Slowly but surely this piece is coming along. AU, not canon. Characters may be subject to (slight) alterations to fit setting. As always rights to the characters go out to their respective owners. Enjoy!
- Veltha Losna: Aplu Region -
The land itself was devoid of life. Not even the former cactus could live on this barren terrain. It was more of a wasteland. The sky was a constant storm consisting of veins of lightning and rolling thunder. Storms ravaged most of the area. It was one of the more dangerous regions on the planet. Mostly military officials and other "protectors" of order resided here.
A sandy-colored, boxed in, motorized vehicle could be seen driving over the rocks and sand. Only a trail of dust followed. The area around was virtually empty. Why something like this would be found in such a place was yet to be revealed.
To some, the transportation was state of the art. Only the toughest of all-terrain vehicles were permitted to drive across these lands. To others, this is nothing more than a rickety metal box with wheels. The only form of music was the squeaky wheels with a pulsating base of bumpy terrain and a certain disgruntled blond gentleman.
"I don't like it." The vocals were somewhere between a bass and tenor, just an octave or two above the merging point of the baritone range. It was masked under a crude sneer of unsatisfactory. Equally equipped were the arms rested stiffly upon the upper body. It's host positioned the view to the space opposite from the recipient seated next to him.
"Quit your damn complaining before I put this cigarette out on the cuff of your sleeve." A clear baritone voice laced with a nicotine coated throat let lose an ill-mannered retort. His attention was focused on the path ahead refusing to make eye-contact with the younger, less experienced General next to him.
"You were more tolerable when you weren't smoking. Over-compensating for the obvious downgrade to your precious collector's vehicle?" A huff followed the snub remark that was just itching for an answer.
"Why you--" Clearly a nerve had been struck but not nearly as hard as the blast to the front-end of the vehicle from an unknown source up ahead. Neither men had enough time to react and the slight distraction caused a costly mistake.
The ride swerved off into the newly created ditch in the road; The front tires buried and the back wheels were going nowhere fast.
"What the hell!" The driver leaped from the jarred door examining the damage factor in front of them. His temper flared matching his auburn hair. It was nearly as potent as his hair was long and wavy.
Several coughs sounded from the blond gentleman accompanying him. His height was shorter than the hot-headed man on the other side of the former transportation, but above the average standards of the length of his hair. Blue eyes looked over to the explosive scene aside of him bringing up a hand to cover the lower half of his face.
"Gee why don't you smoke another fag. Looks like you can use a stress-reliever." The blond practically rolled his eyes matching the insincerity of his suggestion.
"Shut up and do something useful! Help me get this thing out of this ditch before something else happens!" A shout of urgency mixed with clear annoyance rang while the man thrust his hands upon the side of their only means of transportation.
"Such a pathetic sight of human trash!" Broke in an obnoxious voice of degrading remarks.
"Those who's shine that don't even amount to the weakest of stars!" Another equally obnoxious voice chimed to their near identical half.
The two men snapped their attention to a swirl of red and green petals. When the display subsided two similarly dressed blond women stood before them matching their attire to the respective colors of their elaborate entrance.
"Who the hell are you two broads supposed to be?" An equally snide retort sounded from the taller man.
"Wouldn't you like to know." The woman in red sneered holding a gold colored staff with a sun-like emblem at the top. It was positioned vertically resting the pointed end into the ground. It stood as stiff as the warrior's knot resting at the center of where her hair was tied up in leaving a thin band of hair to fall against the left side of her face.
"Despite such a lowly status, you two gentlemen are of interest to us." The woman in green responded almost immediately afterwards. An identical staff was held at her side resting slightly tilted in a loosely-held grasp. Her hair was done up in the same warrior's knot as her red-dressed twin having her hair fall in a single long strand on either side of her face.
"Wait a second, those staffs..." The blond male's eyes narrowed seeming to be in thought. "Nephrite..." His attention stayed on the two while trying to get the attention of the dark haired man who at this point was becoming blinded by his rising anger.
"Whatever it is, we're not interested. Now beat it!" His remark came from pressed teeth against a deteriorating cigarette butt in an attempt to salvage every last bit of it.
"Now is that any way to speak to a GOD?" A venomous remark to accompany the smeared grin. Clearly there was no fear and an air of superiority reigned over the two. She raised her staff to point to the one who was in retort.
"Nephrite, the staffs!"
The woman in red raised her staff into the air letting loose a destructive wave of energy into the front of the vehicle. The two men leaped away on either side not expecting that kind of power to come from seemingly mere humans. Within seconds their former means of transportation was nothing more than a burning pile of scraps. Sounds of coughing emitted from the men as clouds of dust filled the air.
"What the hell was that!" The taller gentleman, now known as Nephrite exclaimed angrily between coughs.
"Hmpth! Quick to bark."
"Quick to fall." Again the woman in red finished her twin's train of thought with a laugh. The words came as a matter of fact as the green dressed woman retracted her staff back at her side as her twin did the same.
"Enough of this!" Having the cigarette lost to the dust, a fist slammed against the ground before quickly pulling himself to stand. The brash behavior initiated a power up in an energy forming around his hand. A crystal began to shape and the sky began to darken slightly.
"What the hell are you doing? You know we're forbidden to use that!" Blue eyes darted to the energy from ground level. His hands placed out in front of him to lift himself to one knee.
"These wenches want to play with power, I'll show them power!" He raised a hand into the air with the crystal floating in front of his palm. The sky darkened more and a collection of lightning began to hover above them.
"What's this?" The red one narrowed her eyes in surprise.
"This must be what Madame was referring to, Chi." The green garbed one held her staff in front of her as the one now known as Chi did the same.
A screeching sound emitted from an unidentified source in the distance followed by an explosion between the two groups. Both parties shielded themselves as the blast blew up pieces of rock and dirt from the ground. The interruption was followed by a barrage of bullets coming towards the female pair with speed. A second vehicle sped up next to the men proceeding to skid heavily against the dirt as the breaks kicked in. The gun-fire continued to fire towards the pair as a tall white haired man rolled down the driver's window.
"Get in you two!" A commanding voice called to the men who quickly did as was asked of them.
As for the two women they were distracted enough to throw up an energy shield to protect themselves from harm. A hood-mounted machine gun was being manned by someone in the passenger side of the front seat. A face mask and goggles shrouded the identity. The vehicle, militaristic in appearance, began to speed away while continuing to fire at the two.
"They're escaping Phi!"
"I've noticed!" The one in green glared to her twin while trying to uphold the power shield.
"You two! Retreat immediately!" A new voice emerged from seemingly nowhere. The two glanced to the sky for a moment seeming to attempt to scout out the source of the voice, though it was all too familiar.
"But Madame--"
"Chi! Now!"
The energy began to wrap around them as their forms disappeared in a swirl of green and red petals.
"They're gone!" The gunner exclaimed to the driver.
"Keep an eye out in case they decide to return." The driver replied while turning his attention to the two men in the back briefly. "What the hell were you two doing out there?" A disapproving tone met the ears of the pair.
"I told him not to use it--"
"They had some kind of power and our vehicle was demolished! What the hell was I supposed to do? Let them blast us to pieces?"
"Enough!" The man at the wheel kept his attention focused on the road.
"Kunzite, the staffs those two had--"
"I know, Jadeite."
"But how the hell is that possible?"
"I don't know."
"What the hell are you two talking about?" The voice of Nephrite interrupted the two.
"Sailor Soldiers, you moron." The fourth male replied while taking off the mask and goggles revealing a face of perfect complexion and long light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"WHAT?" The man nearly leaped out of his seat half ready to lunge at the younger general and half in shock.
"Nephrite! Zoicite!" Kunzite shot his attention into the rearview mirror to pass a disapproving look to Nephrite and to the gentleman next to him.
"So what do we do about this? What does this mean for the four main power points?" Nephrite sat back in his seat crossing his arms across his chest.
"We awaken Endymion and Serenity." Kunzite's expression went dark for a moment. "We're going to need her help for this."
"You can't be serious..." Nephrite's response was in disbelief at his leader's 'suggestion.'
"We're going to the outskirts of Laran." Kunzite's expression didn't change as he looked straight ahead.
The other three let out a sigh bracing themselves for what was to come next.