SAILOR MOON: Ghosts from the Past pt.3 "Final Battle" Ami opened the door to Leda's apartment, and helped her carry Mina inside. They carried Mina to Leda's bedroom, and stretched her out on the bed. Ami started checking her forehead, and her pulse. "Ami, I wanted thank you for staying with me the past couple of weeks. I've really hated being stuck here alone." Leda smiled to her friend. "It's not a problem, Leda. With my mother working most of the time, it turned out for the best." "So, any change in the patient, 'Doctor' Anderson?" Ami couldn't help but giggle at that. Unfortunately, the laughter died after a moment. She looked up at Leda, Ami's frown telling everything. * * * Sailor Venus stood ready against her opponent. The situation whirled though her mind. Wasn't Charon her friend? "Look, I don't know who you are, but that is not a girl you're protecting. Now move, so I can finish this!" Venus started to focus her power. Friend or not, she was not getting near this girl! Charon scowled at her again. "CHARON DARK SPHERE!," she screamed, as she thrust her arms above her head. An orb of dark purple energy started to form. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM!.....SMASH!," Venus yelled, cutting the beam through Charon's collected energy. The orb shattered, and faded to nothing. "You've misused your powers. You should be fighting evil, not attacking defenseless girls. Now in the name of Venus, I'm gonna make you pay! I am SAILOR VENUS!" * * * Ami ran a scan with her computer one more time. "This just doesn't make sense!," she muttered. The scan came up with the same results - two energy patterns, one positive(normal for a Sailor Scout), and one negative(normal for the Dark Moon or one of the Generals). Ami ran a comparison of this scan, to the previous ones. She let out a small gasp at the results. The dark energy was increasing! "LEDA, CALL THE OTHERS! NOW!," Ami screamed, as the Venus symbol flickered and vanished from Mina's forehead. * * * Charon's face was knotted with anger. Venus looked around for the girl, but she was nowhere in sight. Venus turned her attention back at Charon, and watched in horror as Charon unsheathed a dark-gray long sword from under her cloak. "Are you prepared to welcome death?," Charon asked, in a low, threatening manner. She dove at Venus, who rolled out of the way. Charon continued past her, heading into the school. "Come back here!," Venus screamed. Why is she after that girl?, Venus thought, as she ran inside after Charon. * * * Leda heard Ami's request. She jumped off the sofa, and grabbed her communicator. Leda had started to send a message, when she heard Ami scream again. "AMI!," Leda yelled, as she ran to help her friend. * * * Charon swore under her breath, as the image of Mina's school faded. Slowly, it was replaced by the ruins of a old kingdom. "Damn! She's released the sealed memories!," Charon muttered to herself. * * * Venus blinked as the landscape shifted. Desolate ruins covered the landscape. The name of the place slowly came to her mind. "This is the Moon Kingdom?" "Yes. Well, what was left after Beryl's attack." Venus spun around to face the source. Sailor Charon stood amidst the ruins of a waterless fountain. Venus began to focus her power. "Venus.....Mina, I'm not your enemy. This isn't a dream anymore. Right now, the Dark One is in control of your body. If we don't stop her, she'll kill your friends-all of them. Serena won't be smiling anymore. Leda won't be chasing guys anymore. Ami won't get to study for her SATs. Rei won't be smacking Serena any-well, you get the idea. I need your help, or none of us stand a chance. So, do you want to help me, or do we get to watch them die, with no chance of reincarnation?" * * * Leda kicked the door to the bedroom open. Ami was slumped near the window, not moving at all. Mina stood over her, with a dark-gray long sword forming in her hands. Leda just stared in disbelief. "Mina?" "Wrong!," she screamed. Dark Mina spun around, and leveled the sword on Leda. "Time to die." "Now you're wrong! JUPITER STAR POWER!," Leda screamed. In seconds, she had become Sailor Jupiter. "Mina or not, I'm not going to let you hurt my friend! JUPITER THUNDERCLAP ZAP!" "CHARON DARK SPHERE!........STRIKE!" The two blasts slammed into each other, then proceeded to explode. The force of the explosion sent both of them flying to separate corners of the room. Jupiter went into the hallway, and slammed into the wall there. She started to get up, when Dark Mina slammed her into the wall again. Dark Mina opened her mouth and revealed a set of fangs, before she dove at Jupiter's throat. Before Jupiter slipped away, all she could hope was that Ami was okay. * * * "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" The energy chain struck the spider-like thing in the head. It didn't appear fazed at all. With its eight legs locked around her Soul crystal, it was in total control of her body. Venus sighed, and turned to Charon. "How do kill this thing?" "We can't. Not while it's still attached to your crystal." "Then how do we get it off?!" "I'm working on that." Venus sighed again. She hoped nothing bad had happened to her friends. * * * Christine sat quietly at the dinner table. Her communicator had started beeping, then suddenly stopped. She was getting worried. It was like she knew something was wrong. She looked up at her father. She had promised stay out of trouble after the Mistress Nine thing, but she couldn't sit around if her friends were in trouble. "Dad?" Professor Chronos looked up from his food. He saw the look on Christine's face, and knew what she was going to ask. "Yes?" "I think the Scouts might need my help. Can I-" Professor Chronos sighed. He wanted to keep her safe. "Go ahead. Try to not get hurt though, okay?" Christine nodded. She held up her transformation pen. "SATURN PLANET POWER!" In seconds, Chronos's daughter was stripped away and replaced by Sailor Saturn. He still hadn't adjusted to his daughter being a Sailor Scout. Saturn ran towards the door, giving her father a kiss on the cheek before she left. * * * "THAT'S IT!," Charon screamed. She held up her hand and began to focus her energy. "CHARON DARK SPHERE!.....STRIKE!" The sphere streaked towards one of the creature's legs. When it impacted, the lag shattered into fragments. * * * Saturn arrived at Leda's apartment. She could tell the source of problem was here. She heard a scream coming from the bedroom. She started towards there, when she saw Leda lying on floor. Blood was dripping from her neck. Saturn quickly laid her hands on the wound, and healed it. As the wound finished closing, Saturn heard another scream from the bedroom. She summoned the Silence Glaive, and started towards the open door. * * * Venus and Charon continued their assault. Unfortunately, each connection they destroyed, reformed a few seconds later. Charon faltered during a power focus. Venus helped her to stand back up. "You okay?," Venus asked, while trying to catch her breath. Charon just nodded. Venus turned to watch the monster. She knew there was now way they could beat it by themselves. She knew they needed help. Venus concentrated on the other scouts. * * * Ami's eyes fluttered open. Mina was lying on the ground in front, Saturn healing a number of cuts across Mina's body. Leda had crawled into the room and was leaning against the opposite wall. "Help." An orange glow began to fill the room. Ami looked down at Mina. The symbol of Venus had reformed, and was glowing weakly. "She needs our help," Saturn explained. "The evil is too strong for her alone." Ami and Leda both nodded. All three closed their eyes, and three beams of energy leapt to aid Venus. * * * Rei sat meditating before the sacred fire. Her eyes snapped open when she heard Mina's voice. "Help." "Mina?" The sacred fire flared, and showed Rei the battle inside Mina's mind. Rei figured out the rest. "Help's on the way, Mina." Rei closed her eyes, and a red beam of energy shot towards Mina. * * * Alex and Michelle sat across from each other, the chess board separating them. Alex had a smile on her face. She had finally found a move Michelle couldn't stop. Michelle glanced at the board, and moved a piece. "Checkmate," Michelle said with a smile. Alex's smile disappeared. "Help." They both glanced around. "Mina?, " Michelle asked aloud. The voice repeated itself, this time showing them Venus's struggle. The two glanced at each other. They both closed their eyes, and yellow and turquoise beams of energy shot out to Mina. * * * Susan sat alone in the park. She held a small locket in her hands. Two pictures, one of herself and one of her sister, Terra. A tear fell onto the picture of Terra. Susan blinked away the rest of the tears, and started back to her car. "Help." Susan gasped. She recognized Mina's voice. The picture in her head of Venus's battle stunned her. She recognized the other scout. "Terra?" Susan concentrated, and a dark green beam of energy left to aid Venus. * * * Serena and Reeny sprawled across their bed, much to Luna's dismay. Suddenly, both sat straight up and stared at each other. "Mina?," they both asked in unsion. "What's going on? What about Mina?," Luna asked desperatly. A single voice rang through all of their heads. "Help." Serena and Reeny both closed their eyes, and sent forth beams of gold and silver to Mina's aid. Luna sighed. "I hate being left in the dark." * * * Venus felt the energy of the others. She called it to her, and focused her own power. "VENUS CRESCENT BEAM!.........SMASH!" A single beam of pure light streaked towards the Dark One. The energy of the other scouts' leapt to the beam, increasing its power hundredfold. The blast smashed into the creature, shattering all connections to Mina's Soul Crystal. Venus collapsed, her power spent. The creature stirred, and began to rise. Charon brought her blade to bear against it. "Mistress, I...I did my best," it pleaded. "Pathetic. You have failed me. Failures are of no use to me." Charon scowled at the cowering creature. "But, Mistress I infected one of them! Isn't that good enough for your plans?" "No. CHARON DARK BLADE VIVISECTION!" Charon's sword glowed with dark energy, as she sliced the creature through the middle. It collapsed into two pieces and dissolved away. * * * The glow of energy filled the bedroom. It flared to a peak and subsided. Ami opened her eyes. Leda was still against the wall, and Christine was helping some girl Ami had never seen before to her feet. Ami started to rise herself, when she heard Mina whisper. "I wouldn't do that." Ami look down at her friend. Mina's blue eyes shined back at her. "Mina! You're okay!" "Duh. Though, you can thank Sailor Charon for helping me," Mina explained. "If it wasn't for her, we'd probably wouldn't be talking right now." Terra straightened herself. All the scouts were okay. She had won. * * * Epilogue- Sailor Oberon looked over at her brother. If what their visitor was saying was true, then the world was in major trouble. "Iapetus, if she is back-" "Then we have to stop her, " Iapetus finished. "Alright, cat. We'll help." "Good." Artemis looked at the sky, towards Venus. "Don't worry Mina," Artemis whispered to himself "Help's on the way." THE END, for now............