18. Honeymoon

Ryan and Sandy’s room in the palace

	“The mystery crime fighter, whom people are now calling ‘The 
Golden Bull’, foiled an attempted bank robbery earlier this 
afternoon in the downtown business district.  Nothing is known 
about this individual, except for his or her seeming desire for 
justice.  As of yet, the newly wed Crown Prince has refused to 
comment on this enigmatic figure.”
	Ryan pressed the power button on the remote in disgust.  When 
the reporters had come to him that morning, asking him about this 
person he had never even heard about, there was nothing he could 
say.  He hadn’t refused anything.
	Since he found out, however, he had done some research into 
this new character.  This Golden Bull had become active while 
Ryan and Sandy had been in hiding, and had been fighting crime 
throughout the main city.  So far it had all been basic everyday 
crimes, nothing with power more than a human’s, nothing like what 
Ryan had been fighting.  All the better, in Ryan’s view.  This 
person could make the streets safe from crime with Ryan’s 
blessing and leave the supernatural threats to Ryan.
	“Firefly, do not worry about the news crews,” Sandy said as 
her arms slipped around his chest from behind him.  “If this 
Golden Bull guy is on our side, he’ll be on his best behavior 
thinking you don’t fully trust him.  If he isn’t, well, he’ll 
think you’re watching and not try anything stupid.”
	“He?” Ryan asked.
	“He, she, it, they, it does not really matter, does it?”
	“Not at all,” Ryan said.  “I thought you had seen something I 
had missed.”
	“Firefly?”
	“Yes?”
	“Stop working.  This is our honeymoon,” Sandy told him.
	“I am sorry,” Ryan said, realizing he hadn’t been paying very 
much attention to her.  “I think we need a real honeymoon.  Away 
from duties and distractions.”
	“Where would we go?” Sandy asked.  “This planet is one giant 
snowball, and the palace here is the most luxurious place there 
is.”
	Ryan couldn’t help but notice a hint of distaste when Sandy 
mentioned the state of Earth, as if she wanted to go someplace 
better.  “What is wrong with Earth?”
	“Nothing, really,” Sandy said.  “I am just sick of winter.  I 
am used to warm places.  There are no warm beaches here where you 
can bask in the sun.  The only place I’ve seen since I came here 
that is close to what I am used to is the Astral Plane.  I wish I 
could take you to a beach one of Vega’s planets, or show you the 
beautiful cliffs of Deneb’s fourth planet’s moon, or even go 
hiking with you through the forests of Sirius-7.”
	“But we can do all of those things in the Astral Plane,” Ryan 
said.
	“It is not the same,” Sandy replied.  “As pleasant as it is, 
our bodies are not really there.  And do not suggest bringing our 
bodies through it to the planets I mentioned.  I do not want to 
go off on spiritual quests just to go on vacation, and possibly 
end up where I did not want to go.  Besides, despite what you 
were told, the Astral Plane is dangerous to physical bodies.  You 
passed through it twice without harm, but you were lucky.”
	Ryan abandoned that idea.  “What about your ship, or whatever 
you arrived here in?” Ryan asked.  “Could we use that to travel?”
	“I did not tell you, did I?” Sandy said to herself.  “I did 
not exactly float down gently when I arrived on this planet.  
Your atmosphere has a surprisingly high number of air pockets, 
and I was forced to make a crash landing.  I was fine, but my 
staff had had a crystal on the top, better than the one in it 
now, which cracked and became useless.  The old crystal had much 
more power than the one I have now.”
	“Where can you get a new one?”
	“I would have to make one, but using my own power, that would 
take a year.  When my crystal was broken, I had planned to drain 
the energy from people on this planet to make a new one.  Now 
that these people matter to me, I cannot do that.”
	“Would you like to postpone our honeymoon so you can make 
one?” Ryan asked.
	“No, Firefly.  I want to spend my time with you, not in 
seclusion building a power base.  Maybe somewhere down the road I 
will get tired of you and spend a year gathering my power,” Sandy 
joked.  Ryan pretended to glower, which made Sandy giggle more.  
Her expression sobered and she said, “Even if I borrowed the 
Community Stone, it would still take a few months, I think.”
	That would have been Ryan’s next question, but Sandy had 
showed an amazing talent for reading his mind on several 
occasions.  She never ceased to amaze him, but he had to 
attribute some of it to her age.  She was, after all, over 
sixteen-hundred years old, while he was only twenty.  A person 
tends to learn a few things in a millennium and a half.
	“You have already thought out all of the options, have you 
not?” Ryan asked.
	“Yes,” Sandy replied, “and it seems I am stuck here with 
you.”  She grinned mischievously and Ryan responded in the first 
way he could think of: he tackled her onto the bed.
	He could learn to like vacationing in the bedroom.

***

	Caliban laughed as the crowd parted, fleeing from the blast 
he had just let loose in the mall’s atrium.  He had been sent 
here, to secure the small portion of the planet that had life, by 
his master.  Much to Caliban’s pleasure, his master had not 
forbade him from having fun while he did it.  And watching people 
scream in terror was always fun.
	A matched pair of security guards approached him with pistols 
aimed and ready.  Caliban, greatly amused by their belief that 
those infantile devices could even scratch him, allowed them to 
come forward and even grab him.  As each one grabbed one of his 
arms, he sent a pulse of electricity through them to the ground, 
which wasn’t shielded against such a thing.  Few uncivilized 
planets ever protected against electrical attacks; quite a few 
didn’t know about electricity other than what they saw during a 
storm.  Those were his favorites.  He could make them think he 
was a vengeful god, unleashing his fury at unbelievers.  That 
usually had them groveling at his feet as he killed them, which 
made it all the more sweet.
	He removed the charred lumps from his sleeves as the smoking 
remains of the security guards fell to the floor.  It was a 
simple kill - those two had had no chance against his power.  He 
always found it the most thrilling to give quick deaths to those 
who couldn’t stand up to him.  Challenging fights went to those 
fools who wanted to exercise their skills.  Caliban only wanted 
to flaunt his power.

***

	Ryan’s ring began flashing, as it did when any magic was used 
by a mortal to harm others.  “Sandy, I think some old friends of 
yours have arrived,” he said.
	“Damn,” she replied.  “They could not have just waited until 
after our honeymoon?”
	“Some people can be so rude,” Ryan agreed.
	He lifted his ring to the air.  “Saggitarius Power, Make-Up!”
	After the waves of power faded, he looked over to see that 
Sandy had also transformed for battle, though hers was a costume 
change only, into Stardust.  Saggitarius’s first instinct was to 
ask her to remain at home, but he realized he would be insulting 
her to the fullest if he did.  She was, in fact, more experienced 
in battle than he.
	Instead of arguing, he asked, “are you sure you want to 
come?”
	“And wait in agony wondering if you are coming home safely?  
I am fighting by your side to keep you safe,” she replied.
	“Let’s go then,” Senshi Saggitarius said.

***

	Caliban sensed someone approaching, someone with magical 
ability, and stole himself away around a corner and into a music 
store.  He watched as a man with black hair, armor, and faded 
blue jeans walked purposely forward, following a path it seemed 
only he could see.  A white haired woman in a leather vest and a 
light blue skirt followed him.  Something about her seemed 
familiar, but Caliban couldn’t place it.
	The man turned and faced Caliban.  “Who are you and what do 
you want?” the man asked.
	Caliban stepped out of the store and into the mall proper.  
“I’m here to secure this planet for my master,” he sneered.
	“Who do you work for?” the woman asked.
	In response, Caliban sent a blast of electricity at the two.  
It was deflected into a ring around them by the man.  Caliban 
looked with his inner eye, the one that could see magic being 
used.  There was no shield around the man.  How had he done that?  
He sent another bolt, watching this time.  The blast was once 
again diverted, but there was still no shield.  The lightning 
merely split when it approached, as if the man was controlling 
the element himself.  But that was impossible.
	“Saggitarius Lightning Arrow,” the man said, acting as if he 
were shooting an ancient weapon at him.  In his hands, a bow of 
electricity crackled suddenly, and an arrow flew right at 
Caliban. 
	There was no time to do anything about it.  Caliban braced 
for impact, but it never came.  Instead, there was a rush of 
power into him, as if he were draining a thunder storm.  He 
realized that the attack was pure electricity, the one thing he 
could handle with ease.
	“You control electricity,” Caliban stated, somewhat to 
himself.  “I didn't think it was possible to just control an 
element without the visible use of magic.”
	“So you surrender,” the man said.
	Caliban laughed.  “Not a chance.  Your powers won’t work on 
me.  You should surrender.”
	“We have already established that you cannot hurt us either,” 
the man said.
	Caliban cursed.  The man was right, it was a standoff.  His 
most powerful weapons would do nothing to this man, but 
perhaps... Caliban smirked.  He had a few other tricks to show 
them.  
	He raised his hand and sent a net of energy above them.  The 
woman gazed at him, then above her and the man, and erected a 
basic magical shield above them.  She had used her inner eye, but 
the man hadn’t.  Something was off.
	“Wait a second!” Caliban blared.  “If she was the one I 
sensed with magic, what the hell are you?” he demanded of the 
man.  “No one can just control electricity like that without 
magic, but you’re not giving off any magical readings.”
	“I am a Senshi,” the man stated.
	“One of the warriors of old?”  Caliban was impressed.
	“No,” the man said, “one of the New Senshi.”
	If Caliban had been frightened when he thought that the 
legendary Senshi were being revived, hearing that new, improved 
models were being made had him terrified.

***

	“It is an even match,” Stardust whispered to Saggitarius.  
“His magic is equal to mine, and his electric powers rival yours.  
We have a stalemate.  Any ideas?”
	“I have one, but I don’t know how well it will work,” the 
Stellar Senshi whispered back.
	Their enemy seemed to be sizing his chances up just as they 
were doing.  “You had better surrender,” Saggitarius told the 
man.  “The other Senshi will be here shortly, and they control 
the other elements.”  He hoped that his enemy would believe his 
lie.
	The man looked panic stricken.  In a move that Saggitarius 
could only interpret as desperation, the man raised his hands and 
sent a black orb at them, nearly twice their height and perfectly 
spherical in shape.  It engulfed and held him and Stardust in the 
blackness.
	“If you’re the only one who can counter my attacks, and you 
aren’t here to warn them, the other Senshi can easily be taken 
out by a surprise attack,” Saggitarius heard.
	In the next moment, he felt as if he were riding an elevator 
at an alarming rate, and there was a loud crash he knew had to be 
the roof of the mall being broken.  Stardust grasped him tightly.
	“Transform, quickly,” she told him.  “I need to get at the 
Community Stone.”
	Saggitarius did as she said, and she immediately reached into 
his shirt.  Suddenly, he could see, and the feeling of movement 
stopped, even though he saw the Earth receding at an alarming 
rate.
	“What did you do?” Ryan asked.
	“I have reinforced this bubble with one of my own shield 
spells.  It will not stop us from leaving, but at least we will 
survive the trip and any landing we face.  I also filled it with 
a supply of oxygen to keep us alive,” Sandy told him, having 
changed back as well.
	Ryan looked up and saw the moon approaching.  “Good thing,” 
he told her.  “We will need all the oxygen we can get up on the 
moon.”
	“With the Community Stone, I can keep this miniature 
atmosphere going indefinitely without having to think about it.”
	“That is very reassuring,” Ryan said as they landed.
	“There is bad news,” Sandy sighed.
	“We cannot get back, can we?” Ryan asked.
	“You are becoming proficient in reading my thoughts,” Sandy 
responded with a grin.
	“Not even with the Community Stone?”
	“No.  I would have to use all of my power to create a portal 
home, which would mean taking it away from our shield.  We would 
be dead before I finished.”
	“I take it this means that you cannot spend the time to make 
one of your larger crystals then,” Ryan speculated, hoping he was 
wrong.
	“Correct, Firefly,” Sandy said.  “It would produce the same 
result as a portal.  I can gather my power, bit by bit, until I 
have enough to get us home, but that will take years.”
	Ryan was crestfallen.  He looked into Sandy’s eyes, knowing 
what she said was the truth, and resigned himself to spending 
several years on the moon.  “At least we can spend the time 
together,” Ryan said.  It was a small consolation, but it was 
consolation nonetheless.
	“It is warm in our bubble, and we can move it around simply 
enough,” Sandy said.  “Though not the place I would have chosen, 
I think we could make a long honeymoon out of this experience.”
	Ryan’s mood perked a bit at the prospect, and at Sandy’s 
hands roaming over his chest.  They passionately undressed each 
other, and made love as the Earth set on the horizon.

***

	Caliban smiled at his quick thinking, though still shaken at 
having had to fight with equals.  He laughed nervously, but soon 
remembered that other Senshi were on the way.  Sneaking back into 
the music store he had hid in earlier, he waited for the Senshi 
to walk into his ambush.
	He heard a snort and a scrape on the tiled floor behind him.  
Before he could turn around, he was knocked off of his feet by a 
wave of strange energy, shifting the ground beneath him.  He used 
his inner eye to look for residual magic, but there was none.  
The other Senshi that Saggitarius promised had arrived, and they 
had the drop on him.
	He teleported back to his hotel room immediately in retreat 
when he saw a golden tail vanish behind one of the back walls.  
He had seen the reports on television that morning, concerning 
the Golden Bull, after he arrived, and had been dreading the 
inevitable encounter all day.
	Well, he had defeated one of the Senshi and his magical 
girlfriend.  Next time, Caliban would waste this Golden Bull 
character, and any of the Senshi who might arrive.

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page