Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Ascension Trilogy, Book 2: Judgment Day ❯ Chapter 11

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

JUDGMENT DAY,
Chapter 11: "Showdown On Knorr"

By Bill K.

"Well," smiled Venus, picking up Artemis and nuzzling the scraggly
cat, "one big happy family again."

"Except our work isn't done yet," Uranus reminded her.

"Yeah, we've got some Frost Giants to beat," Jupiter said. "And
I'm not betting on Mars being much help."

"I'll hold my end up," murmured Mars, still in Serenity's grateful
embrace.

"Well, as cute as it is," Neptune jabbed, making Mars blush, a
reaction neither knew she was still capable of, "that won't help us very
much. We need firepower. But it is time we were getting back."

Suddenly the senshi were rocked by the footfall of something
gigantic approaching them. They each exchanged looks.

"I think it's past time we were getting back," Venus commented,
looking around suspiciously.

"There!" Mercury shouted, pointing off into the distance.
Everyone turned and saw four Frost Giants lumbering toward the
incinerated village.

"And I don't think they're going to be too happy with Mars' little
scorched Earth decorating pattern," Venus added.

"We'll handle them," Uranus said. She, Neptune and Pluto
stiffened to meet the onslaught.

"No," Serenity proclaimed, firmly and assertively. "That won't be
necessary."

"Why, were you planning on surrendering to them?" Neptune turned
and asked, a short, cutting tone to her voice. Serenity took it far
more stoically than the others did, but they all knew Neptune was right
to think that way.

"There's been enough killing," she told Neptune, without flinching
or backing down.

"If you're worried about me staining my soul," Neptune began.

"There's been enough killing," Serenity repeated, leaving no room
for dispute.

And the Frost Giants lumbered closer.

"They're just monsters!" Uranus protested.

"They're alive, Haruka," was all she would say.

"So's a germ! But all it's good for is spreading disease! And
all these things are good for is killing and destroying!"

"Who are you to judge what another life is or isn't good for?
They're just acting the only way they know how," Serenity maintained.

And the Frost Giants lumbered closer. The nearest one raised its
hand to project its numbing cold.

"Mercury!" Mercury shouted, lunging forward. "Aqua Rhapsody!"

A gusher of water sprayed out at the Frost Giant. The Giant
reflexively quick-froze the water into a canopy of ice, providing a
momentary barrier between the giants and the senshi.

"Could we discuss philosophy later, please?" Mercury demanded.
"Those giants are about to attack and that barrier won't hold for long!"

"You're right," Serenity replied, hardly offended by Mercury's
harsh words. "This is hardly appropriate."

With her index fingers steepled and pressed to her lips, Serenity
closed her eyes and concentrated. Sensing what she was doing, Endymion
gripped her by her upper arms and closed his eyes. A brilliant light
flared up around the startled senshi.

When it dissipated, they were back in Tokyo, back in Juuban Park
by the lake, just where they'd left.

"Well," Uranus admitted reluctantly, "that works, too."

The others noticed Serenity sag against Endymion.

"Serenity, you're doing too much," Luna warned her. "Your
abilities may be heightened, but you don't have limitless power. The
others are here and they are willing and able to help."

Serenity nodded with difficulty. "I'm all right. The jump is
just a little strenuous for me."

"So do we wait for the Frost Giants to come to us or do we take
the fight to them?" Jupiter asked.

"I think that depends on whether or not they can get
reinforcements," Venus said. "Is that gateway between here and Knorr
closed?"

"Only if whomever opened it can't open it again," Mercury told
them. "The temporal portal to the past is closed. But whatever energy
these Ymirites used to travel from their dimension to ours is
unaccounted for."

"Janus," Pluto said, forming the name with some distaste,
"mentioned a vizier who gave him the means to travel between the
dimensions. Unless this vizier was caught in the holocaust initiated by
Sailor Mars, he must still exist."

"Then we have to go back," Uranus concluded. "We have to find
this vizier and neutralize him. Otherwise they can just send more and
more of these things to Earth until they overwhelm us again."

"But what about the ones here now?" Artemis asked.

"Serenity's more than capable of handling them with your help,"
Neptune told them. "This is clearly a mission for the outers."

"But how will you get back to Knorr?" Artemis argued.

"I shall take us. I have the power and, thanks to the Queen I now
know the way," Pluto replied ambiguously. Catching Serenity's pained
expression, Pluto bowed to her. "Forgive me, my Queen. After this, I
shall be your willing and loyal servant. This I pledge. But this must
be done."

"Don't worry, Serenity," Uranus added. "You free the planet and
we'll take care of this."

They turned to go, but Serenity reached out and caught Uranus by
her forearm. Uranus turned back and saw those big, blue, watery eyes
that were so very hard to say no to.

"Please," she begged, "you're not going to kill him, are you?
Hasn't there been enough death?"

Neptune gently but firmly removed Serenity's hand from the arm of
Uranus. She looked the future queen directly in the eye.

"No promises, Serenity," Neptune said firmly. "Perhaps you can
afford scruples at a time like this. We can't. The stakes are too
important."

Before Serenity could argue further, Neptune nodded to Pluto.
Sailor Pluto brought her staff around them in a circular motion and a
ruby bubble of energy formed. The trio faded from view. Serenity
looked to Endymion for reassurance.

"Let them be," he advised her. "We have other concerns to deal
with."
* * * *
"You are going to land us far away from the remains of the castle,
aren't you?" Neptune asked.

"I have not taken leave of my senses," Pluto replied.

The ruby bubble set down in a clearing. Snow-capped hills
surrounded them on three sides, while a pristine blue lake bordered the
fourth. Pine trees dotted the hills, growing denser as one's gaze
ascended. The sky was still a crisp blue with white clouds strewn
intermittently across it.

"Seems a shame this place houses such aggressive, callous people,"
Neptune mused. "It has some very beautiful scenery."

"I hate cold," sneered Uranus. Neptune's mouth curled. "Any idea
where we find this vizier?"

"Permit me a moment," Pluto replied.

She placed her hand to her temple and closed her eyes. Uranus and
Neptune stared at her. Serenity's power wasn't the only thing that was
taking some getting used to. Sometimes Pluto was the familiar Pluto
they'd fought beside for years. Sometimes, like this moment, she was a
completely different entity, distant and not entirely human. Then
Neptune noticed her grimace.

"I assume you're reviewing recent history," Neptune surmised.
"Did you see something that startled you - - or did you see him again?"

"Forgive me," Pluto replied flatly. "The wound is still quite
fresh."

"You're better off without him," Uranus replied.

"A fact that may ultimately be of little consequence on some
lonely future night," Pluto replied, downcast. Then she smiled at some
irony only she saw. "The one we seek resides in that cave," and Pluto
pointed to the mouth of a cave nestled in the snowy hills.

"Head's up," Uranus murmured.

The others turned, following her line of sight. A pack of timber
wolves stalked them. Each of the gray canines stood about four feet
tall and was burlier than wolves on Earth. The wolves had teeth bared
and were crouched to attack. Uranus raised her right hand, but Neptune
stopped her. Uranus looked to her lover, inquiringly.

"They're not evil," Neptune said, showing that Serenity had
managed to influence her. "They're only doing what they know. I think
I can handle this a little more gently."

Neptune's back stiffened. Her hands shot into the air.

"Deep Submerge!" she called out.

A tidal wave sprang up from nowhere and roared over the pack.
Helpless to resist the mighty current, the wolves were swept into the
lake and away from where the outer senshi stood. The immediate threat
gone, the trio turned back to the cave.

"No doubt she will have some sort of protective barrier over the
mouth of the cave," surmised Pluto.

"It probably wouldn't be a good idea to attack - -," Neptune
began, then looked at Pluto. "Did you say 'she'?"

"Did I neglect to tell you that we face a woman?" Pluto replied
deadpan. "And one of considerable mystical might, with many potions and
talismans of power secreted in this cave."

"No, I don't think it did come up," Neptune replied, her eyes
flaring. "But if she's as strong as you say, we probably shouldn't
confront her in her stronghold."

"Then we need to flush her out," Uranus judged. Waiting to see if
Neptune would stop her, Uranus raised her hand when no opposition
materialized. "World Shaking!"

The geo-force barreled down the path to the cave and exploded
inside the mouth. The hill trembled with the shock wave produced by
Uranus, a shock wave akin to an exploding bomb. No one came out.

"Maybe you need to knock harder," suggested Neptune.

"World Shaking!" Uranus roared again. A second blast hit the cave
and in addition to the tremor produced a plume of dust from the mouth of
the cave.

"Feel up to another try?" Neptune asked.

"I could do this all day," Uranus told her. "World Shaking!"

The third blast rocked the cave. More dust poured out of it,
followed by a figure. She was a stout woman, dressed in fur skins. A
hood fell back to reveal thick blonde hair braided and pinned to her
head. Her face was hard, yet possessed some beauty. A brown cloak
covered her and concealed her hands.

"Dead Scream," Pluto said, directing her staff toward the figure.
A sonic blast burst from the ruby globe and shot toward the target. The
figure's hand sprang up from behind the cloak and, with amazing speed
and dexterity, brown gloves on thick hands deflected the blast away.

"Think me an easy target?" the woman sneered. "You know not the
power you face!"

"But you know the power you face," Sailor Neptune replied. "Do
you have a name to go with your skulking trickery?"

"You face Freyja," the woman proclaimed proudly. "I am vizier to
he who was my king!" Freyja raised a scornful eyebrow. "Yes, I know of
your treachery! I know how you consumed Vodun the Great and his
warriors in your hellish fires! Know you that their deaths will be
avenged and that they will laugh with scorn at your defeat from their
seats in Valhalla!"

"Bring it on," Uranus said with grim determination. "You and your
world tried to kill an entire world full of people! I'll compare bloody
hands with your precious Vodun any day! And we won't leave here until
you and your kind can't harm us again!"

Her hand went up. Instantly Freyja moved, drawing a counter
measure from beneath her cloak.

"Deep Submerge!" Neptune called out.

Caught off guard by the outers' misdirection gambit, Freyja was
swept under by the tidal wave of water. The three outer senshi watched
intently for their adversary to emerge from the wave, for none of them
thought for a moment she would succumb to a simple wave.

"I don't see her," Uranus said after a time. "Suppose we did get
her?"

"Perhaps she's just retreated to some hideaway so she can strike
when we least expect it," mused Neptune.

Unexpectedly, Neptune was seized from behind. The others pivoted
and saw her hoisted up into the air by the branches of one of the fir
trees, now given life by sinister magic. Neptune writhed in the grip of
the tree, but couldn't free her arms to use her weapons.

"You have a fair grasp of me, for a simple-minded human!" sneered
Freyja, atop a hill behind them where she had teleported. "Ah, but my
tree has a fair grasp of you as well!"

Uranus shot her hand into the air. "World Shaking!" she bellowed,
and a geo-force bubble roared through the glade of trees straight for
Freyja.

But with a sweeping gesture of her hand, holding a metal disk
covered with runes, Freyja lifted into the air and flew above the
geo-force attack. As she hovered, her free hand appeared from under her
cloak and fired a small knotted bag of powder at Sailor Pluto. Pluto,
though, merely waved her staff and faded from view. The powder struck
the ground and exploded into a yellow sulfuric cloud.

"Uranus! Don't let that cloud touch you!" shouted Neptune as she
fought to free herself from the grip of the tree. The tree glared at
her and angrily shook her.

Uranus produced her space sword. "Space Sword Blaster!" she
bellowed and energy arcs flew from the blade of the sword.

With some difficulty, Freyja avoided the arcs. Finally she faded
from view as one passed through the spot she had been in. Undaunted,
Uranus turned to the tree. Using the sword, she threw more energy arcs
that sliced the limb holding Neptune. As Neptune crashed to the snow,
the fir tree reared back, howling out in agony. Enraged, the tree's
remaining limbs reached for Uranus, intent upon snatching up the senshi
and ripping her to pieces. Uranus stood her ground, projecting more
energy arcs from the sword. The arcs sliced through the tree like a
razor through paper. The tree howled once and fell apart into smoothly
cut chunks.

"Neptune, you all right?" Uranus asked, pulling the dead branches
away from her arms and torso.

"Yes," Neptune replied curtly. "Did you see where Freyja went?"

"No. Pluto's gone, too!"

"Be on guard. She could pop up at any time. I'm going to try to
find her with the mirror."

As Neptune gazed into the Deep Aqua Mirror, Uranus scanned the
hills surrounding them for signs of attack. Unseen, Freyja materialized
fifty feet behind Uranus. Obscured by the trees, the Ymirian vizier had
a clear line of attack on Uranus and Neptune. Silently she drew a
talisman from her cloak. It was a brass disk with a ruby fixed in the
center. Ancient runes were carved in a circle around the outer edge of
both sides. Cupped in her hand so the jewel could feed off of the light
of the sun, it began to glow crimson in her hand. Freyja stared
intently at her quarry. With luck, she might fell them both with a
single shot.

Suddenly, the talisman was plucked from her hand. Whirling,
Freyja found herself face to face with Sailor Pluto.

"You are not the only one capable of time jump," Pluto told her
placidly.

Angered, Freyja fell back two paces to give her distance from
Pluto. Her hands were already in her cloak, reaching for new weapons.
In response, Pluto raised her time staff and pointed the ruby head at
her.

"Chronos Typhoon!" Pluto roared.

The sound drew the attention of Uranus and Neptune. They turned
in time to see Freyja bathed in ruby energy from Pluto's staff.
Instantly Freyja's clothing began to decay and fall away from her body
as the startled Ymirite looked on.

"I am aware that you are immune to the ravages of age," Pluto
commented dryly. "Your potions and talismans, however, are a different
matter."

"Witch!" spat Freyja, naked and shivering in the cold. "What have
you done to me?"

"Neutralized you," Pluto replied.

Freyja felt her arms seized and turned. Uranus had a hold of her
and forced her arms behind her back with some difficulty. She glared
defiantly at her three captors, unwilling to acknowledge defeat.

"Good work, Pluto," Neptune said. "A question: Is she neutralized
permanently?"

"No," Pluto replied.

"Aye, you're right there!" fumed Freyja. "I am the most powerful
wizard of this realm! I am the one who keeps the Sons of Surt at bay!
I am the one who gives my people the power and the path to judge
Midgard! Your skulking trickery will not long cripple the great and
powerful Freyja!"

"Does everybody in this dimension talk like this?" scowled Uranus.
"She's giving me a headache."

"Then she can menace Earth again?" Neptune asked. "You saw this?"

"Merely a logical deduction," Pluto replied cryptically.

"Maybe we'd better have a look in that cave of hers," Uranus
suggested.

Neptune nodded. Uranus forced Freyja forward, with Neptune and
Pluto following. Using Freyja as a shield against booby-traps, the four
gained entry into the cave. Inside they found a storehouse of potions
along one wall and a treasure trove of mystical talismans along the
other. There was even a section hollowed into the cave where Freyja ate
and slept.

"Will you barbarians let me cover myself?" fussed Freyja.

"No," Neptune replied. "You're less of a threat this way."

Freyja glared daggers at Neptune.

"You live here?" Uranus asked.

"It is private," Freyja replied. "And it taps into one of the ley
lines of this dimension." She pulled away from Uranus and looked at
them contemptuously. "You do not feel it, do you? This is why you of
Midgard are inferior to us. This is why we deserve to sit in judgment
of you. And this is why you were judged inadequate."

"Our case isn't done, yet," Neptune replied. "Pluto, can you do
something about this?"

In response, Pluto raised her staff, pointing the ruby orb toward
the potions and talismans. Panic-stricken, Freyja lunged forward, only
to be restrained by Uranus.

"NO!" she cried in horror. "That is a life's work! That is all I
have! You cannot!"

"Chronos Typhoon!" said Pluto. The potions and talismans were
bathed in the ruby light from the orb. Nothing happened at first - -
nothing perceptible. Then the potions began to decay and crumble into
dust, followed quickly by talismans.

"You will pay for this!" fumed Freyja, her face contorted in hate.
"You and your kind will know war everlasting! The very hoards of Ymir's
Children will pour down upon your world and turn it into a graveyard!
This I swear, if it takes me a million centuries to accomplish it!"

"You'd build this back again, just to come to our world?" Neptune
asked. "Hasn't there been enough destruction for both sides?"

"NO!" roared Freyja. "Not until I see you and your kind ground
beneath the boot of Ymir himself!"

Neptune looked into the blazing eyes of Freyja with dispassionate
calm.

"I believe you."

Neptune brought up the Deep Aqua Mirror.

"Marine Reflection!"

A white-hot beam of energy lanced out from the mirror and struck
Freyja in the chest. Freyja didn't even have time to scream before her
capacity to make any part of her body function disappeared. When the
beam came out the other side of her chest, it ceased. Freyja, staring
at Neptune in shock, collapsed to the floor of the cave, a nine-inch
diameter hole burned through her chest just about where her heart would
be. Though taken by surprise by the action, Uranus and Pluto said
nothing.

Neptune sent the mirror away, then turned and buried her face in
Sailor Uranus' chest.

"You did what you had to do," Uranus whispered to her, a hand
closing gently over her lover's shoulder and green hair.

"I know," Neptune whispered, her voice choked with emotion. "At
times like this, I hate being a senshi!"

continued in chapter 12