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Dark Kingdom
Zoisite looked over the layout of the large building, then frowned. "Even with Jadeite, this isn't going to work. There simply isn't enough power between the two of us to bring enough Youma through to do this properly."
Nephlite sighed, glancing over his shoulder. "What about your other half? Think she could handle it?"
"Better yet, do you think we can trust her?" Jadeite looked toward the three teenagers, animatedly talking with Kunzite. Well, Mi-ko and Miyo were talking, Shi seemed to be staring holes into the wall above the white-haired woman's shoulder.
"We can trust her. As long as we keep those two here as insurance." Zoisite stepped away from the table and bowed in front of the low throne. "My Queen, may I have a word?"
Beryl looked up from watching two demons try to kill each other and nodded. "You may."
"About this next mission ..."
"Yes?" The redhead asked icily.
Jadeite stepped forward and knelt beside his fellow General. "My Queen, we were wondering if we might take one of the younger warriors with us? It would provide us with the needed energy to keep the portal open longer."
Beryl glanced at the suddenly silent teenagers, then back to her Generals. "Which child?"
"My other self," Zoisite replied. "Shi."
The blonde teenager saw her two companions tense. She looked over at Kunzite for a moment, then moved to stand a few feet behind Zoisite. She didn't dare look at Beryl as she knelt behind her counterpart.
"What do you think, Shi? It has been quite a while. Do you think you are ready to fulfill your part of our deal?"
"More than ready, my Queen."
Beryl smirked lightly, then motioned for all three to stand. "Now that that problem is solved, you should be able to leave almost immediately." She turned back to watching the demons, who had paused in their fight while she was distracted.
Zoisite grinned, then turned to face Shi. "Alright then, little one. We have a few last minute preparations to see to."
Miyo watched as her sister finished adjusting the uniform and frowned. "You look just like you always did in that thing."
Shi sighed, looking at her reflection. She pulled her hair from behind her back and held it at arm's length. "Not exactly." Picking up a small dagger from the nearby table, she cut nearly 4 feet of the yellow strands before her sister could react.
"SHI! What are you doing?! Dema will kill you!"
"No, he won't. He always said it was too long for fighting. Besides ... if I have any hope of being taken seriously by these guys, I can't look like a little girl. We have to help them, if we ever hope to go back." Shi evened out the ends of her hair then glanced at her reflection again. Almost unconsciously, she reached for one of Zoisite's green ribbons, then stopped once she saw what she was doing.
"It's ok. I don't mind. Might freak Jadeite out, though." Zoisite smiled slightly at the two girls, then moved to tie the ribbon in Shi's hair himself. "You look just like my little sister."
"You have a sister?" Miyo watched the two for a moment, then smiled sadly. "We had a brother."
Shi glared at her sister. "Miyo!"
Zoisite placed a hand on Shi's shoulder. "It's ok, Shi. Just because he is not with you ... doesn't mean he's not watching out for you." He waved a hand to banish the cut hair, then smiled at the two girls. "Come. It's time we were leaving."
Miyo walked with the two blonds until they reached the throne room. Once there, she moved to stand with her own 'copy'. 'We've been here so long ... are they even still looking for us?'
"They're going to be ok, right? Shi's not going to get hurt?"
The brunette glanced at Mi-ko and smiled. "Since when have you ever known Shi to get hurt in a fight? I'd feel more sorry for whoever she was going after."
Beryl waited until the three blondes were in place before beginning the incantation to open the portal. Both men watched their younger companion stare dispassionately as one by one demons died around her. Zoisite smirked at his companion. "What was that you said about passing out on the first try?"
Gaea
"Tanetomi-chan ... didn't your father tell you to go back?"
'Tomi shrugged. "Maybe. But Shi only came to keep something from happening to us. Now she, Miyo and Mi-ko have been taken. I'm not just going to sit at home and do nothing."
Neptune sighed. "Alright, but you had better hope that you don't get hurt. An angry StarMaker is not someone I want to deal with in this lifetime." She smiled a little at the girl, then motioned to her clothes. "I thought Papillon had more purple in her outfit."
'Tomi blushed slightly. "Uh ... yeah, she does." She transformed into her alter-ego and saw the other woman take a step back. "What little clothes there are here."
"We can see what we can do to change that later," Neptune replied, blushing slightly. "Now ... how do we find them?"
Papillon closed her eyes for a moment as several black butterflies appeared around her. After a moment, they each flew in a different direction away from where the two Senshi were positioned. Opening her eyes, she grabbed the railing of the bridge they were on to keep from fainting. "If they are anywhere in this city, my butterflies will find them. Once they do, they'll tell me where they are."
"So now we wait." Neptune grabbed her communicator and opened it. "Saturn, any luck?"
"None yet. ChibiMoon and I have gone over all the readouts from Mercury's equipment, but ... wait, we're getting an energy surge."
"Where?"
"Right on top of us!"
Sounds of terrified screams began to fill the comm. as the two Senshi teleported to their friends' location. The first thing they saw was the same black gore from the house, now covering nearly an entire block of the city. Papillon covered her mouth with one gloved hand to keep from getting sick merely at the sight.
Neptune quickly located Saturn, who was shielding a group of humans. "Is everyone ok?"
Saturn shook her head, motioning toward the gore around them. "The street was nearly full of people. They're buried under this." She lowered the shield, telling the stunned people to run. "I didn't see where ChibiMoon went. Three people came through that portal, then vanished. She took off after them."
"Were any of them the girls?"
"I didn't get a good look, but ... I don't think so." The Senshi of death glanced at the young girl behind them and saw several dozen black butterflies hanging around her. "Kuso."
ChibiMoon followed the idle thoughts she had picked up the moment the trio had appeared. 'I just know that was Shi ... but if I wait around to tell the others, I'll lose them.'
She quickly caught up to the trio outside of an airport. No sooner had the trio appeared, then vicious monsters seemed to melt out of the shadows around them and began attacking the humans. "Kuso. What are they up to?" She grabbed her communicator and was about to call for help when someone knocked it out of her hand.
"Well, well, well. What have we here?" Jadeite grabbed the girl, teleported to the others and dropped ChibiMoon at Shi's feet. "Friend of yours, kiddo?"
Shi looked down at the girl at her feet and smirked. "No."
ChibiMoon couldn't hear Shi's thoughts over the other two, but she was pretty sure by the look on the girl's face that she didn't want to. "Shi, what are you-"
Shi kicked the other girl hard enough to send her skidding a couple of feet. "I've wanted to do that since the day I met you."
Zoisite laughed and looked at Jadeite. "Let's leave these two to their fun. We do have a mission to complete after all."
Jadeite eyed the pair dubiously before motioning to one of the Youma. "Titus, keep an eye on them. We wouldn't want anything to happen to our new little soldier."
The Youma nodded, moving to stand a few feet away from the now fighting blondes.
Zoisite glanced at his companion. "What's wrong? Don't trust her?"
"She's a miniature copy of you. Of course I don't trust her." Jadeite smirked. "Come on, Titus'll take care of everything. We have a job to do."
"You're sure they came this way?" Saturn asked as they ran away from the bloody streets.
"Positive." Papillon pointed toward the sky where hundreds of black butterflies were gathered in a single solid line. As the trio rounded a corner, they saw ChibiMoon come flying backwards and slam into a nearby car. "Or I could be wrong."
Neptune summoned a wall of water to block whatever attacked the younger woman as Saturn rushed to her side. "Is she okay?"
"No, she's been badly injured. Kami ... she's been stabbed!"
The wall of water evaporated as a ball of fire shot through it and into Neptune. "How very clever of you. Trying to block me from my prey. But as you see, it didn't work." Another fireball came flying at the helpless woman, only to be swallowed up in a swarm of black butterflies.
Papillon stared at the figure in shock for several moments before recognition dawned on her. In the 24 hours since she had been taken, the blonde had changed. There was a coldness to her voice that the young Guard had never before heard. "Shi ..."
The younger General turned to the purple-clad warrior and smirked. "Why my dear Tanetomi ... how nice of you to join us. But you're not human, so my fight isn't with you."
"Shi, stop this! Why did you attack ChibiMoon?" Papillon placed herself between her friend and the other Senshi. She could see Saturn trying to heal as many wounds on both women as she could.
"Why shouldn't I attack her? She's a human. A pathetic, useless human. They wouldn't agree to help us defend our world. Why should we bother defending theirs?" Shi summoned another fireball and threw it at Papillon, knowing the other girl wouldn't be able to dodge.
"STAR SERIOUS LASER!"
The energy blast knocked the fireball away and into a nearby building. Moments later, three black-clad figures landed in the space between Shi and Papillon. "Shi Rinai Tamura! What in the name of Kinmoku do you think you're doing?!"
The two lighter-haired figures dropped back to see to the others, leaving the raven-haired warrior to face down the blonde. Shi grinned at the older Kinmokunai. "Well, look who finally came out to play. The human-lover. What's the matter? Afraid to take on your own flesh and blood?"
StarFighter glared at the girl before him. "I will kill you if I have to, Shi."
"All to protect that pathetic little 'queen'? Who can't even defend herself, let alone her own children? Some great heroine she is ... how many times has she let her loved ones die to protect her?"
"Enough!" ChibiMoon pushed Saturn and the others away from her as she stood. "I will not sit here and listen to you bad mouth my mother anymore! You have no idea what kind of woman she is, Shi! Yes she refused to help your father, but only to protect the innocents among your people. Don't you get that?"
Shi laughed as she stared down the injured Senshi. "Don't you get it? You're not her only child, you selfish, spoiled brat!" Titus grabbed the irate blonde before she could unleash another attack on the group. They vanished in a swirl of dark energy as two more figures leapt into the same swirling vortex.
StarFighter attempted to get into the vortex, but before she could reach it, one of the many youma left behind pulled her back to the ground. "Maker! Get them out of here! Healer!"
"Already on it! STAR SENSITIVE INFERNO!"
The youma holding StarFighter was engulfed in flames, causing it to release the dark-haired woman. StarHealer managed to grab the other woman, then started pulling her away from the burning corpse. "We have to leave ... now!"
"No, I'm not leaving without my daughters!"
"Seiya! They're not here! The only things here are monsters that would rather see you dead, than tell you how to find them!" StarHealer pulled the other woman back as several mysterious figures came rushing out to take on the monsters. "We can't do this alone! This is worse than we thought. We have to get help!"
One figure grabbed the two women and pulled them back even farther. "We saw what happened. Damn creatures have been attacking us for days now, but never this bad. And never with humans at their sides." The figure turned out to be a man, slightly taller than Seiya with long, blue hair. "You guys obviously aren't from around here."
StarHealer nodded slightly. "Whoever's controlling those ... things ... have taken three of our children. And from what we just saw ... they're turning them against us."
"What happened?!" Venus ran out of the house to help the others carry ChibiMoon inside. She quickly checked the younger woman's injuries and could see Saturn's powers had already healed most of them. "Sarah-chan, what were you thinking? If something had happened to you, your mother..."
"Isn't here. Besides, she would have done the same thing I did. That was Shi-chan. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing." ChibiMoon shifted back to her normal form and grimaced at the slight pain the action caused. Waving off the over-protective adults, she looked up at StarMaker. "I've never seen Shi-chan like that. I ... thought she was really going to kill me."
Papillon sighed, taking a seat beside the other woman. "That wasn't Shi. Well ... not completely."
StarMaker knelt in front of her daughter. "What do you mean, 'Tomi? That was most definitely Shi."
"But it wasn't. I've fought with and against Shi for years. Her powers, even after ... even when she was angry, were never like that. Something is ... changing them."
Venus frowned. "Changing? How?"
"During our training, Shi has never once shown any kind of control over fire, yet she was able to completely reduce one of Neptune-san's attacks to steam in just moments." Papillon fidgeted with the edge of her skirt. "Plus ... her eyes ... it's like she wasn't even there."
"She may not have been."
Everyone turned to Neptune and she held up her mirror. "The entire time I've been here, I've been trying to see Shi-chan and the others. It didn't react until the portal opened. There was no time to study it, but there was a brief glance of ... someone I think you might remember, Venus."
Venus glanced at the mirror and nodded. "I already knew. I was hoping ..."
StarMaker frowned. "Hoping what, Minako-chan? Who has the children?"
"The only time we were completely defeated ... the Silver Millennium. That ... woman ... turned our friends against us."
"Beryl." Saturn stared at her companions, debating if she should tell them what she knew about the twins and now suspected about Mi-ko. "We're going to need a lot more help with this."
StarMaker frowned again. "Who is this Beryl? And why are you so afraid of her?"
"Because she's killed us. Twice. Only the power of the Silver Crystal could save us either time. But it killed Queen Serenity and nearly killed Sailor Moon." Venus sighed. "It took everything Usagi-chan had to stop her, let alone defeat Metallia. And what she did to poor Mamoru ..."
