Life's Lessons
A Sailor Moon fanfic by Kristin Renee Taylor

Chapter 9 -

"'Kizu tsuita hibi ga toketeku,'" Rei muttered.

   "What?"

   Rei looked away from the stream of people, to where Makoto sat
pecking away at a keyboard. "I've got this song stuck in my head,"
Rei said. "It's annoying."

   Makoto leaned back in her chair, flexing fingers cramped from
continous typing. "What song?"

   "None that you would know, Mako-chan." Rei smiled to soften her
words. She turned back around, gazing at the people below. Someone
was waving at her. "I think group number 13 is ready to go."

   "Gotcha. Opening the Gate... now." Makoto rapidly typed out a
string of keys.

   The cavern below Rei was rough and unfinished, and only one of a
vast network of caverns, known as the Catacombs, that ran beneath the
Descendant's base. It was through the Catacombs that much of the base
was heated, thanks to the abundant hot springs. It was also down here
that Rei spent much of her free time spluenking.

   In the middle of the cavern floor, standing four meters tall,
eight meters long, and half a meter thick, Ami's device appeared to
be nothing but a single plane of smooth metal just sticking up out of
the ground. As Rei watched, a vertical stripe of light appeared in
the center of the metal, and expanded outwards, as if a gate was
opening onto another world, hence the reason why people called it the
Gate (The official name was the "Instantaneous Matter Transmission
Device", but everybody liked "The Gate" better.).

   When the Gate had been erected, Ami's crew had also carved out an
aclove high up in the cavern's wall, where the Gate's machinery had
been placed, and where Makoto controlled the Gate's functions.

   Now, as the band of light widened into a portal to the D-point, a
cold wind blew into the cavern, surprising the twenty-five people of
group 13, spraying snow along the rock floor where it quickly melted.
Rei noticed this and turned to Makoto. "I think a blizzard started up
out at the D-point."

   Makoto's eyes darted back and forth as she read the information
coming from her screen. "I know. I'm compensating." The storm of snow
lessened, then died. Makoto glanced at Rei. "There. Contact with the
D-point established. All systems show green. I've got an eleven
minute window, so tell 'em to haul ass, Rei-chan."

   Rei waved to the group below, and, slowly they begin to make their
way through the portal.

   Makoto joined her, resting her arms on the saftey railing. "You'd
think that, after all this time, I'd finally manage to settle down
somewhere and have a permanent home, but it looks like I'm moving
again."

   Rei kept her eyes on the group below. "You make it sound as if
we're never coming back."

   "We're not," Makoto said, utter conviction in her voice.

   Rei was surprised. "What makes you say that?"

   "As often as I've moved in my life, I've developed a sense for
these things." She looked up, her gaze solemn. "And this place feels
like every other place I've moved from." She looked at Rei, emerald
eyes dark and sad. "This place... it isn't our home anymore."


On the Odyssey, Yoko paused just outside the medical bay, and took a
few minutes to compose herself. It wouldn't do for Mercury to see her
excited; Yoko needed to be as calm as possible.

   'Thank Pluto I serve Mercury, and not Mars,' she thought with a
supressed shudder. With Mars's ability to read emotions and minds,
keeping any secrets would have been impossible and, for someone as
devious as Yoko, very, very lethal.

   Convinced that her expression was a blank mask, Yoko walked
through the double doors. As she expected, Mercury was there,
supervising the activities of two Priests. The object of the trio's
attentions, strapped to one of the surgery tables, was a seemingingly
comatose Terri. Yoko looked at her friend, and a flood of guilt rose
up in her.

   Yoko swiftly buried it.

   Mercury, Her back to Yoko, didn't turn around as the doors slid
shut behind her. "Well?" Her voice was cool and distracted, which
Yoko was grateful for.

   Yoko stopped behind Mercury and bowed. "Her Excellance, Lady
Venus, appreciates Your most gracious offer, but, unfortunetly, She
has decided to decline Your help. She knows that You have other
matters to attend to and She does not wish to waste Your time on such
a trivial matter."

   Yoko kept her head low, and felt a chill go through her, which
meant that Mercury had turned to look at her. "Did Venus truly say
that?" Yoko clearly heard the undercurrent of mistrust in Mercury's
voice. 'She's suspicious of me. I'll have to deal with this
carefully.'

   Yoko straightened, met Mercury's eyes, and said, "I would never
lie to You." She smiled internally, pleased with the calmness in her
voice.

   Mercury's eyes narrowed slightly, and She opened Her mouth to
speak.

   One of the Priests suddenly piped up. "I mixed and injected the
serum as You directed, my Lady, but I... I think something went
wrong. I'm not exactly sure about what happened but, well," he
glanced fearfully at the table, "It would be best if You saw this
Yourself."

   Mercury turned, Yoko no longer the focus of Her attention. "I
think I know what is best for Me," She snapped, glaring at the man.
The Priest stumbled back and fell to his knees, stammering an
apology.

   Mercury ignored him, and turned to the other, now terrified,
Priest. "Are the preperations complete?"

   The Priest bowed. "Yes, My Lady."

   "Then all of you, leave Me."

   The Priest gathered his companion, and both made a hasty exit.

   "That includes you, too, Yoko."

   Yoko took a breath. 'Time to roll the dice.' Aloud, she said, "If
You can forgive my boldness, my Lady, I wish to stay and observe. I'm
curious as to what exactly You are going to do to Terri."

   Mercury stared at Yoko so long that the Priestess was afraid she
had somehow given herself away. When Mercury turned away, Yoko nearly
exhaled the breath she didn't remember holding, until Mercury said,
"I truly hope that it is curiosity that motivates you, Yoko. I would
hate to discover that you are ruled by your baser emotions."

   Yoko swallowed. "I... am merely a Priestess, my Lady, and am
subject to the same emotions as others of my kind. Only You and the
other Senshi are perfect in that regard."

   Mercury gave Yoko a sidelong glance and smiled, an unpleasant
sight under any circumstance. "Indeed." She placed a hand on Terri's
pale forehead. "Now let Us see what secrets you have been hiding."


Makoto looked up from the keyboard as Rei grunted. "Rei-chan?"

   Rei, hunched over, lurched towards Makoto, lost her balance, and
fell to her knees. Makoto leaped to her feet, knocking over her
chair, and ran to her friend. "Rei-chan!"

   "My link..." Rei ground out through gritted teeth. "Somehow... my
link to Terri-chan's active again, and she's..."


Yoko looked up as the lights above flickered and dimmed. A breeze,
slight at first but steadily growing stronger, begin to blow through
the room, setting Yoko's robe whipping around her body. "Um... Lady
Mercury?"

   Mercury, jaw set in fierce concentration, didn't respond. Beneath
Her hand, Terri groaned and stirred restlessly. Energy, black as
night, leapt from her body, striking nearby machinery with disturbing
effects.

   The lights dimmed further. The wind grew stronger. Shadowy images
moved at the edge of Yoko's vision, vanishing whenever she tried to
look at them directly. Yoko watched fearfully as one of the black
bolts of power lanced through a computer monitor, detonating it in a
furious display of glass, sparks, and circuitry, and setting the
little that remained ablaze.

   As a Priestess she had watched Mercury scour dozens of people's
minds. This was definitly the first time something like this had
occured.

   A tray of surgical instruments crashed into a cabinet full of
vials. Yoko backed up, then took shelter behind a table.

   What in the name of Pluto was going on?


"Something's happening."

   "Can you see what?"

   "No. My vision's getting really fuzzy for some reason. But it
looks like... like a giant tuning fork? What the heck does Venus want
with that?"

   Ami turned away from the windows, looking at Minako. "A tuning
fork?"

   Sweat beaded Minako's forehead, and she was breathing quickly, too
quickly. Ami struggled with trying not to worry; Minako had been
through much worse for longer periods of time, but it was impossible.
"Minako-chan, I think..." Ami halted, indescion tearing at her.
Finally, she said, "Venus is... probably trying to set up a
sub-harmonic wave resonance. To match, and eventually, cancel out
your natural frequency."

   "Ami-chan, I was originally born in Japan, not Greece."

   Ami flushed. "She's going to shut off your shield."

   "Oh... Oh! Heh heh. Let 'er try. All I've gotta do is hold out
till Mako-chan and Rei-chan are finished working the Gate, then Venus
can have this place. How many groups did they have left?"

   "Last time I checked, five groups. Given the random teleport
windows, that'll take about half an hour... if we're lucky. Can you
hold out that long?"

   Minako's smile was strained. "No."


Something had gone horribly wrong.

   From her position near the floor, Yoko watched as a strange black
aura appeared around Terri's body, and tendrils of blackness started
to snake up Mercury's arm. The Senshi's eyes snapped open, and She
looked about Her, for the first time noticing the roaring cyclone and
the piles of melted slag that was what remained of the Med bay.

   She jerked away from Terri, and the expression of disbelief on Her
face would have been funny, if Yoko hadn't been scared for her life.
"Impossible!" the Senshi shouted, Her voice clear even over the
howling wind. "This... this... *abberration* cannot possibly be this
strong!" Then She saw Yoko, and the disbelief evolved into rage.
"YOU! You're the one doing this!"

   Yoko scrambled backwards, trying to find purchase on a suddenly
icy floor. Mercury, unhampered by the tornado, grabbed Yoko by the
neck and slammed her into a wall. Eyes the color of steel, Mercury
snarled, "I don't know how you worked your way around the
Re-Education, but I'm going to-"

   "Fire-"

   Mercury turned, shocked. "What?!"

   Over Mercury's shoulder, Yoko saw Terri slowly climb to her feet.
Grey eyes open and unseeing, she lifted both hands towards Mercury.
"SOUL!"

   A split second later, the Med bay, and much of the Odyssey,
exploded.


Minako, already stretched beyond her abilities, felt her tenous
hold on her force field snap, hurtling her back into her body. She
sprawled on the ground, gasping for air, and feeling really dizzy as
her heart rate soared from fourty-four to seventy-five in a few
seconds.

   'Okay,' she thought as she lay on the ground. 'Right about now,
Venus and her flunkies are probably storming the base. So, I can't
keep lying around here. I've got to get up.' A few seconds passed.
'I've got to get up.' Several more seconds passed. 'I've. Got. To.
GET. UP!' Minako rolled onto her side. 'Well... it's a start.'

   "Minako-chan? Daijoubu?"

   'Hm... maybe I overdid it just a little.'

   A hand touched her shoulder, and she was being helped to sit up.
"Can you hear me? C'mon, Minako-chan, give me some sign you're okay!"

   Minako grunted, and blinked groggily. "Fwuh?" Then her eyes
widened. "Aaaameee?"

   Her friend smiled, relieved. "You'll be fine." She looked out the
window. "Mako-chan's here. She's going to take you down to the
Catacombs, and she, you, and Rei-chan are going to group Teleport
everybody that's left. Do you think you can manage that?"

   Over Ami's shoulder, Mako-chan was grinning broadly. Minako met
Makoto's eyes, and nodded slowly.

   Ami's own smile was, by contrast, almost evil. She stood and
stretched. "Then it's time I paid the Senshi a little visit." And,
just like that, she was gone.

   Minako didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry, so she did both.


Venus was in shock.

   A sudden, frantic communication from an Enforcer on the Odyssey,
claiming that the crusier had simply exploded. A rapid surge in
Mercury's power, followed by an abrubt silence. And Minako's shield
collapsing before Venus had done anything.

   Venus frowned, and teleported to the bridge of the Santillus.

   At once, the people present saluted or bowed or genuflected in
some way. Venus ignored them all, seeking out her head Priest. "What
is our current status, Diego?"

   The Priest smiled. "Your troops have blasted several openings into
the Descendants' base, and currently taking control of the first and
second levels. We have met some resistance in Mizuno's Ark, but they
are only a few people. We should have complete control within
minutes."

   Venus's eyes were drawn to the Tower. "And My counterpart?"

   Until now, the Priest had been confident. Now his confidence
faded. "We... have not been able to get a fix on her position. B-but
I'm sure that she'll be found. With their base gone, they have
nowhere to go."

   A small group of people were talking excitedly about something.
Venus looked at them. "What are you fools babbling about?"

   From the cluster, one man was shoved forward. He wiped his
forehead nervously. "W-we h-have a r-r-report from the f-f-front
lines. M-Mercury's-"

   Venus grabbed the man by his shirt and lifted him up. "Speak!"

   "She's coming here!" He squealed.

   "She's dead." Another voice said from behind Venus.

   In the abrubt, total silence, Venus dropped the man and turned,
snarling, "What did you say...?"

   Yoko stood, her robe charred and blackened in many areas, and
stained by blood pouring from open wounds. She looked up at Venus. "I
saw it. Terri killed Her."

   "And you survived? How?" Venus asked angrily.

   "Happened too fast. No time to... to do anything other than
teleport. I tried to help..." She collapsed, unconcious.

   Venus stared down at her, shocked. Mercury was dead?

   "But, Mercury can't be dead. She's coming here, from the Tower."
someone ventured finally.

   'From the *Tower*?!'

   Venus whirled. "Retreat! NOW!"

   When nobody moved to obey, Venus looked to see what had captivated
Her crew. Outside the bridge, beyond the prow of the cruiser, across
a distance that only someone with Venus's vision could see, a single
figure was decimating Her troops.

   The ribbon in back was longer. The brooch shaped like a heart.
Shoulderpads clear as glass. And the eyes...

   Across that vast distance, Venus locked eyes with Mizuno Ami, now
as Super Sailor Mercury, Avatar Reborn.

   And Venus knew fear.