Crystal Utopia

The sky darkened over the beach where Pallas and Demando were conversing. A storm broke out over the sea and sand.

Just a normal storm at first glance, but if one continued watching they would see a collection of lightning in the distance.

The winds grew intense, strong enough to rip you off your feet.

The lightning approached slowly and in it's wake... there was nothing. Only darkness remained. No sea, no sky, just a thick blackness...

~*~

"Gmork...go!"

Gmork howled up at the fading moon and dashed off on his four oversized paws, claws digging in to the sand for more traction and speed.

The red haired man turned and vanished from sight.

Chibiusa did as Eudial instructed. She closed her eyes and felt very relaxed. It was peaceful and quiet. With only her thoughts she almost felt lonely.

Lightning crashed in the distance.

"I think it's going to rain..." she sighed.

~*~

"I remember. I was there and all..." Usa sighed. "But... that was different than this? Or maybe there's a connection?"

She began digging through the files some more.

Serenity nodded. "Yes... If you think something is wrong you should go."

She sighed. "I'm going to find Saffir and Helios."

She hopped of from the rock she was standing on and scurried off, holding her hand over eyes to see a bit better through the rain.

~*~

Usa pulled out some books and started reading. "Thanks again, Helios," she smiled sweetly. "I'm glad I have you with me."

Cere launched into a long winded explanation of all the things Pallas had told her. "...I hope I said that all right."

Demando scrambled after Pallas, eyes frowning. "I think we might want to leave this dimension and NOW," he suggested. This was definitely not good on many levels...

"I'll do whatever I need to do to help this place survive. What do you have in mind?" he demanded.

Eudial frowned as she looked at the sky. "This storm feels ominous. Perhaps we should do this some other time--I fear her holiness may need me."

~*~

Tau stared deeply into a reflecting pool in a circular hall near the center of the shrine maiden's pagoda. She seemed troubled as she finished braiding her hair and twisted it into a huge bun that rested on her head.

She turned as Ceres approached. "Something is wrong," she said.

~*~

"Well," Helios said, "Tau was destroyed before they came to our dimension. It was with the purpose of 'replacing' it that they came to Earth. I don't know if what happened there was related to what happened here, though. You could try looking at some books on dimensional theory..."

"Saffir! Saffir!" Serenity cried out as she made her way through the storm. Her small body was easily knocked over into the wet and muddy ground, several times. "Saffir where are you?!"

She wanted to cry. This was just like what happened before. Everything would be gone soon... "Helios!" she called out.

Where were those men?!

Serenity nodded. "I don't know how to leave... We have to make sure your brother and Helios are safe too."

"I have another idea," Tau said. "The manner in which the tau crystal works makes it possible to absorb the power of another. I might be able to absorb the dimensional rift itself and store it inside one or more of the crystal's prongs. Ceres, run my plan by Pallas. Then help me find the other shrine maidens and tell them to come to the cliff-top. I will make my attempt there."

Ceres, you manage to find all of them except Mimete and Eudial.

Safiru spotted his small queen and rushed forward, picking her up. "We need to get out of here! Even if they delay the destruction of this dimension it will still be destroyed!" He was worried about his brother but he needed to keep the queen safe.

"If it helps for the greater good its a small price to say. Tell me what needs to be done and I will do it!" Demando would make up for his transgressions. One way or another.

Demando followed after Pallas. He was not going to fail in this. He couldn't. "What happens if this doesn't work?" he questioned curiously.

"Niisan can handle himself but we should find your priest." Safiru half carried Serenity as he rushed along the island, trying to track down the Elysian priest.

"WAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!" Palls screamed out as the wind violently tossed her blue head piece around. She glanced down at DANNY. "HOLY NEGATIVE READINGS BAT MAN!"

She pulled out her henshin wand. "PALLAS ASTEROID POWER MAKE UP!"

In a swirl of electric blue the asteroid senshi was ready to fight.

She left Danny in the sand and pulled out her own mini computer to sync it up to DANNY.

Doing this, she nearly got tossed into the ocean by the wind.

"OK, done..."

She grabbed Demando by the hand. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! MOVE YOUR LEGS, MAN!"

Lightning struck and thunder crashed. She ran forward, dragging Demando with her, and simultaneously read the data streaming on her computer. "SHIT... SHIT... shit..."

Sailor Pallas pulled Demando behind a large rock and used it for support against the wind. Pulling out her communicator, she dialed Cere and Hotaru. "PallaPalla has big big news... Want to hear the bad part first or the good part?"

Cere answered quickly, "Knowing you... You better spill the bad part first. AND FAST."

"There's a manna based anomaly tearing apart the beach and it's working it's way towards us!"

"WHAT?!" she spat. "Which beach?! We need to start evacuating people! Do you know if this started somewhere else? We should tell Sailor Tau!"

"Calm down crazy lady," Pallas retorted. "You haven't heard my good news yet..."

"WHAT IS IT?!"

"I was able to gather some data!"

"Great... and I bet all those NEXUS agents were too... before they all died!"

Pallas giggled. "We're not going to die. PallaPalla can stall the anomaly. You see..." she began to explain. "You know The Law of Conservation of Energy, right?"

"Huh?"

"Energy can not be created...or destroyed..."

"So?"

"The dimensional space isn't being destroyed! The strange pattern PallaPallas has detected seems to point out that something is moving or absorbing this reality's manna. Without manna to support the life of the dimension, the land begins to loose its mass, creating the illusion of nothing."

"Huh?"

"I'm trying to say that if we find out where the manna is going, than we should be able to restore the mass of this dimension!"

"Ok, so genius freak knows how to save the dimension... but first we need to make sure we don't die! How do we stop this NOW!"

"Someone with a powerful crystal like Usa-chan's should be able to create a manna flow for the reality to feed off of and stay stable... but it would only be a stalling tactic. No one could keep up that amount of energy flow for more than a few minutes."

"I'll go tell Sailor Tau... you just... do something. Put that freak brain of yours to use!"

"Aye aye, leader Ceres lady!"

Pallas hung up her com and then turned to Demando. "So... how crazy are you feeling today?" she grinned. "Wanna be a hero?"

Meanwhile Ceres went in search of Sailor Tau.

"We're going to track the energy signals to the point where the manna is being drained from..."

She looked at him seriously. "Meaning there's a good chance we'll have our own manna tapped. We could disappear."

"Thank you, Ceres, Mimete and Eudial are already here."

The shrine maidens immediately took their places around the stone-hewn circle; Tau stood in the middle.

"Are you sure this will work, you Holiness?" Telluy asked.

"No," Tau replied. "We will just have to hope for the best."

The shrine maidens began to chant, and Princess Tau held the eight pronged crystal high above her head. It glowed faintly red, and she willed the power of the storm to funnel into the Taioron crystal.

~*~

Helios looked to the sky while he stood on the porch, his face troubled. As Small Lady approached him, he turned towards her. "Something is amiss," he said.

"I'm on it..."

Ceres commed Pallas as she went out to find Tau's shrine maidens.

"... so what do you think?"

"It's worth a shot," Pallas agreed. "But I can't guarantee it will work and even if it does work, how long can Sailor Tau go on like that? It'll be like slapping a band-aid on a wound. Kind of reminds me when the Queen went into that stasis while fighting Nemesis."

"Almost there!" Ceres huffed as she took a few more large steps up to the top of the cliff. "Sailor Tau!" she called out, stumbling her way towards the elegant senshi. "I couldn't find Mimette or...er... Eudial. That was her name right?"

(OOC: just assume the others went with me up the cliff)

Pallas held her arms up in wild fashion and shouted, "PALLAS COOL INTELECT" an icy fog surrounded the two and she pulled for Demando to follow her. She had no idea if it would work, but she hoped that her power might mask their presence as they approached the point where the world was 'ending'.

"Everyone dies," Pallas responded in a matter-of-fact tone.