Good versus evil. The common battle that has raged throughout the centuries. Each side thinks they are right, each side is completely devoted to its purpose. Good and evil, the two are considered as different as black and white. Pure evil. Pure good. There is no in-between. There is only the Enemy, the nameless and faceless Enemy who must be either destroyed or turned to the opposite purpose. Victory is present for only one side, and only one side can dominate the universe. So say the unspoken rules. Coexistence of good and evil is unfathomable.
Fire thrashed in the pitch darkness, surrounding a solitary figure and illuminating a small pocket of air around her. Time seemed to slow as she gathered her power, her flaming inferno, focusing her energies on a point between her delicate palms. She patiently waited until the fire's power reached a peak and threw it with all her might at the renegade youma before her.
Despite the slow pace time had been thrust into, the creature she was fighting managed to escape a painful death. This particular youma was powerful, more so than most of the adversaries the girl and her team had previously faced. It refused to be defeated and its power seemed to triple theirs.
The girl swore vehemently under her breath. This was not good. She shot a glance at her brown-haired friend, violet eyes connecting with green ones. A silent agreement, the other girl knew exactly what she was thinking. They'd done simultaneous attacks many times before. She breathed in slightly, collecting her power once more, sensing her friend do the same. "Fire Soul!!" The catch phrase that released her powers, the words that condemned her enemy to death. Usually.
"Supreme Thunder!!" An equally powerful attack, made of the electric thunder that defined the very being of the girl with the green eyes. Perhaps together they could defeat that impossibly strong creature.
Or not. Even the combined energies of the two wasn't enough to kill or even maim the terrible beast. The brown-haired girl was swearing now, she'd already expended most of her power. Her voice carried over the sound of the youma's growling, filled with concern and a hint of helplessness. "Mars. What are we going to do?"
The girl's violet eyes widened. When Jupiter asked her to invent a strategy, the situation had to be dire. She wasn't the best person to be trusted with the lives of others, but it seemed as though her Amazon-like friend had run out of options. Sailor Mars turned her gaze upon her other two companions, their faces expectant and trustful. She gulped, racking her brain. The only strategy they hadn't tried was a combined four-way attack. It was risky, but...
The youma was working up another strong affront. There wasn't any time left. The Senshi of Fire nodded quickly to the rest of the team, hoping with all her heart that their bond of friendship would get them through. She took up attack position at the youma's left with the blue-haired Sailor Mercury, Venus and Jupiter on the youma's right. "Fire Soul!!"
"Supreme Thunder!!"
"Shine Aqua Illusion!!"
"Venus Love Me Chain!!"
The four soldiers watched with crossed fingers as their powers melded into one and approached the power previously expended by the creature, praying with all their might that they would come out of the battle alive. As the two attacks collided, the world exploded before their eyes...
Mizuno Ami's eyelids twitched in response to the light shed on them. She could hear voices around her, murmuring in hushed tones, though she couldn't quite make out what they were saying. She felt slightly groggy, her mind sluggish, as though she'd been asleep for a while. As if she'd been unconscious.
"I think this one's waking up," a slightly nasal male voice whispered above her.
Ami's internal security system began to kick in as she realized she didn't recognize the voice. She was lying somewhere cold and hard with strangers around her! The blue-haired girl quickly opened her bleary eyes and squeaked in surprise as she saw the person who'd just been speaking. His skin was a light bluish color, dark pebbles scattered across his decidedly attractive face. A shock of lavender hair fell across ice-blue eyes. Ami had never seen anyone like that in her entire life...was he even human? Her mouth suddenly began working again. "What are y...who are you?"
The strange man blinked slightly at her question, his expression darkening as though he'd been hurt. He didn't have time to respond, however, for she was immediately tackled by a lithe blond figure. "Ami-chan!!"
"Minako-chan!" Ami hugged her instinctively; they had survived the battle! But... "Minako-chan, where are we?" They seemed to be at some sort of campsite in the woods, a bright fire burning in its center. Rei was seated in front of the fire, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her eyes closed in apparent meditation. Makoto lay nearby, either asleep or unconscious.
Other people also sat around the fire. There was the odd-looking blue man, a girl with flaming red hair, a very tall blond man wearing rustic armor, a small dark-haired girl, and a suspicious-looking man in priest's clothing. They were talking quietly amongst themselves and watching the four Senshi with interest. It was at this point that Ami noticed they'd all de-transformed at some point, though she wasn't quite sure when.
Minako wasn't exactly sure how to explain the situation to her friend. "Well, you see, I guess we...um, I guess the battle, that creature...opened some kind of portal...or maybe it was an accident, I don't know, but then we got knocked out..."
Rei spoke from her meditative state, her voice low and tired-sounding. "We're in another world, Ami-chan."
Ami's mouth dropped open. "We're what?"
"In another world."
"You're kidding, right, Rei-chan?"
"No."
Ami's brain was working quickly, calculating the possibilities of their circumstances. "You mean that explosion we saw when we attacked that youma actually opened a dimensional doorway?! How is that...how could we...?"
Minako shrugged, smiling deliriously. "It's all over my head, anyway! I'm just glad we're alive!"
The blue-haired girl reached into her pocket and removed a small computer. "I don't believe this..." she murmured, tapping rapidly on the keys and initiating a scan of the entire area. "My computer doesn't recognize anything here! Even the minerals in the soil are unknown!"
Rei shrugged, looking strangely unfazed. "I told you. We're in another world. I could feel it the moment I awoke."
Ami's expression grew worried as her computer relayed more information. "The surrounding galaxy isn't even the same as our world's! Where are we?"
"Excuse me," a voice interrupted. The three girls turned to its source, a short red-haired female who looked about their age. "I'm sorry, but all this isn't making a lot of sense to me. You say you're from another world...but how did you get here? And what happened to you all before?"
Ami blinked. "What do you mean?"
"The four of you practically squashed us by falling out of the sky on top of us." The girl leaned forward, her ruby eyes serious. "Your bodies...they were mangled beyond recognition."
They stared at her. "What?"
She continued. "It took Amelia and I several hours to heal you. We weren't sure if you'd make it through all that." Not waiting for the trio to digest this information, her eyes suddenly twinkled with interest. "So tell me, are you girls sorceresses? Who were you fighting before you arrived here? Was it a tough battle?"
Ami shrank back a little, her shyness taking over. Lucky for her, Minako was more than willing to talk with the red-haired girl. "I'm Aino Minako! I'm sixteen years old and in the tenth grade! I'm also a Sailor Senshi, a soldier who fights for love and jus - "
She was immediately tackled by her raven-haired friend. "Minako!!" Rei exclaimed, eyes wide. "You're not supposed to tell anyone that!!"
"They probably don't even know what it is!" Minako protested. "Besides, I don't think Lina-san will tell anyone."
"But..."
"Lina?" Ami asked, ignoring her squabbling companions. "Is that your name?"
The red-haired girl nodded. "I'm a traveling sorceress. This is my bodyguard, Gourry," she introduced, gesturing to the blond man next to her. "That guy over there is Zelgadis, don't be scared of him, he used to be human. Amelia here is a Seiryuun princess, and Xelloss is...well, Xelloss," she explained. "And you are...?"
"Mizuno Ami," the blue-haired girl answered shyly. "I...I'm just a schoolgirl."
Lina raised an eyebrow at her. "But didn't your friend just say you were soldiers?"
"Well...yes. We are warriors, in a way."
"And you ended up here after a battle?"
"Yes. We were fighting a youma. It was so powerful...I thought I was going to die. We all attacked it at once, and there was this explosion...I don't remember anything after that. I woke up here," Ami said simply.
Lina was nodding slowly, taking in her words. "Then it's true that a large enough power flux can open the gates between worlds by mistake..."
"Mistake? So you're saying that our coming here was a mishap?" Rei had stopped fighting with Minako and was now listening intently to the conversation.
"Well, yes. As far as I know, unless someone sent you here on purpose. Anyway, about that battle..."
"Nothing that happens in life is ever a mistake," Rei murmured to herself, quietly musing. "There is a reason for everything..."
The others were too absorbed in their own conversations to hear Rei's words, except for the purple-haired Mazoku on the other side of the campfire. Xelloss watched the raven-haired girl from behind closed eyes. Simple intelligence was a rare thing found in the human race, yet this girl seemed to be thinking quite deeply for one so young. She'd caught his attention, in more ways than one. From another world...could this be referring to Them? The four who are connected with Him...the four out of whom only one will prevail? He drew in a sharp breath, perhaps the time had finally arrived! If they were the four, of course. Xelloss made a mental note to check in with his master later. She will be most interested in this development.
Gourry was still trying to get the girls' names straight. "So you're Aino, you're Rei, and you're Ami?"
All three sweatdropped. "No, my name is Minako, that's Ami, and that's Rei."
"Oh." He paused. "I don't get it."
Everyone facevaulted, and Lina promptly smacked the swordsman for his stupidity. "Gourry no baka!!"
"But Lina...then who's that over there?" he asked, pointing to the sleeping brown-haired girl on the other side of the campfire.
Ami sweatdropped. "Um, minna? Perhaps we should wake Mako-chan up and let her know what's going on..."
Days passed and still none had deciphered how the gate between the two worlds had been opened. Lina herself thought it was accidental, but Rei had insisted there was something more to it. The sorceress sighed audibly. She hoped it was accidental. She didn't want to be involved in any more prophecies. And she didn't want to be stuck with the four otherworldly girls for too much longer. It wasn't that she minded traveling with them, it was the fact that they didn't help at all. They were so naive about everything, not even knowing how to cast spells or use weapons! How can they call themselves soldiers? Lina wondered, kicking aside a few of the pebbles that lined the path she was walking. But she couldn't abandon them. They didn't know anything about her world, they were practically helpless without her.
All that aside, they were rather nice girls. Lina especially liked the one who called herself Makoto. Her policy of "beat them up now, ask questions later" was much to Lina's liking. The girl named Minako was a little too bubbly and annoying, but Amelia seemed to get along with her. Not surprising. Ami was so quiet that Lina rarely noticed she was there, but the girl held an unusual intelligence behind her shy facade. And then there was Rei...
The girl was aloof. She was friendly and occasionally a little curt, but she always seemed removed from everyone else...as though there was something different about her. As though she was always thinking of something other than what was going on at the moment. Lina glanced sideways at Rei; she was talking and laughing with Minako. Yet the sadness still lurked in her eyes...
"Lina." Zelgadis's quiet voice interrupted her thoughts; he was walking beside her now. "Are you sure we should be allowing Xelloss to come with us?" Although the Mazoku had seemingly disappeared for the moment...
"Why wouldn't we? He's traveled with us before."
The chimera twitched slightly. "Yes, but do you remember what he did the last time we went looking for Claire Bible manuscripts? I don't want to deal with that kind of trouble again. And besides," he added, glancing behind them, "we now have four extra people to look after. Four people Xelloss might consider tampering with."
The sorceress gave him an odd look. "Don't be so paranoid, Zel. Why would he tamper with those girls? They don't seem that special to me," she lied. "And besides...I don't think we could get rid of Xelloss if we wanted to."
"True."
Rei followed the strange party of sorcerers and swordsmen, barely hearing her three friends giggling at her side. They were taking the whole situation very lightly, she thought. Perhaps they were in shock about it all, or just trying not to think about it. Rei couldn't do that. It wasn't the fact that she was in another world that bothered her. No, that didn't faze her at all. After all her battles as a Senshi in strange dimensions and on unfamiliar planets, she was used to the idea of switching worlds. The thing that bothered her was the sense of impending darkness she felt creeping up on her.
On top of that, she was extremely worried about Usagi. The job of the Inner Senshi was to protect her. What would happen to her without them? Mamoru was with her, but... Rei grimaced. He wasn't the best person to entrust with Usagi's safety. Hell, the guy couldn't even last five minutes in a fight. She wondered if her odango-haired friend had noticed their absence yet...and how she was dealing with it.
In the meantime, Rei vowed to find a way back to Usagi. Lina had invited them to accompany her on a quest for something called the Claire Bible. It supposedly had a lot of power, possibly enough to reopen the dimensional doorway between the two worlds. Apparently Lina and the others had alternate uses for the Claire Bible as well, but they were willing to help the four get home if they could.
The first stopping place was a city called Derufae. Supposedly there was a temple at Derufae which was rumored to hold many sacred texts. And the others had mentioned something about an oracle there...
The Beastmaster exhaled a puff of smoke, tapping her gold-plated cigarette holder against the arm of her throne. Her uncovered foot twitched above the floor, in tune to the sounds of someone being tortured in the background. "You're here to ask me about those four humans." It was a statement, not a question.
"Hai." Xelloss wasn't surprised that she already knew his intentions; she'd always been able to guess what he was thinking. "I felt Him, Juuou-sama."
She nodded slowly. "I know."
"Are they...?"
"Yes. The ones we've been waiting for." Zelas took another drag on her cigarette before continuing. "I was surprised to find that they were born in another world, but I suppose they were safer there. And it seems He has brought them to us as planned."
The Trickster inhaled slowly, a smile blossoming on his face. "Then the time has finally come."
Zelas laughed musically at her servant's expression. "My eager little wolf...have you been anticipating your reward that much?"
Xelloss grinned at her. "But of course, my Lady. Did you expect nothing else of me?"
She chuckled softly. "I suppose not. You do take after me in some ways, I see. And He did promise this to you back during the Kouma-sensou. But Xelloss," she warned, "take heed. There can be no failure this time, for losing your reward means we lose our edge as well."
He bowed. "I know, Juuou-sama. Don't worry. I've waited a long time for the promise He made me, and I am not going to let this opportunity slip away." His eyes glowed dangerously in the dim room, a wicked smile on his lips. "Even if the others must be sacrificed..."