Wildfire by ViperInferno

Chapter 4: Tuxedo Turned

Wildfire
By Viper Inferno
Chapter 4: Tuxedo Turned

 
Mihama Ward of Chiba City, Physics field trip, the next day...
 
In the western part of the Chiba Prefecture, after a sitting through rather long seminar at the Nippon Convention Center, Kyodai was walking with the rest of his rather large 1st year Physics class as they made their way back to their hotel. Although their seminar was supposed to have taken place on Thursday, a massive power outage at the convention center prompted the seminar to be rescheduled for Sunday, a day that they were supposed to have had off before their major Physics lab on Monday. So on his way back to his hotel, he turned to his roommate. “That seminar was just too damn long,” he said.
 
“I agree with you there, Kyodai-kun,” his roommate added, “I almost fell asleep numerous times.”
 
“I love Physics, and the concept of electromagnetic induction is just captivating to even talented minds, but I couldn’t even sit through that whole seminar. The lecturer was just far too dull in his presentation. They should’ve at least given us more demonstrations to keep it interesting,” Kyodai intelligently said.
 
“That explains your squirming every five minutes throughout the second half,” his roommate pointed out, “And I wanted to go to the beach today too if it wasn’t for those damned faulty generators at the convention center. I can’t believe that the building’s only a few years old and they can’t even get the generators to work right during a power outage.”
 
“Well, I myself didn’t have any plans today other than studying for my Calculus courses and maybe taking a nice little run toward sunset,” said Kyodai.
 
“You’re rather dull, aren’t you?” his roommate commented, “You could’ve at least spent some time with us at the beach.”
 
“You know I was never much into partying at the dorms or hitting the clubs at Roppongi or Shibuya,” said Kyodai, “I was always either at a study group or at soccer practice.”
 
“I guess you’re right,” his roommate surrendered, “But won’t this field trip hurt your position on the soccer team?”
 
“Not at all,” Kyodai replied, “Our first game is next Saturday. The coach will let me start if I attend practice everyday next week.”
 
“It’s good to have a coach who encourages academics over athletics,” said his roommate, “I had a coach back when I was in school in Kasai that didn’t care if you had to study for a major test. He also didn’t let anyone play who had cram school. At least your coach understands.”
 
“Yeah, he doesn’t show it on the field nor before games with his gruff exterior, but he will gladly excuse you from practices for academic purposes,” Kyodai explained.
 
They progressed on toward the hotel, not even bothering to take the bus since no bus in Tokyo or Chiba can handle the over 100 class members in the group. They conversation turned to each of the classes that Kyodai and his roommate were taking. Although they took the same Physics class that everyone else was taking, they had it at different hours. But suddenly, his roommate’s eyes widened at the sound of one of Kyodai’s honors classes, “Particle Physics!? You’re already taking Particle Physics next semester!?”
 
“Actually, it’s one of the 2nd Year classes,” Kyodai corrected, “My Physics level upon graduating from high school was very high. Even though I have to take our class as required by the college, my advisor placed me in that class as well as an extra class for this year. I also plan on taking Honors Astrophysics II and Quantum Physics next year.”
 
“Holy shit, Kyodai-kun,” his roommate exclaimed, completely muddled, “You’re taking all those tough classes, and you’re play soccer!?”
 
“I’m majoring in Physics,” Kyodai replied, “I have take everything you know. Besides, I won’t be playing soccer all my life.”
 
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” his roommate agreed.
 
 
 
As they continued to walk along, an odd sense struck Kyodai, turning his attention away from his roommate and the rest of the group. Although most of his odd feelings associated with his ESP were ones of someone in danger, this feeling was more like a presence. He decided to ignore it, easily dismissing it as a common feeling of something supernatural, like a spirit or a ghost. But as he continued on, the feeling struck him again, this time letting him know what kind of presence it was.
 
‘Evil is near, and it’s getting stronger’ he thought to himself. He then caught back up with his roommate, “I have to take care of something real quick. I’ll catch up with you back at the hotel.”
 
“Okay, be careful, and watch for traffic. The drivers here are crazy,” his roommate warned. So Kyodai slowly and inconspicuously backed off, not wanting to alarm the rest of his classmates. ‘Damn, I can’t transform here. There are far too many people around,’ he thought to himself, ‘I can’t find any place to transform in this open walkway.’
 
After minutes of wandering around aimlessly, fortune came to Kyodai as he spotted a blind alley. He quickly looked all around him, making sure none of the people walking about the area were watching him, and then quietly, but swiftly ducked and slipped into the alley. There, he waited to see if anyone had followed him. He took a peek outside the alley and only found the people proceeding about their business as usual, none taking any notice to him. So he ducked back inside and raised his left hand bearing his obsidian jewel ring in the in the air. And immediately, the ring glowed as flames immediately flew from it and surrounded Kyodai’s body. In a short moment, the flames extinguished, revealing Kyodai as Tuxedo Inferno.
 
He then leaped on top of the 50-foot-tall building and watched as the people still carried on with their walks and his Physics class disappeared around another building. “I’m sorry to bail out on you guys, but evil is near and I must leave,” he said under his breath to the now distant class. He turned back and jumped from building to building like an American superhero toward the origin of the strange but evil presence.
 
It may have been a long trip, but Tuxedo Inferno made it to an open field right on the border of the Chiba Prefecture and Greater Tokyo, where the evil presence felt even stronger. ‘I can’t believe I sensed an evil presence so far away,’ Tuxedo Inferno thought to himself before he began walking about the field, searching for the source of the presence. ‘Nothing here. But he’s here somewhere, I just know it,’ he thought to himself, and then called out, “Alright, show yourself.”
 
Tuxedo Inferno waited rather impatiently before darting off toward a large tree, deciding to use it as a hiding place. But just as he made it to the tree, a dark knight in black and purple armor dropped from the branches of the tree and right in front of Tuxedo Inferno, stopping him dead in his tracks. “So you’ve arrived Tuxedo Inferno,” the soldier taunted.
 
“Damn right I’m Tuxedo Inferno, warrior of fire and protector of good. In the name of Mars, I will burn you,” Tuxedo Inferno responded, taking a fighting stance. And without a moment to waste, the soldier immediately blasted Tuxedo Inferno with a pulse of dark energy, sending him flying into another nearby tree. As Tuxedo Inferno began to slide down the trunk towards the ground, the soldier launched a ball of energy at him, snapping the tree’s trunk like a twig and giving Tuxedo Inferno his frequent flyer miles.
 
“Damn, I should’ve hit him when he hit the ground,” the soldier said to himself, disappointed at his own overpowering performance, “Now Queen Beryl won’t get herself another warrior like she wanted.” But suddenly, a beam of fire drilled out of the sky and into the chest of the soldier, auguring him in the ground. Tuxedo Inferno dropped out of the sky and made a perfect 10.0 landing. He then ran over to the hole where the soldier was struggling to get up from that powerful beam of fire.
 
“Surprised that I can take such a thrashing?” Tuxedo Inferno said to the soldier.
 
“Not really,” the soldier replied as he quickly recovered and leaped out of the hole, “In fact, I expected that much from you.” Tuxedo Inferno drew his flame sword from his obsidian jewel ring and prepared to strike down the wounded soldier. But, the soldier quickly fired off an energy beam, knocking Tuxedo Inferno’s sword from his hand. After a momentary shock from being disarmed, Tuxedo Inferno tried to fire off another one of his attacks, but the soldier was just too quick as he sent Tuxedo Inferno surfing on a wave of dark energy and into a parked semi-truck. Tuxedo Inferno pushed himself back to his feet, only to have the soldier’s foot connect with his chin and send him flying over the trailer of the semi-truck.
 
“It’s good,” the soldier joked as he raised his arms in celebration.
 
After enduring another thrashing, Tuxedo Inferno once again rose back to his feet. This time, with the soldier not around, he decided to climb into the cab of the semi-truck from the driver’s side. He quickly found the key hidden underneath the sun visor, slid it in the ignition, started the engine, and quickly backed the truck up. He then turned toward where the soldier had knocked his sword away and gunned the accelerator it. Driving the truck was rather easy for Tuxedo Inferno since this particular model had an automatic transmission. The soldier turned to see the truck approaching him rather quickly and leaped out of the way, landing on top of the trailer.
 
As he neared his destination, the soldier hopped down onto the roof of the cab and hung his torso down in front of the windshield, startling the tuxedoed warrior. But just as the soldier drew his fist back to smash through the glass, Tuxedo Inferno drilled his foot into the brake petal. Instantly, the truck’s brakes locked, sending the soldier flying off the hood and rolling on the grassy field. Tuxedo Inferno jumped out of the truck and retrieved his sword, and then walked over to the fallen soldier. “Game Over, Dark Kingdom scum,” Tuxedo Inferno said as he raised his sword, gathering fire in its blade.
 
“Flame Sword, STRIKE!”
 
He swung his sword with every ounce of physical strength at the soldier, setting him ablaze and thus disintegrating him into ashes. With the soldier gone, Tuxedo Inferno lowered his sword and hung his body down, breathing in and out quite heavily from both the battle and the trip there. Exhausted, he sheathed his sword into his obsidian jewel ring and turned back in the direction from which he entered the battlefield. But just as he took the first step, another soldier suddenly teleported right in front of him. Tuxedo Inferno leaped back in shock, “Oh no, not another one.”
 
“Yes, another one,” the soldier replied, “Queen Beryl will be most pleased to see you.”
 
“In your dreams,” Tuxedo Inferno retorted as he engulfed his hand in flames and thrust them at the soldier, knocking him back quite a distance. Before the soldier could recover, he threw his arms out to his sides. “Inferno...” he chanted aloud, sending a ball of fire floating above his head, “...Flame!” He waved his arm toward the soldier as he was pushing himself up, sending the fireball flying at him and burning his cape.
 
“You insensitive prick,” the soldier insulted, “You just destroyed my favorite cape.” With his anger driving it, the soldier sent a bolt of dark blue lightning surging through Tuxedo Inferno’s already badly beaten body. Tuxedo Inferno fell to the ground from the massive jolt, dazed and nearly unable to move. Moments later, he came to from his beating to find Titanius off in the distance staring him down. He immediately jumped up and began to run toward his adversary. But he quickly realized that he was still fighting the second soldier. He stopped and turned to find him running toward his flank.
 
He jumped out of the dashing soldier’s way and quickly drew his flame sword. The soldier stopped and waved his arm at him, throwing numerous knives in his direction. One connected with Tuxedo Inferno’s sword and knocked it from his hand. Another slashed through the top of his top hat while another knocked it from his head. Another few knives sliced through his cape as if it didn’t exist.
 
After narrowly dodging the barrage of knives, Tuxedo Inferno ran toward the soldier to engage in hand-to-hand combat. However, the soldier responded to his challenge by stopping him with a force field. Tuxedo Inferno slammed into it with great force, knocking him to the ground and nearly knocking him unconscious. “That’s it,” Tuxedo Inferno yelled as he recovered and waved his arms about in kung fu fashion, “Inferno Fire, Dance!”
 
He swiftly danced around the soldier, setting the soldier and the grounds around him ablaze. With very little energy left and breathing heavily, Tuxedo Inferno dropped to his knees. The burning soldier too fell to his knees as Tuxedo Inferno’s fiery dance drained much of his energy. But suddenly, a beam of dark energy pierced the soldier’s body, dissolving him into ashes.
 
“I’ve had it with your games, enough already,” Titanius said to the fallen soldier as he began walking toward the weakened Tuxedo Inferno.
 
‘What’s he planning?’ Tuxedo Inferno thought to himself, ‘Something tells me that he’s after me specifically.’ Tuxedo Inferno stared Titanius down and mustered the last of his strength. “I’m glad you came, Tuxedo Inferno,” said Titanius, “Queen Beryl is eager to meet you and sent me to get you.”
 
“In your dreams,” Tuxedo Inferno protested as he leaped to his feet and lunged toward his nemesis. But Titanius reacted quickly and zapped Tuxedo Inferno in the face with a vicious dark lightning, thus knocking him unconscious.
 
“You just had to make this difficult, didn’t you,” said Titanius as he approached the swooning Tuxedo Inferno, “Come now, Tuxedo Inferno, we wouldn’t want to keep Queen Beryl waiting. She can be an awful bitch when things don’t go her way.” He then grabbed a hold of Tuxedo Inferno’s limp body and threw down a smoke bomb, filling much of the open field with thick gray smoke. When it cleared, both men are nowhere to be seen.
 
 
The Dark Kingdom...
 
Tuxedo Inferno awoke from the rather harsh beating he had taken from both soldiers and Titanius. As his vision cleared, he found that he wasn’t in the Chiba Prefecture, but rather in some odd-looking chamber. The floors, walls, and even ceiling were made of dark gray cobblestone. The room was dimly lit, though enough for him to make out the features of the room, with numerous rather crude and ancient-looking torches. The entire room had the look, feel, and even smell of a medieval dungeon. Tuxedo Inferno tried to move, but found his arms bound in shackles and chained to the wall behind him.
 
 “I see you’ve come too,” said the voice of Titanius, filling the chamber with his voice. And just as his voice had filled the chamber, Tuxedo Inferno saw Titanius walk into the light from a dark corner of the chamber. “Welcome, Tuxedo Inferno, to my private torture chamber,” he politely greeted, “It’s my second favorite place here.”
 
“And where’s your favorite? Behind Beryl’s ass, kissing it?” Tuxedo Inferno said sarcastically.
 
“That’s ‘Queen’ Beryl to you, you bastard,” Titanius snarled, “And your humor doesn’t impress me any. But be lucky it’s just me you’re throwing insults at, because Queen Beryl will definitely not find your humor amusing, especially after she gets through with you.”
 
“What kind of trick are you playing, Titanius?” said Tuxedo Inferno, pulling on his chains.
 
“You’ll see when Queen Beryl arrives,” Titanius gladly answered.
 
Just as he had finished that sentence, the door flew open and slammed into the wall, sending a loud bang resonating throughout the ancient chamber and startling both men. Queen Beryl casually walked inside and merely smiled when she discovered that Titanius had brought in the Mars Prince as a special guest. “Ah yes, the great Tuxedo Inferno, in person. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you,” she said in a slightly seductive voice. She turned to Titanius to find him kneeling, with his eyes not meeting hers, “You’re dismissed Titanius. The Mars Prince and I have some...  issues... to discuss.”
 
“What about my pay?” Titanius challenged, looking up to meet her eyes with his.
 
“You’ll get your bounty, Titanius, as soon as I’m finished here,” Beryl responded sharply.
 
“Yes, Queen Beryl-sama,” Titanius replied. He then rose and left the chamber, closing the door behind him on the way out. Satisfied with being left alone, Queen Beryl turned back to Tuxedo Inferno. “You know why you’re here in my custody, don’t you Tuxedo Inferno,” she said to him.
 
“Obviously, you’re keeping me as your prisoner,” Tuxedo Inferno replied, “And besides, I thought you were after the Sailor Team.”
 
“Wrong there my pyromaniac,” Queen Beryl corrected, “But you are right about my interest in the Sailor Team. And that’s why I’ve brought you here.” Queen Beryl then began to pace about the room, thinking back to past events, past observations, and especially the information that Titanius had gathered on him. “I’ve been watching you fight alongside the Sailor Team,” she said as she continued to pace about the chamber, “It seems that they don’t trust you.”
 
“That’s not exactly true,” said Tuxedo Inferno.
 
Queen Beryl then swiftly turned and stomped toward him, stopping within inches of his face, “Tell me Tuxedo Inferno, of all the times you battled alongside them, trying to be a Good Samaritan, do you even know why it is you fight alongside them when they don’t even know who you are or trust you?”
 
“I help those in danger, including the legendary Sailor Senshi,” Tuxedo Inferno replied.
 
“And in doing so, you defeated my youmas, my soldiers, and even my bounty hunter,” said Queen Beryl.
 
“I merely assisted the Sailor Team in defeating them,” said Tuxedo Inferno.
 
“And never once did they ever thank you for it,” said Queen Beryl as she turned her back to him.
 
“Actually, they have,” he corrected.
 
Queen Beryl swiftly turned and yelled in his face, “That’s what you think!” Tuxedo Inferno didn’t even flinch at her display of frustration, but only proudly looked her in the eye. “They may have thanked you for using your great powers to help them, but under that cloak, there’s a dagger. They will never trust you as long as they don’t know you,” she continued.
 
“Oh, and I suppose you know who I am,” Tuxedo Inferno said sarcastically.
 
“Actually, I know you’re of the planet Mars and that your powers of fire come from that guardian planet. But beyond that, in time, you will find out who you are,” said Queen Beryl.
 
“What do you mean by that?” Tuxedo Inferno asked.
 
“I mean that I brought you here to serve me in ridding us of those Senshi,” Queen Beryl answered.
 
“Like hell I’ll ever serve you,” Tuxedo Inferno growled.
 
“Oh you won’t now, will you? You know they don’t trust you. You know they’ll never accept your superior abilities. And you know that they just use you make them look good. Now tell me, does that make you furious?” said Queen Beryl.
 
Tuxedo Inferno felt the fires within him burning throughout his body at the sound of the Sailor Team not trusting him. Deep down inside, he felt empty and unaccepted. He was a superhero with no known origin. He didn’t even know who he was or why he had this power. So why should the Sailor Team trust him? Queen Beryl had certainly hit a soft spot within him. “A little, but its all lies,” he replied, shaking his head in denial.
 
“Then you’ll be a great asset to this Dark Kingdom,” said Queen Beryl, a little more calmly.
 
“I won’t help you. Not in destroying the Sailor Team,” Tuxedo Inferno growled.
 
Queen Beryl only lowered her eyebrows at him, bringing her face within inches of his. “Oh, you will. Trust me, you will serve me,” she said in a deep voice. She then held her hands around both sides of his head and began to zap him with lightning. In doing so, she began to probe his mind with her evil powers. “I know you have some feelings against the Sailor Team buried deep within you. Let’s strengthen those feelings, shall we?” she said.
 
 
 
Within moments, the room all around Tuxedo Inferno went dark and Queen Beryl along with it. And suddenly, lightning flashed, its light revealing Sailor Jupiter standing atop a large rocky spire. However, she looked very different than the many times he had seen her. She was wearing a black and green sailor suit with dark gray hosiery on her legs and arms. She wore an evil grin on her face as she stared him down. “This is what I do to those whom I hate and who stand in my way,” she yelled. She then waved her arms to her sides as lightning struck her tiara. She then began laughing maniacally as she blasted him with deadly bolts of lightning.
 
And as the bolts struck him, everything disappeared around him. He then saw Sailor Venus walking toward him. But like Sailor Jupiter, she also had a very different look to her. She wore a black bow in her hair, black eye shadow, black lipstick, black fingernail polish, and pale face makeup. She looked more like a Gothic vampire than the Sailor Venus he knew. She held a wicked-looking cat-o-nine-tails in her left hand and an old dentist’s drill in her right hand. As she approached him, she whipped him across the face with the cat-o-nine-tails, striking him with a sharp, stinging pain. She then smiled as she held the dentist’s drill near his face, turned it on, and brought it within inches of his lips. “Is it safe?” she said maniacally, laughing at his misery with pure insanity.
 
“Noooo!” he screamed as the tip of the drill barely touched his lips, and everything went black again. Then suddenly, a figure wearing a black hooded robe appeared before him. The figure snapped its fingers, and many demons and monsters began running at him. They quickly surrounded him as the cloaked figure approached him. With its right hand, it pulled the hood back, revealing the face of none other than Sailor Mars, with her hair flowing as if being blown by some supernatural wind. As the monsters nipped at him, she clapped her hands and threw them out to her sides, setting all of the monsters ablaze. She then looked back at Tuxedo Inferno with an evil grin on her face. “Listen to the fires, my fiery little friend,” she said like a soothsayer, “Do you know what they tell you, hmm? They’re saying 'Die in the name of Mars', HA HA HA HAH HAAAAAAHHHH!” She laughed at him maniacally as the scene went dark again.
 
This time, he found himself lying on a bed with a large, bright light shining in his face. In the background, he heard a heart monitor beeping. He immediately knew that he was lying on a hospital bed, and apparently in an operating room. He looked around, finding many demon-like figures wearing hospital masks. He then spotted Sailor Mercury, also dressed as a surgeon, but not even masked. In her right hand, she held a rather jagged scalpel. “I know I’m not a surgeon,” she said modestly, but then changed her tone, “But I am today. And today’s operation: frontal lobotomy. Mua Ha Hah HAAAHHHH.” She showed great pleasure in her insanity as she lowered the jagged scalpel toward his sweating forehead. The bright light in his face suddenly went out, causing everything to go black around him.
 
And just as everything had gone dark, he found himself standing again and tied to a stake. Sailor Moon appeared before him, dressed in a black robe. She held a whip in one hand and a torch in the other. She merely stared him down, with her eyes glowing bright red, and began flogging him a dozen times, striking devastating pain. She then walked up to him, “In the name of the Moon, you’ll be punished.” She then dropped the torch at his feet, setting the brush under him ablaze as she laughed maniacally. “Burn in your own fire,” she screamed, with Tuxedo Inferno screaming in bloody horror.
 
Soon, the fires extinguished and Sailor Moon’s image quickly transformed into Queen Beryl’s. “You see Tuxedo Inferno, they’ll never trust you,” she explained, “They’re just ticking time bombs waiting to go off. They’re a Pandora’s Box, waiting to unleash all evil upon you. They are a threat to us, and especially to you. They must be quickly dealt with before they turn on you.”
 
Tuxedo Inferno fell unconscious with the hallucination fresh in his mind. He awoke a half-hour later with a rather odd look in his face. “I see that revelation took a lot out of you,” Queen Beryl said as she emerged from the dark corner of the chamber and walked toward him, “I guess Titanius took a lot out of you in order to bring you here.” She then held her arms out to her sides and summoned her evil energy. “Now Tuxedo Inferno, with the right motive in place, I will make you mine,” she said as she sent the energy surging through Tuxedo Inferno’s body. Tuxedo Inferno screamed in agony as the evil energy surged through him, prompting the images from his recent hallucination to flash in his mind. After the surging stopped, Tuxedo Inferno looked back up at Queen Beryl.
 
He immediately noticed the difference in his appearance alone. His tuxedo had a lot of black trim. His mask was adorned with a black jewel between his eyes. His bow was replaced with a gold-trimmed black jewel. He wore golden epaulettes similar to Kunzite’s on his shoulders. And the inside liner of his cape was black instead of purple. He then took a look at his obsidian jewel ring to find that it was adorned a gold crescent moon with a skull on it. He then grinned in approval and turned back to Queen Beryl. “Those Sailor Senshi are as good as mine,” he said.
 
“Perfect,” she replied as she waved her open palm in front of him, releasing Tuxedo Inferno from his chains, “Now that I have you under my control, let’s see what you can do with all that energy of yours. Follow me.” Queen Beryl turned and made her way out of the chamber, with Tuxedo Inferno following close behind. They marched down the halls of the Dark Kingdom, eventually arriving at a rather mechanical-looking door. Queen Beryl waved her arm, opening the door with her powers, and walked inside. There, the duo stumbled upon a large band of the Dark Kingdom’s soldiers.
 
“Alright you bunch of good for nothings,” Queen Beryl snarled, getting their attention, “Your mission is to attack Tuxedo Inferno here with all your might.”
 
All 30 soldiers immediately jumped up, some drawing their swords. As they advanced toward Tuxedo Inferno, she leaned toward him and whispered into his ear, her voice still being made out to some of the soldiers, “Alright, take them out.”
 
Tuxedo Inferno immediately threw his arm across his body, with his two fingers by his ear, “Inferno Blaze...” He then swung his arm out toward the advancing soldiers, “...Wall!” He sent a powerful wall of fire rushing at the group of soldiers, knocking them all back. He then waved his arms around, displaying his adeptness at martial arts, “Inferno Fire, DANCE!” He swiftly danced around half of the soldiers, setting them ablaze and even destroying a few of them.
 
“Yes, YES! That’s it, burn them. Burn them, my little pyromaniac,” Queen Beryl said gleefully, taking great pleasure in watching him burn everything. Tuxedo Inferno drew his flame sword and quickly finished of the rest of the troops. “You fight well, Tuxedo Inferno. You have earned your place in the Dark Kingdom. Now I expect you to do the same to those pesky Sailor Senshi,” she said, “Now follow me.” She turned away from the burning bodies and left the soldiers’ chamber, with Tuxedo Inferno obediently following close behind her. They soon arrived at Queen Beryl’s throne room. Tuxedo stopped in the middle of the room and kneeled toward the throne as Queen Beryl took her place. She sat down looked about the throne room. “Is that the Mars Prince we so feared?” said one of the many minions lining her throne room walls
 
“Is he really one of us now?” another random minion asked.
 
“I wonder what Queen Beryl-sama has planned for him,” said another minion.
 
As Queen Beryl looked around, she discovered that amongst her minions, her 4 Shitennou were nowhere to be found. In fact, only her bounty hunter, Titanius, kneeled toward her next to her throne. “Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, Kunzite, get your asses in here,” Queen Beryl angrily ordered.
 
“Oh no, they’re in trouble now,” a random minion
 
Seconds later, all 4 Shitennou burst into the throne room, breathing quite heavily and sweating quite profusely. They soon regained their composure and bowed before Queen Beryl. “You called for us, Queen Beryl-sama,” said Kunzite.
 
“We have ourselves a powerful new ally in our quest to revive our Great Leader,” said Queen Beryl, “The Mars Prince has decided to join us after a little persuasion. So Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, step forward.”
 
The three Shitennou obediently stepped forward and kneeled before Queen Beryl.
 
 “You three have completed your task concerning the Mars Prince, although not quite in the fashion I would’ve liked. However, because of your past and recent failures, you three are no longer of any use to me,” she said. The 3 Shitennou swiftly stood looked at her in shock and dispute. “What?!” Jadeite exclaimed.
 
Queen Beryl grabbed her crystal ball and pointed it at Jadeite, “Jadeite, it’s back to your eternal sleep you go.” She fired a dark blue beam of energy at the shocked Shitennou. “NOOOOO!” he yelled as he dematerialized and teleported inside of a large crystal. She then snapped her fingers and the crystal encasing Jadeite sunk into the ground and out of site.
 
She then turned to Nephrite, “It’s back to the grave for you, Nephrite. And let’s not forget about showing you the human you so fell in love with when you last died.” She waved her hand around her crystal ball and projected an image of Naru in front of Nephrite. And just as he gazed upon her image, the grim reaper appeared behind him. The reaper laid his hand on Nephrite’s shoulder, causing him to instantly fall dead. With 2 useless Shitennou exterminated, Queen Beryl then turned to Zoisite. “And as for you, Zoisite, I’ll just leave you to Titanius,” she said, turning to face Titanius, “Titanius, rid us of this useless heap of rubbish.”
 
“Yes, Queen Beryl-sama,” Titanius replied as he rose and faced the shocked Zoisite. He then charged up a devastating ball of dark energy. Zoisite quickly turned to Kunzite for help, “Do something, Kunzite-kun.”
 
“I’m sorry, Zoisite-kun. I want to help you, I want you by my side, but I can’t defy Queen Beryl-sama, but your time here ended when you disobeyed her and tried to kill Prince Endymion,” said Kunzite. As he finished his last sentence, Titanius blasted Zoisite with a powerful beam of dark energy.
 
“But I thought you loved maaeeeee,” Zoisite screamed before he vaporized.
 
“Kunzite, you’re still of use to me,” said Queen Beryl.
 
He politely bowed to her in response, “Thank you, Queen Beryl-sama.”
 
“I still need you to both gather energy for our Great Leader and to steal the Silver Crystal,” Queen Beryl explained. She then turned back to Titanius. “And as for you, Titanius,” she said as she pulled out a bundle of gold coins and precious jewels and tossed it to him, “Here’s half of your pay. I could still use a warrior like you. Tuxedo Inferno’s going to need some sort of training, so I want you to be his handler. You will assist him in his conquest against the Sailor Team.”
 
“The honor is mine, Queen Beryl-sama,” Titanius gladly said, giving her a British salute.
 
“Perfect! With Tuxedo Inferno on our side, along with the bounty hunter and the greatest Shitennou, that Princess and her meddlesome Sailor Senshi are as good as dead,” said Queen Beryl. All in the room, except Tuxedo Inferno, filled the halls with their evil laughter.
 
 
Game Center Crown, the next day...
 
After having endured the trials and tribulations of school, Usagi and Minako had met up in the Juuban Shopping Center and decided to pay a visit to the Game Center Crown. After greeting Motoki at the door, Minako took Usagi to the Sailor V game. And there, the pitted themselves against each other in a rather grueling game. Although they were playing the game in 2-player co-op mode, their goal was to try to outscore each other until they both run out of lives. So Usagi and Minako took to the game rather aggressively, giving few hints as to their mastery of the game. Each tried to overcome the other’s score in many ways, mostly by dispatching an enemy right before the other could.
 
However, as aggressively as they tried to outscore each other, concentrating purely on killing more enemies rather than watching their backs, both girls ended up losing all their lives by the middle of the second level, with Minako handily outscoring Usagi. “Ha! Never mess with the real Sailor V,” Minako gloated briefly, “You want to try again?”
 
“Sure,” Usagi replied as she dropped in another coin, “I’m gonna beat you this time and prove I’m better than your Sailor V.”
 
“We’ll see, Usagi-chan,” said Minako as she dropped her coin in and pressed the 2-player button, “You’ll be eating your words once I’m done with you.”
 
Having let the countdown run to zero before inserting their coins, they started off back at level 1. Once again, both girls aggressively took to the game, desperately trying to outscore each other. Halfway through level 1, Minako came up with an innovation, ‘If I just hold out and stop trying to overcome her, maybe I’ll beat her,” she thought to herself. So Minako backs off and takes a more conservative route, letting Usagi put herself in harms way with her aggressive tactics. As the level progressed, it proved to be working as Usagi lost one life, which allowed Minako to score a number of kills and quickly catch up to Usagi before Usagi’s character reappeared.
 
However, her success didn’t last for very long. While going with the flow, watching Usagi endanger herself with aggressive and risky maneuvers, Minako had forgotten to watch her own back and ended up losing all of her lives by the middle of the second level. “Eat my words, huh?” Usagi boasted as she continued playing the game.
 
“Oh, well,” Minako casually surrendered, “I guess trying to be less aggressive backfired.” Not content with watching Usagi continue playing alone, Minako dropped in another coin before her countdown reached zero. “I’m gonna jump back in, Usagi-chan,” she said, “We’ll do a real co-op this time.”
 
“Sounds good to me,” Usagi replied, not even breaking her attention from the game. Minako joined back in the game and tried a little Sailor Senshi team tactic. Instead of using the co-op mode to try and overcome each other, both girls worked together like true Sailor Senshi, watching each others backs as they dispatched the enemies. Their teamwork helped them to triumph, as both girls made it to Level 10 before losing all their lives.
 
“Great game, Minako-chan,” Usagi praised.
 
“Yes it was,” Minako agreed as she stood and backed away from the game. “I’m finished here. Do you wanna go somewhere else?”
 
“Sure. The park sounds great to me,” said Usagi as they turned and made their way toward the door. But just as they walked out the door, Mamoru suddenly appeared from seemingly nowhere and collided rather hard with Usagi. Usagi fell against Minako, while Mamoru stumbled backward a few steps. “Hey, why don’t you watch where you’re going, Odango Atama?” he said rather sharply.
 
“Oh yeah,” Usagi challenged, “You were the one who ran into me.”
 
“Usagi-chan, he’s not worth it,” Minako said as she held the furious Usagi by the sides of her shoulders, lightly pulling her away from Mamoru. Mamoru himself only turned away and casually walked inside the arcade.
 
As he disappeared from view, Usagi gave up on arguing with him and turned back to Minako. “Why does he always have to be such a bully?” Usagi asked, “Why can’t he remember his past like we have and remember about the love we had?”
 
“I know, Usagi-chan, I know,” Minako sympathized, “Come on, forget about him and let’s go to the park.” So both girls turned away from the Game Center Crowns and made their way toward the park. However, before they could round the first corner, their communicators began to sound a vibrant reveille. Usagi quickly grabbed hers and became the first to respond. “Yes Luna?” she said after pressing the button.
 
“Sorry, Usagi-chan, wrong cat,” Artemis’s voice replied as his image appeared on the screen, “There’s an unusual event going on in Shiba Koen. I don’t have all the details yet. Go investigate, but be careful.”
 
“You got it,” Usagi responded with enthusiasm. She placed her communicator back into her pocket and ran toward the nearest alleyway with Minako. Once assured that they were hidden from inquisitive eyes, Minako grabbed her henshin pen while Usagi raised her brooch in the air.
 
“Venus Power, Make-Up!”
 
“Moon Prism, Power, Make-Up!”
 
After transforming into their Senshi forms, they quickly jumped with amazing strength onto the roof of the building and began to run toward Shiba Koen. Their building hopping drew the attention, and the cheers and cat calls, from many of the people walking the streets of Juuban. “Isn’t it great to be a star?” Sailor Venus boasted, speaking for both her and Sailor Moon.
 
“Yes it is,” Sailor Moon replied as they continued making their way toward Shiba Koen with Senshi-enhanced speed. And with such speed, they arrived at the nearby Shiba Koen in a matter of minutes. But with little intelligence to go by except for some unusual activity, the two senshi decided to hide behind a wall overlooking the streets below. There, they glanced around the streets, only to find a single soldier destroying cars and firing energy blasts at the police.
 
“I knew the Dark Kingdom was behind it,” said Sailor Moon, “Just look how easily he’s blasting those police cars. They don’t even stand a chance.”
 
“Well I hate to say it, but that’s what they get for trying to tangle with something that they can’t handle,” Sailor Venus responded, referring to the police.
 
However, as they glanced about the area, what really grabbed their attention wasn’t the soldier clobbering the police, but rather a figure who had become all too familiar to them. The figure merely stood in the middle of the street and watched on as the soldier did his dirty work. His long black hair waved in the wind, as did his long red cape.
 
“Not Titanius again,” said Sailor Moon, “Does he ever learn when to give up?”
 
“And he’s gone back to making direct attacks against large numbers of people just like everyone else in the Dark Kingdom,” said Sailor Venus.
 
So both Sailor Senshi leaped over the wall of the building’s roof and dropped the long way down to the pavement, landing close to the soldier. They decided to ignore Titanius and face the soldier. “Stop right there,” demanded Sailor Moon, drawing many cheers from the police and grabbing the soldier’s attention.
 
“The police are here to serve and protect the citizens of Tokyo and uphold the law, and we won’t stand for evil scum like you bringing pain and misery upon Tokyo’s finest.”
 
“Speak for yourself,” Sailor Venus retorted.
 
“Even the stars of Police Academy, Beverly Hills Cop, and Robocop are mad,” she continued before striking her trademark battle pose, “For love and justice, a sailor-suited pretty soldier, Sailor Moon.”
 
“Soldier of love and beauty, Sailor Venus,” said Sailor Venus, also striking her battle pose.
 
“In the name of the Moon, you’ll be punished,” said the duo, pointing at the soldier.
 
However, Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus weren’t alone. Just as she had finished her trademark intro, the other 3 Sailor Senshi joined her and Sailor Venus, drawing even more cheers from the police. Sailor Moon turned around to meet them while Sailor Venus rushed at the soldier. “Oh, you guys are here, great,” she said gleefully.
 
As grateful as the other senshi were to be there, Sailor Mars only hung her head in disappointment, with a sweat drop hanging, “Sailor Moon, will you stop lollygagging with us and help us attack that soldier,” she said before launching herself into the air.
 
“Umm, okay,” Sailor Moon reluctantly replied as she turned back to the soldier.
 
“Go Sailor Moon,” one of the policemen cheered as another whistled at her.
 
‘Yes, it does feel great to be a star,’ Sailor Moon thought to herself as she rushed to assist her friends with the soldier. “Go, get out of here,” she yelled to the police, “This could get ugly.”
 
She and the other 4 senshi completely surrounded the soldier while the police hopped back into their cars and backed off from the fight.
 
“Good thinking, Sailor Moon,” Sailor Mercury praised.
 
“Yeah, for once,” Sailor Mars added.
 
“Hey, I don’t want any more police defeated by this monster,” said Sailor Moon, “We all know that our battles with these soldiers and Titanius cause all kinds of damage.”
 
“She’s right, Sailor Mars,” said Sailor Jupiter, “These guys do know how to trash a place to get to us or the people.”
 
“So let’s defeat this guy before he causes any more damage,” Sailor Moon rallied as she grabbed her Moon Stick, “Compared to Titanius, he’s only a pushover.”
 
She aimed her Moon Stick at the soldier as the other senshi charged up their attacks.
 
“Shabon Spray!”
“Fire Soul!”
“Supreme Thunder!”
“Crescent Beam!”
“Moon Healing Escalation!”
 
With their combined attacks striking the soldier in unison, it easily fell to its knees and crumbled into ashes. However, the ease of this battle struck the senshi as peculiar, especially for Sailor Mercury. “Somehow, I have a feeling that this soldier was too much of a pushover,” the Senshi of Water commented.
 
“I agree,” said Sailor Venus, “Despite the damage he was causing, that was the weakest soldier we’ve ever defeated.”
 
Suddenly, the sound of slow clapping interrupted the Senshi’s thoughts. They all turned toward its origin to find Titanius walking slowly toward them, applauding their rather easy victory. “Very good, Sailor Team. It’s good to see that you’re all here to join my party, just like I planned it. Now that you’ve properly warmed up, you get to meet my four horsemen.”
 
“What? He drew us here on purpose?!” Sailor Moon exclaimed.
 
“What for?” Sailor Venus wondered.
 
“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” said Sailor Mars, “I sense a very dark aura about this place. He’s up to something.”
 
Before the Sailor Senshi could even conjure a reason behind Titanius’ actions, four dark and morbid-looking knights on horseback burst from a dark portal behind Titanius and rushed toward the 5 Sailor Senshi, with their spiked flails swinging.
 
“I’ve got them,” said Sailor Mars as she clasped her hands together and charged her attack, “Fire Soul!”
 
She hurled a large ball of fire at the horsemen, singeing the armor of two of them and completely missing the other two. However, her attack proved to be ineffective as one of the horsemen kicked her back toward another, allowing him to send her flying with a well-placed blow to her back with his flail.
 
“Damn, these guys are tough,” said Sailor Jupiter.
 
“I knew that last soldier was too easy,” said Sailor Venus.
 
Sailor Moon, however, only removed her tiara and launched it at one of the horsemen as it charged at her. He easily dodged the tiara and plowed into Sailor Moon, knocking her to the ground and causing her to roll for quite a distance.
 
“Sailor Moon!” Sailor Mercury gasped.
 
“I’ve had enough of this,” Sailor Jupiter yelled as she crossed her arms in front of her and extended her antenna from her tiara. Lightning struck it, charging her body with ferocious electricity, “Supreme Thunder!”
 
Sailor Jupiter threw her arms out to her sides, sending lightning surging all around her, striking all 4 horsemen with deadly accuracy and bringing their horses to their knees. Sailor Jupiter stood in the aftermath of her attack, breathing heavily and with her arms still extended out to her sides. “That’ll teach you not to mess with my friends,” Sailor Jupiter scolded.
 
A mocking belly laugh from Titanius was the only response to Sailor Jupiter’s savage attack, “You think you’ve won this battle, Sailor Team? Well, think again, because I have a wonderful surprise for you.” He then turned over his shoulder toward the top of a nearby building and gave a rather peculiar hand signal. And as quickly as Titanius gave the signal, a massive wave of fire blasted the 4 weakened horsemen, disintegrating them.
 
 The 5 senshi turned in the direction of the fire’s origin and find none other than a familiar figure in a maroon tuxedo and top hat, standing on top of a building with his cape waving in the wind.
 
“It’s Tuxedo Inferno,” said Sailor Venus.
 
“Yeah. But somehow, he looks different,” a doubtful Sailor Mercury commented, immediately noticing the changes in his appearance, “I’d better take a look at him.” She tapped her earring and donned her goggles to scan Tuxedo Inferno. But just as she began scanning him, Tuxedo Inferno leaped down from the building, landing between them and Titanius and starring them down.
 
“I am Tuxedo Inferno, warrior of fire and advocate of darkness.  In the name of the Mars, I will burn you in hell,” he said in a deep, dark voice.
 
“I knew it!” Sailor Jupiter yelled as rushed at him and rammed into him with bone-crushing force, sending him flying through the air and landing next to Titanius. “I knew you were an agent of the Dark Kingdom.”
 
“Wait a minute. Mars is my guardian planet too, but I don’t know anything about him,” Sailor Mars commented, “Could he be lying about that, or did Mars have some kind of dark entity?”
 
“It doesn’t matter, Sailor Mars, just get him!” Sailor Jupiter yelled.
 
The senshi all complied and ran toward Tuxedo Inferno, completely ignoring Titanius. However, the sight of the 5 legendary Sailor Senshi didn’t faze Tuxedo Inferno as he waved his arms in a display of kung fu.
 
“Inferno Fire Beam!” he yelled as he thrust his palms at the 5 senshi, sending a beam of fire into the heart of their formation and giving all 5 of them their frequent flyer miles. Sailor Mercury flew through a store window, bowling over a few manikins. Sailor Mars landed in the back seat of a convertible with its top down. Sailor Venus landed on top of a light post. Sailor Moon fell through an open manhole in the street. However, Sailor Jupiter landed in the middle of the street and quickly recovered from the blast.
 
 “You hurt my friends, you bastard,” she yelled, “We trusted you, and you betrayed us. Now, in the name Jupiter, I’m gonna make you pay for deceiving us. Supreme Thunder!” She sent another ferocious surge of lightning slamming into his body, sending him through the wall of the building right next to Titanius.
 
“Damn you bitch,” Titanius yelled. Tuxedo Inferno struggled to emerge from the man-shaped hole in the wall and prepared to counter Sailor Jupiter’s ferocious attack with one of his own.
 
“Enough, Tuxedo Inferno,” said Titanius, stopping Tuxedo Inferno, “You’ve done enough to prove yourself to them for today. They’ll certainly be weak with distraught after today. So you’ll get your chance to kill them another day,” Tuxedo Inferno only nodded in reply and joined Titanius at his side. Titanius then threw a smoke bomb to the ground, enveloping both men in a thick screen of smoke. When it cleared, both were gone.
 
The senshi emerged from where they landed and jogged over to Sailor Jupiter. Sailor Moon, however, only stood in awe, nearly coming to tears, as what had just happened raced through her mind. “He turned on us,” she gasped, “He helped us all those times, he was so great to us, and he turned on us. I was beginning to like him and he turned on us.”
 
“You should’ve listened to me,” said Sailor Jupiter, “It was all a ruse, but I wasn’t fooled. He was just helping us out to study us so he could turn on us.”
 
“Somehow, he didn’t seem to like what he was doing,” said Sailor Moon.
 
“I don’t know how you can see that, but you can’t prove it. He appeared to be enjoying it to me,” Sailor Jupiter argued.
 
“Let’s go home,” suggested Sailor Mars, “I’ll do a fire reading and see what I find out about him.”
 
Disappointed, Sailor Moon walked with the others, distraught over an apparent new friend turning on her and her friends. ‘There’s got to be something going on with him. He couldn’t have turned on us just like that. And I was actually beginning to trust him a little more, and so were Ami-chan and Minako-chan,’ she thought to herself.
 
 
The Dark Kingdom...
 
Titanius and Tuxedo Inferno arrived at the Dark Kingdom and marched down the halls toward Queen Beryl’s throne room. The good news he had in store for her made Titanius smile with glee. However, Tuxedo Inferno wasn’t as cheerful as he marched alongside Titanius with a rather stern and serious look on his face. Moments later, the duo arrived at Queen Beryl’s throne room and kneeled down before her. “Mission accomplished, Queen Beryl-sama,” said Titanius, “Tuxedo Inferno has stated his intentions to the Sailor Team. We knew they were beginning to trust him. But now that he’s shown them that he’s one of us, it’ll crush their spirits and weaken their motivation.”
 
“That’s good, Titanius, but you should’ve taken advantage of that today and defeated all 5 of them,” Queen Beryl scolded, “How could you have let Sailor Jupiter blast Tuxedo Inferno with lightning? And why did you stop the fight right there and not let Tuxedo Inferno finish her off?
 
“My apologies, Queen Beryl-sama. It was my fault that Tuxedo Inferno took that hit. We will try harder next time,” Titanius replied.
 
“You had better. I expect you to not hold back against the Sailor Team in your next battle. Don’t even think about holding back, understood?” Queen Beryl scolded.
 
“Yes, Queen Beryl-sama,” both men replied.
 
“Good, then we will soon begin on our other plans against the Sailor Team,” said Queen Beryl.
 
She then turned to Tuxedo Inferno, “Tuxedo Inferno, you are free to operate outside the Dark Kingdom. Since you’re used to living in their world, you’ll be of much better use to us continuing to live on the outside. Use that 6th sense of yours and know when the Senshi show up.”
 
“Yes Queen Beryl-sama,” Tuxedo Inferno replied as he rose and bowed to her. He then turned around and left the throne room and made his way down the halls.
 
 “Is this what I was meant to be?” he asked himself as he walked toward the teleporter room, and thus his exit from the Dark Kingdom, “What if this isn’t right? What if Queen Beryl is wrong?”
 
He then thought of his dream from days earlier, “I don’t remember about being from the Dark Kingdom in my dreams. Maybe I’m just going crazy, or maybe I’m not really supposed to be of the Dark Kingdom.”
 
Moments later, Tuxedo Inferno arrived at the teleporter room. There, he lifted his obsidian jewel ring in the air and transformed back into his civilian form. Then, he left the Dark Kingdom and reappeared back at his hotel in Chiba City. He entered his room, finding his roommate fast asleep, and plopped down on the bed, thinking about the whole day’s ordeal. ‘What happens to me now?’ he wondered, ‘What happens to the life I have here? What happens to my dreams and aspirations?’
 
“Is that you, Kyodai-kun?” his roommate mumbled, still half-asleep.
 
“Yeah, it’s me,” Kyodai replied, “I just got back after my errand and a rather long walk around the city.”
 
“You’d better get some sleep,” suggested his roommate, “We have that big lab tomorrow.”
 
“I’ll try,” Kyodai reluctantly replied, hiding the recent ordeal he had went through. ‘Well, I’ve lived my life as both me and as Tuxedo Inferno for this long, wondering about who I was and why I had this power, and it hasn’t affected my life that much so far,’ Kyodai thought to himself, ‘Whatever happens, I still have to live my life here.’ And that was his final thought as he slowly drifted to sleep.

end of chapter 4
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Disclaimer: As usual, Sailor Moon and most of the characters ain't mine, but belong to Naoko Takeuchi. And God bless that woman for creating such great entertainment for all of us with a lot of free time on our hands to enjoy. The English dub belongs to DiC Entertainment and Cloverway, and I only thank them for bringing' it to America, nothin' more. But Russell Hino/Hino Kyodai, Tuxedo Inferno, Titanius, and Deanna Kokorono/Kokorono Meijin are MINE (in a growling voice). So, please don't sue me. I'm just a lonely man who ain't got anythang but his pride. Well, y'all enjoy this fanfic and e-mail me.

Have fun Sailor Moon fans,
Viper Inferno (Y2V)

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