Arturus X. R. Sailor Moon: Marathon Part One Foreword: Before I started writing this, I was trying to think of some kind of crossover between SM and something else. I came up with Marathon. For those of you that don't know, Marathon is a Doom-type game released by Bungie (They made Myth) around 4 years ago for the Macintosh. Its strong point was its plot. (For you Vidmasters out there who do know, you might find this story interesting as it shows my point of view on the plot of Marathon, i.e. the Jjaro, S'bhuth, etc.) I was wondering what would happen if you put the Senshi in the equation... And this is the result. (Note: This takes place during the Alan and Ann escapade, except that instead of Alan and Ann, this happened, and the Senshi still don't have their memories back, but they are all friends.) Somewhere in the heavens...they are waiting... School was finally out that year for the summer, and Usagi was spent on hanging around the arcade, the ice cream parlor, and anywhere else that her parents weren't. She had been looking forward to this month for a long time, (In Japan, summer vacation is a month long.) and nothing was going to get in her way. She thought maybe she could invite one of her friends to join her, but Ami was too busy studying for some odd reason, Rei was no fun at all, they always ended up arguing, Makoto was gone visiting relatives in Canada, and Minako was chasing boys around, and probably didn't want to be bothered. She sighed at the realization that this summer vacation was turning out to be a major letdown in that she couldn't spend it with anyone. The thought passed as quickly as it came when she saw the arcade come into view. The Western Arm of Battle Group Three sat hovering at the edge of the Tau Ceti system. They had not recieved any new orders since the end of the war two months ago. It was a tough war, but in the end, the Drinniol were beat into submission, and were now slaves. Time passes by quickly, however, and the sweet taste of victory soon left their mouths. The scouting missions given to them were merely fodder to keep them busy...and happy. No one talked much about Battle Group Six anymore, ever since they went berserk from S'pky'proth, the mental condition in which the mind is shattered from lack of direction, and destroyed 55 Corvettes in Battle Group Five before succumbing to the Weapon. No one talked about the Weapon much, either...but no one needed to. Everyone knew its destructive power. It was developed just two days before it was used to destroy Six. Although there were no more official uses for it, word was getting around that it would be used to conquer Planet MK-3... Meanwhile, the technician in Battle Group Ten stood fast at his post, idling by, waiting from the next humdrum occupation from base to be transmitted. Oh well, he thought, it keeps us busy, and busy is good. His thought no sooner ended than the monitor crackled to life and orders from the High Command began to be transmitted. Everything seemed like it was turning out to be another scouting detail, until the word "MK-3" was spoken. Then he, and the rest of the nine remaining Battle Groups knew that their long boredom was over. "Hi, Andrew!" (I don't know the Japanese name, so I'll use Andrew for now. If you know his Japanese name, e-mail me [address at bottom]) "Hey there, Usagi. Haven't seen you around here for a while." Andrew punctuated this phrase with a smile. "Oh, I had so many final exams, but that woudn't have been a problem if my parents hadn't made me stay inside and study for them." Andrew laughed, then said, "So, what do you plan to do for summer besides coming here?" "Well, I was hoping I could get my friends to go with me to look for clothes sometime, but they're all busy." A "Hmm" was all Andrew could manage before a fellow employee told him that it was his turn to work the ticket booth. "Well, see you tomorrow, Usagi!" To Usagi, it seemed like Andrew had left something out in the open with that little "Hmm", something which he didn't often do. In fact, Andrew didn't mean to do this, but Usagi was noticing things today. In just a few minutes, she would be noticing a hell of a lot more. Ami took a break from her Chemistry studies for a breath of fresh air. It always smells better outdoors after a period of hard work, she thought, noticing the deeper, more pungent scent of the air compared to the air found inside of her house. She sky took on a tint of orange, telling her the onset of night was coming. All of a sudden, a quickly moving blue sphere of light that seemed to purposely contrast with the orange flew across her field of view. It stopped when it reached the sun, and expanded to seemingly engulf it, while at the same time disappearing altogether. What happened next defied logic. The sun started to get bigger, at first, it could only be discerning my looking closely, but soon it could be clearly seen expanding. At the same time, the sun was taking on a much more reddish hue. The left side of Ami's brain told her that the sun was going nova. The right side told her to panic. Luna and Artemis had been watching all of this. "But, Luna, there has to be an alternative. I mean, they're so happy without worrying about fighting the Negaverse..." "Dammit, Artemis, look outside! Tell me there's an alternative!" Artemis realized It was hard to argue against a star going nova. "Alright, Luna, we give them back their memories, then what?" "I don't know. Maybe we'll find something to help us." "Better do it fast. Even though I'm not an astronomist, from the looks of things, this doesn't look natural." Artemis was right. The sun was going nova twenty times faster than it should have. At that rate, the surface of the earth would become molten within one hour, that is, if it weren't engulfed in the first place. The two cats hurried over to each of the five former Senshi and rounded them up. Each of them didn't know what to make of the talking cats, but when Death is an hour's walk away, not a lot makes sense. Luna performed the Luna Mind Meld to the Senshi, but not much had changed. The sun was still bearing down on them like a rabid dog. "Sailor Mercury, try your visor," said Luna, in her all-too-familiar calm-in-the-face-of-death tone. "If something caused this, and I'm betting it did," we should be able to find it." "Right," replied Mercury. Activating her visor, she looked up into the sky and scanned for any anomalies. "I've found one," she said excitedly. "I can't get too much data on it, it's too far away, but it looks like a...spaceship." "Wait a minute," said Sailor Moon, as soon as Mercury finished. "Are you saying that were going to go..." "Up there," finished Sailor Mars. "Look, I really don't want to go either, but if we stay here, we're going to be fried to a crisp!" "All right then," said Luna. "We have no choice but to Teleport up there. Are you ready, Senshi?" "Yes!" they all replied. Then joining hands and combining their power, they initiated the Sailor Teleport and whisked themselves away into the unknown. From where the Great Admiral Tfear stood, it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Finally, after hundreds of years, the last and most intriguing of the Jjaro technology had been completed, thought Tfear, as images of his race becoming masters of all species danced through his head. Now the universe would submit to them, after they discovered that the high and mighty humans were now slaves of the Phfor. Nothing would stand in their way, which is as it should be. They were the ones who found the Jjaro ship in the first place, weren't they? It was their right to utilize the awesome power found in it. As Tfear looked down at the once prosperous world known as Earth, he wondered if the Jjaro were once planning to conquer the Earth as the Phfor were doing right now. The equipment found on the ship cetainly suggested it... The Senshi awoke in a large, dark room. Actually, it could probably better be described as a chamber. The air smelt a little stale, but above all, everything seemed so...so metallic. The whole room was made of steel. The first to regain her senses was Sailor Mars. Then Sailor Venus awoke, then Mercury, then Jupiter, then Sailor Moon. "Are we...are we on the spaceship?" said a groggy Sailor Moon. "I believe so," said Luna. "Now, keep alert. Who knows what we'll find up here." "When the Senshis' vision returned, they noticed what appeared to be a door at the top of some stairs. Walking up them, cautiously, they reached the door. Sailor Mercury reached out and touched the door, startled to find it opened at her touch. After she caught her breath, they walked through. It was at the same time amazing, and utterly disturbing. The ship wasn't alien in design, that was for sure. The odd thing was that there was writing along the walls. First in English, then in Japanese below it. "This doesn't make sense," said Sailor Mercury. "How is this possible? That a ship so futuristic in design was made by...us?" "Maybe it's from the future," blurted Sailor Moon. It seemed like a plausible theory. Suddenly, they heard a sound come from behind them. It sounded like breath. Then, another one, to their right. there were three more before utter, eerie silence. Then they noticed Sailor Venus. Her eyes were fixated on something. They looked at whatever she seemed to be looking at. From around the corner, a very tall person, around seven feet, carrying a long stick approached them. As he got closer, it became apparent that something was very wrong. The "person" had three eyes. Two were a human would have them, another in the center of its forehead. Its skin was a pale grey, and it was wearing green, shiny armor, with some sort of breathing apparatus attached to his mouth. It had three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. The stick it was carrying had what looked like the bud of a flower on it, except that it was glowing. But most of all, it looked angry. And whatever it was, it was running right at them. Look for part two real soon! Arturus X. R. Tell me what you think of this fanfic! (arturusxr@earthlink.net)