Authors' Notes:
Konnichiwa, minna-san,
I was just thinking of what the scouts would do if suddenly
a Sailor Negaverse appeared to them. Would they attack
immediately, would they accept her as an ally, or would they
just be really confused. Stay tuned to find out.
25,000 years ago...
"Okay, we've finished the first five planets which means we're ready to begin on Saturn. Ideas?"
"Well the first thing to consider would be the rings."
"Mm. The effects are playing havoc with the atmosphere, not to mention the gravity well it creates. In order to reduce the effects, I suggest we concentrate their mass into moons or something."
"But that would spoil the entire effect! Just think of the aesthetic appeal. Have you been to Saturn? The rings are so beautiful, a hazy mist in the sky. Colonists would flock to the planet."
Four pairs of eyes stared disbelieving at Vortex. Slowly one of them turned away as a thoughtful look replaced the surprise.
"Well, you know, she has a point," Washuu commented.
Serenity reluctantly nodded her agreement. "Maybe so, but what about the effects of the rings?"
Washuu tapped her finger against her teeth briefly. "Hmmmmmm. Well, we could..."
"What! What! Don't keep us in suspense, Shuu-chan! Tell us. What! Wha..."
"Shut. Up!" The command came from three different directions at once as Washuu hummed to herself, waiting.
"But..."
"Vortex!" Eternity snapped in exasperation.
"Fine! Be like that then!" Vortex turned her back to the others and crossed her arms across her chest.
"We could counter the effects by creating moons, just not with the rings, which would give the balance needed without damaging, as Vortex pointed out, the aesthetic appeal." Washuu used the silence generated by Vortex's sulking to put forward her idea.
"And where would we find the materials?" Galaxia questioned.
"Well...I found out just yesterday that a rogue planet is conveniently heading this way and should arrive in a matter of weeks. Rather lucky, wouldn't you say?"
Galaxia blinked suspiciously at the innocent expression on Washuu's face, but unable to find anything there to comment on let it go. Besides it would solve the problem and she did like watching the rings.
Vortex, still facing the other way, smirked smugly to herself then suddenly grimaced and collapsed.
Present day...
Knock, knock, knock.
Setsuna looked up from the memo she had been working on.
"Come in."
The door handle turned and the door opened. Revealed was a girl with shoulder length, ebony hair and very pale skin.
"Excuse me, Meiou-sempai, I've been having trouble...with..." The girl who stood there trailed off and stared, her grey eyes widening, at Setsuna. "Sailor...Pluto? It is you, isn't it?"
Setsuna blinked. "Um. I'm sorry?"
The girl smiled widely, "You look exactly like Sailor Pluto. You must be her! Wow, wait till I tell my friends that I've met Sailor Pluto. I'm so happy!" She bounded fully into the room slamming the door behind her.
Setsuna blinked again. "Well, I never expected to be mistaken for Sailor Pluto."
"But you are Sailor Pluto! I mean you have the long green hair, the rose-red eyes, the long, slim legs, the correct bone structure, the dark complexion, just...everything!" she stopped and tilted her head to one side. "Well, apart from the costume. But here..." She pulled a tiara, a sailor costume and a full-length mirror from out of nowhere. She then lifted Setsuna to her feet, put the tiara on her brow and held the sailor costume up. "Perfect. Oh! Wait a second!" She pulled out *The* Timestaff and thrust it into Setsuna's hand. "There!"
"Um, er, ah...a-ah, um, loo...um...hey!" Setsuna flinched as a flash went off in her face and by the time she had regained her sight, everything was back to normal and a young girl was sitting demurely in the seat across her desk, the camera she had been using having disappeared somewhere up her short sleeves.
Setsuna blinked again.
She sat down, ignoring what she thought had happened and cleared a space on her desk.
"So..."
"Aki!"
"Yes. Well. Aki-san. What can I do for you?"
"Um, I've been having trouble with finding research material
for my report and Mizoguchi-sensei sent me to you. He said you
might be able to help. Oh, and call me Aki-chan."
It was half an hour later when they finally finished talking and Aki stood up to go.
"Domo arigatou, Pluto-sama. Ja ne."
She left before Setsuna had a chance to react.
"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"
Much of the area surrounding Sailor Mercury was encased in ice as a youma avoided her attack by leaping 50ft into the air. Landing on a nearby building, it threw its head back and laughed evilly.
"Your attacks are as pathetic as your costume. Is that the best the great Sailor Mercury is capable of?" It leapt off the building towards Mercury screaming, 'SHI-NE!', the typical cry of evil monsters and villians for that matter.
Bolts of orange energy were thrown at Mercury who dodged, desperately flinging herself to the side.
"ITE.."
She clambered as fast as possible to her feet and turned to face the youma. <I hope the others get here soon. I can't take much more of this. I'll have to keep it busy>
"SHABON SPRAY!"
For a time the only sound was the crackling of ice beginning to melt. A frozen leaf fell to the ground and shattered like glass.
As the mist began to clear, Mercury saw a shadowy figure coalesce in front of her. Mercury readied her attack. "SHABON SPRAY FREE...!" She paused as the figure struck a dramatic pose and began her speech.
"I am Sailor Negaverse, champion of chaos! Picking on someone without the ability to fight back is something only the lowest of the low would do. In the name of the Negaverse, I will punish you!"
She extended her hand towards the sky. A ripple spread out in all directions from the hand encompassing everything in the area. Mercury watched the distortion draw closer. Unable to dodge, she felt it wrap around her and then there was nothing.
"Ami-chan. Ami-chan." A distant voice called, drawing her out of the darkness. She blinked her eyes open.
"Usagi-chan..." she whispered weakly.
"Ami-chan, you're alright!" Usagi flung her arms around her friend.
"We're so glad you're okay." Minako spoke for the others as she smiled warmly at Ami.
"I'm so sorry we weren't there with you. Please forgive me," Usagi wailed.
"Usagi. She didn't wake up just so you could drown her."
Usagi shut up and turned to glare at Rei who glared right back.
Haruka smiled in tolerant amusement before turning to Ami.
"What exactly happened out there?"
Ami coughed and sat up.
"Well, I was passing through the park when I heard people shouting and decided to investigate. Upon arriving at the scene I discovered a youma who was terrorising the people with orange bolts of energy. I quickly transformed into Sailor Mercury and engaged the monster. After a few attacks I realised that I would have no luck in actually destroying the youma, so I set about trying to delay it until help arrived. I used the Shabon Spray to hide myself for a while so you guys could get here. However, as the mist cleared up I saw a female figure coalesce out of the fog. She said 'I am Sailor Negaverse..."
"Nani!?" came the nine-fold reply.
"Sailor Negaverse!!"
"Are you sure??"
Ami cleared her throat, "She said 'I am Sailor Negaverse, champion of chaos! Picking on someone without the ability to fight back is something only the lowest of the low would do. In the name of the Negaverse, I will punish you!' She then raised her hand above her head and released a wave of some sort. It hit me and that was the last thing I saw until now."
"Are you sure she said Sailor Negaverse?" Makoto was finding it to hard to accept Ami's words. The others looked equally unsure, both of their now suspect hearing abilities and Ami's sanity.
"Quite sure."
"Does anyone remember a 'Sailor Negaverse'? Luna? Artemis?" Minako asked.
"I'm afraid we don't. Neither of us has ever heard of any Sailor Negaverse."
"Indeed." Artemis affirmed.
Michiru lifted her finger, attracting everyone's attention. "I could try the Mirror."
So saying, she pulled it out of subspace and activated it. It glowed briefly but revealed nothing. "Well then, perhaps we should ask Setsuna-san."
"Good idea, I'll see if I can get her at her office." Rei walked off to find the phone.
Ring, ring...Ring, ring...
"Moshi Moshi." Setsuna placed the receiver on her shoulder as she continued to play with the files that were open across her desk.
"Hello Setsuna-san, this is Rei, we have something to ask you. Have you ever heard of a Sailor Negaverse?"
Setsuna blinked audibly, but didn't say anything else.
"...because Ami just ran into her."
Rei heard a crash as Setsuna dropped the receiver and quickly fumbled to pick it up. The rustling of papers could be heard for a few moments then there was a brief silence.
"Setsuna-san? Are you alright?"
"Sumimasen, Rei-chan. Did you say Sailor Negaverse?"
Rei frowned, it wasn't like Setsuna to be upset by anything, and to actually sound breathless...
"Hai, Ami ran into a Sailor Negaverse earlier today."
"I see. I'll be right there." She hung up and Rei listened to the dial tone for a minute before doing the same.
Rei walked back to where the others were waiting.
"She's on her way."
A portal appeared against the wall and Sailor Pluto stepped out and detransformed.
She sat gracefully at the table the others were gathered around.
"Now, what was that you were saying about Sailor Negaverse?"
Everyone started speaking at once until Setsuna held up her hand.
"Perhaps the person who was there could tell me what happened. Ami?"
Ami related the story almost verbatim.
Setsuna sighed. "Could you tell me what she looked like?"
"She was wearing a Sailor fuku of the same design as yours, only hers was grey and black. She had shortish, black hair and very pale skin."
Setsuna thought for a moment.
The other scouts watched her expectantly.
She stood and spoke. "I'll be at the next meeting."
She called up her staff and disappeared.
"Meiou-sensei"
Setsuna turned around to see Aki waving and running over.
"Konnichi wa, Aki-chan. How did your report go?"
Aki smiled and nodded, "It went great, Meiou-sensei. I finished it easily and I should do well. Your explanation really helped me."
"Good. Now what can I do for you today?"
"I was hoping you would be available for lunch today. I would like to thank you for your help."
"I suppose... I was on my way to lunch just now, if you would like to join me?"
"Arigato, Pluto-sama. Let's go."
Aki grabbed Setsuna's hand and started to drag her off to the dining hall.
"So what's it like being a Sailor Senshi?" Aki whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening. "How come you're the only Senshi with a whispered attack? Is Sailor Moon a cry baby in real life too, or does she just do it to catch the bad guys off guard? Is it true that Uranus and Neptune are lovers? When Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars argue, is it really a cover for how deep their friendship is? Is Sailor V also one of the Senshi? Who does Sailor Moon's hair? And do you ever get cold in your fuku?" Aki looked up at Setsuna expectantly.
"Ah, um...ah, oh, ahhh...gah...aagh, ack...um, er...wait... Aki...GAH!"
"Well, you're going to be all close-mouthed are you? I'm warning you now, I can be more stubborn than you, you'll tell me sooner or later! Bwahahahahaha!" The maniacal laughter cut off abruptly and the finger Aki had been waving in Setsuna's face froze and lowered. "Shall we get lunch?" Aki opened the door and calmly motioned for Setsuna to precede her through the doors.
"Meiou-san."
Setsuna turned around to see Aki waving and running over.
She sighed. <Here we go again>
"Ohayo, Aki-chan."
"Meiou-san, hi. I just came over to ask you where you got that outfit. It's so cool!"
Setsuna glanced down at her clothes.
"Oh, well, I made it myself."
"You did? Wow. I wish I could do that. Last time I tried to sew something I ended up with a chocolate parfait!"
"Nani?"
"Well, I had this neat idea for a dress and thought I'd make it myself. So I went out to get some material for it, but they were having this two-for-one sale at the ice cream shop and well it...kind of distracted me. I never did end up getting that material. I suppose it just wasn't meant to be." She sighed heavily, a hand held to her chest and she shook her head in mock despair.
"So you design your own clothes?" Setsuna asked curiously.
"Well, I design them, but that's as far as it's gone."
"So do I, except that I do actually make them."
"Really. Could you show me some of your other designs?"
"Well, I guess I could. When would you like to see them?"
"I'm free now, if you're not doing anything. And I'll bring my designs around too that way you can tell me what you think and stuff."
"Okay. How about we get our designs and meet back here in, say, an hour?"
"Right. I'll see you then. Ja."
"Setsuna-san."
Setsuna turned around to see Aki waving and running over.
She smiled at the girl and motioned her over.
"Hi, Aki-chan."
"Whew. Hi. I got here. Shall we go inside? It's a bit windy out here."
"Lead the way."
They headed for the library entrance and pushed open the doors making their way to a private study room.
"Ah...Fresh Meat!"
A large, ugly, pink youma appeared before Setsuna and Aki. They stopped walking.
"You shall be granted the honour of being my SUSTENANCE!" The youma leapt across the room, charging at the two girls, pulling his arm back, ready to strike.
Setsuna danced neatly out of the way while Aki, a panicked expression crossing her face, began to run away from the youma.
"Yaaaaah!" She tripped over a book that had been flung haphazardly on the floor and ended up on her stomach. She didn't see the book going flying into air having somehow caught on her shoe, nor see the youma watch it's trajectory as it headed straight for it. It's head snapped backwards as it took the book in the face and unable to see, it stumbled over Aki, falling face first onto the edge of a book trolley which overbalanced.
Aki scrambled to her feet and turned to see the trolley overturned and lying on top of the youma, books scattered across the tiled floor and the twitching pink legs protruding from the pile.
Setsuna big-sweated, <She's worse than Usagi!>
Tossing the trolley away with a scream of embarrassed rage, the youma stood up. "Right. That's it. No more Mister Nice Youma!"
Pink tendrils burst from it's chest driving across the room towards Aki.
"Aiiiieeee!" Aki screamed as she was hit by the tendrils and was slammed into a nearby wall. She crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
"Now, try this you puny...HUMAN!"
Looking at the unconcsious form of Aki, Setsuna decided it was time for her to do something. She raised her transformation pen high.
"PLUTO PLANET POWER...MAKE UP."
"What's this?...So, Sailor Pluto..."
"HA! I knew it! You are Sailor Pluto." Aki skipped around happily twirling her hands around each other and flinging them up level with her shoulders humming brightly. "Doo doo doo doo do, hey! Doo doo doo doo do, hey!"
Both the youma and Sailor Pluto had no recourse but to sweat drop.
"What. Do. You. Think. You're doing! I was about to defeat Sailor Pluto here for the glory of the..." He swung his arm around to point at Pluto and found himself staring into a globe of orchid-coloured energy. He hadn't heard the whispered "dead scream."
Pluto banished her costume and turned to Aki who was still prancing happily about.
"I knew it. You are Sailor Pluto. You can't deny it now, I saw you transform."
Setsuna grabbed the finger that was pointed directly at her, leaned in close to Aki and whispered, "I trust, Aki-chan, that this will go no further?"
"Of course not. The Sailor Senshi are champions of Love and Justice and are sworn to protect our universe! I would never jeopardise that."
"Good." She bent to sweep her designs off the floor. "Now, where were we?"
"Setsuna-san."
"Aki-chan. I'm sorry I won't be able to stay and talk, I have a meeting to go to."
"Oh, that's alright, I'll walk with you. I'm not busy."
"Ah, well, actually I would prefer it if you didn't."
"Hmm. So you're meeting with the others, are you? Can I come, pretty please?" She fluttered her eyelashes at Setsuna, her eyes endless pools of innocence and sweetness.
Setsuna narrowed her eyes as she considered the consequences of saying 'yes' and compared them to those of saying 'no. She sighed. "Fine. Come on then."
"Thanks, Setsuna-san. Lets go."
"I wonder if Sailor Negaverse has anything to do with that youma that appeared in the library the other day?" Hotaru mused.
"Rei, I haven't finished that one yet!"
"Well, considering they appeared at about the same time they are probably related."
"It's my manga! And I haven't even started it yet!"
"Mmhmm. And speaking of the library youma...How was it destroyed?"
"But, Rei, I was reading it!"
"No one knows. People said it was a Senshi, but none of us were there."
"Did I say you could read it? You are so immature, odango."
"Could it have been Sailor Negaverse?"
"Well, at least I'm not an ugly, fire-breathing dragon, like someone I could name."
"But if she's from the Negaverse, why would she be destroying them?"
"Clutz!"
"Well she is a Sailor."
"Meanie!"
"'Sailor' and 'Negaverse'. Aren't they mutually exclusive?"
"Cry baby!"
"Evidently not. Besides, there was a Sailor Lead Crow, Iron Mouse and Aluminium Siren, not to mention Sailor Galaxia."
"Well...well...bleh!"
"That's true. No one really knows what a Sailor actually is."
"Bleh!"
A voice drifted through the door. "So this is where you meet. What a pretty temple."
Conversation ceased as the door slid open and Setsuna walked in followed by Aki. Everyone stared at the stranger.
"Oh wow! All these Sailors! Sailor Mercury, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Saturn, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Venus, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter!" She said while leaping from person to person and finally turning to Setsuna. "Where's Sailor Chibi-Moon?"
"She had to return home." Setsuna replied as she sat at the table, ignoring everyone's flabbergasted looks. She offered Aki a rice cake from the plate on the table and finally turned her attention to her fellow Senshi. "Hmm. I must say I've never seen them like this before."
The Senshi were staring open-mouthed at Setsuna as she spoke.
"You mean they look different sometimes? But they're so cute already!"
Heads turned to Aki.
"Yes. They don't actually change form, just...expression."
And back to Setsuna.
"But they've been like that since I got here. Are you sure they don't always look like this?"
To Aki.
"Do you really think they'd be effective as Sailor Senshi if they remained like this all the time? They should be back to normal any minute now."
To Setsuna.
"Ah...Setsuna? What's going on?" Usagi finally articulated their thoughts.
"I did say I would be here for this meeting, didn't I?"
"Ye-es. But, you didn't say anyone would be coming with you."
"Why did you tell her our identities, Setsuna?" Luna asked.
"I didn't. Now, I think it's time you learnt how the Negaverse came to be and maybe we'll be able to figure out something about this Sailor Negaverse."
"Ah...you don't know?"
Setsuna eyed Makoto and decided to ignore her.
"It happened like this..."
Vortex suddenly grimaced and collapsed. The other mages stared as the colour leeched away from her. Her skin turned pale, her eyes grey, her hair black and her costume darkened. Moments later, Vortex simply vanished.
"Vortex!" Washuu cried out running towards the place where she had last been, but there was nothing there. She turned back to the other sorceresses.
"What happened? Where is she?"
"I-I don't know."
The four women stood in silence for a moment waiting for the reappearance of Vortex, but she didn't return.
"Serenity, can you see if you can find her? You would have the best chance."
"I'll try too. Where is she?"
Washuu and Serenity began casting their spells. Serenity's soft humming provided a background for the formulaic chants of Washuu as she drew diagrams in the air and on the ground. The dimly glowing characters of Washuu's spell formed into a map of the universe and she searched intently for the dot of light that would tell of Vortex's location. She couldn't find it.
Tiny motes of light danced about Serenity, moving in and out of patterns, and she watched them for any hint of Aki's position. Then the lights exploded outwards and showered across Washuu's diagrams, erasing them and she stumbled, her concentration gone.
Looking up, she noticed similar disorientation on the faces of her colleagues.
"What was that?" Galaxia asked quietly.
"Death magic. A lot of it." Serenity paused, "Shi."
"Shi?"
"Mm. We have to know what happened, which means finding Shi."
Shi floated in space, looking at the remnants of the planet Ceres. A dazed look was on her face, which quickly transmuted into anger. <Vortex! Damn it, I should have killed her directly!>
She didn't notice the four women appearing in the void of space behind her until one of them called her name.
"Shi. What have you done?"
Shi faced them before replying and sneered. "I? I merely decided to finally get rid of my only competition in my bid to rule the universe. Unfortunately, as you can see, Vortex disrupted my attack and destroyed her planet instead. At least I don't have to deal with her again."
"Where is she?" Washuu demanded clenching her fists.
"Where is she? How would I know? I'm not her babysitter. You want to know, go find her yourself. If, of course, you manage to survive."
"SOULS FINAL DARKNESS!"
A huge blast of pure ebony shot from her fingertips, eclipsing the light of the planets and stars of the galaxy. Serenity floated forwards and cast a life-shield in front of the four friends to delay the death that was coming. Shi threw more and more power into her attack as it fought furiously against the shield, which wavered. Galaxia added her power to Serenity's and the shield stabilised.
Washuu and Eternity were casting a spell of their own, the build up of power directed towards Shi, but held in place for a few crucial seconds. Then Serenity and Galaxia dropped the shield and the spell was released, driving through the deathblow towards the heart of Shi.
It struck and she screamed.
Serenity spoke with steel in her voice, "You are hereby banished from this universe forever."
Galaxia and Serenity wove their power into the spell and Shi vanished, still screaming.
"The universe she was sent to was the Negaverse."
"So Shi is Sailor Negaverse?"
"No. Shi came to be known as Metallia and established her rule over that universe and the people of the planet Ceres who had arrived there shortly before. As far as we could tell they had been sent there immediately prior to the planet being destroyed, though we're not sure how. Their blood became corrupted by the negaverse and they became the youma. Queen Beryl and the generals were almost entirely human as they were being protected from the change by Metallia after they betrayed Queen Serenity during the Silver Millenium."
"So what happened to Vortex?" Usagi asked.
"No one knows. She was never seen again."
"That's so sad." Usagi sniffed and grabbed a tissue from the box Rei had pulled out of somewhere.
"Hehehehehahahahaha!" Laughter broke through the palpable aura of sorrow that hung over the group after Setsuna's statement.
Everyone looked, disgustedly, across at Aki who was sprawled out on a pile of cushions reading a manga and nibbling on a rice cake.
"How could you laugh at such a sad story?"
"Eh? But this isn't sad." Aki held up the manga Rei and Usagi had been fighting over much earlier. "Ryoko was trying to sneak into Tenchi's room but she got the wrong room, since she'd been drinking all afternoon and evening and she ended up in Aeka's bed. Sasami walked into the room the next morning and started taking photos and ended up being attacked by both of them until they realised they were working together and turned on each other."
"Hey! I hadn't read that yet!"
"Oh? Well, you should you know. It's really funny." She nodded and went back to her reading.
"..." Came from both Usagi and Rei.
Setsuna got up and spoke "It is time for me to leave. There are things I must do."
"See you later, Setsuna."
The Inner Scouts and Aki were walking towards the park after the meeting, Aki having decided to accompany them. It was she who opened conversation.
"So Usagi, you must be really good at Martial arts to be able to pull off such a convincing act without anyone noticing. Who taught you?"
"Martial Arts? Act?" Usagi asked, bewildered.
"You know. The way you always pretend to dodge by luck. I suppose you learned some sort of variation on drunken style kung fu?"
"Haha Hahaha Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha," The others burst out laughing and kept going for some time, unable to stop.
"What, is there something I don't know?"
"Usagi doesn't know martial arts, she really is dodging by luck."
"You guys are all so mean. Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh-up." Usagi hiccuped.
"Why are you wailing, Usagi? There is no point in wailing here. Shouldn't you use it where it would provide a good distraction. Although, I have noticed some of the Youma do seem to fight harder to stop your wailing. Maybe you should consider a different distraction? Insults work well."
"Huh?"
"You've lost her entirely. Usagi doesn't know any martial arts, and she only wails because she's scared."
"I can't believe that. Such a perfect routine must be practised to come out right all the time. I'm right, aren't I, Usagi."
"What? Um, Ah, Hmm. Uh, Yeah." Usagi said, her statement growing stronger as she spoke. "I practise a lot. Heh Heh Heh."
"Not intentionally, you don't." Rei responded.
"You are so mean, Rei,"
"Biiiiiidaaaaah!"
"Biiiiiidaaaaah!"
They walked on towards the park, Ami, Makoto, Minako and Aki looking as though they were trying to convince passers-by that they really didn't know the two girls fighting a very serious tongue war next to them.
At the entrance to the park, Aki stopped and turned to the others. "Oh Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you guys a question and Setsuna hasn't answered it for me yet."
"What's that?"
"Do you get cold in your fuku's?"
"......"
"Well?"
"What sort of question is that"
"Well, if I was walking around wearing little more than a swimsuit, I think I would get pretty cold. I just want to know if it's the same with your costumes. So, do you get cold?"
"I suppose they do get cold at times, but we're usually too busy to notice."
"Hmm. So the fabric provides fairly good insulation. Have you thought about getting winter suits? I'm sure Setsuna could design them for you."
"The fuku's are fine as they are. The only time we use them is in a fight and we sure don't stay cold for long in that situation."
"I suppose that's true." Aki trailed off and then, with stars in her eyes, said dreamily, "Wow, He's so cute. He looks just like my old boyfriend."
The others, except for Makoto, developed sweatdrops and looked between the pair. They wondered if maybe they were missing a family resemblence, because there was something there, if only they could put their fingers on it.
Makoto, however, was hopeful as she looked eagerly in the direction Aki was looking and her hopes died when she saw that the guy was Mamoru.
Mamoru looked up and saw the 6 girls and started to walk over.
"Ohmygosh, OhmyGosh. He's coming this way!"
The others finally stopped looking between Aki and Makoto and turned to see Mamoru approaching them.
"Mamo-chan!" Usagi shouted as she ran over and hugged Mamoru.
"Hi, Usa." Mamoru responded.
"That's not fair, how come she gets such a cute boyfriend?" She paused "Hold on. He looks familiar somehow. He must be that Tuxedo Kamen guy, right?"
"Huh, you can tell just by looking?"
"Heh, I am a master at recognising major cute guys no matter what they are wearing and that is one of them." Aki stated, pointing at Mamoru. "I wonder if he knows any other cuties."
"Well, there's Andrew, but he already has a fiance. Other than that, I don't think there is anyone." Makoto told Aki then dropped her voice until it was almost inaudible. "He doesn't have very many male friends, y'know."
"Really? So how often does Usagi-chan get jealous?...And why are all the cute ones always taken?" Wailed Aki.
Makoto put an arm around her shoulders in commiseration and nodded with full understanding. "I know, life's just not fair."
Aki was sitting in front of a computer screen staring at a map of Tokyo where two lights, one silver and one gold, were blinking. <Hmmm. Tracing routine indicates only two items in the area that are able to provide the amount of power that I need. And they're linked. Perfect> She leaned forward and entered a new set of commands and the map zoomed in on Juuban. <It seems the link is also a lock. The silver energy reading is needed in order to unlock the golden reading. Looks like I'll need to find out what the silver reading really is>.
Aki rose and walked over to another desk where a small octagonal prism was lying. <Looks like I'll have to trace the signal using this crystal of Nephlyte's. Pity its so inaccurate. Perhaps if I hook it up to a monitor and throw in some signal boosters...Yeah, I'll get a lot more data that way.> She grabbed the prism and took it to another desk.
After a few minutes of fiddling, she connected the prism to a small monitor and took the completed device to the computer. <Time to upload the tracking data and a map of Tokyo.>
<Good. I shouldn't have any trouble finding the energy's readings with this.>
<I wonder who keeps an item with that level of power, anyway.> She stopped and entered a few more commands into the computer <Well, well, well. It looks like it could be one of Serenity's creations. So much life energy, hmm, and it acts as an amplifier for the carrier's energy as well. So Serenity wasn't just a pretty face after all.>
<25,000 years and finally I'll be able to complete my task.>
<Hmm. They're finally moving. And towards the same location at that. I guess I was right to send in that youma, it's attracted the attention of the Silver and Gold signatures.> Aki's thoughts trailed off as she moved off towards the location where the two energy readings would converge. <Time to move fast. I want to be there before they arrive so I can tell where each energy source is.>
Aki sped up, dropping her civilian disguise and continuing on as Sailor Negaverse. Two minutes later she arrived at an abandoned lot where Sailors Mars, Jupiter, and Venus were battling a twleve foot tall shadow. Aki glanced at the octagonal tracking device. <The sources aren't here yet. Silver is 400 metres away and approaching from 32 degrees at 22km/h. Gold is 1200 metres away and approaching from 74 degrees moving at 37km/h.> She looked up expectantly towards Silver's approach path and saw Sailor Moon running toward the battle. <So, Sailor Moon has the silver, I wonder if that means he has the Gold>. She turned to watch the golden reading approach.
Tuxedo Kamen rushed in over the rooftops, leapt towards Sailor Moon and snatched her out of the way of the bolt of shadow which ended up digging a trench along the ground. "Be careful Sailor Moon. This thing looks deadly."
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"
A flaming arrow shot forward from Sailor Mars towards the Shadow. Golden hearts from Venus and green leaves of energy from Jupiter joined the attack, swirling about the arrow as it flew towards the shadow. The arrow passed through the shadow with no visible effect.
"No way. Nothing happened. That thing took three of our best and nothing happened." Jupiter said, shocked.
"How dare you hurt my friends! Shadows are meant to...to...Um guys, what exactly do shadows do?"
Everyone sweatdropped. "Oh well, lets just get on with it then."
"Ai to seigi no Sailor-fuku no BISHOUJO no SENSHI SAILOR MOON! Tsuki ni kawatte...Oshioki yo!"
"STARLIGHT HONEYMOON THERAPY KISS!"
Eternal Sailormoon entered the battle with a burst of light. The light shone forth brightly from her tier and the Shadow screamed in silence but stood it's ground. When the attack had dissipated the shadow was not only still there, but actually looked stronger, more...solid.
"How do we fight this thing? Nothing works. We need Mercury."
Venus turned her attention from the fight briefly and contacted Sailor Mercury on the communicator. //Where are you? We really need your help.//
//I'll be there in about 5 seconds.//
Meanwhile, on the rooftop, Sailor Negaverse was looking at the fight in disbelief. She clapped hand to her forehead and groaned. <What are they doing? Do I have to do everything? I thought everyone knew shadows can't exist without light. But how to go about this so that they'll listen...hmm...ah!>
"Air and fire, arise, come together and form into the image of the one who commands thee."
<Those manga artists do come up with some of the corniest, coolest ideas...> Sailor Negaverse grinned and lowered her hands from the position above her head.
On the far side of the battle, just out of view of the Senshi, a figure coalesced out of the air. It ran quickly towards the battle and arrived at the same time as Sailor Mercury. As the figure stepped into the light, it was noticed by Sailor Venus.
"What are you doing?! Get away! It's dangerous here!...Aki?"
"Yep. I heard a battle and thought I would see if I could help. You guys sure make a lot of noise."
"Just keep out of the way. We have to take care of this monster."
Sailor Venus turned to Sailor Mercury and asked "Mercury, How do we defeat this thing. None of our attacks worked. What do we do?"
Sailor Mercury took out her computer and activated her VR visor. She started scanning the monster when Aki-illusion cut in "It's a shadow. Shadows can't exist without light. So, Why don't you destroy all the lights and get Mercury there to block the rest of the light with her fog thing?"
The shadow seemed to understand this and started unleashing its shadow bolts at the scouts and Aki-illusion. The scouts managed to avoid being hit but Aki-illusion was hit dead on and thrown back into a wall.
"Aki!...Damn it! Now you've got me mad." Sailor Jupiter yelled.
Sailor Venus quickly took command "Tuxedo Kamen, take the lights on that side, I've got these ones. The rest of you, keep the shadow busy."
Sailor Venus started throwing crescent beams at the lights on her side of the abandoned lot while Tuxedo Kamen took care of the lights on his side. The others all turned and attacked the shadow.
Fifteen seconds later the lights were out.
"SHABON SPRAY"
The area was shrouded in mist and darkened considerably. However, it was not enough. As the mist slowly cleared, the shadow was still standing although it was looking considerably weaker.
"How can we destroy it? We can't get rid of the light entirely."
On the rooftop, Sailor Negaverse sighed. <Well, I can't let them die.> She leapt down into the dissipating mist, faced the Senshi and the shadow and spoke "Then I guess its my turn."
"Who said that?" The Sailor scouts turned to see a dark figure raise her hand "...Sailor Negaverse?"
"Thats right girls. Goodnight."
A wall of pure ebony burst out from her hand. The shadow was hit by the wall and instantly disappeared. The wall continued advancing and passed through the Senshi, swirling around each one as it passed, tendrils of energy swept away from their bodies and into Sailor Negaverse, rendering them unconscious.
"These Sailor Senshi have quite a lot of energy. Oh well. Time to take the place of my illusion and render myself unconscious."
Sailor Negaverse shifted into casual clothes and lay down where the illusion had been. She then touched three spots on her neck and was instantly unconscious.
--------More notes---------
Part 2 will come eventually along with a side story detailing some of Aki's time in the Negaverse. Our main problem is that we come up with too many new ideas and they just have to be started. Maybe sometime they will be finished.
Thanks for reading. If you would be so kind as to send constructive C&C, We would be grateful. We would probably also end up writing better.
Ja ne
Li & Lei