Sailor Moon: Destiny of the Stars

Chapter 14:

The Future: 3206

Silver Palace:

Sha'Krani stood at his full height of nearly eight feet, looking long and hard at the two figures trapped in crystal before him in the once grand Throne Room. He clasped his clawed green hands behind him, and thought about those strange "Senshi" that always seemed to spoil the plans of his two soldiers. He did a little research, and he found out that many of these human fighters...known as the Sailor Senshi...somehow always managed overcome their adversities, no matter how powerful. That was why the tall Vishtri alien personally wanted to defeat and kill them. Not just to keep them from thwarting his dreams of conquest, but for his personal challenge and the fight they would put up. He read up on the Solar System, the next system he hoped to conquer after this one, and knew that the Death Phantom and the "Black Moon Family", a group of people who were banished to the mysterious tenth planet Nemesis, also tried to go to the past and disrupt its history.

They had tried to prevent the possible future of Crystal Tokyo from ever happening by killing the Queen in her youth and her daughter, who fled to the past, so they could take over the planet called Earth. They failed. Sha'krani chuckled deep in his throat. Well, that was the one thing he vowed never to do. He did not want to make the same mistakes those foolish humans who were banished from Crystal Tokyo did. He carefully searched and found the most fierce and loyal Vishtri warrior he could find, straight from their own home planet, and sent him to the past when his two soldiers reported that they had failed yet again and asked for help.

Sha'krani knew that with Ga'vrani, there would be no room for failure. The Visthri code of honor demanded that. When they had a mission, it was to be done, by all means necessary. Although they all worked together as a pack and relied on each other, the Visthri also believed that a single soldier can contribute to the failure or success of a mission, so if the mission failed, that one would be blamed, and not all.

O'mashki and Va'trini's time were running out, and Sha'krani was losing patience with them. He knew that those two would probably fail, but not Ga'vrani. Sha'krani wanted that little human princess dead, no matter what. His large bulging eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at the two frozen figures floating a few inches off the ground. Since he now knew who they were in the past, he especially wanted them to pay for the loss of some of his best troops....especially under the hands of the King, and the death of their daughter would be the perfect way to do it.

Just as he was thinking that, footsteps could be heard hurrying down the corridor, and the gigantic captain turned to see a soldier rush into the room after saluting to the guards at the door. He then rushed forward and stood before Sha'krani and saluted. "Sir, we have urgent news!" the Vishtri said, his long tail swinging back and forth. "Our sensors have detected an unidentified vessel or...something...heading towards this sector. We think it might be from that Solar System you were talking about, but we're not sure. The bridge is asking for your presence."

Sha'krani's eye bones rose in surprise. "Unidentified vessel? I see. I will be there shortly, Ensign Cha'grano." The younger soldier saluted once again, and quickly walked back out the large double door. Sha'krani turned back to the figures and growled deep in his throat.

"All your efforts to resist us will be in vain, insignificant humans," he hissed, "In the end, you will realize that we are the superior beings, and you will bow to us and our might, or risk being destroyed, just as we have done to thousands of other worlds before you." With a final hiss, Sha'krani turned from the figures and walked out of the room. When he reached outside, he pressed a button on the large wrist-watch device on his wrist, and disappeared in a flash of white light.

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The Present:

O'mashki looked on as the healing rays washed over Ga'vrani's immense body. The large, complex machine from which the rays were coming from hummed quietly in the large abandoned building. The disk where the beam shot out from began shaking slightly from the amount of energy used. The Vishtri soldier was amazed at how in just a couple of days, much of the injuries and wounds that the warrior received were already healing.

There was the sound of rustling and boxes falling, and O'mashki turned to see Va'trini walking up groggily behind him, holding his latest catch. He held up a large rabbit by its tail, and threw it at the older Vishtri. "Thought you might be hungry," he said, his tongue flicking in and out of his mouth while his tail swished back and forth on the floor.

O'mashki smiled as his stomach growled in anticipation and reached for the fresh kill. He held it above him, opened his mouth wide, and dropped the animal whole in his mouth. Bones and organs could be heard breaking and crunching as O'mashki chewed with his tiny razor-sharp teeth. Little trickles of red blood ran down his scaly chin as he smiled in satisfaction and swallowed. He then flicked out his long forked tongue and licked off the blood from his chin. "Well, there is one thing I can say about this time," O'mashki said, smacking his lips, "They certainly have a lot of fresh meat for us to pick and choose from!" He chuckled deep in his throat.

"Maybe it's not so bad being here after all," Va'trini replied. He chewed the piece of dog meat still in his mouth, and swallowed. "Do you think the humans would taste as good?" Both Visthri looked at one another, then burst out laughing, their long tails wagging heavily. Suddenly, the large body on the floor twitched, and the two soldiers turned to see Ga'vrani struggle to sit up. The warrior blinked his bulging red eyes for a minute, then looked up at them.

"What...happened?" Ga'vrani managed to hiss out. Va'trini and O'mashki rushed over and helped him to stand up. The larger alien was dizzy, but after a moment, he stood tall and straight by himself.

"Those worthless humans nearly defeated you!" said O'mashki, fury in his eyes. "In our time here on Earth, we've come to learn that we should not have underestimated this...Senshi...as they call themselves. We had to retreat from the battle before they had the chance to regroup and destroy you. Now that we're here, we have to come up with a plan to eliminate them and take the piece of the Emerald Star Stone for ourselves."

"Yes," continued Va'trini, still licking off the last of the red blood. "The faster we can destroy these nuisances, the faster we can return home. We must not fail this time, or we'll be in disgrace!"

Ga'vrani nodded his head in agreement, "Yes, they will all pay for their insolence!" he vowed, his raspy voice thundering through out the building. He was about to say more, when there was a sudden flash of light above them. A huge black vortex opened, and the image of Sha'krani appeared before it.

"Sir!" cried all three aliens. They fell to their knees on the floor and bowed. The large holographic image narrowed its eyes and glared at them for a few moments.

"Is Ga'vrani healed?" asked Sha'krani, not bothering with formalities.

"Y..Yes sir, I am!" the larger one replied, "The R.B.R Healing rays have worked wondrously..."

"Good, then I expect you to start on another plan to defeat those senshi!" the captain interrupted. "We are having a little problem here in the future. It seems that one of the more powerful Sailor Senshi...the one from one of the Outer planets of the system you are in, is on her way over here. If she interferes, our mission might be in jeopardy. I want you to attack and destroy those senshi...NOW!" Sha'krani's eyes blazed red.

"Y..y...yes sir, as you command!" squeaked Va'trini. The image growled deep in its throat, and with another bright flash, the hologram and vortex disappeared.

"Well, you heard him," O'mashki said, looking at the two beside him. "We've got work to do!" All three hissed, and their eyes burned red in the dark night.

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Juuban Senior High School:

"All right, pencils down!" said the short Ancient History teacher. The students all groaned softly, and reluctantly put down their pencils. "Please pass all test papers up," the teacher said. The classroom was then full of rustling paper noises as each student passed up their test paper.

Tanya rolled her eyes and groaned again. She only had two more questions to answer, and she would have been finished. Great, there goes another four points! she thought, feeling helpless as she handed up the paper. She barely had time to study for the test, staying up all night for two days worried about Tilly. The little girl had developed a sudden slight fever after the last battle, and with the help of Ami, she had gotten better and was able to return to school this morning.

The last bell of the day rang, and Tanya quickly walked out of the classroom past the crowd of students, heading for her locker. "Hey Tanya, what's the hurry?" called out Naru, followed by Unazuki, Motoki's red haired younger sister.

"Oh hi Naru-chan, Unazuki-chan!" smiled Tanya as she turned to face the two. "I'm off to meet Usagi-chan and the others at Mako-chan's. It's...umm, important."

"Oh, okay," Naru's eyes lowered sadly. "Well, see ya around. I have to help my mom at the Osa-P Jewelry Store,"

"And I have to be at Crown's. Take care!" smiled back Unazuki, although a bit sadly. They noodded at Tanya, then walked off.

Poor Naru and Unazuki-chan, thought Tanya sadly. I wish the girls and I didn't have to keep secrets from them. Tanya shrugged, then hurriedly went to her locker. She quickly opened the door, gathered her books and stuffed them inside her book bag, and was about to close the locker door when she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She jumped a little and turned to face a pair of green eyes nearly covered by white-blonde hair.

"Yaten-chan!" Tanya cried. She dropped her book bag and give him a a big, loving hug, then gently laid her head against his chest.

"Hey, what's that all for?" Yaten gave her a lopsided smile, and a tiny blush colored his cheeks, "You couldn't have missed me that much. We just saw each other this morning when we dropped Tilly off at school."

God, I love his smile! Tanya thought, smiling warmly. "Oh, nothing. I'm just so happy I have you both right now. Considering what almost happened," Her eyes lowered for a moment, but she shook her head to get rid of the thought, and smiled once more. "Anyway, you look VERY handsome in your school uniform!" Tanya winked as she watched Yaten blush at that comment.

"Come on, I don't want to be late in picking up Tilly and getting to Mako-chan's. Let's go!" She grabbed the young man's hand and rushed off down the hallway, dragging a helpless Yaten behind her as a big sweatdrop formed over his head.

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"Hi Yaten-san, hi Tanya!" called Tilly as she ran out the front doors of her school. As she reached Tanya and gave her a big hug, a small group of girls from the school filed out, waving their arms warmly. "Bye bye Tilly-chan!" they called. They giggled to each other as Tilly smiled.

"Bye bye!" Tilly called back, waving to the group as they walked away.

"See Tilly, I told you you'd make friends!" smiled Tanya. She ruffled the child's black hair. The little girl nodded and smiled warmly.

"Ready to go to Mako-chan's for dinner?" Yaten asked, unable to help but smile at the touching scene.

"Hai! I'm hungry! Let's go before Usagi-chan's tummy swallows it all!" Tilly giggled and ran off down the street, cheering all the way. Tanya and Yaten looked at one another, smiled, and ran off after the child.

Not long after, the three arrived at Makoto's apartment. Before Tanya could even knock on the door, it was opened by a smiling Makoto wearing an apron. "Hi there! I could hear you all the way down the hall!" laughed the tall brown haired girl as she looked down at Tilly. "Come on inside..." There was the sound of something crashing to the floor, "Usagi and the rest are already here. Well...you HAVE to know by now Usagi's here..." Makoto groaned. Tanya and Yaten smiled knowingly to each other at who could have been so clumsy and dropped something in the kitchen. They then took off their shoes with Tilly and entered the apartment.

"Hi everyone!" called Tanya as she walked into the living room. Ami, Rei, and Minako all waved and greeted them warmly, then they all sat in the comfortable sofa and rugged floor as Makoto headed for the kitchen. They talked about school for a few moments, just enjoying spending time with one another.

Just then, Usagi came out of the kitchen, flour partially covering her face, and she sat down on the living room floor with a pout as the others looked on. "Hi Tanya-chan. I was just trying to help out Mako-chan...until she threw me out!" the blonde grumbled. Everyone laughed, then the group of friends talked some more about school. Minutes later, they looked up as Makoto finally walked into the living room. "Dinner's ready!" the cook smiled. Everyone cheered and headed for the dining room table, where a delicious smelling Japanese cuisine was spread out for them. The rush to taste the food, of course, was led by Usagi.

The friends all ate and talked happily at the large table until they could eat no more, then headed back into the living room and settled on the sofas and floor. "Ahh, that was GREAT Mako-chan!" sighed Usagi as she patted her full stomach.

Minako rolled her blue eyes, then smiled at Makoto. "That was so cool how you got out of school early to make us dinner. I wonder how you managed that!" The blonde girl chuckled under her breath.

"Probably by using some excuse, like being sick or something!" Rei said, smiling as she crossed her legs.

"Very funny Rei-chan," said Makoto. She glared at the Shinto Priestess for a second, then turned to smile at everyone. "What IS important here is the real reason for this dinner." She turned to the little girl sitting beside Tanya. "Tilly, we need to ask you some questions and find out what's going on."

"Me?" asked the little girl. She looked around at everyone for a moment, then hung her head. "I don't what you're talking about."

"Tilly, you know you can trust us," said Usagi. She got up and walked over to Tilly was, and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder as she crouched down before her. "We've been through something like this before, and if there's anyway we can help, we can." She looked deep into her eyes. "Tilly-chan, are you...are you from the future? Do you know someplace called Crystal Tokyo? Or are you perhaps from the Moon Kingdom?"

For a sad minute, Tilly just stared into Usagi's eyes, not knowing what to say. Tears misted in the little girl's eyes, and she lowered her head. "I...I don't know! I'm sorry," Tilly sniffed. "It's just that, one day, there was these big ships, and my Mommy got scared, and Papa went away and I never saw him again, and...and..."

"Tilly, who is your Mama and Papa? Can you tell us?" asked Tanya, gently taking the child's smaller hand in her own. But instantly, Tilly snatched her hand away.

"NOO!" the child screamed, clasping her hands over her ears. In her mind, she was suddenly seeing and hearing the images and sounds that she tried so hard to put behind her. She saw her Mommy again, crying as she made her go into the hole. The images changed and she saw her parents, hugging and kissing each other as her Papa told her mother that he had to leave. In the next, she saw the monsters' faces, chasing her, trying to get her. "Please make them go away! PLEASE!"

"Tilly-chan, snap out of it! Are you okay?" Tanya gently shook Tilly small shoulders. The little girl looked up, tears streaming down her cheeks. She blinked her eyes a few times in confusion.

"Guys, I think we should stop this. It's obviously very hard on her," spoke up Ami. She walked over and gently lifted the small girl in her arms. "Tilly, if this scares you and you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to, alright?"

The black-haired child nodded, then smiled through her tears. "Arrigato," She brought her small hand up and gently touched the blue-haired girl's cheek. "Ami-chan, you're so nice and pretty. Just like one of my Mama's friends that came to see me when I got sick one time."

Ami's eyes widened at the statement, but before she or anyone else could say anything, Usagi's wrist communicator went off. The petite blonde quickly opened it and peered inside. "Usagi here. What's up?"

The static cleared and Sailor Uranus's face suddenly appeared. Sweat poured down her face, and she looked exhausted. "Usagi, you and the other senshi are needed here at the Shibuoyu Music Hall, right now! There's some sort of...lizard thing here. Neptune and I are trying to hold it off, but I don't know how much longer..." A scream echoed from the background.

"Say no more. We'll be right there!" Usagi closed her communicator and looked up at everyone. "Minna-san, time to take care of business!"

"I have an idea who that could be. We should get there as fast as we can!" said Yaten, getting up with the others.

"Right! Tilly, you'll have to come with us. Let's roll everyone!" Rei quickly headed out the front door of Makoto's apartment, followed by everyone running behind her.

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To Be Continued......

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