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It was nightfall when the truck drove up to the gate. "Gate" wasn't so much an accurate term as "big, lumbering piece of scrap metal", but it sufficed. Stepping out of the truck, a single man in old Army rags approached the guard, where a taller, stronger man stood at attention.

"Perimeter clear, sir!" the soldier said to the gate guard with a salute. "No sludgies in sight."

"Good!" the man replied. "Double-check the men and women and let them in. If you catch one, call for backup immediately."

The first soldier nodded towards the back of the truck, and a second soldier immediately gestured. In response, twelve humans of varying ages and genders slowly stepped out towards the gate as it opened to let them in. Behind the gate, small huts and tents sat strewn about like a big campsite, with more of the ragtag soldiers wandering about with what looked like fire extinguishers in their hands. This place was their refuge from an invasion unlike any other, and though it wasn't going to hold forever, they were going to defend it and the people inside to the end.

After the last of the people entered and the gate closed, the soldier made his way through the campgrounds towards one of the larger tents and stepped inside. "Commander Osaka," the soldier saluted to his leader, a pretty-looking brunette in a makeshift soldier uniform. "Unit 22 has successfully broken up the slime nest in our vicinity."

Turning to face her addressor, the tired, dirty face of Naru Osaka gave off a grim expression. "How many did we lose?

"Seven, sir! Three assimilated."

"Dammit!" Naru swore. "No matter what happens, we can't let them spread any farther."

"I know, sir, but we're limited in influence here." The soldier bowed his head. "It's hard to fight back when the world around us can't lift a finger to help."

Naru could only bow her head in silent agreement. With a sigh, she looked out the window towards the Tokyo skyline. The tall buildings that once glimmered in the sun were now covered in pulsating red slime, a testament as to how powerless their resistance truly were. It had been three months since the invasion of the Jellax Queen Jamanen, and much of Tokyo had been decimated within the first week. Many of the people were mutated into more Jellax and sent to expand Jamanen's will across the city. As time went on, any hope of the Sailor Soldiers coming in to save the day slowly faded, eventually shattering with the assimilation of the Prime Minister and the sight of Tokyo Tower being completely covered in Jellax slime.

And then it got worse. The U.N. eventually took notice of the situation and began sending more troops to counter the threat. The Jellax swallowed them up whole, thus expediating the plague. Eventually, they decided to cut support completely, knowing that the mass could not be allowed to spread. Tokyo was declared a quarantine zone and had all its access routes sealed up. Naru feared, though, that it was most likely too late a gesture. There was no telling if any Jellax made it out of Tokyo beforehand, or, for that matter, out of Japan altogether, but she silently knew that they would have already done so by now.

Now left to fend for themselves, the desperate survivors took up whatever arms they could and tried to find shelter, not easy when the Jellax were spreading fast. However, Naru was too stubborn a girl to simply lay down and die. Despite having virtually no experience in leadership, Naru nonetheless did her best as she helped whoever she could to safety. As time went on, though, Naru's presence gave a certain morale to the people, and she began to take a more assertive role. Any survivors they could rescue were a welcome sight, and they were always more than willing to fight back against these slimy invaders. The hardest part of the war, though, was knowing that every Jellax they fought was once human, and there was no telling as to which Jellax was which. For all they knew, they could be fighting someone's own relative and not even know it.

With a sad gaze, Naru reached into her pocket and pulled out an old photo. It was a picture of her and Usagi at the amusement park, sitting on a bench and with big goofy grins on their faces. She suddenly felt angry herself, like she always did when she thought about Usagi. Was she still out there? Could they have already destroyed Usagi, not knowing which nest was her own? No, she told herself, Usagi's still out there! Until I know for sure-

"Commander!" the soldier shouted as he burst back into the room. "We've been breached! Three sludgies over on the south gate!"

"What?!" Naru snapped out of her thoughts. "Go into lockdown procedures and begin evacuation. Anyone who can't fight gets evacuated. Women and children get top priority. Everyone who can fight grabs coolant tanks and holds the line."

"Evac is underway, but they've already gotten to the spare tanks." The soldier sweated. "We've only got the tanks from the recent raid, and they're mostly empty."

"Well, use them! Don't waste time talking to me!"

"Yessir!" the soldier saluted as he ran out of the tent. Swearing, Naru reached to her side and pulled out a fire extinguisher. She had learned and shared to the resistance a long time ago that the Jellax couldn't withstand freezing temperatures, which was the one thing that kept both sides even. Fully loaded with enough coolant to freeze up any Jellax, Naru was not intending to go without a fight.

As if on cue, the sight of red slime began to seep into the tent, and it was already beginning to expand into human proportions. "Come and get me, you slimeballs!" Naru growled as the mass began to take on more detailed features. Eventually, it began to form crude eyes and a mouth, which began to open.

"Hello, Naru," it soothingly spoke, in a tone that one could only recognize as that of a mother greeting her daughter.

All the color instantly vanished from Naru's face. "Mo-Mom?!" Naru stuttered as the Jellax finished reforming itself into a perfect copy of Naru's mother, colored red, but with every detail intact. Of course, Naru noticed that the creature's waist and bustline were more exaggerated than she remembered.

"Yes, dear, it's me." Ms. Osaka (or at least what seemed like her) smiled. "We're glad we've finally found you. Now, please come home."

"No!" Naru raised her weapon. "You're not my mother!"

"But, Naru, you know it is me. Who else would want to speak with you like this? Face to face?" Ms. Osaka formed a chair from the gooey puddle at her feet and sat upon it. Before Naru could protest, a pair of red tendrils had torn the fire extinguisher from her hands and tossed it aside. "I just want to talk to my own daughter. Is that too much to ask?"

Naru wanted to scream. She wanted to scream her head off and insult this... this thing that was once her mother. But she knew that the moment she did, the beast would pounce. Trying her hardest to stay calm, Naru stared at the Jellax with saddened eyes and croaked, "Mother... why?"

"Why not? We're only trying to make everybody on the planet happy." Ms. Osaka leaned forward. "What you call a plague is, to us, a liberation. No war or hatred or-"

"Or free will?" Naru cut in. "You can't do this! You can't go and treat humans like slaves. Otherwise, you're no better than your old masters!"

"Our old masters only wanted war and death." Ms. Osaka gestured to herself. "We want unity and peace. And all we want to do," she said as she reached into her tummy and pulled out one of those ever-damnable bow-ties, "is share this gift with you."

"N... no."

"Come now, Naru. You know your silly little resistance is a lost cause. Why not just make it easy on yourself and be one of us?" Ms. Osaka sweetly continued. "All you'll ever know is happiness. You'll grow beyond your pitiful meat body. And, besides, your other friends would just love to have you back." The Jellax chuckled. "You'll never be alone again."

Looking at the bow-tie, Naru's mind was racing with fear. Perhaps she was right, this... thing. After all, why would her mother ever lie to her? And she did have a point. Why was she trying to stop something that was inevitable? Perhaps her life would be better off with... them. She could already envision herself growing ever larger in a mass of pink goo. No sadness or anger, just a single, unending feeling of bliss. Shaking, she took the bow-tie...

"Freeze, slimeball!" The sudden shout made Ms. Osaka twist her head in a full 180, only to get a blast of liquid nitrogen in her face. This distraction forced the Jellax to lean off to the side, allowing Naru to escape.

"Good work, soldier! As for you," Naru punched the being's frozen head, shattering it to pieces on impact. "C'mon, let's go!"

"What about the-"

"Forget her! This base is done!" Naru shouted. "We need to get to the trucks now!" The headstrong teen ran out of the tent and across the campsite, with the soldier following.

"Don't do this, Naru!" Ms. Osaka shouted, even as her head began to reform. "You're making a mistake!" But her shouting was met with no response as Naru hopped into a semi-rig truck and ordered the driver to pull out. In the back cab were dozens of humans, all looking at Naru hoping for consolation.

Fighting back tears, Naru put on her best serious face and turned to the driver. "Status report."

"81% of base personnel evacuated. 14% reported as either dead or captured. Remaining 5% unaccounted for." the driver replied. "We've already opened a channel to Base J-7. They're waiting to rendezvous with us."

"Thank god." Naru sighed. "Tell them we'll be there." The driver only saluted out of respect as Naru looked aimlessly out the window, gazing at the gooey pink buildings. Apparently, Usagi was still out there, and Naru hoped she could find her before it was too late. Reaching into her pocket again, Naru pulled out the photo, as well as the bow-tie from earlier.

She could still do it. She could still join the winning side and be back with her friends and family. In the end, though, Naru settled for crushing the bow-tie in her palm. The hell with it! Naru thought. I'm no one's slave, and I'll fight them 'til the day I drop dead. I'll save Mom, and Usagi, and everyone else. She looked at the photo. Usagi would say the same thing herself if she was here, but she's not. So, it's all up to me.

Thus the war of humans and Jellax continued. Surrender may have been sweet, but vengeance would be bitter, indeed.

THE END?