Shinji groaned as he clinged to the iron chain that was attached to the outside wall of the tower, while icy winds were blowing past him and Artemis. The white tomcat was crouching on the young hero's shoulder and shivered.
"Can you climb a bit faster?" he asked. "I'll be turned into a cat-sicle at that rate."
"Well, excuuuse me," Shinji muttered. "Is it my fault that there are no stairs leading from the third floor to the fourth? What was the architect thinking?"
"Don't ask me, I have no clue. Still, it might be some sort of test."
"Great test," Shinji jittered. "The only thing that's being tested here are my buns... cause I'm freezing them off here!"
"Oh great..." Artemis groaned. "A hero with a sense of humor... what's the world coming to?"
"What was that?"
"Nothing..."
After that climbing tour, Shinji and Artemis reentered the tower through another window, slumping down on the hard marble floor afterwards.
"Well, I... I hope not every tower has a 'test' like that waiting for me," Shinji panted. "How many levels left?"
"I think two," Artemis replied. "Still, I'm very surprised that we didn't run into any of those creatures Endymion mentioned."
"That reminds me: You and the prince seem to know each other pretty well. What kind of history do you have together?"
"Aw, nothing much... We were just part of the superhero team that protected earth from any unwanted invaders."
"Say what?"
Artemis shrugged. "It's true. I was the mentor of one of the legendary Sailor Senshi - well, you wouldn't know them, of course - and Endymion was one of their closest allies. Well, he wasn't known by the name of Endymion, back then."
Shinji raised an eyebrow. "You, a mentor?"
"Well, more like an advisor. Truth is, they were practically helpless without my very useful information."
"Oh, reeeaaally?"
"Yes. Now shut up!"
They stood up from the ground and kept on walking, heading for the next stairway.
"Say... that Mercury person we're going to see... is she a Senshi as well?"
"Yup, she is!" Artemis nodded. "She's one of the Four Inner Senshi, the protectors of the princess."
"Princess?"
"Princess Serenity, also known as 'Sailor Moon'... their leader. Mercury was lacking the massive firepower of Mars and Jupiter, for instance, but she was definitely the smartest one of the bunch. You had a question, she would probably have the answer."
He then sighed. "If only that girl wasn't so bloody shy... I swear, with a figure like that, you'd think she would easily be able to find a boyfriend. But nooo, she always had to stick her nose into those books of hers..."
Shinji frowned. "Maybe she wasn't quite ready for such a relationship. I know how long it took for Asuka and me... by the way, are you always talking about people like that behind their backs?"
The cat shrugged. "Not always, but often."
"I thought so."
They walked up the spiral stairway and entered the fifth floor... and gasped.
In the middle of the room, something resembling a tall, marmoreal door was standing. But that wasn't what had surprised the two companions.
Over this weird monument, a translucent figure was floating, a cute girl with blue hair, dressed in some sort of sailor fuku. Shinji didn't even try to figure out how he knew what a fuku was.
And all around her... the most ugly creatures he had ever seen were crawling, hissing and snapping at the floating figure above them.
"Ami... I mean... Mercury?" Artemis shouted in surprise.
"Artemis!" the figure shouted. "Help me! I can't hold them off for much longer!"
Artemis looked at his new friend. "You heard the lady, let's give her a hand!"
"You got it," Shinji nodded, and drew his sword.
The sound of scraping metal turned the attention of the monsters away from their prey, and towards the two newcomers. Now Shinji got a better look at them: They had spherical bodies, short legs that were tipped with one single, curved claw each, an ugly mouth full of teeth and a big, single eye in the middle of their body. They growled dangerously at the pair.
Shinji raised his sword. "Come on, give me your best shot, you creeps!"
They did. Opening their salivating mouths widely, they jumped at the young warrior.
Shinji scattered them apart with one massive blow of his blade. The he attacked them.
Either his mysterious new fighting abilities were much more powerful than he had thought, or those monsters weren't as dangerous as they looked. Either way, Shinji only needed a few good sword strikes until his opponents fell down on the floor, defeated. After a few seconds, they blew apart in a shower of red goop.
"Ew, gross!" Artemis groaned as he wiped the stuff from his whiskers. "Just what are they made of?"
"LCL," the fuku-clad girl explained as she floated down in front of them. "The very substance every living being is made of. But without a soul, it will take on the shape of mindless monsters, just like these. We call those abominations 'Remains'."
Shinji looked at the floating, shimmering form of Mercury and blinked. "Um, are you... are you a ghost?"
"Something like that," Mercury replied sadly. "I put all of my soul into this tower, so it would one day serve as a medium to revive the world." She looked down at the white cat. "Artemis, I'm glad to see you again." She winked at him. "Although I don't really liked the way you talked about me earlier."
"Oops, you heard that?" the cat asked in embarrassment.
She nodded with a grin. "I see and hear everything that happens within my tower. But let's talk about more urgent matters. Shinji..." She turned around to the young man. "You came here, hoping to find something that might be able to help your friends back in the village, right?"
"That's right," Shinji nodded. "My friends and... and my wife. Um... can you help them?"
"I think so," the spiritual Senshi nodded. "I can extend my powers beyond the boundaries of this tower, even if only for a short while. Let me give it a try, okay?"
She closed her eyes and folded her hands. Then, her whole body got surrounded by a blue aura, and a bright, blue beam shot out of her, aimed at the ceiling. It went right through the tip of the tower and headed towards the village.
Mercury opened her eyes. "I'm sorry, Shinji... I managed to save a few of your friends from the ice, but not all of them. Still, maybe if you visit my fellow Senshi in the other towers, their powers might be enough to save the others as well."
"That's okay," Shinji sighed. "At least you tried. Thanks for the help. Uh, about Asuka..."
She looked into his hopeful eyes and shook her head. Shinji sighed.
"Well, now that this is settled, I have to ask you a question: Would you be willing to help save the continents of the Overworld? Right now, they are covered with the same substance you have seen after defeating the Remains - LCL. By letting me channel my powers through your body, I might just be able to dissolve most of it, making it return to the earth it once came from, thereby allowing life to return to the surface."
"What do I have to do?" Shinji wanted to know.
"Just step into the small shrine behind those marmoreal doors, and I'll do the rest."
Shinji looked at the double door in front of him and thought for a while. Finally, he nodded.
Mercury smiled. "I knew we could count on you. Please, enter!"
Shinji stepped forward, and the double door opened. He half expected to see the other side of the room behind them, but in fact, he saw a pentagonal chamber behind it, gleaming in a blue light.
He looked back behind the door... nothing. He looked through the door... there was the shrine.
He shrugged and entered, stepping in the middle of the pentacle that was on the floor. The walls that surrounded him were looking like Outer Space ('How do I know that'?), and various zodiac signs were circling around him.
And then, he could feel Mercury's power surging through his body. A bright flash of light appeared before his eyes, and then... he got a vision.
A vision of a continent... a barren wasteland, covered in exactly the same, goopy stuff the Remains had turned into after their defeat. It was a horrifying sight.
But he couldn't shake the thought that he had seen it before...
And then, the goop known as LCL slowly seeped down into the earth... and the continent was freed.
"South America has been salvaged," Mercury's voice exclaimed in his head. "But this is only a fifth part of the whole surface. You have to visit my friends, the other Sailor Senshi, within their own towers. They will help you to salvage other continents, and in addition, free your friends from the curse that was put upon them."
Shinji slowly opened his eyes. He was back in front of the double door, which was now closed.
He turned around, where Artemis and Mercury were waiting for him.
"Hey, how did it feel?" Artemis asked curiously.
Shinji grasped his head. "Awesome... and weird!" he muttered.
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(Posted Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:42)
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