Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926) Two young lovers walked under the stars, holding hands. It was around two in the morning, they were both bombed out of their mind, and they were stumbling home through a beautiful park somewhere in the second ring of Crystal Tokyo, between the Inner and Outer Circle Highways. Megan giggled. She had long blue hair down to her mid-back, and bright green eyes. Her skin was a deep 'bronze' in color, what might have been called Mediterranean a thousand years before. Her soul was singing with joy. Her lover was a short fellow, with short brown curly hair and dark skin that matched his deep brown eyes. His name was Hari M'bara, and he was a stellar geographer. The only stars he saw that night were the ones in her eyes. She, however, spotted the new stars glistening in the sky. "Look, Hari!" She pointed. He blinked in amazement. Dozens, maybe hundreds of stars. They must be ships, he thought. Surely that many new stars couldn't have been born since last night. He saw them moving, and decided they must be ships. "It must be some kind of fleet," he said. "Maybe they're on manuevers or something." One of the stars began to streak towards the ground far to the north. "A shooting star," she said. "Make a wish!" Hari closed his eyes. I hope our love will last for the rest of our life. She closed her eyes. I hope we will live and die together, that we'll never have to leave each other again. Their hands tightened in their grip, then they opened their eyes. "I love you, Megan," he said. "I love you, Hari." They kissed with their eyes closed. Sometimes, when you wish upon a falling star, your wishes come true. Theirs did, but not in the way they expected. Seconds later, beams of light stabbed down from the 'stars', devastating a huge swath of the city, and slaying them both instantly along with thousands of others. The Black Moon War had begun. ****************** Black Moon Rising Chapter 6: Black Tuesday By John Biles ****************** Washuu's Laboratory, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926) Washuu said, "Okay, here's the plan. We take the planet Jupiter and I put a gravity trap in the center. Then we tow it to where the Planet-smasher is, and I activate the trap while you three make sure it doesn't go anywhere. Then we all flee the system as Jupiter becomes a black hole and eats it." She pointed to a series of images in black and white that looked eerily familiar. However, the images showed a fleet being swallowed by the Jupiter black hole instead of a Planet-Smasher. Ryoko said, "How are we going to tow the planet Jupiter?" Skuld said, "Won't moving Jupiter cause havoc in the Solar System?" Linna said, "Didn't the last people who did this come back 3 million years later due to time dilation?" Washuu sighed. "You people are so mundane. How about if we go back in time and prevent it from being built?" "That would make a time paradox," Skuld said. "We could fire a beam of inverted tachyons down its main gun." "How do you invert a tachyon?" Skuld asked. "We let it pull us in on the tractor beam, then we plug Skuld into the main computer. She finds its weakpoints, then we detonate my planet bomb at the weakpoint." "I'm not a DROID!" Skuld shouted. Linna thought a moment. "Can't you use Yggsdrasil to find its weak point?" "No divine intervention, remember? Can't use Heaven's resources for this." "What's this planet bomb, anyway?" Ryoko asked, floating over some delicate machinery and making everyone nervous with the way her fake tail kept flicking across its controls. "It's a small moon that is divided by a magnetic field. The left side is anti-matter. When I push a button on this," she held up a remote control, "the field vanishes and the two halves slam together and explode." "Maybe that thing could blow up the Planet-Smasher without us needing to find its weakpoints." "Neutronium is immune to anti-matter because it's all neutrons. Anti-neutronium isn't any different from neutronium and it won't blow up in contact with other stuff. And while it's not immune to explosions, it comes close. That's why we need a weak point." Washuu thought a moment. "Ahah! That's it!" "What?" "We tow my Planet Bomb and use the Gravity Sink on it!" Linna said, "How're we gonna tow a moon?" Wasyuu turned to Ryoko, "Empress, I suggest it's time to issue a decree to draft all the Juraiian towing companies into Imperial service." Ryoko smiled, "Hey, yeah, I'm Empress. Sure, it'll be expensive, but hey...we can just print more money." Skuld had a very baaaaad feeling about this. ********** Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926) Arcadia was asleep when the Palace shook as if an earthquake was in progress. She sat up, and felt it shake again. It began to chime discordantly, making it hard to think. This time she heard the explosion, and sirens in the distance. She sprung out of bed and grabbed her transformation pen from the pile of clothing she'd left on the floor. Maybe this thing will come in handy. She heard a scream from Ami-chan's bedroom. Still in her underwear and a t- shirt, she sprinted out the door and down the hallway. Hermes was trying to calm down Ami-chan in her room as she cried hysterically. "What's going on, Arcadia-oneechan?" Arcadia ran over and hugged her. Ami-chan was dressed in blue pajamas with little yellow mercury signs all over them. "You're gonna be just fine, Ami-chan." She picked her up. "We're gonna go find someone who knows what is going on." Hermes said, "Follow me." Arcadia followed the tiny dog out into the hallway, then paused. "I'd better not travel in this." She put down Ami-chan, then held up her transformation pen. "URANUS POWER, MAKE UP!" The universe hit her upside the head with power. It wasn't familiar to her yet, and she found it to be quite a rush. It was over in a heartbeat, but it felt like eons. Ami-chan said, "Oh, wow, oneechan is a Sailor Senshi!" Arcadia laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah. Let's go kick some butt." She picked up Ami-chan. "Well, find your folks, anyway." ************** The Inner Senshi, various ministers, and the King and Queen were crammed into a council room that was too small for them, especially with half of them starting to nod off. "So much for military preparedness," Jupiter muttered as the Minister of Defense finished describing the defeat of the fleet. "How long do we have?" Serenity asked quietly. "About nine hours." An explosion rocked the palace, followed by another one, and a third. The palace began to chime discordantly. "Wow, that was quick," Venus said. The Minister of Defense tinysweated. "It must be the work of saboteurs." "Move out to the perimeter," Endymion said to the Senshi. "Parias, round up the children and get them to the shelter. We have minutes at best." He turned to the Ministers. "You must evacuate to Crystal Osaka." The Minister of Defense frowned. "They'll hit that next." Endymion shook his head. "They hope for a coup. They lack the manpower to occupy the Earth unless they shatter our government. You must withdraw and organize the production of a new fleet." "And what of you?" "I will do what I must. Demand has come for me, and I am ready." The room soon cleared as plans were completed and all went to do their duties. Parias and Jupiter paused for a kiss goodbye, as did other couples. Mars paused to squeeze Serenity's shoulder as well and stare into her eyes for a few seconds, then she departed as had her husband already. Soon, only Serenity and Endymion were left. She said quietly, "It feels so strange. Like a game or a play, not a real war." "We knew it was to come, but not when or how. Sometimes I wonder...if there was some way we could have prevented this." He sighed and stepped closer to her, embracing her. "I know we cannot lose, but..." "I hope we cannot lose," Serenity said. "Pluto is not omniscient. We have been through this story before, but we cannot be sure it will not end differently." She kissed Endymion fiercely. "We could have prevented this, but not without becoming monsters." He sighed. "I know. We could have killed Demand. We could have wiped out his followers when they were still weak. Now others will die because we were kind." "We cannot fight evil with evil. I did not want to inaugurate my reign by bathing in blood, and I hoped..." She couldn't say it. She had hoped that by being merciful, it might prevent what was now happening. That if she did the right thing, then it wouldn't be necessary. She could not have done differently, anyway. It was not her nature. "So did I. I love you, Usako." He smiled and tweaked her nose. "I love you too, Mamo-chan." And for a moment, that was all that mattered. Then they pulled away from each other and resumed their roles and prepared to play them to the fullest. ************ Troubleshooter Headquarters was normally a drowsy place at 1 AM. The explosions rocking the city stirred it to life. The phone lines whirred into action, calling off duty officers onto duty. Vehicles began to move out to perform a variety of duties. The head of the Troubleshooters, a man named Dorian Columbo, got out of bed and began firing off orders. Then the power went out as the attacking ships blew up all of Crystal Tokyo's power generators. All of the security went dead. Within three minutes, every prisoner in the place was busting out and smashing everything in sight. There weren't that many prisoners, but they were all metahuman in some manner, except for a tiny handful of aliens. Most of them were captured Black Moon spies. Among them were Michael, Gabrielle, Uriel, and Raphaelle, who made a break out of the building as soon as they could. Uriel said, "We gotta find a radio station or something so we can contact the fleet." Raphaelle rolled her eyes. "I don't think so. You think they're gonna trust some random transmission?" "Well, let's find some cover at least," Michael said, smashing a nearby shop window and clambering in through it. It was some restaurant. He went and got himself a soda, while the other sat down. Gabrielle said quietly, "It doesn't matter what we do. She's watching us." "WHO is watching us?" Uriel asked. "The angel who found me at the Temple. We might as well just make ourselves comfortable." Gabrielle stared off at the wall. Raphaelle said, "I think reading the Book of Truth rotted your brain, Gabrielle. Angels are just faerie stories." "She was real. She knew everything. She'll punish us." Her voice was flat and quiet. "Maybe Serenity really is a goddess." Michael banged his head on the table. "Look, you wanna go back to prison? They'll kill us for trying to escape. Why'd you come with us?" "Perhaps it is our fate to die." Michael's scream was interrupted by a female voice. "Not yet. Your mission is to enter the palace since you've been there before and cause as much damage as you can." The woman was short, with neatly trimmed black hair that was as short as Michael's. Her eyes were a deep orange, and she had an oddly pleasant smile for a spy, saboteur, and assassin. Her name was Onyx. She handed Michael ten gems. "Nine of these are droids and the other one is a teleportation focus. Hurry, they'll have localized defenses up soon." Nine droids. Michael was stunned. Droids were common, but not this common. "Yes, Ma'am. We're moving out." ********* The Ministry of Destiny, The Second Heaven, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926), not that mortal Calendars have much relevance for them. At the heart of the Ministry of Destiny stands the great Well of Destiny. Within that well float a million or more doors of possible futures. More are constantly made as new possibilities come into existence and others destroyed as they cease to be possible. Normally, the process requires little conscious intervention and flows at a steady pace. Normally, the doors float motionless and just quietly wink in and out of existence. Only once before had this process been disturbed, long ago in the year 1970 AD. They remembered it as the Year of Destiny, when a demon had stolen the instruments used to make new futures in emergencies and had tried to snuff out those who would shape the futures that survived in order that he might forge one to his specifications. Many doors had fallen that year before the current head of the Ministry, his wife, and the Guardian of Time had joined forces to stop him. Now, all the doors were falling one by one, and in larger and larger groups, and nothing seemed able to stop them. Inaba, acting head of the Ministry of Destiny while the actual head was off at a conference which had apparently been going on for the last five years, and second class deity, floated in the void with his wife, Shinobu, second class kami of strength, and Belldandy, first class goddess of the present, unlimited. "Something has gone wrong. Someone is tampering with time on a massive scale. Our efforts to contact the Three have met with no reply." "Is there any pattern to the destruction?" Belldandy asked. "The least likely ones are crumbling first. There's no longer any chance that Serenity will go on a banjo tour, for example," Inaba said. One of his bunny ears on his uniform flopped over so he straightened it. "Could it have something to do with the active planet- smasher?" "Maybe, but there were dozens of those things at one time and this never happened. Something is threatening the existence of all life. Only the obliteration of all things could destroy all futures." He sighed. "We're studying this, but I can't figure out what could do that." "Did anything like this happen in 2066 when KALI tried to snuff out the Earth's Tree of Life?" "Even if all life was wiped from the Earth, the rest of the Universe would go on. We would go on." He sighed and Shinobu twitched. "I know you're fond of your homeworld, but we're responsible for all worlds here, Shinobu." She nodded, but didn't really look any less displeased. "Even Hell wouldn't do this. They want to corrupt, enslave, and conquer, not just destroy everything. There wouldn't be any souls for them to tinker with." "I will take this news to Kamisama," Belldandy said. "He must be informed." Inaba nodded. "We sent a message, but it's probably sitting unread in his email. He never seems to check it." Belldandy smiled faintly and raised her arms. Wings sprouted from her back and she rode on a pillar of light through the walls which dissolved around her. She cast off layers of unreality put on to enable her to interact with the lower levels of reality, becoming more real as she did so. The Third Heaven shimmered around her for a few seconds, the land where legends never died. It was her usual home, in Valhalla, where her family dwelt. She cast off another shield and it faded to mist. The Fourth Heaven surrounded her now as she continued to rise. It was a great sea dotted with the Islands of the Blessed. Great white boats plowed through the waves and birds sang around her as she flew. Another shell fell from her form and it blazed with light, burning away another shadow of the most real of places, her destination. The Fifth Heaven surrounded her, a world forged of clouds and music. It was full of mystics and dreamers, of singers and musicians, living in cities forged from clouds in an endless sea of air. It was here that the music of the spheres finally rang forth unclouded. A few saints waved as she rose beyond them, shedding her 'skin' once again, and letting the mist become mist in truth. Flames engulfed her now, but they were not the painful, destroying flames of hell, but rather the fires of love. To be so close to the Love of the One Most High burned away all lesser things. The greatest of the servants of the One, the Seraphim, dwelt here, and the Martyrs, whose love fueled the fires around them and fed on it. They sang here as well, the song of creation of which the music of the spheres was but a dream. Belldandy could not stay for long. While to be a first class goddess was not inconsiderable, she had not the purity, faith, or strength to stand this for long. She was high in the counsels of heaven, but not this high. But for a time, she could bear it before she would have to flee. The final layer was shed, and the true Belldandy rose above even this and entered the seventh and final heaven, the heaven of pure light and love beyond measure. She could not comprehend it. No one could except the Most High, the Lord of Heaven. He alone dwelt here, though he was not alone, for he was both three and one. And so her mind cast shadows for itself to give it something it could bear. The temple in which she had once made her home, where her love for Keiichi had grown and come to fruitition. The Most High too, could not be seen and fully comprehended by even a goddess. As with the place, she saw in him what she expected to see. This had often been a problem. He was solid and real, far realer than her. She was but a ghost, kneeling before him, with wings of light, and a blazon shining from her brow. If her sisters could have seen her here, her beauty would have shocked them. All that was not her was peeled away. This was as she had appeared in her maker's mind in the instant that He concieved all that was, that is, and is to be. She had the glow, the joy of the innocent babe and the maturity and wisdom of a grown woman. Even she could not bear this for long. Her reservoirs for joy were far greater than those of most, but they were not endless. She could feel old pains burning away, her worries easing. The imperative that had driven her on seemed less important now, insignificant in the face of her Father, of the Shining One. Before she could speak, He did. YOU WISH PERMISSION TO ENTER THE MORTAL PLANE TO DEAL WITH THE IMMINENT DESTRUCTION OF ALL THERE IS. "Yes." IT WOULD BE UNWISE TO SEND ALL OF THE FATES TO THE MORTAL PLANE AT ONCE. IN SUCH A CRISIS AS THIS, WE NEED STEADY HANDS AT THE WHEEL. "But, my sisters..." ARE VERY COMPETENT. TRUST ME. There were limits to Belldandy's ability to trust this statement. I WILL, HOWEVER, LET YOU WARN THEM. ALSO, LET THEM KNOW THAT THE PLANET-SMASHER MUST BE DESTROYED BEFORE WISEMAN CAN REGAIN IT. Belldandy could feel her time was running out. The temple was beginning to fade, and she could feel the warmth of the flames of the Sixth Heaven. "What is causing this? How can we stop it?" THE SATURN FORCE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DESTROY ALL THINGS. WE MUST INSURE IT WILL NOT BE TODAY. She could barely see the temple, saw Kamisama only through shaded glass. "How can we stop it?" THE THIEF WHO HAS STOLEN IT MUST BE DEPRIVED OF HIS PRIZE...WHILE HE STILL LIVES. IF HE DIES WHILE HE HOLDS IT, IT WILL BE SET FREE. YOU WILL NEED LUCK ON YOUR SIDE TO STOP HIM. THE FOUR GUARDIANS OF LUCK. Belldandy racked her brain in the handful of seconds that remained. "Who are they?" TYCHE WILL GUIDE YOU. I SPOKE WITH HER BEFORE YOU CAME. The first and lightest mask settled over her as the Sixth heaven claimed her. She waved to Saint Kimbara and sank, dropping through the Heavens like a rock, further cloaking herself as she descended, to the Second heaven, where most of Heaven's ministries kept their offices. She had work to do. ********** Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926) Everyone that Arcadia found was either too busy or too panicked to be of any use. Finally, she found Parias herding five small children down the hallway. They kept panicking and trying to hide, and he had to dig them out from under tables and behind statues. He saw Arcadia, "Arcadia, can you get these children to the shelter?" "What shelter? What the hell is going on?" The ground shook and she finally realized what was going on. "Oh fuck. This is the goddamn Black Moon Assault, right? Where Crystal Tokyo gets..." She shut up. Great. Great time to vanish, Plutos, you bitches. I hate you both! Stranding me in the middle of the biggest fucking war in the damn Golden Age. She bit her tongue to keep from cursing and tried to restrain her brain. Parias blinked. "I see this event has not been forgotten. I don't know if that's a good or a bad sign. Ami-chan, you remember where the shelter is, right?" Ami-chan nodded. "I can show oneechan." "Good. Can you herd these children there, Arcadia? I need to go find the rest." He pulled a young boy out from behind a tapestry of Serenity standing on a balcony looking out on the city at night. I don't have time to play nursemaid. This palace is gonna get stomped on! I gotta get outta here, I...She sighed. I can't leave these kids behind or I'm gonna feel guilty. Damn conscience. "I'll do it." Parias gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He knelt. "Okay, everyone, Sailor Sirius is going to take you to the shelter while I go get everyone else, okay?" One of the children clung to Arcadia's leg. "Where's my Mommy? I'm scared!" "Don't worry. Sailor Sirius will protect you," Ami-chan said. "She's big and strong and brave." And really damn close to wetting herself, Arcadia thought. I know this palace gets flattened soon. "Okay, everyone join hands in a line." She whispered to Ami-chan, "Who's clinging to my leg?" "Achmed." "Achmed, you're the leader. Everyone follow Achmed. Someone take his hand." The children soon formed a line linked by hands. "Okay, now I'm gonna drive this monorail train down to the station, okay? Ami-chan, you're my navigator. Let's go!" She did her best whistle. "Train's leaving the station." She started to march down the hallway with the children in tow. ********** The Ruins of Crystal Tokyo, Earth, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 538) The Inner Senshi of SY 1532 and the Sailor Pluto Rescue Squad were holding a council of war in one of the Crystal Tokyo Combine conference rooms. A holo star chart showing a 50 light year radius around Earth floated over the middle of the table with a scale of one inch to one light year. The Guardian of Earth, a stocky man in a nice suit with a sword, was frowning at it. "If your little widget is right, Nene-Himesama, then Sailor Pluto is at the wreckage of Nemesis." Dan said, "Of what?" "The ex-homeworld of the Black Moon Cult," Sailor Jupiter, a tall ugly, but well-built woman with white sparkly hair, said. "Serenity XVIII blew it up with an N5 bomb. Its sun became a supernova and obliterated all life in the system and turned all but one of its planets into rubble. Wiped out most of the cult. She died too, but I don't think she cared." "Why did Pluto go to a burnt out pile of rocks?" Dan asked. "I don't know," The Guardian of Earth said. "Perhaps the BMC built a new base there. Pluto often doesn't explain herself." Hikaru laughed faintly. "Comes with the job, I think. We'll have to go and find out." The Guardian of Earth nodded. "We have a ship. It'll take us two days to get there. Most of the first will be spent getting far enough out of the system to jump safely." Jenni frowned. "Is that the fastest we can go?" "The jump will only take a half hour, and we could jump 3000 light years in that half hour, but there has never been an engine fast enough to get from Earth to beyond Pluto in less than 12 hours, and jumping from inside the system could land us inside a sun or worse." I could run to Pluto in less time if I had a road, Jenni thought. ********** Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926) Later historians would endlessly debate what became known as the Crystal Question. Namely, why didn't Serenity just pick up the Silver Crystal and blow the entire Black Moon fleet back to the Stone Age. Some historians surmised it wasn't that powerful. They usually had it pointed out to them that Serenity had ended an Ice Age in about twenty minutes. Power wasn't the problem. Some argued she was knocked out before she could use it. They usually were pointed to the council minutes, which though damaged, clearly indicated there was enough time to have gotten the crystal if she wanted to. Some argued the Black Moon Family stole it. They usually were then asked why the Black Moon Family didn't obliterate Crystal Tokyo with it. Perhaps it had vanished after the Healing of the World. No, Serenity V blew herself to bits from overusing it. In fact, many records of the time claim she died while trying to use it to make a fifty foot sandwich, although even Serenity I couldn't have eaten such a large sandwich. Perhaps she forgot. This theory usually got its proponents beaten in the head. When you have a nigh-omnipotent magical widget, you don't forget it. The most usual theory was that she feared to die. The crystal extracted a price, and vaporizing an entire fleet would likely lead to death. The legend of the Moon Kingdom tended to support this idea. Serenity I remembered what had happened the last time it destroyed an army, and chose not to die. Indeed, perhaps it was simply used because it was not necessary. She hoped to win by other means. While that theory had some truth to it, like the others, it was wrong. There were two reasons why Serenity did not use it. The lesser reason was that she was compassionate. She didn't want to obliterate an entire army unless she had to, and the power she would be unleashing would be indiscriminate. Likely it would scourge all life from Crystal Tokyo in the process of obliterating the fleet, and she would take no innocent lives. Nor would she kill enemies unnecessarily. But there was an even more important reason. She didn't use it because she knew she didn't use it. Seeing your own future ties your motivations into knots, sometimes. The crystal was waiting for someone who would need it more than she. The key to saving the present was the past. Small Lady, also known as Usagi-chan, Chibi-Usa, or the Pink Haired Menace, ran through the hallways of the palace. She kept hearing explosions, and chunks of the palace would collapse and fall. Her mommy and daddy were missing, and she didn't know what to do. "Mommy! Daddy! Help! Where is everyone!" She was crying and screaming at the same time. Luna-P, her robot kitty guardian was floating along after her. She was desperate and alone. Sailor Pluto watched Small Lady run and did nothing. She stood in the time tunnel. Already she had driven off three droids sent by Wiseman to probe her defenses. There would be more. When Small Lady began to fulfil her destiny, then she would act. Small Lady came to an intersection. She looked left and right, trying to decide which way to go. She began a game of "Eenie Meenie Minie Moe". As Puu had taught her, she always started on the left. Pluto was counting on that, for it would mean that Small Lady would take the right intersection, which lead to the chamber where the Silver Crystal was stored. It would meld itself to Small Lady, and then Pluto would arrive to send Small Lady to the past. Pluto could see it in her time sense. There was virtually no probability of any other decision, and as Small Lady ran through the list of syllables, the chance she would go left or back continued to approach infinity. It was as sure a bet as Pluto had ever had of something happening. Then at the next intersection down the left corridor, a train of children led by the Junior Uranus (aka Arcadia N'goya) pulled into sight with several children making train whistle noises. Small Lady shouted, "Ami-chan!" She turned left and sprinted down the corridor. Pluto wasn't used to suprises. Even 1 in a million odds coming true didn't surprise her, because she at least foresaw the possibility. This possibility hadn't even made it onto the meter at 1 in 1 billion trillion quadrillion. Parias should be still trying to pull children out from under tables several hundred feet away, and would pass through that intersection in about four minutes. But now Small Lady was running full tilt towards Arcadia and Ami-chan, and the odds that she would ever end up with the Silver Crystal inside her were dwindling away rapidly. "Serenity's liver." It was the first time Pluto had sworn aloud, or even in her mind in a very long time. It was the first time anyone had used that particular curse in about 26,000 years. She could feel almost a change of pressure, the same sensation that people with trick knees get before a storm. It was a similar portent, but one of a storm in time. If Small Lady didn't go to the past, all the effects of her trip would unravel. Without her, the Black Moon Family would not bother to go to the past. Without the pressures they exerted on Sailor Moon and her friends, the Inner Senshi would not gain the skills that enabled them to defeat the Deathbusters. And if they did not defeat the Deathbusters...Master Pharoah 90 would conquer the Earth and destroy it. The Earth's Tree of Life would die. And with it, its children trees would die. Tsunami, the mother ship of Jurai, would die, and all her children. Jurai's fleet would evaporate in days. It was the power of Jurai which had turned the galaxy from a place hostile to most humanoid life to a bustling congery of civilizations. The civilizations that would succeed it were not yet come to full flower in the 1990s AD. If Jurai fell, they would be stillborn. Darkness would settle over all as the Things Jurai had driven back would be unleashed. And Saturn...would remain under the powers of Darkness. In the end, her mission would be fulfilled, and all life would cease. And every second that Small Lady was delayed increased the possibility that Small Lady would die and would never go. The future of all life was riding on the head of a frightened eight year old child. Pluto was paralyzed, trying to decide what to do. She had hours at most before the time storm came to fruition and unleashed itself across time, changing all that was and is and will be. She wanted to go now, to grab Small Lady, to stuff the crystal down her throat if she had to. But the odds of Wiseman launching another assault was growing. If Wiseman captured the time tunnel, he might be able to shut her out of it and then use it as a road to send an entire army into the past right off the bat and guarantee that he would capture Chibi-Usa. He could still send people, but with the Saturn Power alone, she knew his efforts would prove inadequate. That wasn't the only thing stopping her. She couldn't see Arcadia with her time sight. There had been times when she couldn't see an event, but not seeing a person at all made her nervous. Even most Archetypes couldn't hide from her sight. She had taken little action to deal with Arcadia before. She wasn't hostile, and seemed unlikely to be able to change anything important. That had changed. Pluto frowned. There were a few things she could do without leaving here, but it would..aha. Something easy. She had helped build Luna-P. It would do what she wanted. Luna-P suddenly took off down the direction that Small Lady needed to go. Small Lady said, "Luna Ball! Where are you going!" She started to run after it. Arcadia shouted, "Let it go! We have to get to the Shelter before it's too late!" Even unable to see the futures that were intertwined with Arcadia, Pluto could predict what would happen. Even if she pushed probilities so that Small Lady ran off on her own for some reason, Arcadia would bring her back. Small Lady couldn't outrun Arcadia in a million years. The only way to set Small Lady on the right path would be to somehow keep Arcadia busy. A quick scan of the palace revealed four somethings and their nine droid minions. Just a little nudge would send some of them the right way. But that would endanger the children. There had been a time when Pluto could have tossed a bus full of children off a cliff without crying a tear if she thought it necessary. Those times were past. She pushed a single one of the Black Moon Cultists. Just a small nudge. Just one of them would keep Arcadia busy without really putting the children at risk. They would simply be scattered, and she could nudge Small Lady down the right path. She kept telling herself that as the woman and two droids came towards Arcadia and the children. Pluto used a little more power and sent one droid into a frenzy. It had already been unstable or Pluto couldn't have pushed it without spending too much power. As it was, she had already spent too much. She rested, drawing sustenance from the tunnel and her orb. Doing this at a distance was exhausting. The woman and the other droid dispatched the berserk droid, then the woman dispatched the remaining droid back to the other group. Perfect, Pluto thought. I couldn't have planned it better myself. The woman turned a corner and emerged into the hallway where Arcadia was leading the Shelter Express. She shouted something, and Arcadia shouted back. The obligatory posing followed, and then Arcadia shouted, "Run! Go through that door! Ami-chan, lead them to the shelter!" The kids ran, while the Junior Uranus faced off with a woman who had identified herself as Raphaelle. But they didn't keep running. The Junior Uranus was getting her ass kicked. Raphaelle kept up a steady stream of bursts of fire, and all Uranus could do was dodge. She got clipped twice, and now her uniform had multiple char marks. The kids were shouting encouragement to Uranus, who looked desperate. This included Small Lady. She reached out to give Small Lady a push, and suddenly six droids materialized in the time tunnel from a swirl of black light. Pluto now had other concerns, like not dying. ********** Washuu's Laboratory, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926) Ryoko said, "Well, it should take about a day to collect all the towing ships into a fleet so we can move your planet bomb." She paused. "Where is it?" "In a pocket dimension I keep it in. When it collapses, the bomb should appear in the same system the Science Academy is in." "SHOULD?" Skuld asked. "Well, I have to detonate a star to generate enough energy to move it in and out of the pocket dimension, so I don't do this often." In fact, Wasyuu had never done it before and really wasn't sure where the controls to do this was, but she was sure she could find the controls in 24 hours, or build new ones. "Anyway, as long as the Planet-Smasher doesn't do something crazy like head straight for Juraii, we should be fine." The phone rang. Ryoko got it. "Hello, Ryoko, Goddess- Empress of Jurai speaking. You may grovel before my glory now." "This is First Class Goddess, Unlimited Belldandy. I need to talk to my sisters. And anyone else helping them." Ryoko patched Belldandy through to the speaker phone. She also blew up one of Wasyuu's storage rooms due to a glitch in the phone controls, but it was better than the time she had tried to forward a call and nearly started a galactic war. "There you go, your goddessness." "Can you hear me?" Belldandy asked. "Oneechan! Does this mean you're coming to help us so we can lock Wasyuu in a box and do this the right way?" Skuld asked hopefully. Oddly, a box now materialized around her. Wasyuu disclaimed all responsibility of course, after Skuld pounded her way out. "I'm afraid not. I talked to Kamisama again. All of the doors in...well, that's not important right now." Belldandy hesitated, and Skuld frowned. "You must find two of the four guardians of Karma. I'm supposed to go meet the other two and send them to you." Wasyuu said, "I assume Mihoshi is one of them?" Belldandy blinked. "You know her?" Ryoko paled. "We have to bring Mihoshi into this? Of our own free wills?" "Is the other one Kiyone?" Linna asked. Belldandy blinked again. "I take it you're aware of them?" Wasyuu nodded. "These two, yes. I'd assumed there were only two guardians, but I suppose the other two are goddesses, perhaps?" Belldandy nodded. "I'm supposed to go meet them. Never heard of these two, though." "What's their names?" Skuld asked. "I'd never heard of any guardians of Karma, but there's so many of us up in Heaven, it's easy to miss people." Belldandy peered at a piece of paper, although they couldn't see her doing it. "The Lovely Angels, according to this." She paused. "They sound like a tag team." Wasyuu's eyes became larger than her head's normal size for a second, then settled down to only twice normal size. "The Lovely Angels." "Yes. Apparently they were both born as the result of flings that some Archetype had with mortal women." There was a pause. "Oh my. So they were actually half-sisters, but didn't know it in their mortal lives. However, as a result, they had some measure of divine power that manifested most strongly when they were together." Wasyuu screamed loud enough to not just wake the dead, but make them annoyed too. "Skuld, give me a box." Skuld blinked and conjured up a large box. "Here you go." Wasyuu locked herself in the box. "Let me out when it's over, okay?" ********* The Vicinity of Orion III, The First Heaven, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926), not that mortal Calendars have much relevance for them. The First Heaven is the world as it was before the Fall. It is the reality of which Earth is the shadow. And not just Earth, but all the billions of worlds and stars and nebulas and grains of dust. It is as large as all of the creation and larger yet, for everything is larger than the shadow it casts. And each of the Heavens is larger as you rise, like an onion peeled starting with the core. Thus it was that the vicinity of Orion III was occupied by a small red ship that bore a very, very vague resemblence to a bird. Or possibly the letter t. It carried two goddesses third class and a thing that was somewhat like a cat, somewhat like a throwrug, and somewhat dangerous. Unlike most residents of any of the layers of Heaven, they wore gold outfits that were fairly bikinilike, but not quite. They had a few days off from their usual job, which was hunting down demons and other magical troublemakers on the mortal plane. So, to relax, they were trying to slingshot around a sun and travel through time like in the Star Trek movies. It wasn't working. Luckily, you can't die in Heaven, which is logical, but not widely known, or more good-hearted but foolish people would end up in the hearts of Heaven's stars. That's what had happened last time, when Kei let Yuri drive, so now she was driving. Or trying to. The Lovely Angel was weaving all over the Orion solar system looking like a drunk driver was at the wheel because Yuri was trying to seize the controls. Right as Kei put Yuri in a headlock, a first class goddess stepped out of the mirror in Yuri's compact which had hit the floor. They both blushed and tried to pretend Kei was helping Yuri put in her contacts. Belldandy said, "Is this a bad time?" "No, no, no. Just helping out my good buddy Yuri," Kei said, squeezing Yuri's head in a playful way. Yuri gave her a playful blow to the gut. "Got a new mission for us?" "Yes. You're to assist Linna Yamazaki, Second Class Goddess, and Skuld, Second Class Goddess, and Wasyuu, Genius Scientist, and Potential Goddess Candidate Empress Ryoko of Juraii in preventing the destruction of all life in the universe. Without direct use of your goddess abilities beyond that which you possessed as Mortals. Unless you encounter demonic intervention, in which case you may cut loose." She paused. "You are the..." She peered at the page. Kei and Yuri tensed. "The Lovely Angels, right?" Kei and Yuri relaxed. "Yeah, that's us!" "Oh, and you'll be working with the other two guardians of Karma, too." Belldandy ran down the page. "Kiyone and Mihoshi." Kei twitched. "Of the Galaxy Police?" "Yes." Yuri twitched. "Blonde chick with no brain and her partner the stuck up self-righteous bink who leave a trail of destruction in their wake?" "Umm...it doesn't say." Kei turned to Yuri. "Hey, look at it this way. We're goddesses, right? They're just mortals. We'll be fine." "If we end up with our noses connected to our knees, we can get that fixed, right?" Yuri asked Belldandy. "I didn't think to check the medical policy when we signed up." "We won't be blamed if THEY cause the destruction of the universe again, right?" Kei asked, sounding desperate. "Again?" Belldandy asked. ************ Jurai, Royal Palace, Juraiian Year 23224 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, SY 68, Federal Year -926) Mihoshi hugged Celia tightly, smiling. "It's so good to see you again, Celia-sama! How you and Ryo-kun getting along?" Celia would have replied...if she could breathe. Kiyone finally pulled Mihoshi off of Celia. "We're doing fine," Celia said. "Katushito is at the front with the Emperor, Noriko is still enjoying teaching at the Science Academy. I think she'll be presenting a paper at Ceta Omnicron Beta Gamma on Friday, and Celia, jr. is off preparing some formal announcements for me." Kiyone frowned slightly. Celia was hiding something; she had evaded saying anything about what Ryo was doing. The last she'd heard, Ryo was on Earth with Nene, his other wife. There were already rumors floating around about some sort of crisis on Earth. "Celia, is there really a civil war going on in the Solar Kingdom?" For a moment, Celia's face started to turn into a plastic mask, but then it relaxed. "Not exactly. The Black Moon Exiles have allied with the Khunds and launched an assault. Unfortunately, something is blocking subspace communications, so we don't know what is going on for sure." Mihoshi said, "Is that why you called us?" Suddenly, in the odd way she had, she was all business, though what passed for all business with her wouldn't qualify with many. "We'll rescue your husband! No problem!" Celia blinked. "How did you know my husband was on Earth?" Mihoshi gave Celia one of the most serious looks that Kiyone or Celia had EVER seen Mihoshi give anyone. "I can see you're worried about him, and it made sense that was why. I know Nene- chan is the ambassador, and since he isn't here, and I hadn't heard anything about him being at the front, it made sense." She hugged Celia again and her normal look of lunacy returned. "Don't worry, Celia-chan! We'll find your hubby and bring him back SAFE and sound! By my oath as a knight of Jurai!" Many things had changed for them over the last thousand years, and others not at all. Kiyone had finally fulfilled her lifetime ambition and risen to the coveted position of Chief of the Galaxy Police, in which duty she had served for fifty years. She had retired for one reason: achieving her life time ambition was slowly driving her mad. Being Chief of the Galaxy Police was an endless round of office politics, boring job rosters, budgeting, trying to soothe the nerves of millions of bureaucrats in thousands of governments, and attending boring committee meetings, all of which had NOTHING to do with police work. Kiyone's parents had instilled ambition in her, but it had been ambition for its own sake, rising for the sake of rising. So it had slowly turned bitter in her mouth. Mihoshi had stuck by her, holding a variety of special posts that Kiyone had arranged for her. By the time her dreams had started to come true, she had ceased to want to get rid of Mihoshi. Indeed, she wasn't sure what her life would be like without Mihoshi. It wasn't a love affair, it was more like having a sister. Sometimes you want to kill your sister, but eventually that bond draws you together again. They ran a detective agency now, and served as knights of Jurai, which basically meant they did James Bond's job without the assassinations. They had both been married several times, the most recent and still ongoing marriages having lasted over a hundred years by now. Kiyone had so many descendents, she could hardly keep track of them. The same for Mihoshi, although she had more excuse to not be able to keep track of them. Kiyone's husband was the famous newscaster Walte Borken, a handsome man from Orion III, and Mihoshi was married to Scaro Twa Iya Ishor, a reformed jewel thief whose career had been ended by Mihoshi and Kiyone over a century ago. Now he was a professional rich person and financier. Kiyone was pretty sure that these relationships would last the rest of their lives. None of the other marriages had lasted over a few decades at best before either tragedy or other problems had cut them short. Not to mention the number of relationships that never made it to marriage. She sometimes wondered if the aganathics provided by Wasyuu had been a blessing or a curse. Still, despite the hard times, which had lasted for decades at times, she was glad for the extended life span. Wasyuu estimated she and Mihoshi had another five hundred years or more. Then she usually gave them odd looks. We'll die on the same day, Kiyone thought. I don't know how I know that, but I know it. "Is that why you called us here?" "Empress Ryoko and Wasyuu have requested your aid. I believe Linna is with them as well. The Khunds and the Black Moon have unleashed a Planet-Smasher." Kiyone's eyes widened. "They can control it?" "It's on a rampage. It's jumped into an unoccupied system and is methodically levelling it and scooping up the remains. Apparently, it is trying to fix the damage that Ryoko and Linna inflicted on it." Mihoshi said, "What good can we do?" Celia frowned a tiny bit. "I don't know, but I'm sure Wasyuu has good reason." Kiyone twitched. "She won't say?" "It was a recommendation from Linna's special friends, apparently." Mihoshi said, "The cute little Teddy Bear people of Carebaron II?" "Her other special friends." "Oh, you mean her boyfriend?" Mihoshi asked. "I'm married you know. You don't have to act like I'm a five year old." She sounded a little aggravated. "She means the gods and goddesses, Mihoshi!" Kiyone barked out, then softened. "It still scares me sometimes, to think of all these gods and goddesses and demons and whatnot floating around." "I sometimes wonder if one of them is watching me while I shower, but it's usually just my husband," Mihoshi said. ************* Celia sat and combed her hair slowly and methodically that night. Combing her hair was an entirely pointless activity, since she was about to go to bed, and since she kept her hair very short, it didn't need this much combing. It was a way to put off going to bed alone, and a way to keep her arms busy. Now all she needed was a way to keep her mind busy. It kept trying to concoct excuses why she needed to go to the Earth herself. Much as she wanted to be at his side, her duty was here. No one else could do the work of running Jurai's spy network. Celia jr. had the skills, but not the intricate knowlege of the dozens of balls that Celia kept spinning in the air at the same time. Aeka had done it once, but she was too busy juggling diplomatic business and making sure that this Khund War didn't turn into a galaxy wide war, except maybe a joint effort to annhilate the Khunds. Manami was off trying to make sure the Dominators stayed out of this. The last thing they needed was a renewal of the Dark Circle Alliance of the Second Khund War. Celia knew all about duty. There had been a time when this problem would not have bothered her at all, but the Celia who had been that way, able to shut out all others and use them all as pawns was long dead and gone. She had begun to die from the moment she had truly begun to play the game, and in the aftermath of the Shiva crisis, that Celia had gone into psychological convulsions and died. For a decade, she had fought a war she didn't really think she could win. It didn't matter; you didn't fight because you could win, but because what you fought for was worthy of the fight. Her father had bequeathed a noble battle to her. And then, against all her expectations, she had won. Totally. Within two years of the Miracle, GENOM had ceased to exist. All of GENOM's patents had been declared public domain. It was not the end of every perversion of her father's legacy. There was nothing to stop people from building combat boomers, but even those had ceased to be tested on the innocent. Where GENOM had failed, peace nearly succeeded in breaking her. She had shut off too many aspects of her self for too long. Without a driving purpose to control them, every ounce of repressed emotion and warped development had begun to come out to play. She had very nearly gone mad, and for months she had been manic depressive beyond the ability of anyone to cope. Even the drugs that worked on most manic depressives were of little help, except for ones that left her too tired to even be depressed. The worst part of it had been her love life. She had done things so incredibly stupid that she sometimes wished there was a way to remove memories that she trusted. She'd almost married Fargo, among other things. Looking back, she could no longer comprehend how she had gotten into that situation at all. Slowly, she'd fought her way out of the pit. She had dated someone she went to college with, a grandnephew of Doc Raven named Juyza Kobayakawa. He was a brilliant engineer; apparently it ran in the family. He was working for US Robots and Mechanical Men, which had expanded operations into Tokyo after GENOM's destruction. It only lasted six months, but it was a massively stabilizing influence. Her love life was still a disaster zone, but the mood swings muted. By 2040, her life was back on an even keel. The Stingray Group was rising in the business world, and her involvement in the nameless alliance of supernaturals and highly skilled, well equipped normals that centered around herself, Tsukino Usagi, and the House of Jurai had helped to restore her sense of purpose. It couldn't ward off the loneliness, or the growing awareness that she had fallen in love with someone she couldn't have. No one knew, though she was sure the ones closest to her suspected, and she was quite adept at hiding how she felt from years of practice. Indeed, she had largely warded off the recognition from herself. Until the Formorian War of 2040. She had thought he was dead, and nearly had a nervous breakdown. Linna had known everything after that. Sometimes Celia wondered how much Heaven did interfere in human events. Some of the things that followed could be interpreted as the results of tampering; but they might have just been the universe going her way for once. What it came down to was that the nobility of Jurai was putting heavy pressure on Ryo to marry his sister, Manami. Manami and Ryo, however had no interest in following the Juraiian custom of marrying a close relative as one of the two wives. The pressure was especially intense because Ryo had married one wife already, from a complete backwater. His problem was that his choices were limited. Four women were effectively availible: Celia, Manami, Meylia, and Sasami. They were Emperor Azusa's only unmarried female descendants. There were other possibilities, but any of them would have required favoring one noble house over another, and causing as much damage as marrying one of the four listed above would have gained. Ryo had no desire to marry his half-sister. Sasami was the leading choice of the nobility, but Ryo didn't really want to marry his half-aunt either. Especially since that meant marrying Tsunami into the bargain, and she scared him just a bit. That left Meylia and Celia. Meylia had made it clear she would go live under a rock first, not that Ryo had contemplated her seriously, anyway. The logical choice was Celia, and if Celia had been sure Ryo would have been willing to marry her without the political pressures it would have been easy. Not being a telepath, she wasn't sure, and so it all ended up a bigger mess than it necesarily had to have been. It went through, though, and in 2042, they had been wed. By now they had been married for longer than many civilizations had lasted on her homeworld. Longer than almost all of them, in fact. Only three children, though. The blood of Jurai was not a very fertile line, but a long lived one. There had been good times and bad. She and Nene had gone two decades without a conversation outside formal ceremonies at one point, and she and Ryo had once had a fight so messy it got into the history books. All in all, though, she didn't think she could have had a better life than she had possessed. All the things she had thought she had lost forever had come back to her: love, family, and hope. Usually, she was quite confident in her possession of all that, but alone in her room tonight, she worried. He could die. She would go on if he died, fighting for the dreams and ideals they shared, but she didn't want to have to. She wanted him to come out of this alive and well, but anything could happen. And so the temptation was upon her to forsake her duties and run to him. Only the shame of it all kept her back. Ultimately, he was more important to her than Jurai. Without him, she'd still be living on Earth, or quite possibly dead. She had grown to love the world of her ancestors in many ways, but it remained the world of her ancestors. She could see too many stupidities in Juraiian culture to ever fully be a part of it. And it showed. Lord Rodrigo's little comment, his surprise at her really possessing the blood of Jurai after a thousand years of her residence on Jurai had been telling. She could wrap Juraiians around her little finger, understand their every move, win their own games, beat them in the head with the Radiant Hawk Wings until they begged for mercy...but she would never quite be one of them. There was a knock at the door. She knew what that meant. Juraiians didn't knock. They used doorbells or called your name at the door. "Come in, grandmother." The door slid open and Meylia walked into the room. Only dye kept her hair blue-black with yellow streaks. By nature it would be grey. She had awakened late to her heritage, and thus she was nearing the end of her days. She likely had decades left to her, though, maybe even a few centuries. Her beauty had not left her yet, though wrinkles were beginning to show. She was dressed in traditional Juraiian garb; unlike Celia, she had assimilated herself quite well, which sometimes amused Celia. The young were supposed to be more flexible than the old, not vice versa. "You're thinking of him, aren't you." It was not a question. She walked over to Celia. "If you keep that up, you're going to tear your hair out." "Sometimes I wonder what they would do if I walked into court with my head shaved bald." Celia smiled a little. "How can you stand to have so much hair?" "I'm working on becoming the Empress of Fashion, so that one day I cut this down to a reasonable hairdo and everyone else will have to follow suit or look gauche." She laughed and put her hands on Celia's shoulders, kneading them gently. "You're so tense I'm surprised you haven't pulled yourself apart." Celia began to slowly relax. "How are you and Duke Darkal doing?" Meylia and the Duke had been seeing each other for the last few years since his wife had died. Celia suspected this time it was going to actually lead to marriage. Meylia had only been married once in the last thousand years since her first husband died, and that husband, Count Ash of House Ironi had died hundreds of years ago in the first Khund war along with her father, Youshou. She had had so many love affairs that Celia had long ago lost track. "He's a dear. He tried to give me a planet, again." She laughed. "As if I had any use for an entire planet. Perhaps Douglas would like it as a birthday present." Douglas was one of her five 'children' by Count Ash. He was infertile, and she had been post- menopausal when she married him. That didn't stop Juraiian technology for very long, and thus their children had possessed a mix of the genetic codes of their parents, if not being the result of a fully natural process. Being gestated in an artificial womb hadn't hurt them one bit. Having two aunts and three uncles that she was several hundred years older than sometimes made Celia's brain spin for a few seconds. "Tell me why I shouldn't go to the Earth right this minute," Celia said quietly. "The Black Moon Family would blow you to bits before you ever got to him. If you took an army with you, you'd have to strip the Rigellian fronteir, and you know what would happen next. Emperor Tlaloc is a nutcase. I'm surprised he hasn't allied with the Khunds." "They tried to make his homeworld's star go nova forty years ago." Celia gave a small sigh of relief. "In fact, we're on the verge of convincing them to join us against the Khunds, but they're afraid that the Daleks will overrun them if they don't keep THAT fronteir heavily manned." "More importantly, you won't go because you're going to trust Nene to get him out alive. She won't let him get killed." Meylia's voice was soothing, and so were her hands. Celia could feel the tension in her body, if not her mind, flowing out of her. "Can I ask a favor of you, Grandmother?" "You want me to go talk to Lady Tana of House Yuro and tie some threads to her the way you've tied threads to her boyfriend?" Meylia smiled in the way normally reserved for mothers who have just scored a point against a daughter. Celia blinked. "How did you know?" "About four months ago, she came to me for help in arranging for her and Rodrigo to be able to be wed. So we've been carrying out an elaborate plan. So which one of her maids did you bribe anyway? That nitwit Lana?" "..." "I would have told you earlier, but loose lips sink ships, and while your lips aren't loose, a secret is best kept by as few people as possible. And you have better things to do with your spy network than help lovebirds." She paused and smiled gently. "So which one of MY maids is on your payroll?" "Grandmother!" ************ ************* Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926) Arcadia was hard-pressed. She was pretty sure she could hurt Raphaelle if she ever got an attack in, but Raphaelle kept pouring on the flames. Luckily, the marble hallway couldn't ignite, so it just got charred. Arcadia ran and ran and ran. At least the kids are safe, she thought. Then after another leap, she realized they were watching. "RUN! GET OUT OF HERE!" Ami-chan shouted, "We're 'fraid to go without you!" Arcadia swore. "Go to the shelter! They can send help!" Raphaelle grinned darkly. She turned and faced the children. "Give it up or I'll fry them where they stand." Arcadia shouted swearwords that wouldn't be invented for a thousand years. "Bitch." "Fool." ************** The region of space near the burnt out cinder formerly known as Nemesis, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 538) Two days had passed for the Younger Pluto. She was incredibly hungry and bored out of her skull. Blackrazor, her jailor, was the most incredibly boring evil being she had ever met. He wouldn't even taunt her. Or laugh at her jokes. Even her Hikaru impression hadn't made him laugh. Hikaru Hibino, that is. Her long dead, long gone rival for the man she was married to back in Crystal Tokyo. I wonder how she died, Himeko thought. I know she got married to that Mendo guy eventually. Or was it Lendo? Kunou? Jinnai? Some rich guy. Probably made his life a living hell. She fingered her pendant. There has to be someone I can...d'oh! She felt like a complete idiot. But would it work? My future self should be alive here, I'm pretty sure. If I become her, I'll get HER time staff. But can I turn into myself? She laughed a little. I guess I'll find out. A small horde of people, some familiar, and some not familiar appeared in a flash. Dan Hibiki, Jenni Ognatz, Hikaru Hiyama-Quest, Nene Romanova, and Noa Izumi (in Alphonse) floated in space by the people she knew were some of the Senshi of 1532 SY: The Guardian of Earth, Neptune, Jupiter, and Mercury. She knew little more of them--it was her future self's job to guide this century. "Hi! Any of you got a spare time staff lying around?" Courtesy of 1532 SY level tech, they quickly zoomed over to her. Blackrazor turned to face them and got a very brief beating, which didn't even rate a proper speech by the Senshi. Nene said, "What, you don't have your staff?" "I wouldn't be hanging out waiting for the Apocalypse if I had it. Saturn has it." Nine pairs of eyes flew wide open. "SATURN has it?" Dan said. "Yes, I do." Saturn said as she unleashed a tide of black ribbons that flung her opponents everywhere. Except Dan, who she didn't bother to attack. He leaped at her with a powerful kick that could shatter rock. She swatted him aside with the Silence Glaive without even looking. Neptune and Mercury were down from the first attack, and Jenni would have been down, except she had managed to dodge the blow by pushing off the chunk of rubble she was standing on. Unfortunately, being really fast was not much good at all in deep space with nothing to run on. Nene was being crushed, even with her battle armor, and Alphonse had nearly been cut in half. The feedback had knocked Noa out. Another reason why Himeko had always thought armor you operate like your body was a bad idea. The Guardian of Earth, Jupiter, and Hikaru, on the other hand, had avoided the ribbons with ease and counter attacked. Every bit of rubble in the area, including the forge was converging on Saturn's head while Jupiter hailed down lightning on Saturn and the Guardian tried to disarm her with thrown energy spears. Pluto found a chunk of what had once been Blackrazor. It made a barely adequate mirror. She had to summon the Time Staff. Without it, with Saturn having somehow supressed her powers, she couldn't help at all. "Parallel Parall Pluto of the Century Ni Nare!" She became her future self and felt her power flood back into her. She held her future self's time staff. I hope she doesn't need it, Pluto thought. "End of the line, Saturn." And Saturn laughed. "It's about TIME you did that." She vanished. The ribbons vanished. For a few seconds, all was silent. Then the battered body of Pluto's future self appeared, and Pluto understood. "Ack." When Pluto acks, people listen. Every head that could move swiveled to look at each of the Plutos. "Ack?" Dan said. "Should I shoot myself now?" "Everyone, gather around me! NOW!" They did, as best they could, and she summoned the gate of time while she could. Her future self awakened once they got into the time tunnel. "Staff." Pluto handed her future self back her staff. She felt the power of her pendant wink out. Her temporal sight remained...whatever Saturn had done had no power here. "She's gone to the past, hasn't she." It was not a question. She could feel the pressure. A time storm was building. They would be unaffected here, but within minutes, the time line would assume whatever new form that Saturn's actions would reshape it into. She peered into the possibilities, but she couldn't see far enough without her staff. "What should we expect?" "To be the last living beings in the universe," the future Pluto said. "She will likely silence the Senshi in their cradles. Or worse." "WEHAVETOSTOPHER!" Jenni shouted. "We will need the Silver Crystal," the future Pluto said. "And someone of the blood of Serenity. With a fully awakened Saturn, nothing less will do. She is strong. I do not understand how she hid from my sight for so long." Pluto thought for a moment. "Wait...haven't you already lived through this? When you were me?" "No. Nothing like this happened at all. I never travelled to this time and was never captured by Saturn. There shouldn't BE an awakened Saturn in this century." "But...even if history has been changed, you should have been effected! You should remember, right? There's only one fully real timeline!" She paused. "Well, only one we're in charge of. I'm not lost, am I?" "Just doomed," said a voice known by all present and conscious except for Jupiter and the Guardian of the Earth. "dead scream." Power ripped through the time tunnel, knocking out most of those present. The already battered future Pluto collapsed. Jenni was down. Jupiter collapsed. Nene laid prostrate. Hikaru and the Guardian of Earth had vanished. Himeko was tottering on the verge of unconsciousness. Her future sight flickered. "They're going to strike you from behind, Pluto." "I know that, you fool!" The woman looked like Sailor Pluto on speed. Her hair was wild, and her face was crazed. She spun, but no one was there. Himeko laughed. "Had enough strength to fuzz your sight." Her own sight told her where this Pluto had come from. Saturn had struck at the moment of her own creation. Her interference had to be stopped. She was too strong for them to beat her in battle now, even after the Guardian and Hikaru appeared and kicked Pluto dozens of feet down the tunnel. "Hikaru! Mindlink!" She felt the touch of Hikaru's mind. 'Hikaru, use the time key I can sense you have. You must go to the start of the Silver Millenium and warn Serenity that Saturn is coming!' 'But what about you? And Nene and...' 'The key will take all those Pluto attuned to it.' Himeko tweaked the key's destination as the crazed Pluto blasted Guardian farther than he had sent her. 'Now!' 'Won't it create a paradox?' 'Our continued existence is already a paradox. I don't have time to argue metaphysics. GO!' Hikaru went. Nene, Noa, Jenni, and Dan vanished with her. Himeko felt the approaching time storm shift even as it began to break upon this time. It was too soon to tell if that was good or bad. Then the crazed Pluto's image shifted. It became a tall ugly droid with stringy blue hair and orange skin. Its temporal aura changed as well. It wasn't from the first years of the Moon Kingdom. She had been tricked. Hikaru swore loudly. ************* Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926) Ami-chan managed to slip away while Oneechan and the blonde woman were insulting each other. She ran down the hallway, trying to remember how to get to the Shelter. Once she calmed down a little, she remembered. Turning a corner, she spotted a guy who looked familiar, walking along with two weird green-skinned women wearing blue pointy hats and gold armor. Thinking a second, she realized he was the guy who had read her stories a few days ago. One of her worshippers. "Hey, Mr. Raguel!" she shouted as she ran towards him. "You gotta help me! Everyone's been captured by someone named Rapel. Raffle. Yeah. Raffle." He blinked and stared at it. "Raphaelle?" "Yeah! Ya gotta help us! She's gonna hurt Oneechan!" He smiled in a sad way. "Lead me to her, little one." His voice sounded weird. She soon lead him back to where Raphaelle was herding Arcadia and the kids along, very, very slowly, since the kids were not very herdable. Raguel's eyes opened wide. "Hey, that's the Queen's daughter!" Raphaelle blinked. "Who, the one you have?" Arcadia stared at the man that Ami-chan was with. She had a bad feeling about this. Ami-chan said, "There's Arcadia-oneechan!" She pointed to Arcadia-Uranus. "And there's the bad woman!" Raphaelle laughed. "Tricking small children. How wonderfully petty of you, Uriel." Uriel frowned. "I did what I had to. Forget the kids. Well, except the Queen's daughter. She and Mercury, jr. here might be valuable." "Scat, kids." Raphaelle sent them running with a few near misses with fire. She grabbed Small Lady before she could run. "Did the others find anything yet?" "The Crystal has some kind of defenses, but I bet the Queen's daughter can get through them." Uriel smiled. "And if not, we can try using Uranus, jr. as a battering ram." "I'm going to kill every last one of you bastards if it's the last thing I do," Arcadia said. "And then pigs will fly," Raphaelle said. ************* The chamber of the Silver Crystal was fairly bland considering it held one of the most powerful items in the Universe. Imagine if the government put a live atomic bomb in a glass case with a label in the Smithsonian. Now imagine they put the entire US arsenal in the same box. And let people walk by it every day. Four Black Moon Cultists and seven surviving droids, plus two children and Arcadia stood before it. Michael frowned. "What if she uses it on us?" "Yeah, like a five year old is a threat, even with the Silver Crystal," Raphaelle said. She was holding Chibi-Ami. "Kid, if you try anything, I'll toast your little friend before you can blink." "I'm 8, not five!" Small Lady announced, then began to cry. "I'll get in trouble if I take it!" "You and your friend will die screaming if you don't. Ever seen someone baked alive? Watched the flesh begin to char on them as their skin darkens and smoke rises off their..." Raphaelle was getting into it. Gabrielle said, "We're not monsters. Please, that's enough Raphaelle." Small Lady was shaking. "You'll use it to hurt Mommy!" "Fine. We'll toast your friend and see if you change your mind." Raphaelle was about to bake Chibi-Ami, when Small Lady fell down crying. "Okay, okay, I'll do it!" She got up and ran towards the crystal. "Just don't hurt Ami-chan!" The seconds dragged like minutes before she reached the crystal. The case had shattered somehow, making it easy for Small Lady to reach inside. Her hand closed around it, and she turned around. A white glow came from it, shining through the gaps between her fingers. She opened her palm, and for a moment, its light mesmerized them all. A yellow crescent moon formed on Small Lady's brow. Arcadia stared at it. The greatest power in the universe, in the hands of an eight year old. About to fall into the hands of the Black Moon Family. She couldn't allow that. But...if she tried anything, Chibi-Ami would get killed. It has to work out somehow, right, she thought. I know the Black Moon loses. Right? But...maybe I've messed things up somehow. No. Pluto wouldn't let that happen, right? Wait...she had to know this was coming. Shit. She didn't tell anyone! How could she let this happen? What a coldhearted...grrrrrrrrr. I HAVE to do something. She considered and discarded a dozen plans. Every eye is on the crystal, Arcadia thought. This is my chance. Just as she was about to spring at Raphaelle, Small Lady stopped in her advance. "You want this...HERE!" She reared back and hurled it at Raphaelle, who was too surprised to dodge. It struck her in the eye and fell to the ground. She staggered and lost her grip on Chibi-Ami, who dropped to the ground and grabbed it. All chaos broke loose. Raphaelle was screaming and clutching her eye socket, flinging fire everywhere, mainly succeeding in baking one of her own droids and sending Michael, Gabrielle and Uriel diving for cover. Arcadia dived to the ground as well. Small Lady and Chibi-Ami were both short enough to be under the blasts of fire. It only lasted about two minutes, but that was enough. Chibi-Ami ran over to Arcadia and handed her the crystal. "Whoop 'em, Oneechan!" For a moment, all Arcadia could do was stare at her hand. She was holding a legend. She was holding the Silver Crystal. She was holding...power. All the power she could ever want. She grinned feraly. "The asskicking of the century is about to commence. I'M GONNA KILL EVERY LAST BLACK MOON WEARING BASTARD IN THE UNIVERSE!!!!!" She stood. One of Raphaelle's flame bolts struck her, but she was limned in silver flames, and the fire dissipated harmlessly. All seven droids charged her, wielding swords of flame and whips of light, and spears of ice. She vanished in a pile of twisted beings that had once been human. For all of three seconds, she seemed doomed. "EARTH SHAKING!!!!" The whole chamber shook. A chunk of ceiling fell and nearly crushed Michael's skull. The ground erupted upwards in gouts of yellow and silver flame and seven droids turned to ash in as many seconds. Arcadia strode out of the explosion, laughing. "Who wants to be next?" All four unloaded on her. Raphelle summoned her most powerful fire. Gabrielle unleashed the power of the winds. Michael struck the ground and it cracked in a long line, unleashing blue blasts as it moved. Uriel formed a scythe of crackling black energy and charged forward. Chibi-Ami and Small Lady ran for cover. The three distance attacks choked on her aura of silver fire. She batted Uriel aside with the hand that held the Crystal and he flew across the room into the wall. Arcadia laughed again. Every second she could feel more power flowing into the crystal from the great node upon which the palace sat, and more power flowing into her from the crystal. How could Serenity have locked it away like this? She was riding an ecstatic high, and this was only the beginning. Once she disposed of these fools, she'd gather enough power to turn the entire Black Moon Fleet to dust, and then she'd find their homeworld and blast it to atoms. An N5 bomb was a flyswatter compared to the Crystal. And once those damn bastards all died, they wouldn't be around to threaten her friends and family in the future and kill Tony and her friends and family. "Raphaelle." Raphaelle glared at her and unleashed an even more powerful blast of flame. Arcadia actually felt it. Of course, you can also sometimes feel a few grains of sand falling on your leg. "You can't beat all of us!" Raphaelle shouted. "Wrong. EARTH SHAKING!" The ground ripped apart, and the walls cracked. More of the ceiling fell and a huge sphere of silver and yellow skipped along the ground like a rock in a pond and struck Raphaelle. She dodged, so it only slammed her into the wall, giving her a free bonus concussion and knocking her out. A second blast shattered Uriel's scythe, knocking him out from the backlash. The third threw Michael down the hallway about three hundred feet. She turned to Gabrielle, who raised her hands in surrender. "I give up. You win. I can't believe I even tried to fight you." Gabrielle fell to her knees. "A nice trick, Serenity, impersonating one of your Senshi." Arcadia paused. "What?" Chibi-Ami blinked. Small Lady said, "Is that you, Mommy?" "What?" Chibi-Ami said, "There's a crescent moon on your forehead, Oneechan." Arcadia said, "WHAT?" Gabrielle tossed her a hand mirror. Arcadia stared in shock. The sigil of Serenity was blazing from her brow. It wasn't possible. Not unless she's been time travelling, Arcadia thought. It must be a side effect of the crystal. Well, no matter. She pocketed the mirror. "Give me one reason I shouldn't flay the flesh from your bones." "I surrendered to you." Arcadia wasn't quite pissed off enough to argue with that. Not when she could vaporize the entire Black Moon Fleet. She began drawing power into herself, forming a growing pillar of silver fire. Her senses expanded, and she could feel the fleet. It was wrong, suffused with dark energy, the antithesis of her very being. She was the Silver Power, and it was her, and they both hated the Dark Power and all its creations. It would take a few minutes to build up, but she had plenty of time. And then, they would all be cleansed. Blotted out from the face of creation. "What are you doing, Oneechan?" Chibi-Ami asked. She was scared. The fire was growing and growing. She had to back up now. The Gabrielle person had gotten up now, and was backing up. "I'M GOING TO DESTROY THE BLACK MOON FLEET," Arcadia said, her voice echoing and setting the walls to reverberating. "THEY MUST BE STOPPED. I WILL KILL THEM ALL. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM." "But Oneechan, you'll die!" "IT IS THE ONLY WAY THEY CAN BE STOPPED. THEY KILLED MY FRIENDS AND SOME OF MY FAMILY. I'LL GLADLY DIE TO AVENGE THEM." Most of the chamber was full of silver fire now, and it had burned a hole through the upper floors to the sky. Chibi-Ami stared in shock. "But...what if they want to surrender?" "THEY ARE EVIL. THEY MUST BE DESTROYED. THEY ARE A STAIN ON CREATION, AND I WILL ERASE THEM." The fire grew brighter, and Chibi-Ami could barely see her. She hardly looked human, clad in silver fire with rage painted on her face. "Who died and made you God?" Pluto said. She stood next to Chibi-Ami and Small Lady. "Since when were all lives handed over to you to be judged?" Her voice was angry. "Give me the crystal before it is too late." "YOU KNEW THIS WAS COMING." "So did Serenity. And everyone else in charge. We didn't know the exact moment, but yes, we knew." "AND YOU DID NOTHING." "We prepared as best we could. They proved more clever than anticipated." "YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS IN THE CRADLE. WHY DID YOU LET DEMAND AND HIS FOLLOWERS GET AWAY?" "Because unlike you, we're not willing to murder people out of revenge." Pluto's voice had become even colder and harder. "Do you think I'd let them destroy Crystal Tokyo? For 25,000 years, I've dedicated myself to bringing this place into existence. Yes, this is a war. But all the alternatives were worse. Put down the crystal before you destroy all you seek to protect." The room was full of silver fire. The Palace was shaking. "IT'S ALL DAMNED ANYWAY. NONE OF THIS WILL LAST. BUT AT LEAST I CAN HAVE MY REVENGE." "Millions of lives for a few dozen dead. Yes, that's fair." Pluto said, her voice dripping poison. "If you do not stop, all in Crystal Tokyo will die. Haven't you asked yourself why the Queen hasn't used the Crystal?" "SHE HAS SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR. I DO NOT. I WILL DIE AS THE PRICE OF THE CRYSTAL. IT MATTERS NOT TO ME." Chibi-Ami began to cry. "I don't want you to die. I love you, Oneechan. Please don't kill them." Small Lady was crying too. Arcadia staggered as if she had been hit with a rock. "BUT THEY'RE GOING TO KILL EVERYONE, CHIBI. IF I DON'T STOP THEM." "Do you really think you can use so much power with no side- effects?" "I WILL DIE. I UNDERSTAND THAT." "I'm not talking about YOU, Arcadia." For the first time, Arcadia used the crystal to calculate the effects of what she was about to do. The amount of power she needed would wipe the center of Crystal Tokyo off the face of the Earth. The after shocks would destroy the rest. Millions upon millions would die. The price of her revenge would be oblivion for Crystal Tokyo. She looked at the two small children crying, begging her to stop. She could hear Tony screaming as he died, see her friend Anni on fire. Her dead surrounded her in a swarm. People who died trying to help a poor runaway. Her friends slain at her birthday party. A cop on Anatares III who had given his life for her to escape yet another attack. A burning bank. They were shouting for the blood of the Black Moon. Blood for blood. An eye for an eye. Vengeance. If she didn't stop them now, while she could, she didn't think she'd ever know peace. There had to be some way to destroy the fleet without killing everyone. Without killing the innocents. There wasn't. The crystal always extracted a price, and for a deed this great, her life was too small a price. Every magic had to be paid for one way or another. It wasn't fair. Neither was obliterating the guilty and hte innocent alike. "DAMN YOU, PLUTO." Her voice was soft. "Better you damn me than yourself." She couldn't do it. She wouldn't become like them, killing the innocent to get what she wanted. Desperately, she wanted to kill them, wallow in their blood, laugh as they evaporated. The dead howled for blood. But her dead weren't dead yet. They were just the phantasms of her brain. One by one, she snuffed them with the Silver Power. She took the power and sucked it into herself until the room was empty of flame and she was so full of power, she was about to obliterate herself. With a thought, she sent it forth in soft waves of silver light, restoring all it touched, until ever ounce of power within her flowed out. The flames around her winked out and she dropped the crystal, collapsing to her knees. Chibi-Ami and Small Lady ran over. Already further explosions were beginning to undo what she did, but the room looked as if there had been no battle. Arcadia lifted the crystal and handed it to Small Lady. "I think...this is yours." It glowed brightly and suddenly vanished. Small Lady said, "NO! I lost it!" She looked around everywhere. "No! I've got to use it to save Mommy!" "Are you okay, Oneechan?" Tears streamed down Arcadia's face. "No. Not even vaguely." She felt hollow. Her rage was gone, and there was nothing left. Ami-chan hugged her. Pluto walked over to Small Lady. She looked sad. "It's gone, Small Lady, but if you're willing to be brave, I can send you to the past to get the Silver Crystal of that time and bring it back to help your Mommy." She held out a small golden key and handed it to Small Lady. "I'll do anything to help Mommy!" Arcadia stared blearily. "What the...you're gonna send her to the past to get the Crystal? By herself?" "Are you ready, Small Lady?" "I'm ready, Puu." She clutched the key and Luna-P. "You can't send her by herself! Let me go with her!" Arcadia tried to stand, but fell on her face. I should have kept some of that power to fix me. "Sometimes, we must walk through the fire alone. This is what happened, Arcadia. This is what must be." She kissed Small Lady's forehead and watched her vanish, then stood up. Shaking her head, she said, "You scared me more than anyone has scared me in millenia." Arcadia tried to stand with Ami-chan's help and failed. "Scared? You knew you'd win. You know the future, damn you. You knew exactly what to say." "No, I did not. I cannot see you in my future sight, Arcadia. You are a mystery to me. I could only guess what might work, and pray that Heaven was watching over us. Small Lady should have gone to the past over half an hour ago, and you should never have touched the crystal, if all had gone as I foresaw." She shuddered slightly. "The moment for which I have waited has come. The threat of the time storm has ceased. But now I must decide what to do with you. Things could still go awry in some way I cannot foresee." Her eyes widened. "The Saturn of the Future! She has come to this time! I must guard the time tunnel. Go and tell Uranus and Neptune. I will come when I can." She threw a time key to Arcadia. "Use it." "I'm so tired...." "We have no time to waste. Go!" Arcadia went. So did Chibi-Ami, which was NOT part of the plan. Pluto contemplated swearing, but didn't waste the time, returning to the Time Tunnel, just in time to slaughter MORE droids. ******** Demand frowned. The assault had bogged down. Somehow, the Senshi were shielding the palace with a forcefield of unbelieveable power. Wiseman had reported that Pluto had sent the Silver Crystal to the past, but he believed that he could find it there and recover it. Some woman had joined him, who wielded almost unbelieveable power to Demand's senses, and together, they could open their own time tunnel and send agents to the past to get the Crystal, or possibly even to corrupt Crystal Tokyo's future site in the past so that it would never exist. The thought pleased Demand. To destroy the home of that usurper Endymion. To make into his own city, the city of the Black Moon. Yes, that would be good. So he had sent agents. Now all he had to do was wait. Either the Planet-Smasher would be recovered or the agents would do their work. He was worried, though. This woman...where had she come from? What was Wiseman's game? If Wiseman could travel through time, why hadn't he done it before? Prince Demand had much to think about.