The Dark Siders Chronicles

It was hard getting so many different people to sit down at the same table, but somehow Priire and Nom had managed it. Priire, Nagareboshi, and Nom faced off Xarae, Nami, and Lys in an ancient game that Priire had found in the computer. Each woman had a pile of chips next to her. Black and blue for Priire, neon green for Nom, while Boshi's were red. On the other side of the table, Lys, Nami, and Xarae had - respectively - gold, white, and black chips.

Xarae frowned as she felt a tremble in the Force. "Priire..." the beautiful senshi said, almost afraid.

Priire looked up in response, then closed her eyes. "I can feel it too, Xarae. Once again, the Dark Side rears its ugly head." She sighed. "And there's little we can do about it."

Rene Shootingstar stared up at the stars that dotted the heavens above her. The black cape that night had drawn over the troubled world hid all the iniquities of the inhabitants from anyone's sight. From anyone's sight... but hers. The small girl pouted. It wasn't fair! Why did this have to happen... and why now? Why did her parents have to die when she needed them most??

Flipping her pretty pink and purple ponytail over her shoulder, Rene begged herself not to cry again. Her parents needed to be remembered with smiles, not with the tears that came so easily to her face. She hated it. Hated that they'd died... hated that she was so powerless to do anything about it.

Unhappily, Rene followed the contours of the shadowed land with her eyes. There wasn't anything she could do for her parents now. They were dead - one with the Force. Maybe the Force was another joke. Maybe it wasn't even real.

She shook her head. No. It was real... just indifferent. The pretty little girl clenched her hand into a fist. It just wasn't fair. They believed in freedom and peace... so why did they have to be killed? What right did the Dark Side have to cut short their lives? Happiness and joy... well, there wouldn't be any of that around anymore, no matter how strongly they believed in it.

The injustice of it all was what scarred her deepest. There would be no justice for the deaths of Mandar - Jedi Knight - or his wife Ral-Chan - slave turned Jedi. Who would care about two Rebel sympathizers? There wasn't a single person who still knew their names... she shook her head. Well, she sure would. She'd remember them forever!

She'd loved them so much that not having them around was like having a deep hole in her heart. Rene missed them deeply even though they had only been dead for a short time.

Suddenly even more furious at the world and the Force that bound it together, all she wanted was to have her parents back. She loved them so much. It was more wrong than she could express that they had died for the things they believed in... and were denied them after they died. No freedom, justice, peace, love, joy, or happiness would follow them wherever they were now or wherever her life would take her. There should have been justice at the least.

Rene wanted to scream and lash out at the world. But she wouldn't. She knew she wouldn't because her parents wouldn't want to be remembered like that. No... she tucked everything inside of her and closed her eyes. Maybe someday when she got older she'd be able to do something about their deaths. Until then, she tucked this pure hatred of injustice inside of her young heart and let it stay there.

"Give me the cookies, Chouko!" Rene Shootingstar yelled. "I baked them just for this trip!"

Chouko shoved a whole cookie in her mouth and grinned as Rene grabbed the rest of them.

Standing framed by the doorway, Seijoutai Priire laughed. "Kids." Priire herself was glaring at a brunette. The brown-haired girl was sneaking off with something that looked important. "They aren't easy to deal with."

Rene frowned. "I agree... but they're so cute as babies. I can't wait to have Chouko." She laughed.

Changing the topic, Priire asked Rene where she was heading.

"Souru, Koumi, and I are checking out something that's happening on Dantooine. Apparently Areil's been causing trouble." Rene sighed.

"Doesn't she always?" Priire laughed, trying to lighten the mood even slightly. It didn't work. Both females felt oppressed by some unknown force. After a few minutes of silence, Priire spoke up again. "Rene?"

The other girl looked up at her.

"Be careful, okay?"

With a slight smile, Rene nodded.

The ship was tiny. And it smelled funny. For some unknown reason, Priire had refused to let the three travelers use the Black Fire Legendmaker. She'd claimed something about it being unsafe. Which was, of course, ridiculous. Everyone had been flying around in it for forever.

The one they were forced to use was named Eternity's Revenge. Rene sighed. Priire was so strange sometimes.

Can you please stop doing that? Koumi thought-spoke to Souru. You're doing it on purpose!

He looked confused. "I'm not doing it on purpose because I don't know what I'm doing."

Koumi looked frustrated and gathered up the things she was working on, mentally muttering something about voodoo dolls.

"Do you know what I was doing?" he asked, Rene, still confused.

Rene offered up a shrug. "It's a really small ship... and I think we're all getting on each other's nerves." She fiddled with the controls for a minute. "Good thing we're close to Dantooine."

The three senshi stepped out of the ship and immediately relaxed. Dantooine was a beautiful, green planet. Koumi stretched and grinned. It's beautiful, she told Rene. I like your planet!

Rene grinned. "Thank you. I want to show you guys all the best places..." She looked at Souru, who was shaking his head. "What?"

"We've got to find out what Areil was up to before we can really relax," he said, looking around.

"We can look for Areil while we look at everything else!" Rene said with a grin. "Come on!"

Souru frowned. "I just have a bad feeling about this. We might not have to do much looking at all."

The distinct clicking of high heels surprised the trio, making them turn to see who it was. They saw a pretty woman with dark red hair and a pair of gloves in her hands. The sunglasses on her face hid her eyes from them. "Looking for someone?" she asked in a seductive voice.

No, Koumi mind-spoke, mouthing the words to make it appear as if she were talking.

"Are you sure?" the woman asked, sliding the gloves on. They were long, reaching up past her elbows.

Rene looked at the woman again and gasped. This woman had tall red boots and long red gloves... just like Areil. "Areil!"

"Took you long enough," the Sith growled. She threw off her trench coat and glasses. "I am Sailor Sith Ayameru! Prepare to die."

Grabbing her locket, Rene transformed. "Not if I can help it! You are a creature of darkness who deals out injustice to innocents! For that, I'm going to punish you!"

Koumi and Souru stood by, knowing that somehow they weren't needed.

Ayameru didn't look impressed. "That means very little coming from you," she spat.

Sailor Dantooine looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"You weren't even able to help your own parents!" Ayameru laughed. "If you couldn't find justice for your own flesh and blood, what makes you think you'll be able to help those you don't know?"

The hazel-eyed sailor frowned. "How do you know that?" she demanded.

Ayameru shrugged. "It's my business to know. Besides, I can use all of your weaknesses. And, boy, do you have a lot of them." Her smile was like a feral cat's hungry grin. "You don't even know half of them. But I suppose you'll find out about them. When your friends need you the most and you fail them."

Her eyes wide, Dantooine shook her head. "No, I won't fail them..."

"Like you failed your parents?" Ayameru knew she was pushing buttons and kept pressing on. "Where's the justice in that?"

Koumi's deep blue eyes flashed. We've got to help her, she informed Souru. The man nodded.

The two senshi transformed and stood beside Dantooine. Sailor Kessel put a hand on Dantooine's shoulder. We won't let you torture her like this, Ayameru! Silence is like gold, so invest in some!

The Sith rolled her eyes and waved a hand. Suddenly, Kessel was trapped in a ring of black fire.

"You've also got me to deal with," Corellian Knight informed her. "And I won't let you hurt them!"

A blast of fire seared its way toward the knight. He dodged it and sent back an attack of his own. Ayameru met it with her fire and snarled. She formed a ball of fire in her hands and set it on the ground. Blowing it a kiss, she turned the ball of fire into a lion that kept the Corellian Knight at bay.

"Now. Where were we?" she asked Dantooine, her voice a silky purr. "Something about you not being able to guard from injustice? I suppose it's just that your friends are battling my creations without your help?" Ayameru laughed. A small blast of black fire shoved Sailor Dantooine to her knees.

Dantooine's eyes filled with tears. She shook them away and glared at Ayameru. A strange feeling filled her heart. The pretty senshi, still kneeling, held her hands out in front of herself. " Injustice..." she said. Streams of purple and pink began to connect her fingers together. "...Hate..." The streams solidified into what seemed to be a net of energy. "Entrapment!" The net turned black and sprung form her fingers to wrap itself around Ayameru.

The sailor Sith yelled in surprise and clawed her way out of the net. "What the...?" she cursed. It was easy for the Sith to escape once she'd gotten out of the net; the other two senshi had turned their concentration on Dantooine once Ayameru's fire-toys had disappeared.

What happened? Kessel shouted through the Force. Are you okay?

The Corellian Knight answered for Dantooine. "Something dark. Where did that attack come from?" he wondered.

Sailor Dantooine shrugged. "I... I don't know. I started thinking about how much I hated the fact that I wasn't ever able to find justice for my parent's death... then this attack just came."

Kessel reached out with her senses and detected Ayameru fleeing. Whatever it was and wherever it came from, it sure was powerful. And...

"It was evil," Dantooine finished for her unhappily. "I think I tapped into the Dark Side."

Standing off to the side, the Corellian Knight frowned. Darkness...