Ari --------------------------------------------------------------------- DARK ON THE OUTSIDE DISCLAIMERS: If you've read any Sailor Moon fanfic, you know what the disclaimers are. All characters in the Sailor Moon Series don't belong to me. But, there are some characters included in this series that I HAVE created and therefore I do lay claim to (e.g. one of the main characters, Owen). I have also borrowed some terms from Magic: The Gathering, and don't own those terms. Send any comments you may have to waspg0ld@aol.com (No flames, please.) As you read the prologue, you may think to yourself 'Hey, what is this? I don't understand one word of it!'. Don't panic, this is just a series of events in Owen's past. Now enough from me. On with the story. ======PROLOGUE====== A SMALL ISLAND OFF THE COAST OF NEW JERSEY, USA APRIL 18, 1998 TEEI MANSION 2:30 AM, EASTERN TIME The nightmares were haunting him again. He could still see himself being picked on as a little kid. He didn't knew why he was al- ways abused by his peers like this. They were filthier than him. Dumber. Uglier. Less mannerly. HE should be making fun of THEM. But he was above their level. Apparently, it spawned jealousy amongst them. And then, he saw the image of the biggest and ugliest one of them all punching him in the face. At that point, he shot up in his bed like a bolt. His head was covered in cold sweat, his long, brown and gold hair matted down. Owen looked around his room from his bed. His town was in ruin, for the most part, and the thought of it broke his heart. Those that had made his life miserable his whole life had formed a group called the Degen- erates. They want to bring disaster to the world, starting with his hometown of Dove Grove. But that was years ago. Now Owen was 16, a varsity athlete in football, wrestling, track & field, and was more intelligent than he ever was. Other kids from other towns, as well as some local kids, respected him, and joined him in his resistance movement called the Achievers. Owen was another of the legendary leaders of these groups which prevented disaster from plaguing the planet. Their success would mean peace, good feelings and prosperity all over the world. If the Achievers failed, however.... Owen quickly cleared that hideous thought from his mind and looked at the papers on his nightstand. He glanced over them: his sketchbook, some papers, and a letter from Rotary Int'l. His applicat- ion was approved and he was to study abroad for a year. He was to leave for Japan in two weeks. Two weeks, he thought to himself. I will be able to get away from this nightmare, if only temporarily. Just then, he heard a beeping coming from his bureau. He wearily went over to it. He pressed a button on it, which was a modified Motorola Pager. A familiar face appeared on the screen. "Owen, you there?" A blond kid, a little older than him ap- peared on the screen. It was his most trusted friend, Ripple. "Hi Ripple," he said, half-asleep. "Hey wzup buddy. Listen, we need you here in the warroom right away, man. It's urgent." "Okay, be right there." Owen didn't have the strength to argue that it was too late and he needed sleep. So he went to his closet, put on some jeans, shoes and a shirt, put his hair back in a ponytail, & went to the wall. He searched around for the secret door which led to the warroom. When he opened the door, there was a small room with a hole in the floor and a long metal pole, which he slid down, about 100 ft. below the mansion. After several security clearances, he entered the warroom. Possibly the most elaborate and most advanced facilities in the world, the Achiever War Room was the brain of the resistance. Fellow Achievers and Degenerate movements could be located anywhere in Dove Grove. As Owen Teei walked in, he looked up at the giant computer screen. It displayed a map of Dove Grove, complete with every street, the High School - which was seized and converted into Degenerate HQ (DHQ)- and of course, the Teei Estate. Owen noticed the outline of DHQ was blinking red as well as green. "What do we have from our high school buddies?" Teei asked a- nother of his friends, Jim Ruff, as he approached. Dozens of soldiers, technicians and advisors wandered around the room. "Well sir," Jim started. "They're getting ready to fire their primary weapon. Right at us." "So then take the shot," he said to the monitor. To Jim: "The hell are they waiting for?" "A clean shot, sir," a large fellow rose from his chair and showed Owen over to the computer. "They're waiting for the energy shields to finally fail on us." "You remember that our generators were damaged during their last attack," Ripple said, standing next to the big guy, known as Skeek. "Sure do, that was a very nasty fight," Owen said, as the four of them turned to the monitor. At that point, the voice alarm sounded. Everyone froze in place and turned at the monitor. A polygonal pict- ure of DHQ appeared on the monitor. WARNING: DEGENERATE ARTILLERY STRIKE IN PROGRESS. WARNING: DEGENERATE ARTILLERY STRIKE IN PROGRESS. At that point, a huge cannon rose from the roof of the high school and fired a bright wave of energy at Teei Mansion. The war room shook and lights flickered as the energy struck the protective shield around the mansion. Many Achievers on hand fell over. "Jesus christ!" the four of them shouted as they tried to get up. "You guys okay?" Skeek asked Owen and Ripple. "I'm okay," Ripple said. "Me too," Owen said. He looked at the small monitor on the main computer he used to help him up. Which is when he noticed some- thing that shocked him. "Shit!" he bellowed. "What is it?" Jim Ruff asked as he stood up. He looked at the same monitor and quickly caught on. "Oh man! That last blast cut our shield energy in half! We're at 35%." The damage the generators suff- ered from before would also mean that the shield would weaken until it just failed altogether. "What are we gonna do, Owen?" Owen only took one glance back at Jim before walking to a panel in the wall. All he said was "Leave that to me. We're going into overtime." Owen walked over to the wall, and put his hand on one of the tiles. The tile glowed and the one right next to it opened. A key- board with a small screen on the top slid out of the hole. The screen booted up. The Achiever emblem - a capital "A" in front of a diamond, with wings similar to those on the Air Force wings sticking out either side - flashed for 10 seconds and then faded back. A message appeared on the screen. [Enter Password] [Password Confirmed] At that point, the keyboard slid back in and a retina scanner slid out. Owen put his eyes up to it, and waited about 5 seconds. He winced as the scanners passed over his gold iris- es. When the scan was completed, it slid back into the wall and a gray box came out. It resembled a safe-deposit box, only there was a black number pad where the lock would be. As he punched several keys, the lid opened, revealing a beautiful piece of jewelry. A multi-fingered ring, actually. Owen took a long look at the ring and examined it's five gems carefully. The first, closest to his pinkie, was a ruby cut to look like a fireball. Next to that was a sapphire shaped like a drop of wa- ter. In the middle was a sun, made of Mother of Pearl, which looks like it was made from two squares, the corners being the sun's rays. Besides it was a tree made out of jade. On the end, above his index finger, was a small rectangle with a large triangle above it, made from onyx. These five gems were imbedded in a rectangle of 24kt gold, which sat on gold rings which were crafted perfectly to his fingers. With the ring in place, he rushed out of the war room, through the mansion, and to the center of the courtyard. As he ran out, he could feel his insides reacting to the ring. Those reactions were actually the ring triggering the magic powers he couldn't use - or knew too much about - up until now. "How's the shield holding out, guys?" he said into his pager. "We're down to 30%, Overtime," Skeek answered. "Try and hold them up as long as possible." "Why?" "I'm gonna replace the shield. On my word, deactivate it." "You're gonna do WHAT?!" "Trust me. I have everything under control." Owen stood in the courtyard, legs shoulder-width apart. He took a last look at his ring before putting it to work. "Let's see what this thing can do." As if he had always known how to do this kinda stuff, he started to chant a magic spell; he clenched his right fist, pulled it to his chest, and clenched his wrist with his other hand. "PRISMATIC..." White, green, blue, red and black waves of energy swirled a- round him, glowing brightly. He then let go of his wrist and raised the ringed hand into the air. "PROTECTIVE..." The energy that surrounded him moments ago went into his body, and Owen started flickering the five colors. He stepped forward with his right foot slightly and held his fist out straight. "CIRCLE!!!" Owen eyes started glowing white, green, blue, red & black as circle after circle eminated from Owen's body. Each new one replaced the older one, which was much stronger than the one before. They took the form of a dome, which bought everything it touched under it's protection. Which was good, because the shields were weakening. A worried Jim Ruff looked at the monitor. "I hope he knows what he's doin'! We're down to 20%!" By now, the magic had engulfed and protected the entire house, and was reaching the gardens. "15%!" More and more of the property was being protected. "10%! We're almost out of power!" When the dome grew to 5 ft. from the edge of the energy shield, Owen reached for his pager. He held down a button on it and raised it to his mouth. "NOW! Deactivate! Devactivate!" Owen was still layering his magic shield when he saw the old one disappear. It grew to the point where it reached beyond the border of his estate and to other parts of the town. As it touched the smallest part of neighboring houses, their entire property was protected. "Nice job, Owen," Jim said amongst the cheers of everyone else in the room. But then the same alarm from earlier wiped the smile off his face. "They're firing again!" Another wave from the primary can- non at DHQ raced across the night sky and crashed into the protective dome. Not one part of the blast penetrated it, but the shock waves broke Owen's concentration and sent him crashing to the ground; the dome stopped growing, but protected a huge corner of Dove Grove. Achiever and Degenerate territory was clearly marked by the dome. Later, in the War Room, Skeek, Ripple and Jim Ruff met with Owen to discuss the changes that would occur when he would be in Japan for a year. "I don't mean to offend you, Owen," Ripple started. "But I don't know how long that shield of yours will hold out. Will it be e- nough?" "There's no telling what the Degenerates will try to get in here," Skeek added. "If this mansion falls, kiss the Achievers good- bye." "How will the others handle your hiatus, sir?" Jim finished. "Calm down guys," Owen started, sliding the ring off his hand. "The prismatic dome is ultra-strong and self-regenerating. Nuclear warheads couldn't break through it. Besides, even if they did get in, the pure evil in their heart mixed with the purity of the magic will dissolve them in seconds. As far as the Degenerates go, don't do any- thing irrational and make some kinda stupid mistake." He then took a walk around the table as he finished. "I leave you three in charge while I'm in Japan. I trust you as friends, and rely on you as al- lies." "Don't worry, pal," Skeek answered. "You can count on us. Right guys?" "Right!" Jim and Ripple answered. "Excellent. Everything's gonna go great," Owen said, yawning. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get some sleep. Dismissed." He went to go back to his room when he was stopped by Jim calling him. He turned to look at them. "Have fun in Japan, Owen." Owen smiled, and left the war room. ======END OF PROLOGUE====== Summary: Owen has put up a magic wall over his family's house/ the Achiever's stronghold. This will fend off the Degenerates as much as possible. Owen left command to his 3 best friends while he goes to Japan and meets six people who will change his life forever.