Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Omicron Knights Saga ❯ Chapter 2

Omicron Knight Saga: Chapter 1
By Archangel Bloodraven

"Serena!" The little cat yelled as loudly as she dared.

"Leave me alone Luna." The blonde mumbled, trying to adjust her aching body into a comfortable position. "I feel like I've been thrown into a wall." She rolled into her pillow, then sat bolt upright silently screaming in pain.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

Instead of answering Serena activated her communicator. "Ami?"

"Oh Serena." The blue haired girl sounded relieved yet tired. "I'm so glad you're all right. You were the last one to check in and we thought the enemy may have captured you."

"That's me." She said with a weak chuckle as she attempted to get up and only succeeded in getting her legs off the bed with difficulty. "Fashionably late. How are the others?"

"A lot of bumps and bruises, but we're all better than we have any right to be. How about yourself?"

"Well, I'm alive." She said pulling herself off the bed. "And walking."

"Barely." Luna muttered.

"No comments," Serena grunted as she totted unsteadily to the door. "from the peanut gallery. So what are we going to do now?"

"I said we should all spend the day recovering, but I got outvoted, so we're going to have a meeting at the usual spot. Think you can make it in an hour?"

"Yeah, down the stairs maybe. Can Darien pick me up?"

"I'll see what I can do." Ami laughed. "See ya soon."

"Serena, you look like crap." Her brother said in passing.

"Thank you for your expert opinion." She growled slipping into the bathroom and a hot bath.

Luna sprang lightly onto the edge of the tub as Serena sank in. "Serena, who was the green clad man who brought you home last night?"

"He calls himself Archer." She said painfully fishing the wilted carnation out of the water. "He saved my life last night so for now we may be able to count him as an ally."

"Do you trust him?"

"I'm not sure. I only saw him briefly in battle."

"And you don't have some kind of opinion?" Luna persisted. "Don't you even think he's cute or something?"

"I'm growing up a little Luna. I mean I love Darien. I can't exactly go falling head over heels for every guy that crosses my path. I mean I almost fell for Maxfield Stanton and look what he turned out to be."

"You are indeed maturing, Serena. One day you will be ready to take your place as queen of the moon kingdom."

"In time, Luna." The blonde sighed, slowly lathering herself. "In time."

Her moment of peace was abruptly shattered by a rapid pounding on the door. "Hey Meatball head, your boyfriends here!" Sammy screamed through the door.

"If I wasn't so battered I'd hit him." She muttered absently kicking the stopper out the tub as Luna dragged a towel to her. "Thanks Luna." She murmured drying her hands to scratch her feline guardian behind the ears. Luna accepted it gratefully before twisting away, reminding her of other obligations.

"Darien is waiting."

"Of course." She towels off a little faster, her muscles recovering from their previous night of punishment. She carefully wrapped herself in a towel letting her sodden hair hang loose.

A few minutes later she descended the stairs wearing a loose fitting sundress. "Ah Serena." Darien said rising smoothly to his feet. "Ready to go on that picnic?"

"Of course." She said lightly as she pulled her still damp hair away from her shoulders. "When will we be back?"

"Oh, I thought we'd make a day of it and come back sometime this evening."

"Sounds good to me. See ya mom!" With that the young couple were out the door and into Darien's sports car. Serena paused long enough to let Luna jump into her lap as Darien started the engine.

"I don't suppose you can tell me anything about our new enemy." Luna asked hopefully.

"When we're all together." Darien said. "What's bothering you buns?"

"I don't know if we can beat this one Darien. I got banged up pretty bad."

"We all did." He said gently patting her hand. "I'm barely walking without the help of my cane, but from what the others told me we're all lucky to be alive."

"How are the others? They don't always tell me everything because sometimes I feel like it's my fault."

"You're simply taking responsibility for your action." Darien said as he stopped the car and opened his door. "As for the others see for yourself." He said producing a cane from the back seat before slowly maneuvering around to help Serena first out of the car and then up the temple stairs.

"Took you long enough, meatball head." Rei said.

"Glad to see you're all right too, Pyro." Serena said settling slowly and painfully into place as she surveyed her friends.

Ami was seated with a wide sunbonnet covering her head, but when she tipped her head back to gaze at Serena, the blonde noticed a hint of the surgical cloth that bound the girl genius's head. Mina was leaning heavily against a pillar clearly favoring one leg. Rei winced as she attempted to sweep, even though one arm was clearly injured.

"Sit." Serena said imperiously. Plucking the broom from Rei's grasp, she began sweeping herself, surprised at how soothing it was. Rei protested weakly before taking the seat Serena had vacated.

Finally Serena let her gaze fall on Lita, the strongest of the scouts. She seemed all right physically, but a slight shift of her outfit revealed a tightly wrapped ace bandage under her shirt. "Lita, you're-"

"Just a little bruised." Lita said quickly. "Nothing to worry about."

"Right." Serena said skeptically. Before anyone realized what she was doing, she crossed to Lita and placed one hand firmly on her chest causing the brunette to cry out in pain. "Just bruised huh?" She asked pulling her hand away before she did too much harm.

"Serena you worry too much." Lita snarled, glaring at Serena as she attempted to catch her breath.

"And I have every right to worry!" She snapped back. "You guy's are my friends and I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Hey guys what happened last night?" Artemis asked brushing noses with Luna in a belated greeting. "I thought you guys were just going to check out a simple energy fluctuation."

"That's what we thought," Serena said as she resumed sweeping. "but that's not what happened."

~*~

"I think we're getting close." Ami said as her fingers danced over the keyboard of her palmtop.

"It's probably nothing." Mina said.

"I dunno." Rei said. "There is definitely some dark force behind it."

"I feel it too." Serena said. "Like something cold and evil in the bottom of my stomach." Now the others were truly concerned for Serena was the least likely of all of them to sense evil.

"Are you sure it's not something you ate?" Lita asked.

"Oh it's nothing she ate." A sinister voice said as the girls enter the alley.

"Who are you?" Serena snapped.

"Why Sailor Moon, don't you know?" The voice chuckled as the black clad figure stepped into a beam of moonlight. "I'm your executioner."

"Can't I just retire in peace?" Serena sighed. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER!"

The other scouts quickly followed suit.

"MERCURY STAR POWER!"

"JUPITER STAR POWER!"

"MARS STAR POWER!"

"VENUS STAR POWER!"

In a flash the five teenaged girls were gone, replaced by the fearless warriors of good, the Sailor Scouts.

"Going to put a little life into it before you go?" The dark man chuckled. "Wonderful! I'll give you first strike."

Sailor Moon dispensed with her usual speech and brought her moon scepter to bear. "MOON SCEPTER ELIMINATION!"

The others, surprised at her initiative, reacted they only way they could. They attacked.

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!"

"JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!"

"MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!"

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!"

The attacks hit square and true exploding into a dense cloud of smoke.

"That was awesome!" Sailor Jupiter cried.

"Yes." Sailor Mercury agreed. "We did well."

"But not well enough!" The voice snarled as the black form hurdled out of the smoke and debris unscathed. In a blur of motion he floored Mercury with a kick to the midsection and a chop to the back of the head, even as he tackled Jupiter into the wall hard. Sailor Moon thought she heard something crack but couldn't confirm it because the attacker spun and slammed his foot into her chest. "Oops! You were supposed to be last." He said almost regretfully as Sailor Moon sailed back only to be halted by the timely arrival of Tuxedo Mask.

"SHINE AQUA ILLUSION!" Mercury shouted successfully using her attack from her knees.

As the black clad figure reeled from the attack he spun on Mercury. "Can't you hero types just die?" He snarled whipping around to smash his foot into the blue haired scout's head. "Time to wrap this up. DARKNESS WAVE ERUPTION!" A moment later a shockwave of dark energy exploded sending them sprawling into the walls of the alley.

"I won't let you destroy my friends." Sail Moon groaned trying to get to her feet.

"Farewell, Sailor Moon."

***

"That's when Archer showed up." Serena said laying the broom aside.

"But who is Archer?" Artemis said.

"And who was the man in black?" Luna asked.

"My dark alternate Riven Dimalien." A quiet voice said as a brown haired teen in blue jeans and a forest green jacket came up the stairs. "And I, as you may have surmised, am Archer. But you can call me Quincy." He gently removed the Ami's sunbonnet. "Hmm, much better than it was. I should have had one of my people stay with you though."

"What do want?" Rei asked testily.

Serena held up her hand diplomatically. "I assume you know who we are."

"Yes." Quincy said. "I had hoped to meet you all earlier, before I ended up saving you. I need your help."

"What kind of help?" Mina asked.

"For the past year my friends and I battled the forces of the Negaverse to a standstill, but now they're starting a new more focused offensive. Their intention is to wear us down and overrun the earth with dark minions, using North America as a base of operations."

"And you just want us to traipse over there and help you out, is that it?" Lita snarled.

"Lita!" Serena snapped.

"Jupiter is quite right. I have no reason to expect you to trust me. Would you be willing to come to my world, so that I can show you my past? Then, I hope, you will be able to understand what I'm asking."

"We can't trust this guy!" Rei exploded.

"I don't ask for your trust. I ask that you be open minded enough to hear me out." He twisted an emerald ring on his finger and called out. "FOREST LIFEFORCE PORTAL!" A moment later a rippling green portal of energy hovered in the air and Quincy stood by expectantly.

"Stay here." Ami said rising to her feet and crossing unsteadily to the portal fingers working her palmtop all the way. She paused a moment to place one hand against the energy field, before steeling herself and stepping through. Seconds later she came back through. "It's incredible." She breathed before rattling off about the plants and animals. "And it has three suns!" She gushed.

"Geez, Amy, you were only there about thirty seconds."

The girl genius looked perplexed. "I was there for more than five hours collecting data."

"I can explain. The time flow on my world of Necroix is roughly six seconds here to every hour spent there. Great for vacations."

Ami grinned. "I think we should go. It's nice and peaceful."

"Most of the time." Quincy muttered.

"And you're still hoping to get that rest day, aren't you." Mina chuckled pushing off the wall. "If it's all right with you, Serena, I'd like to hear this guy out."

"So would I." Serena agreed. "Are you two coming?"

Rei and Lita mumbled something unintelligible as they moved toward the portal. "Aren't you coming?"

"I have to go through last. Then my ring will seal the rift." Quincy said.

"Then I'll go through with you. Just to be sure this isn't a trap."

Quincy nodded as the girls slipped through the portal and vanished. Taking Rei's hand gently the pair slipped into the unknown.