Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Dream Catcher ❯ The First Encounter ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Sailor Uranus doesn't belong to me. She is the property of Naoko Takeuchi. The Dream Master aka The Old Man was created by me, so please don't take him.

CHAPTER 4: THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

Sailor Uranus looked around. She was standing on top of a hill. It wasn't very high but it gave her a good overview of the surroundings. She already determined she was stranded on an island. Now she had to find a way to get to the main land and look for the Palace. Remembering the map Sailor Mercury showed all the senshi the continent had to be to the North. But which way was North… Uranus pulled her eyebrows together in annoyance. She didn't like the situation one bit. She didn't even know if anybody else survived.

"If only Neptune was here." The tall blond girl didn't like to admit it, but her partner was the brain behind all their operations. Uranus was more the force that executed the plans Neptune made.

It was a nice sunny day. The breeze from the ocean gently brushed the hair of the girl's forehead. She noticed something in the valley that looked like houses. Uranus decided to go there and find out where she was. She took another deep breath of the fresh air and began to run down the hill. Soon she was at the bottom, and heading straight for the buildings. Something didn't seem right though. It was too quiet. There was no smoke rising from the chimneys. She didn't hear any children playing, there were no animal sounds either, not even as much as a bird crying. Uranus slowed down. She walked up to the first house and knocked. There was no answer. She pushed the door. It gave in easily.

"Hello?" She called inside. Nothing. She looked around carefully and walked in. The house was small. The main room had only one table standing in the middle. The four chairs that usually seem to be standing at that table laid around, like they were pushed away in a hurry or a struggle.

"Is anybody here?" Uranus called again. She didn't wait for an answer. She knew there would be none. She walked to the backyard and noticed tracks on the ground. They led towards the nearby forest. The tall senshi decided to follow them with great caution. At first the trees were standing rather sporadically, but the further she went the more difficult it was to get through. Soon she had to crawl to follow the tracks, still trying to pay attention to the surrounding area. Suddenly the trees ended and Sailor Uranus found herself at the edge of a meadow with a lake in the middle. She stood up and cleaned her outfit a bit. She smiled looking in front of her. Whoever made those tracks left a nice, easy to follow trail in the tall grass. Uranus began to run. To her surprise the track ended at the lake.

"Now what?" she said to herself getting really annoyed. She didn't follow the footprints just to turn around. She wasn't the kind that gave up easily. She walked around the lake looking for any other signs. When she didn't find anything she walked into the water. An unexpected current swept her off her feet and started to pull her to the bottom of the lake. Uranus began to squirm, fighting to get back to the shore. She began to run out of air. The girl was starting to panic. The fear added her strength. She was beating the water faster and with more force, but the current was stronger. Soon Uranus began to fall deeper and deeper into the water. Just as she thought she was going to die the current let go of her. She knew that she was too deep to get back to the surface before her lunges collapsed, but she had to do something. She began to swim upwards when she noticed an underwater cave. Uranus decided to try her luck. By now her body was hurting for air badly. She swam into the cave and noticed a dim light coming from above. She followed it. Suddenly her head popped out of the water and she caught air again in her lunges. It hurt tremendously. Tears started to fall down her cheeks.

"I guess that's how babies feel, when they are first born." She thought pouting heavily. "Boy, am I glad to be alive!" She noticed a slim stripe of sand and crawl out of the water onto it. The girl was exhausted, but she didn't want to stay put. She got up and supporting herself against the walls began her journey around the cave. The water dripping from her outfit washed some of the sand away uncovering a solid rock. She turned around to see where she came from and noticed some writing on the opposite wall. After taking a few deep breaths she dragged her tired body over there. The letters she saw were similar to the ones in her homeland. Uranus began to spell the words out.

"Fu…" she looked closer and traced the letters with her fingers. "..jin." she looked again and repeated. "Fujin." After few more words the reading went easier.

"I call upon thee Fujin,

Master of the Winds!

Help me put my whispers

Into one warm scream,

And change my breath

Into a howling wind."

"What is that all about?" Uranus wasn't sure what to think. Somehow she had a feeling it was important. She read it over and over until she was sure she remembered the words. She looked around again and noticed a stray of light coming from the right upper corner. She walked over there and noticed a tunnel. The opening was just big enough for the tall blond to crawl in. It was a tough journey up the hill, but she made it. To her surprise she found herself on top of the same hill she stood at the beginning of the trip. Everything was the same, or was it really? Uranus looked behind to take one last look at the hole she crawled out of, but it was gone.

"What the heck?" She got down on her knees and began to feel the ground with her hands. "Maybe it's just covered by the grass" she hoped. She searched the area twice to make sure she didn't miss anything. The hole was gone. Uranus was puzzled.

"Now what?" the whole situation started to get on her nerves. She saw the same houses down below, but that time she decided to go in the opposite direction. She already knew there was nothing in the village. She began to run down the wooded side of the hill getting deeper and deeper into the forest. It didn't take her long to get through the trees. To her surprise she found herself at the edge of the same meadow as before. The lake shone brightly with the reflection of the afternoon sun. It seemed to Uranus it was laughing at her.

"It's impossible." Uranus thought, "It looks the same but it can't be. I went the other way." She cautiously approached the water. The closer she got the less she doubted. It was the same lake. Even the tracks she followed before were there.

"I don't like that." She whispered to herself. She turned around and began to run, what she thought, up the hill, the same way she came, but when she came out of the trees she was looking at the exact same meadow again. No matter how many times Sailor Uranus tried to run away from the lake she always wound up in the same spot. Finally she decided to enter the water again. She didn't look forward to the feeling of drowning, but she made up her mind not to fight the current that time. To her surprise there was no current that would swipe her off her feet. Instead the lake disappeared and in its place there was a huge rock. The girl began to circle around it. She finally reached the other side.

"You must be Sailor Uranus from the planet Earth." The girl jumped back at those words. She quickly looked around to find the person who said that and noticed an old man sitting on top of the rock. She blinked her eyes. He wasn't there before, she was sure about that. And how, the heck, did he know who she was? Uranus took on a position ready to fight. "You and your teammates are quite famous around this part of the Galaxy." The old man continued.

"What do YOU know about me and my teammates?"

"Enough to know that you all are going to die. And you'll go first" Sailor Uranus didn't wait any longer. She reached up into the sky and calling, "World Shaking!" send a huge ball of energy at the strange man. To the senshi's great terror the ball dissolved right before it reached the rock. The old man laughed in a screechy kind of voice.

"You really think you have enough power to defeat me?" He looked at the blond with his beady eyes. The cloak he was wearing suddenly flew open and a gust of wind came out of it knocking Uranus down. "You don't know what you are dealing with." He smiled ironically. "If you knew you wouldn't let me beat you so easy."

Uranus got up. She wasn't going to fail. She began to charge at the man and calling "Space Sword Blaster" attacked for the second time. The man yawned. He saw the sword coming and grabbed in mid air snatching it out of the girl's hand.

"Hmmm" he looked at it curiously, "so that's the famous talisman." He held it in his hands, and without any force broke it in half. Uranus was shocked.

"You really don't have a clue, do you? And I even gave you a clue." the old man was amused. The girl in front of him seemed so helpless. He could crush her right now, but he enjoyed himself too much. He decided to toy around with her a little more.

"I think I'm going to have as much fun with your partner, Neptune, as I have with you." The man laughed again. Uranus sent him a deadly look. "Maybe even more. I'll probably make her suffer great pains."

"Not after I'm done with you." Uranus jumped back up on the rock right next to the old man and started to send one punch after another. He avoided every single one, almost like he knew where she was going to hit, before she actually did. The old man started to laugh. Seeing that, Uranus jumped back. Panting heavily she tried to figure out a way to defeat the guy. Somehow it all seemed unreal, first the empty village, then the underwater cave, the tunnel that disappeared right after she came out of it, the meadow and the lake, almost like it was all a dream.

With her last thought the old man on the rock became nervous. Uranus couldn't help but notice his reaction. She looked around, then turned towards the old man and looked straight in his eyes. "It is all a dream, am I right?" She thought intensely. The man was getting more nervous with her every thought. Uranus finally knew what she was up against. Now she had to figure out how to wake up. One thing was sure, she had to defeat the old guy first. She couldn't use her powers. He knew exactly their strong and weak points. No, she had to come up with a new strategy. "If only Neptune was here," she thought. The old man began to laugh.

"She wouldn't help you either." He giggled. "You know, for a moment there I thought you had it all figured out, but I guess I overestimated you." Uranus just smirked.

"Don't be so sure." She suddenly remembered the words she read in the cave. Still not quite sure how it was going to work she began to chant.

"I call upon thee, Fujin, Master of the Winds! Help me put my whispers into one warm scream, and change my breath into a howling wind." A sudden energy began to flow through her body. She began to glow with a blue light and words began to form in her head. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and called out "Fujin Tornado". A sudden gust of wind flew from her towards the old man creating a whirlwind in a process. The old man tried to avoid it, but before he could jump away the wind sucked him in and tossed him on the ground. Before he could get up Uranus reached above her head with both arms and clapped her hands together saying "Spear of Scream". When she opened them a spear-like weapon rested in her right hand. Its metal head was in the shape of a diamond and had barbs on both sides. It was mounted on a white wooden shaft about 2 feet long. Uranus leaned back stretching her right arm behind her. And forcefully leaning forward tossed the spear at the old man. The man was so stunned by the new powers of the Senshi that he didn't make a move to avoid the weapon and it went right through his heart. At first he stood there surprised, as if he didn't understand what just happened. Then instead of blood his energy started to flow out of the wound. Uranus watched was happening. The man was shrinking and the smaller he got the more the surrounding began to change. Finally the old man disappeared and it became pitch dark. Uranus looked around and noticed a light coming from her right side. She slowly began to move towards it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sailor Uranus slowly opened her eyes. The sun blinded her for a split of a second, but soon she was looking around curiously. She was lying on a bed in her civilian clothes. She must have transformed back after she hit the ground, she figured. An older lady stood by her side trying to wash her feet. Haruka tried to move but her whole body was achy. The woman noticed the movement and smiled at the girl.

"You'll be fine now." She said gently pushing Haruka back on the pillow. The toll blond relaxed. She seemed to be out of her nightmare and that was important. Now she needed a rest. She closed her eyes and fell asleep. This time she had more pleasant dreams.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Starfighter, Starhealer and Starmaker were approaching their destination quickly. Suddenly one of the girls stopped.

"That's strange." Healer said puzzled looking at her scanner.

"What's wrong?" Fighter was few steps ahead, so now she turned around.

"One of the villages that we considered lost," Healer started slowly, "is back."

"What do you mean `it's back'?" Maker looked at the scanner.

"That's what I mean, it's back." She repeated. "I don't know how it could be?"

They all looked puzzled at one another. Finally Fighter decided it was time to go.

"We can worry about it later." She said. "Right now we have to find those intruders as quickly as possible." She turned around and began to run.

"You're right!" The other two girls followed her immediately.