Chapter 6: “The Face of the Enemy”
Ikuko was slightly surprised when she heard the front door open with still an hour left before Usagi’s school let out (not that she expected her back to that evening). Looking up from the book that she was reading, she saw a haggard looking Usagi and ChibiUsa escorted by an unknown woman enter the house.
Seeing the worried look that on Ikuko’s face, Pluto said, “Tsukino-san don’t worry, your daughter is fine. The princess just needs some rest and time to herself so as to allow herself to recover from the emotional drain that she experienced earlier today,” attempting to reassure her princess’s mother. Hearing those words, Ikuko’s face softened, but she still gave Pluto a look that demanded more information. “I will explain shortly, but first the princess should lie down.” And with that, she led the two Usagis out of the room and up the stairs.
‘She must be associated with the Senshi,’ concluded Ikuko as she considered the words the woman had spoken. Deciding for the moment to defer to this woman, Ikuko stifled her desire to run up and mother her daughter and to instead patiently wait for the woman to come back down so that she could find out what had happened to her daughter. Thankfully, she did not have a long wait before the stranger, minus the two she had escorted upstairs, returned downstairs.
“I am the Guardian of Spacetime, Sailor Pluto. You can call me Setsuna.” Pluto said as she took a seat, wasting no time in answering Ikuko’s questions. “There was a droid attack at Juuban Elementary School. This monster is one that they should not have had to fight until later, when they are stronger. As a result, it took them near an hour to defeat it. However, that is not the reason why your daughter is distraught. Small Lady was drained prior to their arrival, and the inability of being able to stop the creature that had hurt her daughter emotionally destroyed your daughter. I believe I have rebuilt her confidence, and her cheerful nature will help her bounce back.”
Ikuko sat adsorbing all that had just been said. She was slightly in shock from learning that the Senshi had trouble destroying the creature. In thinking about her daughter’s distraught state, she thought about what shape she would be in if she saw Usagi hurt and was unable to do anything about it.
Seeing the light of comprehension cross Ikuko’s eyes, Setsuna decide to take her leave. “Tsukino-san why don’t you go see your daughter. I need to go feel the pull of time from various points in this city, but I will be back later.”
Then upon getting nod of agreement from Ikuko, Setsuna stood, open a time portal, and stepped through.
Ikuko remained sitting for a few moments, transfixed at what she had just seen. Seeing her daughter henshin into a magical warrior of a long dead kingdom was one thing, but to see a tear be ripped through reality was something all together different. When Ikuko finally pulled herself back together after having watching Pluto’ s unique method of leaving, she headed on upstairs to Usagi’s room.
Pausing at the door, she found that Usagi was curled up tightly around ChibiUsa. Looking up towards the head of the bed she saw a very worried Luna sitting there. Catching Luna’s eyes, Ikuko gave the cat a nod, before entering into the room and gently sitting down on the bed. Reaching out and placing her hand on Usagi, Ikuko began the process of comforting her daughter.
After leaving the Tsukino household, Setsuna reappeared on top of various buildings around the city. With each stop, she opened her body to feel the flow of time. Normally she would just feel the flow of time from one place, but with the future so uncertain, she wanted to make sure that she did the right thing.
With each stop, her feel for the flow got clearer. While she did not know, nor would so ever while she remained in linear time, what was to come, she now had a good idea of what the consequences of various actions would be. And from that knowledge, Pluto now knew that for now that she needed to remain in linear time.
Pluto was relieved when she determined that the flow of time would be best helped by her presence. One additional item caught her attention while she examined the flow of time: the awakening of the other Senshi of the Ends of the Solar System. Unfortunately, while it appeared that something had changed with their treads, Time was too muddled for her to get a good grasp of exactly what this change was – she would need to be in close proximity to them before she could determine their effects on the flow of time.
With her task and questions answered for the time, she opened a portal to a park. Stepping through the portal into the park, Pluto released her staff back into its subspace pocket before applying her glamour. Then noticing the nice day for the first time, she decided to enjoy the weather for a bit, while she waited for the Senshi meeting.
The Hikawa Shrine
“Where is the Odango-Atama!” questioned a very irate Rei. She was not in a happy mood after the punishment she got for sneaking off campus to fight that demon. Additionally, she was still nursing bruises from the beating they had taken and consequently her normally very volatile temper was flaring up as never before.
“The princess will not be coming today,” announced a figure entering the room, with Luna in tow behind her.
“Who are you?” snapped Rei.
With a wave of her hand, she summoned the time staff and let her transformation overtake her body. “I am Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time,” and then with another flicker she reapplied her civilian glamour, but left her time staff out.
The only other time the Senshi had seen the elusive Guardian of Time with their current memories, was shortly after ChibiUsa arrived. Though, at that time it was strictly as a projection of her Senshi form, so therefore it was no real surprise that none of them recognized her when she appeared in front of them with a civilian glamour over her body.
“Is Usagi okay?” questioned a concerned Makoto.
“Makoto-chan, don’t worry. Usagi will be fine, she just needs time to recover from the emotional shock of today’s battle.” Looking over the assembled group, her gaze fell on Ami who appeared to be about ready to ask a question. “Yes Ami-chan, I know why the creature you fought was so much stronger than the others. It is not a youma, but a droid. This particular type of demon is from the future, and is one that you were not supposed to fight until later, when Small Lady came back for the first time. If they are here then that means that Rubeus is here as well, he is a general of the Black Moon.”
The assembled Senshi and cats were shocked in learning that they now faced a threat from the future as well. ‘As if the Dark Kingdom was not enough, now we have enemies from the future with far stronger monsters trying to kill us as well.’ was the thought that was crossing the minds of the various Senshi.
“I have decided that it would be best for me to remain here in the past for the time. I will help you with defeating the droids. However, for now you will need to face the Dark Kingdom on your own. There are some other things that I need to attend to, so if you do not object Commander I would like to take my leave.”
After seeing the blank looks coming from the Senshi, she decided to explain her last statement. “Minako-chan you are the commander of the Senshi. This is why as Sailor-V and even now your uniform has elements of the Princess’s uniform. This is to protect her identity.”
Minako, now slowly beginning to comprehend what was going on, assented to Setsuna’s request to leave.
Setsuna had not taken more than a few steps away from the shrine when she heard Rei’s explosive temper. While she could not make out the exact words, it had something to do with another ditzy blond being in charge. She chuckled to herself a little as she continued to stroll away. ‘Mars is of yet unable to admit to her sisterly love towards Usagi. She will shortly accept Venus’s position. She is just worried about Usagi and I provided her with a nice outlet for her frustration. Probably should make it up to Venus at some point.’ But then she remembered the fate worse than death that would befall the Senshi the next time they got sick, with Minako here now to nurse them back to health, and decided that all was fair.
The Dark Kingdom
“My liege” began Kunzite as he and Zoisite gave low bows. “We have reason to believe that there is another potentially more powerful force draining energy from this city as well.”
“WHAT?!?” barreled Beryl
“We believe that the Senshi faced a demon today that was not one of our own. In addition this battle apparently lasted close to an hour of their time.” Seeing a very irate Beryl glare at him, Zoisite tried to save himself from the certain doom that was about to become him. “However, Beryl if we are able to harness this new player as an ally, we will be unstoppable.”
This last statement softened slightly the pure fury that raged in Beryl’s eyes. “Fine, try to secure the cooperation of this new player, but I want the Ginzuishou now!”
“Beryl, we have come up with a plan for getting the remaining Nijizuishou Crystals. However, it will require the sacrifice of one to the Senshi.” Noticing Beryl’s temper begin to rise again, Kunzite hurried on with his explanation. “We need to know what the relationship between that child and the crystal is.”
“Fine, but my patience with you two is wearing thin. Do not fail me.”
With great relief, the two generals left Beryl’s throne room, glad to still be alive. “Do you remember the plan?” questioned Kunzite.
“Yes, I try to grab another one of those crystals as normal, but you will be observing and monitoring the energy readings of that child and the crystal as it is extracted,” replied Zoisite.
Tokyo
During the little more than a week that Rubeus had been employed with his new organization, he had already made himself invaluable. No one quite understood how a mission that should have ended in disaster for their organization would become a complete victory for them if Rubeus was present. While he showed great fighting skills, they were only useful at close range, as he did not carry a gun. But his presence seemed to allow those one in a million shots to occur. What they did not realize was that those one in a million shots were really Rubeus using some of his magic. However, they did not care; he was a good luck charm and a great planner and leader. He had already become well received well up the organization’s chain of command.
The rewards he took for his service amounted to very little, and were in themselves peculiar, but he was an unusual man. One of his few requests he had put out was to always work with the same men, saying that he wanted to train them. The other was the request to be kept current, at real-time level, of any unusual happenings in the city, in particular those Sailor Senshi. If he was anyone else, his fascination with the Senshi would have earned him ridicule, but nobody dared to cross this master.
It was through this that he had learned about the damage that one of his rogue druids had caused. ‘Too bad, I have to let those Senshi live; it would be so easy to destroy them now. I don’t understand how they were able to destroy Metalia; her power rivals that of the Wiseman.’ Rubeus thought to himself as he contemplated how weak the Sailor Senshi appeared to be. Those pondering, however, were cut when a knock came at his door. ‘Ah, time for the training, if I could find an energy source to charge the dark crystal with, I could make those four into truly deadly tools.’ Getting up he opened the door and led his students in. Today’s lesson was going to be unarmed combat, against a superior foe: himself.
Crown Video Arcade
The two Usagis were enjoying an afternoon of sipping milkshakes at the Video Arcade. Currently the Senshi, who figured that Usagi probably still needed some time to herself after what had happened two days earlier, left them mostly alone. Yesterday had been a key day for getting Usagi back to her normal self. She had been mostly healed when she woke up; however, she had not yet been ready to give up her assurance that ChibiUsa was okay. Consequently, ChibiUsa had attended a different school for that day.
Haruna had not been at all surprised when she saw Usagi walk in with her cousin next to her. She was more surprised that Usagi was even in school that day, but she figured that taking her cousin with her was sufficient for Usagi to face the day. Thankfully, one of the students was sick, so with a little shuffle of seating, she had the two sitting next to each other. About two hours into the day, that strange woman had appeared with some work from ChibiUsa’s school for her to do. Then later as school let out that day, she had reflected that Usagi had probably been the most productive that she had ever been that day.
Today Usagi was able to let ChibiUsa go to her own school. Of course that was only with the promise from both Luna and Artemis that they would look over her daughter during the day. And as soon as school got out, she flew down the streets toward the elementary school. From there, she had collected her daughter and the two had headed over to the Crown to get some milkshakes.
Currently Minako was watching her princess from across the arcade. To most, she was playing one of the video games. But her work as Sailor-V taught her how to keep her eyes focused on two things at the same time. Noticing Naru enter the arcade and move to Usagi, she decided that those two would talk for a while and decided to devote a little more of her concentration to the game she was playing. ‘Drat just got killed again. This game should not be that hard, heck I am Sailor-V!’
“Hey Usagi-chan, how are things going?” asked Naru as she came in. She wanted to talk to Usagi about what had been bothering the blond yesterday. It was unusual for the blond to keep things from her, as they were best friends, and Usagi had helped her get over the death of Nephrite. Though, she still wondered how Usagi knew that he was not human.
Usagi looked up at the newcomer and a large smile quickly moved across her face. “Hi Naru-chan.” she replied. Then seeing ‘you will spill the beans’ look that was now settling on Naru’s face as the redhead looked at ChibiUsa, Usagi realized that even though that ChibiUsa had been here for nearly a week that she had not yet introduced her “cousin” yet to her best friend. “Naru-chan this is my cousin ChibiUsa-chan, actually her name is Tsukino Usagi as well.”
Hearing this, Naru gave a little laugh ‘Figures they do look a lot alike, even the same hairstyle.’ “Nice to meet you ChibiUsa-chan.” she addressed the child as she put out her hand for a shake.
“Nice to meet you too Naru-san,” ChibiUsa replied much more politely and respectively to her mother’s friend than she had on her previous trip to the past.
Then with the introduction taken care of the two teenagers began catching up with each other and ChibiUsa got another look over when Naru heard that she had been a victim in the latest demon attack. As the two talked, a large smile grew on ChibiUsa’s face.
Watching the girls, Motoki noticed the change in ChibiUsa’s attitude and looking over at his best customer he saw that she appeared to have regained her normal happiness. ‘Those two are so much alike. Both care so much about others and are not happy unless everyone else is.’
Feeling happy that Usagi was back to her normal self, Motoki began to make his rounds around the arcade. This included passing by one blond who seemed to be unusually upset at the Sailor-V game. ‘That is one weird one; she almost seems to be saying that the game is not accurately modeling her. I have to agree with that cat of hers (Artemis had an incredulous expression on his face over Minako’s actions). Never thought a cat could show such human facial expressions.’
Just as Motoki was finishing up his rounds a man wearing a dark green jacket entered the arcade. Spying the girl that had been literally running into him a lot lately, he said, “Ah the two Odango-Atamas what a surprise. Hey Odango-Atama! Have you actually managed to get yourself up in time in the morning, so that you don’t collide with me on your way to school?” teasing Usagi.
He was not quite surprised for the response he got. He was expecting a rebuttal from Usagi, but instead he got a quick kick in the shins by the pint-sized version of his target. “BakaMamo-chan. Don’t you dare talk to Usagi-chan like that after what she did.” ChibiUsa yelled before storming off towards the video games where she had noticed Minako.
Everyone in the local vicinity of the current incident was left speechless. Usagi herself had been about ready to give a sharp retort, but now did not know quite what to do. Mamoru himself was beginning to turn as red as a beet and he of course had no idea what the child was implying. Motoki decided to go to the aid of his friend before he managed to shove his whole leg down his mouth or drop dead because all his blood was now pooled in his face. “Hey Mamoru why don’t you take a seat over here and I will get you something to drink?”
Mamoru dutifully followed Motoki’s command and sat down at the proffered booth. “Motoki?” He attempted to formulate a further question beyond that, but his brain was still not yet thinking straight.
“That child was involved in the demon attack the other day and was injured. Usagi apparently arrived during the attack and has been emotionally distraught for the past few days over her inability to save her cousin from being injured. I have also heard that apparently she and Mizuno Ami, one of her friends, got beat up pretty badly during the battle.” Motoki explained, answering Mamoru’s confusion.
By the UFO catcher, one of the normal patrons got up to leave, having filled his bag with goodies for the orphanage children. As he stepped outside the building, he was met by a man dressed in a gray uniform.
“It is time for you to come home, Shadow Warrior.” The man stated while producing a slowly rotating black crystal. With a scream, the crystal began to work its way out of the victim’s chest.
Inside the three Senshi heard the screams and made their way towards the door. Naru herself was puzzled by the sudden departure of Usagi, but she knew that Usagi tended to forget places that she needed to be. Mamoru himself suddenly felt the need to move out of the sight of everyone else.
The gentle breeze and screams of a soul losing its dominance to a shadow warrior’s dormant soul was broken by the arrival of the three Senshi. “How dare you attack that innocent man! In the name of the Moon, I am Sailor Moon and I will punish you.” stated Sailor Moon as ChibiMoon and Venus flanked her.
Off in the shadows, Kunzite aimed his scanning equipment at ChibiMoon. Unknown to him two figures were watching him: one a man who was now suddenly wearing a white cloak with a couple golden moons on it, and the other a timeless woman in a Senshi Fuku. And shortly thereafter, a caped crusader was watching the main battle as well.
“You won’t get this crystal you Sailor Brats.” taunted Zoisite, and with his words the crystal emerged from its victim’s chest. As with the time before, the broach on ChibiUsa’s body began to resonate with the Nijizuishou Crystal. Along with the broach’s resonance, ChibiUsa herself resonated in tune with her broach. All those of the Moon’s royal blood are linked with the crystal from the first time they use it. Princess Serenity herself was destined to become more interlinked than any previous ruler of the Silver Millennium. Hence, anything that affects the crystal affects their body as well, and vice-versa. However, the high level magic that was currently protecting Princess Serenity prevented her body from resonating with the Nijizuishou crystal’s energy. That said, there was no similar magic preventing her daughter Princess Usagi from resonating with the energy of the projected crystal that she carried, and her resonating far outshone that of the projected crystal itself.
The result was that to Kunzite he saw one of the Sailor Senshi react to the presence of the Nijizuishou crystal. Unlike Luna and Artemis, he retained a fairly good set of memories of the structure and basics of the Silver Millennium, just nothing of his personal life before he began his service to the Dark Kingdom. “That child she is Princess Serenity, only one of the royal blood of the Moon would react so to a Nijizuishou crystal!” exclaimed Kunzite. Then remembering one of the basic commands given by Beryl, he prepared to eliminate this threat.
Both observers had heard his exclamation and realized what he was about to do. The man in the white cloak moved out of the shadows and let a large volume of dark energy fly at Kunzite. Caught off guard, Kunzite was catapulted straight into the battle that was occurring between the Sailor Senshi and the Shadow Warrior.
“Pathetic, even Sailor Moon fared better against that attack. Also no thought of a possible attack on himself, that is carelessness, wouldn’t you say so my friend?” The last part of his statement being directed towards Pluto, who had been preparing to release a Dead Scream at him.
Normally Pluto would not have known the identity of this man in front of her. But, the temporal energy that surrounded him clearly pointed towards him being Rubeus. “You die here Rubeus.” She simply stated.
“Ah yes the infamous guardian of time. I should be so honored that you personally came to see to my demise. However, would it surprise you that I am currently aiding the Senshi? I know as well as you the fate that awaits this world if Metalia is released. I will not lie to you; once that threat is eliminated I will kill your queen and the rabbit.”
As Pluto paused long enough to listen to Rubeus, she noticed something unusual: how time was flowing around him. Looking more closely at the weave of time she realized that she should let him live for now. Perplexed at this turn of events she turned and left Rubeus there in the street.
Rubeus for his part while relieved was completely puzzled as to why he had just been spared. Deciding to put that mystery behind himself for the moment, he turned his attention to the battle. The commotion of Kunzite’s flying entry into the battle had given Sailor Moon the opportunity she needed to heal the Shadow Warrior and Kunzite was currently explaining his discovery to Zoisite. ‘Wait a moment they seem to be referring to that ChibiMoon as Princess Serenity.’ Suddenly seeing through the smaller moon’s glamour Rubeus had to chuckle. ‘Those fools, that is not Princess Serenity, but her daughter Princess Usagi. If she is also Sailor ChibiMoon, then that other Sailor Moon must be Neo-Queen Serenity. No wonder Sailor Moon is only a legend in my time, while the rest of the Senshi are life and blood. The future queen does not look quite right, but I do remember it being said that until she came of age she was cloaked in strong glamour magic, which is also probably why those buffoons mistook that child for being the princess.’
Zoisite himself was not very happy with the entrance that Kunzite made, allowing the current Shadow Warrior to be destroyed without much of a fight at all. “Wait did you just say that the pink haired one is the Moon Princess?”
“Yes, and someone blasted me from behind as I was about to take her out,” replied Kunzite.
“Well she dies now,” stated Zoisite as he let forth a barrage of energy.
A barrage of roses stopped the attack. Two surprised generals looked up to see Tuxedo-kamen standing a top of a nearby lamp. He himself had missed the recent exchange about the identity of the pink haired child. Before the two generals could launch another attack, the remaining Senshi appeared on the scene. Deciding that they were now outmatched they open a portal and returned to the Dark Kingdom base.
The Dark Kingdom: Beryl’s throne room
“My queen we have discovered why that child has control over the Nijizuishou crystals. She is Princess Serenity,” announced Zoisite
“That child is the Moon Princess?!” exclaimed Beryl. “I want her destroyed immediately.”
“Of course your majesty. We were already developing a plan while we were carrying out this scouting mission. The next attempt to gather a Nijizuishou crystal will be a trap for the little princess. We shall use additional youma to keep the other Senshi busy as well,” replied Kunzite.
And with that, the two left the throne room, for once actually being in slightly better standing with Beryl. Of course they conveniently avoided mentioning the fact that somebody interfered with Kunzites earlier attempt to eliminate the princess earlier that day.
End Chapter 6
