Written by BHart
March 8, 2009

Act XCVII
Secret Behind the Transformation

"How is this possible?"

"When you understand the process that causes a sailor senshi to transform into a moon princess, a magical crystal is no longer necessary," explained Himalia.

"What kind of weird experimentations have led to this?" asked Sailor Charon.

"We are all sailor senshi of a moon, and we each have the right to become a moon princess; having all the power and privilege it brings," replied Himalia.

"If you aren't using a mystical crystal, then how are you transforming yourself into a moon princess? Something like that requires a great deal of energy," said Sailor Io.

"Enough questions. It's time for you to die."

Sailor Triton leapt up in the air with a sea javelin in her hands; only to be struck down by Sailor Himalia before she could strike her.

The hardened gems formed a barrier around Himalia, protecting her.

"It's no use fighting her, a moon princess is far stronger than a sailor senshi," said Anestus.

Vlaad's group was still busy battling the sailor beastmen. They were attacked by a feather typhoon from Sailor Yagudo. Those that were struck by the quills had temporary blurry vision.

"We could use some help here," shouted Vlaad.

"I can't see any of you right now," replied Omatase. Erewan and Omatase had been swept up by the typhoon and carried off a distance.

"Shell Tremor Blast." Sailor Quadav's shell slammed against the ground. A large shock wave knocked everyone down.

"Berserker Storm." Sailor Orc swung its body around quickly and violently, generating lightning bolts; striking Parne and Oona. Rykel was in its path, being struck hard by the orc's fists. It knocked the air out of him and dented his armor.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Maybel ran to his aid.

Some blood was seeping out of his armor. His armor was dented inward, piercing his side and making him bleed. She slowly and carefully removed his armor. "The sight of your blood is getting me turned on," said Maybel.

"No time for romance now, we must help the others," replied Rykel.

"You wait right here, I'll find something to bandage you up."

The sailor senshi managed to chip away at Himalia's barrier a little.

"Such little insects stand no chance against a moon princess." She removed the gem barrier around her, making the gems rain down upon them.

They took cover wherever they could from the gem hail. The gems burst open upon hitting the floor, causing small fire bursts before they shattered into pieces. Stalagmite structures formed from the gems' pieces covering the floor. She fended off their attacks with ease.

"We've got to do something," said Sailor Parallel Moon.

"And what would that be? She's too strong," replied Sailor Miranda.

Vlaad used his flash ability; a bright light temporarily blinded Sailor Yagudo, Orc and Quadav. "I bought us a little time, give it all you've got now."

Parne attacked the sailor beastmen with 1,000 needles.

Rykel stood up, holding his side.

"You need to rest, dear." Maybel rushed to his side, allowing him to lean on her.

"I'll be okay." Rykel cast Bio II on the beastmen, while Oona was casting holy.

Erewan and Omatase were casting high level spells.

Suhya and Mittens were slashing away with their katanas.

Vlaad sliced through the quadav's heavy shell with a shell basher sword technique.

The beastmen were starting to recover their sight.

"We're slowing them down, keep fighting," ordered Vlaad.

The sailor senshi couldn't withstand much more punishment.

The barrage of falling, sharp crystal objects stopped. They looked up to see why Himalia stopped the attack. The light that was shining upon her from beneath was gone. She was holding her head, swaying back and forth, as if she was dizzy. She reverted back into a normal sailor senshi.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Ares.

"Now is our chance." Sailor Parallel Moon mustered up enough power to create a powerful ball of light in her hands. She hurled it at Himalia.

Sailor Himalia blocked it easily, but it made her lose balance. She fell down back first upon one of the gem spikes (stalagmites) below. A lot of blood spilled over the ground upon her impalement.

They slowly walked over to her dead body. "How in the world was she able to transform into a moon princess without a mystical crystal?"

Sailor Io examined the giant stone vagina that Sailor Himalia was hovering above. She touched it.

"What is it?" asked Sailor Miranda.

"This statue was a conduit of power for her. The power seems to be leaving the statue and going elsewhere," replied Sailor Io.

"Where is it going?" asked Sailor Ares.

"I don't know. I sense it trailing past this room," answered Sailor Io.

"Lead the way. It may lead us to the power source of Himalia's transformation," thought Sailor Charon.

Sailor Io led the way to the energy trail. They proceeded cautiously to the western wing. "The trail seems to end here, but it's only an empty room," informed Sailor Io.

"That makes no sense. It can't lead to nowhere," said Sailor Charon.

"Then let's start digging. There may be something underneath here." Sailor Triton had an aquamarine pick axe to break away at the floor.

Rykel struck sailor orc with his blood weapon, draining the orc's remaining life. "Ah, that feels much better." Rykel absorbed some of its energy.

Erewan and Omatase combined their magic, casting flarega on the remaining sailor beastmen. Suhya and Mittens dealt the finishing blows with their ninja blades.

They were panting, out of breath. "No time to rest; we've got to help the sailor senshi," ordered Vlaad.

The sailor senshi made their way down to a lower level of the castle; virtually sealed off from everywhere else. Sailor Parallel Moon provided light, allowing Rie to find a light switch in the room. The room was filled with broken pod capsules and dead sailor senshi inside them. There was rubbish all over the floor from broken equipment.

"I don't believe it." Sailor Miranda gasped.

"What's been going on here? Could this be.."

"The source of power that was causing Sailor Himalia to turn into a moon princess?" said Sailor Charon, finishing Kousagi's sentence.

"Yeah, I think so. I can sense traces of energy coming from these capsules. It seems to be fading with each passing minute," stated Sailor Io.

"Sailor Himalia lost power to maintain her moon princess form because the source of her power was also fading?" asked Sailor Triton.

"I think so," replied Tokamo.

"That makes sense. Sailor senshi in the past have been able to transform with the help of other senshi," remembered Kousagi.

"It looks like the sailor senshi in these capsules had their power drained from them, eventually killing them," realized Sailor Charon.

"Hey, check out what I found over here." Sailor Triton was inspecting the room to the right. There was a giant hole in the wall, leading to a smaller room.

"What happened here?" asked Sailor Ares.

The room was trashed. They found the body of Sailor Thebe lying on the ground. "She got her ass handed to her," remarked Sailor Ares.

Sailor Charon noticed a hand sticking out of the rubble. "I need some help over here."

They spent a few minutes removing the rubble and discovered the body of Sailor Titan. They were distraught.

"We need to give her a proper burial," insisted Kousagi.

"The ground is too hard to dig through," said Sailor Miranda.

"That's easily fixable," said Sailor Ares. The sailor senshi blasted the floor with their power, making it crack.

"Her body is still in the early stages of decay. She didn't die very long ago," noticed Anestus.

"I wonder where the others might be?" said Rakuah.

"Who knows? They could be down here somewhere. They might've been put in a similar type of room as Utaroh," thought Rie.

"Let's start looking for them," suggested Chirimu, breaking apart the other nearby walls with a pick axe.

There were two other rooms revealed. They found the bodies of Sailor Marina and Sailor Magellan along with the bodies of Sailor Tethys and Helene.

Kousagi had a hard time holding back tears. "Mia, Nami, Utaroh. May you all rest in peace; the council will pay for what it has done."

After they buried the bodies, they climbed back up to the main level on Sailor Triton's oceanic grappling hook.

They worked their way around the rooms, running into Vlaad's group.

"Glad to see you're all safe," said Erewan.

"We were worried about you, too," replied Kousagi.

"Discover anything interesting?" asked Suhya.

Sailor Parallel Moon explained to them what they discovered.

"This is a very large place, we'd best split up and cover more ground," suggested Mittens.

"Good idea; but let's not venture too far off from one another," agreed Rie.

They decided to stay in the same groups they were currently in and parted ways.

..to be continued..