On the top of the lava-surrounded tower, a noble knight in shining armor was standing, peering down at a young man that had just begun his journey to save the world.
He reminded him of himself, back when he wasn't aware of his own destiny as the prince of Earth.
A faint voice reached his ear while he watched the youngster and his four-legged companion while they walked over the barren land of the Underworld, towards this tower.
"Penny for your thoughts?" the female voice asked him with a hint of amusement.
Endymion sighed. "I just got remembered of my own parents, back on the surface..."
"Oh? Is it... because of what happened to Shinji?"
"Might be, yeah..." the prince sighed. "I mean... his parents died early as well, and he has been raised by the elder of his village. And I... Well, I lost my parents, too, when I was a small boy."
The voice seemed to be much closer to his ear now. "You seem to know much about the boy. How come?"
"Well, both you and he don't know it, but I already watched him for some time now. I mean, guarding the Underworld can be a tiresome job, so I just keep watch over them, when I'm not running around to slay Remains. Besides, his home village is one of the very few settlements within the Underworld. And you know I have my ways of making myself 'invisible'."
"Yes, that you have," she chuckled. "And in the right moment, you jump out of the shadows, to give your encouraging speech to the heroes."
He had to grin at that as well. "You know that has been long ago. Tuxedo Mask was nothing but a poser. True, I could fight, but... Honestly, how serious will the bad guys take a man that dresses in a tuxedo and a top hat while throwing roses?" He grabbed the hilt of his sword. "I pretty much prefer this weapon nowadays."
"Well, we were talking about Shinji..."
"Oh, yes. Well, while I was looking at the villagers - and believe me, I really didn't know that it was this village where Usagi hid the chest - I got to learn more about its residents. Especially intriguing was this young man, especially after I learned of his parents' demise..."
"Is that the reason why you went easy on him during that fight?" the female voice asked.
"Part of it," Endymion admitted. "But still, he shows some promise within him. I don't believe it was completely by chance that it was he who released Artemis from the chest." He shuddered. "I still don't wanna think about who could have placed that curse on it."
"We'll find out. We have to." She let out a small growl. "I still can't believe we went down like this. Never once could we find out just who sent these giant monsters. And our powers were completely useless against them. Instead, we had to depend on a bunch of kids dressed in some robo-suits that looked like they were the Power Rangers' next monster of the week."
"Hey, even Pluto didn't know anything about these 'Angels'. And these Evangelion Units, whoever may have constructed them, did their job pretty well, didn't they?"
"Well, they definitely couldn't help when everyone got turned into a soup of icky slime. And when all of this is over, we have to make sure something like that never happens again. In the meantime, make sure that not too many Remains go after the boy."
The prince raised an eyebrow. "You know pretty well that I can't protect him when he's inside the towers. And I won't be able to do it either if he decides to go up to the surface afterwards."
"Don't worry about that. We can keep an eye on him in the Underworld, and our spiritual friends of nature will watch him up there. Now if you excuse me, I have a resurrection chamber to prepare for the arrival of my NEW hero."
Endymion looked at the raven-haired spirit with amusement. "Now that I'm taken, you plan on seducing poor little Shinji? Shame on you, Rei!"
The spiritual Senshi of Mars and ex-shrine maiden winked at him. "Hey, don't worry: I know he's married. But still, can you blame me? A handsome boy is gonna visit me after such a long time of loneliness within my tower, and I'm not supposed to get excited? Just let me have a bit of fun with him."
Endymion shook his head in disbelief. "Just don't take it too far, okay?"
"Would I ever do that?" Mars asked as she disappeared back through the tower's roof.
Endymion looked at the spot where she had vanished, then he shrugged and left.
----
At the foot of the tower, the new hero of Earth looked upwards.
"This is it, Shinji!" Artemis said. "The second tower, where Mars is waiting."
See other episodes by Shritistrang
(Posted Mon, 09 Apr 2007 23:32)
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