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Shades of Gray
A Sailor Moon Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack
Chapter 3: Inferno of Battle
"Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war!"
-Anthony, 'The Tragedy of Julius Ceaser'
************************************************************************
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is owned by Naoko Takeuchi, whose creative
talents far exceed my most humble own. Distribution and other rights to
Sailor Moon belong to lots of different companies that I do not own. I
make or imply no claim to ownership of Sailor Moon or its characters.
However, the text of this fanfic and all original characters presented
within are mine, and should not be used without permission. Thank you.
************************************************************************
Ixitar knelt before his lord, fear pheromones surrounding him.
Already the vultures had started circling in for the kill. A force from
the Mountains of Desolation, an alliance of several Overlords who had
yet to swear loyalty to Jadeite, was approaching the borders of his
domain. A fleet sent by Pesilitar, the new Overlord of Tempest Island,
would arrive shortly after them. His only hope was that Jadeite would
take offense to such conflicts.
Jadeite motioned for the Overlord to speak. Stammering, Ixitar
began. "Lord Jadeite... I regret to inform you that the Senshi have
somehow managed to defeat my forces. I can no longer continue
operations against them."
Jadeite frowned, and the fear stench intensified. In the crowd,
Asphara whispered something to her consort Ishmanar, who laughed and
nodded in reply. "I see only your own cowardice, Overlord Ixitar. You
were not there to lead your forces, and they were defeated because of
it."
"I beg for mercy, Lord Jadeite. Please, grant me mercy!" Ixitar
pleaded.
"Beryl would have put you into the Eternal Sleep for this
disaster. But, I will be more merciful." Jadeite pointed one finger at
the cowering youma. "Incinerate."
Ixitar's barely begun thanks turned into a scream of terror.
"No, Lord Jadeite! Please, mercy, mercy..." The youma resumed
screaming as he caught on fire. Even the most hardened of the Overlords
flinched as Ixitar slowly burnt. The stumbling figure was wreathed in
white flames and the stench of burnt flesh filled the stale air. After
what seemed an eternity, Ixitar collapsed and the screams stopped.
Soon, all that was left was a pile of white ash.
Jadeite smiled. "So perish all who fail me. Or defy me." He
looked pointedly at the emissary from the Mountains of Desolation.
The emissary, a massive minotaur like creature, stepped forward
nervously. "I believe that the Mountains will be most willing to swear
fealty to you, if you will give as uncontested claim to the territory
formerly held by Ixitar."
Jadeite nodded. "Granted." He ignored the glare from Pesilitar.
Perhaps that Overlord's insolence would have been dealt with at once,
but Nyxan, another Overlord, lay a restraining hand on the rash youma's
shoulder, and Pesilitar backed down.
The emissary bowed. "With your permission, I will lead the next
strike against the Senshi."
Jadeite sized up the emissary for a moment. "Very well. Bring
me back the Senshi's heads." Hmm... perhaps he would observe the battle
in person this time. This ought to be interesting. And he could see if
this Ares was really Ares...
************************************************************************
Back on Earth, things had been quiet for just over a week, much
to the relief of the Senshi. Though they had been relatively easily
defeated, four youma attacks in two days had exhausted them. Pluto had
vanished again, much to the disappointment of both the Inners and
Outers, as they had defiantly been hoping for some answers. Of course,
that was the reason Pluto was gone. She hated when she had to lie to
her princess and her sort-of younger sisters.
Pluto stared silently at her second most important charge. It
seemed to be a large round courtyard. In the center was a stone mural
of the sun. Surrounding that were ten concentric circles. If one
looked carefully, one might discern that each of the circles had a small
hole somewhere along its path.
With a sure stride, Pluto stepped forward until she stood before
the hole on the outermost circle. She carefully wiggled her staff into
the hole, which was not the right shape for it, in a practiced gesture.
She reached out with her senses through the hole, meticulously examining
the data now available to her.
She probed the first boundary she felt. As expected, it was
broken and decaying. Pluto kept her mind's touch delicate, to avoid
being attacked by one of the creatures within. What areas she could,
Pluto strengthened, but most were damaged beyond repair. A grimace
appeared on her face as some of the inhabitants started to force their
way through. But there was nothing she could do.
Pluto then turned to the second barrier. This one was flawless,
impermeable. However, Pluto was no less thorough in her examination of
this one then she had been in that of the first. An undetected breach
here could be a disaster. Particularly with the Champions awake.
Her duty complete for now, Pluto removed her staff from the
hole. She turned her face upward, staring for several moments at the
distant sun, and remembered a time far in the past. A time when the
dark, silent castle that surrounded her had been filled with life and
cheer. A time when every generation, twenty of the most powerful people
in the solar system would journey here to train and be forged into a
team. An unbreakable team, upon whom over forty billion people had
depended. A team that had been held together by a history stretching
throughout almost eight thousand years.
Pluto also remembered how that team had been sundered. She
recalled the angry voices, the barely restrained attacks as over a
decade of bad blood came to a boil in one heart-rending day. She
remembered how Saturn and Ares had confronted each other, weapons
crackling with energy. Most of all, she remembered what had happened
that night. A few sentences, words that still haunted her sometimes to
this day, ten thousand years later.
"This is all _your_ fault, Pluto." He had filled her title with
hatred, refusing to use the name he alone knew. "One word, just one word
from you, and this would never have happened. One word, and the Senshi
would have backed us." She was now part of 'them' to him, as the other
Senshi had been for fifteen years. They had been part of 'us' for
thousands of years. "Hell, one word and even the Princess would have
backed us. One word, and this war need not have happened. The blood of
all who die as a result is on your hands alone. When we meet again, it
will be as enemies."
He had stormed out of the room, and had boarded the spaceship
for Mars by the end of the hour. The next time they met, he had been
leading a squad of assassins sent to kill her.
************************************************************************
Tamori glared at the uncooperative pink liquid. Whatever this
stuff was, it wasn't like anything he had seen before. There were traces
of what could be genetic material, but whatever they were made of wasn't
DNA or RNA. Which fit, he guessed, as the liquid wasn't supposed to
come from Earth, or even the solar system.
The college student briefly shuddered at the thought. He had
known that what had happened at Mugen High was odd, but this was more
than he had expected. Alien invaders bent on world destruction, demonic
possession, the works. And apparently some of the victims were right
under this roof. Apparently, the cute little baby had been a twelve
year old girl a few weeks ago. Spooky.
Shaking himself from his thoughts, Tamori went back to trying to
find something the odd liquid would react with. He wished he had some
of those... daimon eggs... the Professor had called them, so he could
observe the reaction with them. Or on second thought, maybe not. He
liked his heart where it was, thank you very much.
Wrapped up in his musings, Tamori didn't notice the soft
footsteps behind him until the person began to speak. "Hello?"
Tamori turned around, seeing a six year old girl with blackish
hair and startling purple eyes. "Um... who are you?"
The girl smiled. "I'm Tomoe Hotaru. Who are you?"
Tamori blinked. Twice. "Uh... I'm Inusha Tamori, the lab
assistant. Er... weren't you a baby this morning?" Geez... this job
gets more weird every day.
Hotaru giggled. "Sort of. I think."
Tamori say the door at the top of the stairs leading down to the
lab open. One of the three women who boarded at the Tomoe place,
Michiru, if he recalled correctly, stepped into the room. "Tamori, have
you seen... Hotaru?!! Tamori, what happened here?"
Tamori smiled weakly at Michiru. "Good question."
Hotaru tugged on Tamori's lab coat. "Tamori, what's that?"
Tamori saw that the girl was pointing at the beaker of pink liquid.
"Another good question. That's what I'm trying to find out."
Somehow he knew something weird was going to happen.
Hotaru frowned. "I don't like it. It feels bad." Tamori
almost saw a flicker of an image on Hotaru's forehead as she glared at
the beaker. However, his attention was diverted as all the samples in
sight turned into what looked like water.
Tamori stood open mouthed. For an instant, he had felt...
connected to something greater than himself. Images had seemed to
appear before him, but vanished before he could see them. Memories had
been recalled, only to vanish like mirages. This job was really weird.
But, at least it wasn't boring. Nobody, not even him, noticed the word
he had softly whispered.
"Saturn."
************************************************************************
Ikawa sat back as his "date" continued describing the latest
exploits of Usagi the meatball head. This time, apparently, was of the
"Usagi klutzes out in an amusing way" variety, as opposed to the "Usagi
is late" or "Usagi does or says something stupid" stories. It seemed as
though this time Usagi had stumbled over what Rei described as an
imaginary, deceased, homeless turtle.
As Rei continued to wax elegant over her best friend's multitude
of shortcomings, Ikawa mused over his "relationship" with the girl
before him. At the moment, it was in the "playing around" stage, but a
small, rebellious part of him wanted to take it further. The rest of
him objected strongly to that sentiment. Not only had he only known her
a few days, but she wasn't even in high school yet! Hell, if you looked
at it the right way, he was eight thousand years older than her! But...
but nothing.
Ikawa glanced around the sunlit cafe, wondering when the next
youma attack would come. He needed to be ready for it when it did. The
worst part of being a defender of justice, millennia of experience told
him, was not the fighting, but the waiting. If he had some backup, he
could try to take the fight to the enemy, but he was the only Champion
awake.
He really did need to find and Awaken his brethren. It was
obvious that exposure to Sailor Mars's attack had been the trigger for
his own Awakening, so presumably similar exposure to their counterpart's
magic would do the same for the other Champions. But the question was,
how would he set up such an occurrence, much less actually _find_ the
others or recognize them when he did?
Part of that question was answered as his gaze settled on a
pretty redheaded waitress, who was currently serving, or perhaps
gossiping, with a group of girls at a table on the other side of the
cafe. The first thing he noticed was that the group appeared to be
Usagi and Rei's other friends, probably spying on the "date". The
second thing that he noticed was that he recognized the waitress.
The redhead was a perfect likeness of Aphrodite's last
incarnation. Indeed, now that he realized that, he could practically
feel the energy radiating off her. Her every motion brought back
memories, from peaceful scenes on Luna or Pluto to the bloodstained
battlefields of Venus. Indeed, the Planet of Light, the most peaceful
of the ten primary magics, had been home to some of the bloodiest
fighting of the war, while Mars, the Planet of Fire, the most warlike
magic, had hosted only a single battle of consequence... Vulcan's Gap.
He remembered the mixed feelings of triumph and disgust as flight after
flight of flaming arrows had slammed into the chaotic mass of fleeing
loyalists...
An irritated snort interrupted Ikawa's recollections. He looked
up to see Rei glaring at him.
"You know, it isn't polite to look at other women when on a
date," she stated.
"Sorry... she just reminded me of someone," Ikawa replied, a
little embarrassed.
"Well, she should! That's Motoki's little sister, Unazuki,"
said Rei, still irritated.
************************************************************************
It was a particularly dark corner of the Dark Kingdom. Powerful
warding spells prevented even Jadeite himself from learning of what was
occurring in this small chamber, deep within the catacombs that lay
beneath the palace.
"Do you think Malvaar will survive?" The speaker was referring
to the former ambassador from the Mountains of Desolation, recently
departed to confront the Sailor Senshi.
"Perhaps. He's both strong and cunning. He wasn't the second
in command of Kunzite's legion for nothing," the other figure present
replied.
"You could be right. We must make plans for either case." The
first speaker paused, testing the wards again.
"Aye. However, our ultimate goal remains the same, regardless."
The second conspirator began to pace. "We must find the Diamonds. If we
can get all five, victory will be assured."
The other youma nodded. "But, if we don't have any, all the
energy in the universe won't do us any good."
"Where _is_ the one that Beryl used? She had to have had one!"
The second let a small amount of irritation into his voice.
"I think someone has found the Flame Diamond. Perhaps Jadeite
discovered it in Beryl's chambers?" the first asked.
"We searched those ten times over after her death. They were
picked clean of anything with even a scrap of power long before Jadeite
reappeared," the second responded. He continued, "In any case, what
should we do about Asphara?"
The first smiled. "Don't worry. She is under control."
The second did not share his companion's mirth. "I hope you're
right."
Hidden in the shadows, Asphara smirked.
************************************************************************
It was an ordinary day. Ikawa pounded his desk in frustration.
Part of the reason was his ponderings about yesterday's revelation of
Aphrodite's identity. The more immediate reason was the failure of his
sixth attempt to get the graphing program he needed for a math
assignment to compile properly on his computer. Whatever the problem
was, it was beyond his own rudimentary programming skills.
"OK... who to ask for help?" Ikawa mused mentally. "Perhaps...
yeah. Meno ought to know, if anyone would."
Ikawa stood and exited his one room apartment. He walked down
the hall of the run-down building, which catered to the college student
on a budget who didn't want to live on campus. He stopped in front of a
door labeled Urawa Meno.
He was about to knock when the door swung open revealing the
room's inhabitant. Meno gave Ikawa an odd look before brushing back his
long, white-gray hair and saying, "Oh, hi Ikawa. What do you want?"
"I need some help getting a program to compile..." Ikawa began.
Meno smiled. "OK. I'll see what I can do for you. Come on!"
The two headed back down to Ikawa's room. It only took Meno a few
moments to determine the problem. "See Ikawa? This function the
program calls here isn't included in the default library for this
compiler." He took a disk out of his pocket, and inserted it. The
proper library file was swiftly found and copied to Ikawa's computer.
Meno hit the compile key. The computer whirred briefly. "There
you have it."
Ikawa grinned. "Thanks."
Meno rose and headed towards the door. "No problem." After he
left the room, Meno gave an odd little smile. He had to thank little
brother for his help. Meno's own fragmentary visions hadn't been quite
clear, though remarkably strong, considering that he rarely got any at
all. Ikawa ought to get the message he had placed on his computer
tomorrow. Meno checked his watch, and noted that he still had a few
hours to kill before he had to head to the park.
Inside the room, Ikawa was working on the math assignment, but
the vast majority of his attention was spent on developing a plan for
his next encounter with the Senshi.
************************************************************************
The sun was starting to get low in the sky when the Dark Kingdom
strike force finally made it through the dimensional barrier. No one
noticed the three massive figures that appeared in a shadowy grove of
trees.
Malvaar paused to give final instructions to his companions.
"Remember, stick together. And if the Senshi show up, start preparing a
portal out of here."
The two lesser youma nodded, and with a mighty roar, the three
minotaurs burst from the trees, swiftly beginning to drain energy from
the unlucky bystanders. First by ones, but then by dozens, the humans
began dropped.
This activity set off alarms on Ami's computer, and within
moments, she had the other Senshi on her communicator. "Listen up.
I've detected another youma attack... down by the park." After hearing
the confirmations from her teammates, she dialed the number of the Tomoe
house, and informed the Outers as well.
Back at the park, the roof of a nearby building was disturbed by
a whirl of flame, as Jadeite teleported there. He gave a brief moment
of attention to establishing his cloaking spells before settling down to
watch the events to come.
Moments later, Ares arrived at the park. He avoided the youma's
attention, and hid behind a tree. He then waited for the Senshi's
arrival.
************************************************************************
The Senshi, minus Pluto, gathered at the far end of the park.
Mercury quickly tapped away on her computer. "OK, I'm picking up three
youma energy signals." She frowned. "If what I'm getting is correct,
each of them is roughly five times the strength of the youma we've been
facing normally."
Venus smiled. "You know the saying, the bigger they are, the
more pennies they save!" The other Senshi gave their teammate an odd
look.
Sailor Moon spoke up. "Does anyone know if Pluto's coming?"
When the others replied negatively, she continued, "Then lets get this
done with. Uranus, Neptune, take one of them. Mars, Venus, take
another, and Jupiter and Mercury the last. I'll provide backup to
whoever needs it, OK?"
With this plan in mind, the Senshi advanced towards the center
of the park. As soon as they spotted the monsters, Uranus let loose
with a long range World Shaking, which was swiftly followed by a barrage
of other attacks.
The three youma reacted with speed that belied their large size.
One charged towards the Senshi, running straight through a Burning
Mandala, apparently only minorly hurt. The second dodged to one side,
avoiding the Senshi's attack. The third, and largest, calmly caught the
World Shaking in one hand, ignoring the other blasts that slammed into
it.
Then, the minotaur laughed, raising the captured attack in one
hand. "I'm afraid you have bit off a bit more than you can chew,
Senshi. Know that I, Malvaar, second in command to Lord Kunzite, will
send you to your graves to avenge my lord!" With that he released the
World Shaking, sending it speeding back to its caster.
Uranus was fortunately able to dodge the worst of the attack,
but was still thrown to the ground by the force. Neptune released a
quick Deep Submerge to cover her partner, before helping Uranus to her
feet. Elsewhere, plans of battle forgotten, Mars and Jupiter teamed up,
sending powerful blasts at the charging youma.
This youma soon was among the Senshi, and bashed Venus to the
ground with a single powerful blow. The fallen Senshi managed to get
off a Crescent Beam, though to little effect. In response, the youma
delivered a kick to her side that would have easily shattered a normal
persons ribs before heading towards Sailor Moon, continuing to ignore
the fire and lightning that was hitting it.
Looking to buy time, Mercury cast her Bubbles Spray with
practiced ease. With the youma blinded, Mars and Jupiter circled around
behind it, while Sailor Moon began to prepare her attack. Elsewhere,
Tuxedo Kamen had arrived in the park, and was fighting to keep the
second of Malvaar's servants from entering the fray. Malvaar himself
was keeping back, preparing a portal back to the Dark Kingdom. Just
outside the battlefield, Urawa Meno first gasped and then smiled as he
observed Mercury's maneuver.
As soon as the magical fog faded, the youma facing the Senshi
received a three pronged attack. This damage was finally enough to
overwhelm the minotaur, and with a roar of pain, the monster dissolved
to dust.
At this, Malvaar gestured. His surviving servant broke off his
melee against Tuxedo Kamen, retreating towards his master. Malvaar
slammed one fist into the ground, causing what felt like a minor
earthquake, throwing the Senshi to the ground. Then, without a further
word said, the two youma vanished, returned to the Dark Kingdom.
Unknown to anyone, Jadeite followed with a smile.
************************************************************************
Ares also smiled as he saw the youma depart. It was time to put
his plan into action. He spent a brief moment to focus himself as the
Senshi began to rise. Then, he moved. He leapt into the battlefield,
shocking the Senshi with his sudden appearance. With a brief prayer
that he had developed enough strength to pull this move off, Ares
plunged his sword into the ground.
"Raging Inferno!" Ares smiled as the ground surrounding him
exploded into flames, throwing the Senshi into confusion. Though he
nearly collapsed from the effort of casting that spell, he kept a
careful eye on his target.
As soon as the flames died down, Ares raced forward and grabbed
Sailor Moon, roughly pulling her to her feet before dragging her a few
back and placing his sword at her neck. "Don't try anything, or
Serenity here gets it," he stated unnecessarily.
The Senshi were stunned, afraid to act. However, Tuxedo Kamen
growled a began to pull out a rose. There was no way Ares could react
fast enough to stop that attack.
Ares smiled evily. "Don't try the rose thing, Endymion. If I
lose my grip on the sword, Serenity's lovely throat gets slit." Tuxedo
Kamen froze.
Jupiter glared at Ares. "What do you want?"
Ares's grin widened. "Well, in the long run I want to see you
all dead, but I assume you mean right now, no? What I want is Venus
over there."
"What?!!" cried Sailor Venus.
"Specifically, if you'll agree to come with me and do as I say
for an hour, I'll let Serenity go. I'll even promise not to make you
reveal your identity or kill anyone, and I won't let any harm come to
you. Agreed?"
It took Venus only a moment to decide. "I'll do it." She
quickly stilled the other Senshi's halfhearted protests, and stepped
forward. "Release Sailor Moon."
Ares roughly shoved Sailor Moon forward, sending her stumbling
to the ground. He then nodded to Venus. "Come with me." He headed
off, and Venus followed.
************************************************************************
Sailor Venus silently walked behind Ares, wondering what the
Champion of Mars was up to. She noticed that Ares was going on a very
roundabout path to the north, probably trying to avoid crowds she
figured.
Ares wasted no time talking to the prisoner.Afterwhat seemed
like an uncomfortable eternity to Venus Ares stopped. The street was
empty, and venus noted that it was near the Osa-P and the Crown Arcade.
Ares handed her a blindfold Venus looked at him quizically.
"Put this on," he said simply. After she complied, Ares began
to lead her by the hand. She quickly lost her mental idea of where she
was, long before the two suddenly stopped once more. After a few
moments, Ares grabbedher arm and raised it.
"I want you to fire a weak Crescent Beam where you are pointing
at," the Champion ordered. Wondering what he could possibly want, Venus
complied.
After she sent out her attack, she heard someone moan briefly.
She frowned. the Crescent Beam she had fired had been too weak to hurt
anybody.
Venus heard Ares talking to someone else. "Don't go anywhere.
I'll be right back." She was then lead away by Ares, who after a while
removed the blidfold. "You can go now," Ares stated. He then left
Venus standing in the middle of a deserted street.
Venus darted into an alley and detransformed, then headed off to
report what she had done and seen.
************************************************************************
Ares also detransformed, and Ikawa walked to where he had left
Unazuki. He smiled as he approached the shaken young girl. Her
expression brightened as she saw him approaching. "Deinas?" she
questioned.
He shook his head. "It's Fuarku Ikawa now, Unazuki."
Unazuki grinned. "OK. You're one of Motoki's friends, aren't
you?"
As the two began to walk off, he replied, "That's right."
"So, what's the situation?" Unazuki asked.
"Basically, I've been fighting a one man war against the Senshi.
The attacks we've been facing are definatly youma, though it seems that
Beryl is no longer in charge. The attacks seem to be characteristic of
Jadeite or Zoicite, though they've really been to simplistic to really
tell," Ares explained.
"Have you tried a recon mission into the Dark Kingdom?" Unazuki
commented.
"Too risky," Ikawa answered.
The two continued to walk, Ikawa catching Unazuki up on recent
events and making plans.
************************************************************************
At the Gates of Time, Pluto nearly swore once more. the
situation was quickly deteriorating, but it wasn't as bad as it could
have been. She had seen that her joining the battle would have been an
utter disaster, as both Hades and Hermes would have Awakened and joined
the fight. These suprise reinforcments might have been able to carve a
bloody swathe through the already exhausted Senshi's ranks. She
couldn't have taken that risk.
Once more, she railed against the prohibitions that bound her.
She would have loved to be able to explain the situation to the Senshi
and prepare them for what was coming. However, for some reason unclear
to her, this would lead to the destruction of all she had worked for.
And her future self wasn't being helpful, either. She refused to answer
any of her questions, and now wasn't even responding to her calls.
This was bad. Three Champions Awakened, and more likely to
come. This was very bad.
************************************************************************
Author's Random Ramblings
1) Well, it took a little longer than I expected, but here's Chapter 3
of Shades of Gray. C&C is of course welcome.
2) Unazuki being Aphrodite is part of my futile struggle to keep the
new charater count in this fic low.
3) Previous chapters of this story, as well asmy other fanfic, are
archived at my website (http://www.geocities.com/anowack/).