Disclaimer: I think you know
"Tracy, have you put down that sword at all in the last week?" Candice was looking at Tracy, who was polishing her nodatchi for what seemed like the one-hundredth time.
"Not really, the only time I've seen her without it is when Mom said she couldn't take it to school." Amanda was sitting on her bed. They all had been sleeping over at her house again. They had been arguing about their powers. None of them had come to a conclusion about their new powers that they all agreed on. Erica and Tracy firmly believed that someone had chosen them and would show his face soon. Candice and Danielle just dismissed that theory as a result of reading too many comic books. They thought that they were given their powers to help somebody and that they needed to go out and search for them.
"And how are we supposed to find them out of six billion people? Everyone needs help. You'd never find them! Amanda, you agree with me, right?" When Amanda didn't answer her, she turned back to the others. "See, she agrees with me."
"What?! She didn't say anything! How could she agree with you?" Candice got up from the inflatable chair she was sitting on and walked over to Tracy.
"She is my sister, we have a psychic connection."
"You do not! And put that sword away. What did your mom say when she saw it anyway?" Candice tried to take the sword, but when she touched it she got zapped. "Ouch! What was that?"
"I'm the only one who can pick it up. And I just told my mom that my uncle sent us the weapons. Tracy pointed to a big box in the corner of the room. "We had to send them to ourselves but it was worth it." She concentrated for a moment and the nodatchi disappeared.
"Hey Amanda, aren't you going to say anything? You've just been sitting there and staring at nothing for a while now." Danielle moved over to where her friend sat. "Hello? Anybody in there?"
"Lets go to the forest!" Amanda jumped off the bed and ran outside.
"Hey, wait up! Why are we going back there?" Erica tried to catch up but Amanda was way ahead of her.
When they all were in the clearing their gems began to glow again. After they transformed into their new outfits a glowing figure stepped out behind a tree.
"Sailor Ronins, it is time for you to carry out your mission."
"What mission? Who are you, who are we supposed to help, and what did you just call us?" Erica went up to the ghostly figure and pulled out her gunblade. "We want some answers, now."
"I got your back Erica." Tracy stepped up and pulled out her nodatchi.
"Everything will be revealed in due time, but for now you must listen..."
"Not good enough!" Tracy felt an odd rush of power as she raised the nodatchi above her head and said "Angel Light...Strike!" Electricity shot out from the sword and hit the ghostly figure.
"Stop it!" Amanda ran in front of him. "He's here to help us!"
"It's all right, I'm unharmed and it is good that Sailor Halo's power has surfaced."
"There's that stupid Sailor thing again! Why are you calling me that!" Tracy had reluctantly put the sword back in it's sheath. They all sat down on the ground as he began to talk.
"Let me start at the beginning. For the last year or so the Earth has been under attack by forces from both the Negaverse and the Netherworld... Yes, Tracy?"
"If we've been under attack by these so-called 'forces', why haven't we heard anything about it on the news?"
"There are others somewhat like myself who have made sure that most of humanity doesn't find out." He stopped when he saw Erica raise her hand. "What is it Erica?"
"Who and what are you and why can't humanity find out?"
"My name is Tred and I am one of the Guardians. The reason that humanity cannot find out is because chaos would break out if that fact was known. May I continue?" Tracy and Erica looked at him and nodded. "Thank you. As I was saying... What do you want, Danielle?"
"Can we take a break? I'm starving."
"No! This is vital information that you need to carry out your task! He was starting to think that maybe he should have chosen another group of people for this job.
"And what exactly is our task?" Erica looked at him suspiciously.
"I'm trying to explain it but I keep getting interrupted! Would you all please save your questions until I finish?"
"Great, our spiritual guide can't handle a couple of questions. Guess our world is doomed." Tred gave Tracy a look that clearly said 'shut up or die'.
"Anyway, the Sailor Scouts and the Ronin Warriors were chosen to fight these two evils. Their greatest enemies are Queen Beryl and Lord Talpa. They have tried to take over the world many times but have always been stopped. Now they have joined forces and captured the Sailor Scouts and the Ronins. The energies that power the fighters were drained in an attempt to make Beryl and Talpa more powerful. The Guardian Gems were formed from those energies. Each gem has the combined power of a Sailor Scout and a Ronin. But even with your powers, you cannot stop Beryl and Talpa by yourselves. You need the help of the other teams. Your task is to free them and to stop Talpa and Beryl. He looked around at the group. "Now do you have any questions?
"Yeah, what's the meaning of life?"
"Where do babies come from?
"Can we go eat now?"
"Can I go to the bathroom?
He ignored all their questions until Candice asked "If you are so powerful and are one of the guardians of earth or whatever, how come you can't save them?"
"I have been imprisoned for many centuries. I do not have the power to help them. It is talking most of my power to stay in visible form." Tred sighed. "But I will be with you whenever you need me."
"Oh, good. So, when do we get going?"
"Right now." As he spoke a portal opened in front of them. "Hurry and go through, I'm not sure how long I can keep this open."
"Cool, a star gate." Tracy and Erica were the first to go through, closely followed by Candice and Danielle. Amanda hesitated for a moment and walked into the portal.
After a few disoriented moments, the Sailor Ronins found themselves in a bleak, dismal land. The sky was dark gray and a harsh wind blew though the air.
"This is the netherworld? It's a dump!" Danielle looked over the area. "No wonder they want the earth, I wouldn't want to live here."
"Hopefully we won't be here all that long. Come on, we need to go this way." Tred led them down a path that led to a weird looking palace. "Now keep quite, we don't want to be noticed." Suddenly the group was surrounded by soldiers in greenish armor.
"What are those?" Amanda had pulled out her bow and was notching an arrow.
"Whatever they are, they're going down!" Erica pulled out her gunblade and held it up so it hid the lower half her face. As she shouted "Fireblast Explosion" the gunblade started to glow. She pulled back her weapon and made a side cut fire shot out of it and took out most of the soldiers. The other Sailor Ronins easily took down the others.
"That wasn't that bad." Danielle shut down her lightsaber. "Are you sure Talpa is that much of a threat?"
"Please don't judge Talpa by his mindless minions. He is much more dangerous than you realize, even without Beryl." Tred went up to a wall and made another portal. "Come on."
When the others got inside, they all gasped. Chained to the wall were the Sailor Scouts and the Ronin Warriors.
"Hey, they're dressed like us!" Amanda pointed to the Sailor Scouts.
"That's because half your power is derived from them."
"Then why don't we have their armor?" Tracy walked up to the blond guy in green and white subarmor and started breaking the chains.
"Wait a minute Tracy, I will give them enough energy to regain consciousness. And to answer your question, they're half of the power has seemed to go into your attacks. After the others had freed everyone Tred walked over to Mina, made himself a little more solid, and helped steady her on her feet.
Tracy looked at Sage. He had armored up and was holding a nodatchi like hers.
"So we got our weapons from them too?"
"Yes."
"Then where did the gunblade and lightsaber come from? Last time I checked those weren't exactly ancient weapons. I mean, isn't the gunblade in Final Fantasy?"
"Tracy, can't you just accept things the way they are?"
"No."
He sighed. "I guess you got the weapons that were the most dominant in your imaginations. That would explain why you have a nodatchi, considering your obsession with that Trunks fellow."
"How did you know that!" Tracy turned towards Amanda. "Did you tell him that?"
"I tend to hear more than you think. Now lets go. We need to find Talpa and Beryl plus Natanya and Nathan." Tred started to walk down a long corridor when Sage spoke up.
"I think that Talpa and Beryl may have left the Netherword in search of those gems. I haven't picked up any signs of their evil." Sage was leaning on Tracy's shoulder for balance, obviously they hadn't gotten their full strength back yet. "Lets split up and search for Nathan and Natanya."
"Good idea. Candice, you go with Sailor Mars and Cye of Torrent. Amanda, you're with Sailor Venus and Rowen of Strata, Danielle, go with Sailor Moon and Kento of Hardrock, Erica is with Sailor Jupiter and Ryo of Wildfire, Tracy, you've got Sailor Mercury and Sage of Halo." The mysterious guy started to walk off with Sailor Venus, Amanda, and Rowen.
"I'm glad you're free Tred." Mina smiled sweetly at him as they walked out of hearing range of the others. "I'll bet that frisbee was pretty cramped."
Tred shuttered. "If I ever see that Kasei again, she'll be dust!" He walked on ahead and began to keep to himself. Mina, Rowen, and Amanda followed him out of the dungeon.
"So... Rowen?"
"Yah? Amanda, is it?"
"Yes, I was wondering..."
"Yah?"
"How did you get that spiffy blue hair?" Amanda flipped back the piece that hung annoyingly to the side of Rowen's nose. "I mean, what's up with that? I have blue hair too, of course, but yours is blue ALL the time. I would die to have naturally blue hair!"
Rowen blushed a little. "It's just hereditary, I guess." His pace quickened to catch up with Tred.
"Am I scaring him or something, Mina?"
"People like us scare everybody. You get used to it." Mina suddenly looked thoughtful. "But we don't normally scare others of our kind..."
And what exactly is 'our kind'?" Rowen had come back and looked more than a little interested.
Both Mina and Amanda's smiles grew into wide maniac grins as they considered just how to put this nicely. "We... are UNIQUE!" They fell to the ground in fits of laughter.
"Aw geez." Rowen slapped his hand to his forehead and moved to help them up, "Hmmm... Actually, unique does kind of describe us really well, doesn't it?"
Amanda and Mina's heads bobbed in unison. "Uh-huh! Yep! Uh-huh!"
"Yeah, we are... UNIQUE!!!" Rowen grabbed each of their hands and they trotted along, chanting their grand new phrase, and leaving behind a very worried Tred.
"And why is it I chose to go with these lunatics? Oh, yeah. They 'understand' me. Hmmm... What have I gotten myself into?!"
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