Cyber Moon: Millenium

Episode 3: A Senshi's choices.

By Razor Knight

Last update: May 24, 2013.

Zeus knew this was a battle she would not win, but she wasn't giving up. "What's wrong, letting me take a break already?"

Dragon Mercury smiled. "No, I was just checking out your new suit."

Zeus blushed. "You..." She rose her hands, and a column of electricity rose from underneath the Dragon, but it didn't affect him. "Eh, why do I even bother."

"You may not even hurt me yet, but that's a given. Twilight isn't quite good enough. Why aren't you trying to summon your other element?"

"I don't even know if I have a second element."

"Arisa, we've been training for one month, you can't fool me that easily."

Zeus glared at him, but then looked down. "I- Damn it, I'm scared, okay? How can you control that much power? How can I control it?"

"Trust yourself, that's all you need. I thought someone who's read Usagi's cheesy books so many times would know that already."

"Whose books are cheesy, Terry?"

The Dragon stared at Usagi, who had just appeared near them. "Uh, I meant 'awesome books.'"

"That's better." Usagi looked at Zeus. "I hope your training is going well."

"It is," Zeus said, "but I can guess you have something to tell me."

"Yes. I suppose it's a proof that we are human, in a way. Diana apparently forgot to mention the fact there was another girl with you the day you saw her."

"Uh, yes, my friend Maki. Why?"

"Did she notice Diana's mark?"

Zeus felt like slapping her forehead. "Yes, she did. Does it mean she's..."

"She could be a Senshi."

"So, will Kyouko go meet her?"

"Kyouko is busy elsewhere, and this was Diana's mistake, so I'm going to send her there."

"Can I go too?"

"There's no need to-"

Zeus looked at Dragon Mercury. "I'm her friend, and hey, I've been hiding this from her for the last month. I want to go."

"I see no problem with that," Usagi said.

"Fine, but I'm sure she's just trying to find a way to skip training."

"I would think fifty thousand years of life would have made this guy a bit less of a jerk," Zeus commented.

"Me too," Usagi admitted.

"Good to see you again, specially since you're not chasing after me this time around."

Arisa smiled. Diana was one person who wasn't mentioned often in the books she had read, but she was still one of the guardians of the Moon Senshi. And she was curious about a few things, although she didn't know if she should ask.

"I wasn't informed you were the silent type," Diana added, noticing Arisa's silence.

"Uh, sorry, I was just- Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are there other mooncats besides you four?"

"We four? Oh right, Serenity wrote those books before..." Diana smiled. "There's quite a few of us, yeah."

"Also... Could I see your human form?"

Diana didn't answer, but her form was blurred by light for a few seconds, and when it dimmed, her form was that of a human girl, not older than Arisa. "There we go."

Arisa's eyes widened. "Oh, I saw you when I was looking for..." she chuckled. "I was looking for a cat, so I dismissed you as just another human."

"I guessed that would be the case. But let's go, the sooner we get your friend, the sooner I can forget I screwed up that day."

Maki was surprised to see Arisa walk to her, and there was a girl with her, too. "Hey, Arisa, where have you been lately?"

"I've been rather busy," Arisa said, "and it has to do with her."

Maki looked at the girl. She was about to ask what Arisa meant, when she saw a small crescent moon mark appear in the girl's forehead. "What..."

"Let's go somewhere where we can talk about this," Diana said.

Maki realized the scenery had changed, and stared up to the sky in shock. "Arisa, what's going on?"

"Remember those books?"

"Yes, I d-" As Maki looked at Arisa, she realized the girl had electricity running up and down her arms. "You are-"

"Sailor Zeus," Arisa said.

Diana turned back to her true form. "And I hope you remember me."

Maki was too confused by now, but she looked up again. "Where are we?"

"Sylph, the closest planet to the center of our galaxy."

"So I don't think I can just walk back home from here," Maki muttered. "Arisa, have you been a Senshi for long?"

"Since the day after I chased Diana around our city."

"And you didn't-" Maki stopped and looked at Arisa. "Nevermind, I guess you couldn't tell me."

Diana decided to explain why they had brought her to Sylph. "Due to an error on my part, we didn't bring you here along with Arisa. I take full responsability for that."

Maki stared at Diana, then at Arisa, and then it finally hit her. "Am I insane, or did you just imply I'm also a Senshi?"

"Well, I always thought you were a bit crazy," Arisa joked.

"What the hell... Why me?"

Arisa saw her friend's mood darken. "Maki, what-"

"This was your fantasy, Arisa, your dream. Not mine. I never wanted to be a Senshi."

"But you-"

"I don't want this! Just call whoever is in charge."

"That would be me."

"Usagi?" Arisa flinched. Was she here to take Maki's powers?

"Maki, we are not forcing you into anything, but you should give it some thought. If in one week you still feel the same way, I'll seal away your powers. If you don't, then you'll be one of us in due time. Diana will go back to Gaia in one week, tell her what your choice is next time you see her."

"So, how do I get back home?"

"The same way you got here," Usagi said, and Maki vanished.

Arisa stared at the spot where Maki had been standing, and shook her head. "I'm so stupid, I was so thrilled about this, I should have known better..."

"Don't give up on her yet, let's wait for her final decision. In any case, I must go meet my daughter, and you have to train, so..."

"What? The Princess is here?"

"Yes, and since I know what you'll ask next, no, you cannot tag along this time. I'll tell her about you, maybe she'll come talk to you before she leaves again."

"Thanks, that would be nice," Arisa admitted.

"Okay girl, let's get you back to the pervert before he starts complaining about your laziness."

Arisa looked at Diana. "Okay, lead the way."

Usagi knew ChibiUsa and Hotaru enough to guess what they had to tell her was something unexpected. "So, how was the trip?"

"Rather eventful."

"Found any sentient beings, then?"

"In a way, we did."

Hotaru looked at Usagi as the screen in the far end of the room lit up. "We were exploring XH-356, an ovoid galaxy relatively close to ours. At first we didn't find anything other than primitive life forms and dead worlds, but we decided to get closer to the core, and one of the worlds we saw had Ancient artifacts."

"Not just artifacts," ChibiUsa said, "but we found what we think are the ruins of an Ancient city."

Usagi looked at the screen. It was showing her images of a wrecked city, and the buildings had apparently been built out of crystal, not unlike the old Crystal Tokyo. "So it's possible the Ancients came from that galaxy?"

"That's what we thought at first, but we searched other galaxies after finding this. Andromeda has several worlds with remnants of the Ancients, and so do other galaxies."

"Wait until Ami hears-" Usagi stopped and looked around, searching for something. "Wait, where is she?"

Hotaru flinched. "We told her about our findings, and she said, and I quote, 'I hope Usagi understands that I cannot wait for her approval.' Then she left. My guess would be she's already in one of those worlds we visited."

Usagi sighed. "I can't sense Terry or Hisame either, so at least she's not alone."

"Anyhow... Kyouko told me we have a newbie around."

"Possibly two," Usagi noted. "But the one we already 'hired' is rather weird. She wanted to meet you."

"Huh? Someone told her about us?"

Usagi gave her a sly smile. "Yeah, Susuki did."

"Thought we had recovered all those books already. Anyhow, since Ami's fashion accessory is not around right now, she will need someone to train her, and I was thinking about taking a break from exploring."

"Go ahead, then."

"I'll tag along," Hotaru noted, "been a while since I saw a Sailor Fangirl."

Serenity smiled as the two left. She hadn't told them about Arisa's other trait, but they would notice it soon.

Saying that Arisa was surprised would be an understatement. "Uh... Hi?"

"Twilight already, I see Terry's learning how to train them, at last."

Arisa looked at Hotaru. "It would go faster if he didn't stop to flirt every ten minutes."

ChibiUsa laughed at that. "Sounds like him. Anyhow... Terry will be otherwise occupied for a while, and I'm not busy right now, so I will train you."

Arisa stared at her in shock. "Sailor ChibiMoon herself... Training me... Uh..."

"Don't you go and faint on us, Kyouko warned us about that."

"I won't," Arisa said. "Sorry about my reaction, I just..."

"We understand. You're not the first fangirl Senshi we meet."

"I know you won't be using it while training me, but... Could I see how powerful you are?"

"Wait, you already know how to sense magic?"

"Yeah, Terry was surprised too."

"Okay then," ChibiUsa smiled as she and Hotaru let their full power flare, and the air crackled with mana around them.

Arisa's eyes widened. "Wait, you're stronger than Serenity?"

ChibiUsa shook her head "No, she simply hasn't used more than one fifth of her real power for centuries."

"In any case," Hotaru said as her glaive appeared in her outstretched hand, "we're here to train, not to socialize, so leave the chatting for later."

Arisa summoned her sword, and her clothes shifted into her Zeus suit. "I'm ready."

Maki was upset. Two days had passed since she last saw Arisa, and her friend seemed to be avoiding her at school. Maybe she was angry at her because she didn't want to be a Senshi? No, Maki knew Arisa, she was not that petty. That meant Arisa wasn't sure how to talk to Maki after what happened. And Maki, honestly, didn't know how to talk to her friend, either.

But the real source of her sour mood wasn't her friend, or the Senshi. It was the fact a part of her wanted to be a Senshi. Only two days left before she had to give an answer to Serenity, and she still wasn't sure. If she gave up her powers, would they be gone forever? What if she wanted to be a Senshi when she was older? And-

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by screams. She didn't need to wonder what was scaring everyone, as she could see it, a large, horselike creature, although most of its features were quite humanlike. It was holding a man with one hand, and Maki saw some sort of white energy running up its arms. She knew enough to figure out what that meant, this creature was draining humans.

She was about to run from the scene, when she noticed the monster was heading straight for a small girl, who was too scared to run. Maki looked at the man the horse had tossed aside seconds earlier, and noticed he wasn't moving, didn't seem to be breathing. She glared at the monster, and felt something warm in her hand. A flame, she realized as she looked at it. The creature hadn't noticed her, and was reaching out to catch the small girl, but it stopped as a jet of fire hit its arm. It turned to shout at Maki in an unknown language.

"Leave that kid alone, monster," Maki snapped, and shot another beam of fire. This time, however, the creature dodged and rushed at her. Before it could hit her, however, it stopped, giving a surprised gasp before its body fell to the ground, split in two perfect halves. Maki stared at the woman who had attacked the creature. She was wearing a Senshi outfit, some parts of it were blue, and she was holding a rather large ice sword, so Maki guessed who she was. "Sailor Mercury?"

"It's Sailor Hermes," the woman said, "and I was informed you didn't want to be a Senshi, so why were you trying to fight that thing?"

Maki frowned. "Because it was the right thing to do."

"Good, but we don't need rookies running around thinking they can save the day."

"... It felt good to fight, to save someone," Maki said, "I think I've made up my mind now."

Hermes stared at the girl. "Then you should tell Serenity about it, Sailor Ares."

ChibiUsa looked at her 'student' with a hint of amusement. "Finally, girl, it would be bad if Terry came back and you were still in Twilight form."

Arisa looked at her own Star suit. "This feels so..."

Hotaru nodded. "We know. And yet, every new 'level' you get feels the same. Or better."

ChibiUsa knew by now there was something special about this girl. Serenity hadn't warned them about it, but her senses were good enough to notice. "I suppose we should tell her."

Hotaru looked at ChibiUsa. She couldn't sense it, but her friend had told her about it. "You're right, better to find out now than in the heat of battle, she could get hurt."

Arisa stared at the two in turns. "Huh? Something wrong with me?"

"Not quite 'wrong' by itself, but that would depend on what you do with it."

"... I'm lost."

"I know you've read about Sailor Galaxia."

"Yes."

"And we thought, back then, that such a thing as her was a one-time exception to the rule."

Arisa didn't want to guess where this was going. "And she was, right?"

ChibiUsa shook her head. "It's been twenty centuries since it happened, but one of the Senshi I trained had the same power. Like a Moon Senshi, she controlled raw mana, but unlike her, she gathered energy from all the galaxy. That made her almost invincible."

"What happened to her?"

"There was a saying back in our era, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Even without a Ginzuishou, a Galactic Senshi, as Ami dubbed them, is far stronger than most other Senshi, but the second Sailor Galaxia let that power get to her head. She killed two Senshi who she had considered her best friends, she blew up the Moon, in short, she did a lot of bad things. Other Senshi lose it for a while, but end up regretting it, but Galaxia... She enjoyed it. She loved seeing our anger flare. She laughed even as I run a blade through her heart."

Arisa looked at ChibiUsa, her face pale. "And if you're telling me this, it's because..." Then she felt it. Like a dam had been opened in her mind, and she could now sense her surroundings a lot better than before. She looked at her arm and saw fire and water swirling around it. "... No!"

"Calm down," Hotaru said, noticing Arisa was panicking. "Chibi forgot to tell you about the third Galaxia."

"So there was another one?"

"Yes, it happened only five centuries ago. She was one of the best warriors I've seen, and I've seen quite a lot."

ChibiUsa smiled. "That's right. But while not evil, she was too reckless. When she got to Holy level, she went on a crusade, she fought evil for months, never stopping to rest, she wanted to use her powers to eliminate evil not just from this galaxy, but the whole universe. From what we know, she fought a creature whose power is close to a Holy Senshi's level, and won... But we Senshi are not immune to fatigue, and Galaxia was exhausted."

"But even if she died fighting, wouldn't someone else revive her?"

"There are times when that isn't possible. The creature she had been fighting wanted to use the power of a star to destroy countless worlds, and they had fought quite close to said star. Under normal circumstances, Galaxia would have been able to escape the star's gravity without blinking, but she was exhausted, wounded, and..."

Arisa saw ChibiUsa look down, and could see a single tear fall to the ground. "Are you okay?"

Hotaru looked at her. "Kyouko told you she had a daughter."

"Was that..."

"No, Junko's still alive, and fortunately didn't share her mother's powers."

Her mother's powers? Arisa knew what that meant without having to give it much thought. So Kyouko's daughter was like Kyouko, in more than one way, born from two female Senshi. "I know I should find that strange, but I guess I've seen a lot of strange lately," Arisa mused. She looked at her arm again, and concentrated. A ball of light appeared floating over her open palm. "But this is strange. Shouldn't I only control raw mana?"

"Satori, and that is, the third Galaxia, could summon any element the other Senshi had," ChibiUsa said. "If it helps, I promise I'll kill you in a fast and painless way if you ever choose the path of evil." There was not a hint of sarcasm or humor in her voice as she said that.

Arisa flinched. "Then I guess I'll stay in the side of light."

"So there you are, Arisa." Someone walked to them, and Arisa almost run to hug her. "Hey, I was told I should train with you, but from what I see, you're just slacking around as usual."

The new girl was wearing a red Senshi suit, much like Mars' one, and Arisa knew what that meant. "Maki, don't be a pest."

Maki noticed Arisa had fire and lightning in her hands. "Huh? But I'm Sailor Ares, how can you-"

"She's a Galactic Senshi," ChibiUsa explained.

"Galactic Senshi? Never heard of that."

"But if what we heard is right, you've heard about Sailor Galaxia."

Maki looked at Hotaru, then at Arisa, then took a step back. "Galaxia..."

"Maki, relax. I'm not evil, those two would be beating me around if I was."

"A Star-level Galactic Senshi? Hardly a challenge," ChibiUsa said.

Arisa summoned two swords, one made of light, the other made of darkness, and smiled. "I think I need to get used to these powers, so here goes nothing!"

Hours later, the two newbies were taking a break, since their trainers had decided they had beaten them around for long enough for the day.

"What I don't get is," Maki said, "if the Senshi are everywhere and the Guard's controlling most of the galaxy, then where do those evil beings come from?"

"Other galaxies, alternate dimensions, pocket dimensions..."

"I thought the old Senshi were exploring other galaxies."

Arisa shrugged. "I asked ChibiUsa the same. Thing is, there's only two of them actively exploring, and did you ever consider just how many stars there can be in a single galaxy?"

Maki blinked at that. "Right. And each star may or may not have planets."

Hotaru walked to them and heard that last part. "I remember back when I was born, scientists thought our solar system was a rarity, and that most stars would not have planets at all, since the few around us seemed to not have any. But I've seen enough of this galaxy and others to know that's far from the truth."

"So you've been around for over fifty thousand years..." Maki said, looking at Hotaru. "How does that feel?"

"It feels like an eternity."

"... Should have expected that."

"I know what you're thinking, and yes, most Senshi do live for a very long time, unless, or until, they're killed by something one too many times or die under extraordinary circumstances."

"Sounds like fun," Maki muttered.

"So, what's the secret, how do you manage to-"

Hotaru looked at Arisa. "Finding things to do with my powers, and being with someone I love, those are the things which kept me relatively sane for this long."

"But really, is there anything out there that could kill you?"

"Black holes, Usagi, Chibi..."

"Your wife, really?"

"You asked me about things which could kill me, not just those which would kill me."

"Good point. Hey, I was curious about this... Gaia is the Earth, so what happened to Crystal Tokyo once you left?"

"In a way, we brought it with us. Serenity absorbed the crystals forming the buildings, citizens moved to other cities... But not all of them did, some decided to create a city to remind mankind of the, they said, legacy of the Senshi. Unfortunately, mankind can be incredibly good at forgetting. Nobody remembers what Aegis was built for anymore."

Arisa smiled. "Makes sense for the center of the old civilization to be the place where the center of the new civilization is."

"The center is always Earth, with but one exception."

"Golden Imperium."

Hotaru chuckled. "You know, it's good that I don't have to tell you everything about the past. Newbies are always too curious."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. It shows you're willing to learn what we will teach you."

"Will we join the other Senshi of our system?"

"Eventually, you will. Unlike us, Senshi usually awaken with many decades in-between, so..."

"They'll consider us their allies, but being their friends may be harder."

"Good guess," Hotaru said, looking at Maki. "Given time, they could become your friends. Hermes wasn't quite friendly to Gaia at first, but now they are an item."

"An item?" Arisa asked, then nodded. "Oh, I get it."

"By the way, we'll be leaving soon."

"So, who will be our teacher?"

"That's still to be seen. Terry's still busy-"

"Doing what?"

"Ask no questions and I'll tell no lies. Anyhow, it may be one of the Younger Senshi. For obvious reasons, the name of that group's a huge misnomer by now."

"Someone's been snooping around our territory."

"You will need to be more specific."

"Whoever these are, they are fast. They go in, stay for a short while, and leave before we can get them. They don't seem to be interested in populated areas, either."

"Strange. Perhaps they're researchers, like us. As long as they don't attack, however, we must honor the path of the Chairmachi. Try to find out who they are, but be as unobstrusive as possible."

A/N: Anyone who knows who the Chairmachi(es) are, knows about good strategy games.

Yeah, finished this one a while back, forgot to upload it. Oops.