Xena stealthily crept through the tunnel. She was moving
using her warrior's senses and not her eyes; the darkness
was near-absolute. There was a strange vibration that seemed
to hang in the air, an almost palpable, artificial stillness
and she was sure it was some emanation coming from Chronos'
scythe. There was a sudden movement and she leapt forward,
executing a perfect somersault as she did so. More sounds
lashed behind her and she landed in a grotto with a thin
layer of sand atop the floor. Ancient wall sconces burst
into life around the room and she could see the rock walls
were sponge-like, full of dozens of openings. And through
those openings some of the hands of Cottus the
Hecatoncheire, the Hundred-Handed One. Immediately, her
chakram was in her hand and a smile of wicked glee was on
her face. This enemy was not human. There would be no need
for holding back.
Her wrist snapped into position and she hurled the metal
torus at the giant hands emerging from the wall with all her
considerable strength. With a shriek like metal on metal,
the spinning blade flew through the air and rapped a half-
dozen of Cottus' hands right across the knuckles, hit the
wall, and boomeranged back toward Xena after striking the
monster several more times. A mammoth howl of pain blasted
through the cave and most of the arms withdrew into the cave
wall. She snagged the chakram with another snap of her wrist
and then exploded into action.
"Mortal cow! You will die for that!" yelled the bastard
child of the Earth in a voice that shook the cave. The floor
and walls began to rock as the Hecatoncheire started
thrashing, sending fist sized rocks pouring into the
chamber. There was the sound of metal in the background and
Xena knew that the immense creature had drawn its weapons.
This chamber would very shortly become a killing ground.
With a war cry, Xena darted across the room, her own sword
drawn, dodging the falling stones and working her way toward
an alcove in the far wall. Within it was a golden box
encrusted with jewels in an hourglass pattern. She put her
left hand on it and immediately grasped the box and raised
it to above her head to bat a stone away. She sheathed her
sword and reached into the alcove, digging in the fist-sized
stones. She continued to hold the false case above her head
as a shield. It simply didn't have the strange resonance she
was seeking...there! A simple wooden box, buried in the
alcove, that was what she wanted. She risked using the fake
to help scoop out stones until the wooden box's edge was
revealed. It was relatively flat box, sized large enough to
contain a shield. Once she pulled it out, she discarded the
gold box and got a good grip on the real one. She leapt
nimbly back into the center of the room and slung the box
over her back and tucked it under the strap of her scabbard.
She began to tumble her way out of the deathtrap even as
Cottus began poking huge pikes down into the room in an
attempt to skewer her.
"I don't suppose it would mean anything if I told you that I
have Zeus' permission to get this?" she yelled out.
"No! It is mine to keep and guard! It was promised to me
forever! The old goat can't just take it away from me now!
If you're from him I'll just kill you slower, cow!"
"Your attitude is really starting to bug me!" Xena snarled
back. Coming to her feet, she drew her sword again and swung
it at the haft of one of Cottus' many spikes coming down
into the room. She quickly sheathed her sword and picked up
the severed shaft in both hands. Dashing forward, she buried
its tip in the ground and swung around on it, her feet
kicking several of Cottus' hands that emerged from the wall
in an attempt to grab her as she re-entered the narrow
passageway. He howled again and she dropped to her feet, and
hefted up the makeshift spear. Xena started running with it
pointing before her like a lance.
"Kaiyaiyaiyaiyaiyaiyai...!" she gave her warcry and ran for
the exit. Just as the monster began to hurl spears at her
through the wall, she planted the tip in the ground and pole
vaulted to the exit.
OUTSIDE HELLSPONT...
Minako and the Sailor "God-warriors" surrounded Princess
Serenity as they walked towards the village. Serenity
constantly leaned upon her staff and required frequent
rests. It had taken them about an hour to get to the town
proper, and now that they had, they found only wreckage
where Hellespont had been. The devastation was awful. Not a
building was untouched. Several had been blasted to
splinters, others reduced to shells of charcoal. A few were
merely collapsed. Small fires were still burning in the
village in places.
There were dead bodies lying on the ground. Several might
have been struck down by Velasca's bolts of fury. Others
seemed to have been burned, either by the conflagration
devouring the village buildings, or by a great gout of fire
which engulfed their bodies in an instant and reduced them
to ash and bones. The priestesses of Artemis were moving
among the still forms, finding those injured who still
lived. Their order was not one of healers; still, their
courage served them well in moving among the remains. Still,
there was not much they were able to do beyond offer some
water to the dying.
Serenity and her bodyguard moved into the center of the
village. The princess' eyes became an unreadable blue as she
saw the devastation around her. Sailors Venus and Mercury
also looked fairly green. Sailor Jupiter's jaw was clenched
tight and she constantly was on the lookout for a threat.
The few villagers that weren't busy dying gaped at the
beautiful white-dressed woman and her entourage. Serenity
staggered to a halt, gasping with the effort. She plunged
the pointed tip of the staff into the ground before her and
came to a halt, leaning on it. For several minutes she just
looked around, taking in the full panorama of the
devastation. They were near the center of the town, and the
priestesses had gathered the survivors there. Minako wasn't
sure, but she thought she might have said, 'no.' Eriæ put
her hand on the princess' shoulder. "Highness, are you
alright? Is the exertion too much for you?" she inquired
solicitously. Serenity merely nodded at first as she levered
herself up on the staff.
Two of Artemis' priestesses had approached the little group.
"Pardon us, Lady, but we have not seen you before," the
older of the two said as they approached. Serenity's
forehead was clearly marked with a golden crescent moon and
they were no doubt wondering if Artemis had started wearing
formal dresses.
The other, more eager, continued, "Yes! Who are you, Lady?"
Serenity took a deep breath. "I am Princess Serenity,
daughter of Selene, the Titan of the moon. And I am a
daughter of Light. And so..." she leaned back, balancing
with great care and lifted her staff off the ground, raising
it was obvious effort above her head, as if it were a banner
she was trying to wave. She strained to raise fully over her
head and held out at the length of her arms. Minako wondered
about her apparent physical weakness.
Artemis hopped up on Minako's shoulder. "I bet she's never
been on Earth before," he whispered in her ear. Solemnly,
she nodded but didn't take her eyes of the princess she had
known as a queen. There was something awe-inspiring about
the Princess. Minako realized suddenly why it was so
familiar: Serenity was reminding her of her own daughter,
Usagi--Sailor Moon.
Suddenly Melissa, Sailor Jupiter, spun around aghast as she
realized what was going on behind her.
"Highness no, you need the energy to sustain you here in
Gaea's realm! Besides, your mother removed the Crescent
surmounting her staff before entrusting it to you, without
it...!"
Serenity, her eyes locked on the white staff above her head,
said "I don't care--I will not let this travesty be if I can
fix even a small portion of it."
"White Moon Staff, Healing--"
Suddenly the staff was a shaft of whiteness and brilliant
silver light emanated from it and the Moon Princess.
"E S C A L A T I O N ! ! !"
The silver radiance shot forth, filling the area; glittering
motes of moondust sprayed through the air and the rays of
light swept outward, engulfing the village in the purifying
light of the moon.
A few moments earlier, and a few miles from the village,
Velasca and Callisto had reunited and begun to confer.
"Listen to me, Callisto," Velasca sneered. "You think this
will be so easy for us? I encountered Gabrielle and she has
gained God-like powers! She might even be a goddess, I'm not
sure. She struck me with a beam of solid light, it was like
a shaft of forged steel!"
Callisto laughed, a shrill and manic sound. "Maybe she was
so afraid of us that she got Xena to find her some Ambrosia
of her own. Now you can have your duel with her Velasca--it
might even be half-fair!"
"This isn't funny you crazed bitch!" spat Velasca. "If
Gabrielle has gained powers, what of Xena?"
Callisto looked gleeful. "Oh, then it will just be that much
more fun to kill everything around her!"
Just then, Princess Serenity released the force of her power
of healing.
Velasca and Callisto felt it in their very bones and turned
toward the village as one. Closing her eyes and stretching
her senses onto the wind, Callisto perceived the far-off
village. She saw the living's wounds closing, burns healing.
She saw a small dog that she had particularly enjoyed
kicking suddenly get back up, wag its tail, and run into the
arms of an 8 year old boy with a face covered in soot.
Tears started coming to her eyes and she shook them out of
her eyes and snarled, a feral expression coming over it, her
white eyes glowing like hellish red coals. "NO! Someone's
healing them! Someone's making it all better! That's not
fair!! They're all dead, they have to stay dead!! Where were
the gods when Xena burned my village to the ground? Where
was this being who's making it all better!? It's not fair!!
My village should have been saved too! I'll kill you! I'll
kill you!!!" she screamed, her fury making her voice a
roaring thunderclap of sound that blasted down several
nearby trees and sent her threat echoing across the land for
leagues around. Velasca observed her rant in dismay and took
one discreet step away from her 'partner.'
In Hellespont, her strength nearly exhausted by the effort
of reaching out to all within the village still alive and
keeping them from Death's cool grip, Princess Serenity
abruptly stopped emanating moon light and sagged to her
knees, the White Moon Staff slamming into the ground before
her like a pike. "Highness!" cried her three Sailor Senshi.
They all rushed to her side in a heartbeat. Just then,
Callisto's voice came roaring on the wind. "I'll kill
you...!" it rolled and echoed.
"Callisto," Minako said and turned in the direction the
sound had come from. "This is bad. We've got to get her out
of here, now!"
A LAKE NEAR HELLESPONT ...
Xena broke the surface of a lake, though it wasn't Avernus.
Nearby, Argo was munching contentedly on some oats. Xena
stalked out of the water, the box containing the Scythe of
Chronos on her back, firmly tucked under her the straps
securing her scabbard. She looked around warily at the
surroundings. "Hellespont," she murmured to herself. She
shook her head and pulled her hair back into place as she
checked the box was still with her. She began to prepare
Argo for the journey. A short while later, when she was
ready, Hades materialized nearby, still attired casually and
sporting a noticeable bruise on his right cheek. Xena
stared in surprise.
"What happened to you?" Xena asked when she got a good look
at the bruise.
Hades scowled and rubbed his cheek. "Who'd have thought
Aphrodite would have that good of a right hook?" he asked in
a plaintive tone of voice and shrugged.
"What--" began Xena. Hades silenced her with a wave of his
hand.
"It was really nothing. The important thing is that Callisto
and Velasca are already loose. They've already gone through
Hellespont and killed half the town." Xena's face took on an
impassive, dead expression. "Aphrodite and I have arranged
for some backup. She's new, but I think she'll be able to
help. She'll meet you in what's left of the town in about an
hour. In the meantime, your friend Gabrielle has made some
new friends. Some powerful new friends." He shot her a wary
glance and promptly disappeared without another word.
Xena sighed in irritation. "Gods," she thought, "you can't
live with them, you can't live without them."
She grabbed some rations out of her saddlebag and mounted
Argo. Today was just as good a day to die as any other. As
long as she got to take out the bitches with her... and
Gabrielle lived through it.
"C'mon!" she yelled and shook Argo's reins. A little more
speed would be nice right about now.
IN THE CENTER OF HELLESPONT...
"Gabrielle! What was that light?" asked Joxer, staggering up
to her. He looked dazed, and there was a new dent in his
helmet. Minako/Gabrielle blinked at him.
"It's Princess Serenity, from the Moon. She healed some of
the town people," she said evenly. "Joxer, this is
important, take up a position about 300 yards over there,"
she said as she pointed towards the west. "If you see
Velasca or Callisto coming, or an elemental disturbance,
just yell and then go hide in the bushes."
"The--the--bushes?" he asked incredulously. He put on a bold
front. "But, you'll need my sword to--" he broke off as
Sailor Venus stepped close to him and grabbed his wrists in
her hands. The nearness of "Gabrielle" almost made him gasp.
Sailor Venus blinked as the "Minako" part of her suddenly
realized something that the "Gabrielle" part had not. She
sighed, and smiled warmly. "You remind me of Yuuichiro," she
said breathily.
"Who?" he asked, overwhelmed.
She smiled. "A nice guy who was in love with my friend Rei.
Of course Rei never figured it out and when she did they
were separate people and they broke up VERY quickly." Seeing
his confusion, she changed her tone to something more
serious. "Joxer, this is important. That woman over there is
the Princess of the Moon. She's exhausted herself, using her
power in a way it wasn't really intended. She's saved some
lives, but she's attracted the attention of the new
goddesses and they are going to attack soon. So please,
watch for them, and don't try to fight them, because you are
a mortal man."
"What about you?" he asked almost fearfully. "You sound like
you're not a mortal woman."
She paused and looked him straight in the eye. "You remember
the spell Aphrodite used on you? She's done something like
that for me and I can fight them now," she lied smoothly, "
I sent Velasca running when I encountered her; this time I'm
going to make her pay for her crimes," she said with utter
confidence.
"Ah geeze, first she put that bell spell on me, now she's
roped you into fighting for her...!"
"It's all right Joxer, really," she reassured him.
"You had surprise on her last time, did you not?" asked the
soft voice of Sailor Mercury, who'd just walked over to
them.
Minako nodded. "But I have a few more tricks she won't be
expecting. And I suspect I know just what you three are
capable of, as well. That gives us an edge."
Joxer grinned stupidly at the leggy form of the snow-haired
Sailor Mercury. "I'm Joxer the Mighty, miss...?"
"I'm Sailor Mercury. And if we're attacked, please help the
Princess get to safety. She can't walk well."
"Is she sick?" Joxer asked sincerely.
"No, just very very weak," Mercury replied.
Joxer nodded and looked in the direction Gabrielle had
pointed out earlier. "Right, I'm gonna guard our flanks!" he
said and stumbled off in that direction.
Mercury looked at Minako, who smiled and shrugged. "He grows
on you after a while."
Mercury gave her a considering look, and decided to forego
comments about moss and lichen.
BACK ON THE ROAD TO HELLESPONT...
A small blast of fire suddenly appeared in the road. Argo
whinnied and reared in surprise. Xena held on for a moment
and jumped down as soon as Argo dropped back down. Freed of
Xena, the horse ran back several feet to get away from the
fire.
Xena looked around warily, barely moving more than her eyes.
With one fluid gesture, she drew her sword from its scabbard
with a soft, metallic scraping sound. Arms at the ready
position, she adjusted her facing.
"That's what I admire about you, Xena. You are always the
consummate warrior," said Ares who then appeared in a flash
of scintillating steel-gray light.
"Ares, I figured it was you. Or possibly that little
nihilistic firebug, Callisto. " Xena said in a derogatory
voice. "What do you want?"
"The same thing I've always wanted Xena," he said in his
most seductive voice as he moved very close to her. "You at
my side, leading my armies. Bringing the order of one voice
to this world. You are my chosen champion, you always have
been," he went on. "And now you have the scythe..."
"Ahh, yes," purred Xena. "The scythe. Well, gee, I have this
phenominal power at hand and you want me to abuse it," she
said, making a funny, "oopsie!" smirk as she replied. "Well,
no thank you, Ares. I have something important to do!" she
spat out, all seriousness again.
"Important? Like using the scythe to become a feeble old hag
in the blink of an eye?" he replied sarcastically. He
stepped closer. "Embrace me, Xena. I'll grant you a long
life; the scythe won't hurt you."
"So I can use it for you," she said. "I don't think so."
"No, no, not at all! You have this figured out all wrong,
Xena. Once the people see that you can use that thing, fear
alone will bring them into line with my agenda. You won't
even have to hurt that many people to teach them to obey."
Xena looked at Ares, who was beaming an almost boyish,
earnest smile at her. Like he really thought she was buying
what he was selling. "Ares...you are disgusting! Get away
from me before I'm tempted to use this thing on you!" she
spat.
"Ah, but you know what happens if there isn't a god of war!"
he laughingly protested. "All the peaceful people of the
world will fall into savagery! You wouldn't want that!"
"I'm sure either Callisto or Velasca would be happy to give
your position a shot. I know! I'll kill you...and hopefully
they'll kill each other fighting over your position!"
exclaimed Xena happily.
Ares blinked as he took a moment judging whether she was
serious or not. He also took a step backward. "Well, fine,
be that way!" spat Ares. "I tried to work with you. Now,
you're on your own. Completely. No help from me,
whatsoever!" he made a dismissive gesture as he turned
away, and vanished with another flash of steel-gray light.
"Hmm," said Xena as she walked toward the roadside where
Argo had bolted. "I guess he'll never learn."
She re-mounted and continued on, cursing the delay.
BACK AT HELLESPONT...
"Gabrielle!!" yelled Joxer. "I see something coming this
way! It's like a whirlwind, but it's close to the ground!"
"Your majesty, we should be going now," said Sailor Jupiter.
Serenity shook her head.
"I'm still too weak to teleport back to the Moon," she said.
Sailor Jupiter groaned.
"Then, I'm afraid we're going to have to fight," she said
resignedly. She held her hands in front of her and a small
sphere of light appeared. From it, she drew a sword out of
nowhere. Minako gasped, and then gasped again. At first she
thought it was the Captain of the Senshi's sword, but then
she realized it wasn't like the one she had held as a badge
of office when she had lead the Sailor Senshi during the
time of Queen Serenity's reign. Her sword had a crescent
hilt guard design. This sword had a hilt guard in the shape
of a pair of beautiful, golden oak leaves.
"Amica, are you ready?" Sailor Jupiter yelled at Sailor
Mercury. Minako blinked in surprise at the similarity of
name this Sailor Mercury had to her Sailor Mercury.
"Artemis, help Joxer get Princess Serenity to cover," she
said.
"Oh kay!" he said in shaky English, grinned at her, and
dashed off to do what he needed to.
Seconds later, the whirlwind hit the edge of town and
Velasca reformed out of it. She was woozy for a minute but
grinning.
"We might want to jump her now," Minako murmurred into
Sailor Jupiter's ear, trying to not usurp the authority of
her predecessor but sure this was the way to go. Melissa
grimly smiled and nodded. "I concur," she said without
taking her eyes from the threat before them. "Mercury!" She
yelled. Amica nodded once, ran forward about 30 feet and
stopped. She spun around, facing the north of the clearing
and hunched over. Whiteness was suddenly in the air around
her, streaming forward and condensing into a ball in her
hands. She spun around. "Mist Spray!" she yelled and
released the white sphere she'd created. It exploded and the
whole section of town they were in was suddenly blanketed in
whiteness.
"What is this?" asked Velasca, suddenly puzzled.
High overhead, the clouds roiled. A small rod extended from
the center of Melissa's tiara and electricity began to
build.
"Great god Zeus, grant me the fury of your retribution!" she
cried aloud in a voice that rang with tones of thunder in
it. Lightning poured from the sky and formed an aura around
Sailor Jupiter, who gathered the charge in, shaped and
formed it.
"Supreme Thunder!!" she yelled, unleashing a huge blast at
the blinded goddess.
Velasca shrieked in surprise when the attack hit her.
"Hey, let's pin her in a cross-fire!" yelled Minako to
Eriae, the other Sailor Venus. The other woman nodded and
they each ran forward and out to the side.
Melissa saw what they were doing and nodded. She gauged
their angle and position while Sailor Mercury summoned more
fog. Velasca tried to whip the enshrouding blanket away with
winds but she was having a hard time focusing. Minako didn't
have a clue if any of this was actually hurting her or not
though.
"Now!" yelled Sailor Jupiter.
Minako and Eriae both slid to a halt. "Crescent Beam!" they
yelled, and twin lances of solid starlight slammed into
Eriae from opposing angles. This elicited an odd sound from
Velasca, somewhat like what one would make if one were
rammed by a charging bull. She was also pushed back several
feet by the golden crossfire that struck her.
Velasca roared and threw her arms out to her side. A flash-
ring of lightning exploded out from her, slamming into all
the sailor senshi, and knocking down everyone but Minako.
Minako had darted forward and leapt into the air, Xena-
style, and thus neatly dodged the wave of electricity. As
she was about to complete her tumble, she suddenly hung in
midair for a few seconds as a golden aura flared around her,
an aura that spun around her body and then began spiraling
outward and forming into a chain of golden heart links.
"Venus Love Me Chain!" she yelled unleashing the chain like
a whip as she landed. Velasca had just emerged from the core
of the fogbank and was completely unprepared for the sight
of Gabrielle leaping into close combat with her, armed with
a golden chain.
The weapon slapped into Velasca with impressive force, but
she turned her head and rolled with the blow. "When you're
dead, I'll take your pretty little chain and hang your dead
body by it in my temple!" She laughed haughtily as she threw
a right elbow smash at Minako. The blow connected solidly,
knocking the wind out of her and possibly cracking a rib.
Sailor Venus went flying through the air about ten feet.
"I'd kill you now, but we do have a plan, Callisto and I,"
she said musingly as she advanced.
The rest of the fog dissipated, leaving the three other
senshi picking themselves up off the ground the best they
could.
Invisible, Ares was watching all this, impressed with
Gabrielle's sudden combat prowess. Still, she was fighting a
goddess and she was only a sidekick. No matter what--
His train of thought was broken off by the tremendous
fireball that slammed into him. He yelped, more in surprise
than pain and raised his hands to banish the flames before
his handsome mortal appearance suffered any.
In that moment, Callisto leapt out and grabbed at Ares. Or
rather, at something on him: his sword. Her eyes blazed
whitely as she danced a step back.
"What?! NO!" shouted the confused Ares.
Callisto grinned. "Too late Ares! I have your sword, and I
remember from my time in the underworld how dependent you
are on it to focus your powers. Well, now I have a focus,
and perhaps some of your power as well!" she chortled. Her
eyes, which had been intermittently flaring white as a sign
that the divine power within her had not *quite* been fully
assimilated yet, faded to normal. Ares began to take a step
forward, and instantly the sword in her hand moved to block
him. He stopped short. Impalement on his sword . . . might
just transfer his full power to her. So he took a step
backwards and raised his hands wardingly.
"You know . . . Zeus has chosen Xena to fight you," he said
coolly.
"Let her come, I want her to see this!" Callisto bit off
each word like a living, struggling thing as she shook his
sword in the air. She turned and headed off through the
brush.
Ares shook his head. "Idiot. She can't even teleport yet."
He raised his hand to head for Mount Olympus, when a stray
thought crossed his mind: All the gods seemed to use focus
items. He knew what Hades, Poseidon, Artemis, Apollo,
Hephaestus and himself used. Zeus appeared not to use an
item, and he believed that while Hera did, he didn't know
what his mother's item was. But, now that he thought of it,
Aphrodite did not seem to use an item. So did that mean she
was a weaker goddess . . . or a stronger one? He shook his
head to clear the vaguely unpleasant thought and completed
his teleport.
BACK IN THE WRECKAGE OF HELLESPONT ...
The priestesses of Artemis had evacuated the remaining
survivors of the town. Velasca was back on her feet and
making directly for Princess Serenity. In a display of
uncharacteristic inspiration, but of not-so-uncharacteristic
gallantry, Joxer had picked up the Moon Princess and was
trying to carry her on his back, piggy-back style, and run
for all he was worth. And, while the Princess didn't weigh
much at all ("She's like a child, so light..." he thought to
himself), navigating the ruins of Hellespont was tricky.
Velasca finally gathered a thunderbolt and threw it at them.
Joxer apparently felt the crackling of static electricity on
the back of his neck, because he suddenly turned around and
took the bolt right on his chest. He and the Princess went
flying backward.
Velasca closed the distance toward the Princess.
"Crescent Beam!" "Supreme Thunder!" voices called out
together. A lance of starlight struck her like an arrow
from the gods in the middle of her back; along its length
surged Zeus' own lightning. Despite the combined blast
striking home, Velasca merely grunted and moved perhaps 3
feet, towards her goal in fact, but otherwise showed no ill
effects.
"I will take your staff, and with it, my powers will be even
greater," she said happily. "And as I defeated Melosa, I
will defeat Artemis in a duel, and reign forevermore as the
Amazons' goddess!"
She raised her hands and an arc of lightning joined them.
She stepped forward with excruciating slowness, while Joxer
and Serenity could do nothing but grab ahold of each other
for reassurance. She reached forward and the arc of energy
began to swell outward at the helpless two before her when a
new voice was heard on the battlefield.
"Dead Scream!!"
...and a sphere of magenta light came out of nowhere and
struck Velasca from the side, in the right arm. She
screamed in real pain as forces beyond her comprehension
blasted her elbow and ripped into her arm. As her deadly
lash of electricity dissipated, Velasca gaped in horror at
her injury. All other eyes turned in the direction the
blast had come from.
A tall woman with long dark hair stepped forward wearing a
toga with a black skirt and a deep red bow holding it on her
shoulder. She bore a key-like staff in one hand, though
Minako immediately noticed it was missing the top piece. And
then she blinked again as she got a good look. The woman had
very long hair, dark with a tint of deepest olive green.
"Masaka!" yelped Artemis from somewhere nearby.
"Meiou Setsuna!" exclaimed Minako, absolutely awestruck at
the person she saw before her.
The woman approaching them did not recognize the comments
were directed toward her. She simply ran forward, and took
up a position between Velasca and her intended quarry, if a
bit off to the side. Velasca was still cradling her injured
arm and panicking as she tried to get the injury to heal--to
no avail. Though she had the power of a goddess, Velasca's
scope of comprehension was still limited to just a little
more than she had known as an Amazon warrior.
"Who is she? Could she be ... an Outer God-Warrior?" asked
Princess Serenity incredulously. "How can one of them have
awakened?" She turned to Joxer, who of course, didn't
understand a thing about what she was talking. "The powers
of the Outer Warriors are more complex than those of the
Inner Protectors. My mother said that only a collusion of
two disparate gods could awaken an Outer Warrior!"
"Oh yeah?" said Joxer. "Like who?"
Serenity thought about it for a minute. "Like Sailor
Neptune, who like the sea will be both beautiful and serene
one moment, and incredibly violent and destructive the next.
In order for her to awaken, not only Poseidon is needed . .
. but Athena as well!"
Joxer blinked. "They hate each other! They'd never
cooperate! Oh, I get your point." He turned to look back at
the tall woman with . . . greenish-black hair walking
forward.
"I am Moment, formerly of Hellespont; chosen by the King of
Darkness, I am the warrior of Revolution, Sailor Pluto!" she
said. "Feel the power of the time winds, murderess! Dead
Scream!" she yelled, her voice echoing in the air as she
hurled another blast of light from her staff.
Sailor Venus was surprised. Without the Garnet Orb, the
blast sort of slowly welled into existence on the handle of
the staff, like thread gathering on a spindle. And it took a
few moments to gather its power. She shook her head and just
stood there gaping as the second blast flew and Velasca
screamed in fear and barely dodged it. She looked around as
all the pieces fell into place.
"Artemissu," she murmurred, lapsing into Minako's Japanese
accent, "her family, they were here when... her name it's a
direct translation... Meiou Setsuna *means* Moment of the
King of Darkness!!" The white cat came up to her side from
somewhere. For a white cat, he was pretty stealthy.
"Minako! This is no time to get excited at finding out
Pluto's origin! Pay attention, the fight is far from over!
Callisto's here somewhere!"
"Hai, Artemissu!" she said. She closed her eyes in fierce
concentration and reached for a power very deep within
herself; a power she'd only tapped a few other times when
she was absolutely, insanely furious. She thought about the
Setsuna she . . . well, not knew, but was acquainted with.
An aloof woman, she'd always thought. And why not? She
wasn't just the Sailor Pluto from a generation before them.
She was the Sailor Pluto and must have been guarding the
gate of time for at least two thousand years! Two thousand
years of a life devoted only to duty . . . it was so tragic.
Tears welled in her eyes, and a golden fire burned in her
heart. An almost electrical aura surrounded her and her
hair began to rise of its own accord.
"Sailor Pluto! Together!" she yelled.
The other woman looked at her once, and nodded. Minako
noticed that there was one tear coming down her cheek. That
did it. She blazed with power.
"Crescent Beam . . . Shower!" she screamed pointing her
finger at Velasca and releasing a monster version of her
crescent beam which sprayed outward into at least a dozen
normal crescent beams. The would-be goddess was thrown
against the wreckage of a building and the wall around her
perforated.
"Dead Scream!!" yelled Sailor Pluto, voice nearly raw with
heartbreak and righteous fury as a ringed sphere of magenta
light blasted Velasca with the timewinds' powers of friction
and entropy.
Velasca screamed one last, despairing, almost repentant
scream, and was blasted into the wreckage of a smithy. The
remainder of the building's roof fell onto her.
And all was silent.
Return to the story index | Read the next part | Xena FAQ | Klio.net's Xena Page |
Hitoshi Doi's Sailor Moon Info | The Castle of Night. This page is maintained by Nightman.