Usagi looked over the modest Neriman skyline and sighed. She could sense another lit spark here. Maybe, just maybe, he or she could overcome the instinct to battle for supremacy and actually help her in her quest.
“Don’t count on it.” The blonde turned to the speaker. Rei hadn’t changed too much mentally, none of them really had beyond the maturity that the odangoed girl’s training had forced into them. Physically, however, they were all very different indeed. The former miko was formed from scintillating crimson energy, molded into the shape of her unclothed body. The only distinct features in that fiery form were her eyes, holding that familiar balance of ridicule and endearment.
She continued, gesturing towards the neighborhood. “I can practically taste the chaos of this place. This area thrives on conflict, on action before thought. Finding someone as pacifistic as you will be next to impossible.”
Usagi pouted a bit and turned to her other side. “Mina-chan?”
Minako’s form, crafted from shining golden power, appeared to Usagi’s right. Her eyes bore sorrow as she reported. “Rei’s right. The community is inured to the havoc wrought here. It would be best if we just moved on before we were noticed.”
“Actually…” Ami manifested in cool cerulean. The familiar shape of the Mercury Computer flowed out from her hand, her visor spreading almost organically across her eyes. “That may not be the complete story.”
Even after years of training in her gifts, Usagi still wore her emotions on her sleeve. Her face lit up in hope and joy. “Really!?”
A fifth figure, this one viridian in hue, coalesced. “Really. There is an island of peace and tranquility in this sea of chaos.” Makoto no longer had a mouth, but she still gave the impression of smiling as she gestured outward. To the eyes of those assembled, one house glowed greenly for a moment. “Best of all,” began the tallest girl.
“That’s where the local spark lives.” The decidedly unlocal spark finished the thought. She bowed to her shimmering advisors. “Thank you, everyone.”
They all gave that impression of smiling and returned the bow. Minako spoke for all four. “It is our duty now, Princess.”
Usagi frowned. “Please, Mina. I’m still Usagi. You’re all still my friends. We’re still—”
“Equals?” Rei cut off her mistress with mix of regret and amusement. “Face the facts, Odango-hime. Even before Metallia, you were the most powerful among us.”
Makoto nodded. “Even during the Silver Millennium, you were the true princess. We were just glorified bodyguards and handmaidens.”
Ami concluded. “We have always been friends, Usagi-hi… Usagi. But we have never truly been equals.”
The spark bowed her head, shut her eyes, clenched her fists. “We will be. I never asked to be Sailor Moon. I had to be dragged kicking and screaming through my destiny. And I never wanted the power I now hold.” Her expression and tone were both deadly serious. The next sentence brooked no argument. “We will find a way to restore things to as they were.”
“Hmph.” A sixth entity appeared. While the Senshi shined brightly, she, for this too was a female shape, seemed to drink in light, leaving not black, but true darkness, an eye-watering void that seemed to gnaw at the soul. “A pretty speech, Princess, but the words ring hollow. Do you really expect us to believe you do not relish this power after all this time? That you do not rejoice in commanding us, your ever loyal supplicants?”
The other spirits, though they had at times entertained such doubts, all bristled at the dark one’s appearance. Usagi, however, simply smiled sadly. She raised a hand, keeping back the onslaught the others so desperately wished to unleash. “I do not yet expect you to understand, Beryl. Not yet. As each day passes, I hope that you will come o believe my sincerity. It’s the only reason I am grateful that this will likely be a very long search.”
“Urgh!” Beryl would’ve spat in disgust had she any fluids to her name. Ever since Serenity’s ascendance, she was so gallingly…serene. How was the shadowy figure supposed to have any fun if all her taunting was met by an unshakeable wall of compassion and understanding? “Well, if you’re so desperate to sink to your Senshis’ level, why not just surrender to another spark?”
Usagi shook her head. “You know that would solve nothing. The other spark would claim all of you and me as well. Acting as slaves to the same master is unacceptable. I want to return to Juuban, our Juuban, knowing that a bunch of overpowered self-absorbed brats won’t come and blow up the whole prefecture just because I exist.”
Beryl massaged her forehead. She may have been a homogenous energy construct, but the damn Princess’s boundless selflessness still gave her a headache. “Whatever,” she sighed, fading away once more.
“I still wish we didn’t need her,” growled Makoto.
“But we do,” replied Usagi, sympathetically, “and we must allow her to cleanse herself of Metallia’s influence at her own pace and of her own free will. Otherwise, it would be meaningless.” She gave a sigh of her own, giving a quick prayer to whatever gods might really be out there before giving a smile to her friends. “Shall we then, everyone?”
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Animethropologist
(Posted Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:04)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.