A Growing Darkness: DarkStar Rising Jess Shelton AKA StromDakth or DarkStar ______________________________________________________________________ Sailor Moon, and all affiliated characters are owned be we all know who. Star Wars, and all affiliated characters are owned by Lucasfilms Ltd. The use of these characters is entirely for entertainment purposes. We thank them both, for creating these characters, and kindly ask them: Don't Sue Us! ______________________________________________________________________ Note: Story follows 'Sailor Scouts, and the Young Jedi Knights' Suggest reading 'For her Friends' trilogy, 'Identity Crisis', and 'SS and YJK' by Wolfbyte I am the same StromDakth mentioned at the end of 'Identity Crisis' I have been relatively uninterested with anime until a couple of months ago when my friend, Wolfbyte aka Solar, began writing his stories. I am an avid reader with an active imagination and was unable to resist the temptation to continue with his work. This story is primarily written by me but with aid from Solar/Wolfbyte so forgive me if this story is rather patchy and incomplete. This also mainly an introduction for my new character and so don't be surprised if it isn't very complex. _______________________________________________________________ Chapter 5: Cameron Drake watched the dead alien crumple to the ground, his rage subsiding as it fell. As soon as he was sure the Krell was dead he attended to his comrades. Lita was crouched on the floor with her head resting on her knees. "You okay, Pretty Lady?" he asked kneeling down and taking her hand. She raised her head and looked into his eyes and nodded. "Okay." He turned to attend to his other fallen comrade. Jason laid on the floor with Raye leaning over and kissing him, tears streaming down her face. Cameron didn't really understand what she was doing until a red aura formed around her and slowly transferred to Jason. Cameron watched in shock as the wound in Jason's chest very, very slowly closed. Raye released him and sat up, tears pouring out of her eyes "It's not working. Why isn't it working? It has to work." she screamed, then leaned over and pressed her lips to his again. The effect was even less then before. Cameron reached down to check for a pulse in Jason's wrist. As he clutched the cold limb, pain seared through his body and he nearly collapsed. Lita watched as Cameron grabbed Jason's wrist and erupted into screams of intense pain. She watched as a black aura formed around Cameron and intermingled with Raye's red aura around Jason's body. She watched Cameron crumble away from Jason in pain. She watched Raye's surprised expression when she looked at Jason again. Cameron didn't know there could be such pain. His body felt like lightening. "How did you do that?" he heard Raye ask. He opened his eyes and followed her gaze to Jason. The wound was half the size it had been. She quickly grabbed his hand and pressed it to Jason's wrist. Nothing. "I'm..." Cameron choked, "I'm sorry. I don't know what to do." Raye didn't say anything, just nodded. She looked at her husband, leaned down, and kissed him. The instant her lips met his, energy shot from Cameron's body to Jason's. The pain was incredible. "Even transition wasn't this bad." he thought, then he thought "What is transition and how did I remember it?" Before another thought could pass through his mind it was filled with an even worse then before. With a sudden jerk he released Jason's wrist, fell face first to the floor, and into unconsciousness. * * * * * Cameron was laying on a bed, a very soft bed. "Umm.. I haven't slept on a bed like this for years." he commented. "Well, don't get to used to it." Cameron's eyes shot open and he found himself staring up into the smiling face of Jason Grant. He hoped out off the bed and grabbed Jason's shoulders to be sure that it wasn't a dream. It wasn't. "Jason. You're alive." Cameron pressed his hand to Jason's chest but found only human flesh. "Thanks to you, I understand." Jason grabbed his friend's hand and squeezed it tightly. "I owe you my life, old friend." "No." Jason looked confused. "You owe me two of your lives, remember." Jason couldn't help but laugh. "You're right. I don't suppose you have a two for one discount?" The two old friends laughed together for absolutely no reason for several minutes. Finally Raye and Lita leaned in to find out what was so funny to the two. The two men answered the girls questions with even more laughter. Finally the two had no more air to laugh and had to stop. Jason stepped over and put an arm around his wife leading her into the other room. Cameron walked up to Lita and offered his arm "Care for an escort, Pretty Lady?" he asked. Off hand he noticed that he was still in his black suit with the white skin. "Yes, thank you." she said politely taking his arm. He led the brown haired girl toward the living room. He couldn't help looking at the lovely young lady and was pleased when he caught her looking at him several times. "Man, is she beautiful. I wouldn't mind getting to know her better." he thought. Halfway down the hall he almost collapsed. Lita caught him, "Whoa. You okay?" Cameron shook his head and answered, "No. I'm not feeling to good." He looked into Lita's eyes and smiled. "But I'm getting better. Just used up to much energy." Lita reached under him and supported him to the living room. Jason and Raye were sitting on the couch on one side with a handsome young man beside them talking with Serena, who was holding a cold pack to her forehead. Mina and Amy were sitting and talking, Amy with another cold pack on her head and Mina was defiantly favoring one leg. As they entered everyone turned and smiled to him. "Good afternoon, DarkStar." Mina said happily. "Hey, Blondie." he responded as Lita led him over to a chair and sat him down next to her. The young man next to Jason looked him over and smiled, "I hear that you saved the day here." The young man stood up and stuck out his hand to Cameron, who took it without qualm. "Thanks." "You're welcome. I'm sorry I didn't get your name." Cameron answered. "Darien." the man smiled. "Now," Jason interrupted, "we need to find someplace to go. The Krell will be looking for us. Any ideas?" Before anyone else could say anything Cameron spoke up "I have a loft on the other side of town. It's big enough for all of us." "Okay. How do we get there?" Cameron didn't answer but looked straight at the center of the room. A large black ovid appeared directly in front of him. Everyone just stared with their mouths open. Amy was the first person to break the silence "A wormhole!" "Exactly." Cameron laughed. "Quickest way between two points." "So this is how you pull your disappearing act?" Jason commented, "And I thought it was just my exceptional training." Cameron stood up and immediatly fell to his knees. His eyes closed in concentration. "I don't think I can keep it open for long. You guys had better get through quickly. Jason walked up to the ovid and reached a hand through which he quickly pulled back. He then stepped through. Raye watched anxiously until Jason's head popped through. "Come on, guys." The head disappeared as did Raye, Amy, Mina, Luna, and Artemis. Serena and Darien took each other's hands and stepped through. Lita reached down and picked Cameron up and carried him to the portal. "Wait." he said. He then stepped out of her grip and reached under her, lifting her up in his arms. "I wanted to carry you across the threshold." he smiled and stepped through the black portal. * * * * * Raye stepped through the portal into a large two story loft. It held a small kitchen, several couches centered in a small library, a bed on the upper tier, and in the center of the room a large open area surrounded by hand weapons of many different sorts. "This is what he calls a small apartment." she said. "Cameron always was a bit modest." Jason answered. Raye heard a small whistle behind her. Mina and Amy stepped up next to them. "Now this is impressive." Mina said in awe. "Very nice except for the bachelor motif." Amy said. They all heard a pair of gasps behind them. "We know." Jason said. "Impressive." "This Cameron seems to have little problems with money." Luna commented as she hoped onto one of the couches. "Yeah." Jason answered. "I wonder where he got enough money to rent this place?" "I don't rent it. I own it." Jason turned around and was surprised to see Cameron standing there carrying Lita, her head resting against his shoulder with closed eyes. "Is she okay?" he asked running over. Lita's eyes instantly popped open and she hopped out of Cameron's arms. "I'm fine. He just wanted to carry me." "And you let him?" Jason asked, stupefied. "Yes." She smiled and stepped over. She put a finger under Jason's chin and said "Why? Are you jealous?" "No." He smiled back and stepped back from his friend. "Cameron, how did you afford this?" "I don't really know. When I woke up in here a month ago I had this strange feeling I should check stocks. I did and found a stock under my name invested in a company called IBM fifteen years ago." The black suit liquefied and spread over Cameron's body then disappeared into the black crystal hanging from his neck, leaving him in plain clothes again. He collapsed into a chair nearby, closing his eyes. "I cashed the marker in and here you have the results." He yawned once "By the way, how long was I out?" "You were asleep for about half an hour." Lita answered. "Half an hour? Not long. No wonder I'm tired," then he furrowed his brow, "but I should be much more tired. I used up most of the energy I stole from those aliens suits when I blasted their boss." "But you had some left after that." Amy said. "You helped Raye heal Jason. From the readings I took afterwards your power was depleted but you had lingering energy from both Jason and Raye." Raye interrupted "Which reminds me. How did you help me? The other scouts can give him their energy but I'm the only one that was ever able to heal him." "I honestly don't know. I was just trying to check for a pulse when it happened." "You mentioned draining the aliens suits. How?" Amy asked. Cameron shrugged "You saw me drain the energy from a wall socket. Same thing, except that due to the nature of its use, deflecting your powers, I had to be in direct contact with the suit to drain it." "What happens to the energy?" "I figure that it's a chemical conversion. The energy is used to create certain chemicals in the body which are then reformed to create dark energy, which is the easiest for DarkStar to use." "Dark Energy?" Lita asked. "Dark energy is sort of a antithesis to light energy. It is off the EM light spectrum and at the far end of it's own. It is very powerful against living tissue. While most bands of energy on the light spectrum are helpful to life, dark energy is unbelievably destructive to it." Cameron looked over at Amy, who's jaw had dropped. He smiled, "What? Surprised I have a brain?" "No. It's just that most Americans don't seem to have any" Amy answered. Jason smiled "She's talking about you too, lover." Raye told him. "Ah, but I'm only half American." he answered. "Does that mean your only half insulted?" Mina asked. Jason rolled his eyes back, "Am I really getting that predictable?" Cameron laughed. "To your friends, you've always been predictable in your unpredictability." "Oh yeah." The chair under Cameron lifted three feet into the air and dumped him out. "Did you predict that?" Cameron stared at his friend. "How did you do that?" "I'm pyrokenetic. I just heat the right atoms and, walla, levitation." Cameron smiled. "Thanks for the instructions." Suddenly, Jason was the one being floated three feet above the ground and dropped. "Ohhh. I'm sorry. Did you forget my energy manipulation?" Surprisingly, both men began laughing. Cameron reached down and helped his friend up. "I have a question." the previously silent Serena said. Cameron turned to her. "Yes?" "Do you have anything to eat around here? I'm starved." No one could hold back their laughter. * * * * * Commodore Melvik sat in his command chair aboard the Krell Assault Cruiser Yevetha. They had been sent to this primitive ball of mud to destroy a human who had somehow destroyed the great Admiral Yeves and his warriors. They had received full data on the battles up until the time when a massive power surge smashed the record/transmitter on Yeves. Melvik heard the young recruit step up behind him and stand nervously while trying to think of someway to say his piece. "What is it?" he asked the young soldier. "Umm." he certainly seemed scared, "The troops from our assault have returned, sir." "With this Solar's head, I hope." Melvik smiled. "I'm afraid not. We lost readings on them and had to track bio signals. They were defeated." the soldier seemed desperate to run and hide. "How badly?" Melvik growled. "Three unconscious, four injured, three fatalities." Melvik was sure there was something more that the recruit wasn't saying. "Anything else?" "One of the casualties is Frell." The words struck him like a sledge hammer. "Is that confirmed?" "Yes, sir. The body is down in the incinerator chamber." "Who did it? Was it Solar?" "No, sir. It wasn't his energy signature." "Then who?" "Drem has awakened and confirmed that they were defeated by a new member of the Sailors. He heard him called DarkStar." "Thank you. That will be all." Melvik whispered. He turned to the large door at the back of the bridge and quietly passed through it. He made his way through the ship meeting only two crew men along the way. Not to surprising since the ship was over three hundred meters long but only had a crew of fifty, correction forty seven now. "How?" Melvik thought, "How could this have happened? They had brand new, state-of-the-art power defense suits. They should have stopped any energy attacks the humans used. And Frell was the best fighter I ever trained. How did they best him?" Melvik approached the large black door to the incinerator chamber. "Where is it?" Melvik roared as he blew through the doors. Prodla, the cremator, closest thing to a Krell medic, jumped at the sudden intrusion. "Where is Frell?" "Sir, are you sure you want to see him?" Prodla cowered before the angered Commodore. "If I didn't would I be down here? Now show him to me." The meek Krell led Melvik toward one of the bins leading to the burner. "Are you sure, sir? It isn't a pretty sight." "Show me!" The timid Krell lifted the lid reveling the partial remains of the deceased Frell. Melvik's throat caught. He turned and walked out without a second word. Once in the hall, his roar shook the massive ship. "I'll kill them all! They'll all pay for killing a Krell. And the one who did this will suffer for killing my son." * * * * * Lita sat on the couch watching her friends. They were sitting at the table in Cameron's apartment munching on whatever they could find. They had offered to let her cook, something that their host was very exited by, but she had declined. She was busy thinking. She had been thinking about Jason again. His happy nature and loyalty. But whenever she began thinking about him she found her mind wandering to Cameron. Why was this Cameron so enamoring. Sure he was handsome, friendly, and seemed oddly similar to Jason but there was something else about him. It was almost like... "Something on your mind?" pleasantly familiar voice said from behind her. She turned and looked up at Cameron, leaning against the back of the chair. "Not really." His face curled into a quizzical look, "Okay, something, but nothing important." "Could have fooled me. You certainly seemed concerned about something." He handed her a glass of water he had been holding, "Thought you might be thirsty." "Thanks, I was." she greedily gulped down the drink and, when she realized he was staring, slowed down to a more reasonable pace. She watched as the handsome man walked over to a seat opposite her and dropped into the plush seat. "Jason and I were talking. We'll split the cost for the repair of your apartment. Until then you can stay here, I've got plenty of room, with Jason and Raye, with Amy, or Mina. Serena and Darien are to busy planning their marriage." He looked at her and her slowly moistening eyes. "Are you okay?" "Sure, why wouldn't I be?" she responded. "You seem to be more secluded. Your friends say that you are always tremendously outgoing but I haven't seen any of that." "I've had some things on my mind lately." "Jason." Cameron said matter of factly. Lita was surprised, "Am I that obvious?" she wondered. "Yes. It does have to do with him." "You love him." Cameron said just as matter of factly. "Or at least you did at some point." "How did you know that?" she said in shock. "It was pretty blatant. You were almost as worried about him as Raye, both when he was wounded yesterday and when he almost died earlier." He stared into her eyes. "When you look at him I see an old longing in them. One I could wish to see in a woman's eyes for me." Lita just stared at the surpisingly insightful Cameron. "Yes, I love him, or loved him. I don't know which." She sighed a bit, trying to keep her voice low enough that her friends over at the table couldn't hear her. "The main thing is that, I've never had anyone like him. There was Freddy but I never really, I mean really liked him. Everyone I've dated since was like Freddy." "But what you wanted was someone with more character, someone who could match you for strength of character." Cameron continued. "Yeah. Sort of. What I want, what I've wanted for years is someone I could love unconditionally. Jason was the first person I met for whom I could do that." Lita's eyes began to moisten as she continued. "But he and Raye fell in love and got married. I have trouble just getting a date. Raye didn't even need to look and no matter how much I look I can't find anyone. Now what does that say about me?" "It says that you are looking for a perfect man." Cameron sat up and walked over, sitting next to her. With a sudden move he reached his arms around her and let her head rest against his chest. She immediatly began to cry. "Whoa. It's okay." "No it isn't." she quietly sobbed. "You're right. I've been searching for a perfect man. I'll never find one and I'll never be happy." She continued to cry quietly against him. "Don't talk like that. You'll find him." Cameron lifted her head. "Look, I've got the same problem. As far as I know, I haven't had a date in four years." Lita stopped crying for a moment. "Four years?" "Yup. I've never been able to find a woman I could love, either." She began to cry again. "But you're handsome and friendly. You're a lot like Jason. You can find a woman anytime who would be happy to have you." "But I don't want any woman. I want the one that I can love." "But who could love me?" Lita continued sobbing against Cameron's chest. Cameron was silent for several moments before answering "I could." Lita was shocked again. So she was right. He did like her. Not only that, he could love her, by his own admission. "I'm going to need some time to think about that, but thank you." "You're welcome." Cameron reached into a pocket and pulled out a tissue that he used to wipe her eyes. "Friends?" he asked her. She smiled "Friends." To herself she thought "Maybe more to come." Cameron smiled widely into a very pleasing expression. "Now lets go over and join the others before they become concerned." Cameron turned to the others and noticed something no one else had. Jason was sitting watching them with a small smile on his face. ______________________________________________________________________ I told you Jason was dead but I didn't say I couldn't recover him. And yes it does tie into the plot line both here and in the later books I am working on. Warning: you have witnessed the beginning of a Krell's rage but it will get more violent. And I have now confirmed the romance aspect of the story. I originally hadn't intended on having it but my friend had created a dilemma he didn't have an answer for with Lita and I just found that the solution fit well with the story line. I never thought I was good at the romance part of the writing but I've been told it is pretty decent. Now the question about it is, how far will it go? This question and others will be answered in up and coming chapters.