his hand and twisting it upwards, making him yelp and drop the dagger to the ground. Senso blinked in surprise, but Super Shadow Jupiter finished the motion by kneeing him in the stomach and elbowing him in the back of the head, sending him smashing into the ground harshly.

With a loud sigh, he started to circle Senso with an annoyed look on his face, "You know, I'm an easy going guy. But you just have to try and kill me at every opportunity. Then you destroy my universe, follow me to another one and try to do it again. All of that I can brush off, but then you kidnap my girl and bring her to this stupid lair. For that, I'll have to kill you, man. And, in the process, kill myself. I mean, can't you get a date on your own?" He shook his head and sighed in frustration, then looked back to see Senso with his sword in hand, the blade pointed right at him.

"You were saying?"

Super Shadow Jupiter smiled nervously and backed away slowly, "Boy, I really need to learn not to yap so much before I finish someone on off." Senso smirked and lunged at him, stabbing with the sword right at his chest. Super Shadow Jupiter dodged the blade easily and jumped back, his face no very concerned at the advantage Senso had over him. Without warning, Senso appeared right behind him and hit him with butt of the sword, knocking him to the ground. In a gruesome move, Senso stabbed the sword through his forearm and right through into the ground, pinning his arm there. Super Shadow Jupiter yelled out in pain and grabbed where the sword is embedded through his arm, placing his forehead on the ground and clenching his teeth vicously.

"That looks so painful. Tell me, how does it feel?" Super Shadow Jupiter just growled through his clenched teeth and put his hand on the blade of the sword, making Senso laugh triumphantly, "Now we know who is stronger after all!" Taking his victory in stride, he raised his hands above his head and formed a ball of lightning that crackled with tremendous power. While he gathered enough energy to send off his rival in a blast of glory, Super Shadow Jupiter gripped the blade of the sword tightly and started to pull on it. Senso just laughed loudly as he watched, and blood started to trail down the blade from his hands, but he kept pulling on it until the blade creaked and moved inside of his arm. Senso suddenly blinked wildly and clenched his teeth, "Impossible! You won't get a chance to save yourself!" Arching back to throw the blast down on him, Senso just watched as Super Shadow Jupiter pulled the blade from his arm slowly and yelled. Acting quicker than his clone, he tossed the blade into the air a bit and rolled over on his back. As the handle of the sword came back down into his hands, he yelled loudly and thrusted the sword into Senso's stomach, the blade coming out the other side cleanly. Despite the terrible pain shooting through his arm and hand, Super Shadow Jupiter smiled bitterly and watched as Senso's blast faded away from above his head, and his hands came down over the blade of the sword, "If you can do it, so can I!" Senso started to pull on the blade to remove it, but Super Shadow Jupiter just laughed quietly at him.

"You aren't me." Suddenly the sword erupted into bright lightning and sent Senso into a loud scream, his body starting to vaporize right at the end of it. Soon, the only thing left of Senso was the vapor that swirled around the blade, which Super Shadow Jupiter watched start to move down towards him slowly.

Makoto was sitting in the snow silently covered by Shadow Jupiter's cape when the energy field suddenly disappeared. She stood up quickly and left the cape in the snow, running down the hallway in a frantic attempt to help. What she found in the room was Super Shadow Jupiter lying on the ground with the sword laying across his chest, his eyes pressed closed. Her eyes suddenly dilated and she rushed to him dropping to her knees and touching his face, "Kage!" She felt a little relieved when his peat green eyes opened barely and he managed to smile weakly, "I thought I'd lost you. Hold on, you'll still make it."

He just laughed bitterly and shook his head, then held up a piece of the Ginzuishou, the chain wrapped around her henshin stick. Placing the objects in her lap, his clothing started to sparkle lightly and he managed to speak a final thing to her as he disappeared, "Good-bye, Makoto." As he faded away, the room around them did as well, leaving her alone and outside in the cold air. Staring down blankly at her arms, a few lonely tears ran down her cheek and fell to her arm, followed by a few snowflakes that signaled a light snowfall around her. Though she didn't care much, she just cried quietly and felt the cold over her like the emptiness that just ripped through her heart.

                    
 
       Next Chapter: Saying Good-bye