Written by BHart
April 17, 2007

Act LXI
Thunder Planet

Sailor Chibimoon, Menard and the Sailor Quartet were flying around Jupiter. "It was a good idea to check out Jupiter's moons first. Looking on Jupiter itself for the castle would take forever, due to its enormous size," said Sailor Juno.

"There wasn't anything on the two moons we checked. Which ones should we look on next?" asked Sailor Chibimoon.

"Let's try that one, over there," suggested Sailor Palus, pointing to a moon in a retrograde orbit. It was the moon known as Pasiphae.

They noticed a clear stream of water running across the ground. It led them to a palace with two bronze statues in front of it. The inscriptions at the bottoms of the statues read, "These are statues of Pasiphae and Helios."

"It doesn't look like my Helios," commented Sailor Chibimoon.

"It must be the one from mythology," replied Sailor Menard.

"This might be the castle we've been looking for," said Sailor Celis.

Inside the palace was ancient Greek-like art on the walls. Most of it was nude art.

It was largely empty, not offering much to be seen. "There's no key of Jupiter here. All that we've found is some crystal ball thing," said Sailor Juno.

"You're right. The key must be elsewhere. Or maybe Prince Uranus was already here," said Sailor Vesta.

Sailor Menard picked up the crystal ball, sitting on a pillar in the room. A white light emitted from it, shining on the adjacent wall. Hidden words inscribed on the wall were revealed by the light. The words read, "The crystal ball of this oracular palace only reacts to a pure heart. Find the four animals of Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Leda, and then take them to Elara."

"Let's split up and meet at Elara afterwards," said Sailor Vesta.

Sailor Chibimoon and Menard arrived on Leda. "So, there's some animal thing here?" asked Sailor Menard.

"I guess. Let's be very observant," replied Sailor Chibimoon.

They could see a bright glowing object in the distance, separating itself from the darkness of space. As they got closer to it, they could see the light was coming from a small building, not much bigger than a shed.

There was only one room inside. The light was coming from a white swan. "This must be it," said Sailor Chibimoon.

Before taking the swan, they read some inscriptions in the room, "The pure light which shines from Leda is only but a memory of past times. The king of gods diminished her light with his impurity and deceit. May the violated Cygnus find solace someday."

Sailor Juno and Vesta arrived on Callisto. They found a small sculpture of a bear in a nearby building. "I guess this is what we came for," said Sailor Juno.

"Let's get out of here."

As soon as Sailor Juno grabbed it, inscriptions about the object were written on the walls reading, "The fleeing Callisto found refuge amongst the stars, where she is always above the horizon. The circumpolar Ursus is now forever safe."

"Whatever that means," said Sailor Vesta.

Sailor Celis and Palus were standing right in front of a sculpture of an eagle on Ganymede. "We came all this way for an eagle?" asked Sailor Palus.

"The eagle is so graceful, yet deadly when it catches its prey."

"Do you think it's a trap?" asked Sailor Palus.

"Only one way to find out."

Celis took the eagle sculpture from its pedestal. "See? No traps."

Inscriptions on the wall read, "The Trojan prince could not escape the desires of the king of gods for long. He was snatched up and kidnapped by him, being subject to his perverse desires. May the Pederastic aquarius overcome this traumatic experience."

"What a disgusting story," commented Sailor Celis.

"I didn't get it," said Sailor Palus.

Sailor Chibimoon and Menard were inside a small building on Europa, reading the inscription written on the walls about the bull sculpture, "The Phoenician Europa was kidnapped by an unwanted pursuer who took the form of a bull. After the raping Taurus had his way with her, he showered her with gifts. They can be found in this small dedicatory building to her."

They took the raping Taurus sculpture from its pedestal. The other two pedestals in the room were bare. "Looks like the gifts given to her are missing," noticed Sailor Menard.

After regrouping on Elara, the four animal sculptures reacted with that moon.

The ground shook around them. Claws emerged from the ground. A humanoid, bronze automaton with wings dug itself out of the ground. It was naked, only wearing a necklace. The bird boy automaton was known as Talos.

"Get ready to fight, everyone," said Sailor Vesta.

The necklace shielded it from most of their attacks.

"We're not gaining any ground. This whole thing was a trap," said Sailor Chibimoon.

They left Elara, with Talos flying after them. They flew around the different moons, trying to lose him, but it didn't work. "Can't shake this thing," said Sailor Menard.

They flew close to Jupiter. While Talos was in pursuit, he flew into the very faint and very wide Gossamer ring of Jupiter. His wings were stuck in the sticky, cobweb like substance of the ring. "Did we lose him?" asked Sailor Juno.

"I think so. We should make sure," suggested Sailor Celis.

They found him stuck in the Gossamer ring. "He's stuck," said Sailor Palus.

Sailor Menard took the necklace from it. Sailor Menard was reading inscriptions written on it. "It looks like this is what we were looking for on Elara," replied Sailor Menard.

The inscription read, "This is the necklace of Hephaestus. Use it to retrieve the legendary items found on Amalthea and Metis."

"More scavenger hunting?" said Sailor Menard, sighing.

"Let's kill this thing in case it comes after us again," suggested Sailor Chibimoon. They destroyed Talos.

As they approached Amalthea and Metis, they were constantly being hit by many micro-meteors. With little or no atmosphere at all on these moons, the micro-meteors posed more of a threat.

"And how are we supposed to get down there?" asked Sailor Juno.

The necklace of Hephaestus glowed, putting an atmospheric barrier around them. "Looks like this is our ticket in," said Sailor Celis. They descended to the surface of Metis.

It wasn't long until they found a small shrine there. Inside was a large weapon which was a mixture between an axe and a hammer.

"Cool, we can kick some ass with this thing," said Sailor Juno.

It was too heavy to pick up. They tried picking it up together, but only managed to drop it. An inscription written on the ground read, "Only a few others besides the Titans have enough strength to wield the Metis Axe. If you are not one of the strong, fear not, for the Horn of Amalthea can give you the strength to wield this axe which allows entrance to the castle of Io."

"How much more of this running around?" asked Sailor Vesta.

The sound of a dog barking echoed inside the shrine. They turned around, seeing a dog standing in front of Prince Uranus, who was holding a javelin.

"Give back my sister now!" demanded Sailor Chibimoon.

"What a temper; have you forgotten she's not really your sister?"

He evaded their attacks.

"What's with the dog and javelin?" asked Sailor Juno.

"I found these on Europa. This dog is named Laelaps. He always catches what he finds. He helped me track you down. This javelin never misses its target. But it's got a curse on it and can only be used once. I may need to use it for more important things."

Prince Uranus walked up to the axe.

"We won't let you get the Metis axe," said Sailor Menard. Their efforts to stop him were unsuccessful.

"While I'm here, I'll slowly siphon the blood from your bodies with the chibarazuishou. It is getting a little low on blood." The chibarazuishou slowly drained the life blood force from them.

Prince Uranus picked up the axe. Laelaps was whimpering at him. "Go ahead and have fun with what you've caught. You've earned it," said Prince Uranus.

Prince Uranus used his powers to turn the dog into something more useful for himself. The dog got a little bigger, turned purple, and got a longer tongue. The sailor senshi were weak, having some of their blood drained. "Have fun with my new pet, Bloodlaps," said Prince Uranus, leaving.

"You won't get away with this. My friends will put an end to you," threatened Kousagi.

"Is that so? Right now their blood is being drained to power my chibarazuishou. It shouldn't be much longer until they die."

"I have faith in them."

They headed for Io. Prince Uranus was holding the spindle of Ananke, trying to foresee his destiny. It didn't react. "I don't need some stupid, ancient spindle to tell me my fate. I already know I am destined for greatness."

Back at the Metis shrine, Bloodlaps was licking the sailor senshi with his long, leech-like tongue. With each lick, a little blood was drained from them, powering the chibarazuishou.

Sailor Menard pulled out a dagger made of light steel, cutting off Bloodlap's tongue.

Blood gushed out of his tongue. He fell over on the ground, dead.

"That is so gross," said Sailor Chibimoon.

"Come on, we've got to stop Prince Uranus," said Sailor Vesta. They were still recovering from blood loss.

Prince Uranus arrived on Io, looking for the castle. There were numerous volcanoes, constantly erupting. There were many rivers of lava; black smoke filled the skies.

The castle was atop one of the few dormant volcanoes. He kneeled on the ground, concentrating. After a few minutes, he stood up, raised the Metis axe in the air, and threw it at the castle.

The electric barrier around it disappeared. He walked up the steep volcano leading towards the castle.

A giant heifer with large gadfly wings was flying around the volcano. It began blowing fire from its mouth and dropping lava patties. Prince Uranus was caught off guard. While he was busy fighting off the gadfly heifer, the sailor senshi ran up the volcano, passing him.

They entered.

"That goat's milk sure was gross, but at least it got us back on our feet," said Sailor Juno.

"Palla Palla, wipe off your milk moustache," said Sailor Vesta.

Sailor Palus was holding the horn of Amalthea. There were many statues in the castle, appearing to be guardians of some sort. They found the room with Jupiter's key in it. It was surrounded by electric bolts. Their attacks had no effect on it.

Prince Uranus threw the javelin at the gadfly heifer. It fell to the ground with a loud thud.

He entered the room with the key in it saying, "Having trouble, are we?"

"We won't let you take it," threatened Sailor Menard.

Prince Uranus used his ground trembling attack against them, but the necklace of Hephaestus shielded them from it.

"That won't stop me." He put on a black glove, reaching for the key.

The electric bolts were repelled by the glove, allowing him to get the key. He disappeared.

He took off the glove once he was on the ark. Words inscribed on the glove read, "This is the glove of Sinope. Just as she remained untouched by the king of the gods, so shall her glove be as well. They shall both remain pure forever."

Before departing from Io, Prince Uranus summoned three giant, black cranes to attack them.

The sailor senshi exited the castle, seeing him get away. The black cranes swooped down at them. The cranes were too fast to hit.

They flew off Io with the space sailboard and asteroids, trying to lose them. They hid behind some space debris.

The cranes surrounded them, swooping down at them. One of the cranes grabbed the necklace of Hephaestus from them.

Sailor Palus used the power of Amalthea's horn. The horn reacted with the great red spot on Jupiter. A strong funnel of wind from the great red spot blew the cranes away. It also blew the horn of Amalthea from Sailor Palus. The cranes, necklace and horn fell down towards Adrastea. The cranes couldn't escape the moon's strong pull and were never seen again.