Light everywhere, blocking all vision; a sense of motion, spinning, falling. Colors, images, scenes tumbled randomly. Memories suddenly come alive again for her in jumble -- performing in the Idol Singer competition only to have it interrupted by Mimet; arriving on the scene of Malachite and Zoicite's trap just in time to save Tuxedo Kamen; meeting Usagi for the first time in her reincarnated life; dying; being resurrected; dying again...a life pledged to serving the cause of good, and justice and light, no matter what the cost. Was she singing something? She thought there ought to be singing. She probably shrieked aloud; she wasn't sure. The light behind her eyes slowly faded and she found she was kneeling on the ground with her arms stiffly at her side. Her mouth was open but was it from the singing or the yelling? *Somone* had been yelling after all. All she knew was that a moment before she'd been falling to her probable doom and suddenly she was alive and well and had a lifetime of someone else's memories in addition to her own. And there was Artemis standing on the ground near her, a hesitant expression on his face, as if he'd been unsure he could do what was needed. Silly cat, of course he could. "Artemissu!" she cried leaping forward to hug him, her Japanese accent ringing strangely in her own ears, now used to Greek. The cat joyfully yelped back, "Mina-chan!" he exclaimed joyfully. "You're back!"
Minako started to get up, when she suddenly froze. Her memories
were suddenly swamped by another set, and she had to focus her
mind to clear the confusion. "Minako, I am Aino Minako, Sailor V!
Sailor Venus...but I'm also..." her voice became unsteady as the
initial wave of her older memories continued to recede, allowing
other memories, equally strong or perhaps moreso, to rise up like
rocks beneath a receding tide, "...I'm also Gabrielle of
Potedaia. Gabrielle, Xena's friend. The Princess of the Amazons-
-no, I'm the Queen now, though Ephiny is holding things down for
me." She shook her head, squinting her eyes, trying to clear her
blurred vision and whirling thoughts. She did not remember Luna's
restoration of her memories when the Alien twins had appeared as
being so painful and disorienting.
"Come out, Gabrielle. It's time for you to meet your *divine
judgement*!" the mocking voice of Velasca called. That was
enough to make Gabrielle's eyes snap open wider; she immediately
darted toward the bushes, leaving her staff discarded behind her.
IN TARTARUS, ON THE EDGE OF THE CLIFFS OF ETERNITY...
Meanwhile, Xena had reached bottom of the cliffs that lined the
chasm down into the depthss of the true Tartarus. The cliffs
simply ended and below them was endless, infinite space, filled
with fireclouds and darkness and great sounds that she could not
and did not desire to understand. Occasionally a tongue of nether
flame would lash up into the chasm and illuminate the scene with
a malevolent wine-red color. From the myths of her childhood, she
knew that far below was a floating island of bare stone, and on
it a citadel bordered by a golden gate; within that, the Titans
themselves were imprisoned. But, fortunately, she needed to
descend no further. On the last ledge before the fall into
infinity, the Cave of Time beckoned her forward. She drew her
sword overhead from the scabbard on her back, crouched slightly
and began to make her way in. After all, the most powerful relic
of the Titans was hardly going to be left unguarded, even here.
She crept in with all the considerable stealth she could muster.
The inside of the cave at first was lit only from the flashes of
fire emanating upward from Tartarus. However, once she was inside
the threshold of the cave, small crystals embedded into the wall
of the cavern gave off a feeble, nacreous glow. There was a scent
in the air, like leather and musk and foulness; it was like that
of the Cyclops, but even stronger. A faint susurration ran
through the structure of the cave and she paused, looking around.
It was as if a thousand giant fingers tapped a rhythm on the
walls of the cave. Which, unfortunately, is exactly what it was.
For within the Cave of Time was Cottus the Hecatoncheire, the
Hundred-Handed One.
Xena crept forward into the paleness; far within the cave she saw
a pillar of radiance at the juncture of several ominously large
passageways. "The treasure? or a trap?" she wondered to herself.
She decided it was a trap and headed off into deeper and darker
parts of the cave, relying more on her other senses than sight.
It was cool and dark and quiet as the tunnel she chose angled
downward. "Of course," she thought wryly, "this might just be
leading the way to a pit down into Tartarus..."
NEAR THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AT HELLESPONT...
Joxer wandered around the ruined temple a bit woozily. He'd taken
a few hits to the head from flying debris when Velasca had
blasted it. Fortunately, he wore a helmet so the blows were not
serious. He was looking around for Gabrielle when he thought he
heard an odd sound, a hiss like that made by a branch of green
wood tossed into a bonfire. He stopped and listened and looked
around warily. When he didn't notice anything out of the
ordinary, he convinced himself it was his imagination, shrugged,
and walked away with a big dopey grin on his face. Once he'd left
the clearing, Callisto faded into view just a few feet away from
where he had been standing. She smiled, and her eyes flashed with
a shining white light momentarily; her smile was like a jackal's
as she slowly strode after Joxer.
Nearby, Minako was trying to straighten out the chain of events
she'd been pulled into by going through the memories a segment at
a time. Artemis was coaching her as she did this.
"Ok, Xena's not back with the...weapon yet," said
Gabrielle/Minako. "We have to stall Callisto and Velasca as long
as we can, I'm sure Xena will be here soon."
"Minako, transform!" suggested Artemis.
"Of course! I can fight her as Sailor V-nus!" bubbled
Minako/Gabrielle. "I mean, last time we fought, er, well, fled
from her, she was throwing around some mean lightning bolts
but... really, nothing more than Makoto's 'Sparkling Wide
Pressure' attack if you get right down to it...and I'm more
powerful now than Makoto was then. I may be able to really do
some damage to her!" Minako/Gabrielle made a fist as she lost
focus, imagining her victory over Velasca.
"Minako, the transformation?" Artemis reminded her.
"Right!" she said, "I think I'll need the wand, it's been too
long since..." she stopped mid-sentence and looked at her empty
right hand. "The henshin wand...!"
Artemis frowned, "Minako, I don't think you should *need* the
wand..."
Minako solemnly returned his gaze. "I do. I feel
too...disconnected to transform without it. And it's back in the
future isn't it?"
The lunar cat looked worried for just a moment and then his face
broke into a big grin. "I have an idea. Just reach for it, OK?"
"I don't understand," she said seriously in more of a Gabrielle-
listening-to-Xena's-plan sort of tone.
"Trust me on this one. Just reach for that little pocket of
spacetime it sits in."
She shrugged, and taking on a determined expression, reached out
into thin air. A patch of air before her began shining with
golden light, and with an expression of utmost concentration, she
extended her hand into it with a grimace. Slowly, maddeningly so,
her hand went into the light...and disappeared into thin air.
She had her entire forearm into this other space and was
apparently groping around in it for several long moments. Artemis
began to sweat with worry. According to everything he knew, the
pens SHOULD exist here and now but if he was wrong...perhaps he
could find a way to contact the guardian of his homeworld, Sailor
Mau, along with Minako.
Minako was nearly growling with the concentration of keeping her
arm extended into otherspace AND groping around in there when
suddenly her face blanked in surprise and she whipped her arm
straight back with lightning-fast reflexes. The warp closed with
an audible pop, but she grinned and showed him her prize: her
original Sailor Venus transformation pen -- an orange wand
surmounted by an oval emblazoned with the heart-designed sign of
Venus.
Her face fell at the sight of it. "Only my old one? I won't be
able to change into Super Sailor Venus!" she lamented.
Artemis shook his head, "No, not true. Later, as your power
increased, the form of the henshin wand changed too, but the
power is still yours. Concentrate on it, I'll help you," he
instructed.
She looked at him doubtfully for a moment and then took a firm
grip on the pen. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. A
warm golden haze of light sprang up from the pen and surrounded
her. She continued to concentrate, drawing strength from her
memories of the early battles she and the sailor senshi had
fought. The aura around her brightened. Artemis closed his eyes
and the crescent on his forehead gleamed brightly as he sent what
power he could to her. The light became very strong, almost a
solid golden aura. Suddenly, a crystal sphere flew into existence
and sat atop the wand, and Minako cried aloud,
"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!!"
Light exploded around her, a rain of stars raining upward from
the earth as if to carry her into the heavens. She was one with
this power of harmony and light, letting it fill her as it spun
her around in a geyser of golden stars. Her eyes opened as she
felt her senshi uniform appear around her and she pirouetted once
and struck a position ready for combat. Minako did not stand
there. Gabrielle did not stand there.
Sailor Venus stood there.
Artemis sat there beaming up at her as she cracked a smile as she
reached up to see that yes, indeed, her old red bow had appeared.
Sighing, as she was a little old to be wearing such things, she
took it down and rolled up the ribbon and stuck it into the
spacepocket. She felt like a brand new woman. Artemis was about
to jump up on her shoulder when a voice spoke out.
"Is that supposed to be some kind of warrior uniform, Gabrielle?
Then again, you always were a pretender--as an amazon AND as a
princess!"
"I am the Queen of the Amazons, Velasca," she said imperiously
and turned to face her foewoman.
"Bah!" scoffed Velasca. "I could destroy you where you stand!
But, yours will be a longer, more painful death! I will—"
"Keep talking all day unless I shut you up," Sailor Venus
remarked casually as she brought her right hand up, index finger
extended.
"YOU DARE! I AM A GODDESS!" yelled Velasca.
Sailor Venus only said two words, "Crescent Beam!" and a bolt of
golden force erupted from her finger, blasting into Velasca's
midsection and hurling her over twenty feet straight back and
through two medium-sized tree trunks.
"And you, Velasca, were also always a pretentious, condescending
windbag!" she said. Artemis' jaw dropped. He was...impressed.
She was definitely back in top-notch form.
"Nooo!!!" screeched Velasca, who picked herself up. "I don't
care if you have gotten God-like powers, Gabrielle, I'll kill you
anyway!!" She hurled a lightning ball and Sailor Venus leapt out
of the way, tumbling through the air and rebounding off a handy
tree trunk. She landed on a conveniently level branch 10 feet
away from her original position. Xena would have been proud at
the acrobatics. Artemis scampered into the underbrush.
Velasca blasted the new tree trunk and Sailor Venus leapt again.
In the background, four comets fell from the heavens: one blue,
one green, one yellow, and one pink. They were huge, and seemed
as if they meant to fall to earth nearly upon the combatants.
Velasca stopped and looked at them, instinctively sensing they
were filled with a dangerous power. She would kill Gabrielle, but
she would not rush into things, especially not if Gabrielle had
become a full goddess. She had an ally and that gave her the
advantage.
"Very well, Gabrielle, I'm not ready to fight this new, godly
version of yourself--but rest assured, I'll be back!" She lifted
her arms and a cyclone of power formed around her and she
streaked away.
The four comets struck earth soundlessly a short distance away
through the trees.
Sailor Venus gathered Artemis back into her arms and began to
look around for other signs of Velasca or Joxer, or other
refugees. Scant minutes later, four women walked forth from the
woods.
The first three were dressed alike in fancy white togas gathered
to their left shoulders, sandals, and chokers. The one in front
had a shock of bright red hair, drawn upward into a crude topknot
ponytail, and held there by a sort of hair band; her choker was
green, and she was built lithely, like a Spartan woman. The
second had short white hair, pale gray eyes, and had an ice-blue
choker. She had the body of a runner. The third was a sensual
type, with pouty lips, deep blue eyes, and long blond hair that
fell in ringlets; her choker was yellow.
The fourth woman, with long white hair in twin pony tails, was
Queen Serenity of the Silver Millenium. Sailor Venus fell to her
knees. "Your majesty!" she exclaimed.
"Arff!" said Artemis, now being crushed in her embrace. She eased
up a bit and the cat gasped for breath.
"Mercury, Venus, stay close to Princess Serenity," commanded the
red-haired maiden. "Highness, she appears to recognize you and
that may make her all the more dangerous!" she cautioned without
removing her gaze from the kneeling Sailor Venus. Minako looked
up and noticed that "Queen" Serenity was not wearing her royal
gown but more of a ... "princess" dress. She was also not holding
the Crescent Moon Wand, but a large white staff with a flared tip
which was firmly planted into the ground, and on which she was
leaning, lines of exertion already worn into her young face.
The red haired maiden drew a large, ornate longsword and
approached the kneeling Sailor Venus. "Who are you, stranger, to
call upon the power entrusted to Sailor Venus?" she demanded,
pointing the blade at her. "What allows you to dare the affront
of stealing an amulet that is the property of the Moon Realm?"
Minako looked up. "Who's asking?"
The red-haired maiden glowered at her insolence, but replied
"Sailor Jupiter, leader of the Sailor God-warriors!"
Realization widened Minako's eyes. "Sailor ... God-warriors?" she
looked at the redhead before her, then at the blond and the
frosty haired women who flanked Serenity and seemed to be in
protective stances. "I used the amulet as you call it because I
have the right to." Minako smiled warmly. "You see, I'm Sailor
Venus," she said blithely.
"No! I am!" protested the blond, obviously upset.
"Eriæ," warned the red-haired one, who turned her head slightly
but never took her eyes off Minako. "Your story falls a little
flat, stranger, considering that Aphrodite *created* and
*bestowed* the power of Sailor Venus upon Eriae less than a year
ago!"
Minako surged to her feet. "Aphrodite *created* Sailor Venus? Not
quite. Awakened her, perhaps, but I know my, like all of our
powers, flows from the sailor crystal within me, in the star seed
that is my life spark. The power of creation that gives life to
all things."
"What are you babbling about?" demanded Sailor Jupiter.
"Do you not feel it? The power of the stars? The power of the
White Moon? It moves within me, and within you as well." Minako
leaned forward and lightly touched the astonished Sailor
Jupiter's wrist. A golden haze began to shimmer around Minako.
She felt her power humming, like a song. After a moment, Sailor
Jupiter's eyes widened. Her mouth opened in a wordless 'oh!' and
a similar, greenish aura formed around her. Minako's was, by far,
stronger. "We are both, Sailor Senshi," Minako breathed
reverently.
Princess Serenity sighed and leaned forward. "It is as she says;
the explanation my mother gave all of you earlier
was...oversimplified."
"That doesn't explain how there's two of me! I mean, her. Her and
me. Two Venuses," babbled their Venus.
Minako grinned. "She's Sailor Venus all right," she thought to
herself before answering the question. "It's pretty simple. I'm
Sailor Venus from the future. FAR into the future actually. I was
sent back in time by..." she paused. "I probably shouldn't give
you any foreknowledge. A powerful foe, I guess that's all I
should say. I've been here for several years now, I just regained
my memories moments ago. So now you have four sailor senshi on
your hands," she beamed at the Princess, who smiled back.
"Senshi?" Sailor Mercury said questioningly. "That's not even a
Greek word. Does it mean "God-warrior?"
"Senshi? It means soldier, or warrior, I suppose," replied Minako
thoughtfully. "But it has a deeper meaning, something to the
effect of 'we who are willing to lay down our lives in battle'
that distinguishes it from a common brawler." She paused again,
lost in thought for a moment. "It's what Xena is, what she's
become. She's a true hero."
The other Sailor Venus spoke up hesitantly. "This Xena person,
you sound like you care for her, and miss her a lot."
Minako smiled. "I do. She's my friend. We're normally
inseparable, but right now she's on a quest into Tartarus to get
a weapon that can kill Velasca and Callisto."
Princess Serenity's eyes narrowed. "What weapon?" she asked
quietly.
It was a tone that Sailor Venus had heard before. She turned to
the princess. "The Scythe of Chronos, highness," she replied
respectfully. Serenity nodded once at the confirmation of her
suspicions. "Aphrodite herself, acting on orders from Zeus, sent
her to get it. Callisto and Velasca are a pair of evil women who
got their hands on Ambrosia; Xena trapped them in a lava flow for
a few months but now they're loose. The Gods alone know what kind
of destruction they may have wrecked on that poor village!"
Minako gestured toward the town and Serenity turned to look where
she was pointing. Huge columns of smoke had risen above the
treetops and were visible despite the fading light of the very
late afternoon. "They would not dare..." began Serenity. "It is
forbidden for the Gods to create such wanton destruction, to
indiscriminately slay mortals so...! Not even Ares or Hera would
so violate the ancient laws!"
"Highness," Minako again spoke respectfully, but with a tone of
great assurance, "I know this. But I'm afraid that in the case of
the two new goddesses, they simply don't care. They are
renegades. This is exactly the kind of thing that Zeus expected
them to do. That's why he wanted Xena to deal with them now."
Serenity merely shook her head in disbelief. Minako merely stood
there, resolved, while Sailor Jupiter scowled at her. Suddenly a
thought crossed Minako's mind. "Highness...where is Sailor Mars?"
Princess Serenity turned to meet her gaze, her left arm still
clutching her white staff as if she needed it keep standing up.
She frowned. "Ares...has not...awakened her. He claims that he's
had to investigate several possibilities and discounted several.
He has been promising Us Our Sailor Mars but has yet to bring her
to Us.
"I see..." said Minako thoughtfully. Then she looked up, a VERY
confused expression on her face. "Are you saying there has never
been a Sailor Mars?"
"Correct."
"You three--are you the ONLY sen--er, 'God Warriors' who have
been 'awakened'?"
"Exactly," replied Jupiter.
Minako nodded in comprehension, a sick feeling in the pit of her
stomach as three words reverberated in her head: NO SAILOR PLUTO.
She sighed. "Right, well, now that you all know why I borrowed
Sailor Venus' transformation wand," she nodded at Eriæ who now
smiled in return, if a little hesitatntly, "I'm sure you don't
object to my further involvement?" Princess Serenity shook her
head.
"I would like to investigate this whole situation a little more
before we return to my mother's court," Serenity added. "Hera
agreed we could spend a day on Earth so we might as well make the
best of it. Renegade goddesses could be a threat to the Moon
Realm as well as Earth, after all."
Sailor Jupiter frowned. "We are the princess's bodyguards and I
do not think it wise she remain here for long...but...I also
think we should see these villainesses' handiwork. I agree, we
should know what these renegade gods might be capable of."
Sailor Mercury blinked in surprise. "Melissa! That's really good
forethought on your part!" she exclaimed. Though doubtless
Mercury meant it as a compliment, it did rather have a
condescending tone to it and Sailor Jupiter frowned. Eriæ giggled
and rolled her eyes. Once again, she would be playing peacemaker
before the day was out.
"The village is this way," piped up Artemis, who was pointing out
the path.
"By the Gods!" yelled all the sailors more or less at once.
"You can speak!" said Princess Serenity. "Are you one of Circe's
victims?"
Artemis sweatdropped. "No, I'm just your average semi-magical cat
from the planet Mau."
"Oh, you're an ALIEN," replied Serenity with some relief. "Well
why do you have the Lunar Mark on your forehead?"
"I was, uh, attuned, to your kingdom. In the future, I'm an
advisor, and because she's the leader of the senshi, I'm Sailor
Venus' trainer."
"Gee, all I have is a magic sword," muttered Sailor Jupiter in
the background. Eriæ patted her on the shoulder consolingly.
"THAT explains everything," Serenity concluded. "Come, let us all
go see this village. Let us see what these goddesses think they
can do to innocent people." And with that she began walking down
the path to Hellespont with a decided march to her step.
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