(Version 1.2) SailorsPathfinder : Love and Without By : Erin Flynn – fanfic@mjade.com Episode 9 : Gathering and Attack The first thing Rei realized was that she had a tremendous headache... then she realized that meant she was alive... and she certainly hadn't thought she would be. The youma had trapped her in a crystal, just like Mamoru, it had shattered, and then nothing- "MAMORU!?!" Rei sat up with a start and flicked open her eyes. Her head reeled and the headache pounded in her skull, but she forced it off as she looked around her. She was in a field of some-sort. A ways ahead of her was a building. Fences extended from it on either side, and moved off, surrounding the field in a circular fashion. She judged from the looks of it she was in about the center of the field. Her eyes followed the fence, and she turned to look behind her-- and gasped. At least a hundred girls cowered in the back part of the field, some of them in fukus, most in other kinds of clothes. "Hello?" she asked. Suddenly those in fukus sprang up and ran to crowd around her. "You! You speak the tongue!!" one shouted. "Japanese?" she asked, but none of them heard her... they were all speaking at once. "Are you a Senshi, too? ... Why are you here? ... What happened to us? ... What about those crystals? ... And the youma-" Rei suddenly stood. They stopped and stepped a bit away from her. She looked at their fukus... they were all identical... but not one of them looked like hers... She thrust her hand into the air, "MARS POWER!!!" In another 16 seconds Sailor Mars stood before them... they who now gaped at her... "YOU!!! ... She-she has the fuku of an Earth System Senshi... And it's red ... Why, she can't be real!! ... Ghost? ... Crazy!! ... Can't be ... Thought they died!! ... you, and the others and the Princess .. Felt you die..." Suddenly two of them hit their knees and the rest followed suit, bowing down before her. Mars stared at them, "WHAT is going ON!?!?" One looked up, "You are Sailor Mars, are you not?" "Well, yes... but, who are all of you?" They looked at her, confused. One of them spoke up, "We're Senshi..." Mars sighed, "Well, obviously... but from where?" One of the other girls, one not in a fuku, suddenly appeared at Mars' elbow, "Su say na kurotu? Yo me... ni kodarte... conet?" Mars looked from her to the others, "What did she say?" One of the others shook their heads, "Don't know... she's speaking in whatever dialect her home speaks in." "How come all of you speak Japanese? Are you all from Japan?" Another Senshi stared at her, "Japanese? We're speaking in galactic basic..." "JAPANESE is Galactic Basic?!?" "If they call it Japanese where you are from, then yes, it is. It is the language common to all those who lived during the time of the Silver Millennium." Mars was as confused as the non-Senshi girl standing beside her, "Okay-- I have no idea what's going on, but I need to know one thing first. Where am I?" "You don't know?" Mars sighed, "No, I do not." "Dang! Well, neither do we, we were hoping you did." Suddenly there was a noise behind her and Mars spun to see Ami's body fall to hit the ground. "AMI!!!" she screamed as she ran towards her. She knelt down next to her friend and checked for vital signs. Ami seemed to be okay, just a little bruised. Another Senshi was leaning over her shoulder, "Is that who I think it is? Only one Senshi had blue hair like that!" Sailor Mars looked up at the girl, "She's Sailor Mercury-" "I KNEW IT!! I knew you all didn't die!! Does this mean the Princess is still alive, too?!?" "Princess Serenity? Yes, she's alive-" "Then the queen might have summoned us!" Another Senshi hit the other's arm, "With YOUMA?!? Get real!" Mars heard a groan and looked down to see Ami opening her eyes. "Rei?" she asked in a rather raspy voice. "Yeah, it's me, and I'm glad you're here, Ami. Maybe you can help me figure this out..." * * * Risa looked through the seers carefully and then handed them to Tuxedo Mask. He took them and stared off at the castle. "Much better than my binoculars..." "What was that?" she asked. He shook his head, "Nothing... Are Sage and Leeota sure they're ready, and are you certain you can give them the signal when it's their time to go?" She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and smiled, "Yes and Yes. Everything is set." He nodded, "Alright then, let's do this." He noticed her bow her head for a moment. "Risa?" She looked up, and then off at the castle. "Many people will die today. Just a quick thought, a quick prayer..." He nodded and then looked back off at the castle. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and then picked up the comm unit next to him. "Double A this is Mask. Ann, Alan? Do you see everything clearly on your side? Things check out?" In a moment Alan's voice crackled in the comm, "Yep, ready to go on this side, just start givin' the signals! Double A out!" Tuxedo Mask sighed, and looked at Risa as he started to give the command, "Mask to all units... deploy on my mark... Hex One... away. Hex Two... away. Hex Three..." * * * Hex Four leader was a strict man. Never let his soldiers see his emotions. He was glad of this, because they might have wanted to know what he felt at the moment. And what he felt was cold fear ripping him apart, fear not for him, but for all of the men and women who would die today... for indeed... many of them would be dying. He gazed around at them, memorizing their faces, hoping maybe there would be people to remember them... and hoping that that they would be remembered for bringing the downfall of the evil on this world. "Mask to all units..." His comm crackled, he recognized the voice as the one named Tuxedo Mask. The young man began to deploy the different squadrons... and then- "Hex Four... away." Hex Four leader turned to his team, "This is it... go... NOW!!" * * * Hydra absentmindedly played with the pendant on her neck... "My Queen!!" Hydra turned at the call... a General, gasping at the door to her chambers. Her eyes flashed as an orange glow began about her fist, "How dare you interrupt me!!" "Bu-But My Queen!! The humans-" "WHAT!?!? What about the humans?" "Th-They're attacking My Queen!!!" Hydrazite was so shocked for a second she gaped at the General. Then she fled to her window. Outside human vermin swarmed over the castle borders. She spun to the General, her eyes aflame, "THE FOOLS!! THEY ATTACK!!!" "M-My Que-" Hydra sent a brilliant, flaming wave of energy through him and then stormed into the hall screaming. "GENERALS!!! WHAT IN BERYL'S NAME IS GOING ON!?!? GET THE DARKNITES OUTSIDE!!!!!!!" Countless denizens of the castle began scrambling about, fleeing outside to attack. In a rage she ran to follow them, outside, * * * Tuxedo Mask watched as all of the Hex Squadrons came down on all sides of the castle. He was waiting for his own mental signal to order the Senshi to attack. It was gruesome... but he had to wait... Then he saw one of the Soldiers die... then another. He looked at Risa, "The soldiers are dying, it is time for your intervention... send in the Senshi, and remember to listen for my signal." Risa nodded, closed her eyes for a moment... and then vanished in a wash of red. He picked up the comm, "Double A this is Mask, Senshi are in, wait for my signal if you're needed. Mask out." Tuxedo Mask watched as his plan unfolded before his eyes. All of the DarkNites were facing outward, trying to kill the soldiers coming in. They hadn't counted on an attack from behind them... He only saw a handful of flashes from his angle, but abruptly the battle shifted. DarkNites began falling, as the Senshi attacked them. They were either killed directly by the attack, or driven into the mass of soldiers where they were killed. Tuxedo Mask swore... he thought as one after another, soldiers fell- when all of the sudden... a wave of pain and sheer agony ripped through him. He held his head and screamed, it was so painful... what had happened? * * * Risa almost lost her concentration when the wave of anguish, of death in agony, reached her... But she knew it had to be true, one of her friends was dead. A Senshi had fallen. Tears welled up in her eyes, why did this have to happen... Her sadness turned to anger as she continued to attack, waiting, desperately, for Tuxedo Mask's signal so that the battle would be almost over... Then maybe they would finally be free... * * * Tuxedo Mask watched the battle again, the feeling of pain still lingering in his mind, but he knew he had to keep watching... Suddenly a wave of energy swept down on one side of the castle, orange flames ripping through several soldiers... "NOO!!" Tuxedo Mask yelled as he stood up suddenly. But the energy took no heed as it swept another swath of death through the masses of soldiers. It even killed a few of the DarkNites in the process. Hurriedly he "yelled" as loud as he could in his mind, directly at Risa. He grabbed the comm unit and screamed into it, "ALAN!! ANN!! GET OUT THERE AND HELP THEM!!! THE QUEEN HERSELF IS ATTACKING!!" "QUICK!!" * * * In the back of her mind Risa suddenly heard a voice... and she knew who's voice it was. She reached out with her own thoughts and screamed at Sage and Leeota, telling them to get inside. Then she mind-called all of the other senshi. "Switch attack!! Now!!" Then she looked for a spot... and teleported... and was then facing the castle, on the side of the soldiers, driving back the DarkNites. * * * Sage and Leeota sat halfway down a hill, just a ways beyond the castle. "Risa just asked if we were ready," said Sage. Leeota looked at her, "So we'll be going in any minute now, eh?" The other Pathfinder nodded, then looked at her friend, "Are we ready?" "I am... are you?" Sage looked away, and off into the distance, "Yeah, it's just that, well, I've never been this nervous going into an attack before..." she trailed off. Leeota spoke after a moment, "Well, you've always had a hand in planning the attacks before. Now you're just following orders." Sage put her palms on the ground behind her and then leaned back to stare up into the sky, "Yeah, but this is a good plan. I don't think it's really that at all... for the first time in my life, I'm afraid. Afraid of getting fried. What if we get in there and my judgment fails me, and I do something superbly dumb, huh? What if-" "Oh Sage stop it!! You're judgment is fine!" Sage moved as if she was going to say something, but Leeota continued too quickly for her to even get a syllable out, "Truly, Sage... If any of the other Pathfinders had stayed to protect the O.F., would they have lived? No. You fired at them yourself. There was a force field around them, and even if it could have been taken out, they came in so fast... Sage... What happened happened, and there is nothing you can do to change it, and you did nothing wrong at all, in fact, had those Senshi remained, they most likely would have died-" As she said the word... a spasm of pain and agony took over them. Sage's arms failed her, and she fell back; Leeota's face quickly lowered into her hands as they both cried out... so much pain... "A Pathfinder... a Pathfinder is dead." Leeota sobbed the obvious. Sage pushed herself back up, and blurily looked at Leeota, "WHY?!? Why does it have to happen?" Leeota shook her head as they both tried to push it away... they still had a job to do. They sat in silence for a little bit... and then Risa's mental scream put them both on their feet. Sage looked at Leeota, "Time to go." The blonde nodded. "Good Journey..." Leeota smiled back at her, "Good Journey." They were gone in a flash of pink and green. * * * Tuxedo Mask watched as the energy claimed more and more lives. Then he saw the shimmering which meant Senshi were teleporting to the new attack places. But the orange wave kept taking away life after life... He suddenly charged down the hill, He stormed into the battle. * * * * * * The large drainage pipe underneath the main highway of town was a popular attraction for little children. They called it their clubhouse... played in it, hiding for hours from their parents or baby-sitters, just having fun. If you listened carefully, you could hear them laughing as you passed over. But, had one been listening tonight, the sound wasn't as joyous... In fact, sobs echoed in the night. It sounded as if someone had just lost a part of their soul... a part of themselves... Jupiter stood at one of the open ends of the pipe, right hand resting on a metal rung, supporting her, and stared off into the night. Stars sparkled in the sky; the city had begun to shut down, lights fading off; there was the gentle buzzing of the insects; an occasional car passed over, though none had in the past few minutes... She sighed, She had moved her two friends here. It had taken awhile, both were distraught... and gushing like waterfalls. It hadn't occurred to her to go anywhere else, this seemed the perfect place. She turned now, and looked in at her two friends. Venus sat with her head in her hands, her blonde hair tumbling all about her, it and her hands covering her face... Sailor Moon sat against the side of the pipe, her knees pulled against her chest, chin on her knees, eyes glassy staring a the other side of the pipe. Luna had gone out looking for Artemis long ago... and Jupiter had no idea where she was... She turned back around and stared off into the night. A sudden light flashed through the sky. She watched as it descended towards Earth... She heard a bending and snapping noise to her right and looked to discover that she'd twisted the metal rung from the wall. She held it in her hands, turning it. She fought the tears welling up in her eyes with all her might. Suddenly a hand rested on her shoulder and she spun... to discover Sailor Moon standing at her shoulder. The girl still had tears in her eyes, and running down her face. Jupiter quickly looked away to hide her own eyes. "What?" "It's so calm, doesn't feel like the right world, does it?" Jupiter was surprised by how calm Sailor Moon's voice was. She answered the blonde, "No." Both stood in silence for a long moment. Finally Sailor Moon spoke, "Do you think they'll be back? Do you think they are going to kill the rest of us?" Jupiter stared off into the distance, "Who knows... I mean who ARE "they"? We have no idea what's going on, who, when, where, why, how... DAMN!!!" She suddenly lost the battle, and the tears freely came down her face. Her voice quavered as she tried to keep talking, "Shit... I mean they could have told us something... anything... damned angles of death popping out of the sky and killing people for no reason whatsoever..." Sailor Moon was suddenly standing in front of her, and then was hugging her. For a moment, she wouldn't let herself give in... and then she was sobbing into her shoulder. After a moment, Venus joined them and the three stood, hugging each other... thinking about what they had lost. Jupiter looked over Venus' shoulder and off into the night. Another light flashed through the sky... but closer... near the ground... She pushed her friends away from her and looked out... Suddenly she could tell it was coming in fast... and directly at... "US!!!" she shouted her completed thought aloud. She turned and pushed her friends towards the other end of the pipe. "RUN!!!!" They dove out the other end as the thing streaked through the tunnel. Immediately Jupiter was on her feet, Venus was up in the next second, Sailor Moon on the third. The thing suddenly stopped and they saw it's true form. A youma stared at them... several crystals floating beside it. Before Jupiter could summon a wave of green thunder, a Crescent Beam suddenly ripped through the air- but the thing dodged. It spoke at them, in a mocking, whining voice. "I've been warned of you... I won't be defeated so easily... can't say the same for you, though." A crystal suddenly lurched out towards Venus. Everything went into slow motion, Jupiter seemed unable to move as she tried to blast at the crystal, her hands wouldn't point in the proper direction fast enough... and then Venus' body stretched awkwardly and was pulled into the crystal. Then the crystal shattered. Her hands finally blasted green energy... but through an empty expanse of air. She turned again to face the youma, but the thing was throwing a crystal towards Sailor Moon. Jupiter tried to move again... but it was all happening so fast, she was still in slow motion... Just before Sailor Moon disappeared into the crystal, their eyes locked. Her friend seemed so calm, peaceful, even internally. The other girl simply smiled at her, and was gone... the crystal shattering after her. Normal time seemed to resume as Jupiter's outcry ripped through the air. She suddenly summoned all of the energy she could and released it in the direction of the youma. But once again, the energy was wasted. The thing had moved, and she could hear it laughing behind her. She turned to face it, and was met with the sight of a beautiful crystal spinning not one foot from her... And suddenly she was within it, staring out, the world distorted at odd angles. She stared at it, lovingly, and all dark emotions left her soul, Suddenly, blackness. End Ep. Nine. (Version 1.2)