Tokyo University
May, 1998
The auditorium was full of people formally dressed. A number of women were
wearing elegant antique kimonos. Seated in the middle, perhaps by luck, perhaps
by dint of a little tampering, was a group of exuberant friends who'd recently
graduated from High School. They were there to support their good friend and
they were trying to act very formally, but Minako had already gotten into an
argument with Artemis and Usagi was moaning very loudly about the banana split
Ami had insisted she didn't have time to eat. Mamorou was looking straight
forward and trying to not break out into a cold sweat as he crossed his fingers
and hoped for luck.
Haruka and Michiru were sitting in front of he and Usagi; they turned around and
gave him sympathetic smiles. Hotaru and her father arrived then, the young girl
helping her ailing father to walk down the stairs. Professor Tomoe really needed
a cane; his right knee had never fully recovered from the injuries sustained in
the fight against Master Pharaoh 90.
Finally, the audience settled down, and a string quartet composed of the top
students in the music school performed a formal piece that most of them didn't
recognize. Michiru nodded approvingly at the performance by the university
students; there was a little room for improvement to be sure, but they were
playing with all their heart. She could tell. "Hey Michiru," whispered Makoto.
"Did you hear the news? Usagi got accepted to the manga school Rei made her
apply for. "
"Good for her," whispered back Michiru.
Haruka leaned over and whispered, "So it's going to be you she comes to for
tutoring, not Ami. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Ami-chan was snickering
evilly over there." Michiru's features remained frozen in an affable expression,
but her heel smashed down on Haruka's foot.
"Ooh, sorry," she said innocently. Haruka grinned; yes, she was in pain, but
she'd still scored the points. The commencement address began, given by the
valedictorian, and they quieted down. The minutes dragged into a half hour, then
almost a full hour as the main speaker gave his address. Honors were given, and
a speech by one of the school's successful alums. Finally, the diplomas began
to be handed out by college. Setsuna walked onto the stage and she was
announced, "Maiou Setsuna. Dual degree. Bachelor of fine arts--fashion design;
bachelor of science—business/marketing. Graduating with high honors. Class
President." The girls went wild. They quite inappropriately stood up and
cheered, but then the audience gave more than the typical level of applause for
Setsuna.
Oddly, a good-looking dark-haired man three rows in front of them stood up and
applauded too. He was seated next to a tawny blond and a sophisticated-looking
brunette, who pulled him back to his seat in unison. The brunette looked over
her shoulder at the standing girls, and Minako got a good look at her. She was
strikingly beautiful, but Minako didn't know her. The woman, however, seemed to
recognize Minako and turned back around and whispered something to the man next
to her. Much later in the program he turned around and looked at the whole group
of senshi, appraisingly, then nodded once as if in approval.
"Who IS that," Haruka hissed in Michiru's ear.
"I have no idea, dear," Michiru breathed back. "But the brunette is an actress
on TV. I think she's usually blonde." Haruka scrunched her face up in
concentration but eventually had to give up on it. The rest of the ceremony went
smoothly, and then it was time for Setsuna, as Class President, to give a brief
closing address.
"I don't really have the words to speak on behalf of the class," she began. "We
came here from many places, with many goals, and many hopes. What we learned
here, in the classroom and in our lives at the university, will remain with us
forever. I do want to thank all those who loved and supported us, who *believed*
in us. This precious time, these precious friends and family--we will never
forget you. It was an honor knowing you all. Thank you very much for what you
have done for us." She humbly bowed and resumed her place with the rest of her
class.
The President of the university came out and pronounced them graduated, which
was met by polite applause by the mature members of the audience, and whoops and
cheers from the younger members. Within minutes, the audience was erupting from
the doors of the auditorium like a breaking wave. Parents and grandparents posed
for photos of their newly-graduated children.
In the moving throng, the friends had a hard time staying together. "Where did
Setsuna go?" Ami-chan wondered.
"She's probably congratulating some of her classmates," Michiru answered. "We
should stay here until she can get back with us," she added as she firmly stood
her ground against the tide of people swirling around them.
"I can go check on her," Mamoru offered. A few minutes later he found her in
the rear hallway of the auditorium, walking directly toward the rear building
doors. "Setsuna-san," he called after her. She froze and turned to face him, a
guilty expression on her face. "Where are you going?"
"Mamoru-san," she began sadly. "I'm so glad you all came. But I didn't want to
see you --any of you --again. It's too hard. I have to leave. Now."
"Leave? I don't understand. We have reservations at your favorite restaurant."
She inclined her head. "I know. And I thought I would be able to attend. But
I've been feeling it coming for a few days now. The Fates must have been looking
out for me to let me get through the ceremony as it was. There's no time left."
She pulled an ornate pink key out of her skirt pocket. Mamorou's eyes widened.
"When will we see you again?" he asked, understanding (or so he thought).
She shook her head. "I don't know."
"What will I tell them?"
"Nothing," she whispered as a pink light flashed outward from the key and
surrounded her. In a moment, she and the light faded from existence. And Mamorou
was left with the duty of telling his friends and beloved that Meiou Setsuna had
simply . . . disappeared.
[Roll Credits: "You're Still the One," Lucy Lawless version]
Episode Nine
Falling Water~Battle On! Sailor Neptune
Megatoyko Station, High Earth Orbit
Crystal Era
"Roger that, Sailor Mercury. Your vessel is cleared for docking. A shuttle is
being prepped for you right now," crackled a voice from the control deck of the
space station. Ami-chan nodded approvingly. She wanted to be down on the ground
as fast as reasonably possible.
Console lights indicated another incoming call, this time on the Silver Channel.
"Hello, Ami here," she said with a grin.
"Ami-chan!" exploded Neo Queen Serenity in the somewhat girlish tone she still
lapsed into from time to time with her closest friends. "Are you all right? What
are you doing back so soon? We may have a new crisis on our hands."
"Oh, yes, that's definitely true," Ami replied. "I didn't think it was that
sudden. Didn't Rei-chan fill you in on the assassination attempt?"
Neo-Queen Serenity squealed in horror. "Someone tried to assassinate you Ami-
chan? No, I didn't get a message from Rei-chan, I--"
"Wait," Ami said somewhat more sharply than proper. But then, the Silver Channel
was reserved for the Senshi and the closest inner circle, people like Naru-chan
and Umino, and her husband.
"Rei was the assassination target. She left the next morning with the Nemesite
ambassador in our shuttle in an attempt to defuse potential problems with the
remaining Nemesite military. There are commanding officers left. They haven't
reached Earth?"
There was a long pause and when the Queen spoke it was in her 'queen' tone, not
as girlish Usagi. "No, Ami-chan. We haven't had another ship dock since your
shuttle left." Ami was silent for a moment and then swore.
"Ami-chan, what you said explains a few things. But there's another problem. My
... mother is here."
"Why is that a problem?" Ami asked.
"Not *our* mother, dear sister-in-law, *my* mother. The one with white hair in
ponytails and a crescent on her forehead."
"DEAR Kami-sama! Queen Serenity is there?" screeched Ami.
"No, not *Queen* Serenity," replied Usagi. "*Princess* Serenity. And her court.
The Sailor Senshi of the mythic age. At least, the ones that made it through the
time corridor and have been found so far. Someone released an ancient, sealed
enemy, and they came to help us fight him."
"Who is it?" asked Ami, her composure somewhat restored by her naturally calm
nature.
"The mythical god of war, Ares. Minako encountered him in the past, but
apparently he became a big threat to the new Moon Kingdom after she left the
past. So all her friends from back then came to the future to help. Mercury,
Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and ... Saturn."
Ami-chan pressed back into the seat of her acceleration couch and opened her
mouth. Her jaw worked for a few moments before the shock settled enough to allow
her to speak. "I think I'll be Sailor Teleporting down to the audience chamber
now if that's all right," she said a little short of breath.
"Very well," said the queen. "I'll make sure that Shingo-kun is there to greet
you," she finished a bit more impishly than before. Ami-chan nodded and signed
off. Even the thought of seeing her husband, the dashing captain of the Palace
Guard, didn't offset the uneasy feeling she had.
Somewhere in Greece
Crystal Era
"We are NOT lost!" Haruka insisted. "I know I took the right turn. We're simply
not where we should be." Michiru said nothing. She simply turned the road map
sideways and compared the curve of the road they were on to a line on the map.
It didn't help. The silence became thick between them. Professor Tomoe and Dr.
BlackJack studied the scenery to either side. Xena sat in the very back and
fumed.
She wanted to drive. She wouldn't have gotten lost. She'd been all over these
roads over the years and knew them like the back of her hand.
Three thousand years and the roads still...?
Xena's eyes widened and she started looking around. "Aw, Hades," she snarled.
She leaned forward to talk to Haruka. "I know why you're lost," she said in a
firm flat tone. Haruka shot a glare back at her but didn't interrupt her. "We've
been tricked, and we're driving into a trap."
"What do you mean?" Haruka said, gently braking the vehicle so she could turn
and give Xena her undivided attention.
"You said that the Nemesis forces shouldn't have been able to get to that camp,
that they would have had to come through a strong defensive line." Haruka
nodded. "They were brought through that line by someone playing around with
bending space. The same bending that's making this land and these roads match
the pattern they held 3,000 years ago."
"Ares," breathed Tomoe. Xena nodded in agreement.
"Ares, the god of war?" spoke up the doctor in less unbelieving tones than one
might expect.
"I'm afraid you've wandered into Senshi business," Michiru said sympathetically.
"Haruka and I are former ... crown agents."
"Crystal Tokyo External Security?" BlackJack asked.
"We predate that," said Haruka. "But it doesn't matter now," she said with
ringing definiteness.
Xena pondered the situation in silence for a few moments. "Ares knows I'm here.
Knowing him he probably wants to make a big scene... regardless, if he's playing
with the roads we're either going to go around in circles or we're going to go
to him. It might not be the best move at this point but I don't see us as having
a choice. If we take the left fork up above, we should come to one of his
temples. He'll probably be waiting there."
"I don't like the idea of walking into a situation with him," Tomoe said. "It's
not like anyone of us can really do anything."
"No, that's true," Xena said. "But then, he also hasn't appeared and blasted us
either. Which means he must want to impress... us." The four other occupants
all gave Xena glances that clearly stated that the 'us' was actually a 'me.'
Xena in return had the sudden impression that the four other occupants were just
level upon level more competent than the people she usually dealt with.
Something to keep in mind...
There seemed to be no further debate so Haruka put the hummer back into gear and
followed Xena's directions. Within a few minutes they pulled up at an ancient
temple on a forested hillside. "The Halls of War, Ares' temple. He can have it
appear wherever he wishes, supplanting any lesser temple dedicated to him. I
don't know if he can make it appear just anywhere he wants; probably, but it
would take more energy," she explained.
She got out and took a few steps foreward. The sound of footsteps crunching on
gravel made her turn around and look at the quartet behind her.
"If Hotaru is in there," began Professor Tomoe.
"We're coming in," Haruka flatly stated. Michiru simply stood at her side and
said nothing. She did raise her chin defiantly.
"I'm a doctor," said BlackJack. "If his injured daughter needs assistance--"
Xena sighed deeply.
"Fine," she snarled. "All of you hang back at least. He's been known to do
exceedingly nasty things on a moment's whim."
Haruka and Michiru took up positions right behind Xena. The doctor and professor
did hang back... a little.
London, England, Crystal Era
Hyde Park Neighborhood
"The battle results are excellent," Peri announced. "Our mysterious ally was
able to do exactly as he promised and got a large strike force behind enemy
lines."
"Yes," agreed Citrine. "But somehow it served his purposes more than ours, I
felt." Peri made a face.
"Can't you simply accept the victory?" she said, exasperated. "We're on our own
now, those new Sailor Senshi took out Jacinth and Hyacinth!! Inconceivable."
"They'll be all right," reassured Citrine. "They suffered serious system shock
but the dark crystals will eventually restore their bodies to a state of
equilibrium. And as inferred, they're our strongest agents, they will recover."
"Sailor Moon," Peri grated. "Esmeraude said she was a pain to deal with in the
initial invasion, she didn't make it clear by half!"
"Our cousins both suffered from an exaggerated sense of personal
invulnerability," said Citrine. "Seriously, though, she caught us off guard that
time. If they had just struck to finish them off quickly, as we urged..." Peri
flung up her hands helplessly.
"Considering their paired abilities to detect energy and sense ability, you
would think they wouldn't have underestimated her."
"Unless," mused Citrine.
"Yes?" prompted Peri, still irritated.
"What if her power was increased on the spot? It looked like she opened herself
to some force, then the screen image flared out, and when it was clear again she
was wearing a different outfit and unleashing her counterstrike." Peri paused
in her pacing.
"Oh, I think I see what you're getting at. It would be like one of us drawing on
a huge charge of energy from a dark crystal; it would be painful, dangerous, and
exhaust us afterward but we could do it with the right arrangements in advance."
Citrine nodded. "Without being able to scan her myself, that's the best guess I
can make." Peri poured herself a drink from the bar. She swirled the liquid
around in the glass for a few minutes before downing it.
"I think you hit upon the problem. We don't really know what these new senshi
are capable of. That means you need to scan them. Personally." Citrine tilted
his head.
"Are you suggesting I go in the field myself and do that?" Peri nodded. Citrine
made a face at the consideration and said nothing for a few moments. "I dislike
the idea but I'm afraid you're right. I need to go do reconnaisance. You'll have
to coordinate the ground war alone in the meantime."
"You can come at a call though," Peri reminded him. "Once you're there I
wouldn't use your powers if possible. You don't want to attract attention by
teleporting unneccessarily." Citrine sourly nodded in agreement. "Why don't you
take some of your assassin-droids though? You might have a good opportunity,"
Peri suggested. Citrine brightened considerably at the prospect.
The Halls of War
Temporary Location: Northern Greece
"This is just not what I think of when you say 'Greek temple' to me," Michiru
commented as she picked her way along the main entry of the temple. "This looks
more like a medieval dungeon complete with iron bars, axes and maces on the
walls."
"Well the main temple is a lot nicer but I don't let just anyone in to see it,"
boomed Ares' voice from the end of the main chamber. Xena cooly strode forward
into the hall proper, which was in fact decorated in just the way Michiru had
commented. It even had a large animal skin on the floor in the middle and a
firepit at the end of the room in front of the low dais which held Ares' skull-
decorated throne.
As usual, the god of war was wearing a black leather bodysuit and lounging
sideways in his throne while playing with a sword.
"Hello Xena. You must have missed me. What did it take, five minutes at most
before you were on your way here to pick a fight? But it seems your plans have
gone awry. You should know better than to leap without looking," he chided in a
mocking tone.
"What do you want, Ares," she asked in a tired voice. This conversation had been
held between them so many times before. Ares grinned at her and said nothing
for a few moments, then swung his legs down and stood up. He sheathed the sword
by making a gesture over his shoulder and it vanished.
"What do I want with you Xena?" he said. "Nothing, really. I thought I might
fall into the old trap but you know, I really don't have those feelings for you
anymore. Admittedly, I'm less angry at you than I properly should be, but in a
sense, sealing me was a favor. I'm alive and well, the last of my kind, and no
one's going to be able to stop me. The Moon Queen's weak; your Saturn power is
uncontrollable; and no one else really counts in the equation. "
"Where's Hotaru?" Tomoe broke in. Ares' glance flicked to him for a moment. "Oh
Xena, you used the last of your power to rejuvenate him? Really, what a waste!"
he sneered.
"The man asked you a question you mythological leatherfreak," Haruka snarled,
paternal feelings of her own rising as she thought about Hotaru. Ares narrowed
his eyes and glanced at her coldly for just a moment and then he made a flicking
gesture with his left hand. A thick lightning bolt lanced out at Haruka, who was
tackled by Michiru to drop her out of the way.
"Xena, you need to teach your playmates better manners!" Ares said in mock
amusement. The warrior princess started to step forward to engage him but he
glanced at her and just said, "...no." There was a crash of thunder and the wind
in the temple began blasting back out the door, immediately knocking the doctor
and the professor off their feet and drawing them rolling and tumbling along the
hallway. Even the flame before the dais was snuffed by the wind force. Xena
was being slowly pulled back but she managed to hold her ground for a few
moments.
"Ares leave them, its me you want to fight with," she managed to plead and
demand at the same time by phrasing it as a statement of fact, not a question.
"This will be instructive," he said sparing her only a brief acknowledgement.
Xena was shocked, Ares had never *ignored* her before. It simply wasn't how he
acted. It made no sense, and worse, Haruka and Michiru were now standing in a
small zone of calm in front of and slightly to the side of the throne. She felt
herself be pulled further back and fought against the wind.
"Now, where were we?" Ares pondered. "Ah yes--" he made a claw of his hand again
and a bolt of lightning shot out at Haruka. Michiru had her right hand inside
her handbag, and held the bag with her left. As Ares cast his bolt, she made a
sudden half-step forward and flung the bag away to reveal what her right hand
held.
It was an ornate hand mirror made of jade with gold and lapis lazuli inlaid,
depicting a ring of sea life. On the back, the trident symbol of Neptune stood
out plainly. As the bolt reached them, she smacked it with the reflective side
of the mirror the way a tennis player returns a serve and sent the bolt
crackling back at Ares. It struck his throne and blasted a leg off it, but the
war god was already standing and glaring at them.
"That thing..." he began, "What is that?" Xena was also staring at the mirror,
she'd never seen anything like it. Haruka, on the other hand, was wide-eyed with
shock, her jaw dropped. Ares had not seen the back of the mirror and Neptune's
sigil yet. "Whatever that is, it clearly has strong magic. Not enough to be a
concern to me, but I'll be taking that now, " he calmly stated and took a step
forward.
"Michiru," gasped Haruka unbelieving.
"I don't think so," Michiru said in a voice like ice. "I sense a vast darkness
here which I cannot ignore, no matter how painful the cost," she said.
"Oh, I see," Ares said, taking her measure. "Are you finished yet?"
"No," she said with a mocking glibness to her tone. "I have five words left."
Ares raised an eyebrow, mildly intrigued.
"Neptune Talisman Power, MAKE UP!" she yelled raising the mirror like a torch
above her. Haruka gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. The mirror
blazed with light, the sigil of Neptune on the back projected its image right
onto Michiru's forehead. Energy welled out of the glass and streamed back around
the frame of the mirror like a fountain overflowing, but sideways. Streams and
swirls of energy in aqua tones gathered around Michiru and hid her from sight. A
moment later the turquoise-haired senshi stood in battle dress... for the first
time in over a thousand years.
"Awakened by a new age where the tide of life surges fresh, the senshi of
embrace, Sailor Neptune!"
At that moment in the palace, Neo-Queen Serenity broke off in midsentence and
gasped, "Neptune?," prompting her brother and sister-in-law to stare at her.
"It ... I just sensed her wave, Neptune. Weak but, " she turned away from the
others to stare towards the east. Reflexively she placed one hand over her
brooch, where she once wore the Ginzuishou. "Neptune, please come back to me,"
she whispered.
Back at the temple, Ares had paled and taken a step backwards. Neptune, like
Saturn, was an Outer Senshi, one that could only have been awakened by
cooperation between Poseidon and Athena, two of his biggest rivals. What she
embodied made her almost his diametric opposite, and no one to play around with.
He reached out with his godly senses, gathering his forces to deal with her.
Distracted, his wind storm died down.
Neptune had slid out of line with Haruka, and Ares kept his gaze on her. "Pretty
light show," he said. "But I somehow think that you're not actually the threat
you could be. I have this sense that you have very little power at your command.
It must be because... I'm a GOD!" he snarled.
Michiru shot him a look that clearly derided him and brought the mirror back up.
Ares was right. She was running on what amounted to a residual charge. She
didn't think she could throw her main attack even. But there was something else
for her to do, her intuition told her. The Deep Aqua Mirror focused on Ares, and
she called out, "Submarine Reflection!" A beam of soft light emanated outward
and touched Ares' chest. He laughed. Then he choked as the beam suddenly
penetrated through him, impaling his shadow against the wall and outlining it in
sharply-edged detail.
Ares’ shadow was painted in shaded, oil-slick colors: a cloaked figure with
glittering, crystal bright eyes.
"Chaos!" cried Haruka. "He's hosting Chaos itself!" Chaos/Ares snarled in rage
and the beam of light emanating from the mirror simply broke. Michiru staggered
back. Xena started to dart foreward. Ares' radically altered behavior was now
explained. If that thing the mirror’s light revealed was some primal evil spirit
like Dahok... but wait, hadn't Aphrodite said the gods had emerged from a primal
entity named Chaos? Her steps faltered from shock.
A wall of fire and lightning flared into being right in front of Xena, a split
second before she dashed into its path. "Die you nosy bitch!" Ares yelled as he
unleashed a volley of chain lightning at Michiru. She parried one lash of
electricity and dodged another but the remaining arcs all blasted into her
making her scream slightly before the energy paralyzed her and dropped her to
the floor. Ares' cascade of electricty did not end, and her body lay there
jerking. Haruka was screaming her name in the background. Xena's chakram finally
went screaming through the air and cut the stream of energy off. It was still a
magic-forged weapon even without the Saturn power actively behind it.
Ares caught it.
Xena said something unprintable.
End of Episode Nine
[Roll Credits: "More Than This," Emi Shinohara version]
End of Episode Nine
[End Credits Roll - See Episode 3]
Next time, on Mythic Sailor Moon:
Together as One: Haruka's Last Battle?
Image: Sailor Mercury and Lady Clarissa are confronted by a new Dark Moon noble.