"What do you mean a new Senshi?" Venus asked.
"Her name is Sol, she's the senshi of the sun, and she's way out of our league. Even for me."
"There is no senshi of the sun. Lunar mages never bothered to try because the sun doesn't generate mana. There'd be nothing to power her attacks." Setsuna said.
"Trust me, her attacks are definitely not lacking in power." Mercury grumbled, rubbing at her armored clad ribs. "The best thing to do is to stay far away from Sol. She's not a team player, and she hates being a senshi."
"Why doesn't she like being a senshi?" Jupiter asked.
"Because I don't." A new voice growled impatiently as a figure dropped from the branches of a nearby tree.
"Are you... Sailor Sun?" Moon asked.
"The name is Sol, but Sun is also acceptable." The newcomer had short silver hair and green eyes that seemed to burn with raw power behind the golden eyemask she wore. The traditional sailor fuku had been replaced by knee high boots, dark orange pants, a long sleeved gold silk shirt, a bronze breastplate, and a flowing golden cape.
"So why won't you join us?" Mars asked. "We could use the help."
Sol rolled her eyes and walked among the assembled senshi. She paused in front of Saturn and placed a gold gauntlet clad hand on the younger girls chest as she closed her eyes and tipped her head to one side as if listening. "You know, there's someone in there who's wanted to be your friend for a long time, if you'd just listen to her."
"You mean-" Saturn was silenced as Sol placed a gold clad finger to her lips and smiled. Despite the metal shell encasing them, the Messiah of Silence could feel the warmth of the sun dancing on her lips and couldn't help but smile.
"And this must be the Silver Imperium Crystal." Sol said crossing to Moon and stood facing the Sailor leader, Sun and moon, polar opposites orbiting each other. "You've only seen the barest hint of the crystal's full potential, and your own."
"Umm, Sol..."
"Why don't I wish to be a sailor, right?" Sol sighed. "You're not gonna let it go, are you Moon?"
"Umm... well I'd really like to know."
"Not here. We'll draw a crowd, and I have no intention of revealing my civilian identity." Sol stepped into the center of the loose semi circle and placed her gauntlet clad hand on the ground as golden fire spun around to form a dome around the fuku clad warriors before it winked out.
In a warehouse on the other side of town, a dome of golden fire appeared before dissipating to reveal the ten sailor warriors.
"My god... she just teleported all of us, and she looks as fresh as ever." Pluto looked shocked.
"She has the power of the sun at her disposal." Mercury said reverting to her civilian identity. "Do you really think it would be an issue?"
"Power down, don't, it makes no difference to me. I already know your real identities. And Uranus, I hope you realize you got off easy. I'd have probably incinerated you on the spot."
"Sol! You wouldn't!" Saturn looked aghast.
"No, not really, Saturn. But I would scare her real good."
"You're psychotic." Mars said.
"No, that's Miss MPD over there." Sol said nodding at Ami.
"I DO NOT HAVE MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER!" She screamed grabbing a handful of Sol's cape and shaking her violently before Jupiter and Moon managed to pry the pair apart. "Damn it Sol, that isn't funny!"
"Sorry Ames, but you just make it so damn easy."
"Um Ami, why were you talking to yourself?" Moon asked.
"I wasn't." Ami said as her blue suit rippled and morphed into a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt. "I was talking to Ice, and before you ask, She's the artificial intelligence of my symbiotic battle armor." Jupiter opened her mouth to say something but Ami cut her off with a wave. "My story comes later. We're here for Sol."
"My story's simple. Two years ago I took up the mantle of Sailor Sol-"
"Sorry to interrupt." Pluto said. "But the sun has no mana. What powers your attacks?"
"Pluto, the sun is a giant nuclear reactor. What makes you think I'm lacking in power?" Sol said. "I created Sailor Sol and everything about her. I know her better than a lover."
"I just need some assurance that your power doesn't pose a threat to humanity or the sailors."
"Am I a walking talking glow stick? No. My power comes from the sun, and my body converts it into a more stable form. My most dangerous ability is my ability to shape bits of solar plasma into weapons."
"What's so dangerous about that?" Mars asked.
"When the temperature is measured in tens of thousands of degrees, control is crucial." Sol said. "Otherwise you end up with a wildfire that makes your attacks look like absolute zero."
Even Moon and Venus with their less than stellar academic backgrounds somehow knew this would be a bad thing. "So um.... "
"Why don't I want to be a sailor?" Sol gave a half chuckle, half bemused sigh. "Hey Ames, should I give them the nice version, or the brutal version?"
"I've done enough damage to their ego's and self esteem today. Be nice."
"Nice it is. Moon, the whole lot of you are incompetent. You have no strategy, only the slightest vestiges of teamwork, your sole 'tactic' is making silly speeches before blasting the enemy with magic until it falls, you have no skills to fall back on if that fails, and your 'armor' is something out of a hentai manga."
"There's nothing wrong with our fukus!" Jupiter exclaimed.
Sol stood in silent contemplation for a moment before she seemed to... blink out, only to reappear as Jupiter's eyes bugged and she exhaled sharply with Sol's fist buried in her gut.
"Not very effective against physical attacks, are they Makoto?" The taller girl gaped in shock as Sol pulled her hand back and placed the palm against the other girls abused midsection as her warming hand began massaging the tension out of her. "Slow shallow breaths, okay?"
Jupiter slowly recovered. "How did you do that?"
"Sun makes heat." Sol shrugged. "It can be gentle, loosening tightened muscles." She picked up a metal pipe and dragged her nail around it, cutting it as if with a torch to sever it in half. "It can cut, or fuse." A quick application of heat sealed the pipe together once more. "Or even destroy." There was a brief surge of heat as a blinding flash filled the room before Sol poured the ashes from her hand.
"Sol, we have to wrap this up." Ami said. "You have other places you have to be soon."
Sol nodded and turned back to the sailors. "Despite all your failings, you've stuck it out through situations that would have crushed weaker people."
"Of course we have!" Mars crowed. "We are warriors of love and justice, after all."
Sol shook her head. "You're not warriors. Even before I became Sol, I was born to combat, trained to fight, trained to win, and if necessary, trained to kill. I fought to survive, nothing more, nothing less. That is what makes me a warrior. You? You're little girls playing dress up with powers you don't understand."
The senshi gasped and Ami buried her face in her hand. "Sol, I said be nice."
"That was nice." Sol said coldly. "Trust me, just stay away from me. We fight the darkness, but that's all we have in common."
"But what about everything we're fighting for? I mean there's Crystal Tokyo-" Moon asked.
"NEVER MENTION THAT ABOMINATION!" Sol exploded, her aura flaring uncontrollably for a moment before she reigned it in.
"Why not? It will be a perfect world-"
"I will not see another utopia born of the blood of innocents." Sol growled.
"What do you mean?" Venus asked.
"Didn't Setsuna ever tell you how many millions would die for one little crystal city?"
"Sol," Ami approached the other girl cautiously. "They don't know. They don't understand."
"They don't have to. Ra help me, if I can't find a way to stop Crystal Tokyo... I have no compunctions about making Sol go supernova."
"You wouldn't!" Neptune said.
"You can't." Pluto said horrified. "You don't have the power... You'd destroy yourself."
"Go to the Time Gates, Pluto. See if I'm bluffing." Sol said icily.
Saturn tugged on Sol's cape as Pluto vanished. "Sol. What did you mean..."
"What she meant is that her final attack, like your Death Reborn Revolution, is meant to end all life." Ami said.
"Except I do it by forcing the star I'm linked to to go nova. Really kick ass."
"But... wouldn't that destroy you too?" Saturn asked.
Sol shook her head. "Failsafe protocol. Moon was right, I am Sailor Sun. And all the stars out there are suns."
"Wait a minute, you're saying you can just switch stars at any time?" Jupiter asked.
"Not any time. Only when it's funny." Sol arched an eyebrow. "Tough crowd. You guys must not watch a lot of American comedies. Anyway, I'm bound to our sun until it dies. Then the link shifts to a new star. So the only one who could take me out... is short stuff here." She reached out and ruffled Saturn's hair almost affectionately.
Pluto chose that moment to reappear, looking absolutely terrified. "What kind of person are you that you could just..."
"Forget about Crystal Tokyo, Setsuna. As you saw that was no idle threat. I will destroy it by any means necessary."
"I..." Pluto clenched her fists as a vein pulsed in her head. "I can't." She cried as she fell to her knees.
"Oh you poor dear." Sol said, kneeling beside the senshi of Time. Some of the others stepped towards them but Ami waved them away.
"Let Sol handle this. It'll be over in a second." The older woman assured her friends, as Sol placed two gently glowing hands on either side of Pluto's head, calming her.
Which is why everyone jumped as Pluto let off a soul rending scream and a plume of black mist poured out of her back. Sol looked up for a split second before whipping her hand around in a complex pattern surrounding the spirit in a web of white light.
"What the hell is that?" She spat, looking at her hand as if it had betrayed her.
"That sneaky little, anal retentive, obsessive compulsive, fucking bitch..." Pluto mumbled staring as the shape tried to twist and squeeze its way out of the binding field. "That's Sailor Moon's grandmother. Or what's left of her anyway." She broke off as she took on a distant look. "Sol, did you-"
"Fried your gaeses." Sol shrugged. "Now what's the deal with Grammy here?"
"She was one of three Serenities who bound me with a gaes. She was also obsessed with continuing the Serenity line. Thought that we were the only one's worthy of the Silver Crystals power. I thought she just hit me with a gaes to keep her descendants in charge. I didn't think she'd go so far as to move in."
"You said she was one of three. Who were the others?" Moon asked.
"You're mother charged me with the creation of a place for the fallen children of the moon. And you yourself will charge me with the creation of Crystal Tokyo, which Sol will be happy to know, will not happen now."
"Thank you." Sol said softly.
"You like seeing a world of war and death and strife?" Mars gaped incredulously.
"I never said I liked it." Sol said in that same soft contemplative voice. "There's nothing wrong with striving for perfection. It's a laudable goal. But the world thrives on change and challenges. It's what makes us human. The future you saw isn't perfection. It's living death."
"So, you're not gonna join us?" Venus said as Sol tightened the web until it fused into a small piece of crystal with an angry dark storm in the center.
"Nope. Just listen to Ami and stay away from me. It'll be better for all of us." She turned to the aforementioned bluenette and tossed her the spirit's prison. "Take that to the shrine and get rid of it. BEFORE you try to ride your boyfriend into the ground."
Ami stuck her tongue out. "Single people are so bitter."
"Um, Sol..." Moon began uncertainly.
Sol gave an exasperated sigh. "Yes, Luna?"
"Um... Why did you call me Luna?"
"It's the Latin word for moon, little one. Now what were you going to ask me?"
"Um... I understand you don't want to be a sailor, and that you don't want to be a part of the team but umm... do you think we could still be friends?"
"Ever the warrior for love and friendship, eh princess?" Sol asked with a slight smile.
"Come on Sol, even you have to believe in friendship. Life is really shitty going at it alone."
"SATURN!" The others chorused.
"Tell you what," she said, crossing to the Messiah of Silence with a wicked gleam in her eye. "If you need me, Ami knows how to find me." With that she swooped down and gave the young girl a toe curling French kiss before stepping back and vanishing in a plume of fire.
The senshi were all silent, none more shocked than the outers, before Saturn spoke up.
"Hey Ami. See that she gets my phone number."
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(Posted Mon, 27 Dec 2004 03:41)
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