The Legend of Zerena - Chapter 2 by Ari --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LEGEND OF ZERENA Disclaimers: All mandatory disclaimers apply to Naoko Taeuchi for Sai- lor Moon and Nintendo of America's Shigeru Miyamoto for The Legend of Zelda. =====CHAPTER 2: MISSING IN ACITON===== "Serena! Serena!" A desperate cry for help came over Serena's communicator as she sat in her room, looking over the night's math homework. She reluctantly reached for it. "What?" Serena said as she looked Raye's image right in the face. "I got quite a lot of homework here, and-" "Alex is gone!" Raye shouted. "What?!" "I called her today and there was no answer. I went over there and she's not home!" Raye said. "I'm really worried." Serena thought hard and long about this. Two Sailor Scouts gone in a matter of days. First Sailor Neptune, now Uranus? Action had to be taken. "Alright, get the others together, I'll be down there in a few minutes." She put her communicator in her purse and headed o- ver to Raye's. CHERRY HILL TEMPLE MINUTES LATER The Scouts were assembled at the temple within a minute's no- tice. It seems that each time they meet nowadays, the house is a lit- tle more empty: Serena, Reenie, Amy, Raye, Lita and Mina remained, while Alex and Michelle vanished without a trace. "I can't believe this is happening!" Raye said. "First Mich- elle and now THIS?!" "The bloody hell is going on here?" Mina asked. "Who is behind all this? Any ideas?" Suddenly, a horrible thought dawned upon Amy. "Could Alex have been speaking the truth?" Everyone chattered nervously at this. "I mean, sure, her story seemed far-fetched, but it seems to be falling into place. Seriously! seven maidens with magic poewrs disappearing, two of the Sailor Scouts missing, freaky disasters-" Amy was interrup- ted when a small earthquake disturbed the surrounding area "-see what I mean?" "I'm still a little curious about all this," Luna started. "I must say, Amy does have a very valid point, though." "This is all too wierd," Serena said. Just then, loud explos- ions and screams filled the air, followed by silence. "What was that?" "It sounds like trouble!" Luna screamed. "Go, now!" They a- greed, and quickly transformed. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER!" "MERCURY POWER!" "MARS POWER!" "JUPITER POWER!" "VENUS POWER!" People ran for their lives downtown as they were attacked by a huge monster. It was like nothing ever seen before. It was this HUGE eye covered in slime, and more than a dozen eyes stuck all over it. When the large eye dilated, it shot incredible blasts of lightning that fried everything in its path. This creature looked like it belonged in a swamp, and in reali- ty, it did. That is, Vitreous lives the deep, isolated swamp known as Misery Mire, which was, before Ganon's reign, a vast desert. Enormous mesas had to be placed at the entrance to the former desert to keep the waters from flooding the whole land. In this world, however, Vitreous was sent to capture one of the five remaining Sailor Scouts to help fulfill Ganon's scheme to rule the entire universe. "You can't hide forever, Ssssssailor Ssssssscouts," Vitreous said. "Where are you cowardssssssss?" "Over here!" The largest eye of vitreous spun around 180 de- grees to see the five remaining Sailor Scouts poised ready to fight. "Yessssssss," Vitreous said with an evil hint of satisfaction. "You have no idea who you're up against, bug eyes! I am Sailor Moon! Champion of love and justice! And in the name of the moon, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil...and that means you! Whatever the hell you are." "I will show you what I am," he said, as smaller eyes, each the size of basketballs, separated from him and bounced at the Scouts. "And I will teach you to resssssspect meeeee!" Having no idea how to counter the bouncing eyes, they slammed into the Scouts and sent them crashing down to the pavement. One of them bounced on Sailor Jupiter's stomach several times, before a red rose sent it into oblivion. This caused Vitreous to let out an 'Owwww!'. "That's his weakness!" Tuxedo Mask shouted. "Take out the lit- tle eyes first! Vitreous gets weak without them!" He then turned a- round to see another eye coming at him like a bullet. "Mars fire...IG- NITE!" Fortunately, Sailor Mars saw it coming, and incinerated the eyeball into dust. "That'sssssss it," the giant eyeball said. "Now I am angry!" With that, Vitreous' eye dilated fully, and a moment after that, a tri- dent of lightning bolts shot out into the battlefield. They flowed in an erradic pattern; Mars and Jupiter found themselves between two of the three forks, while Sailor Moon ducked down, and Sailor Venus juked out to one side. Sailor Mercury, however, wasn't so lucky. One branch of Vitreous' attack waved in and out of several ob- structions and right into her back as she tried to turn and run away. She screamed out loud, and then her facial features relaxed as she lost consciousness. Then about six smaller eyeballs rolled Sailor Mercury over to Vitreous, and they sooned disappeared. Sailor Moon cried out loud for her. "AAAA-MYYYYYYYY!!!" And then, there were four. A DARK DUNGEON MOMENTS LATER "Hey, wake up!" Blackness. That was all that Sailor Mercury could see for several moments as two soft voices encouraged her to wake up. Her vision eventually cleared, and she took in her surroundings. She was in a dark, cold dungeon, the only light coming from several torches, and she saw her two cellmates were... "Alex! Michelle!" "Amy!" they both said. They were still in the forms of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, though. "I'm so glad to see you!" Michelle said. "Are you okay?" "I feel woozy," Amy said. She tried to stand up, but she felt really light-headed and fell down. "Just relax," Alex said. She helped Amy sit down and get as comfortable as possible in that bleak dungeon. "When are they coming for us?" Amy asked weakly. "It's hard to tell," Michelle said. "We've been here for more than a week. They're really worried about us, huh?" Amy nodded. "I don't know how much longer we'll last down here." AFTER SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY "It's not likely for Amy to miss school, Serena," Molly said to Serena as they walked home. "What's wrong, do you know?" "I dunno," Serena said. "What could possibly have happen to her?" She knew exactly what happened to Amy, though. She was kidnap- ped right in front of their faces. God knows where they are, or if they'll ever be seen again. "I wouldn't worry too much, though. She's probably just under the weather." "I hope she feels better," Molly said. Serena started to walk away slowly. "Me too, Molly. Me too." Then, she ran off. CHERRY HILL TEMPLE MINTUES LATER Now with Amy missing and dark forces on the rise again, Serena, Raye, Mina and Lita regrouped at the steps of the temple. Only those four remained, and they were defenseless. Luna and Artemis were espe- cially worried. "I can't believe this is happening," Luna said sadly. "Three down." "And four to go," Raye said. "We gotta do something or else we're all gonna end up like the others!" "But what?" Serena asked. She started to get a little appre- hensive. "This is all my fault. I could've saved her...." "No one's blaming you, Serena," Artemis said. "And don't try to; it won't help you any. But we can't just sit here doing nothing!" "But I can't help but feel so helpless!" Just then, Luna saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked over there curious- ly. "What is it?" Mina asked. "Over there in the park!" she shouted. "Hurry, or else who knows what'll happen next!?" The girls transformed and rushed off to the park. This time, a more unusual creature threatened the area, this time. It was an octopus, only it had no tentacles and one big eye in the middle of its head. This is what you would see if you could clear away the fifteen or so medicine-ball-sized orange puff balls that would cling to it until they shot off him and at their enemies. A small ri- ver ran through the park, which would explain why it could get to the park. Arrghus, the octopus, focused his one eye on his newest opposi- tions. "Well, well," he said. "It seems as if your forces are dwin- deling, Sailor Scouts." "You know what, skip the intro!" Sailor Moon shouted. "You know who we are, you know our game, and you know what that makes you!" "As a matter of fact, I do," Arrghus said, as it launched its puffy appendages at the Scouts, sending each of them down. "Victori- ous!" "You'll never beat us!" Sailor Mars said. "Now, give us back our friends!" One of his puff balls engulfed Sailor Moon, but a red rose popped it like a balloon. "Tuxedo Mask!" Sailor Moon shouted. "I'm here, Sailor Moon," he said. "Okay, squidball, what have you done with our friends?" He brandished his cane. "Give them back or we'll come over there and take 'em back!" "Oh, you'll be with your friends soon enough," Arrghus said. Another of his puff balls lunged at Sailor Venus, but when it was about one yard from her, it was cut apart and it turned from orange to light blue. She looked up and saw who helped her. But it wasn't a scout, or Tuxedo Mask at all! "Alright, you leave these girls alone!" the stranger said. He looked like no one they've ever seen before! He was wearing a green tunic with a kiltish style bottom (but wearing white pants underneath), stitched halfway down the chest, a very floopy green cap with a yellow brim, and brown boots coming just a little abouve his ankles. He swung a fighter's sword in his left hand, and had a fairly large red shield, bearing a gold V in his right hand. Another feature about this kid was his unusually long ears; four times longer than human ears, that is. "Um, excuse me, buddy," Tuxedo Mask said to the stranger. "But last time I checked, I'm not a lady." "My apologies, sir," the stranger said. "But please, my name's not buddy." They stared at each other for a moment until they were startled by Sailor Jupiter's scream. They looked over and saw Jupiter engulfed in Arrghus' grip. The stranger lunged at him, about to split the octopus in half, when he disappeared. And then, there were three. The next thing Sailor Jupiter knew, she was in the same stink- ing hole as Sailor Mercury, Uranus, and Neptune. "Damn, he got away!" the stranger said. Just then, the remain- ing three scouts walked over. "Who are you?" they asked. "I'm sorry about that," he said as he stretched his arm out. "I am from the kingdom of Hyrule." Everyone's heart sank when they heard that. "My name is Link." "L-link?" Sailor Moon asked. "Yes. I have heard rumors of disappearing ladies in this area. I am here to check it out. It could be Agahnim." "What do you mean?" "There is a seal linking this world to the Golden Land. Agah- nim plans to open it for Ganon. The reason your fellow Sailor Scouts are gone is because he needs him to open the seal." With each passing moment, it seemed as if more and more of the legend was coming into focus...the legend of the power of Gold. The Triforce.... =====TO BE CONTINUED=====