Dark on the Outside - Chapter 8 by Ari --------------------------------------------------------------------- DARK ON THE OUTSIDE (insert disclaimers here) =====CHAPTER 8: CRISES===== The other seven could only watch in horror as the little girl's image vanished behind the huge explosion. Her loud scream was sicken- ing, as well as the sound of a wall crumbling moments later. Everyone on hand was worried to death at her fate. When the smoke cleared, Reenie was nowhere to be seen. But a- bout 40 ft. away, there was a huge hole punched in the wall of a buil- ding. Soft crying could be heard in the distance. The Scouts rushed over to the wreckage, with Darkheart trailing behind a little bit. No one liked what they saw one bit. Reenie was laying amongst a pile of rubble, and she was holding on to her right knee - twisted very unnaturally, and swollen to about twice its normal size - for dear life. Her face told everyone how she was feeling. "Omigod!" Sailor Moon said. "Are you okay?" As she kneeled down next to the crying child, she wrapped her arms around the scout and cried loudly into her shoulder. Everyone else gathered around. "I-it hurts..." Reenie managed to get out between sobs. At this, Sailor Moon sunk her head down and started to cry herself. "We need to get her help," Mercury said. She looked around for a phone, but the only one in the area was being used by Darkheart. It turns out he was calling for help anyway. As he hung up the phone, he found that all the Scouts minus Moon were staring at him. "Yes, please hurry!" he said as he hung up the phone. He then focused his attention on the situation at hand. "Um, may I...?" he asked. He needed to talk to her. Darkheart made his way through the Scouts to where Sailor Moon was. She still had her back to him. "Lis- ten, I..." he started. "I didn't mean for this to happen. It's all my fault. And I'm sorry." It was pretty surprising to see someone humble themselves like that, nevermind a Negaverse minion. Only, he wasn't expecting the responce he got. Sailor Moon slowly turned her head around to Darkheart, rage and anger consuming her face. All of her actions were slow and delib- erate here. She slowly stood up, her face twisted with rage. "How... how could you do this?!" she asked softly. "Look, just because I AM from the Negaverse doesn't mean I have no shred of honor in me," Darkheart said. "I don't terrorize innocent civilians, Sailor Moon." He backed up as she advanced on him. "I un- derstand that you have feelings for this poor girl, Sailor Moon. But you cannnot act like this in battle. Granted, you are strong, but you will never be anything more if you let your emotions control you." And that's when she lost it. All of Sailor Moon's anger for Darkheart was concentrated into a single punch. As it hit his face, he crashed down hard. To him, the punch came at lightning speed. Only, it felt like he took forever to fall down. Fragments of what was left of his right lens fell out of his glasses. The other Scouts and Tuxedo Mask looked at her with total surprise. {No wonder Beryl, Kefka and Hogan fear you.} he thought as he looked up at her. Stevie Ray gently touched a hand to his smoldering head...and quickly pulled it away and winced in pain. The fire had gone out when he was thrown into the stream, but he could still feel the pain of hav- ing his hair burned off via Sailor Mars. He was sitting on the ground, and became quite pissed. "WHERE ARE YOU, YOU CHUMPS?!" he shouted. He grabbed his slap jack and started off. He wandered around full of piss and vinegar, un- til he saw a commotion several yards away. Thinking thye must be over there, he headed off in that direction. "Hey, hold up!" Darkheart said as Sailor Moon wound up with her Moon Scepter. "SHUT UP!" she shouted. Darkheart was surprised because he didn't expect her to act like this. The Scouts and Tuxedo Mask were surprised because she has never acted like this. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she slammed the weapon into the battered body of her foe again and again. However, no one could see Stevie Ray approaching from the distance. He stayed back a couple of steps and decided to watch at first. Then, she decided it was time to finish him off. Seeing that the last scepter shot to his head left him stunned and seeing stars, Sailor Moon took careful aim. "MOON SCEPTER...ELIMINATION!!!" The on- ly problem was, she wasn't expecting Darkheart to recover so quickly. Darkheart shook the last of the cobwebs from his head just in time to see a stream of what looked like stardust shooting right at him. Murmuring a quick 'Uh-oh...!' he sidestepped the attack quite ea- sily. Unfortunately - for Stevie Ray - Darkheart left the attack to deal with whoever stood in its path. Stevie screamed in horrible pain as the energy ripped through him like old documents in a paper shred- der. When the attack ended, a floatin nWo logo hovered in place, and fell to the ground, shattering into glass moments later. At that point, the paramedics arrived for Reenie. Darkheart saw the ambulance pull up and decided it's best he not stick around. "We will meet again, Sailor Scouts. Count on that," he said. Then, he opened up a portal and disappeared into it, leaving her with a wounded Reenie. TOKYO HOSPITAL ONE HOUR LATER "What's wrong with her?" Serena asked a doctor, nervously. "Well," the doctor started. He showed her an MRI photograph. "You can see here that's she's suffered some pretty serious damage to her meniscus and tore her anterior colladeral ligament." He showed her an X-ray. "She's also suffered a displaced kneecap. Believe me, the injuries sustained could've been a lot worse. She's quite a lucky girl." "Oh, my..." Serena muttered to herself as Reenie hobbled out of an X-ray room on short metal crutches and an immoblizer covering most of her right leg. "What's gonna happen?" "We've given her an immoblizer for her leg; I want her to keep that on for about a week. Then we'll get her fitted for a knee brace." To Reenie: "Until then Reenie, um, take it easy for a while. Every- thing's gonna work out just fine. We'll see you two in two weeks." As Serena and Reenie walked out of the hospital and climbed in Darien's car, Reenie was especially sad. Not because of the pain in her knee, but mostly feeling like it was all her fault. "I'm sorry, Serena. This..." "It's not your fault, Reenie," Serena said from the front seat of the car. "Yes it is, Serena. Your mom's gonna jump on both of us. You, especially." Serena settled back in her seat and sighed at this com- ment. "What're we gonna tell your mom?" STARBUCKS ONE P.M. THE NEXT DAY It was a clear afternoon Saturday, a day Owen had very little to do. He decided to ask Serena to join her for some coffee. She said she would meet him at one. When asked if she could bring Reenie with her, he agreed. As he sipped his coffee, he occasionally looked at the door for the two. He split time between this and putting the finishing touches on his latest drawing. The next time he looked up, he saw Serena walk- ing next to Reenie on crutches. "Oh, hey Serena," he said. "Hi Owen," she said with little enthusiasm. "Hey Re- my God, what happened to you?" he said as he saw Ree- nie. He was quite surprised to see her in such condition. "Oh, this...pretty bad fall down the steps," Reenie lied. The meeting went on for about a half hour, with Owen doing what he can to try and cheer up the two girls. He even showed them his private sketch book, something he said he hasn't done for anyone else. When the three left, they walked down the street, still talk- ing. However, Owen couldn't notice a slight hint of depression on Se- rena's face. {It'll eat both of us alive if she doesn't tell what's bothering her,} he thought. "Are you alright Serena? You seem down." "I'll be okay. Can you give us a ride home?" "Sure." LATER, AT THE PARK A smirk crossed the face of Owen as he put the final details of his newest drawing. He was packing his supplies into his bag when he noticed something a little unusual. He didn't know where it came from, but somehow he ended up with a gold star in his bag. "Huh? What the hell...?" he said to himself. He picked it up and looked at it. {Oh yeah! This is Serena's locket! I must have taken it with me by mis- take earlier.} he thought. He took a good look at it before he deci- ded to open it. When he did, a soft melody started to pour out. A gold crescent moon spun around the center of the locket slow- ly as the melody played on. For some strange reason, Owen felt a lit- tle light headed; as if the weight of the world was taken off his back. And for the first time in a long time, he smiled. Everything, for a moment, was peaceful. But then, he shook his head as if coming out of a trance, shut the locket, and head off. Owen drove down the street to Serena's house to return her locket. If she found out it was missing.... When he came to a red light, he saw a video game store on the corner. The window had a sign that said WE HAVE POK鍏N!" {You know, while I'm at it...} TSUKINO RESIDENCE 15 MINUTES LATER "Reenie?" Serena called from the kitchen. She looked out to see the small, pink-haired child staring at the TV from the couch - in- jured leg propped up on the couch with an ice bag on it - while absent- ly playing with the little sandbag that anchored the "Get Well Soon!" balloons, a gift from Amy, to the floor. It brightened her day a lit- tle when all the girls plus Darien gave her such gifts. "Reenie?" she called again. "Huh? What?" Reenie answered. "You want some lunch?" "Yeah, okay." But just as Serena turned back into the kitchen, she heard a ?KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!? "I got it!" Sammy said, coming down the stairs. He had a smirk on his face which disappeared as he saw a big man holding a present un- der his right arm. "Uh...um..." "Yeah, is Serena home?" the big guy asked. Obviously being un- able to match up to this guy, he backed away from the door and let him in. "Who- Oh, hi Owen," Serena said as she went to see who it was. "Hi Serena." He walked over to Reenie: "Hi, Reenie. How you doing?" "I'm alright." "Well, that's nice to hear. Here." He pulled the present - a box wrapped in shiny pink paper with a black bow in the corner - from his arm and handed it to her. "I thought this might cheer you up. Go on. Open it." Serena walked over to see what he had bought the girl. When she tore off the paper and took the lid off, she saw a gold GameBoy Pocket, a copy of Pok魯n Blue, and a pack of 8 AAA batteries. "Wow, thanks Owen!" she exclaimed. Reenie put the box down and hugged the large man. "You're welcome Reenie. You get better now, you hear? I gotta talk to Serena for a minute." He walked into the kitchen. "That was so sweet of you Owen," Serena said. "It was the least I could do. It's a shame that that had to happen to her. Speaking of which, you seem a little down; are you al- right?" "Um, can we talk, Owen?" He nodded. "I-it's about Reenie. She didn't hurt herself by falling down the steps." "Didn't think so," he said. "I knew it had to be something else." "Well, last night, we were at the cafe and some...some..." "Bad guys?" "Yeah, I guess. Anyway, there was two of them. They were ter- rorizing everyone before Sailor Moon showed up." "Then what?" "We tried to escape, but one of their attacks went astray, and it..." she was starting to tear up. "...just happened to hit Reenie. The property was badly damaged when she was sent flying through a brick wall. Now her knee's all screwed up and I don't know who's blaming themselves more...me or her." "I'm sorry, Serena." Owen patted and rubbed her on the back, only to find her shaking slightly. "I just hope that...that whoever did this to her, wherever he is...I just hope he's...he's proud of what he's...done to her..." With that, she started to cry. Owen pulled her into his arm and let her cry into his shirt. "He's probably suffering from within right now." He stuck his hand in his pocket. "Hey, is this yours?" He pulled out her Star Locket." "Oh yes, thanks. I've been looking all over for it. Hey, you wanna stay for lunch?" "No thanks. I gotta get going." THE NEGAVERSE Kefka paced around in place with a worried look on his face. Between paces, he mumbled incoherent drivel to himself. This frustrat- ion got Queen Beryl's attention. "Is there someting wrong, Kefka?" "Well, your majesty," he said sarcasticly. "I've been having a few problems lately...I feel as if my mind control on Darkheart is fai- ling on me. If this is true-" "Nonsense," Beryl interrupted. "Darkheart will be allied with the Negaverse as long as he lives. Besides, if he does break loose, the backlash from your hypnosis will leave him totally disoriented. He won't even know right from wrong." Just then, Darkheart entered the Negaverse...in a meloncholie mood. "Ah, Darkheart," the Queen said. "We were just talking about you." "Welcome home, son," Kefka added. "Yeah, whatever," Darkheart mumbled. Normally, he was in sort of a better mood than this. It was unusual for him to act like this. "Is there something wrong?" the Queen asked. "No." "Oh, but there must be something wrong if you're gonna be like this," Kefka said. At this, Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bishoff - the new arrival from the nWo - walked over. "Are you still thinking about that girl, Darkheart?" Hogan asked. This caused him to lose it. "I don't understand what my purpose is. Why am I doing this? REAL people are getting hurt!" "ExCUSE me?" Bishoff asked. "Do you know who you work for, you punk?" "You work for the Negaverse, Darkheart," Beryl started. Around here, what WE say goes. Do you have a problem with that?" "YES I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT! *AND* I WANT OUT!" For a mo- ment, all was quiet in the Negaverse. "I plan to make one final chall- ange to Sailor Moon. After that, I'm on my own. I CAN destroy her." "Fine," Beryl said. "Do what you must." And then, he turned around and left. LATER THAT NIGHT Led by an anonymous tip of evil activity in the park, Sailor Moon and company looked around for signs of disturbances. No one knew just who they were looking for, or if there was even something worth looking for. It was quiet. Too quiet.... Then, Darkheat appeared, to everyone's shock. "NOW what do you want?" Sailor Moon asked. "I'm not looking for a fight, number one, Sailor Moon," he said. "Not tonight, anyway." "What, can't find any other little children to terrorize?" Sai- lor Mars asked, angry." "Can we PLEASE put that aside for JUST ONE SECOND, PLEASE!?!" He shouted. "Thank you. Now, what I've come down here for-" He was interrupted when a huge blast appeared on his face. He fell down hard, as the Scouts looked around for a possible source of the blast. And that's when they saw a girl standing behind the group, dressed in traditional Sailor Scout attire, the white body suit accent- ed with a gold bow on her breasts while her knee-high boots and skirt were matte black, and red hair that rested on her shoulders. "And you are?" Darkheart asked. That's when the mystery Scout went into her speech. He noticed she had a thick Brooklynish accent. "I stand for justice, freedom and liberty! I represent all of the free people of the mother world! I am the true people's champion! I AM SAILOR EARTH!!!" "S-sailor Earth?" Sailor Moon asked. "Oh hell yeah!" Then, she focused on Sailor Earth really hard. "Molly?!" Her responce was a snap of the fingers into a point and a wink. "Sailor Earth, huh?" Darkheart asked as he spit blood out of his mouth. Obviously, he wasn't impressd. "Hmph! That was a fresh i- dea, three years ago!" "What do you mean?" Earth asked. "Look!" Darkheart pointed over at a crowd of dozens of girls that looked exactly like her, save for some variations in the colors of their attire. They were arguing which one was the real Sailor Earth. "Personally, I think you're ALL nothing more than figments of the ima- gination, which have no real substance, whatsoever." Then, he reached behind his back and pulled out a really big laser cannon. "And now, you are doomed." He set the power setting to medium, took careful aim with the cannon, and fired one huge energy ball. Sailor Earth barely got out of it's way, and then preceded to run away screaming. Then, the crowd of Sailor Posers got ugly. Really ugly. The argument turned into an all-out brawl as posers fought other posers. It was an unbearable site. So Darkheart took his gun, set it to full power, and - ignoring the voiceover saying OVERLOAD again and agin - fired a huge wave of en- ergy at the crowd. The phoneys, as well as the gun, were completely destroyed. "Now to business," he said. "I've fought with the other scouts before, but I'm most interested in YOU, Moon. So, I offer you this challange. You versus me. One-on-one. A week from today; what do you say?" "You're on," she said after a minute. And with a smile on his face, Darkheart walked away and disappeard. =====TO BE CONTINUED=====