Minako: Warrior, Princess, Sidekick
EPILOGUE THE FIRST:
The Galaxy Cauldron, Zero Star in Sagittarius, Mythic Era
In the center of the Galaxy, Chaos hovered over the chasm known in
legends as the Galaxy Cauldron. It was a rift that reached the core of
the dead world, and it was from that point that all the starseeds that
formed the suns and planets and creatures of the galaxy had arisen. All
the starseeds, that is, except one. Chaos alone remained an embodiment
of unformed potential, and thus contrary to every other object and being
in the universe. Yet, it had its role as well.
Astral winds blew toward it, carrying what might as well be called ashes
of a soul. Chaos stirred its spectral form, and reached out a prismatic
hand to gather the residue of a particularly powerful life into it. It
paused to consider the origin of the residue, both in terms of place and
destiny.
After a time, it had decided what to do. It had collected all the soul
fragments borne back to the birthplace of all life and gently released
the essence into the void below along with a gift of power. The ashes
descended into the cauldron and the mechanism of cosmic rebirth began.
It sensed three things from the residue above all other: sadism, power
lust, and a need for vengeance.
"You who were Velasca shall be reborn," Chaos spoke to her over the
void. "It seems now that my first dark child, Dahok, will be defeated by
the powers that have grown around your home world. You will supplant
him. I know that you will succeed where he has failed, for your own
desire's sake. You shall be reborn as my daughter of darkness and the
living instrument of your own vengeance. I shall name you . . .
METALLIA. And I swear, you shall destroy your foes someday. It is
destined."
EPILOGUE THE SECOND:
Outside the Castle of Wiseman, Planet Nemesis, Crystal Era
"Hold it up, Usagi!" Rei screamed. Neo-Queen Serenity barely nodded as
she struggled to lift her arms higher and hold aloft the gleaming
Ginzuishou which floated between her hands. It was gleaming with light
like an Earthly star, but it was a radiance that was markedly weaker
than it had possessed when she had sent her essence back in time to help
her younger self defeat Wiseman, barely a week before in her timeline.
Neo-Queen Serenity's cosmic powers were nearly exhausted. And Chaos knew
it.
Chaos rose above them, a huge cloaked shape glittering with strange
colors like the starry sky turned negative. It laughed with a sound that
defied human words.
Sailors Jupiter and Mars just looked more defiant as they flung quick,
low-power attacks at Chaos in an attempt to keep it at bay. There was
no belief in their minds that the queen could beat it. The power surge
they had witnessed in previous grand battles before simply was not
coming. They had already tried uniting their powers and it just hadn't
done much other than nearly complete their exhaustion. Mercury stood
nearby, still and vulnerable as she frantically worked on her computer
searching for a weakness that she wasn't finding. Sailor Pluto stood
behind her, trying to guard her and provide any assistance Mercury might
require. Pluto tried to keep her attention evenly split between
Mercury's work and the threat of Chaos, but it was very difficult. The
disruptions in the timestream that had alerted her to the menace here
were so intense -- and so close to her, personally -- that she couldn't
keep the clarity of focus she normally had.
Chaos feinted under a spray of flames from Mars, surging like a tidal
swell, and unleashed some form of darkness blast at Mercury. Pluto
pulled her aside as the blast sprayed the ground, apparently doing no
physical damage whatsoever. That worried Pluto more. The attack was
probably pure magic, spiritual in nature. Not something she could parry
with a twirl of her Time Key Staff. "ARRGH!" she screamed as the
temporal disruption yawned wide, like an abyss opening in her own mind.
Mercury barely had time to grab her as she crumpled.
The others, except Neo-Queen Serenity, turned to her in shock. Serenity
tried to press forward against Chaos but after it was momentarily
distracted it simply pushed back, hard, and Serenity slid several yards
backward and into Jupiter's arms. Across the courtyard several flitters
touched down and Serenity saw the blond Nemesian who'd guided them there
running towards them leading perhaps two dozen Nemesite shock troopers
and a few people dressed in non-military garb reminiscent of the
clothing that Rubious and his compatriots had worn. At that moment, the
Garnet Orb flared to life. Mercury gaped in shock as the Time Key Staff
slipped out of Pluto's loose grip and flipped through the air. It almost
seemed as if the staff was going to throw a Dead Scream by itself, but
instead a wormhole opened up behind it and Sailor Venus and Artemis
leapt through gracefully. The temporal rift slammed shut with a sound
like a refrigerator door sealing, and the staff fell over and rolled
toward Pluto.
Chaos looked at Sailor Venus and made a sound that apparently was a
snicker. Minako's eyes widened as she took in the spectacle before her.
"Forgot about you," she muttered, then her face took on a mask of pure
rage. She flung out her right arm and opened her hand, and with a sound
that rang of celestial harmonies, a golden staff flew into her grasp
from *nowhere* and immediately blazed with power. A golden aura formed
around her as well. She yelled something angry in a language that only
two other people on the battlefield understood.
With a fierce battle cry, Sailor Venus leapt forward, swinging the
blazing staff overhead like Pluto sometimes wielded her staff. It
connected with Chaos' massive form with an audible crack and Venus did a
backflip away from the spectre, recovering her footing immediately.
Serenity gasped-in her mind the astral resonance of Minako's power was
different. It was far stronger and triumphant than anything she'd heard
before, yet somehow "perky." It was uniquely Minako; and it was
powerful, like the harmonies that she felt when Uranus & Neptune had
fought together, before they fell in battle against Galaxia.
Minako leapt high in the air and gleefully swung her staff from the end,
using it like a club and smacked Chaos again, blasting it with the power
she was surging with. Before her onslaught, Chaos staggered and
diminished.
To put it concisely, everything on the battlefield stopped as Sailor
Venus beat the crap out of the prime evil of the universe.
Finally, Chaos backed off. "I will not waste my power today!" it said,
in a strange thrumming voice that echoed across the landscape. "You are
too pure, too filled with your sense of triumph and hope. You have
transcended your own human limitations in this moment. But you *are*
merely human and this cannot last. We will rejoin this battle someday
very soon, Sailor Senshi of Earth. And you WILL all fall before my final
Child of Darkness!" With that, Chaos dispersed up into the starry sky,
fading into the endless night. Venus watched it depart as her battle
aura faded. Likewise, Serenity had stopped trying to force the
Ginzuishou's power and brought it to rest in her cupped hands. Rei was
by her side, supporting her and whispering encouraging taunts into her
ear.
Serenity looked to be in pain, but her smile was relieved, and happy.
Tears glimmered at the corners of her eyes.
"Welcome back, Minako-chan," she said.
Minako flashed her a grin and the V-for-Victory sign with her left hand.
She was holding the golden staff in her right. Mercury welcomed her
back and immediately asked her where the staff had come from. When
Minako goggled at the realization of what she was holding, Ami-chan just
started scanning it with her computer.
When the image of a sword with a crescent cross-guard appeared on the
computer's screen, she became very, VERY confused.
Sailor Pluto stood up and took a good long look at Minako. "Well damn,"
she said in ancient Greek. "It's been a long time, Gabrielle," she
grinned. Minako startled everyone by dropping her staff and running over
to give Pluto a big hug. The two of them immediately started babbling in
ancient Greek, causing Artemis to sigh and look on beatifically and Ami-
chan to get REALLY annoyed. She knew Latin, but not Greek. Oh well, she
thought, learning it would be something to do on the trip back to Earth.
Topaz left his forces at the edge of the courtyard and came over to join
them. "Congratulations, Sailor Jupiter, it seems you've defeated that
Death Phantom thing," he said. "And I'd merely hoped to provide cover
for a withdrawl."
Jupiter nodded and shook his hand. "We appreciate the thought. Every
little bit would have helped, but it seems our Venus came back to us
loaded for bear."
"What's a bear?" asked Topaz in puzzlement.
EPILOGUE THE THIRD:
Hellespont, Greece, Mythic Age
There was a flash of light and Joxer appeared in a clearing. He looked
up at the moon and drew a deep shuddering breath. You could say a lot of
things about him, but he didn't cry. He was that strong, at least.
A moment later he wiped away a tear and cursed under his breath. He
remembered his parting with Xena just moments ago. He couldn't believe
it. She was a part of the Moon Kingdom now and would walk on Earth no
more. What a shame, he thought, a waste. There was a lot of corruption
and Xena was damn good at rooting it out. She'd certainly saved his neck
enough times. It was hard enough that Gabrielle had returned to her own
land but for Xena to be barred from the Earth as well . . . destined to
have her legend forgotten, her name lost to time.
"It's better that way, Joxer," she'd said. "Fame isn't important to me.
It's true that I wanted people to know that I was trying to atone for my
past crimes, that I had changed. But that part of my life is over. I
accept that. I have another responsibility that I have to focus on now.
Do me a favor though. Get out of the warrior business. After all, even
the mightiest warriors tend to die young, and it would comfort me
greatly if I knew you were a farmer somewhere, or something like that.
I'm sure . . . Gabrielle would have wanted that."
Joxer had colored at that. He almost felt like he'd betrayed Gabrielle
with Serenity but . . . the moment Serenity had looked at him *that way*
he'd known Gabrielle would never look at him *that way*.
Gabrielle.
Her work.
The scrolls. He had to do something with her scrolls.
He turned and set out at a dash. Gabrielle had stored her scrolls, her
LIFE'S WORK, somewhere before coming to Hellespont. He'd find them, and
see that they were put somewhere safe. Xena had made an offhand comment
about how he might as well bury them, but he had another idea in mind.
He'd build a shrine to the great women who'd changed his life. Yes. A
shrine. He paused in his running to take off that stupid helmet he
usually wore. He didn't think he'd be needing it anymore.
EPILOGUE THE FOURTH:
An Abandoned Archaeological Site, Greece, Crystal Era
The jeep hit a pot hole in the road with a crash and bounced out again.
The raven-haired woman at the wheel cursed mildly under her breath. The
white-haired man in the passenger's seat whimpered in real pain at the
jarring. "Papa! Are you all right!" she said to the man as she swerved
to avoid a washout.
"Yes, I'm all right," he wheezed. She turned to look at him with some
concern. "We'll be there soon Papa, and I'll make sure you're
comfortable before I get to work."
"Hotaru-chan," Souichi Tomoe said weakly, "You shouldn't have to worry
about this old man. You should have left me in Athens."
"I'm very sorry to drag you out here Papa," Hotaru replied as the jeep
whipped around a tight corner and started down toward the site of the
notorious failed Covington Expedition, almost a thousand years before.
Covington had theories that the site held the secrets of the ancient
gods; unfortunately, the notorious tomb robber had been killed by Nazis
before he could prove his theories. "But there are still some Dark Moon
forces engaging in guerilla warfare, and with Europe Balkanized . . .
it's better that you stay here with me. " She paused, and finished the
last quietly, "I just wish I could properly protect you."
"You've done more than enough," Tomoe replied sharply as the jeep came
to a halt. "More than anyone could ask of you."
Hotaru stared straight ahead for several moments before she turned to
him, her violet eyes clear. "I'd be lying if I said it had been easy. Or fun.
But if that bitch Galaxia hadn't broken my Glaive, broken my power . . .
broken ME, I could have done something when our world was attacked!
Now I understand some of the old manga the Queen read as a girl a little
better. I understand the relationship between power and responsibility.
And I understand that even when the power goes away, the responsibility
doesn't." She turned to look at the hillside and took a deep breath.
"And if something of the Saturn power is really here and I can re-awaken
it, the Outer Senshi can be restored. Before someone ELSE tries to
conquer Earth."
"Hotaru," Tomoe said. "I just have a very bad feeling about this."
"I know Papa. This might be risky. We don't know what might be buried
here." She put on a big smile for his benefit. It always melted his
heart. "But I'm lucky you're a scientist. I really will need your help
with this," she said, speaking words that were truer than she ever DARED
to imagine.
EPILOGUE THE FIFTH:
Juuban District, Tokyo, 1994
Ten'oh Haruka gaped in shock at the tableau before her. Moments before,
a high school student had been consumed with pain and then transformed
into a strange shapeless THING. Then Kaioh Michiru had run in, held up a
wand and after a flash of blue light, was dressed in an outfit similar
to that worn by Sailor V and her imitators. She called herself Sailor
Neptune and had fought the transformed boy. Now, a similar wand had
appeared before Haruka and Michiru -- Haruka was startled to realize
she'd already started thinking of the girl on that intimate basis
already -- was sobbing out some kind of a crazy story.
"When I found out my destiny I thought, 'If she's going to be my
partner, then it'll be all right.' But you don't have to do this
Haruka..."
But Haruka knew that wasn't true, she had no choice. She reached forward
and grasped the wand. "Uranus Planet Power, make up!" she said, and
embraced her destiny.
The end.
For now.
The screen fades to black.
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Credits
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A slow rolling beat starts and the Amazon formal occasion theme plays.
The screen begins to display enticing footage when it's suddenly
squished into half by the credits block.
Pre-Readers:
Georgia Peach
Rachel Herndon
Jendra
Ophelia
Dedicated to: Naoko Takeuchi; the Sailor Moon voice actors; Lucy
Lawless; Hudson Leick; & especially Renee O'Connor.
Thanks to everyone who sent comments!
Logon to Minako on the WWW:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mredding/minako/m-index.html
No pre-readers were harmed in the making of this fanfic. (Don't believe
them if they say otherwise).
Well, there's a saying about "Love is better the second time around" and
I found at least in this case it was true.
This story started out as a lark, a whim, and a spoof. I saw pictures of
Gabrielle and Minako in similar poses and thought to myself "if Renee
O'Conner were younger she'd be a perfect live-action Minako" and things
sort of went from there. Originally I started writing the story fairly
off the cuff, and the first version that was released on the net
featured many chapters that were rough drafts written in just 10-15
minutes.
Still, the response even to those very badly first chapters was
amazingly strong and as I thought a little more about the story it
occurred to me that the crossover/fusion/whatever you want to call it
was in fact valid. Not ONE point of continuity of either show had been
contradicted in the melding (keep in mind that this story started being
written in the summer between the second and third seasons of Xena) and
the characters were really working out well. In fact, I was threatened
in an AOL chat room with bodily injury if Joxer didn't appear in the
story. So I decided to put in Joxer and decided to really give him a
surprising and important part (or to look at it another way, people
asked for Joxer so they GOT all of him they could want and then some.)
About then my friends got on board pre-reading the story for me. More
plot twists suggested themselves; I had actually thought of the biggie,
namely Xena being a "latent" Sailor Saturn much earlier and had left it
open. Suddenly the chapters were longer and a lot better written. And
the response was GREAT. I got probably over a hundred notes from people
who were, like me, fans of both shows and loved seeing this very
different take on the origin of the Silver Millenium.
One of my pet peeves in discussing the Sailor Moon "mythology" is the
concept that Usagi Tsukino should not have been Sailor Moon, that it was
all a "mistake." I don't agree with that and took great pleasure in
casting her mother as Sailor Moon. As to why I disagree, in small part,
I argue if she wasn't intended to be Sailor Moon then she wouldn't have
had all that equipment provided for her; and as to "princess"-types not
being senshi, Princess Kakyuu completely disproved that in the Sailor
Stars manga by henshining into a Sailor form to fight. Also, Kakyuu,
Serenity, AND Galaxia ALL use BROOCHES, not wands, to henshin. Clearly,
these "royal" sailors are a bit different from the rest but to think
that Moon's differences from her senshi mean she's a fake sailor are
ludicrious. Okay ... getting down off the soapbox now. :-)
I enjoyed writing this story. It's a unique work and it makes me feel
good that so many others enjoyed it too. In fact, I started getting
sequel ideas... But one thing still nagged me: the early chapters were
really terrible still and as I worked on the sequel it became more and
more clear to me I needed to clean up the original first. So I re-wrote
the beginning, added in things I'd thought of but not done because I
rushed through, fixed some word choices, clarified a few points I'd
been questioned on, and condensed four chapters out of existence. The
final chapters took a lot longer to get to the revised stage because
they were fairly well-done the first time around, but I did want to make
sure the continuity was good and I've made some minor adjustments most
people probably won't notice.
I do admit the story's sort of abrupt; it starts with a crossover
premise and abruptly leaps into a major plot with major results. But,
I'm not attempting to re-write two seasons of Xena with Minako added in
here; just have a good fast-paced adventure that happens to be a
crossover -- very like what you might watch on Xena actually.
Anyway, using this story as a springboard into a new continuity, I have
started a sequel. I'm taking my time writing it, and it's a lot more
epic in scope. It details what happens in Crystal Tokyo AFTER the Black
Moon invasion and catches us up with ALL the main Sailor Moon
characters.
And we'll be seeing a number of faces from Minako Warrior Princess too
... the sequel is called "Mythic Sailor Moon" and let me tell you -
Tsukino Usagi is NOT the title character. :)
Thanks for reading.
Nightman
July 5, 1999
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