LEGAL DISCLAIMER : None of the characters here belong to me. Sailor Moon belongs to DIC, and Graz Entertainment is the owner of the Yoroiden in North America. Don't sue me : I'm a student, and too broke to be worth it. SAILOR MOON / YOROIDEN SAMURAI TROOPERS X-OVER RONIN SUMMER by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com) PART 5 : THE FINAL BATTLE The Dark One leaned back on his throne of rock. The white rose in his fingers was trembling gently as he gazed at it in rage. Mere moments ago, some wraith called the Desert Knight had dared to challenge him in his own domain. Now, he vowed, the entire PLANET would learn the error of such audacity! "SEER!" The entire cave rattled with his roar, stalactites shaking and falling loose. Even the crystal which imprisoned both Ryo of the Wildfire and Sailor Mercury wobbled dangerously in mid-air, almost falling to the ground. "You... bellowed, oh lord and master?" The being known only as the seer floated over to his master, wrapped as always in the rumpled and voluminous robes that concealed his every feature. "Summon them, seer. Summon ALL of them! EVERY youma, every youja! Bring them to me, and let it be known..." "WE ATTACK THE SENSHI... NOW!!!" ********** Shuu Rei Fuan moaned as he stretched out his arms. Rei Hino, kneeling by the sacred fire, turned and looked at him. He had changed out of his mystic armour of Kongo, and was wearing an old white shirt with the words "Milk Ball" written on it. There was half of a sandwich in his hand, which rapidly became no sandwich at all as she watched him inhale it. "So, what's going on, Mars?" the Chinese boy continued to stretch as he asked her, trying to relieve the tightness in his back and shoulders. He hadn't slept on the floor in a long time, he reflected, and he was beginning to remember why he avoided it. "I'm consulting the sacred fire... trying to find out why we're being attacked by these youmas." Shuu shrugged. "I always thought they were youjas. How can you tell the difference?" Rei thought about that for a second. "Well, youmas are evil spirits and monsters who serve the Dark Kingdom..." "And youjas are evil spirits and demons who serve the Dynasty. What's your point?" Shuu waited for her to respond, and smiled when she couldn't find a convincing argument. "HA! You don't really know, do you?" "No..." Rei's voice trailed off as she stared past Shuu's shoulder, and into the distance. "Is something wrong?" Immediately, Shuu leapt to his feet and began looking around suspiciously. "I sense something... a great darkness..." Rei slowly rose and stood by the Yoroiden Samurai. "Whatever they are, Shuu... they're HERE!" ********** Silently, subtly, they surrounded the temple. There were creatures of living stone, metal, and glass, creatures made of liquid, creatures with fangs, horns, fur, scales, tails and antennae. They carried spears, swords, guns, hammers, axes, and canes. Beings of shadow slunk next to creatures of pure energy, and cyborg war robots were shoulder to shoulder with the living dead. On a single, wordless signal, they advanced. Some flew on giant bat wings, some teleported in puffs of smoke, and some burrowed under the ground with their claws. Riding on wolves, charging on hooves, marching on foot, slithering on tentacles, and oozing on slime trails, they all raced toward their goal. The war had begun. ********** Seiji Date leaned back against the rough bark of the tree and glanced over at the girl with him. Minako Aino was very pretty, and he had to admit he was attracted to her, but despite what her cat had suggested, he was pretty sure they weren't lovers. He hoped he would have noticed something like THAT. "A penny for your thoughts, Seiji Date." Minako smiled over at him and sat down in the grass next to him. "Hmph." Seiji slowly let gravity pull him down to sit next to her. "Why don't we just wait a minute and see if you can hop in my head for free?" "Oooh... it's that psychic bond thing." Minako patted his hand understandingly. "Yeah, the 'psychic bond' thing." Seiji sighed, and brushed back the shock of blond hair that usually covered his right eye. "It's not that I'm so uncomfortable with it, I mean, ALL the Yoroiden are psychically linked, it's just... us? Lovers?" Minako blushed and shrugged. "I don't know... Artemis is wrong sometimes, you know." "Name ONCE." She tried, she really did, but for the life of her Minako couldn't remember any specific time. "Well..." "It's not that I'd MIND... I mean, you're really very... prett..." Seiji stopped and tried again. "Very beaut..." AGH! This was why he hated talking to girls! "You're... gorgeous! But I kind of already have a girlfriend. Although we've never dated, or said how we feel about each other, or even talked, much..." his voice trailed off. Had he been going anywhere with this? Minako shook her head and tried not to laugh at him . Seiji was so clumsy with women, so nervous... so sweet. After all, no girl lives who would object to being called gorgeous, especially by someone as kawaii as Seiji Date. Besides, she knew all about his crush on Nasuti from the time she had spent in his mind, and it was very kind of him to think of her at a time like this. She held his hand, and might have let herself get kissed, if an army of youma hadn't chosen that exact moment to attack them. ********** "BUSSO, SUIKO!" A blaze of blue light filled the clearing, and Shin Mouri, Ronin of Torrent and Yoroiden of Suiko, charged the advancing horde. He ducked a blast of flame, dodged a beam of energy, and blocked a spear thrust with his trident. Then he was in the middle of them, and the war was on. A skeleton armed with swords of flame was caught on the barbs of his trident and hurled into four zombies, while something that looked like a bear with spider legs recieved a metal plated kick to the knees. Shin dove forward, tackling two cyborgs and cracking their heads together with enough force to break their skulls. A giant frog with glowing eyes leapt above him, so Shin ran it through with his trident. "Seiji! Minako! Warn the others!" Shin quickly pulled his dagger with his free hand and hurled it into the throat of a purple youma, who tried with all four arms to pull it out before he died. With a violent flip of the trident, he tossed the dead frog into a group of what appeared to be living thornbushes. The skeleton was back up, so Shin knocked its head off with the butt of his weapon. A youma with three heads charged forwards, and he stabbed his trident through its ribcage. Pulling his weapon free, he rammed the butt of the Suiko Yari into the stomach of another youma, this one covered with fur and bearing an impressive rack of antlers. A caped youma whose features were concealed by a porcelain mask flew into the air and dropped on him, smashing Shin in the chest with enough force to drive him back. Two of the zombies reached out, grabbing at his arms and legs as a half-man half-scorpion youma tore at him with its claws and stinger. Shin tossed his head, severing the man-scorpion's tail with the blade on his helmet. A fierce yank, and his right arm came free, the zombie's arms still hanging off of it. Shin turned and punched the other zombie in the head, knocking it down and stepping on it as he launched himself after the masked youma. A creature of living electricty flew at him faster than he could dodge, and he was caught in the force of its energy blast. Flying backwards into the waiting arms of the youma horde, Shin coughed and tasted blood in his mouth. Claws, paws and pincers tore and scratched at his armor as he growled with rage. Shin drove his elbow into the face of a crab, gouged a giant wasp's compund eyes, then grabbed a lobster-man by its antennae and threw him into the air. ********** Holding the sword overhead, Collecting lighting, My heart shines with loneliness. What should I aim for? Who should I love, my love? Where's the answer? ********** "BUSSO, KORIN!" Seiji cried, transforming in mid-air and bringing his sword down on the crown of a giant crocodile. A wraith of some kind hurled energy bolts at him, but the Yoriden of Korin simply turned and used his blade to deflect them into another group of youma, a pair of minotaurs with mohawks and something that looked like the Easter Bunny with rabies. The monsters howled as Seiji turned his wrath upon the wraith, hacking at it with a blade of pure light. A being of living shadow screeched as Sailor Venus blasted it out of existence with the Crescent Beam. The Venus Love Me Chain wrapped itself around the throat of a creature with a cannon for an arm and hurled it screaming through the air to connect with a pair of flying bat creatures. All three fell back to the ground with a sickening thump, and Sailor V ducked the webbing of a mosquito crossed with a spider. Its long probiscus stabbed at her neck like a blood encrusted spear, and she kicked it in half. The spiny fins of a fish youma sliced at her legs, and she somersaulted out of its reach, blasting it with the Crescent Beam, for good measure. ********** Anyone is a distant traveler at this town Becoming like a lost child, tomorrow also I'll keep walking... Unreachable dream - Flower petals dance in the storm Become wind, becoming rain, before I realize... ********** "JUPITER THUNDER DRAGON!" Makoto pointed, and a trio of youma that looked like Gremlins died. Touma barely even had time to nod his thanks for the rescue before five more took their place, and he was far too busy to talk. The Sailor Senshi of Jupiter was slashed across the chest by a spear wielding beetle, and kicked the wooden shaft of the weapon in half. A second kick did the same to her opponent, as she ducked under a blast of flame directed from a human torch hovering nearby. Touma Hashiba struggled as a youma made of rubber wrapped its arms around him and held him tight. Another four youmas began to strike at his face and stomach until he jerked his head backwards and caved in the rubber youma's very solid skull with his much more solid helmet. Even as its grip slackened, he grabbed it and hurled the floppy body into its former allies, drawing his bow and launching an arrow into the forehead of a snake-like youma. Rolling under an axe slash, he kicked upwards and wrapped his armored lags around the thick neck of the axe's owner. He squeezed, and twisted, and felt its neck snap like kindling under the pressure. Sailor Jupiter drove her fingernails into the face of a werewolf and broke its jaw with her free hand. Grabbing it by the ears, she sent the furry humanoid howling across the room and into the next blast loosed by the human torch, who howled himself as five hundred pounds of burning wolf caught him in the midsection. ********** The heart is a samurai, a yoroi embracing emptiness Take it off, dress only in your bravery... ********** Rei cursed and ducked as a tentacle ripped through the air where her head had been seconds before. The youma howled and released another blast of electricity at her, which she dodged. The powerful tail of the reptilian youma snapped like a whip, and caught her right across the spine, even as a youma with hands and claws larger than the rest of its body burrowed up through the temple floor and tore at her with its dirt encrusted talons. A blast of sleeping gas came from the youma with a steel vent over its mouth, and Rei held her breath as she gestured in its direction. "MARS FIREBIRD STRIKE!" The youma howled even as it was consumed by the flames of her attack, and Rei grimly smiled in satisfaction as she returned her attention to the tentacled youma with the electric attacks. "AKURYOU TAISAN!" Rei chanted, and the scroll flew straight and true, sticking to the youma's pointed head. It burbled in confusion as its aura of lightning flickered and died, and Shuu knocked it unconscious with his Tetsubo. Spinning the metal staff over his head, the Yoroi of Kongo swung it like a bat and felt the ribs of the youma with a fanged maw where its stomach should be splinter like dry kindling. Both of its mouths keened in agony as it fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Without even looking, he struck behind him and a teleporting youma with flaming hair lost most of its teeth. ********** Gaps between buildings, when I look up to the moon My sweet eyes are rubies... If blazing red... Transparent future my love - When will we meet? ********** Usagi Tsukino screamed in terror and disgust as a floating eyeball the size of a grown man lashed at her with its tendrils. Suddenly, the eyeball popped like a bubble, as a single rose tore through it to stick quivering in the cement floor. "Tuxedo Kamen?" Sailor Moon glanced behind her, where a familiar figure swathed in white drew his sword and flew into the fray, slicing a youma made of stone in half. The Desert Knight scowled behind his mask and threw another rose, which stuck quivering in the heart of a zombie. The zombie continued its attack, grabbing and scratching at the Knight with its jagged fingernails until he cut off its head in disgust. "Stay by me, Sailor Moon! I WILL protect you, though it be my last act... though it be to my dying breath!" Usagi kicked a youma in the groin and sprinted over to the side of her love... or, at least, the spirit of her love. A green youma riding on a wolf hacked at her with a sword, and the Desert Knight crossed blades with it. After an exchange of strokes too quick to observe, the wolf ran off carrying its headless rider. "MOON TIARA MAGIC!" Sailor Moon hurled her tiara and watched as it sliced through the ranks of youma and youja, leaving them all in no condition to fight. But there were more, always more, who were more than willing to fill in for those who had fallen... ********** Anyone is a distant traveler A secret dream Surpassing even a miracle Continues to stay afloat... ********** Unnoticed in the din of battle, a group of youma slithered into the small room where the resting form of Mamoru Chiba, dressed still as Tuxedo Kamen, lay. Beings of shadow were these youma, born and raised in the darkness, and the masters of the shadow... or so they thought. Their first clue they might be wrong was when one of the shadowy assassins howled and died as a quartet of gleaming, razor sharp claws from nowhere punched out of its chest. "Fools!" a deep voice boomed from the corners of the poorly lit room, "in these, your LAST moments, know that you face Anubis, Yoroiden of Yami and Masho of Darkness! The shadows are MINE, and all lost in them are under MY protection!" There may have been more words, but the assassin youma were far too busy dying grisly deaths to hear any of them. ********** The heart is a samurai, a yoroi embracing emptiness Take it off, dress only in your bravery... ********** A youma with the wings of an bat and the tusks of an elephant yowled as Shin tore open its stomach with his Suiko Yari. A fountain of green ichor rained down on them all as he lowered the weapon and glared menacingly at the twenty youma still standing. His eyes were all but glowing behind the fearsome steel mask over his face, and the youma began to back up despite themselves. His trident turned to face them, and some cringed. It spun in his hands, and some of the more intelligent ones began to look for an escape, as if they could dream of finding one... "SUPER... WAVE... SMASHERRRR !!!!!" The Suiko Yari flared, and, against all laws of phyisics and nature, a tsunami burst from its tip. Youma squealed as Shin screamed in fury and trees and monsters alike were smashed like toothpicks by the rage of the ocean's depths. ********** Love... strange... Sword of the heart is gentle - Lonely Heart! Someday somewhere overflowing tears fall, Wiping them away, thinking that I want them to flow. ********** Seiji Date, Yoroi of Korin, hacked at another youma, this one dressed something like a playing card for some reason. It gave way before the Korin Ken like paper as he brought his six foot long sword up and around to parry an axe swung by a creature made entirely of twisted branches and thorns. The Korin Ken swung again, and the plant monster flew in three seperate directions. "Grandfather was always most proud of my skill with bonsai," Seiji noted in passing as he removed the arm of a robot. "And speaking of bonsai... BONZAIIIII!" He charged forward, impaling a hawk-man before it could take flight, and whipping the blade around to chop a gun barrel in half. The gun's owner did not fare much better. Sailor Venus struck at a youma made entirely of liquid. With a hiss of pain, she looked down at her hand and realised that her glove was melting away : this youma was ACID! With a gurgling laugh, it lunged at her. She leapt into the air... and was blasted back down to the ground by an airborne youma with a porcelain mask on. "MINAKOOO!!!" Seiji yowled like a pained animal, and suddenly his armour, the armour of Halo, flared brighter than the sun itself. Youma shrieked and covered their sensitive eyes as the epicentre of the blinding light lifted his sword to the sky. "You'll PAY for hurting her! THUNDER... BOLT... CUT!!!" Seiji no Korin bared his teeth in a feral smile as a great blast of lightning flew from his blade and split open the face of the masked youma before moving through their ranks like a living thing. Any youma that had survived Korin's attack would swear that the wrath of God Himself struck them down that day... ...if any had survived, that is. ********** The heart is a samurai, a yoroi embracing emptiness Take it off, dress only in your bravery... ********** Shuu Rei Fuan wheezed as he swung his tetsubo again. The youma chortled evilly, more vapour than man as the staff passed cleanly through it without injury. Its disembodied hands lifted once more, and a double blast of energy washed over the burnt orange plating of Kongo. Shuu grunted and fell onto one knee, bracing himself with the butt of his staff and swinging the bladed end at the glowing red eyes of his assailant. Ineffective again, he noted as the youma raised its hands, and everything became incredibly bright... And then very dark... Rei looked up as the wraith wrapped its shadowy form around the fallen Yoroiden... and then disappeared, taking the Ronin of Hardrock with it. "SHUUUU!!!" Rei shrieked, and then cried out as a youma with swords for arms took advantage of her distraction to score a hit. ********** Unreachable dream - Flower petals dance in the storm Become wind, becoming rain, before I realize... ********** The Desert Knight leapt into the air, hanging effortlessly between land and sky as he rained a hail of roses upon the youma. There were fewer and fewer coming back, now, and those left had lost the advantage of surprise. Now, dozens fell and died in a single attack from the Desert Knight, and for once, no creature remained to replace them... An airborne youma, dressed like a genie, grabbed the Desert Knight in its arms and the two began to struggle in mid-air. Usagi shrieked as what looked like a mound of living jelly and three of the walking dead advanced on her menacingly. There were other youma, too : crocidilian, mammalian, avian, and god-only-knew-what. "Your champion is distracted, little Queen," hissed the scaled youma as it raised its spear threateningly. "There are no more champions to protect you now..." Usagi shuddered. There were so many, and she was so tired... It couldn't end like this, she thought as she fell to her knees and closed her eyes in defeat, it COULDN'T! ********** The heart is a samurai, a yoroi embracing emptiness Take it off, dress only in your bravery ! ********** A flash of navy blue streaked in behind Usagi, coming between her and the youma forces. "ARROW SHOCK WAVE!" Another flash, green now, as something bolted in front of her, screaming through the air. "THUNDER BOLT CUT!" The few youma still standing after these attacks moved back en masse as Seiji no Korin and Touma no Tenku raised their weapons and smiled visciously. "WHAT was that you were saying about champions, youma?" A third form blocked the sun, and the youma looked up to see Shin no Suiko in mid-leap, trident pointed downwards... "SUPER... WAVE... SMASHER!!!" "ARROW... SHOCK... WAVE!!!" "THUNDER... BOLT... CUT!!!" And as quickly as it had began, the attack ended. Usagi slowly opened her eyes. That she wasn't dead was the first thing she noticed. The three men in samurai armor standing around her was the next. Touma kneeled and gently took her hand in his. "Are you well... my queen?" The concern in his eyes was obvious. Usagi nodded slightly, not quite realising what had just happened, or the importance of what Touma had just said. The Desert Knight slowly floated down to the ground, just as the four Sailor Senshi arrived on the scene. The temple was pretty much finished : between the youma's attacks and the Yoroiden's, there was barely enough left standing to qualify as a structure anymore. Even the forest had been decimated : the grounds around the temple would have looked more in place on the surface of the moon. Smoking craters and entire beaches of black ash were all that was left. Touma and Shin were both bleeding, and Seiji was holding his left hand at such an angle that it almost HAD to be broken. Their armour was cracked and dented, even charred and smoking in some places. The Sailor Senshi had seen better days, as well : Minako had at least third-degree burns on her forearms, Makoto had singed her hair and torn the bows on her fuku to ribbons, and Rei was panting as if she had just finished running a marathon. Everybody was coated with slime and soot, and sweat and blood, and they reeked of death. But they were alive. They had faced odds they had never been up against before, and had each beaten more youma and youja in the past hour than in any of their careers up to that point. They had WON. ********** The Dark One snarled as he paced his cave, the seer trying desperately to avoid him. Even the newest crystal, containing Shuu no Kongo, did little to alleviate his foul mood. He had wanted to destroy them all. He had sent his entire army against four schoolgirls, four schoolboys, and one ghost. Almost two hundred of the deadliest, meanest, and most powerful youma in the Dynasty or the Dark Kingdom. And they had LOST! Worse ; they had been slaughtered like cattle! "Throw your bones, seer. Tell me of my fate... NOW!" The seer shivered in his robes. "Oh lord and master, the future now proceeds apace. The confrontation will soon end for all : Senshi, Yoroiden, youma... even for you." "Do they know?" "They know, my lord and master. The one called Mars witnessed the capture of Kongo, and if they do not know of Rekka and Mercury, they will soon suspect. They will come for their friends, my master... and they will come for you. They will come for you." "Then I shall have to crush them all... MYSELF!" "Not all, my master. The bones are clear on this. But ONE of each team will live to battle you, should you follow our plans..." ********** The Desert Knight stared at the Yoroiden in silence for a long moment. "It is good," he said at length, "to work with you again." "Again?" Shin squinted in confusion. "Have we met?" "Long ago, Cye of Mercury. Lifetimes ago." Seiji groaned and sat down. "Okay, I'm starting to get it. Minako and I WERE lovers, weren't we? In a prior life!" The Desert Knight nodded. "The mental bond forged between Princess Venus and her courtier was stronger than life and death themsleves." Minako looked over at Seiji Date. "So, Shin used to be Cye, and he came from Mercury?" "Yes. Cye of Mercury was reknowned througout the Moon Kingdom for his manners and love of all living creatures." Luna gently leapt down in front of the Senshi and Yoroiden. "He was the lover of Sailor Jupiter, in fact." Makoto blushed nearly as much as Shin, who actually tried to leave before Seiji grabbed his arm. "And Seiji?" The Desert Knight sighed. "Sage of Jupiter. Chief Scribe of the Moon Kingdom." Before anyone could ask, he waved in Touma's general direction. "Rowen of Earth. Prince Regent of Terra, and the younger brother of Prince Endymion. Courtier of Princess Mars." Touma looked impressed. "Cool... we used to be ROYALTY! I wonder what Shuu was?" Seiji snickered. "Probably the Royal Cook... or at least the Royal Food Taster." Rei looked at the two Yoroiden. "How can you talk like that? Shuu Rei Fuan has been captured by these monsters, and you're making FUN of him!" "CAPTURED?" Touma leapt back to his feet. "Shuu was captured? Since when?" His usually calm and placid features were suddenly twisted by rage. "Just a few moments before it ended. I tried to help, but there was nothing I could do! It all happened so fast!" Seiji stood, all signs of fatigue gone as if by magic. "We're going. Farewell, Senshi." Minako grabbed Seiji by the arm. "GOING? Going where?" "We're going to get our friend." Touma and Shin both shouldered their weapons. "We're going to use our armour to home in on his, we're going to find whoever was behind this, and then we're going to kill him." Rei closed her eyes and thought about Mercury, killed without even knowing why. She thought about her Grandfather, and the temple he had worked so hard to build, now lying in ashes... "Mind if we come with?" TO BE CONCLUDED...