“Rubeus.”
Rubeus stiffened almost imperceptively before turning around to see Wiseman rising up from underneath the floor, surrounded by a column of flickering light in the middle of the mirrored chamber.
“There are two paths before you,” the hooded figure stated as he waved his hands over his crystal ball. “One is the path of victory that leads to glory. The other is the path of defeat that leads to darkness and ultimately, death.”
“Glory… or defeat…,” Rubeus repeated faintly.
Wiseman’s hands paused. “Rubeus, there is only one way for you to survive. Kill the Rabbit and the Sailor Warriors.”
“I know that!” he retorted heatedly. “Even if I must sacrifice all my pawns, I will not fail!”
“Yay!”
“Chibiusa!” Usagi shouted as the pink-haired little girl hopped into another pile of leaves and tossed them into the air. “We didn’t sweep these leaves so you could scatter them! Try helping out a little bit!”
Chibiusa gave her a flat look. “You only swept them because Rei-chan told you they were having a sweet potato roasting party.”
Usagi screamed angrily. “Quit disrespecting your elders! You’re so uncute!” Everyone, except for Usagi and Chibiusa, promptly sweatdropped.
“Chibiusa-chan, there’s a leaf in your hair,” Katsy said, bending down to remove the leaf as Usagi railed on about how Chibiusa also came to the shrine because of the roasted sweet potatoes.
“Thanks, Oneechan,” she said, smiling cheerily.
“You have very pretty hair,” Katsy remarked. “You shouldn’t let it get messed up.”
“Oneechan, you’re so nice! I love you!”
“Yes, yes, it’s wonderful,” Ryoku remarked, waving a hand impatiently. “Now, would you mind sweeping up those leaves again? The fire needs to be stoked and I need those leaves for fuel. Usagi-chan, quit screaming at Chibiusa and help them. You want roasted potatoes, right?”
“Ah! Come on, Chibiusa! You’d better help sweep up these leaves since you scattered them!”
“Why should I? You’re the one who wants them so bad!”
“Enough!” Ryoku yelled. “Just do it!”
“Right!” Usagi and Chibiusa yelped as they hurried to their task. Katsy sighed and went to help them.
Rei clapped lightly. “Nicely done, Ryo-kun. I couldn’t have done better myself.”
“Thanks,” he nodded and bent back to tending the fire.
“Did you have to yell at Chibiusa-chan, too, Ryo-chan?” Makoto asked, kneeling beside her brother. “She’s just a little girl, you know.”
“Sometimes people need to be yelled at, regardless of age,” he replied sagely.
“Besides,” Minako added with a smirk, “that was tame compared to how Rei-chan likes to yell at Usagi-chan.”
“What was that?” Rei said frowning at her.
“Ehehe…. Nothing…,” the blonde girl said placatingly. In her lap, Artemis continued to snooze without a care in the world.
A short distance away, Bertie, Ami and Luna watched the others sweep up the leaves Chibiusa scattered. “I never knew how beautiful this world was,” Bertie said as she glanced up to watch a couple of leaves fall from a tree. “I didn’t realize it at all when I was fighting. I guess we were wrong, after all.” She lowered her head and sighed. “I wish we could be of some help to you, but we don’t know any important information. Rubeus just used us,” she added, clutching her broom tightly.
“It’s okay,” Ami said consolingly. “Don’t worry about it. We’re just happy to be friends with you.”
“Friends…,” Bertie repeated wonderfully.
Back over by the small fire, Makoto quickly jabbed a pointed stick into the fire and pulled out a sweet potato. “All right! They’re done!” she announced.
“Yay!” Usagi cheered, dropping her broom. “Gimme! Gimme!”
“No, the first one’s for Chibiusa-chan,” she chided.
“Eh?” she complained, her eyes tearing up. “After all my hard work?” She snagged Chibiusa and pulled her over as she was munching on her sweet potato. “Chibiusa! Give me half!”
“Usagi-chan…,” Makoto said, partly embarrassed by her friend’s actions.
“It’s not good to steal food from a small child,” Minako said reprovingly.
“You can always get the next one,” Ryoku added, sighing in vexation.
“Easy for you to say!” Usagi shot back as Chibiusa quickly finished her sweet potato, burped slightly, and took off. “Chibiusa!” she roared as she chased after her. “You’d better be scared!”
“You can’t catch me!” the little girl shot back, laughing.
“And this is what we’re reduced to,” he sighed again as he poked at the fire and added some more dry leaves. “Oh, well. Since she’s busy, who wants the next one?”
“I cannot believe that that was once the elite of the beautiful Black Moon!” Prisma growled as she angrily pounded a fist against the mirror she was using to observe her younger sisters.
“We can’t let them get away with it, Oneesama,” Avery said. “At this rate, our loyalties will be brought into question as well!”
“It’s as you say.”
Both sisters looked toward the other side of the room where Rubeus leaned idly against one of the columns with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Two of the Four Ayakashi Sisters have betrayed our clan,” he continued coldly. “You do not actually think that this is the end of it, do you?”
“It’s not our fault!” Avery objected.
“What?”
“Rubeus-sama, my sister and I are not such fools,” Prisma quickly interjected. “We will kill the Sailor Warriors and the Rabbit.”
He smirked condescendingly. “Oh? You think you can?”
“Of course!” she replied firmly.
“Oneesama…,” Avery said with a hint of reservation in her voice.
If Rubeus heard the hesitation in Avery’s voice, he showed no indication of it. “Very well,” he said, tossing Prisma a short rod with a set of yellow pincers at one end. In between the pincers, a clear crystal ball with a turquoise stone rested.
“What is this?” she asked as she stared at it, watching the rod pulsate with a sickly green light.
“If you use this rod, your Dark Power will be increased many times over,” he explained. “This is your final chance. Kill the Sailor Warriors and the Rabbit. Destroy the traitors. If you fail, don’t bother returning here alive. You understand?”
Prisma took the rod. “Yes.”
“Good luck,” he said before vanishing.
Avery eyed the rod warily. “You took the mission so readily, Oneesama, but will you be all right? It will be unacceptable to suffer any more humiliation.”
“I know that,” she snorted. “Just make sure you don’t do anything to hinder me.”
“What did you say?” Avery shouted indignantly. “Have you forgotten all of your plans that ended in disaster?”
“What about you?” Prisma shot back. “How unfortunate I am, having such useless sisters such as you, Katsy and Bertie.”
“I feel the same!” Avery snarled as she grabbed the rod and tried to wrest it out of her older sister’s hands. However, Prisma managed to maintain her grip on it and pulled it away from her. With the rod now firmly in the elder sister’s hands, both sisters tossed their heads and turned away in a huff.
“Delicious!” Usagi exclaimed as she devoured yet another sweet potato. “This is bliss!” she added, taking another two from the small pile in her lap, one in each hand.
“You didn’t have to take the rest of them,” Ryoku complained as he sat with his head on the table in Rei’s room, idly watching Ami and Bertie play a game of chess just outside while trying not to watch Usagi inhale yet another sweet potato.
Minako sat next to him, patting his back consolingly. “You can always ask Usagi-chan for one, you know,” she said with a wry smile.
“Yeah, I know,” he replied with a sigh. “I thought that I had made enough, even for Usagi-chan. Looks like I underestimated her appetite.”
“You’d better stop or you’re going to gain weight,” Makoto remarked as she looked up from reading one of Rei’s manga on her side of the table.
“It’s fine! It’s fine!” Usagi said dismissively as she started on yet another sweet potato.
“Is it really fine?” Ryoku muttered again without lifting his head from the table.
“Sometimes, you too nice for your own good, Ryo-kun,” Minako said, shaking her head pityingly.
“Feh,” he snorted back almost half-heartedly.
“You know, being insensitive like that is only going to get you dumped again, Usagi,” Rei said without looking up from her manga, across from where Makoto was lying down.
“Rei-chan!” Makoto and Minako said in shock.
“That’s harsh…,” Usagi wailed while everyone stared. Even Katsy paused in brushing Chibiusa’s hair long enough for her and the young pink-haired girl to stare.
“I just wanted one more,” Ryoku muttered again, his head still resting on the table.
“More importantly, eating too much will make you drowsy and will slow down your mind,” Ami stated. “A junior high school student’s duty is to study. Shouldn’t you watch your diet for that reason, too? Eat only regular meals and study in homeroom, and you’ll advance to the next class.”
“Never mind that,” Makoto said, interrupting before Ami could build up too much steam. “Just remember that you’ll get heavy from eating too much.”
“That’s right!” Minako added. “Aside from that, eating too many will just make your stomach’s trumpet sound, you know?”
“Oh, shut up,” Usagi grumbled. “I don’t care, no matter what happens!” To prove her point, she bit into another sweet potato.
And that’s when the loud noise filled the room.
Everyone froze for a moment, then stared flatly at Usagi. Ryoku silently stood up, walked over to the window, and opened it before sitting back down again.
“Told you so,” Minako muttered.
“How unmannerly,” Ami commented flatly.
“That stinks!” Chibiusa spat brusquely. Everyone else just glared at Usagi.
“Oh, please,” Usagi said waving her hand dismissively, even though she was blushing furiously. “It wasn’t me!”
Her embarrassed laughter cut off as she noticed a bright light slowly descending nearby. “What’s that?” she exclaimed as she jumped to her feet, the sweet potatoes in her lap tumbling to the ground. The light paused as it began to shine with a sickly green light, while small arcs of electrical energy danced around its surface. The light flashed blindingly and sent three tendrils of energy lashing toward where Katsy and Chibiusa were sitting.
“Look out!” Katsy shouted as she moved to shield Chibiusa with her body.
“Chibiusa!” Bertie shouted as well as she moved to do the same, enveloping the young girl on both sides.
The tendrils wrapped around Katsy and Bertie and tried to pull them up toward the light.
“Oneechan!” Chibiusa yelled as she reached out for the sisters.
The tendrils only managed to just pull them away from Chibiusa before Ryoku rushed forward, severing the two tendrils holding the sisters in one pass with his Star Sword. Unfortunately, the third tendril managed to knock him away before he could land on his feet. Another tendril lashed out from the light and grabbed Bertie again, while the third one captured Katsy. The two sisters were yanked through the air and pulled into the light. Once they were inside, the light faded back into its original state, then sped away.
“Ryo-kun, are you all right?” Ami asked as she helped him to his feet while the others rushed outside as well.
“Yeah,” he grunted, wincing slightly. “That thing hit pretty hard, though.”
“What was that?” Minako asked, staring up at where the light had been.
Chibiusa stared up at where the two sisters vanished as well. They had let themselves be captured just to save her….
“Chibiusa,” Usagi said firmly as she grabbed the young girl by the wrist and dragged her toward Rei’s closet, “no matter what happens, you have to stay in here. Don’t move from this spot.” With that, she quickly slid the closet door closed before Chibiusa could argue.
“Ready?” Ryoku asked calmly with Star Sword in hand.
Usagi nodded resolutely. “Let’s go.” The others nodded in firm agreement.
They were taken… because of me…, Chibiusa thought as she waited in the faint darkness of Rei’s closet.
“Everyone, transform!” Luna ordered with Artemis by her side.
“Right,” came the simultaneous reply.
Chibiusa slid open the closet and started running for the door. I have to call them! I have to call the Sailor Soldiers and get them to help!
She came to an abrupt stop at the door as she noticed everyone standing in a loose circle with one hand raised into the air. Ryoku’s hand held a strange-looking sword; the same sword she just barely saw as he tried to save the two sisters earlier.
“Mars star power–”
“Venus star power–”
Chibiusa gasped. Was she seeing what she thought she was seeing?
“Knight star sword power!”
“Jupiter star power–”
“Mercury star power–”
“–make up!”
Before her eyes, each of her friends transformed into the Sailor Scouts.
“Sailor Mercury!” That was Ami.
“Sailor Mars!” That was Rei.
“Sailor Jupiter!” That was Makoto.
“Sailor Venus!” That was Minako.
“Sailor Knight!” That was Ryoku.
“Moon crystal power, make up!”
This time, Chibiusa gasped as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Even Usagi was transforming?
“Sailor Moon!”
The six Sailor Scouts nodded and rushed off to save Katsy and Bertie, but Chibiusa was too stunned to even notice. Usagi was Sailor Moon? The ditzy, scatterbrained, clueless Usagi was Sailor Moon?
“What is the enemy after?” Jupiter asked as the Scouts, along with the two cats, sprinted in the direction the light flew toward. Mercury activated her visor and scanned the area in that direction.
“They abandoned their clan in order to live as normal humans,” Knight said grimly. “As far as the enemy is concerned, the sisters are traitors to their cause and will probably be executed as an example to the rest of the clan.”
“Executing the traitors?” Mars repeated incredulously.
“The fact that they didn’t also go after Chibiusa seems to prove it,” he concluded.
“No way!” Venus said worriedly.
“It’s too soon to give up,” Mercury told her. “The air is filled with an unusual energy. It’s coming from the west!”
“Everyone, hurry!” Artemis urged.
The group was too preoccupied with the coming battle to notice a young pink-haired girl trailing after them.
Prisma and Avery appeared in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge and slowly ascended into the air. Between them, a bubble containing Katsy’s and Bertie’s unconscious forms floated.
“Oneesama, I seriously doubt that the Sailor Warriors will appear just to rescue this traitorous garbage,” Avery scoffed. “Wouldn’t it be better to kill them now and be done with it?”
“Perhaps,” Prisma allowed. “However, let’s wait a bit longer.”
“Hmph,” she muttered with her hands on her hips, before glancing aside at the rod in her elder sister’s hand. “But the power of that rod is amazing,” she observed enviously.
“I can feel the infinite power flowing into me,” the elder sister said, grinning darkly at the rod. “Now, I have no rival.”
Avery moved closer. “Come to think of it, it’s even given your skin a better glow!” she noticed. “Let me try it!” She reached for the rod, only to have Prisma knock her away with it. The rod gave of black arcs of energy as it struck the younger sister, causing her to twitch slightly, even after the power faded from the rod. “That’s mean, Oneesama!”
“Katsy and Bertie both betrayed me,” she said flatly. “I can’t trust you either.”
“You can’t mean that!”
Katsy and Bertie stirred as they both slowly regained consciousness, catching Prisma’s attention. “Hmph. Looks like the garbage is awake,” she said in haughty condescension.
“Prisma-oneesama!” Katsy exclaimed upon seeing her sisters. “Avery-oneesama!”
“Tell us where the Sailor Warriors and the Rabbit are!” Prisma sneered.
“Oneesama, please stop fighting the Sailor Warriors!” Katsy implored.
“What?” she exclaimed, momentarily taken aback by shock.
“What is wrong with you two?” Avery demanded angrily.
“We saw the true nature of the Black Moon!” Katsy told them.
“The Black Moon is a terrible clan that will stop at nothing in order to attain its objectives!” Bertie added.
“That’s what fighting is all about,” Avery replied. “Those who fight and win are the ones who are right!”
“Love and friendship? Rubbish,” Prisma added. “We don’t have time for this discussion.” She raised the rod toward her sisters. “Die.”
“Hold it right there!”
Prisma froze and glanced upward, toward the top of the nearest bridge tower.
“Aren’t you’re beliefs incorrect?” Sailor Moon retorted.
“Sailor Moon!” Katsy and Bertie exclaimed.
“We fight for the sake of this beautiful planet!” Mars stated.
“For the sake of the kindhearted people!” Mercury added.
“Trees, plants, and flowers! For the sake of all living things!” Jupiter added.
“For the sake of love and happiness!” Venus added.
“And for the sake of a beautiful future!” Knight added.
“For bad girls who trample on all those things,” Sailor Moon continued, “on behalf of the Moon–”
“–we’ll punish you!” all six of the Sailor Scouts finished in unison.
Prisma smirked. “Hmph. So, you came to rescue these two after all. Fools.”
“Did you not think it would be a trap?” Avery asked.
“We knew, but it doesn’t matter,” Mars replied.
“Return our friends to us!” Ami demanded.
“Sailor Mercury!” Bertie shouted happily at hearing her call them friends.
“Rescuing your friends, is it?” Avery sneered.
“I don’t even want to hear that foolishness!” Prisma shouted as she pointed her rod at the Scouts. “Dark thunder!” A giant blast of black lightning shot at the tower where the Scouts were standing, but they leaped away before the bolt could strike them. Instead, the bolt completely destroyed the middle of the arc at the top of the tower, leaving a huge gap behind.
“Incredible!” Sailor Moon gasped, staring at the damage in shock.
“Oneesama! Let me use it, too!” Avery pleaded eagerly.
“No!” she snapped irritably. “You’re in my way! Move!” She raised the rod again. “Dark thunder!”
As Prisma fired amplified blasts of Dark Thunder repeatedly at the Scouts, Rubeus watched the battle through one of the many mirrors in the main chambers. “Prisma and Avery…,” he said, smirking smugly to himself. “Your powers are building every instant. When I no longer need your help….”
“Dark thunder!”
Another blast pushed the Sailor Scouts back again while more of the bridge’s surface was destroyed.
“Is everyone all right?” Sailor Moon asked.
“I can’t believe this!” Venus exclaimed. “What incredible power!”
“Whatever the power, I won’t lose!” Jupiter exclaimed as she stood up.
“Great power can only go so far, after all,” Knight added as he stood up as well. “As we’ll show you!”
“Sparkling wide pressure!”
“Avalanche barrage!”
“Dark thunder!” Prisma countered quickly. Her black bolt smashed through the combined attack and struck the two siblings, knocking them back several meters.
“Jupiter-chan! Knight-kun!” Sailor Moon exclaimed apprehensively as she rushed to her friends.
“She’s several times more powerful than when we last fought her!” Jupiter said as she pushed herself back up.
“There’s no way she could’ve gotten this powerful on her own,” Knight added as he got back up as well.
“Let me see,” Mercury said as she activated her visor again and scanned Prisma. “I’ve got it! There’s an enormous amount of energy coming from that rod!”
“Then, if we take that rod away from her?” Venus asked.
“I think she’ll go back to her previous power level,” Mercury supposed.
“Leave it to me!” Venus said as she gathered energy for an attack. “Venus love-me chain!”
The chain attack struck quickly. However, before the chain could find its target, Prisma leaped out of the way, landing on the main bridge cable.
“I missed!”
“Avalanche barrage!” Knight shouted, quickly following up behind Venus’ chain attack. However, Prisma darted forward just as the barrage of stone spikes stuck the main cable. “You’re not getting away!” he growled as he swung his hands after her. Unfortunately, she still managed to stay ahead of his spikes.
“She’s so fast!” Mars gasped. She hurriedly gathered energy for an attack of her own. “Burning mandala!”
Flaming rings shot forth from Mars’ hands, racing toward their target, now trapped between her Burning Mandala and Knight’s Avalanche Barrage. Without stopping, or even hesitating in the slightest, Prisma swatted aside Mars’ rings of fire with her rod as easily as if she was batting aside frisbees. As she reached the dip in the main bridge cable, she leaped off into the air and pointed her rod directly at the gathered Scouts. “Dark thunder!”
The blast not only knocked the Scouts to the ground, but it tore open a giant hole in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge. As the dust settled, Prisma slowly floated to the ground, laughing in a mixture of triumph and contempt.
“That was easy,” she said, a sinister sneer stretching across her face. “I’ll put you out of your misery now.”
“Oneesama, please stop!”
Prisma glared up at Bertie, scowling at her for the interruption, but the third sister refused to back down. “Don’t hurt them, please!”
“Rubeus is using you!” Katsy added quickly. “There’s some reason why he gave you that thing! You can’t trust him! Oneesama, please believe us!”
Avery floated up between them and Prisma. “What are you trying to pull here? Are you still thinking of getting in our way? Or, are you just trying to save your own behinds?”
“No!” Katsy denied vehemently.
“We’re saying this for your sakes!” Bertie insisted.
“Really?” Avery said condescendingly. “Is that it? I’m really sick and tired of your worthless nonsense.” She turned around and grinned smugly at her elder sister. “Prisma-oneesama, weren’t you about to kill these useless sisters?”
Prisma glanced up and returned an evil smirk. “Very well.” She rose into the air and pointed the rod directly at the bubble containing her two sisters. “Dark thunder!”
Avery gasped as bolts of black thunder tore through the air toward their destination, moments before she realized that she was directly in the line of fire. She screamed in pain, along with her two younger sisters, still trapped inside the bubble. “Oneesama,” she gasped through the pain, “what are you doing?”
“I was getting tired of your constant ridicule,” Prisma said calmly. “Now, I’m getting rid of three fools. Although, seeing you like this is rather cute, don’t you think?”
“Oneesama!”
Her smirk widened as she considered the rod in her hand. “With this rod, my powers are infinite! I can even surpass Rubeus-sama and become the most powerful in our clan! I have no need for a woman like you, who could betray me at any time!”
“Oneesama…,” Avery whispered as her sister laughed at her.
“Die together with the traitors!” she screamed as she swung her rod at her sisters and fired another Dark Thunder.
When the blast subsided, the bubble burst, dropping the two younger sisters while Avery plummeted out of the sky.
“Look out!” Mars shouted as she, Jupiter and Knight shot forward in order to catch the falling sisters. Avery came back to her senses quickly, stopping herself in mid-fall, leaving Mars empty-handed while Jupiter caught Bertie and Knight caught Katsy.
“Are you all right?” Jupiter asked Bertie.
“Yes…,” she replied faintly.
“How about you?” Knight asked Katsy.
“Thank you, Sailor Knight,” she replied weakly.
Avery settled to the ground and fell to her knees in shock and despair. “Oneesama…. You even turned on me….”
“Are you all right?” Sailor Moon asked as she knelt in front of her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“We were fighting just a moment ago!” she said, her eyes wide open in astonishment. “What are you trying to pull?”
Sailor Moon placed her other hand on Avery’s other shoulder and smiled. “It’s only natural to be concerned about someone who has been hurt.”
“Is that the way of things in your world?”
She nodded silently.
“Avery-oneesama,” Katsy said as Knight helped her to stand, “this is what human love is.”
“It is what we of the Black Moon have forgotten,” Bertie added as Jupiter helped her to stand. “And it is what the Sailor Moon and the others have helped us to remember.”
Avery closed her eyes and bowed her head as tears came to her eyes. “So… we were wrong.”
“So, garbage finds happiness with garbage,” Prisma scoffed as she slowly descended. “How sweet.”
“What was that?” Mars snapped.
“Hey, don’t you think what you’re doing is going too far?” Sailor Moon shouted.
“Trying to kill your younger sisters is unforgivable!” Knight growled fiercely.
“Are you even human?” Jupiter added angrily.
“Who cares about the lives of one or two pieces of worthless garbage?” Prisma retorted derisively. “They can’t do anything by themselves.”
“Why, you…,” Sailor Moon growled angrily.
“She’s not even listening,” Jupiter told her.
“No!” Avery interjected. “That’s not my sister!”
“Eh?” Sailor Moon said, stunned.
“She’s been possessed by the power of that rod!” she explained.
“I thought so!” Sailor Moon said.
“But, what can we do about it?” Mars inquired.
“There’s a way,” Mercury announced. “We just have to–”
“Go to hell!” Prisma roared as she swung her rod.
“–work together!” Mercury finished as she gathered power for an attack. “Shabon spray!”
“Damn!” Prisma growled as a thick fog covered the bridge, blocking her sight.
“Now!” Mercury prompted.
“Okay!” Venus acknowledged. “Venus love-me chain!”
The chain attack struck Prisma’s hand, knocking the rod to the ground.
“Jupiter! Knight!” Mercury prompted again.
“All right!” both sibling Scouts confirmed.
“Sparkling wide pressure!”
“Avalanche barrage!”
The two attacks combined and slammed into Prisma at full force, knocking the eldest sister out of the air.
“We did it!” the Scouts cheered as Prisma hit the ground.
As the three younger sisters knelt down around their elder sister, Chibiusa finally caught up with the Sailor Scouts. Noticing what had to be the end of a battle, she quickly hid and watched cautiously.
“Are you all right, Oneesama?” Katsy asked as she tried to take Prisma’s hand.
“Don’t touch me!” she snapped, throwing off her hand. “I don’t want your pity.”
“Oneesama….”
“Well done, Prisma,” Rubeus announced as he faded into view above the bridge with his arms folded and his usual smirk.
“Rubeus-sama, I–” Prisma began.
“You’ve managed to gather the Sailor Warriors and the traitors in one place, so you’ve done quite well,” he said, seemingly pleased. “I never believed that you could win in the first place.”
Prisma gasped at this announcement, but Rubeus continued before she could say anything.
“If I can just defeat the Sailor Warriors, I can take care of the rest perfectly fine by myself,” he said, his smirk widening slightly.
“Then, I was–”
“You were all nothing but pawns,” he confirmed. “I can always find replacements.” His eyes began to glow red. “Now, die with the Sailor Warriors!”
The rod began to glow with a sickly green color, forming a column of light that quickly grew wider. A hole the size of the column of light formed as that section of the bridge, with the rod in the center, sank into darkness underneath.
“That is the true power of the rod,” Rubeus stated as he disappeared. “You will be sucked into a dimensional crevice!”
Once the circular portion of the bridge holding the rod fell completely into the darkness, a strong vacuum began to pull them toward the hole. Pieces of rubble flew through the air as they were sucked into the hole in the bridge. In her hiding place, Chibiusa grabbed onto the nearest bridge cable and held on as tightly as possible.
All of the four sisters and the Sailor Scouts quickly grabbed a bridge cable as well, and held on tight. Luna desperately sunk her claws into Sailor Moon’s uniform, while Artemis did the same with Venus’ uniform.
“We’re gonna get sucked in!” Sailor Moon cried.
“What the heck is this?” Mars shouted.
“Just earlier, that wand was producing an infinite amount of energy,” Mercury explained loudly as she, Jupiter and Knight all held onto the same bridge cable. Jupiter and Knight both had one arm around Mercury, as if trying to shield her from the vacuum coming from the hole.
“I get it,” Knight said as he gritted his teeth against the strong pull of the vacuum. “So, he just reversed the flow so it’s drawing in an infinite amount of energy, rather than producing it.”
“So, it’s something like a black hole?” Jupiter figured.
“Isn’t there some way to stop it?” Venus asked.
“Luna!” Sailor Moon shouted.
“I don’t have a method for closing dimensional rips!” Luna yelled.
“No, there’s a way!” Prisma stated. “If I use all the power left in my body to destroy that rod, this black hole will also cease to exist.”
“But that’s not certain!” Mercury objected. “If you do that, you might die!”
“Would you prefer that this world be destroyed?” she countered calmly. With that, she stood up and flung a hand toward the hole. “Dark power!” A small bolt of lightning struck the sickly green light glowing inside the darkness, but dispersed without any effect.
Suddenly, the vacuum effect of the hole caught Prisma’s arm and pulled her through the air toward the sickly green light. Before she could fall all the way through the hole, Avery lashed out with her whip, catching her elder sister by her wrist.
“Avery!” Prisma exclaimed in surprise.
“Oneesama, I can’t let you do this alone,” she said with a small smirk.
Two hands reached into the hole and grasped Prisma by the arm. “Hang on, Oneesama!” Katsy shouted as she and Bertie struggled to pull her free from the draw of the vacuum.
“You two!”
“I know we were always fighting,” Bertie told her eldest sister, “but we’d never let you die! Besides,” she added with a sad smile, “if you were gone, we couldn’t call ourselves the Four Ayakashi Sisters, now could we?”
Suddenly, the vacuum coming from the rod pulsed as it slowly grew in power. Katsy and Bertie’s grip on their eldest sister faltered slightly, but did not break. As the struggle to save the eldest Ayakashi sister continued, a crack in the bridge opened up from the edge of the hole and tore straight to the edge of the bridge, right underneath Sailor Moon.
“Enough!” Sailor Moon screamed. “Stop!”
“Don’t give up, Sailor Moon!”
Sailor Moon turned her gaze upward, toward the top of the tower they had stood at previously. “Tuxedo Kamen-sama!”
Tuxedo Kamen stood firm as if the pull of the vacuum didn’t affect him, save for the flapping of his cape. “You all have great power. If you join together as one, you will be able to seal this dimensional tear.”
“But…,” she began doubtfully.
“No, he’s right!” Artemis confirmed. “That rod is creating a space around it that’s similar to a tunnel that connects two dimensions! If we can destroy that rod before we get flung into another dimension, the black hole should cease to exist!”
“It all comes back to destroying that rod…,” Knight said grimly.
“Are you telling us to jump into that hole?” Jupiter asked incredulously.
“Sailor Moon, there’s no other way!” Luna urged. “We have to do it!” Sailor Moon nodded. “One the count of three, we’ll all jump in, okay?
“One, two–”
“–three!” The six Sailor Scouts yelled as she released their hold on the bridge cords and leaped into the hole.
“Where’s the rod?” Sailor Moon asked as she looked at her surroundings. It was dark everywhere, however, there was illumination due to the sickly green light that seemed to be everywhere at once, although she couldn’t see where the light could be coming from. Around her, bits and pieces of bridge rubble and construction material from a section of the bridge that was under construction floated around as if they were in a place that had suspended all laws of gravity. It was fortunate that she could see her friends nearby; otherwise, she would’ve already started to go through a major panic attack.
Not that she wasn’t on the verge of panicking anyway.
“If we don’t hurry, we’ll all be sucked into a different dimension!” Luna said urgently.
“Look!” Mars shouted as she pointed overhead. “There it is!”
“We’re not too late!” Artemis said in relief. “Quickly, join hands! Knight, bring out your sword and stand in the center!”
“Focus your power into Knight’s blade,” Luna instructed after everyone followed Artemis’ instructions. “When your powers combine, focus them against that rod!”
“Moon crystal power!”
“Mars star power!”
“Mercury star power!”
“Jupiter star power!”
“Venus star power!”
“Knight star sword power!” Knight held his blade straight up in both hands where the hilt was at the level of his head.
“Sailor planet power!” all six shouted in unison as they closed their eyes and focused their power into Knight’s Star Sword, in the center of the circle. Each Scout glowed with a different color as their energy flowed into the blade; pink for Sailor Moon, red for Mars, blue for Mercury, green for Jupiter, yellow for Venus, and silver for Knight. A white glow began to shine within the Star Sword, surrounding the Scouts with its light. Knight then thrust the sword toward the rod, releasing the stored energy in a single stream of blinding white light. The blast struck the rod, causing it to break and crumble into dust.
After the rod disintegrated, a strong backlash of energy flung the Sailor Scouts and the two cats out of the hole and onto the ground in a small explosion.
“Did we make it?” Sailor Moon asked, sitting up as the dust started to settle. Glancing around, she spotted all of her friends sitting up and looking around as well. There was no sign of the rod or the black hole. All that was left was a huge crater in the middle of the bridge where the black hole had been.
“We did it!” Artemis said. “The dimensional tear is gone!”
“Traffic’s going to be hell tomorrow, though,” Knight remarked flippantly. Mars smacked him in the back of the head, while Mercury sighed and Venus and Jupiter laughed quietly.
“Tuxedo Kamen-sama…,” Sailor Moon said as she glanced up to see if he was still there.
He was gone.
“Well, you got to remember that he usually doesn’t stick around anyway,” Knight told her. “So, it’s not like he’s back to avoiding you again.”
“Mm,” Sailor Moon nodded, looking a little relieved. “Thanks, Knight.” He merely nodded in reply.
“Sailor Moon!” Katsy called out from the other side of the hole in the bridge. “Please… help my elder sisters….”
She smiled gently and nodded as she reached for her brooch. “Moon crystal power!” she shouted as the brooch opened, revealing the Silver Crystal inside. As before, the Silver Crystal’s power enveloped the two sisters, washing away all of the dark energy within them.
From her hiding place within the bridge construction area, Chibiusa watched as the last two of the Ayakashi sisters were purified of their dark energy. However, it wasn’t that which had held the young girl’s attention. Rather, it was the crystal that she had spotted inside Sailor Moon’s brooch.
“Usagi…,” she murmured to herself as she tried to make sense of everything she had seen. “Sailor Moon…. The Silver Crystal?”
Within the mirrored chamber, Rubeus scowled as he watched Sailor Moon heal the last two Ayakashi sisters. While he didn’t care about the four sisters either way, the brooch in Sailor Moon’s hands gave him cause for concern.
“What?” he scowled. “Sailor Moon has the Silver Crystal?” He clenched a fist angrily and slammed it into the mirror, shattering it. “Damn you!”
“Eh?” Makoto said, raising an eyebrow as the five of them followed Usagi down the street. “So the four of them opened a shop?”
“Yeah!” Usagi nodded. “It’s supposed to be a shop where anyone can become beautiful.”
“That’s a little vague,” Ryoku remarked. “Exactly how do they go about making anyone beautiful?” Instead of answering, Usagi pointed to a small booth down the street where the four sisters were selling cosmetics. “You, Too, Will Be Beautiful Cosmetics?” he read aloud, glancing at the sign.
“Hi!” Avery greeted the passersby. “How would you like some cosmetics that will make you beautiful?”
Prisma frowned as she noticed Bertie putting on some blush. “Bertie, please stay out of our merchandise!”
“Oneesama, if the salespeople’s skin looks dull, the customers will not trust us,” she replied pointedly and went back to applying blush.
“Why, you!” Prisma yelled, thinking her remark was a crack at her, and started shaking her.
“Oneesama! The customers are watching!” Avery chastised her elder sister.
“You guys worry too much about that!” Katsy chimed in.
“I can’t possibly sell our products like this!” Avery complained.
“Exactly how does this make someone beautiful?” Ryoku remarked dryly as the sisters went into a heated argument.
“Well, as they say, ‘You get along as well as you fight,’” Makoto said with a shrug.
“They’re the same as us,” Ami agreed.
“Oh, but they don’t seem to have a silly one like we do,” Rei said teasingly.
“Here we go,” Ryoku muttered to himself.
“Rei-chan, who are you talking about?” Usagi asked pointedly.
“I don’t know,” she replied deliberately. “I’m sure she knows who she is, though.”
“What did you say?” Usagi growled. Rei stuck out her tongue at her, then both girls tossed their heads and snorted in a huff. The others sweatdropped in vexation.
“Rei-chan, you’re mean!”
“You just think that everything I say is something bad about you!”
“That’s because it is!”
“Great,” Ryoku muttered glancing between arguing friends and arguing sisters. “Now we have squabbling in stereo.”
Ami, Makoto, Minako and Ryoku sighed wearily. “Why us?” they all lamented in unison.