Hello everyone. Here as promised is the second part to Solar Knights -
Night's Dark Shadow. Thanks to everyone who C&C'd me for it. I am still
looking for Nephlite's secret id in the Japanese version, so If you know,
or can show me where I can find it, I'd appreciate. :) And now, for the fic:
Solar Knights - Night's Dark Shadow
A fanfic of Sailor Moon By StarKnight
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**Disclaimer: Sailor Moon, all associated characters and situations created by
Naoko Takeuchi, used here without permission. All other characters are mine.
Writing notes:
^...^ indicates thoughts
*...* indicates telepathic messages
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Episode 2 "She's MY Girl"
Late at night, in a small park in the Juban district of Tokyo, two
strange figures stood. Both were tall and graceful in their form fitting
metallic armor. The red-headed female wore smooth golden armor with the
symbol of the planet Venus on the left breast. The stocky man was dressed in
ridged and ornate armor in brown with the symbol of the Earth on the
breastplate. They both were looking down at a man with long brown hair laying
face down on the ground.
"Naru, what just happened? What's going on with us?" The figure in
brown said, seemingly surprised at hearing his deep voice.
"I don't know, Umino." The elegant woman knelt down to the man on the
ground. "But I remember him. Last year I fell in love with him, but he died.
Now he's back and I remember all sorts of things. Like Sailor Moon and the
Sailor Senshi and the evil aliens they were fighting."
Both figures were enveloped in a glow that faded quickly, leaving
behind two very confused looking fourteen-year olds.
"This is all just too weird." said Naru. "How can we have these super
powers? Somehow Nephlite must have given them to us."
"No, the power came from inside the both of you." the figure on the
ground groaned as he sat up. "I just released the power that you had been
carrying inside you."
"But I don't understand, Nephlite. How can you be alive? You d-died
right in front of m-me." Naru started to snuffle as she tried to hold back
her tears.
"Now, don't cry, Naru. I'm just fine, as you can see." Nephlite put
a comforting arm around Naru.
"Hold on a second there, pally. That's my girl your holding." Umino
stepped forward, lamplight glinting off his glasses.
"Your girl? What's been happening here? How long have I been dea-, uh,
away anyway?" Nephlite looked from the sniffing Naru to Umino.
Naru suddenly started when a nearby clocktower struck ten. "Ohmygod,
look how late it is! I'm gonna get it when I get home." Naru sprang up off
the ground and blurted out "I'llseeyoutommorowafterschool, OK Nephlite?" and
dashed off down the street. Umino and Nephlite exchanged looks that would
have killed anyone in between them, then Umino spun and ran after the fleeing
girl, calling "Naaaruuu"
Nephlite sat for a minute, watching the teenagers running down the
road, then shaking his head, he eased his battered body off the ground and
walked slowly to the street to call a taxi home.
* * *
Far to the north, hidden in an ice covered mountain far away from
prying eyes another conference was taking place about Nephlite and his
friends.
"Vlad has failed. Hmmm, I/we never though that Nephlite would be so
dangerous in his weakened condition." Jadeite sat on the ornate throne in the
great hall of his palace. "He must have obtained help from somewhere, he never
could have defeated Vlad by himself. Well, what do you to think?"
At the foot of the dais Kunzite and Zoicite turned to face their new
leader. "We should attack now, when he is still weak." said Zoicite. "If he
somehow awakens the Sailor Senshi our plan could be in danger."
"No, could never awaken the Sailor Brats on his own. Only Queen
Serenity's cat advisors could do that. By removing those two pests, the Senshi
will not be a threat to us. Zoicite, go find and capture those two talking
furballs, Luna and Artemis."
"I hear and obey, Lord Jadeite" Zoicite responded, disappearing in a
swirling cloud of sakura petals.
"And now, my lord, what shall be done about Nephlite?" Kunzite spoke
up for the first time. "Surely we can't just leave him free to disrupt our
plans?"
"Of course not, Kunzite. I/we have a plan in mind to take care of
Nephlite. He will be expecting us to attack him directly, so we need something
more subtle than a youma attack. Yes, I/we have a plan that will remove
Nephlite as an obstacle once and for all."
Weird, echoing laughter began to fill the great hall.
* * *
Nephlite sighed as he sat down at his table, still toweling his wet
hair. "It's amazing how a long, hot shower can really bring a person back to
life. So to speak." He smiled wryly as a glass of lemonade floated into
his hand.
"Well, the place doesn't look too bad. I will need to clean it up
some, though." He said, looking around at the dust gathered on all the
surfaces.
"But what about Naru?" Images of the cinnamon-haired girl and the boy
with the large glasses moved through the air as Nephlite thought of them.
"Can she really be in love with that kid? And what will I do if she
is?" He seemed to mull it over for a few minutes while sipping his drink, then
shook himself.
"Well, one way or the other, I'll find out tomorrow."
* * *
The next day Naru was sitting in homeroom looking distractedly out
the window when Usagi ran in just before the first bell rang and collapsed
into the chair beside Naru.
"Whew! I don't believe I actually made it on time!" Usagi noticed
Naru staring out the window and realized that she wasn't listening. "Hello,
Earth to Naru, come in Naru. Boy, and people call me a space case."
"Huh? Oh. Hi Usagi." Naru turned towards her friend. "I didn't hear
you come in."
"Man, what's gotten into you today?" Usagi's expression turned
mischievous. "Did you have fun with Umino last night?"
Naru blushed. "Knock it off, Usagi. We just went to a movie, and
then a... walk in the park." Her look turn serious again." Can I ask you
something serious? And will you promise not to tell anyone?"
"Oh-kay" Usagi responded, with a huge grin on her face.
"What would you say if I told you something really weird happened last
night? Like what I told you that when Umino and I were walking home we were
attacked by a monster and Maxfield Stanton was there, but he is really an
alien called Nephlite, and the monster was trying to kill him. He did
something to us and gave us these weird powers and we beat up the monster, but
now I've got these memories of this kingdom on the moon where I was a knight
a thousand years ago."
"Uh, right, Naru. Next I suppose you're going to tell me that I was a
princess there or something. You know, sometimes you have the strangest
dreams,
Naru. If you don't want to tell me what really happened last night, then it
must have been really good" Usagi laughed and then looked forward as Miss
Haruna entered and called for attention.
Umino sat behind the two girls and watched silently, with a grim
expression on his face.
* * *
After school Umino and Naru walked out of the building together,
talking quietly so they wouldn't be heard by the other students.
"I just don't think you should have told Usagi about last night.
She'll probably talk about it all over town and we really don't need that kind
of publicity."
"What's gotten into you today, Umino. You're acting like totally
weird today."
"What do you think? Ever since your old boyfriend showed up last night
we've got these powers and these memories. I still don't know what to make of
all this, but I definitely don't want it known all over the school. Someone's
bound to want to know what happened to the park last night."
"Yeah, but Usagi's my friend. I'm sure she'd tell me if something
like this happened to her. But it's not like she believed me, anyway. What
should we do now, anyway?"
Umino looked thoughtful for a minute. "I still can't make out much of
these memories, but I remember that we were called Solar Knights, and we were
supposed to guard someplace called the Moon Kingdom. I wonder if there are any
others like us around?"
Naru was about to answer, but got distracted by a beep and turned to
see Nephlite standing by his Ferrari and smiling brilliantly. He stepped
forward and held out his hand to Naru. "How about we go for that chocolate
parfait you wanted."
Umino stepped in between the two and said, "Let's all go together. I
think there are some things that we need to talk about." He gave Nephlite a
dangerous look.
* * *
A few blocks away the three of them were walking along the street,
Naru walking beside Nephlite while Umino walked beside the two of them,
looking at Nephlite and frowning.
Nephlite turned to Naru and said, "Sorry I couldn't drive us there,
but my car's only a two-seater."
"Don't worry about it." Umino responded frostily. "We've got a few
things to talk about anyway, right?"
"What is wrong with you, Umino? I've never seen you act like this
before." Naru looked across to the boy.
"Well, let's see. You're old dead boyfriend shows up, wrecking a
perfectly good evening and then gets us into a fight with a dangerous monster
from another dimension. On top of that, I may not remember to much about the
past, but I KNOW this guy was one of our enemies. Why would I be upset?"
"It's Umino, right? Look, Umino, I didn't mean to get you into this
mess. I would never do anything to harm Naru. It was just chance that I ran
into the two of you last night. At the time I had no idea that the two of
you were Lunarians. And I have renounced my association with the Dark Kingdom.
All I want to do now is protect the Earth."
Umino spun and grabbed Nephlite by the shirt. "I don't trust you.
You were part of this Dark Kingdom once and you probably still work for them.
I don't know what you did to us, but just leave Naru and me alone."
Nephlite's expression grew cold. He slapped Umino's hand away and
shoved him backwards a few steps.
"Maybe you forgot who you're talking to. I command the power of the
stars, and could fry you where you stand. If I was still evil, I would have
done so without a second thought."
"Maybe you could have killed me that easily once, but not any more.
Or did you forget what you did to us last night?"
Umino raised is right hand up, palm out, and the symbol of the Earth
appeared in his palm. "EARTH KNIGHT POWER!" He cried out, and brought his hand
down and punched his left fist into it. Lines of energy streaked out of his
hands and spread around his body, growing solid in the form of his Knight's
Armor. Where once stood a short, slight boy now stood a powerfully built man
in heavy brown armor.
"I'm not exactly a pushover anymore." He swung a powerful right
hook at
Nephlite, who dodged easily, backfliping out of reach.
"Maybe you'd like to reconsider this. You're really no match for me,
you know." Nephlite said, moving into a casual stance.
"Oh, really? Take this then! EARTH WAVE!" Earth Knight punched the
ground in front of him, and a large section of the sidewalk ripped itself up
and threw itself straight at Nephlite, striking him full on in the chest,
doubling him over in pain.
^Ugh, maybe I underestimated him. I'd better get serious.^ Nephlite
stood upright again and fired one of his starbolts at Earth Knight, which was
deflected away by a shield that suddenly appeared on his left arm.
^Uh, oh. He has more power than I thought. If I'm going to win this
fight I'd better get some protection too.^
Closing his eyes and bringing his hands close together in front of his
chest, Nephlite intoned "Power of the stars, protect me from my foes!"
Miniature stars formed in mid-air and began to rotate around him,
faster and faster until he was lost in a flash of light that made Earth Knight
and Naru shield their eyes. When their vision cleared they saw Nephlite
standing there in armor of his own, black as night with stars forming moving
constellations across the surfaces of it.
"Sorry pal, but that armor won't stop me." Earth Knight reached out
his right hand and pieces of broken concrete and earth flew toward him,
changing shape and merging into the form of a large, gleaming sword. He
leveled the point of the sword at Nephlite's armored breast.
"I'm only going to tell you once more, stay away from us or you'll get
hurt." Earth Knight's and Nephlite's stares locked and both knew the answer
to that statement.
"Don't you think that Naru should make the decision of who she wants
to see? ARROWS OF SAGITTARIUS!" Glowing slivers of energy streaked away from
Nephlite's hand towards the Knight. Two of the bolts were deflected by his
shield, but the third found a home in his leg.
Grimacing from the pain in his leg Earth Knight leaped forward,
bringing his sword around in a sizzling arc that would have sliced a tree in
half, but Nephlite ducked under it and brought his hands up to Knight's chest,
discharging a bolt of energy that sent him flying across the street and
smashing though a wall on the other side.
Emerging from the ruin of the wall, Earth Knight prepared to launch
himself at Nephlite again, but was stopped by a flash golden light. Both heard
a cry of "VENUS SHIELD!", and a barrier of golden energy suddenly sprang up
between them, cutting the adversaries off from each other.
"The two of you will stop this foolishness at once!" Venus Knight
pinned first Earth Knight, then Nephlite with her stare. When she saw them
relax slightly she withdrew her shield.
"Whatever our reasons are for being here, we cannot go around
demolishing people's property just so you two can work out your aggressions.
Now then. Since you seem to know more than we do Nephlite, what is happening
here?"
Seeming to start slightly from some hidden memory, he spoke. "I
remember that you and the other Solar Knights we protectors of the realm of
the Moon Kingdom, which was at war with my Dark Kingdom. During the final
siege of the capital of the Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity activated her Silver
Moon Crystal and sent us all into the future. The Negaforce continued it's war
against the Earth, but was opposed by the Sailor Senshi and their leader,
Princess Serenity. She evidently used the power of the Moon Crystal again to
defeat Queen Beryl and wipe everyone's memories of all that has happened. I
was spared the amnesia because I was technically `dead' at the time. But the
Negaforce still exists and brought me and the other Generals back to life.
They intend to continue the war, and without the Senshi to oppose them this
time, I fear they may succeed. I was shown the goodness that is in the human
heart thanks to Naru, and I can no longer serve the Dark Kingdom. I would try
to stop the Negaforce from succeeding."
Earth Knight's sword and shield disappeared and he looked thoughtful.
"Yes, I'm beginning to remember more clearly now. If the Princess defeated the
Negaforce once, why can't she do so again?"
"Actually, she wasn't able to defeat the Negaforce, just drive it out
of Beryl's body. Even Queen Serenity could not destroy the Negaforce. And the
Senshi's memories were wiped out as well. They don't even remember that they
are the Sailor Senshi right now."
"Can't you restore their memories, Nephlite?" Venus moved closer to
him, and Earth Knight began to seethe and grit his teeth.
"No, as far as I know, only Queen Serenity's cat advisors
have the
power to reactivate their Senshi powers. That would restore their memories I
believe."
"Well, then we'll have to find these cats and get them to rekindle the
Senshi's memories. Wait, what is that?" Venus perked up, and soon all three of
them hear the sounds of sirens, approaching quickly.
Nephlite glanced around. "Someone must have called the police because
of all the damage we were causing." He turned to look Earth Night squarely in
the face. "We may not agree on much, but believe me when I say that I no
longer
support the Dark Kingdom and wish to stop them from taking the Earth. Until
we can restore the Senshi and stop them, let us call a truce in our private
conflict." He extended his hand to Earth Knight.
"Very well. Only until the Senshi are revived, I will hold to this
truce. We should split up and get out of here before the police arrive. We
will talk again tomorrow." With that, he turned his back on Nephlite's
hand and walked off quickly.
Nephlite sighed at Earth Knight's back as he moved away, then took
Venus' hand in his and brought it to his lips.
"Until tomorrow then. I wish you a good night." Nephlite then turned
and walked off in the opposite direction, disappearing in a dark mist.
Venus night held her hand up awkwardly, a faint blush spreading across
her fine features before the sound of the sirens reminded her that she had to
leave as well.
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End Episode 2
Keep an eye out for Episode 3: "Kat-Napped"
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Star Knight Otaku, Fanfic Author and Gamer
Solar Knights Battle Angels<<
email: starknight@mindspring..com or starkght@netrax.net
web: www.minsdpring.com/~starknight
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