"Jedite." Queen Beryl stated to the bowed blonde figure in front of her glorious throne.
"Majesty." The man was coy and submissive, exactly how her servants should act in her presence.
"You have done a fine job gathering energy from the humans of Earth." Beryl praised. This was a fact that was not in doubt, his efforts at re-awakening Queen Metallia were commendable, and Beryl was nothing if not direct.
"Majesty." Jedite reacted to this news with fear in his voice, and Beryl was not surprised. She knew Jedite was not summoned for mere praise. He was expecting her wrath.
"However, not all of the energy you have gathered managed to make it here. And every-time this is the case, it is because of those three Sailor Scouts, a rather...bothersome enemy despite their appearances, that you have not yet been able to defeat."
"M-Majesty." Jedite started. "Please, allow me..."
"There is nothing to explain, Jedite." Beryl quickly cut off her servant. "Many of our youma have been slain by that trio of girls, including Titus, one of most intelligent and powerful. She was slated for great things, Jedite, and now she is dead. Surely you understand that as powerful as we are, our resources are not limitless, and we cannot afford failure after failure."
"Your Majesty. I can defeat them!" Jedite clenched his fist.
"Can you, now?" Beryl asked. "You don't seem to have been doing that thus far. Perhaps I need to supply you with new motivation. So, here is your mission, Jedite. You will go back, but you will not be gathering any energy. Instead, you will eliminate all three of the Sailor Scouts: Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Moon. That is your only goal. Succeed, Jedite, and I will forgive all of your transgressions, you will keep your command, and, with them out of the picture, greater things will come your way. But if you fail me again, Jedite, there will be no forgiveness for you. There will be nothing, for you shall be locked away in Forever Sleep."
Gasps among the crowd were heard, and some youma even looked away. Beryl understood: Forever Sleep was not a punishment invoked lightly, it was the ultimate penalty. One was sealed away in crystal, and banished to darkness, never again to return.
Beryl could not recall anyone locked away in Forever Sleep were she to wish it. They were effectively dead. It was a punishment worse than death, many reasoned.
"I expect success from you, Jedite, as you no longer have your priorities divided. For your sake, Jedite, I wish you luck. Succeed, and when Queen Metallia awakens, you will be my right hand. Fail, and you will pray that it is Sailor Moon who ends your life." Jedite bowed to his queen's command, and teleported away in a flash of darkness.
There was silence among the crowd for a moment, and Queen Beryl simply sat on her throne and looked at the empty space where Jedite had once stood. She marveled at how far the man had fallen. It was Beryl's personal decision to have Jedite gather energy to awaken Queen Metallia, and it was a task that seemed to suit him well: And until those Sailor Scouts showed up, he performed admirably.
Beryl could understand a mishap or two when gathering energy from the people of Earth: She had no idea what to expect from the planet, and couldn't plan for every eventuality. But enough was enough, and the death of Titus had told Beryl what she had been coming to realize: Jedite's recklessness knew no bounds. He constantly underestimated these Sailor Scouts, even when it was just Sailor Moon alone, and he never planned for their arrival, or, if he did, he planned poorly.
Even were he to succeed at destroying Sailor Moon here, Beryl was uncertain what the future would hold for Jedite. It would certainly make his tasks easier, not to have those meddlers around. But who was to say that someone else wouldn't take Sailor Moon's place and try to stop him? A different person meant different strategies, and Jedite would flounder around and make errors upon errors in order to defeat this new foe.
Beryl couldn't afford that. Her mission was simple: Find the Imperium Silver Crystal, and grant enough energy to Queen Metallia. To accomplish both, she required resources, resources she was rapidly losing while under Jedite's supervision.
"Malachite. Come." Beryl called out her voice once the crowd departed and she was alone, and another man, with long silver hair, teleported in front of her.
"Majesty." Malachite showed the proper deference. He was her most able man, and she reserved him for only the most important assignments
"Jedite has been sent to destroy the Sailor Scouts." Queen Beryl explained.
"They are certainly thorns in our side, Majesty." Malachite replied.
"Speak plainly, Malachite. You have more to say."
"I do not believe Jedite can accomplish such an important task. I believe he will fail."
"I do not believe he will succeed either." Beryl returned. "He will underestimate them."
"If that is the case, why not simply deal with his failure and appoint another to destroy the Scouts. Both myself or Zoicite..."
"Punishing Jedite for his failure makes everyone understand the price of it." Beryl reasoned. "I will do so if that is what it takes. But that would mean the Sailor Scouts would still be out there, ruining our plans. Why not eliminate them all at once?"
"Indeed, Majesty?" Malachite was intrigued.
"I could remove the bothersome do-gooders who ruin my plans, as well as cut my losses with Jedite and prevent his failures. And after they are all gone, I can announce that Jedite gave his life to defeat the Scouts so they would not interfere with our mission. He pledged his service and his life, and I would expect the same level of duty from anyone."
"Astounding, m'queen. So why do you tell me this?"
"Watch from stealth Jedite's battle with the Sailor Scouts. If Jedite falls, eliminate the Scouts while they acknowledge their victory. If he succeeds, do the same to him. And if you see an opportunity to eliminate them all at once, take it. Do you understand, Malachite?" Beryl instructed.
"Yes, m'queen."
"Then we keep this silent until I hear from Jedite."
Jedite laughed as he thought of his ingenious plan. Without having to think of a method of gathering energy from the simple humans, concentrating his effort on the Sailor Scouts was simple. He would lure them to an airfield, sending a message across the entire city that if they did not show, the entire thing would be burned to the ground. And once the girls showed up, he'd lure them to the runway, where his telekinesis would serve him well, and take control of the many jets located there. Those girls could not survive being run over by a plane: These girls were humans, and humans were such frail creatures.
Security seemed to have been beefed up in response to his message, but that was simple enough. Jedite briefly wondered whether or not those who were not the Sailor Scouts would show up as well. Humans had in insatiable curiosity, and they would risk any danger to quench it, it seemed.
He laughed. Fools. Perhaps, after the Scouts were dead, that would be the next energy he would obtain. Assuming, of course, Beryl didn't assign this gruntwork to someone else, and give him something more suited to her right hand.
Jedite's musings were interrupted when he heard one of the trains moving towards the runway.
"Who's there?" Were they Sailor Scouts, or were they tourists. Jedite teleported close to the train to get a look. There were three teenage girls on the train. Two, a blonde girl and a blue-haired one, were dressed in school uniforms, and the third was a girl he knew, the granddaughter of the owner of the Hikawa Shrine. During one of his plans, he worked as a caretaker at the shrine, and gathered the energy of many a girl who bought a good luck charm there. But this girl somehow divined that he was behind it. Jedite thought he had sucked her into an alternate dimension, out of his hair forever, but now she was back? This bore close consideration.
"Hmmm...Scout or tourist? Only one way to find out." Jedite thought. Their train pulled up to the runway terminal. And now, Jedite made his move. He had animated some mud in order to look like fake security guards, and, he'd use them to attack these girls. Tourists would either die or run away. Sailor Scouts would fight them.
The girls started to move away from his puppets, and Jedite briefly wondered if tourist season was opening. And then, the blue-haired girl and the girl from the shrine pulled out two small things from the folds of their clothes. Jedite wasn't close enough to make it out, but it appeared to be something as long as his hand, but thin, like a pen.
"Mercury Power!" The blue haired girl screamed.
"Mars Power!" The shrine girl followed. Jedite watched in astonishment as energy surrounded those two girls, and when it subsided, he was staring right at Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars.
"Incredible!" Jedite marveled. "And what about you, Blondie?" He looked at the other girl, who rubbed the brooch attached to her uniform before shouting "Moon Prism Power."
"And there they are. Finally. I was getting bored waiting for them." Sailor Mars made quick work of the mud-guardians, but their purpose was finished anyway. Now was the time for the real battle to begin.
"Welcome!" Jedite, standing atop the air control tower, called down to the girls.
"Jedite!" Sailor Mars started. "How dare you think you can destroy a city just to find us."
"Your evil ends here!" Sailor Mercury added. "We won't stand for it. For all the people you've hurt, you will answer for it."
"I'm the one you should be afraid of, I am Sailor Moon. And there is no way I'm going to let you succeed in your evil plots anymore. In the name of the moon, I shall punish you!"
"How nice." Jedite smiled. "But I didn't come here for speeches, but for payback. How fast do you think a jet can travel?" He posed to the girls, before he poured his energy into one of the jets nearby, and started to telekinetically steer it towards the Scouts.
"Aaah!" Sailor Moon screamed at the oncoming attack. And well she should. That blonde powder-puff could never survive an attack like this.
The Scouts began to move, and Jedite was prepared for it. He started to move another of the jets to pin them.
"Mars, can't you blow them up?" Sailor Moon eagerly shouted to her teammate as they ran.
"Are you kidding?" Sailor Mars returned incredulously.
"That would be very dangerous." Sailor Mercury added "The fuel in those jets is highly combustible. Be careful not to use your flame attacks!" Jedite laughed. He enjoyed being close enough to the girls to hear them curse their own stupidity. Of course Jedite had selected this airfield, among other reasons, for the fact that it effectively paralyzed one of their stronger fighters. With one crippled, he had effectively reduced the Scouts to half-strength, as the blue-haired one was more tactician than fighter.
"Let's see you think your way out of..." Jedite thought before a rose cut across his face.
"You again!" Jedite turned into the direction of the rose, to see that interloping meddler, Tuxedo Mask.
"You think I'll allow you to crush these young girls's..." Tuxedo Mask started, but Jedite was in no mood to listen to him. He always seemed to inspire the Sailor Scouts, made them fight harder. With all his speed, Jedite moved as fast as he could to tackle the offending intruder, and the two fell straight into the sea.
Jedite knew he had to work quickly. Tuxedo Mask's attack stopped his movement of the planes, and he wouldn't be able to concentrate on them when dealing with the offending caped crusader. Trying to punch underwater was a waste of time: the water slowed his fist down enough so that it wouldn't do any damage. So Jedite had to settle for choking him. He did not let go until the man was unresponsive, and Jedite let him go, and watched him sink slowly out of sight.
He emerged from the water smiling wickedly. That meddler had paid the price for his arrogance, and soon, the Scouts would join him.
"Too bad, so sad." He floated up from above the water, glaring evilly at the Scouts, who took tentative steps back from him.
"It seems your masked magician has had his final curtain." Jedite laughed. "And now, it's time for you. I can run you over with the jets, if you like, but if you submit now quietly, I'll make it painless. It's more than a mercy for the agony you've caused me."
"Agony? You creep! You steal people's energy, manipulate their hopes and dreams, and have the nerve to say we cause you agony when you fail?" Sailor Mars was indignant.
"We will never give into you, Jedite!" Sailor Mercury cried. "And you won't be defeating us today or any day!"
"Bold." Jedite admitted. "I think I'll like the idea of squashing you like bugs!" Jedite clasped his hands together, and jumped on top of one of the jets, preparing to use it to run over all of the Sailor Scouts.
"Run, Sailor Moon!" Sailor Mercury called. The scouts all split up.
"Splitting up?" Jedite taunted. "I'll crush you first, Moon girl!" Jedite steered his plane towards where Sailor Moon was running.
"Mercury Bubbles Blast!" Sailor Mercury called, and immediately, the area around Jedite was nothing but an obfuscating fog.
"Dammit." He thought. These planes had plenty of vertical clearance room, with the exception of their landing gear. This required precision aiming, and now he's have to stop using the jets. He halted his telekinesis, and jumped to the ground.
"Playing hard to get?" Jedite taunted. "Don't think you can escape me!" Jedite stepped towards where Sailor Moon had been running, if she continued on a straight path. As he did so, he heard footsteps behind him. Was that Sailor Mars? He had gone a good bit away from the planes, she could attack him. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the first thing he could see nearby, a wooden crate, and telekinetically flung it towards the footsteps. He heard the crash of wood against flesh, and a woman's sharp cry of pain.
"Let's finish you off first." Jedite thought quickly as he reversed direction towards the fallen. The fog from Mercury's bubbles was starting to fade, and Jedite saw, much to his surprise, that Sailor Moon was actually the one hit by the crate. She was conscious, but prone. Sailor Mars, along with Sailor Mercury, were close by, but were in the other direction.
"Sailor Moon!" Mars cried. Jedite knew she would attempt to attack, so he had to move fast. To the side, he noticed large steel drums, sealed, so they had to be full. Thinking quickly, he telekinetically moved one between himself and the two standing Sailor Scouts.
"This drum is full of jet fuel." Jedite mocked. "So go ahead, Sailor Mars. Attack, and blow up your leader!" He stared her down, and Sailor Mars hesitated. She would not attack. Jedite laughed as he moved two more barrels to join the third. In truth, Jedite had no idea what was inside them, they could very easily have been holding ordinary water. But this bluff would serve until Sailor Moon was dead. After that, it didn't matter. The rest would fall easily.
"Watch your powerlessness!" Jedite taunted as he stepped up towards Sailor Moon, who's eyes shimmered with fear. Jedite prepared to deliver a fatal strike to Sailor Moon, but then he heard the sound of something moving through the air, something moving towards him. But it wasn't coming from the injured Sailor Moon, nor from the other two Sailor Scouts: The angle was wrong. Jedite looked upward just in time to take an energy blast to the face.
"Agh!" Jedite was knocked down, but quickly, he got back up.
"What was that?" Sailor Mars asked, looking around frantically.
"That blast came from..." Jedite looked in the direction the blast originated from: the planes, and saw a familiar figure standing right underneath them. It was a man with long silver hair.
"Who are you?" Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury drew into battle stances. But Jedite knew who this man was.
"Malachite!" Jedite called. "What are you doing here?"
"A mission." The man answered, as stoically as always. "But first, I'm here to deliver a message."
"A message?" Jedite questioned. "This is hardly the time for a message. I'm about to kill Sailor Moon!"
"We'll never let you hurt her!" Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury started running towards Jedite.
"You hope to stop me with your bare hands?" Jedite laughed. "Fine, come. I'll kill all of you at once." Jedite challenged. Sailor Mars rushed at him and attempted to kick him in the face. Jedite calmly raised his hand to create a psychic barrier to block such a feeble attack. Sailor Mars bounced against it and toppled to the ground.
"Sailor Mars!" Sailor Mercury stopped her run to watch her teammate.
"Well done, Jedite." Malachite praised. "All the Scouts have lined up in a row."
"If you think you're taking the credit for this, Malachite, you have another thing coming. And why were you attacking me anyway? Trying to kill Sailor Moon first?"
"As I said, I am completing my mission." Malachite answered plainly.
"And what mission would that be."
"Queen Beryl has ordered me to kill the Sailor Scouts." Malachite replied. "And to dispose of...another problem."
"Another?" Jedite replied. "Destroying the Sailor Scouts is my job!"
"Was your job. You're no longer needed, failure. Queen Beryl has ordered your death. Now, perish." And Malachite quickly launched a wave of energy towards Jedite.
"Whoa!" Jedite jumped to avoid the attack. "Have you gone insane, Malachite, I'm completing Beryl's orders."
"No, I'm completing them. You are a failure, Jedite, and your only purpose now is martyr." Malachite launched two more waves, one at Jedite, and the other at Sailor Mercury. Both ducked to avoid them.
"Perfect." Malachite quickly attacked again, but his attack was not aimed at either Jedite or the Scouts. Instead, he shot three separate blasts to immolate the three barrels Jedite had used to prevent Sailor Mars from attacking.
Jedite's eyes widened in horror as they easily caught flame. So they did actually have jet fuel in them.
"Goodbye, failure." Malachite teleported away from view.
"Malachite, you..." Jedite wasn't certain of what to do. Did Beryl really order his execution? But he was defeating the Sailor Scouts, and would have accomplished it.
A loud explosion prompted Jedite out of his thoughts as one of the barrels exploded. Sailor Mercury was far enough away from the barrel that it did little to her, but Jedite was standing so close it propelled him backwards He slammed against the wall of what appeared to be a tarmac, and he screamed in pain as he collided with it. He attempted to get to his feet, but he had was ringing, and he leaned against the building for balance.
"These Sailor Scouts are formidable, Queen Beryl had warned me. I'd best not take chances." Malachite thought as he quickly surveyed the airfield, hovering overhead. The Scouts were bunched together near the edge of the runway near the water, and Jedite was struggling for balance against a building. Those barrels Jedite had used were combustible, and they contained fuel for the airliners, which meant the jets themselves were quite the hazards. Jedite had been using three of them to attempt to mow down the Scouts: A grandiose and silly tactic befitting the one who came up with it: The simpler way would have been to lay an ambush using the fuel, then ignite it when the Scouts were too far away to escape.
"Let me show you the proper way to eliminate these cretins." Malachite said aloud, but not to anyone, as he swiftly blasted all three of the airliners with an attack. He also saw that Jedite was quite near more of the green barrels, and flung down another attack. Malachite hovered higher as the airfield began to erupt in explosions.