Sailor Moon: Almost Got Her 

  Written by Razorclaw X (spiceoflife@NYUhotmail.com)
  http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/sm/index.html
  Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and characters belong to 
Naoko Takeuchi. Proper licenses belong to respective 
properties and characters. The manga has precedence 
over material in the anime. 
  This file can be freely distributed so long as it 
appears in its complete form and proper credit. No part 
may be reproduced for monetary gain without permission 
from the author (to which the answer is probably "no"). 


----------------------------------------------------

The Chaos Nexus, 30th Century 

  Glowing human hands belonging to an unknown person 
shuffled a deck of playing cards in his hand out of 
boredom.  For what seemed to be an eternity he waited 
alone in the darkness of the chamber, its single source 
of illumination being a primitive ceiling-mounted 
hanging lamp, giving light to the hands, the cards, and 
an empty, green velvet circular table.  

  Somewhere in the distance he heard the sound of a 
gong, and as the reverbration died down another seated 
herself at the table.  She, like the first man, was 
shrouded in a cloak of midnight, revealing only her 
own pair of hands as she folded them neatly on the 
table before her.  

  Both of them turned their eyes to a third attendee, 
this time a large, ball-shaped creature of blackness.  
A single large, round, human-like eye opened, casting 
its own illumination to the dark room and revealing its 
tentacle-like feelers that dangled around him.  

  Finally, appearing out of nowhere, a pair of blood- 
red eyes seated herself opposite the giant eye.  Her 
body lacked substance, sharing the same dark shade as 
the giant eye creature.  Talon-like hands reached over 
the table, and she tapped her fingers on its surface 
impatiently.  

  "It looks like we're all here," Zirconia said, 
unfolding her hands and leaning on the table with her 
elbow.  She nodded toward Metallia with bemusement in 
her eyes.  "I see you couldn't snatch a body in time, 
eh?"  

  "This will do!" Metallia hissed, her taloned fingers 
threatening to scratch the table.  

  Wiseman leaned forward, wearing a visor over his 
hooded head.  His eyes glanced to Metallia, then to 
Pharoah 90, continuing to shuffle the deck of cards in 
his hands.  "Then I assume we can begin."  

  The giant eyeball, a mere avatar of the giant 
menace Pharoah 90, blinked.  Even piles of red, white, 
and blue chips appeared on the velvet-covered table.  
"We will start even this time, since Metallia ruined 
the table-- and the pot-- last time."  

  "You were cheating!" Metallia yelled, slamming a fist 
on the poker table.  

  "Was not," the eyeball replied calmly.  

  "That's beside the point," Zirconia voiced.  She 
turned her eyes to Wiseman.  "So what'll it be?"  

  "The same game we play every time: poker," the hooded 
sorcerer replied, placing the deck on the table in 
front of Metallia.  "Cut."  

  Wordlessly, the shadow creature lifted half the deck 
up and set it beside the untouched pile.  Wiseman 
scooped up the remaining pile and stacked it on 
Metallia's pile, then proceeded to deal cards.  

  "I see we don't have any new faces this time," the 
dealer noted, starting at Metallia and running 
clockwise.  

  "Our allies were once in legion," Pharoah 90 said.  
"But, because of... HER," the eyeball turned to the 
side and threw a glob of spittle from one of his 
feelers, "they are no more."  

  "When we speak of... HER," Metallia spat, "we know 
you know what you mean."  

  "Of course," Wiseman replied, nodding.  

  "Whatever happened to that nice girl?" Zirconia 
asked, turning to the giant eyeball.  She snapped her 
fingers recalling the name.  "Mistress Nine, wasn't 
it?" 

  "WAS," he emphasized coldly.  "She was my most 
powerful agent, and because of... HER...."  

  "Go on," insisted Wiseman, having finished dealing 
out the hands.  

  Pharoah 90's eye scooped up the cards before him 
with tentacle-like feelers.  "We were attempting to 
bring the Silence to the former Earth Kingdom.  It was 
more of a matter of a struggle between the host and 
Mistress Nine, but in the end the host, who turned out 
to be the Soldier of Destruction, Saturn, won." 

  "That has nothing to do with... HER," Metallia 
pointed out, organizing her hand. 

  "Mistress Nine was my most powerful agent," the 
eyeball repeated, "and, since they were still at war 
with the Earth Senshi upon my magic-aided arrival, SHE 
was there.  She, along with the Soldier of Destruction, 
were on hand to destroy me.  The Silence stopped the 
moment I attempted to step through from Tau Ceti."  

  "Mmm," mused Wiseman, throwing down three cards from 
his hand, "I should visit Tau Ceti one century." 

  "It is indeed a dominion of Silence," Pharoah 90 
boasted proudly.  "Two cards."  

  Zirconia threw down cards of her own.  "One for me."  

  Finally, Metallia wordlessly put down two cards of 
her own.  Wiseman picked up the draw pile and dealt 
out the necessary cards.  

  "What good is it to bring the Silence?" Zirconia 
wondered, picking up her new set of cards.  "Sure, you 
could wipe out everybody and everything, but what good 
does it do?"  

  "Silence marshals a time of peace," Pharoah 90 
replied evenly.  "No war, no destruction, no death. It 
is a grand order which can never be broken."  

  "And all that's due to having nobody to do any of 
those things!" she said, gaining momentum.  "There's no 
purpose in conquest if there aren't any people to 
conquer!" 

  "I have no desire to rule," the black eye pointed 
out.  "Raise twenty."  

  Wiseman immediately threw in chips of his own into 
the pot at the center of the table.  "I'll take that.  
And I agree, as well; rulership is not what it's made 
out to be."  

  Zirconia threw in her own chips.  "What's so bad 
about being the ruler?  You get your way, and you don't 
have to answer to anybody!"  She glanced at Wiseman.  
"Or do you think the 'manipulating advisor' bit really 
is worth it?"  

  "None of your business," the hooded dealer replied 
coldly.  

  "No charisma is your problem," Zirconia insisted.  

  Pharoah 90 focused his eye on Metallia, who was 
staring at her hand, tapping the tabletop with her 
fingers.  "Well?" 

  The shadow creature stared back at the eyeball with 
her own red demonic eyes.  She threw her hand down on 
the table, face-down.  "This hand's not worth it."  

  "As I recall," Wisman countered, directing his 
attention fully on Zirconia, "your attempts to 
overthrow the Moon Kingdom's seat of power went to 
naught.  Your plans of conquest all met with failure."  
 
  "Very true," Zirconia grumbled, "but Queen Serenity 
was foolish enough to only seal me away, not destroy 
me outright."  She chuckled to herself.  "I sincerely 
doubt she could've done it anyway."  

  "Your Dead Moon Circus hardly fared any better," 
Metallia pointed out.  "It was a complete failure."  

  "Shut up!" the other female snapped.  "At least they 
actually did some damage!" 

  "Damage, eh?" Metallia mocked.  "When I marshalled 
the Earth Kingdom against the Moon Kingdom, I was far 
more successful than you could hope to dream!" 

  Wiseman leaned to Pharoah 90's side after throwing in 
a few more chips into the pot.  "Here it comes."  

  "Not only did I turn Earth's most powerful sorceress 
to my way," the shadow creature continued, "but I also 
took control over the Four Kings and their armies, 
adding them all to my own!  Combined with my youma, the 
Moon Kingdom was defenseless!  Even their Senshi were 
no match for us!"  

  Zirconia shook her head, throwing more chips into 
the pot.  "Must we go through this again?"  

  The black eye blinked, then threw in chips to match 
Wiseman's raised stakes.  "It was hardly conquest.  
Your abscence by being sent to the future hardly made 
it worthwhile.  Earth flourished without the 
hindrance of you or the Moon Kingdom to get in its 
way."  

  "Details!" snorted Metallia.  

  "Had you bothered to Silence Earth we wouldn't have 
to deal with... HER, now."  

  "Oh, as if you're one to talk, Mister 'I couldn't 
open the door for myself!'"  

  "Meanwhile, I'll raise seventy," Wiseman announced.  

  Zirconia looked at her hand longingly, then folded 
her hand.  "I don't like where this is going."  

  The avatar of Pharoah 90 followed the dealer's lead 
with his own chips.  "My hand is far superior than your 
own."  

  "Maybe, maybe not," the dealer replied evenly.  "But 
I agree, Silencing Earth back then would have made 
matters much easier today."  

  "As if you're one to talk," snorted Metallia.  "You 
and your brother there-- all you talk about is Silence 
and nothing else."  

  "We are all brothers and sisters," Pharoah 90 
corrected.  

  "Big difference."  

  "I have the Black Crystal," Wiseman said, "and I also 
had its greater likeness, Nemesis, in my possession.  
Dark twin to... HER own mystic Silver Crystal, it 
absorbed energy rather than reflected it, making it 
the unbeatable weapon." 

  "Right," Zirconia said sarcastically.  "And that's 
why you still lost, despite the big black hole rock."  

  "By altering the flow of time," the Death Phantom 
countered angrily, "the Senshi brought a second Silver 
Crystal ahead in time to force Nemesis back into its 
erratic orbit, and thus stave off the attack on Crystal 
Tokyo.  Had they not resorted to this I surely would 
have brought Silence to the world-- the chaos element 
would have been removed from perfect order."  

  "Excuses, excuses!" Metallia complained.  "That's 
all you other guys spout about."  

  "You had your fair share," Pharoah 90 pointed out.  

  "So what'll it be?" Wiseman said to the eyeball.  "I 
call."  

  The avatar's feelers carefully laid-out the five 
cards out neatly on the table.  "Flush," he announced, 
revealing a hand full of hearts.  

  If Wiseman still had the skin to produce a smile, he 
would have done so as he revealed his dark hand.  
"Straight Flush," he said, revealing a set of diamonds, 
king high.  

  "You cheated." 

  "The dealer never cheats," he countered.  

  "I don't know," Metallia said, "I have my suspicions 
on that one."  

  "In that case, you can deal," Wiseman decided, 
pulling the pot to his end of the table.  

  "The winner deals, though," Pharoah 90 pointed out.  

  "Then I'm still dealer!" the Death Phantom said with 
a snicker.  

  Zirconia sighed, passing her cards to Wiseman's 
end of the table.  As he began shuffling again, she 
asked, "So how many of you guys are going to the Family 
Reunion she's throwing?"  

  "I doubt I shall attend," Pharoah 90 answered, 
"seeing as to my presence would surely dominate the 
surrounding area easily."  

  "Then I'm not going, either," Metallia said.  

  Shuffling the cards swiftly, Wiseman said, "I share 
the same sentiments as they."  

  Zirconia shrugged.  "Same here, but I figured, if we 
all go, then it'd be no problems, right?"  

  "Remembering that it is she who is throwing the 
party," Metallia said.  "We can never be too careful, 
even if she is one of us."  

  "And yet not one of us," Wiseman added.  

  "So when is it?" asked Pharoah 90.  

  "Sometime during the next temporal flux, I think," 
Zirconia answered, "which is not too far off."  

  "Then we should get our affairs in order."  

  "Perhaps," conceded the dealer, "but, in the 
meantime, the game's the same, and this time, deuces 
are wild...."  




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Author's Notes

  The title is in reference to an episode from Batman: 
The Animated Series which shared a similar concept as 
this story ("Almost Got Him").  


--Razorclaw X 
http://www.crosswinds.net/~slythe/sm/index.html 

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