Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor X ❯ SX11: The A-B Conundrum ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Sailor X #11 The A-B Conundrum

By: John Brengman

Edited by: Thomas Schell

PROLOGUE

"It doesn't matter what you do, Mercury," Zoycite hissed through
clenched teeth as she hovered above

the ground. "I've got your boyfriend and there's nothing you can do
about it! He's on my side, now

that I have the rainbow crystal he carried!" Below the villain, a
young man tried to get to his feet, but the

energy released from the crystal was already coursing through him,
about to transform him into something

else...

With an evil grin, Zoycite winked. A sharp crystal shard nosed up from
within the asphalt surface of the

street.

"I'll leave you two here to play." Zoycite chortled, then let out one
of her trademark shrill laughs as she

turned to vanish....

...the crystal shard launched itself at the back of Sailor Mercury...

...who dropped out of its way....

"MERCURY SHARD!"

The smooth shard of primal ice materialized in Sailor Mercury's metal
hand. She quickly flung

the projectile in Zoycite's general direction....

...and it ricocheted off Zoycite's crystal, shattering it and
continuing on target...

The shard thrown by the lone Sailor slammed into Zoycite as she opened
the portal to the Negaverse. Her

laugh of victory changed to a shrill cry of agony. She managed to
stumble into the portal, but she would

never make it back to the Negaverse alive.

Sailor Mercury watched calmly as the portal closed. "Artemis," she
said to the computer, "restart program, speed index four."

Again, Mercury dodged the projectile that was supposed to be her doom
and caught Zoycite with

her ice shard before the villain could make good her escape.

"Artemis, restart program, speed index eight."

The ice shard caught Zoycite in the leg, shearing it from her body.

"Artemis, restart program, speed index twelve."

The ice shard pulverized Zoycite's foot. Mercury had to restrain a
laugh...the villain sounded like one of the Chipmunks.

"Artemis, restart program, speed index sixteen."

This time, Sailor Mercury missed.

Sandra glanced at Luna and Doctor Oren with great concern. "Why are we
letting her do this? She has disabled the safeties, and no one ever
sets the speed above eight."

"Yeah," Artemis muttered from his perch atop the training room's
computer server. "And the computer seems to take great pleasure in
cleaning your carcasses once you get past index four." He purred
contentedly to himself after this barb.

Luna ignored her fellow feline and pulled her gaze from the action on
the training room floor to gaze at Sandra. "Are you really worried
about her," she asked, "or are you worried that she might be outdoing
you?"

Sandra fixed Luna with an angry glare. "As if!" She shouted as she
walked to the window overlooking the training room. "You know as well
as I do that Rachel's powers come from the Negaverse."

"That's not quite true," Dr. Oren interjected. Seeing Sandra and
Luna's faces, he went on.

"It has been several weeks since the fire at the palace," he said. "In
that time, I have almost every move Rachel has made. I have also
examined the sensor footage of that dome she created, and I have
examined the readings we received from the braintaping sessions."
Sandra winced as she remembered those sessions.

"What we have discovered is that some part of Queen Beryl is
inhabiting Rachel's subconscious mind," the doctor said.

"I could have told you that," Sandra growled. "You got that from my
mind."

"Yes," Oren replied as he activated a wall monitor. "However, scans of
Mercury's dome have revealed several of its properties." Mercury
appeared on the screen, standing within the blasted ruins of the
palace. As Sandra and the others watched, Mercury activated her
Eternal power and the deadly dome appeared and started to expand.

"Freeze," Oren ordered. The monitor froze the picture. Oren had the
computer reverse the display until just before the dome was activated.

"Zoom in on frame 65 by 32," Oren ordered. A square on the monitor
appeared around Mercury's face. The picture blurred for an instant
then refocused, with the area of the square now filling the entire
screen.

"What do you see?" Oren asked.

"Mercury's face," Sandra said dryly.

"Yes," Oren replied patiently, "but what about it."

"She's confused," Luna stated.

"Exactly!" Oren exclaimed. "As if she is wondering where she is, or
perhaps she forgot something. Computer, display sensor log number
087590 on the information bar." A display lit up along the bottom of
the screen. The display was in the form of a line graph with a dark
red line.

"This is a composite sensor log from the shuttles in the area," Oren
said. "Computer link display with the information bar using the time
indexes of both files." A reply flashed across the screen: "Task
completed."

"Run display," Oren ordered. "Keep the sensor log file at its present
magnification."

As they watched, Sandra, the doctor, and the cat guardians saw Rachel
land in the area northeast of what remained of the palace's dome and
begin to prepare to launch her primal powers.. As the display went
forward, a marker trailed across the line graph to point out where
this particular moment was recorded in the sensor logs.

When Rachel began to appear confused, the red line on the sensor logs
flattened into a nearly completely horizontal line.

Sandra asked the doctor to pause the display. "What does this mean?"
She asked.

"The sensor reading we are looking at is of the negative energy in the
area, specifically in the area right around Sailor Mercury. At this
point, Sailor Mercury and the source of the negative energy, which I
am assuming is Queen Beryl are stalemated. Then, in a few seconds, the
negative energy will start to increase rapidly, and Mercury will start
constructing her dome." Sure enough, as Oren resumed the display, the
red line on the graph started to rise at a steep rate. On the screen,
Mercury started singing the notes that would bring her power surging
forth....then she held it and the dome coalesced around her.

"I believe that that music is some sort of key, and Mercury can't
activate that power without it," Oren said. "Given the amount of
negative energy at the time of activation, I would say that while
Mercury controls the actual power, only Queen Beryl can activate it."

"Is there any way we can take Beryl out of the picture?" Sandra asked.

"Unknown," Oren said. "However, the amount of energy in the dome
itself makes me believe that if Mercury tried using that power by
herself for any real length of time, the energy forces there would
kill her."

Sandra was about to ask another question when the double-door entrance
to the control room opened and Queen Serenity walked in. "Any further
questions will have to wait," she said. "We have a problem."

"What have you found?" Luna asked, her ears perking up. Brandy trailed
in behind Queen Serenity and quietly listened to the conversation.

"Prince Neflyte reported that a huge tremor shook his realm," Serenity
said. "The readings he sent us look as though someone is trying to
weaken the dimensional wall between Elysium and somewhere else."

"For what reason?" Sandra asked.

"I don't know," Serenity replied. "But Neflyte thinks it might be from
the Negamoon, and since Elysium is simply a demiplane within our
universe..."

"...anything that hits Elysium will hit us," Brandy said softly.

"Brandy," Sandra said. "Get the Scouts together and investigate this
thing. I'd go too, but I haven't quite recovered from our last
mission."

"Okay," Brandy replied as she touched a button on her wrist comm.
"Sailors Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, report to the Timegate."
Brandy deactivated her comm and looked up at Queen Serenity.

"We'll get to the bottom of this," she said. "I promise."

==> * SM * <==

Lord Malachite dropped to the floor of the training room, his neck
crushed. With a murmur of satisfaction, Mercury nudged the body with
her foot.

"Artemis," Mercury said. "Restart the program."

Before the computer could restart the holograms, a voice rang out, "Is
this where you learned to beat the hell out of drug dealers?"

Mercury turned and saw a thin, handsome man with a rogue-like shock of
black hair. In his right hand, he carried a red rose.

"Leonard!" Mercury said surprised. "How did you get here?"

"I guess someone told them about our little adventures," Leonard said
as he handed the rose he held to Sailor Mercury. "I was asked to come
to the Foundation's offices in Tokyo. When I got there I was brought
here, where I was offered membership in the Foundation and a
knighthood."

"So," Mercury said, slowly fingering the rose, "do I have to call you
`Sir'?"

Leonard watched Sailor Mercury as she walked toward the hall leading
to the shower room. "That's so archaic," he said. "Of course you don't
have to call me that..." Motioning toward a silent Malachite who was
hovering midway across the training room, Leonard inquired, "Aren't
you going to do something about him?"

Mercury tossed a towel she had been wiping her face with in a nearby
hamper. "You do it, Sir Leonard," she replied simply. "Computer,
begin!"

Sensing that the participant on the floor of the training room had
changed, the computer paused briefly to reset its parameters. Then
Malachite's cape fluttered as he gave a haughty laugh. "So, you think
you can beat me in single combat," he roared. "Well, come on, then!"
Darkforce bolts leapt from the villain's hands and pounded the floor
around Leonard, who seemed unmoved by the whole thing.

Reaching into his coat, Leonard pulled a red rose and threw it toward
the villain. It missed its mark, but Malachite was forced to duck out
of the way as the flower sailed lazily by. By the time he saw the
deception for what it was, a rather large round object lay at his
feet. The orb was covered with small circle-shaped blisters...

Leonard meanwhile ran toward Sailor Mercury. With a shouted, "Get
down!"

Right then, with a flash of light, the room was suddenly showered with
a napalm-like substance that fell to the floor and continued to
smolder.

"Enemy injured," the computer announced. "Capacity impaired by 45%.
Enemy profile indicates retreat. Termination of program."

With a smile, Sailor Mercury turned to Leonard. "You sure know how to
deal with those creeps."

"You weren't that bad yourself," Leonard said as he hugged her.

"Me?" She half-yelped. "That was nothing I don't normally do." She
kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"And you do it so well," Leonard said as he pressed his body against
hers. He bent his head down and kissed Sailor Mercury.

The duo tried to walk back to the shower room, but they soon collapsed
in the middle of the hall...

==> * SM * <==

Drabesh Palace

The Dark Moon of the Negaverse

Five shapes drifted down the shadowy corridor outside the throne room.
Pale light from the lamps mounted along the hallway illuminated the
black translucent floor, and the pale marble-like walls. They
approached the oaken double doors that led into the throne room, the
seat of power for the forces of evil.

As the Sailors approached the door, they thought they had been
undetected. That notion was proven false when a voice called out to
them: "You may as well enter my throne room. I discovered your
presence not long after you arrived on the Dark Moon."

"Damn," Sailor Venus muttered.

"There goes the element of surprise," Sailor Jupiter replied.

"Like that actually existed," Sailor Pluto thought.

"Keep an eye out for traps," Venus ordered. With that, the Sailors
approached the doors and entered into the throne room of Scaramanga.
The villain stood in front of his throne, his left hand extended over
a jagged crystal. A bluish beam emanated from the crystal and arced to
a swirling mass of light that seemed to infest part of the ceiling.
Every so often, a bolt of intense light would float from the crystal
along the band of light, to the pool of light, and when the light was
caught in the pool, the entire room would shake.

None of this seemed to affect Scaramanga.

"Now that you're here," the villain said calmly as he leaned on a cane
in his right hand. "Just what the Hell do you think you're doing at
Drabesh Palace without an invitation?"

Venus was about to respond when Mars chimed in, "We're here to check
out the mall!" Venus had to choke back a laugh. "We're the Sailors,"
she said. "You're the villain, and whatever you're doing, we're here
to stop you."

"Oh really," Scaramanga replied with a smirk. "Don't you want to know
what I want? You know...the Master Plan?"

"Not really," Sailor Neptune said as she stepped forward. "We just
want to beat the Hell out of you, like we always seem to."

"Well, since you asked...I figured if I can't have the universe,
neither can you. This device is designed to break down the barriers
that separate various dimensions. My plan is rather simple, really.
I'm in the process of putting a hole in the dimensional wall between
this universe and an identical one...except that the other universe is
composed of antimatter."

"You're not serious," Pluto gasped, realizing the full scope of this
scheme. Billions of beings in both universes would cease to exist, and
the vast majority of them would never know what hit them.

"Oh, but yes I am," Scaramanga replied. "In a few minutes, you will
see just how serious I am."

"I think not," Pluto said with an eerie calm. "DEAD SCREAM"

Scaramanga bore the brunt of the attack, then grinned. "I've improved
since the last time we met, ladies.

You never know when a little extra shielding will come in handy."

"Now," the villain said simply. "Here's a taste of MY medicine..."

Darkforce bolts slammed into Sailor Pluto just after she pulled a
device from her uniform and activated it. The darkforce pounded into
her, slamming her against one of the massive stone pillars. The jolt
wrenched the small device away from her and sent it skittering off
into the darkness...

...but the damage was already done. The energy ribbon hung motionless
in the air. The swirling mass on the ceiling was stilled.

"What?" Scaramanga shouted with dismay. "No!"

"Yep!" Venus growled. "Time has been stopped, and it won't start until
WE start it!"

"No!" Scaramanga shouted. "I won't let you beat me! DARK SCREAM!" A
twisted version of Pluto's attack slammed into Sailor Mars, driving
her to the floor.

"JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!" The attack from Sailor Jupiter sliced across
the room and scorched the villain, but he looked as though he barely
felt it. Instead, he kept up the attack on her fellow Sailors.

Thinking he had the Sailors pounded into something resembling
submission, Scaramanga crossed the room to where Sailor Pluto lay as
she tried to regain her bearings. He grabbed her by the neck with one
hand and hoisted her into the air.

"Turn that damn thing off!" He screamed.

"Ne..ver," Sailor Pluto gasped faintly.

With a howl of fury, Scaramanga flung the wounded Sailor. She hit the
wall, the impact just above the shoulders, and dropped to the floor in
a broken heap.

"VENUS WHIP!" Suddenly a bright yellow band of energy encircled the
villain's neck. It quickly constricted and started to choke the life
out of him.

Scaramanga fell back away from the stone column toward his throne, his
hands clutching at his neck. He backed his way up the stairs, trying
to lure Venus in by making her follow him. The whip continued to wrap
itself tighter, and he was running out of time.

Finally, Scaramanga managed to stumble backwards up the short stairs
in front of his throne. He grabbed the whip line with his hands.
Ignoring the pain that seared his hands as he touched the primal
energies, Scaramanga shouted: "ZAI" and sent a darkforce bolt back
along the whip. The evil energy swarmed over Venus and she howled in
pain.

Before the whip could deactivate, the villain ripped it forward, and
Venus fell to the floor at the base of the stairs.

Stepping forward with a grim look on his face, Scaramanga pulled a gun
from inside his jacket and aimed it

"Young fool," he murmured, "only now, at the end of your sorry
existence, do you see the full extent of my power."

With sweat glistening on his face, his bright blue eyes glazed with a
power-mad insanity. He pulled the gun up and aimed it at the head of
the blonde Sailor. "Are you ready to die, young one?"

"MARS FIRE IGNITE!" The primal fire bathed Scaramanga in its hot red
glow and he screamed in agony, dropping the gun just before it melted.

The eerie song of the violin rang out, then: "NEPTUNE VIOLIN TIDE" A
bolt of energy blasted into Scaramanga, slamming him against his
throne.

Then came a chorus of attack calls as "MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND"
was followed by "DEEP SUBMERGE", then yet another "MARS FIRE IGNITE!"
Between the two Sailors, they scorched Scaramanga's throne into slag,
then pounded the slag into waterlogged rubble. The villain who laid
draped over the throne fared only slightly better.

Finally, Sailor Jupiter stood and cleared her throat.

"JUPITER GRAVITON POWER!"

A pulse of gravity rippled along the floor as it spread outward
directly in front of Jupiter. The gravity forces ripped the
marble-tiled floor apart and chunks of the heavy rock were showered
against the walls. Sailor Venus managed to dodge one large slab of
marble as it roared past her head.

"Can't you be a little more careful with that?" She shouted. Jupiter
gave a quick shake of her head, the anger at the villain still
swirling in her eyes.

The graviton pulse shredded the stairs and enveloped the crystal that
floated near the remains of the throne. Scaramanga had hauled his
broken body to the top of the wreckage that had been his throne in
time to see this.

"Nooo!" he shouted as the crystal pulsed once, then shattered. The
swirling pool of energy near the ceiling sputtered angrily, then
slowly scattered, fading as its remnants lost their cohesion.

Once the graviton wave had done its work, the Sailors approached
Scaramanga.

"Your scheme is over," Venus muttered as she looked down at the
villain. "And this time, we have a cell waiting for you on the moon."

"I don't think so," Scaramanga whispered as he pressed a button on his
belt. Sailor Jupiter saw Scaramanga start to vanish and tried to grab
him, but she was too late.

"Damn!" She shouted as she kicked a piece of the ruined throne where
Scaramanga had been a few seconds before. "We have to go after him! In
his condition, he can't go far!"

"We can't go far either," Sailor Neptune replied. "And our first duty
is to our group." Jupiter stifled a gasp of dismay as Sailor Venus
agreed with Neptune, but the issue was decided. Together, the Sailors
went to help their injured comrade.

==> * SM * <==

The Luna Foundation

"So," Sandra inquired as she and Amy walked down the hallway outside
the Medical Center. "You're saying Vanessa will be fine?"

"Yes," Amy replied. "She was quite lucky. She hit the wall at the base
of her neck. Fortunately nothing was broken. On the bad side, there
was some damage to the neck muscles, and her voice will be gone until
some of that gets a chance to heal."

"We're just going down like flies around here..." Sandra muttered.
"First the queen, then me, then Vanessa...not to mention all the
problems we're having with Rachel..."

Amy stopped and turned toward Sandra. "Look," she said. "Brandy did a
good job, and she brought everyone back. They gave Scaramanga
something to think about, and I doubt we'll be seeing him again for a
long time."

Sandra nodded as the two of them started walking down the hall again.
The lights dimmed, and a nearby control panel went from the yellows
and reds of daytime operations to the blues and greens of "night
mode".

"I just can't help wondering what's going to come next..." Sandra said
as the two women reached the stairway at the end of the hall. From
here, Sandra would head down the stairs into the living quarters of
the Sailors.

"...and I dread it." There was little Amy could do. "We'll do okay,"
she said, but she realized that her words could not comfort the young
princess.

==> * SM * <==

Cyberworld

The computer awakened as it sensed an incoming transmission. It
processed the data contained within the comm signal, then issued the
directives it was programmed to issue in circumstances such as these.

REBUILD OPERATIONS COMMENCING...

SUBJECT: UNIT CYBERMOON

UNIT CYBERMERCURY

UNIT CYBERVENUS

UNIT CYBERMARS

INCLUDE ALL INFORMATION GATHERED TO-DATE ON

MAGE POWERS EXIBITED IN INITIAL CONTACT WITH

ENTITIES IN ALTERNATE DIMENSION.

INCLUDE ALL KNOWN CAUSES OF UNIT FAILURE.

PROCEED TO VERSION 2.0 OF ALL UNITS

FINI

Fanfic ©1999 - John Brengman and Artemis Publishing

Sailor X series inspired by Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon,

© 1992 by Toei Animation Co Ltd. and based on Kodansha's

manga production of "Sailor Moon", written by Naoko Takeuchi

This fanfic is freely distributed. Release date: March, 1999

Release: 3^rd Edition - January 27, 2001