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Chapter 18 – Darkness and Light with Gray in the middle
Kodachi smiled as the sailor scouts came into view, “Brother dear our foes have arrived. Send the signal would you?”
The armor clad boy said nothing as he held up his gleaming black blade and a bolt of dark power leapt from it towards the seven assembled droids. When it was done he nodded to his sister and she said, “Very well let us watch and see what transpires.”
Seven black creatures jumped from the buildings and directly onto the pavement next to the sailor scouts. A sudden mist came from below and the scouts retreated out of it as they fired attacks into it. As the scouts landed on a nearby roof below and fired their attacks at the droids some more Kodachi smiled and said, “The harridans think to escape our droids, but we have plans for them don’t we. Ryouga, Ukyou, brother dear! Let us show them the error of their ways.”
With that the gymnast sent herself flying towards her enemies and struck Sailor Moon with a spiked black club. Sailor Moon screamed in pain as she felt the club pierce her side. When she did that the rest of the scouts tried to rush to her side, but another figure landed in their midst shouting, “Baksai Tenketsu!” and then the roof itself exploded sending them all flying in scattered directions. Ryouga followed after Venus, leaving Kodachi deal with Sailor Moon.
The black haired gymnast struck Moon in the leg with her spiked club and this time the girl went down. Kodachi sneered at her fallen foe and held up the spiked club again saying, “Such is the plight of all who would dare to challenge the Black Rose for her Ranma Sama.”
The club descended, but it was blocked from its target by two other clubs and then Kodachi was sent flying by a kick to her side. She recovered in the air and landed on her feet to see the entire Juuban girls’ gymnastics team standing defensively in front of Sailor moon. It was Kaede who spoke first saying, “Ranma said our priority was to get to that Black Crystal over there, but she wouldn’t want us to do that at the expense of someone’s life.”
The girl grimaced and pointed at the slowly recovering sailor girl and said, “Not even hers!”
The black haired gymnast looked haughtily at the Juuban girls and then said, “How unfair all of you against just me. Shouldn’t we fight in all fairness?”
It was the blonde haired Suzuki who said, “You don’t deserve it!” then attacked. Kodachi spun out of the way and avoided the follow up from the rest of the group, and counter attacked. The group was not nearly as affected by her speed or enhanced powers as the last time they had come to blows, and so when she waded in they were ready. She swung at Aiko and missed, she tried to follow through, but then Kaede was behind her slamming her side with a fist that clenched around a strange green ball. She dodged the next strike from Kaede, but was unprepared for Dai who wrapped her in a ribbon and sent her to be pummeled by Mika, Miya, and Mai. She, snarled in anger and pain, then ripped out of the ribbon with her enhanced strength and jumped high into the air. The Juuban gymnasts attacked again, but Kodachi sent her ribbon swirling around to pick up one of the droids below and send it flying towards her opponents.
The Juuban gymnasts scattered to avoid the incoming creature and then immediately regrouped deciding to ignore the creature as it stood up and instead sent hoops and clubs at Kodachi, but the implements were deflected by yet another droid that had been brought into the battle. Kodachi stood upon the thing’s shoulder and said, “See, we could have fought in all fairness, but now I have to bring in my own allies. Too bad for you,” then she laughed…
Venus cursed and barely avoided yet another blow from Ryouga as she tried to locate Mercury hoping that water would do its trick once again. She saw the blue haired sailor girl a few feet away blasting at a droid. She dodged a few more of the boy’s attacks and tried to move towards her ally. As she started to move away Ryouga said, “You can’t run from me Shishi Houkou Dan!” The large blast of depression laced chi hit her and she went sailing into the air. The boy jumped after her, grabbed her in the air, and landed on the ground with a powerful arm around her head. He pulled her ear close and as she was next to him he said, “Now you will die!”
His arms were moving with extreme slowness as she heard him whisper, “No, no I don’t want to hurt her,” but the voice was silenced and she felt some pain. Just as she thought it was all over a cocky voice said, “Hey bacon breath, why don’t you pick on someone more your size?”
Ryouga dropped Venus to the ground and turned towards Ranma Saotome and said, “Ranma! Prepare to die!”
From the ground Venus saw a pig tailed boy easily avoid Ryouga’s blow and say, “Yeah, yeah I’ve heard it before, but you ain’t gonna hurt anyone else again today. I’m gonna take you down and we’ll get you cured from whatever those people did ta ya okay buddy?”
Venus slowly stood and touched her neck as the fight between the two boys left her area. She then looked over to see that Mercury, Mars and Jupiter fighting three droids and an Okonomiyaki chef nearby. She immediately ran over to help them out.
Mars just hit him with a burst of fire that caused him to drop her. As Mars dropped to the ground Jupiter sent her own powerful electric attack at the boy and he was blown backwards. The two sailor girls started to approach the downed smoking armor when a pair of droids came out of Mercury’s mist and attacked them. The two girls hit the creatures with a number of attacks. One of the droids was starting to crumble a bit and the two sailors thought the current battle would soon be over when the samurai armor got up and sped towards them with sword in hand saying, “I fight on evil ones! Strike! Strike! Strike!”
Jupiter jumped to the side, but Mars didn’t have as much skill and was hit a number of times by the super fast attack before Jupiter could hit the boy with a Sparkling Wide Pressure. The disc of compressed electricity smashed into Kunou and allowed Mars to get away from his deadly attack.
Once free from the attack Mars sent a blast of flame at the boy, but this time Kunou spun his sword around in a large circle to disburse the flame and then with the two droids in tow he said, “I attack again!”
The boy and the two creatures rushed them again and this time they were boxed in and being hit again and again despite trying to dodge the blows. The assault only relented when a multi-colored bonbori struck Kunou’s blade and sent it flying as a voice said, “Aiyah! Stupid stick boy in Shampoo way!”
Kunou sputtered and then was sent flying by another blow from Shampoo’s multi colored weapon. As Kunou crashed to the ground Shampoo was on him and ripping the armor off of him. “There that take care of you, but Shampoo must go to large crystal now. Sailor girls have fun with big bad people okay?”
The two girls looked on with astonishment as the Amazon girl ran off and left them to face the droids on their own. They snapped out of it and faced off against their two droid opponents, but the droids that had been attacking them were destroyed by Angerona and Cologne as the two women passed by. They could hear the avatar of nemesis shouting, “Team Nemesis, I see some more droids hiding near that crystal. Sensei and I will take them out. Shampoo, you help Ranma with Ryouga and the rest of you stay on Kodachi. When we are done with the droids guarding the crystal we will contact you. As soon as that happens break off with the enemy and join us there.”
Then, the girl was gone and before they could follow after her they saw Mercury running towards them with three droids and an Okonomiyaki chef following right behind her…
Pluto suddenly appeared next to the girl and said, “It will end badly for you all unless you use the Ginzuishou. Use the power you have been given Moon. Use it and end this threat to Crystal Tokyo!”
Moon heard that and realized that Pluto was right and that she had had enough! Moon took the Ginzuishou out and held it in her hands. Through it she channeled her frustration, her anger, and her desperate need to end the battle once and for all. Her outfit transformed into a bright white gown and white feathery wings grew on her back as the power radiated through her, she allowed the power to gather in her hands, and then she shouted, “Moon Supreme Crystal Healing Escalation!”
It was Neherenia who said, “It’s the Ginzuishou! We need to get out of here now!”
“Where’s the damn opening in this thing!” Angerona slammed a fist into the dark crystal and suddenly disappeared. Neherenia looked at Cologne and said, “Follow her! I’m going to try using my connection to Ceres, and Juno in order to teleport their wielders out of here!”
The middle aged Amazon nodded and then touched the large dark crystal and disappeared as well. Neherenia hardly noticed as she gathered her magical powers and felt for the link between herself and the artifacts. The power easily snagged onto the blue ball of Ceres and the two wielders of its powers, but it was slow in gathering all the wielders of Juno. She had connected with three signatures when she heard Sailor Moon start shouting, “Moon Supreme…” Neherenia pulled all of her magic together and finished her own spell just as moon finished saying, “Crystal Healing Escalation!”
As Neherenia arrived a few blocks away she realized she had missed a few people. She tried to grab them again, but it was too late. The power of the Ginzuishou washed outwards from Moon and through all the combatants that were left. It refreshed and healed each of the sailor scouts. It consumed and destroyed the droids in the area and when it washed through the rest of the combatants in the area it healed them, refreshed them and gave them an entirely new outlook on life. However, when the power reached the dark crystal it completely dissipated nullified by the evil energies within.
Moon gathered her allies and all five senshi walked towards the Crystal. “The Mercury computer says there’s an opening somewhere in this thing, but it’s only one way right now. Whatever energy is inside that thing is straining to get out, but we should be able to get in somehow.” Moon nodded, touched her hand to the crystal and was gone.
The blue haired woman smiled and said, “Yes, I probably am, but I’m also much taller too. Now where do you think this so called “wise” man really is?”
Angerona felt the corrupted power of Nemesis, pointed, and said, “I feel something that way. He should be there,” she paused a moment and then said, “I hope everyone is alright.”
Cologne nodded and said, “So do I, but we must concentrate at the battle at hand. I fear that if we do not win here then anything that happens out there would become a worthless gesture.”
Angerona nodded and the two turned a corner only to find a blank crystalline wall. Angerona cursed and said, “Damn! I feel it right in front of us. He should be right through this wall.”
The Nemesis powered girl made a fist and slammed it into the wall. When that didn’t work she powered up her Nemesis enhanced claws and struck the wall. The claws slid through the black crystal as if it were not there and then suddenly thousands of images assaulted Angerona’s mind. Destruction, evil, genocide and despair; thousands of lives lived in agony and terror warred within her mind and froze her to the spot.
An eternity of fighting against the tide of evil later Angerona woke on the ground with her head in Cologne’s lap. The blue haired Amazon said, “Are you awake, daughter?”
Angerona nodded and stood up. She was a bit woozy and her reserves were a bit drained. “What was that?”
Cologne shook her head and said, “I do not know, but we have been here for quite some time. Come we need to find the right path before our enemies gain the upper hand.”
Angerona nodded and then said, “Wait do you hear that?”
Cologne shook her head and Angerona continued saying, “It sounds like combat and it’s coming right through that same wall again. We need to go that way and I think we need to do it now!” Angerona held a finger out and concentrated on the crystal wall. Cologne looked at her, cleared her throat, and said, “I don’t recall teaching you the Baksai Tenketsu, do you think perhaps you should let an expert try that before you take down the entire structure that we are standing within?”
Angerona stopped herself and looked back sheepishly saying, “Yeah okay.”
Cologne took Angerona’s place and said, “Care must be taken here as all crystals have many lines of cleavage and that means there are many breaking points to be found. The problem then becomes using the correct point to destroy the wall in front of us and nothing more.”
The Amazon slowed her breath, concentrated, and then slowly touched a single finger to the crystal wall. The wall proceeded to explode away from the two of them with tremendous force.
Sailor Moon exploded into the room and shouted, “No! I will not allow it! Usa, please come to your senses!”
Dark Lady looks at Moon and holds up a black crystal hand, "I know the truth now. I must accept the Darkness. The Dark Crystal's power will go through me, and Doom will rule the world!" A dark wind came from her hands, and the scouts fell to their knees.
Sailor Moon used her new wings to help her stand, held out the Ginzuishou and looked pleadingly at Dark Lady saying, "This is not you, Chibi-Usa!"
Dark Lady stares at her and sees a vision of the truth, but it is not nearly enough. Then, Wiseman smiles and says, "An illusion! They are all LIES!" he shouts and suddenly, a huge column of purplish light engulfs Dark Lady and Sailor Moon.
"You have always been alone! No one loves you!" shouted Wiseman.
"I am alone...no one loves me..."
"Chibi-Usa, honey, it just isn't true! Think about all the fun times we had!"
Dark Lady tried to focus on the fun times she once had with the scouts, and it seemed to be working until another image came. This time it was her hand being cut off again by Angerona and Moon wasn’t there to protect her then! She snarled in anger and sent a blast of black power into Sailor Moon. The Ginzuishou absorbed the dark power and Dark Lady just sneered saying, “Why not put down the rock mother!”
She sent blasts of dark energy at Pluto, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, and Mars. The girls went down and she continued to blast again and again. Tears came to Moon’s eyes as she said, “No please! Stop! Chibi-Usa, please!”
Dark Lady stopped and walked towards Sailor Moon and stared at her for a moment, then said, “Chibi-Usa is dead! Killed by your incompetence! There is only Dark Lady now!”
She pushed Sailor Moon down to the ground and Wiseman said, “Excellent! Kill her as a final sacrifice to me and my ascension to become the new avatar of Doom. The gate is opening and Doom comes!"
Dark Lady stood over Sailor Moon next to one of the black crystalline walls. She held up her black, crystalline hand and dark energy started to form, but the girl hesitated just for one moment. That was when the wall exploded. Sharp crystal shards from the wall struck Dark Lady, impaling her numerous times and sending her flying across the room. Wiseman stared at the new opening in the room and the two women coming out of it.
Wiseman held up his own black crystal globe with a skull inside it and Dark Lady’s black hand flew across the room and the two joined together. He laughed maniacally and said, “No! You can't stop me! The gate has been opened, the crystals have joined and Nemesis is no more. I am the avatar of Doom!!!"
As Wiseman spoke Angerona’s form shimmered a bit and then her fuku was gone That left her standing there as Ranma Hitoshirenu wearing a black T-shirt and jeans to defend against the dark blast of power sent by the evil entity towards her and her ally. The blast was very close, but it was not nearly close enough. The two girls dodged and then they were attacking him. But, as it had been before Wiseman’s form was almost as insubstantial as mist.
“You have lost your powers now girl. Nemesis is no more and you can not harm me!” He sent another blast of power at the two, but they avoided it and tried again.
Sailor Moon was in shock as she stared at the battle from the ground. Some of the fragments from the wall had hit her legs, but the rest of her body had been just low enough to avoid her daughter’s fate. Tears formed in her eyes as she crawled over to Dark Lady’s broken and bleeding body.
Once there she held the Ginzuishou out, but it was too late. Dark Lady’s form shimmered and turned into a small pink haired Chibi Usa who looked at her and said, “I’m sorry mother. I failed you.” A tear formed in the girl’s eyes and it became a perfect copy of the Ginzuishou.
Moon held the girl’s head and touched the artifact saying, “No you didn’t fail. Look it was right inside of you all the time.” Usa coughed up a bit of blood took her crystal in hand and held it out to her mother with a smile on her face. She coughed again and said, “Take it and use it quickly before it is sent to its proper place…” then the small pink haired girl’s form slowly dissipated into nothingness.
Moon screamed in anguish and turned towards Wiseman and his foes with both crystals in hand. She stared at all three with anger and vengeance in her heart and then she slowly stood up ignore the pain in her legs as she screamed, “You killed my daughter!” Immense power was channeled through her and the twin crystals as she yelled out, “Moon Crystal Destruction!!"”
Cologne and Angerona heard the scream of anguish, felt the power grow and were getting out of the way even before the girl finished shouting. Even so the brilliant white power hit Cologne, seared through her side, and sent her to the ground unconscious.
Ranma had been a bit luckier and her cat like reflexes just a bit better than her Amazon mentor’s. The blast only glanced her form and singed her arm a bit as it traveled by and connected directly with Wiseman.
Wiseman had not tried to dodge at all. Instead he held the black crystal in front of him and tried to absorb the power of Moon’s attack, but as the crystal absorbed the power of the blast it started to become a bit dull and gray. Still the power from moon poured into him, but as he continued to block the immense power Ranma suddenly felt something forming on her head. It was her baseball cap and she felt the power of Nemesis within it.
Angerona grinned, touched the brim of her hat, looked at Wiseman and Moon, then she shouted, “Nemesis Power Transform!” Her black T-shirt was replaced by a black blouse and a black sailor-style collar with blood red highlights. Her black jeans were replaced by a very short black pleated skirt and a long dark red ribbon tied itself on her chest and laced itself through a loop attached to her blouse. Her ears were suddenly pierced and she was given ruby earrings while on her head a black tiara appeared with brilliant blood red rubies. Finally as she landed her shoes were replaced by high heeled black boots that laced themselves almost up to her knees.
When it was over she gestured towards Wiseman and said, “I am the true Avatar of Nemesis and you don’t deserve any part of it!” Then, she used her connection with her planet to pull the corrupted crystal heart of Nemesis to herself and send it back to its home world where it belonged.
As soon as he lost the crystal Wiseman was engulfed in a HUGE white light and screamed out in pain as he said, "No! You can not defeat the avatar of…" But, his last words were taken away as the light destroyed him and blasted through the walls behind him and out into the open sky.
Sailor Moon fell to her knees and watched the second silver crystal disappear. A tear traveled down her cheek as she said softly, “Goodbye Daughter, I promise that your real future will not be what happened. I promise that Crystal Tokyo will be a shining reminder of your sacrifice.”
Angerona cleared her throat and said, “You know I can’t let you do that,” she pointed to the hole where Wiseman had once been. “He had the same idea you know. Rule the world in the name of ultimate evil. As strange as it might sound that’s not so different from what you guys are thinking of doing.”
Moon stared at her with anger still in her heart and said, “You, you hurt my daughter. You killed her and you would dare speak like that to me!” She stood up again and said, “I am Sailor Moon, defender of Love and Justice and in the name of the Moon I will punish you!”
With that statement Moon glared at Angerona with hatred and vengeance in her eyes, held out the Ginzuishou and said, “Moon Crystal Destruction!” The white beam was smaller than the version with two crystals, and it didn’t go through a wall, but Angerona still had some difficulty avoiding the powerful ray of destructive power.
Moon blasted again, and Angerona felt her arm get singed this time. She tried to get close, but Moon was faster than Wiseman, and after seeing what that ray could do Angerona was a bit leery of getting close to what basically amounted to a magical cannon. The cat girl tried sending a few Nemesis power laced Mukou Takabisha towards the girl, but the crystal just seemed to deflect the power and Moon attacked again.
Angerona dodged again and again, then saw Cologne stirring as well as the rest of the sailor girls and wondered if this would be the best time for a tactical retreat. A blast of white power whizzed by as she tried to get close to Cologne and so she scratched that idea off her list.
She dodged a few more blasts of power and noticed that in addition to the waking sailor girls the battlefield itself was beginning to crumble around them. Angerona knew that she had to take out Moon somehow and before the building fell down around them or the sailor girls woke up. Knowing my luck it would be the sailor senshi waking up first to attack me and then the building would come down. She thought.
The Ginzuishou glowed again and sent yet another blast of power towards her and she heard Cologne’s voice in her head again, “all crystals have many lines of cleavage…” and that gave Angerona the idea.
The black clad sailor girl dodged another blast from Moon and grabbed one of the scattered pieces of black crystal on the ground. She stood up with it in her hand, dodged another blast of power and tried to extend her chi senses outwards.
She felt nothing at all, It’s almost as if that damn thing is perfectly flawless or something. She discounted the idea as foolish as another blast came her way. She avoided the new blast and came just a little closer to Sailor Moon. Once there Angerona stood still for just one moment and focused all of her cat senses, chi senses, and Nemesis power towards the blonde haired girl and her crystal. As the girl was shouting her attack phrase once again Angerona saw the spot, flung the black shard in her hand with all her might, and then jumped away.
The blazing white power of a Moon Crystal Destruction sizzled and burned the flesh off her hip and one of her legs. She lost her footing as her world was filled with agony. Then, she waited for the end to come from another blast, but all she heard was Moon’s anguished scream of, “NOO!”
Taking that as her cue Angerona gritted her teeth, ignored the pain and used her good leg to get herself to Cologne’s side. The blue haired Amazon was just getting up and said, “Daughter did we win?”
Angerona grinned a cocky grin through her pain and said, “Yeah, I’m the best after all, now let’s blow this joint!” Without thinking she took a step on her bad leg and the pain sent her into unconsciousness…
All moon could do was just stare at the broken crystal with tears running down her face. She would have sat there crying as the structure collapsed around her, but a hand was placed on her shoulder and a voice said, “Moon we have to get out of here. Come on!”
She stood up, looked at Sailor Jupiter and allowed herself to be led out of the remnants of the black crystalline building just before it fell to the ground in a heap of dust. Looking back at it as the sailor’s left she thought that it looked just like a pile of ash.
The last thing that was said before they all left was, “Hey did anyone see where Pluto went?”
The wave of paradox hit just as she touched the gates with her powers. The pain was excruciating, but she held on anyway, pumping more and more power into the gateway to sustain it. No, I will keep the gates standing and I will serve the Queen. Crystal Tokyo must come to pass!
Slowly, but surely the wave of paradox passed. It was all over; Pluto had passed her power levels some time ago and had been holding onto the gates through sheer willpower alone. She stared up and saw shards of the gates all around her, but still felt some power under her hands. She sighed with relief and then the green haired senshi passed out.
Author’s Notes: I know that neither of Sailor Moon’s attacks are exactly cannon to the Anime or Manga, but please chalk it up to the changed timeline. The next chapter deals with the repercussions of the battle and an epilogue for this story arc. Following that will be the prologue and first chapter of the next arc. Stay tuned, because while the battle is over the war has only just begun…
Special thanks go out to DarkJackel and Dragon Man 180 both of your ideas helped me to get into this battle and figure out how parts of it might go. In addition I also would like to thank everyone who wrote a single line of review for this story. Without you guys I’d still be on chapter 3…
Bonus Material (A)
The Juuban Girls Gymnastics Team as it was at the beginning of the chapter:
Kaede Tanaka – 16 years old, with long black hair and dark eyes. She is a bit taller than Ranma’s female form. She was the previous captain of the Juuban High Rhythmic Gymnastics team, and now serves as second in command under Ranma. Kaede is a steady leader, but somewhat unsure of her feelings for Ranma.
Aiko Suzuki – 16 years old, with short obviously bleached blonde hair and dark eyes. She is about the same height as Ranma. She has a huge crush on female Ranma and has some idea that the other girl is not interested in boys. If Ranma ever offered she would be more than willing….
Dai Sato – 15 years old, with long black hair and blue eyes. She looks a lot like Kaede except for the fact that she is even shorter than Ranma.
Mai, Mika, and Miya Watanabe – 15 year old triplets, each has brown hair and brown eyes. They are a slight bit taller than female Ranma and will often make it a habit of being dressed alike to confuse their teachers and classmates. Of the three Mai shows the best potential.
Bonus Material (B) - The Artifacts of Neherenia
Red Ball – Pallas:
Given to Cologne this ball reduces her in age to about 35-40 giving her the height and speed she had at the time and freeing up her vast chi reserves. This ball provides the least amount of physical and magical protection for its owner, but then again it doesn’t need to…
Blue Ball – Ceres:
Given to Shampoo and Ranma this object provides them with some protection and a limited power increase.
Green Ball – Juno:
Given to the Juuban Gymnastics team this ball has separated into many parts and provides protection and a form of linked telepathy.
Yellow Ball – Vesta:
Given to Nabiki this item shields her from harm as long as she is able to concentrate on that aspect. Any time damage is done to the shield Nabiki must concentrate and focus her will on keeping the shield up. The ball also provides Nabiki the ability to see anything within a block radius and after that gives her an eagle eye view of an area with splotches of color to represent various magical effects…
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