(no subject)
A void worse than nothingness.
The little girl with pink pigtails flails, trying to escape a massive darkness. Endlessly it chases her, threatening to consume her. The roar of its vacuum in the emptiness is all there is.
All alone, afraid for her life. A bright shining force appears in the midst of that void, sweeping through everything, illuminating every corner. Suddenly, everything is peace.
A gentle voice, like her mother's somehow.
"ChibiUsa..."
What does she see... but her Silver Imperium Crystal, suspended in the middle of the light, as she is. Floating towards it happily, she cradles it; wondering how it got away from her, promising to keep it safe.
The gentle voice reminds her that it is indeed a part of her. She must keep it hidden, safe, and close at all times. This will keep her safe.
She wonders... wonders if she is in her mother's arms or...
"It's alright. I'll protect you," a soft embrace.
She does feel safe, and protected. The voice tells her that her crystal and her soul will not be taken by anyone, ever. As she drifts off, she hears three last words.
"I'll save you."
ChibiUsa lies still. The convulsions have stopped, and her hand grows warm. Mamoru is joyed but shocked. How could it be, someone is protecting the girl's soul?
The Infinity College tower splits in two and falls open. The earth rumbles as the tower's halves settle precariously at 45 degree angles.
And the unconscious four Senshi float above it all. Light auras surround each of them.
And Sailor Moon panics.
Mistress Nine shudders, "The power of the Silver Imperium Crystal has weakened?!"
The three conscious Outer Scouts take advantage of the entity's confusion to fly each to one of the three rooftops surrounding the former Infinity College Building on three sides, and raise their weapons.
"We have to protect this land!" And as an ooze rushes to the surface from the bowels of Infinity College, they activate a shield, with their weapons as the originpoints. "That is our duty!!"
Mistress Nine's eyes widen; memories of other barriers placed upon her. She snarls detestingly. "A shield?! It's USELESS!"
She begins to laugh again, in mockery of their efforts, "Master Pharaoh 90 is filled with energy! He will undergo his Vessel Transformation, merging with your planet!"
"Merge with this planet?!" Sailor Moon gasps.
"This planet joined with him will leave your system for the Tau System... this planet will become our second mother planet!" She grins as a wildcat does ready for a kill, "Once the Master's Vessel Transformation is complete, there will be no need to stay within a human body."
She doubles over, not having finished speaking a moment prior. Again?!? "I can't move?? I can't get out!!"
...."You'll never get out."
"Who's there?!" That voice, from before, but who!?!
"I won't let you out of here! This is STILL my body!"
The feel of thin hands tightening around her neck, around her mind.
Hotaru grasps at the entity pushing itself out of her... flesh with all her power and force of will. Ironic, that the situation would turn itself like this, "I won't let you free!!"
"...As I fed on you, I naturally came to believe that you had disappeared long ago. But you, pitiful little Hoste, you live on.
"After I've swallowed the Silver Imperium Crystal and gained its power, you can't control me! Nothing can!!" I'll tear this body apart!
Hotaru can feel new forces surging from within Mistress Nine, pushing back. As the sinews and bones of her body twist and creak, her grip begins to loosen. She feels absolute agony - as if she really were in sole possession of the body tearing from the inside out.
She holds tightly on, despite it all, keeping Mistress Nine inside.
"You foolish human!! I won't let anyone stop us!"
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!!"
Sailor Moon sends a bolt of energy at Mistress Nine in her seeming moment of weakness. Mistress Nine sends her own back into the girl. It puts her out of the way for a few moments.
"I can't take the power from the Silver Imperium Crystal...!! I need power, more power!" She wildly sweeps the area, searching for someone, ANYone who will do. The four unconscious Scouts hover, mostly exposed, not far. One thrust pushes the souls from their weak and vulnerable human bodies, the souls bursting forth like four fiery shooting stars. The protective auras glowing around them fade. They fall limp to collapse on the nearest surface. Sailor Moon pulls herself together and rushes over to their bodies... as Mistress Nine absorbs each ball of light, sucking them into her body one by one.
Four new lights. The darkness manifests again, stronger now. The chaos on the edge of Hotaru's field of calm light - a vacuum pulling the floating lights towards its horrible center.
"No!"
They divert, making way to Hotaru instead. She grabs them each, holding them against doom.
Mistress Nine fumes, then pummels the child spirit with her anger.
Hotaru suffers within, holding for dear life, "I don't know if I can protect the Crystal and ChibiUsa and the four Senshi's souls with what power I have...!"
"You insignificant worm!! Give me their Hoste!!!"
Sailor Moon is yelling for the four Inner Scouts to wake up. The other three only hoping to hold their shield in place, to contain the evil that threatens to devour their world.
What hope is there... what hope? She feels alone in this battle against impossible odds, and yet...
"Was I really this strong..?" ...The will to preserve the souls of her friend and the four Sailor Scouts grows more sure.
"I'm left with just my soul," she says, sadly, to herself. As the onslaught on her intensifies, her grip holds faster in defiance, "So... I'm dead, right?... I'll never see my loved ones again, so why do I fight so desperately...?
..."Why do I have this power?"
"Die!!!"
"I... I can feel a greater Self deep within me...
"...That Self is telling me, 'You must stake your life to save them.'"
The vacuum of darkness roars nearby. The five lights tremble, called to it, but unable to escape Hotaru's grasp.
"Yes... The only thing I can do right now... is to take these five souls and the Silver Imperium Crystal..."
The field of light spreads across the void, "AND RESCUE THEM FROM HERE!"
She breaks free of Mistress Nine's onslaught and breaks free of the physical shell that contains her. A bright orb of white light launches like a cannon out of Mistress Nine's body, flying far away across the turbulent sky.
No!! She stole the Hoste!?
....
But now I am free!!
The souls of the four Scouts return to their bodies. And as they dazedly reawaken, "Hotaru?"
She smiles fleetingly to them, then vanishes. The ball of light speeds off.
Mamoru is startled by the apparition's sudden appearance by the window. At length, he recalls himself enough to demand, "Who are you?!"
She lifts a hand and the Silver Imperium Crystal leaves her grasp, floating across the room. It settles into ChibiUsa, silently.
Slowly, then, ChibiUsa awakens.
"ChibiUsa!" Mamoru hugs her. She hugs him back, then spots the nearly transparent girl who stands closer, now. She appears twelve years of age with chin-length black hair, her violet eyes glistening with tears of joy and relief.
"Thank goodness," she smiles to ChibiUsa.
"Hotaru!!?"
"...I saved you, ChibiUsa. I'm so thankful..." Her smile is so happy, so relieved.
Mistress Nine rears back...
"This... may be strange coming from another girl..." Hotaru continues, well aware, "But, I felt we were destined to meet..."
ChibiUsa beams as well, tears welling up, "Me too. ...I thought that."
They move closer, barely touching.
...Mistress Nine bursts out of her human skin, Daimon, and fully-formed.
In Mamoru's apartment, the image of Hotaru shudders violently. There is a motion of sudden pain.
"I'm glad I met you..." she whispers. "Thank you for becoming my friend."
"Hotaru?!?"
Farewell, ChibiUsa, Edward, Spike, Arithon... everyone...
...Farewell...
Sailor Moon gasps, suddenly deeply uneasy. She frowns, "Hotaru?" The Daimon Mistress Nine lunges, attacking the unprepared Soldiers.
"Pink Sugar Heart Attack!!" Sailor Chibi Moon, ChibiUsa, throws the Daimon off just before it reaches her friends.
"Chibi... Moon!!" They say in surprise.
"Chibi Moon!!" Sailor Moon, most astonished, "How did you...!?"
"Hotaru saved me..." ChibiUsa says, overwhelmed. "She gave her life... to protect me."
She's gone... Hotaru... Sailor Moon begins to cry as well.
"What are you doing?!" Tuxedo Kamen yells, arriving after Chibi Moon, "Change into Super Sailor Moon!!"
All of the Senshi are present again. "The shield that those three are making takes a lot of energy!" Tuxedo Kamen continues, "You have to defeat the invaders quickly!"
They take note, quickly, and their powers are combined again, to bring forth Super Sailor Moon.
They all send attacks hurtling at Mistress Nine.
She absorbs them all.
No way! Super Sailor Moon thinks, She absorbed the power to grow?!
The oozing Pharaoh 90 is swirling far below them. He pushes against the shield, trying to make it dissolve. The Inner Senshi pummel him with all their strongest attacks.
"We won't let you out of this Infinity Delta!!" Neptune shouts to him from far above.
Uranus screams down to him, "This will be your grave!"
He absorbs all of the new attacks on him, as Mistress Nine had. Mistress Nine abandons the fight with Super Sailor Moon and her miniature counterpart.
"OWWRRR! Master Pharaoh 90, my partner! I, too, will merge with this planet, and with you! Together, we will take this world back to our Tau System!!" She plummets into him, and the body of Pharaoh 90 begins to grow darker and darker.
And Pluto peers upwards again to observe the sky. The turbulence in the sky has parted to yield a giant gateway. Darkest outer space is there. A once far spiral galaxy that can be seen as well looms through the sky portal, moving towards them all.
"OUR FORGOTTEN, FAR AWAY, MOTHER SYSTEM TAU," Pharaoh 90 roars, "COME!!"
The Inner Senshi are expending all their energy. Attack after attack does no damage, but is absorbed. Their powers begin to peter out one-by-one. One-by-one, each collapses, momentarily unconscious as she falls to land on a rooftop, or fire escape.
Eventually, the energy even of the Outer Senshi expires. The shield they maintained so well vanishes - Pharaoh 90 is free.
Super Sailor Moon is the only one left who has not exhausted all of her abilities. She alone faces the ominous entity and portal above her.
They've all reached their limits... They don't have any more power...
Pharaoh 90 consumes the Delta area. The buildings fall under the black sludge. The civilians on the ground are already in the process of fleeing, but are absorbed as well if they are too close to him as he comes.
Suddenly, Super Sailor Moon calls forth the tool with which she makes her transformation to Super Senshi. The cup that appears is the manifest container for the potent combined power of all nine Sailor Senshi.
The Chalice... and her Silver Imperium Crystal. She can't imagine the two forces together being withstood by any enemy. None that they have had to face have, yet.
She hugs the Chalice close to her body, and smiles to everyone, especially Tuxedo Kamen.
Still, he - Mamoru - continues to call desperately to her as she falls headfirst towards Pharaoh 90 itself, "No!!! BUNS!!"
ChibiUsa, awake again, grabs him in panic, "She's going to ram all that power into Pharaoh 90!!"
Super Sailor Moon hits the toxic ooze. At first, she merely sinks into him. And when it has covered her completely, a blinding white light shines forth from him. For a few moments, it is bright as day.
Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto watch from far above, speechless.
And the Talismans lying beside each of them on the three buildings start to glow.
Then, they shine, with colored light. The three trembling Senshi pick up their weapons. Indeed, the Sword, the Mirror, and the Garnet Orb are resonating as they did one day, a millennia ago.
[Taken directly in parts or altered from "Sailor Moon: Volume 9" and Issues 30 and 31 of "Sailor Moon." Copyright Naoko Takeuchi, Mixx Entertainment, Inc., and Kodansha, Ltd. All rights reserved, no profit is made from this reproduction.]
The little girl with pink pigtails flails, trying to escape a massive darkness. Endlessly it chases her, threatening to consume her. The roar of its vacuum in the emptiness is all there is.
All alone, afraid for her life. A bright shining force appears in the midst of that void, sweeping through everything, illuminating every corner. Suddenly, everything is peace.
A gentle voice, like her mother's somehow.
"ChibiUsa..."
What does she see... but her Silver Imperium Crystal, suspended in the middle of the light, as she is. Floating towards it happily, she cradles it; wondering how it got away from her, promising to keep it safe.
The gentle voice reminds her that it is indeed a part of her. She must keep it hidden, safe, and close at all times. This will keep her safe.
She wonders... wonders if she is in her mother's arms or...
"It's alright. I'll protect you," a soft embrace.
She does feel safe, and protected. The voice tells her that her crystal and her soul will not be taken by anyone, ever. As she drifts off, she hears three last words.
"I'll save you."
ChibiUsa lies still. The convulsions have stopped, and her hand grows warm. Mamoru is joyed but shocked. How could it be, someone is protecting the girl's soul?
The Infinity College tower splits in two and falls open. The earth rumbles as the tower's halves settle precariously at 45 degree angles.
And the unconscious four Senshi float above it all. Light auras surround each of them.
And Sailor Moon panics.
Mistress Nine shudders, "The power of the Silver Imperium Crystal has weakened?!"
The three conscious Outer Scouts take advantage of the entity's confusion to fly each to one of the three rooftops surrounding the former Infinity College Building on three sides, and raise their weapons.
"We have to protect this land!" And as an ooze rushes to the surface from the bowels of Infinity College, they activate a shield, with their weapons as the originpoints. "That is our duty!!"
Mistress Nine's eyes widen; memories of other barriers placed upon her. She snarls detestingly. "A shield?! It's USELESS!"
She begins to laugh again, in mockery of their efforts, "Master Pharaoh 90 is filled with energy! He will undergo his Vessel Transformation, merging with your planet!"
"Merge with this planet?!" Sailor Moon gasps.
"This planet joined with him will leave your system for the Tau System... this planet will become our second mother planet!" She grins as a wildcat does ready for a kill, "Once the Master's Vessel Transformation is complete, there will be no need to stay within a human body."
She doubles over, not having finished speaking a moment prior. Again?!? "I can't move?? I can't get out!!"
...."You'll never get out."
"Who's there?!" That voice, from before, but who!?!
"I won't let you out of here! This is STILL my body!"
The feel of thin hands tightening around her neck, around her mind.
Hotaru grasps at the entity pushing itself out of her... flesh with all her power and force of will. Ironic, that the situation would turn itself like this, "I won't let you free!!"
"...As I fed on you, I naturally came to believe that you had disappeared long ago. But you, pitiful little Hoste, you live on.
"After I've swallowed the Silver Imperium Crystal and gained its power, you can't control me! Nothing can!!" I'll tear this body apart!
Hotaru can feel new forces surging from within Mistress Nine, pushing back. As the sinews and bones of her body twist and creak, her grip begins to loosen. She feels absolute agony - as if she really were in sole possession of the body tearing from the inside out.
She holds tightly on, despite it all, keeping Mistress Nine inside.
"You foolish human!! I won't let anyone stop us!"
"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!!"
Sailor Moon sends a bolt of energy at Mistress Nine in her seeming moment of weakness. Mistress Nine sends her own back into the girl. It puts her out of the way for a few moments.
"I can't take the power from the Silver Imperium Crystal...!! I need power, more power!" She wildly sweeps the area, searching for someone, ANYone who will do. The four unconscious Scouts hover, mostly exposed, not far. One thrust pushes the souls from their weak and vulnerable human bodies, the souls bursting forth like four fiery shooting stars. The protective auras glowing around them fade. They fall limp to collapse on the nearest surface. Sailor Moon pulls herself together and rushes over to their bodies... as Mistress Nine absorbs each ball of light, sucking them into her body one by one.
Four new lights. The darkness manifests again, stronger now. The chaos on the edge of Hotaru's field of calm light - a vacuum pulling the floating lights towards its horrible center.
"No!"
They divert, making way to Hotaru instead. She grabs them each, holding them against doom.
Mistress Nine fumes, then pummels the child spirit with her anger.
Hotaru suffers within, holding for dear life, "I don't know if I can protect the Crystal and ChibiUsa and the four Senshi's souls with what power I have...!"
"You insignificant worm!! Give me their Hoste!!!"
Sailor Moon is yelling for the four Inner Scouts to wake up. The other three only hoping to hold their shield in place, to contain the evil that threatens to devour their world.
What hope is there... what hope? She feels alone in this battle against impossible odds, and yet...
"Was I really this strong..?" ...The will to preserve the souls of her friend and the four Sailor Scouts grows more sure.
"I'm left with just my soul," she says, sadly, to herself. As the onslaught on her intensifies, her grip holds faster in defiance, "So... I'm dead, right?... I'll never see my loved ones again, so why do I fight so desperately...?
..."Why do I have this power?"
"Die!!!"
"I... I can feel a greater Self deep within me...
"...That Self is telling me, 'You must stake your life to save them.'"
The vacuum of darkness roars nearby. The five lights tremble, called to it, but unable to escape Hotaru's grasp.
"Yes... The only thing I can do right now... is to take these five souls and the Silver Imperium Crystal..."
The field of light spreads across the void, "AND RESCUE THEM FROM HERE!"
She breaks free of Mistress Nine's onslaught and breaks free of the physical shell that contains her. A bright orb of white light launches like a cannon out of Mistress Nine's body, flying far away across the turbulent sky.
No!! She stole the Hoste!?
....
But now I am free!!
The souls of the four Scouts return to their bodies. And as they dazedly reawaken, "Hotaru?"
She smiles fleetingly to them, then vanishes. The ball of light speeds off.
Mamoru is startled by the apparition's sudden appearance by the window. At length, he recalls himself enough to demand, "Who are you?!"
She lifts a hand and the Silver Imperium Crystal leaves her grasp, floating across the room. It settles into ChibiUsa, silently.
Slowly, then, ChibiUsa awakens.
"ChibiUsa!" Mamoru hugs her. She hugs him back, then spots the nearly transparent girl who stands closer, now. She appears twelve years of age with chin-length black hair, her violet eyes glistening with tears of joy and relief.
"Thank goodness," she smiles to ChibiUsa.
"Hotaru!!?"
"...I saved you, ChibiUsa. I'm so thankful..." Her smile is so happy, so relieved.
Mistress Nine rears back...
"This... may be strange coming from another girl..." Hotaru continues, well aware, "But, I felt we were destined to meet..."
ChibiUsa beams as well, tears welling up, "Me too. ...I thought that."
They move closer, barely touching.
...Mistress Nine bursts out of her human skin, Daimon, and fully-formed.
In Mamoru's apartment, the image of Hotaru shudders violently. There is a motion of sudden pain.
"I'm glad I met you..." she whispers. "Thank you for becoming my friend."
"Hotaru?!?"
Farewell, ChibiUsa, Edward, Spike, Arithon... everyone...
...Farewell...
Sailor Moon gasps, suddenly deeply uneasy. She frowns, "Hotaru?" The Daimon Mistress Nine lunges, attacking the unprepared Soldiers.
"Pink Sugar Heart Attack!!" Sailor Chibi Moon, ChibiUsa, throws the Daimon off just before it reaches her friends.
"Chibi... Moon!!" They say in surprise.
"Chibi Moon!!" Sailor Moon, most astonished, "How did you...!?"
"Hotaru saved me..." ChibiUsa says, overwhelmed. "She gave her life... to protect me."
She's gone... Hotaru... Sailor Moon begins to cry as well.
"What are you doing?!" Tuxedo Kamen yells, arriving after Chibi Moon, "Change into Super Sailor Moon!!"
All of the Senshi are present again. "The shield that those three are making takes a lot of energy!" Tuxedo Kamen continues, "You have to defeat the invaders quickly!"
They take note, quickly, and their powers are combined again, to bring forth Super Sailor Moon.
They all send attacks hurtling at Mistress Nine.
She absorbs them all.
No way! Super Sailor Moon thinks, She absorbed the power to grow?!
The oozing Pharaoh 90 is swirling far below them. He pushes against the shield, trying to make it dissolve. The Inner Senshi pummel him with all their strongest attacks.
"We won't let you out of this Infinity Delta!!" Neptune shouts to him from far above.
Uranus screams down to him, "This will be your grave!"
He absorbs all of the new attacks on him, as Mistress Nine had. Mistress Nine abandons the fight with Super Sailor Moon and her miniature counterpart.
"OWWRRR! Master Pharaoh 90, my partner! I, too, will merge with this planet, and with you! Together, we will take this world back to our Tau System!!" She plummets into him, and the body of Pharaoh 90 begins to grow darker and darker.
And Pluto peers upwards again to observe the sky. The turbulence in the sky has parted to yield a giant gateway. Darkest outer space is there. A once far spiral galaxy that can be seen as well looms through the sky portal, moving towards them all.
"OUR FORGOTTEN, FAR AWAY, MOTHER SYSTEM TAU," Pharaoh 90 roars, "COME!!"
The Inner Senshi are expending all their energy. Attack after attack does no damage, but is absorbed. Their powers begin to peter out one-by-one. One-by-one, each collapses, momentarily unconscious as she falls to land on a rooftop, or fire escape.
Eventually, the energy even of the Outer Senshi expires. The shield they maintained so well vanishes - Pharaoh 90 is free.
Super Sailor Moon is the only one left who has not exhausted all of her abilities. She alone faces the ominous entity and portal above her.
They've all reached their limits... They don't have any more power...
Pharaoh 90 consumes the Delta area. The buildings fall under the black sludge. The civilians on the ground are already in the process of fleeing, but are absorbed as well if they are too close to him as he comes.
Suddenly, Super Sailor Moon calls forth the tool with which she makes her transformation to Super Senshi. The cup that appears is the manifest container for the potent combined power of all nine Sailor Senshi.
The Chalice... and her Silver Imperium Crystal. She can't imagine the two forces together being withstood by any enemy. None that they have had to face have, yet.
She hugs the Chalice close to her body, and smiles to everyone, especially Tuxedo Kamen.
Still, he - Mamoru - continues to call desperately to her as she falls headfirst towards Pharaoh 90 itself, "No!!! BUNS!!"
ChibiUsa, awake again, grabs him in panic, "She's going to ram all that power into Pharaoh 90!!"
Super Sailor Moon hits the toxic ooze. At first, she merely sinks into him. And when it has covered her completely, a blinding white light shines forth from him. For a few moments, it is bright as day.
Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto watch from far above, speechless.
And the Talismans lying beside each of them on the three buildings start to glow.
Then, they shine, with colored light. The three trembling Senshi pick up their weapons. Indeed, the Sword, the Mirror, and the Garnet Orb are resonating as they did one day, a millennia ago.
[Taken directly in parts or altered from "Sailor Moon: Volume 9" and Issues 30 and 31 of "Sailor Moon." Copyright Naoko Takeuchi, Mixx Entertainment, Inc., and Kodansha, Ltd. All rights reserved, no profit is made from this reproduction.]