Soldier of the Past
The Awakening
By David Kean
UNDERWORLD
JULY 3, 2002
1500 CHICAGO TIME_
The Grim Reaper was looking over his list of souls he has collected thus far for the day. Things seemed to be going alright for someone like him, collecting souls to take to the afterlife. Then he looked at the location where all souls were gathering to be cast for whichever afterlife is destined for them. Then Grim heard a heavenly voice from behind him.
“Afternoon, Grim. I see you’re busy as ever,” the voice said.
Grim turned around and saw the queen, “Heh, figured it was you. How’s your afterlife treating you?”
“So far, it’s been just as it was told. Peaceful, tranquil, and quiet.”
“That’s good to know. Been able to visit friends from the past there?”
“Oh yes. They were glad to see me. When they first saw me in the afterlife, they were rather shocked.”
“Well, Serenity, people do die. That’s the way of life. Even your daughter has to know that.”
“I know, Grim, I know. But what can someone such as myself do? When I do appear with my daughter, time is rather limited,” Queen Serenity said.
“Well, that’s the price you pay for dying. Hate to say it, but many good people perished in that fight.”
“Indeed, Grim. Fortunately, there were survivors.”
“Yeah, but they have nothing to work with to rebuild. Only the senshi have that capability. You know that, right?”
“I do, Grim. I just hope Serenity II is able to take care of things properly when I’m gone.”
“Yeah, though in my opinion, many would say she’s incomp-“ Grim stopped and noticed something in the distance behind Queen Serenity.
“What were you going to say, Grim? Are you saying my own daughter is incompetent?” Serenity asked.
“Well, I was only saying there would be those saying she isn’t capable of doing a thing. But right now something more important came up, and it’s behind you,” Grim answered and pointed his bony finger towards what was going on behind her.
The Moon Queen turned around and was shocked to see a whirlpool behind her. It was a sight she had not seen before. Then she noticed blue spheres going through the wormhole-like spout. She knew something wasn’t right.
“Grim, why are there souls going through that portal?” She asked the reaper.
“What the…That’s a soul siphon!” Grim shouted in anger.
“A soul siphon? What is that? I’ve never heard of one of those.”
“That thing sucks souls I’ve collected to whoever is using it for their deeds,” Grim said and then growled. “Whoever’s doing this is gonna pay big time for this!”
“Couldn’t you do something about it?”
“Me? Hardly. But I do know someone who can, but he’s snoozing.”
“Snoozing? Whatever for? He should be doing something about this!”
“I know, I know. But thanks to that capsule he’s in, it’s not easy to wake him up.”
“I see. Just where is this capsule holding him?”
“Back on the moon. Where he’s been for millennia.”
MOON PALACE RUINS
JULY 3, 2002
1621 CHICAGO TIME_
A dark green haired woman was looking over the capsule underneath the ruins of a palace. She was making sure the device was in working order and information from around the world, including key world events, was flowing freely into the capsule, educating the capsule’s inhabitant. The woman also checked the inhabitant’s vital signs to ensure it was healthy. Then Queen Serenity and Grim appeared much to the woman’s surprise.
“Queen Serenity!” the woman said and then kneeled.
“Arise, Sailor Pluto. We need you to release him,” Serenity said.
Sailor Pluto stood up and said, “Release him? Are you sure? Could you wait a little longer?”
“No time, lady. We need him now. A soul siphon showed up in the Underworld,” Grim said.
“A soul siphon?” Pluto asked. Then she looked back at the capsule, “His family was the best family the kingdom could ever have. Whether it was in wartime, or during peace, his family did their job well. So the time has come.”
“Yes, Sailor Pluto. Please, release him. He is in dire need,” Serenity said.
“As you wish, my queen,” Pluto said as she bowed.
Sailor Pluto entered a coded sequence and the capsule began its shutdown process while monitoring the inhabitant’s health. Once the process was finished, the energy field holding it slowly rose up revealing an armored male soldier sitting on a seat while his swords were sheathed on his back. Then he slowly got up from the capsule’s seat, and held his head for a moment. Clearly, he didn’t look well.
“Ugh, what the hell’s going on here?” the soldier asked as his vision was clearing.
“Good afternoon. Did you sleep well?” Pluto asked.
“Sorta. I feel like I’ve got a massive hangover.”
Pluto giggled, “You’re body isn’t used to being in stasis for a long time.”
“No shit, Sherlock. What was your first hint?” he said as he held his head.
“I see your attitude hasn’t changed since the fall of the Silver Millennium. Regardless, how’re you holding up?”
“I’ll be fine in a second. My vision’s still blurry,” the soldier said as he tried to walk.
Sailor Pluto helped the armored soldier over to a seat as his vision slowly cleared. She noticed he wanted to get back to sleep but knew it wouldn’t happen. As he yawned, Pluto couldn’t help but yawn as well. Being a guardian of the Time Gate wasn’t as easy as Grim’s job as a soul collector. Both jobs were hard. Grim was bound to collect souls for the afterlife while Pluto’s was to watch over the Time Gate to make sure no invaders go through the doors. When the soldier’s vision finally cleared, he wasn’t surprised to see the ruins of the palace.
“I see nothing has happened since the fall,” the soldier said.
“No, it hasn’t,” Pluto replied.
When the soldier saw Sailor Pluto, he slowly stood up and saluted her.
“Sailor Pluto, Lieutenant David O’Cain of the Jolly Rogers Platoon reporting for duty, ma’am,” David said.
Sailor Pluto saluted back, “At ease. Welcome back, lieutenant. You’re skills will be needed.”
“How so, ma’am?” David relaxed.
“Well, I think someone else could better explain it,” she then pointed over to Queen Serenity’s spirit and Grim.
“Good afternoon, lieutenant,” Serenity said.
David’s eyes widened and immediately knelt before her, “Queen Serenity! How may I be of service to you?”
Serenity smiled, “As faithful and polite as ever, just like your father. Arise, lieutenant.”
David rose back up, “Your majesty, how may I serve you?”
“The Underworld has a problem. Grim spotted a soul siphon taking souls away and we have no idea who is behind it.”
“One thing’s for sure it ain’t that evil king. He’s long gone from my memory,” Grim said.
“Hey, Grim. Long time no see,” David said.
“Hey, David. It’s been a while. Did you sleep alright?”
“Alright? Hell no. Snoozing on a chair is not what I had in mind doing when I stepped in that damn thing.”
Grim laughed, “That’s the David I know. Doesn’t take crap from anyone.”
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, Grim. Anyway, what’s up with the soul siphon?”
“Well, a soul siphon showed up earlier this afternoon…”
“You’ve mentioned that. How do we plug it up?”
“That I’m not sure. Whoever’s doing it is pretty good. In fact, better than that evil king your six times great grandfather fought. Boy, was he a pain.”
“Yeah, my grandpa told me stories about him. He was quite a good fighter.”
“Oh yeah he was. One of the best O’Cains I’ve ever worked with. Your father comes in second, and sorry pal but you’re third on my list.”
“That’s okay, Grim. We got a hole to plug up but we also need to find out who’s doing it.”
Serenity stepped up to Grim and David, “Lieutenant, do you still have those upgrades you’ve obtained during the Silver Millennium?”
David looked at his left arm guard and saw nine symbols on it, “Yes your majesty. However, they’re still not as strong as what my father obtained.”
“Don’t worry. Soon you will be as strong and powerful as your father. It’ll just take a while.”
“Of course, your majesty.”
“You must hurry. The siphon in the Underworld must be stopped. You must stop whoever is using souls for their evil purposes.”
David bowed to his queen, “I will, my queen.”
“Lieutenant…I’m giving you the order to kill whoever is doing this.”
“At once, your majesty,” David said and saluted. “Come on Grim. We’ve got work to do.”
“David, if possible, try to find any remnants of our glorious army.”
“I will. I’ll do what I can to find them.”
“Good luck, David. The world is counting on you.”
David and Grim then teleported off of the moon, leaving Sailor Pluto and Queen Serenity behind. Serenity had a worried look on her face as the lieutenant and the Grim Reaper left. Sailor Pluto had taken notice of it and questioned it.
“My queen, is something wrong?” she asked.
“I’m just worried about him. He was one of the best soldiers the Moon Kingdom Army could ever have,” Serenity replied,” His family was also one of the best families the kingdom could have for sparring with the senshi. I fear that he might fail.”
“Don’t worry about him. If anything, it’s his resilience that will be a benefit for him.”
“I hope you’re right. It would be a terrible loss should he die.”
“Indeed it would.”
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
JULY 3, 2002
1732 CHICAGO TIME_
Grim and David appeared on an empty street in downtown Kansas City as the two were talking. David was catching up with the friend of his family from long ago. Both were doing their best to be upbeat about their soul retrieval mission. David and Grim were walking and talking at the same time.
“I can’t believe it’s been so long, old buddy,” David said.
“No kidding. I’m still sorry about your parents though,” Grim replied.
“Grim, I’m over that. You were doing what you had to do. There was nothing that could be done.”
“I know. But they do have a nice place in the afterlife though.”
“That’s good. As long as they’re happy in the afterlife, I’m happy,” David said and smiled at Grim.
Grim placed a bony hand on David’s shoulder, “No problem. Now let’s try and find some of those missing souls.”
“Right. But why here?”
“Well, not sure. It seemed like there were quite a bit of souls here.”
“I see. Where in this city shall we look?”
“Hmmmm,” Grim replied as he stroked his chin bone, “We could try the shopping centers. Those have a large concentration of people.”
“Yeah, but if an enemy attacks, there’d be casualties.”
“Oh, right. Well, I guess any business districts would be a start.”
David looked around, “Uh, were are in a business district.”
Grim looked around as well, “Heheh, sorry about that.”
“That’s okay, Grim. I guess we’ll have to start here.”
David looked at the street sign and they were standing at the intersection of Truman and Grand. The place was quiet for a downtown area. Cars were still rolling by on the interstate, but the people didn’t bother looking.
“Well, I guess we’ll begin our search at this intersection and split up from here,” David said.
“Sounds good, but since it’s just you and me we’d better stay together,” Grim said.
“Good idea. I guess we can head north and go in a spiral motion in a ten block radius.”
“Good enough for me. You’re the one in charge, heheh.”
“Gee, thanks Grim,” David said sarcastically.
The two soul retrievers began walking northward ten blocks up from Truman. Then they went west along another empty street when suddenly they heard a gunshot from a distance. Both stopped in their tracks and looked around trying to figure out where it was coming from.
“Did you hear that, Grim?” David asked as he ducked behind a building.
“Yeah, sounds like someone’s having fun,” Grim answered.
“True, but we’re not sure if it’s a homicide or an assault.”
“It’s possible.”
David and Grim looked around from behind a building and then heard more gunshots go off. David then ran to the other side of the street with Grim in tow. David had his M-16 out as he scanned the area while gunshots kept going in the distance. When the direction was determined, they both moved in the direction where they thought the shots were coming from. When they arrived near the scene, they both saw several police officers firing their guns at a couple of people. However, the bullets didn’t do anything. The two calmly walked over to the officers and caused destruction, knocking them all over the street.
David and Grim then intervened with a steady shot from David’s rifle to get the couple’s attention. Both of the women stopped whatever they were doing and looked at them.
“Hey, who brought these two?” one woman asked the other.
“I don’t know. Whoever they are, they’re ruining our fun. Let’s get them,” the other replied.
“Grim, what’ll we do?” David asked.
“I guess we fight them since you got their attention,” Grim answered.
“Figured as much.”
“You there! Who the hell are you ruining our fun?” one of the women yelled.
“I am Lieutenant David O’Cain of the army! I order you to cease and desist immediately!”
The other woman scoffed, “Like you have anything to stop us. You’re just nothing more than an army soldier.”
“Oh really?”
David then aimed his rifle at one of the woman’s head and fired. The bullet hit squarely on the forehead, right between the eyes. The woman’s head reared back and she fell to the ground. David smiled seeing her go down but was shocked to see her get back up. The woman noticed blood drip off her nose and looked at her friend.
“He shot me. That little bastard shot me!” the woman yelled as she took out a spear.
“Let’s get him!!” the other said as she drew out a sword.
“Crap. Not what I was expecting,” David said before firing more shots at the two women.
Then both women charged at David with their weapons forward. David closed his eyes as he brought his rifle up to defend himself when he heard a loud clang. He slowly opened his eyes to see Grim in front of him, crossing the scythe’s blade with the spear and sword. Both women were shocked to see Grim stop their weapons.
“Come on, ladies. Play fair, huh?” Grim said.
“H-how did he…?” one woman stammered.
“I-I don’t know. It’s not possible for him to actually exist,” the other said in shock.
“Hey, David. A little help here,” Grim said to his friend.
“Right,” David answered as he drew one of his bastard swords.
David then rushed at the women and Grim moved out of the way to avoid getting in the crossfire. Meanwhile back at the destruction, the officers were making sure each one is okay while the group’s leader was watching behind her car. She was viewing the fight through her binoculars.
“Sergeant, all officers are okay. A couple of personnel are seriously injured. What do we do?” a male officer asked.
“Get an ambulance here quickly. Make sure no one gets close to this site other than EMTs,” the female officer said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
The woman kept close watch of the fight from her distance. She could clearly see that the man who showed up was fighting the women alongside with a skeleton in a cloak wielding a scythe. Back at the fight, David was having a hard time getting hits in on his current target. Grim, on the other hand, wasn’t having as much trouble.
“Heh, you’re pretty good, lady,” Grim said.
“You’re not bad yourself, Grim Reaper,” the woman said.
“Who are ya anyway?”
“Like I’m gonna tell you.”
“You know who I am. Tell me who you are.”
“Very well. I’m Commander Miranda. That’s all you’ll get out of me,” she said.
“How nice. Give up already.”
“Not a chance.”
David was having problems with his target. She was quicker than he was and David was left no choice but to go defensive. As the fight went on, he noticed something about her eyes. They were solid black.
“GRIM!” David yelled.
“What?” Grim said.
“This one’s got black eyes!”
“So? Some folks have black eyes. Literally.”
“Not that! The eyes are solid black!”
“Solid…black? She was revived from that soul siphon!”
“Now you tell me!”
David put some distance from the revived woman fighter. Then he drew his other sword and went back into fighting. The woman he was fighting was still quick in her attacks, keeping David busy defending himself. Miranda smirked and kicked Grim away.
“You’d best help your friend. Clearly you and I are evenly matched,” Miranda said.
“I’ll deal with you later. It’s been a while since someone was good enough to fight me,” Grim replied.
Miranda then disappeared as Grim flew towards the woman fighting David. Grim swung his scythe at the fighter’s back, making a gash. The woman screamed in pain and took a swing at him. Grim easily blocked the swing and David then fired a blast of energy at her. She staggered towards Grim and growled at David. She charged towards him, swung at David, and then felt a blade enter her chest. David had blocked the attack with his left sword and had thrust his right sword into her heart. She backed away and slowly went into a full-blown laugh.
“You fool! Did you think you could kill me that easily?” the woman asked.
“It was worth a shot,” David answered.
“A shot wasted! There will be nobody to stop this world from becoming a place filled with undead. Undead led by our illustrious leader!”
“Is that so? Too bad you won’t be joining that army.”
The woman looked at David in surprise only to see a blast driving the sword further through her heart. The woman winced in pain and screamed as she pulled David’s sword out. Then she threw it back at him, but David caught it with telekinesis. Then he pressed a symbol on his left arm guard and shot a blast of fire at her. The zombie screamed an unholy scream as she was burning. When the fire was put out, she was nothing more than bones and armor.
“You fool! You have no idea what you have done!” The skeleton yelled.
“I do. Putting you out of your misery,” David said and fired one last shot.
The skeleton screamed as she turned to dust and the armor fell to the ground. David walked over to the pile and examined it. The zombie was truly destroyed. As he moved the armor, he saw a blue sphere floating about the ash. Grim looked at it and took a hold of it.
“Well, she’s freed. It’s back to the Underworld for her,” Grim said.
“Man, I’m really rusty from that long nap,” David said.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be back to your old shape. Not sure when that’ll happen. But you did good in freeing that soul.”
“Thanks, Grim. One thing still bothers me. Who is leading this group of undead?”
“Not sure. But that Commander Miranda woman might hold a clue.”
“That’s who you were fighting?”
“Yep. You, on the other hand, need to be trained.”
David was steaming mad at Grim, yelling obscenities as the female officer was walking over towards them. When she heard a little bit of the yelling, she was angry with David.
“Excuse me?” the officer said.
David stopped and looked at her, “What the fuck do you want?”
“What was that about women being weak?”
“That? Um, look, it was at the spur of the moment. I really didn’t mean it.”
Then David was slapped across the face hard. The facemask only softened the blow a little bit. The woman held her hand in pain as David held the side of his face. Grim only laughed the both of them. Then David and the woman loomed over Grim in anger. Grim cowered a little and stopped laughing.
“Look, lady. I’m sorry about the insult. I wasn’t directing it at you or anyone. It was at Grim here,” David said.
“That’s alright. God, your helmet’s hard,” The woman said.
“Titanium alloy. It’s meant to be hard and strong. Still, that slap stung.”
“Heh, so is my hand. I’m Sergeant Iris Gainsburough of the Kansas City Police Department. Are you from the army, like you said?”
“Yeah. It was a pleasure meeting you sergeant. You better take care of what is going on down the road.”
Iris looked back at the scene where the ambulances had arrived, then turned back around only to see David and Grim were gone. She looked around and shrugged as she made her way back to the police cars. David and Grim were on top of a building watching her.
“Grim, is it just me or was she familiar looking?” David asked.
“I think so. She sure has a fiery attitude like an old friend of yours,” Grim replied.
“Yeah. Even down to the name. You don’t suppose it’s really her, is she?”
“Possibly. Who knows?”
“Yeah. Come on. Let’s get outta here.”
“Right behind ya.”
Meanwhile, Miranda was back at her group’s hideout and her leader was scolding her for failing. From her leader, it was clear failure wasn’t an option. She was knocked backwards into a wall and groaned in pain.
“Do you realize how much I hate failure?” the woman in a black sailor fuku said.
“Yes, ma’am. You’ve said failure wasn’t acceptable,” Miranda answered in pain.
“And one of my best soldiers has died. That means the Grim Reaper has returned the soul back to the Underworld and the afterlife. I hope you won’t disappoint me, Miranda. Now, who was it that defeated her?”
“It was Lieutenant David O’Cain of the army.”
“Lieutenant O’Cain?!”
“Yes ma’am.”
The woman shot Miranda again. She screamed out in pain and fell to a fetal position. The woman stopped and then blew on her fingers. Then she looked at a device, which souls were flowing out of it. The woman gently leaned against the console, watching the souls.
“Miranda, make sure you don’t fail again. Eliminate any that get in your way,” the woman said.
“Yes, Sailor Hades. I shall do as you command,” Miranda said and left.
Sailor Hades continued to look at the flowing souls and smirked. Then she observed her massive undead army. She knew that she would need a large army for her world domination plans. What better way than with an undead army? Then she addressed it.
“Soldiers of the Hades Regime! Soon the time will come for us to overthrow the Moon Kingdom and take over this forsaken planet! Once we have conquered Earth, we will then begin our galactic conquest!” Sailor Hades said.
The undead cheered at her words as they continued doing their training and work. The zombies and skeletons are practicing their targeting and sword fighting. Sailor Hades then sat down on a throne. She was also watching a replay of the fight involving her soldier and commander. She could see that Grim and David were fighting well as a team and separate.
“Well. I see we have some resistance from the Moon Kingdom,” Hades said to herself, “And the Grim Reaper himself has shown up. Unfortunately, you two will have your hands full. My army will be unstoppable from your efforts. Not even the Moon Queen herself will be able to stop it.”
Then she slowly built up laughter and it rang throughout the room. A couple of guards standing outside could easily hear it.
“Heh, she’s at it again,” the left guard said.
“No kidding. She may be crazy, but the reward will be good,” the right guard replied.
“Oh yeah. Killing those fleshies will be sweet once we get to fight them.”
The left guard chuckled, “Yeah, we’ll certainly have a ‘bone’ to pick with them.”
Both guards laughed at the joke as Hades continued laughing like a mad scientist. Meanwhile back in KC, MO, David was sitting on a rooftop watching over the cityscape. He was in a meditative trance as Grim watched over him. Grim shrugged and kept a lookout for any more attacks. David then opened his eyes and turned to his ally.
“Grim, can I ask you something?” David said.
“Sure, name it,” Grim replied.
“Do you think it’s possible that she may have been reborn?”
“Who?”
“Sailor Zephyrus. Masaki.”
“Oooooh. Now I know who you’re talkin’ about. It’s possible that she is.”
“If so, then I just need to find her. God, it’s…it’s been so long.”
Grim placed a hand on David’s shoulder, “Don’t worry. You’ll find her. Also, I’m sorry about what happened in the past.”
David then had a tear form in his eye, “Please. Don’t remind me of that.”
“Alright. Still, I’m sorry about her.”
David wiped the tear away, “It’s cool, Grim. One day, we will be reunited.”
“No doubt about it. Come on. Let’s get moving to another spot. Nothing’s happening here.”
“Alright, Grim. Let’s go.”
David and Grim jumped from rooftop to rooftop to patrol Kansas City. A new mission has begun.
Next time… on Soldier of the Past. David and Grim have successfully defended Kansas City from evil. However, evil never rests. Sailor Hades has sent out another wave of attacks on the city. It is up to the lieutenant and the Grim Reaper to stop them. During the attack, a small group of allies show up to assist in the next episode: The Jolly Rogers. (R. Lee Ermey-like voice) You better stick around numb nuts! If you don’t, drop and give me 20!