Earth
Guardian Prince Endymion
By Senshi
of Ruin and Mizu no Senshi
Act 4 recap:
(Mamoru’s POV)
The illusionary Ginzuishou… please…
“Go” she ordered the two Senshi before her, “Find the
illusionary Ginzuishou. The Ginzuishou is vital to our mission. Do not fail
me.”
Our mission is to find the Prince and obtain the
illusionary Ginzuishou as well as fighting the Dark Kingdom, but lately things
have become a lot more complicated. The Dark Kingdom also seeks the Ginzuishou,
as does Sailor Moon.
“Are you also after the Ginzuishou?”
Despite us being possible enemies I still saved her life.
“Thank you” she whispered shyly. “You saved me again.”
But now we have awakened fully to our transformations and
are able to control them. This should make our mission a little easier but
where do we start looking? With fighting the Dark Kingdom, searching for the
Prince and the Ginzuishou it looks as though we have our work cut out. And what
of my dreams of the Princess? Will she really bring destruction down upon this
world?
******
Act Five:
A part of her knew deep down that it was a dream. The
meadow that they were sitting in was too lush and green to be situated in the
city and the sky was too bright and blue to be anything more than a fantasy.
Despite knowing this, Usagi did not care. She was happy, a playful grin etched
across her face as she bit into the slice of cake that was handed to her. The
man sitting to her left laughed as she managed to get crumbs down the front of
her pure white dress. Usagi giggled again, raising her head to look at her
companion. She could never see his face. This saddened her. Obviously he meant
a lot to her and she could only see his shadow.
Then he leaned over and took her hand in his own as he
pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.
Then Usagi awoke. Always at that same point. They would
have a picnic or a walk across the meadow and then, just as the Prince leant
down to give her a kiss; Usagi would awake and find herself back in her
bedroom, listening to the snores of the cat plushie beside her.
This was no different tonight and she got out of bed to
wander over to the window. Pulling back the silk net curtains, Usagi found
herself staring up at the Moon. It was so bright and whole in the
cloudless-sky. For some reason staring at it made her sad. It was a knife in
her heart just to look upon it and sometimes it even brought tears to Usagi’s
eyes.
“I am…” she murmured sadly thinking back over her mission
to find the Ginzuishou.
“It will help us
with our mission. And make no mistake, I will do whatever it takes to get it.”
“But you saved me” Usagi whispered, “How can you be an
enemy after all? Are we truly destined to fight against each other?” then in a
lower and broken voice she added, “I don’t want that… I don’t want to be
alone…”
*****
Mamoru looked around, wincing as the harsh light stabbed,
like daggers, into his eyes, causing him to lower his gaze from the maiden
before him. It was always the same… he would never see her face…
“Who are you?” he breathed softly, “Princess…”
She did not reply. She simply clasped her hands together
in front of her in her familiar pleading gesture and repeated her words:
“The Illusionary Ginzuishou… please…”
“Mamoru?”
Hina questioned and the black haired man jolted out of his revere of the
Princess to focus on what his fiancée was saying.
“Sorry” he blushed slightly as Hina poured him a cup of
coffee and frowned slightly.
“You often do that,” she said affectionately but with a
hint of sadness, “You go off into a world of your own. I sometimes wonder if I
might lose you to that world.”
“I’m sorry” Mamoru repeated, “I’ve had a lot on my mind
these last few weeks.”
She smiled, “That’s all right. Perhaps I can help?”
Mamoru sighed, “It is nothing.”
It was now Saturday. Three days since the party and Mamoru
had only spoken to Taro once on the phone since then. The three of them had
mixed feelings about the entire evening, Mamoru discovered. Taro and Masaki
were thrilled that they could now control their powers and when they
transformed, but all Mamoru could think of was the failed mission and the fact
that they were no nearer to finding the Ginzuishou or the Prince. He sighed
again. He did not know how many more sleepless nights he could take. Mamoru was
confident that the Ginzuishou would answer all their questions, but if they
didn’t find it soon he would go insane, and his relationship with Hina was
already suffering because of this.
“I see” she smiled again and stood up.
“Are you working today?” Mamoru asked, also getting up as
Hina pulled on her coat.
“Only for the morning. Perhaps we could meet for lunch and
go somewhere nice this afternoon?” this would appear to be a simple and
innocent enough suggestion, but Mamoru could detect the hidden depths beneath
this phrase. He had been neglecting her of late.
“That would be nice. We could go and see a movie?” he
volunteered. Mamoru had to admit that he missed the little things like that
since he found out that he was Tuxedo Kamen.
After speaking he drew Hina into a quick embrace, planting
a kiss on her lips.
The memory of the Princess flashed across his mind’s eye,
but Mamoru ignored it. Hina was what mattered at the moment.
*****
Taro sighed to himself as he dusted off the counter before
pausing to peer into Kamekichi’s tank and watch the turtle slowly plod from one
end to the other and back again. Motoki sat slumped in a chair in the corner of
the reception looking equally bored. Business had been quiet today owing to the
suddenly glorious weather outside, despite the fact that it was late November.
Glorious weather simply meant that there was no rain and people preferred to go
out and get some fresh air rather than be cooped up in a Karaoke Parlour for
the afternoon.
Of course this meant that it was very a laborious and
tedious morning for Crown’s two employees.
Taro sighed again, almost wishing that Motoki would start
to tease him again. Anything was better than this silence that had befallen
them.
After a few minutes more of this, Taro deliberately kicked
over the bucket of water and watched in satisfaction as a river of muddy brown
liquid spread across the floor. This did get a reaction.
“Kimi-kun! Why must you be so clumsy… anyone would think…”
Motoki trailed off and said instead.
“But it is boring here. I’m thinking of closing for
the afternoon.”
Taro brightened at
this prospect. His brother would be home this afternoon and usually on a
Saturday they would go to the basketball court together. Of course, since Taro
awakened his powers, all this had seemed mundane, but Taro knew that Kanaye had
noted the change in him. Taro himself knew that he was happier with his life now
that he knew it had a purpose. Now if only they could complete their mission…
“Why don’t we watch the TV?” Motoki exclaimed loudly,
causing the brown haired man to jump. The turtle lover leapt up and switched on
the small television set before slumping back down in his chair. It was the
same entertainment show as the other day.
He turned his attention to the television screen as well
and sighed. Not that stupid entertainment channel again. It was all Motoki had
on in Crown, but Taro rarely watched it himself. Taro studied the screen, half
recognising the young man talking to the female news reporter. He had light
brown hair and a long fringe that almost brushed his eyes. They, too, were a
light brown colour, but it was the gentleness in his expression and his easy
smile that kept Taro’s attention.
The young man in question was seated in the studio on a
burgundy sofa. He wore a pair of black jeans and a cream coloured jumper. He
appeared at ease with the situation, though he spoke quietly but clearly in
response to each question that the reporter asked.
“Motoki-kun?” Taro asked slowly, “Yesterday… who was that
on the television?”
“Huh?” Motoki blinked, “You didn’t know? But, Kimi-kun, we
have his music playing in here all the time! You have cleaned CD’s with his
picture on! How can you not know?”
Taro scowled at the nickname, “Who is he?” he demanded a
little impatiently.
“Komoro Seiichi” Motoki sighed and shook his head, “The
star pianist.”
“Komoro Seiichi…” Taro frowned. He could vaguely remember
that Kanaye’s girlfriend liked the Moonlight Sonata but he had never
really been interested in classical music, thus not paying attention when the
pianist became famous.
“That’s where I recognised him from” Taro said out loud,
“No wonder he looked familiar.”
“You’re weird” Motoki shook his head.
The sound of the door being opened distracted him,
however, and saved him from Taro’s wrath.
“Mamoru-kun!” Motoki jumped up again, smiling happily at
the prospect of a further distraction.
“Motoki, Kimura-san” Mamoru gave Taro a half smile after
speaking.
“It’s quiet here today” Mamoru observed, looking around in
confusion, “Where is everyone?”
Motoki shrugged, “We were going to close early. There is
no point in sitting around doing nothing all day.”
“A good idea” Mamoru agreed.
Taro decided to turn his attention back to the TV and as
he did so he realised that Motoki was now messing about with the channels. All
of a sudden a news programme flashed onto the screen.
The reporter was at the local zoo, giving a report on how
the animals had been acting strangely over the passed few days. There had been
reports of the lions getting frightened if the zookeepers came too near them
and the elephants had started to attack anyone who tried to feed them. Despite
this the zoo was still open as the managers blamed it on the funny weather that
Tokyo had been having lately. Taro frowned. He was not convinced that there
wasn’t another darker reason behind this.
Evidently Mamoru was thinking the same thing as he said:
“Why don’t we go to the zoo this afternoon? You are always
saying that you want to see all the turtles, right Motoki-kun?”
He grinned enthusiastically, “And Kimi-kun can come as
well!”
Taro sighed. If it wasn’t for the mission he didn’t think
he could bear a whole afternoon of ‘Kimi-kun’.
Nodding in agreement to Mamoru’s suggestion he picked up
the mop and started cleaning the floor once more.
****
As it was Saturday, Masaki decided to have a lie in that
morning. He awoke around twelve o’clock and finally decided to get up. Looking
around his bedroom and the array of clothes that littered the floor, he managed
to locate a rather crumpled pair of jeans and red shirt that he had been
wearing the night before and pulled them on before checking his appearance in
the mirror and hurrying downstairs. The past week or so had flashed by in a
haze and his home life had become just that little more bearable now that
Masaki knew that he had a purpose and a destiny.
Still, even his good humour was suddenly cut short when he
realised how silent the house was. Usually on a Saturday his father was
watching the television and his mother was cleaning the house. Haru liked her
to clean on Saturdays as he often said that he liked a tidy house when he was
home from work and Tori didn’t dare argue with that. His father liked
everything to be perfect and if it wasn’t…
Masaki paused at the bottom of the stairs, frowning when
he could see no sign of his father and that it was, in fact, Tori who was
curled up on the sofa, staring at the TV screen. The television set was broken.
The aerial was snapped in two and the grey screen looked as through it had been
punched through.
“Mother?” Masaki asked hesitantly and then enquired to
know what had happened. She turned to look at him tearfully. The entire left
side of her face was marred by a large purple bruise. Masaki sighed and quickly
hurried to her side. Not this again… he had sworn that it would not happen
again…
Masaki cursed all his late nights and the fact that he
would usually wake up when Haru came home drunk. Obviously the mission had
taken more of a toll on him than he realised.
“He wouldn’t stop…” Tori said brokenly, “He told me I
watched too much TV and didn’t look after him properly” she winced when her
son’s hand gently touched the bruise.
“Did he break anything?”
“Only the TV.”
“I meant you.”
“It was my own fault. I shouldn’t be so lazy. He’s always
saying I’m lazy.”
Masaki shook his head, “No” he practically shouted at her,
even as tears sprang into his eyes, “You shouldn’t think like that!”
Haru had been violent towards Tori for as long as Masaki
could remember. This was not the first time that he had come home or woken up
to find his mother in a state. But Haru had promised that when they moved that
things would change. That he would go to counselling and get help. Masaki had
thought that this was what had been happening… evidently not.
Tori would not leave Haru. She claimed to love him and
that he needed her. In actual fact, Masaki knew that this was the fear talking.
Tori was alone in the world apart from him and Haru. If she walked out then she
would have no one and she feared of what Haru might do.
This was the real reason that Masaki stayed living at
home. If he left then he knew he could very well wake up and find the police at
his door. Haru would kill Tori if he left, that much Masaki was certain of.
Still it pained him so much to see her like this. When he
had been younger Tori had been so lively, so different and now she was so
defeated. Haru had crushed the spirit from her and left an empty shell behind.
Tori did not object when he went and got a packet of ice
from the fridge for her to place on her bruising. Masaki always kept a packet
for such occasions as it helped with the swelling and Haru would only come home
in a bigger rage and then accuse Tori of falling over and marring her perfect
face. There had been one occasion when Haru had struck her and they had an
important dinner party to go to the next day. Haru had been furious that Tori
looked anything but perfect. Masaki had begun to doubt that Haru even recalled
hitting her at all.
Then the phone rang. Masaki told his mother to sit still
and keep the ice pressed to her face whilst he went to answer it. He half
expected it to be Haru pleading forgiveness so was surprised when he heard
Taro’s voice on the other end of the phone.
After the usual pleasantries Taro got straight to the
point, “On the news it said that there has been cases of animals acting
strangely at the zoo. Mamoru and I were going to check it out this afternoon.
Do you want to come along? We think that the Dark Kingdom could be involved.”
Masaki looked back at his mother. She had begun to cry
again. He couldn’t leave her. Taro and Mamoru could cope couldn’t they? Masaki
chewed on his lower lip as Taro became distracted by something that Motoki said
in the background and started yelling at him. Then there was a crash which
sounded suspiciously like the phone falling on the floor. Seconds later Masaki
heard Mamoru’s voice.
“Sorry about that” he apologised sounding more than a
little stressed, “Did Taro mention the zoo?”
“He did.”
“Will you come?”
“I can’t. I have some things to sort out here at home.”
“Oh” Mamoru seemed taken aback by this and his tone of
voice immediately put Masaki on the defensive.
“I can’t come running each time a Youma appears” he hissed
angrily, “I have a life.”
“Ok” Mamoru said, again sounding a little annoyed, “I’ll
give you a call later and tell you how it went.”
There was another crash and Masaki sighed; he could
already guess how the mission was going.
“I’ll talk to you later then,” Mamoru prompted when all he
gained was a heavy silence.
“Yeah, later” Masaki quickly hung up and averted his gaze
when Tori asked:
“Was that your friend?”
“He’s just someone I know from college. He’s not really a
friend.”
“Oh” she said softly and then added when Masaki asked her
if there was anything she needed, “Could you bring down the spare television
and clean up this mess? Your father will be angry when he comes home and sees
all this glass everywhere.”
Masaki sighed to himself. It would seem that Tori had
already pushed the events to the back of her mind. Perhaps he should go with
Mamoru and Taro after all? No, Masaki sighed and hurried up the stairs to fetch
the spare TV. His mother needed him. Who knew what kind of state Haru would be
in when he got home?
*****
Mamoru hung up the receiver and turned back to Taro and
Motoki. At present Taro had slammed his friend into the counter and was
shouting at him threateningly and Motoki telling him to calm down didn’t help matters.
“Taro-kun” Mamoru said, managing to gain his fiery
friend’s attention with just his name, “When you’ve finished killing Motoki we
can go.”
Taro immediately let go of him and stepped back, glaring
angrily at Motoki who just smiled.
“What about Masaki?” Taro wanted to know.
Mamoru
frowned, “He didn’t want to come” and the black haired man couldn’t blame him.
The zoo was really for children and Mamoru only wanted to check it out in case
of a Dark Kingdom plot and a possible Ginzuishou being there.
“He didn’t want too?” Taro echoed, “Why?”
“He had some things to do at home, or so he said. It was
really weird. I don’t know… perhaps I’m reading too much into it.”
“Perhaps” Taro agreed.
Mamoru reached for his leather jacket. He was still
unhappy about Masaki’s tone of voice, but he had not known the other man long
enough to gage whether Masaki was just in a funny mood or if there was
something wrong. It didn’t matter anyway, Mamoru told himself. Such things had
a habit of working themselves out and if Masaki didn’t want to say anything,
well Mamoru could relate to that as well.
“Are we ready then, Mamoru?” Motoki asked, “Kimi-kun?”
“Say that name just once more and I will--” Taro started
angrily, but Mamoru grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him outside ahead of
Motoki.
“Calm down” he said. Mamoru had to admit he was growing
tired of constantly having to get between the two each time they had a fight.
“This is your afternoon off.”
“Tell that to him!” Taro snarled at Motoki who was just
locking Crown’s doors, “He keeps calling me that funny name!”
“Motoki?” Mamoru turned to his friend.
“Ok” Motoki sighed, “No more ‘Kimi-kun’, ok, Kimi-kun?”
Taro roared angrily and with that started to chase Motoki
down the road, much to Mamoru’s embarrassment. He was already beginning to
regret this outing before it had even begun.
*****
“This is so boring” Taro complained loudly as Motoki
forced them to stop by yet another turtle tank whilst he stared lovingly
through the glass for about five minutes before moving on to the next one.
Mamoru had to agree with him. They had, so far, only been
to the reptile house and every thing seemed perfectly normal in there. If they
were to find the Youma, then Mamoru decided that they would have to look
outside near the elephant paddocks and instead they were stuck indoors.
“Let’s just go” Taro urged Mamoru, “He won’t notice.”
“I don’t know” Mamoru was reluctant to just go off and
leave and he was also conscious of the fact that he had broken a date with Hina
to be here. She said on the phone that she didn’t mind, but he knew her enough
to know that she was just putting on a front. Mamoru did not, however, tell her
exactly where he was going.
“Don’t look so guilty” Taro commented when he saw the
distress on Mamoru’s face, “You can make it up to her tomorrow, can’t you?”
“I know, but that isn’t really the point. Perhaps we were
wrong. There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual here at all.”
“Except Motoki” Taro quipped.
Mamoru sighed, “Will you two ever stop fighting?”
“Most probably not.”
“I thought as much.”
“Well you can stay here all afternoon if you like” Taro
shrugged, “I’m going to look around outside.”
“Alone?”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know that, but is it wise to split up?”
Motoki was now talking animatedly to a man in a giant
turtle suit who was handing out flyers on how to care for turtles properly.
“I’ll just go and have a look around. If I see anything
suspicious I’ll come and find you” Taro assured him.
With that he turned and hurried out of the reptile house.
Mamoru sighed and peered into a large tank containing a four-foot python. He
didn’t, if was completely honest, like the idea of splitting up, but Taro was
right. They couldn’t wait around for the Youma to make the first move.
Mamoru looked up at Motoki who was still talking to the
attendant. A frowned marred his face as he took a closer look. The turtle suit
appeared to be made out of some kind of leather fibre. Its shell was really too
small and was a dark black in colour. The turtles ‘hands’ were long and had
silver-red nails that unsheathed as Mamoru watched it. Its eyes were more like
slits that really eyes and were also glowing. It stood far taller than any of
the other people in the building and a low growl escaped its throat as Motoki
took a wary step backwards.
“Youma!” Mamoru realised their error and hurried to
Motoki’s side, pulling the terrified man aside as the Youma reached for him.
“What is that?” Motoki cried, reaching for his camera,
“That is the strangest turtle I have ever seen!”
“Baka!” Mamoru ducked as it swiped at his head. He felt
the wind whistle passed as the arm slammed into the tank behind them.
People were screaming now and Motoki finally seemed to
grasp the fact that this giant ‘turtle’ was not a turtle after all.
“Come on!” Mamoru started pulling Motoki in the direction
of the exit. The only people that remained in the reptile house were the ones
that the Youma had already sucked energy from and it was now heading in their
direction. It moved fast for a Youma and got between them and the door.
Growling again, it lunged at them. Mamoru managed to drag
Motoki aside just in time. His eyes widened in shock when the hand left a deep
gash in the stainless steel door.
But the Youma didn’t seem to be paying much attention to
them anymore. It was more interested in the helpless turtles and it punched
through the glass of the nearest tank, sending the hapless beasts all over the
floor.
Motoki cried out at this and, with a sudden display of
bravery, hurled his camera at it. The camera struck the Youma in the shoulder.
It roared in fury and lunged forwards again. Motoki scrambled back, but it
caught him a harsh blow around the face and he collapsed to the floor
unconscious.
“Motoki!” Mamoru jumped backwards as it now turned on him.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the now familiar transformation of Tuxedo
Kamen, but before he could do anything other than transform a clawed hand
closed around his neck.
Helplessly, Tuxedo Kamen swung at the Youma with his cane,
but it caught it in its free hand and snapped it in two before hurling it
against the wall. Tuxedo Kamen soon followed and landed beside Motoki.
The Youma was now advancing on them both. Tuxedo Kamen
stood, unsure of what to do. He could hardly leave Motoki, but what could he
do?
Then flames erupted right at the Youma’s feet. It howled
and halted in its tracks as someone stepped between them and it.
“Typical” Nephrite complained, “I wander all round this
stupid zoo looking for a Youma and it was here the entire time! Can’t I leave
you alone for five minutes?”
“I assure you this was not deliberate” Tuxedo Kamen said
dryly.
Nephrite laughed and looked at the Youma in more detail,
“Is that a giant turtle?”
The ‘giant turtle’ had now recovered itself to attack the
new arrival, but Nephrite was quicker. Using the same trick that Jadeite had
used against the last Youma, he quickly trapped it inside a barrier before
pouring more of his magics into it to cause it to shatter like glass. The Youma
shattered with it and all the energy if had stolen went back into its rightful
owners.
“Are you ok?” Nephrite asked, holding out a hand to help
Tuxedo Kamen up.
“I think so” he replied shakily, “It took me completely by
surprise.”
“I’ll bet. I would have killed to see the look on
Motoki-baka’s face when he found out what the attendant really was.”
Tuxedo Kamen sighed, “At least it explained the animals
acting crazy. They must have been scared by the Youma’s aura.”
Nephrite nodded, “But no Ginzuishou and no sign of the
Prince” he pointed out.
Tuxedo Kamen didn’t reply to this and they quickly
de-transformed, just as Motoki opened his eyes.
“My head” he complained groggily, “What happened?” His
confusion was quickly replaced by a look of horror when he saw all the escaping
turtles and raced to help the zookeepers, who had just arrived, to help rescue
the poor animals.
“At least he’s ok” Taro commented.
As if to accentuate this, Motoki called out “Kimi-kun! You
must come and help too!”
Strangely enough, Taro did not get quite as angry over the
nickname and obediently went over to help. Mamoru supposed that deep down, Taro
was glad that Motoki was going to be ok.
*****
It had happened again. Beryl could feel the energies of
another Dark Kingdom Youma flicker briefly and then die out. Closing her eyes,
she debated this loss with unusual calm. The enemy was strong, but every day
Metallia grew stronger still.
She could sense Dark Mercury readying herself to appear
before her Queen for another ridicule over a failed mission. This failure now
meant nothing to the Queen of the Dark Kingdom. Her memory still returned bit
by bit but finally she was starting to make sense of the fragments and knew now
what her most desired prize was.
She could almost see him in her mind’s eye; strong and
handsome, a fearless warrior. The perfect prize… so much more important than
the Earth itself. But of course, these images were purely conjurings of her
almost human mind.
Beryl could not picture the man in question at all. A
greyish fog covered those memories and showed no sign of lifting. All she had
was a bitterness in her heart and the feeling that the Prince somehow was the
cause of their banishment.
The Prince… the one man that Beryl had ever felt was
worthy to stand at her side. She had loved him for over a thousand years and,
despite not being able to see his face, Beryl knew that she must find him
again.
The Ginzuishou and energy could wait. The Prince was what
mattered now…
Act Six Preview:
“You will forget the Ginzuishou for now” Beryl commanded,
“Your target is this man. You will send a Youma to test him. If he is the
Prince then he will use his powers to save himself. If he does so your Youma
will then capture him alive and bring him to me.”
~~~~~
“Moon twilight… flash!”
The attack shot towards the other person, but he blocked
it with his cape before sending an attack made up of blue energies straight
back at the champion of love and justice.
She cried out and fell onto the pavement, an array of
jewels falling from her free hand as she did so.
Is she stealing them?
~~~~~
It was coming close to midnight when Tamura Kisho finally
managed to stumble home. Their apartment, as luck would have it, was only on
the second floor so he had managed the stairs with surprising ease, despite the
agonising pain in his right arm. Kisho gritted his teeth as he fumbled for his
keys, using the door as a support and thus practically falling into the room
when he at last managed to get the door open.
As he tumbled into the room, Ayame sprang up off of the
sofa and raced to his side. Evidently she had been waiting up for him. Her
magazine was discarded in an instant as she knelt down beside him.
“What happened?” she cried when she gingerly touched
Kisho’s wounded arm.
~~~~
The
kingdom… the beautiful marble palace lay in ruins. The people crushed
underneath fallen masonry. Smoke now covered the sun and blotted out the sky.
It gave Kisho a chill to behold and at the same time was familiar. With it came
anger. Anger so immense that he almost crashed to his knees. The Princess… all
was her doing…