"I need a big loan from the girl zone..." Tori Amos, Caught a Light Sneeze ------ ---An Alternate Universe, the Present--- Blackness. Everywhere she looked, there was blackness, darkness, stillness. The feeling was unsettling. She was about to move forward to try to get her bearings, when she heard a slurping sound and felt something rub up against her leg. Something else suddenly started curling up her other leg. "Jupiter Low Shock!" the woman uttered. Immediately, the things slithering up her fell away. "Let's see..." Lady Jupiter said to herself, "I have less than five minutes. Lady Minerva, if you and the girl are here..." A young girl's scream grabbed her attention. Turning around, she saw in the far distance a small speck of light. "Bingo." she whispered grimly, just before taking off. ------ Sailor Minerva could see her and Hoshi's breath rise in front of them as she started to shiver. They were cold enough on the ground by the fire, but here, three hundred feet in the air, their teeth were beginning to chatter. Besides the cold, though, there was the fatigue factor for the Senshi to deal with. Her legs now felt like lead and after using her attacks so many times to get here she could sympathize with Usagi's collapsing to the ground sometimes after certain intense attacks and transformations. Hoshi had stopped screaming by now and was clinging tightly to the Senshi, her eyes closed once again as she began to whimper. Below them, the tentacles had climbed up to the figure's chest, and still Mistress Nine floated in front of them, the same gruesome grin evident on her face. Minerva looked at the Messiah of Silence angrily, "Well? What are you waiting for?" she shouted as the slurping sound began to come closer, "You've won; finish it!" Mistress Nine looked somewhat surprised, "What? No last ditch effort to win? No begging for mercy?" The Senshi narrowed her eyes, "Would either help?" she asked pointedly. "I suppose not." the demoness answered, "But I find this way to be a bit more fun than simply killing you two on the spot. I want you two ants to suffer for what you did to my beautiful world; coming here with your noise and your light and your... hello?" she said, a look of surprise on her face, "What's this? Another ant?" Sailor Minerva turned around to see what Mistress Nine was referring to. There, floating in the sky and surrounded by tiny bolts of electricity, was Lady Jupiter. "Jupiter?" the Senshi asked, "Wha... How did you..." "Minerva, listen to me carefully." Jupiter called over, "I need you to surround yourself with your shield. No matter what, try to focus all your remaining strength on your shield." Minerva was filled with questions she wished to asked; how did Sailor Jupiter get here, why were her eyes red, what happened to her arm, and since when had she been able to fly? At the moment, however, she decided to set all concerns aside and trust her, trying with all her might to give her shield more energy. "Ah," Mistress Nine said as her smile quickly returned, "It would seem another blasphemer has entered my master's realm. Prepare yourself wretch; your chastisement is at hand." Lady Jupiter looked at the abomination in front of her, and met the thing's smile with one of her own. ---Tokyo, the Present--- Sailor Moon left Hoshi's grieving parents as she went over to Pluto. She passed by Saeko, and heard the scientist growl angrily at her through the gag Sailor Mars had put on her. Unfortunately, before she had been gagged, the woman went out of her way to reveal as much about the future as she could. The Senshi now knew that Crystal Tokyo would not slowly rise and evolve, but would instead be born after a cataclysmic event that would level Tokyo and destroy much of the rest of the world. It would be during this battle with "the Old Ones" that Ami would see some sort of youma with the head of an octopus, go insane, and attack Makoto. Which was what now brought Sailor Moon over to the Time Senshi, "Um, Pluto?" Sailor Moon asked, "What... What the scientist said, we're not supposed to know any of that, right? I mean, isn't this..." "Neptune." Pluto called over, "How long?" "It's been a minute." the Senshi of the Seas answered. Pluto, ignoring Sailor Moon for the moment, now turned to Sailor Saturn, "Saturn," she said, her voice shaking, "Saturn, do you think..." Saturn looked at her adoptive mother sadly as she shook her head, "No." she answered simply, "Even... Even if they are still alive, it's only because they amuse her, like... like when I captured Uranus and Neptune, and..." she couldn't get out any more. As she turned away from her Pluto felt her heart sink. She could remember Mako-chan's future self trying to suggest calling on her other selves. There were possibly thousands of different earths within the branches of time, each with its own guardian of the timegate. It was forbidden though; one Pluto was not allowed to interfere in any way in another Pluto's timeline. And yet... And yet stopping time was also forbidden, and that didn't stop her then. "Fuck the rules." she whispered as she closed her eyes and started to concentrate, opening her consciousness and sending out a very heartfelt message. ---An Alternate Universe, the Present--- "And what are you planning to do, you filthy little worm?" Mistress Nine asked as she and Lady Jupiter continued to stare each other down. "Don't you know who I am?" "Yes." Lady Jupiter answered, "You're a super powerful metahuman with a messiah complex. And as for what I'm planning to do..." she said, her voice drifting off as she began to concentrate. Lady Mercury had once tried to explain to her how she thought it worked; something about quantum theory and zero-point energy surrounding and permeating all throughout the universe. Jupiter didn't understand any of the technobable though. All she knew was that every tree, every house, every stone, even seemingly empty air contained untapped potential energy. Since everyone else is largely unaware of its existence, it goes untapped. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, merely transferred. Say, from potential energy to electrical. Sailor Minerva suddenly found her skin beginning to feel tingly within the force field around her and Hoshi as the dark sky around her became alive with lightning. The bolts of electricity weren't just coming from above though, but from the ground as well, frying the tentacles even as the dark, slimy appendages themselves became sources of energy that Lady Jupiter tapped into. Mistress Nine's grin disappeared as all the bolts of lightning began to converge towards the future Senshi, who by this time was glowing a blinding white. A small lightning rod started to rise from Lady Jupiter's tiara as a large white ball of pure static electricity began to surround her. "Jupiter Ragnarok Devastation!" the Senshi screamed as a gigantic stream of energy exploded outwards from her towards Mistress Nine. The statue of the Senshi of Silence exploded, falling for the second time that day, and for a brief moment it almost looked like the sun was illuminating the darkened skies once more as the Messiah of Darkness was blasted backward and fell like a stone into the darkened sea, lightning bolts burning and tearing at her flesh as she fell. As Sailor Minerva and Hoshi began to fall from the statue, the darkness returned. Lady Jupiter flew over, and Minerva, still holding the girl, lowered her force field. The future Senshi grabbed Minerva from behind and the three of them landed in a foul-smelling pile of the now burnt tentacles. "You..." Minerva began as the dust from the statue of Mistress Nine cascaded down, "That was... You just..." Lady Jupiter laughed, "It's okay; I'm from the future." she explained, "I was sent back to help you." She then looked down at the little girl, "And you must be little Hoshi. Your mom and dad are worried sick about you." The little girl looked up at Jupiter's face by the light of Minerva's shield and wiped her eyes, "Am I going home now?" "Yes." Lady Jupiter said, "You're going home; both of you. The exit's this way. We'll run over though; between absorbing the electrical output of a subway station and becoming a conduit for the same amount of electrical output as the sun, I'm not up to leaping or flying any further." Minerva smiled, "I know how you feel. You lead the way." The three headed off, Sailor Minerva holding Hoshi as Lady Jupiter led the way to the general area where she'd entered. As they were almost there, something grabbed tightly onto the future Senshi's right arm. "Jupiter!" Minerva yelled as she now saw that a tentacle had come back to life and had wrapped itself up Lady Jupiter's arm up to her elbow. Jupiter grimaced as the thing began to constrict. "Jupiter Low..." her voice was cut off as a cracking sound was heard, followed by the sound of twisted metal. Lady Jupiter's arm was state of the art, complete with microsensors that allowed for actual feeling in the fingertips and all along the metal appendage. It was normally a benefit to the princess. But now, as the sensory sensations of breaking bone, ripping muscle and tearing flesh rushed from the crushed artificial limb to her brain, it was a nightmare. Lady Jupiter's eyes bulged wide as a blood curdling scream escaped her lips. Before Minerva could set the child down to come to Jupiter's aid, her sensory circuitry mercifully overloaded and crashed as the arm was finally torn off just above her elbow. It was then that more tentacles came to life and grabbed onto Lady Jupiter's legs, causing her to loose her balance and fall to the pavement. "Jupiter!" Minerva screamed as Hoshi began crying once again, "Hold on, I'll..." "Keep running!" Jupiter yelled as she was being dragged toward a slew of now reanimated appendages, "Another forty feet straight ahead! Grab Venus' Love-Me Chain when it appears, and don't look back!" Minerva couldn't believe what she was being asked to do, "No, I can't just leave you! I..." "Blasphemy!" an angry voice roared, "BLASPHEMY!" Minerva and the others looked to see a now badly burned Mistress Nine floating behind them some two hundred yards away. Smoke rose from her smoldering flesh and the fleshy membranes of her wings were in tatters. She sneered at them angrily. "I've allowed you ants to live this long because you made me laugh, but now you've angered me!" she bellowed. "It's now time for me to remind you who the Messiah is around here, you..." Mistress Nine was cut off as the portal of the timegate appeared between her and the three figures. Lady Jupiter looked up helplessly. "No!" she screamed as more tentacles began to wrap themselves around her, "Don't do it! She's too powerful, you'll..." her voice drifted off as three more timegates appeared in the sky. As still more now appeared on the ground, a figure began to exit the first. She was a tall, majestic looking African, with long braided hair that hung down her back and framed her face. A skirt hugged her hips, and a large group of beaded necklaces hung around her neck and covered her shirtless chest. As more timegates continued to appear, a second woman emerged from one wearing a dark blue Hindu sari and sporting an elaborate gold nose ring and a sindhoor (red dot made of tikka powder) on her forehead. As Mistress Nine's attention was drawn to this newest unwelcome incursion into her realm, Lady Jupiter turned her attention back to the tentacles wrapping themselves around her, "Ju... Jupiter low shock." she groaned out. The shock was enough to stun the appendages, and Sailor Minerva held Hoshi in her arms as she wearily made her way over to help Lady Jupiter up. Meanwhile, the timegates continuing to appear by the dozens. As an Australian Aborigine and a Native American Indian now joined the growing army of women, both Senshi noticed two things; first, all the women were staring at Mistress Nine angrily, not even trying to hide their obvious contempt for the Messiah of Silence. And secondly, each and every one of them held different versions of the Time Staff. Some were no more than long sticks with the garnet orb attached with vines (like the one held by a stocky Neanderthal woman in animal furs) while others were much more elaborate (such as the one sporting the elaborate Celtic knot pattern winding up it being held by the redhead in the kilt). A smile slowly spread across Jupiter's face as the gates still continued to materialize, "Way to go Sets." she whispered hoarsely, "I guess some rules were made to be broken." As someone exited the portal nearest to them looking almost exactly like the Sailor Pluto from their world (except for the cat ears and long, dark-green feline tail that was swishing back and forth behind her), Mistress Nine became enraged. "Worms! Ants! Vermin!" she screamed, "It doesn't matter how many you send, or how often you attack, you'll still end up in the whited sepulchers with the maggots for your crimes!" As the last of the women exited her timegate between the Messiah of Silence and the three on the ground, all of the hundreds of Time Senshi present aimed their Time Staffs at Mistress Nine. "Hoshi." Minerva said to the girl she was holding, "Cover your ears as tightly as you can." she said, waiting until the child had covered hers before she covered her own ears. Lady Jupiter looked over at what was left of her artificial right arm. "Oh shit." she murmured. It was then she felt something tugging on her skirt. Looking down, she saw a young child with long dark green hair dressed as Sailor Pluto holding a smaller version of Setsuna's Time Staff looking up at her. The child motioned with her index finger for Jupiter to come closer. As the future Senshi wearily bent down, the child reached up and covered Jupiter's ears. At that point, in a hundred different languages and close to a thousand different dialects, all the Time Senshi said the same thing. "DEAD SCREAM!" The resulting shockwave ripped the flesh from Mistress Nine's bones and left a hundred foot crater behind as it hit her with enough force to destroy all of Tokyo. As the small Pluto removed her hands from Lady Jupiter's ears, the future Senshi, Minerva and Hoshi all felt their ears ringing even after covering them up. As Minerva and the others watched, the women began to reenter their timegates. The small child version of Pluto looked up at Lady Jupiter and smiled. "Tell Hotaru-mama I said 'hi'." she said before disappearing into her own portal. Finally, after all the others were gone, the African guardian of the timegate who'd arrived first now strode over, her time staff carved of ebony wood and inlaid with animal designs with the orb resting on top. As she reached the group, her eyes immediately fell on Minerva. She placed her right hand on her chest over her heart, then stretched it forward, placing it gently on Minerva's chest. The teacher put her left hand over the taller woman's, then reached her own right hand forward to place it over the other woman's heart. "D... Domo arigato." she said in a low tone, smiling up at the woman. The Time Senshi from another world smiled back affectionately, guessing what the other was trying to say. "Si neno (Swahili- you're welcome)." she said tenderly as a portal now opened behind her. As she disappeared into it, Lady Jupiter turned back to Hoshi and Sailor Minerva. "Ladies," she began, "I would strongly suggest we get to the rendezvous point as soon as we can." Minerva agreed, and the group was off again, reaching the designated area just as the sound of distant thunder and a blue light appeared. A chain of hearts shot out of it and landed in front of them. As Hoshi held tightly to Minerva's neck the Senshi wrapped one arm around the exhausted Jupiter and grabbed the Love-Me Chain with the other. She held on tightly as the three of them were pulled forward. ---Crystal Tokyo, 3043--- Lady Pluto watched on helplessly as Minerva's body neared the end of its destabilization. As Neo Queen Serenity and the others looked on, Lady Minerva began to disappear altogether. Pluto closed her eyes as her love became lighter and lighter, to the point where she could no longer feel her head resting in her lap. She felt like she was dying inside, and could no longer bear the pain of watching the inevitable occur. All of a sudden, Lady Pluto felt a weight resting on her lap and heard a collective gasp from the other royals. A hand gently stroked her cheek, and she warily opened her eyes. There, lying on the marble floor with her head in Pluto's lap and fully solid was Lady Minerva, her hand stretched up and cradling the side of the Time Princess' face. Lady Pluto quickly pulled her up into a hug. "Minerva." she sobbed, "Oh, oh god, oh Minerva." Minerva smiled as she hugged Lady Pluto back. "I told you Lady Jupiter would come through." she whispered. Pluto pulled back as she looked into her wife's familiar grey eyes, "Then... Then it's over now. Lady Jupiter can return and..." Lady Minerva's face suddenly took on a grave look as she met her love's violet eyes, "Over?" she asked as she shook her head, "No, it's not over. Not yet at least." ---Tokyo, the Present--- "Hoshi!" "Are they alive?" "...arm! What happened to..." "Minerva!" Sailor Minerva was lying in a fetal position with Lady Jupiter in front of her and Hoshi in the middle. The three of them were filthy, covered in dust and sweat and reeking of the smell of burnt tentacles. Jupiter opened her eyes first, squinting a bit under the waning light of the day after the intense darkness of the world she'd just come from. As she sat up, Hoshi's parents came forward. "Hoshi?" her mom asked tentatively as her father stood by her side. The young girl opened her eyes a bit and reached her arms up to them. They pulled her up into a tearful embrace as the Senshi now came forward. Hoshi and her parents were discreetly ushered into the temple by Sailors Mars and Venus as Ami and Makoto helped Lady Jupiter to her feet. Meanwhile, Sailor Minerva opened her eyes, quickly closing them again in pain. As she reopened them a crack and tried to get used to the light, she saw a familiar face bending down in front of her. "Kiho-chan?" Pluto whispered as she knelt down beside her. The teacher looked up into her love's violet eyes as she sat up and reached out to stroke her cheek. "Sets-chan," she said as a tear fell down her left cheek, "Is... Is it really you? I'm not just imagining this, am I?" Pluto found herself crying now as she pulled the other woman into a hug. They clung onto each other as they wept, each finding solace and consolation after the hell they'd each been through in each other's arms. Among the other Senshi, Sailor Neptune actually felt herself start to tear up at the reunion, unconsciously slipping her hand into Uranus'. As the others stayed their distances and waited respectfully for their chance to welcome Kihomi back, Sailor Moon came over to Lady Jupiter, a worried look on her face. "Usagi?" the future Senshi asked wearily, "Usagi, what's wrong?" "Well, it's that scientist person, that Saeko. She... We gagged her to keep her from talking, but not before she said a whole bunch of stuff about the future." Lady Jupiter's face went pale, "Stuff? What stuff?" she asked worriedly.
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