Starlit Ruins

Mid-summer heat brought little comfort to those in their offices. Appreciation of the brilliant weather was passed down to beach-dwellers, of which there was many that day. What better way to spend the restlessly hot day but in the sun? The cool waters lapping at the edge of the beach drew a misty breeze to those who had accepted the offer of the weather.

  They were, in part, interested by the gathering of individuals, and why they nestled in groups, and such heat. Yet more distinct was their interest in how this collective might serve them.

  'Uraki-sama was right,' Akari observed. 'The girl has become a problem.'

  'Of course he was right. She can wait, however. We have greater concerns right now to deal with.'

  Akari and Yanei had spied their lure. Neither expected their task to be an easy one. In the past, Mamoru had not been easily fooled. Defeated and simply overpowered, but not fooled. He was considered to be a most worthy opponent.

  ‘So we must draw his attention,' Yanei observed, her gaze settled on the iridescent pool of seeing.

  Akari nodded. 'I will summon a gem-beast. It will steal the energy of the fool humans on the beach. Mamoru will have no choice but to respond.' He smiled, quite proud of himself. 'Uraki-Ayo would be pleased.'

  'Even if it does take time,' Yanei added.

  Akari blinked, confused. 'Time? Why should it?'

  'How will he know to reach us? It may take months to sufficiently bait him, my darling,' Yanei explained lovingly.

  'I see your point, beloved. Is there nothing we can do to alter this delay?'

  For a moment, she was silent with thought. Her finger twirled several wayward lengths of orange hair absently.

  'Ah!' she grinned. 'We can tempt him directly. It will cost us valuable energy, but I am certain it will be worth it. An appearance, however brief, will certainly motivate Luna and Artemis, hai?'

  'Hai! You are much wiser than I, my sweet, and I love you for it,' Akari smiled, taking her hand and pressing his lips to it briefly. Childishly, she blushed, a pleasant smile warming her young face.

  Akari bowed his blue haired head and mumbled a series of words under his breath. Moments later, the pool of seeing fogged, the image on the surface swirling and fading into grey. Several slivers of light rippled from the edges of the pool to the center, where they gathered into a physical substance. As the process continued, a small opaque object began to take form. Akari stopped his chanting, and let the spell complete itself. His hand reached and picked up the crimson-tinted gem in two fingers.

  'It is your turn my beloved,' he said, not looking at Yanei.

  She said nothing as she closed her eyes. The image of the beach returned, and shifted, as if panning, like a camera. The image moved to the strip of park that strode the length of the sandy surface of land.

  Now, Yanei thought.

  Akari's fingers appeared to let the gem slip. The gem disappeared into the waters. When it reappeared, it seemed to have landed on the pavement pictured in the pool.

  'It only requires a touch, and they will bring forth the beast within.' Akari smiled, and leaned backwards. 'We have only to wait.'

  'What about the girl?'

  'I think I have a gem that will work beautifully for our cute little warrior…'

  @~%~~~

  He landed effortlessly on the ground. A small black feline ran aside the formally dressed man, calling out his name: 'Tuxedo Kamen!'

  He looked at her behind his white mask.

  'How do you expect me to defeat this creature, Luna-chan? I can't banish them the way Usagi did.' Irritation and anxiety rang in his voice.

  She halted suddenly. 'I d-don't know.'

  A small white cat followed up behind her. “We can't just let it roam free!”

  His words came as more of a command than advice. Tuxedo Kamen had no choice in the matter, and he knew it. For a moment he watched the beast, the humanoid qualities of it as it grabbed and stole the life energy from the scattering people on the beach.

  Hardly efficient, he decided suspiciously. It was taking much too long, terrorizing single victims before seizing their energy. Playing with them as one does with food.

  It appeared to be mostly humanoid, aside from the claw-like appendages in the place of arms. He decided that if he was going to act, he had to do it carefully. Perhaps he could scare it off? He grumbled discontentedly, placing himself before the beast, preparing for the confrontation.

  'I am Tuxedo Kamen!' he declared, expecting rage from the creature as a reaction. 'What did Usako used to say?' he muttered under his breath. 'Uh… In the name of… uh… oh hell, prepare to get your ass kicked!'

  The creature spied him, and paused. 'Tuxedo Kamen?' a guttural voice mumbled. A deep war cry tore loose from the beast's throat, assaulting his ears. 'You will die!'

  Without further ado, the beast charged at him. Tuxedo Kamen aptly sidestepped the attack, swatting the beast with his cane. The beast fell over, causing a brief explosion of sand. No question as to who was the superior fighter here, he decided.

  With a growl, the beast rose to his feet. It did not move, it merely stood, seeming to gauge the opponent it faced. The oddly formally dressed man was suddenly gripped by the question; was it actually thinking ahead? He nearly laughed at the concept. When the gem-beast saw his distraction, it struck. Tendrils from the creature reached out and grabbed him by the arm, latching on tightly. Tuxedo Kamen gasped at the unexpected movement, and also when he realized he was about to be seriously hurt.

  'Damn,' Luna cursed, then jumped at the creature. Claws raked across the dark blue skin of the beast's face, drawing blood and rendering it sightless. The creature wailed out in agony and dropped the weakening Tuxedo Kamen.

  'Thank you, Luna-chan,' he gasped.

  Artemis ran up to Luna. 'How do you suppose he defeats the demon, Luna-chan?' he asked.

  Luna's eyes narrowed. 'I have a thought, but I'm not sure it will work.'

  'Whatever you're thinking has got to be better than not trying at all,' Artemis stated flatly.

  She glanced at Artemis briefly. 'Hai. Of course.' She looked at the kneeling Tuxedo Kamen. 'Try to pierce its heart with your rose!'

  He gave her a strange look, but nodded. 'Summoning crystal?' Artemis whispered, voicing his own suspicion.

  'Hai,' she replied. 'That's my thought. If not, then we're in trouble.'

  Tuxedo Kamen got to his feet, to face a severely angry, and equally disoriented gem-beast. It tossed and struck out blindly, hoping to grasp something from which it could steal energy. He moved like liquid lighting, his action only clear when completed. The stem of a full red rose sat embedded in the chest of the creature, which cried out in further pain, and dissipated with a cool hiss.

  'Good work, Tuxedo Ka…' she fell short when she realized her tone. This was not the klutzy Usagi she was used to dealing with! Luna cleared her throat. 'So sorry, Tuxedo Kamen.'

  'No, Luna-chan, don't worry about it,' he replied, with a somewhat sorrowed tone. He turned, preparing to leave the scene.

  'Konnichi wa, ronin Tuxedo Kamen. Where are your lovely senshi when they are needed most, neh?'

  He turned sharply in response to the voice. Suspended several feet from the ground was a transparent image of a stocky humanoid male, dressed in a purple gi. Standing beside him was a short woman, dressed in a gi of pale orange.

  'Nan desu ka!' Mamoru demanded curtly, drawing his cane from thin air and hefting it threateningly.

  'I am Akari. This is my beloved, Yanei,' he began. 'We are here, to destroy you.'

  'Tsk, tsk, love,' the woman said. 'So blunt! Do you recall that is not our purpose?'

  He gazed at her and smiled. 'Hai. You are right. My personal desire proceeded before my wit.' His dark blue eyes turned on his opponent, narrowed, and cold. 'Perhaps you are wondering about your missing Sailor Senshi? You might be interested to learn that they no longer exist.'

  Tuxedo Kamen felt a brief bolt of fear and panic. 'No! You lie!'

  'Do I? Perhaps if you can
find us, you can reach what you seek.' The image waned and faded as the man laughed boldly.

  Tuxedo Kamen sank to his knees, tears trailing in abundance from his eyes, and whispered; 'Iye, Usako…'

  'Tuxedo Kamen?' queried a gentle female voice. He wiped his eyes and stood, presenting strength where none he felt. The girl was not smiling as she greeted him. 'I'm Sailor Ether, I'm here to help you.'

  For a while he just looked at her, as if really just realizing she was standing there being quite pretty and on his side. Luna, on the other hand, neared him, and glared up at the stranger.

  'If you are a royal senshi of the Moon Kingdom, then why don't I recognize you?'

  The girl shrugged. 'I was given a crystal, and told to help. That's all I know.'

  'By whom?'

  'She asked me not to tell you. I'm sorry,' she replied, fidgeting with her hands at her skirt.

  ' “She?” ' Luna prodded. With that, the strange girl turned and flew up into the air.

  'Forget it! I've said too much already! I just wanted you to know I'll be around to help! I'll take care of things!' she called as her slender, winged figure disappeared into the distance.

  @~%~~~

  Several days later, after many lost hours of sleep, Mamoru sat up with Luna and Artemis in his apartment. Days of speculation had shed no light. The only reasonable explanation was that these two were from the NegaVerse. How could that be? Had Usagi not defeated Queen Beryl, banishing her, and the NegaForce back to the dimension from which it had come? There seemed no logic to the source, if indeed, it was them.

  'I'm sure they're lying,' Luna offered weakly. The slender black cat the voice issued from jumped up on the young man's lap. He refused to pet her. He was too angry. He had remained quite angry since losing this battle.

  'You don't sound sure,' Artemis replied tentatively. Luna could say nothing, nor could she meet his gaze.

  'Where could the Sailor Senshi be if Akari and Yanei aren't lying, Luna-chan? They can't have just disappeared from Tokyo.'

  The Japanese youth scowled. He ran a hand through his short black hair, the knowledge of his greatest fear born to reality consuming him from the inside out. He did not know where the Sailors were, and he was unable to protect them. How could it get worse?

  'If these two… Akari and Yanei… are as powerful as I seem to feel they are, then they very well could have, Mamoru. We clearly don't know what we're up against.' Luna was feigning calmness. She had already spent her tears some days ago. This was her greatest failure, losing the Moon Princess to an unknown force. Luna was quite certain that it was Akari and his consort, Yanei. She could not belay the darkness she felt when she regarded the situation. She was lying to Mamoru, and herself, in the hopes that she was wrong.

  The similarly slender, white cat regarded Mamoru sternly.

  'I don't know what's going to get done with you guys just sitting around,' Artemis' cool deep voice stated evenly, his eyes then met the disillusioned young man. 'You've got to face them.'

  'How?' Though he had successfully destroyed six gem beasts since their initial appearance, the idea of fighting their creators made him somewhat hesitant. Quickly, he brushed that hesitation aside. If Akari and Yanei had the Sailor Senshi, he would save them!

  'Go to the moon. I think that between the three of us, we can channel enough energy to get there,' Luna said, her tail twitching nervously.

  Mamoru could only nod.

  'What about this… new Sailor? I hear them calling her “Sailor V”, but it's not her. I would know,' Artemis stated, a timbre of fine unease in his usually cool voice.

  'Of course it's not,' Luna replied. 'I don't know who it is. I don't recognize her as one of the Inner Senshi. She's not familiar.'

  'Do you think she might be from the NegaVerse?'

  'It's not their style,' Luna observed. 'They wouldn't try the same trick twice, after Zoisite fouled it up the first time.'

  'Hai, I agree, but neither is capturing our senshi,' Artemis tersely frowned. 'We can't be sure what they'll do anymore.'

  'I'm sure I would know,' Luna shook her head morosely. 'Especially under the current circumstances.'

  'I don't think she's evil. She's been helping too much. We've even talked to her, and she was honest.'

  'As far as we know, Mamoru,' Luna pointed out, lying down slowly. 'But I think you're right. She did say she wasn't Sailor V.'

  'The title “Sailor Ether” doesn't ring any bells, if you know what I mean,' Artemis commented.

  'There were senshi from other dimensions, you know,' Luna said, glancing at Artemis. 'I'm pretty sure we can't have known all of them.'

  'I suppose. I say we forget about her. She can take care of things here while we're gone. She's destroyed over a dozen of the creatures during the last week on her own! I think we can trust her.'

  'I don't know…' Luna hesitated. 'It's awfully risky.'

  'Anything we do is. Even if we didn't have this stranger helping us out, leaving would put everyone in Tokyo in danger anyway.'

  'There's no choice,' Mamoru agreed firmly. 'We go. Without Usagi we don't stand a chance.'

  Luna remained silent for a time. 'I'm still not sure,' she began. 'But what else can we do…?'

  @~%~~~

  'Dance-ance-ance! Or you won't be stayin' alive-ive-ive!'

  The camerawoman hiked her skirt up awkwardly, moving her feet as to avoid the spikes of metal which shattered the tile underneath her. With a frown at the woman's success, the patchwork clown of red eye and black tooth took her by the throat, laid a claw about her waist suggestively, and began draining her of energy.

  'Drop her, fiend!' commanded a slight, but loud voice. It ignored the request, but glanced about, seeking its source.

  'Cannot fool-ool-ool the clown of NegaForce! Come forward-ard-ard Sailor Girl! Let me drain you!'

  There was an echoed nervous clearing of throat. 'Your innuendo doesn't scare me,' she replied defiantly. But you being a clown doesn't exactly help! 'I said let her go!'

  The body from which the voice originated appeared standing as defiant as the vocal weapon, hands upon her hips, snarl upon her face, adorned prettily in a green body suit with even deeper green microskirt. The suit was coated by a thin layer of mystic armor, whereas upon her naked arms and legs were armlets and shin guards of white. The expression upon her face, however, denoted extreme distaste, even while she harbored similarly inclined anger at the creature's very presence.

  'Why should-ould-ould eye,' it pointed to the optic organ of which it spoke. 'Little greenie?'

  'Because I am Sailor Ether! I live to destroy all evil! And I won't stand by and watch you harm another living being! Prepare to be punished!'

  The crowd cheered, filling the young woman with confidence.

  'Oh really-ally-ally?' it sneered, tossing the woman across the news desk and reached, extending its arms with such speed towards Xalia that she found herself held by waist and thigh before she could move. She gripped the limbs and pried, finding little give despite her augmented strength.

  She screamed despite herself, the following words trailing into the high pitched exclamation. 'Let… go… Stop! Let go of me!'

  There was a small sea of gasps, accompanied by a rather distinctive: “Drop her you damn ugly clown!”

  With suitably unsightly frown, it turned upon the small gathering of people and uttered a wail of challenge so powerful, that the crowd shattered like warming mercury, fleeing as if on a downhill slope. A high pitched laugh rang through her skull, its multi-toned falsetto taunting her as much as threatening a major headache.

  'Helpless, little greenie-eenie-eenie is helpless! At my mercy-ercy-ercy!'

  'That's what you'd like,' she snarled hatefully. 'Hurricane!'

  The spinning of wind began, tossing her hair and pulling at the creature, threatening it with untold of violence… until it halted unduly, sputtering like a car on empty. With an unearthly, toothy grin, it locked its metal claw hand around her neck, form
ing a simple collar. The long limbed clown like creature tore at her bow and the crystal embedded within, shearing away these items easily. Her uniform flickered and disappeared, leaving her dressed in black tights and a loose, short sleeved green top. The small jade stone flipped away with the rending motion and landed on the floor with a glass-like tink.

  “Oh damn!” she cried, thrashing against the restraining monster, her 'ordinary' strength a far cry from sufficient.

  Oh no! Nasura gasped. She's losing! I haven't worked through this scenario!

  It raised the nullified senshi into the air, draining energy as it did. 'Sailor Ether - or should this clown say Xalia! - Is lost for good-ood-ood! Never stood a chance-ance-ance!'

  'No…' she uttered faintly, feeling her strength waning.

  How does it know? Nasura wondered, dashing towards the creature and making a leap for its face. With a scowl, it simply swatted her aside, who then aptly landed on her feet.

  'Face it girl-irl-irl, you don't have the goods!'

  It drew her forward, grabbing her right breast and placing an unwelcome kiss upon her lax lips. Struggling nigh uselessly, her mind rang out in scintillating shards of pain as tears formed in her squinted eyes. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Nasura! You can't help her as a cat!

  'But then again-ain-ain,' it taunted, pulling away, 'there may be hope-ope-ope for you yet…'

  'Drop her!' declared a voice in unquestionable selfless fear spurred anger.

  The clown swiveled about to face a glowing woman adorned in a grey kimono and flaring waist length purple hair. 'Catch,' she issued, tossing a silver crystal at the creature, who caught it with a free hand. Suddenly it gave a withered cry as she clenched her hands, from which light flared like the interior of a sun. The crystal in its hand exploded, and as it dropped its prey, it fell forward and turned to dust, scattering on the wind inspired by Xalia's limited recovery.

  'You know we really hadn't anticipated this,' stated a rather calm male baritone, considering the event. 'Magi do so complicate things.'

  'Akari! Yanei!' Nasura snapped, whirling upon the semi-transparent pair.

  'Don't look so bloody shocked, Nasura,” Yanei snarled, stepping forward, hands on her slender hips. “You knew we were behind this. Just hoping we'd forget about your cute senshi? Not when she's toting power of that kind around!'

  'What do you want?' she snarled, positioning her hands gracefully so as to summon manna.

  'Isn't it obvious?' she replied, then balked thoughtfully. 'Well, I suppose not. You know, you really are quite pretty. For your age,' she commented seriously, hands upon her slender hips. 'No matter. We've done our research, channeller. We know you are useless without a portal through which to focus your power.'

  'Is that so,' she snarled coldly, straightening her posture and reciting a brief spell.

  The lovers dropped to their knees as if she had lit a fire in their bellies. Yanei held her eyes with an unfeigned expression of newfound respect while she executed a counter-spell. They recovered, and Yanei gasped thusly: 'Damn it. It's not over, witch!' she issued, their forms slowly washing out of that reality. 'We will have her, sooner or later, then you will have truly lost.'

  Her echoed laugh as they faded away brought a dark unease to Nasura as she touched Xalia's limp form, waking the pale looking young woman.

  'Nasura, it…' she curled up against her, weeping quietly.

  'I know. I am sorry,' she replied sympathetically. What are they playing at? Sexual effrontery was never part of their ploys in past. Who is leading now? It cannot be Beryl.

  Gazing up into the sallow sky, she could glean no answer, and knew not how much longer they could last without the Bishojo Sailor Senshi. Hurry Mamoru! The Earth needs the senshi!

  Chapter 14

  Tuxedo Frustrated