Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars, and Malachite stood opposite of Queen Beryl. Waiting for her to make a move. Mars was the first to attack. "Firestar Flash!" The multiple streams of fire headed for Beryl, but did not connect as she blasted them out of the air with black lightining from her staff. Beryl rushed forewards, striking Mars down with her staff. Lifting the pointed end, Beryl prepared to finish off the helpless Sailor Scout.

"No!" Venus screamed as she attempted to tackle the dark queen, but was bounced off of an energy barrier she created just in time, landing hard on the ground. Beryl lunged at the blonde sailor, but Venus rolled out of the way as the staff's pointed end smashed into the ground. "Venus Crescent Beam!" Sailor Venus pointed directly at Beryl. "Smash!" The golden beam went towards it's target, and Venus expected Beryl to fall in pain.

She was dead wrong. The beam hit the palm of Queen Beryl's hand directly, but did no damage. The dark queen had absorbed it's power to use for herself! "Goodbye, Sailor Venus!" She shot the attack back at it's owner, who just barely managed to get herself out of the way.

"How dare you!" Venus seethed with anger. "Crescent..." A golden, crescent shaped weapon appeared in her hand. "Boomerang!" Launching it with all her might, Sailor Venus let the attack fly through the air.

"Hmph!" As the attack neared it's target, Queen Beryl deflected it with a swipe of her hand. "Die, Sailor Scouts!" A wave of black lightining sent both Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus flying into the back wall. Malachite remained standing with a bit of effort.

He leapt towards Beryl, and released a burst of energy at close range, knocking the queen back a fair ditance. Rushing to his fallen allies, he asked them, "Can you stand?"

Sailor Mars shakily stood up, her wound worsened by the energy wave from Beryl. "I don't know how much more of this I can take..." She gasped, they had to get her out of here while keeping Queen Beryl away from Grandpa. Said elder had taken cover behind an overturned table in the room with Chad. Everyone knew it wouldn't do much good, but it was at least something to keep them a little safer.

Sailor Venus stood up, ready to fight some more. "Get them out of here, Malachite. I know you'd do a better job fighting Beryl than me, but that means you can protect them better. Now go!" Without much hesitation, Malachite allowed Mars to use his shoulder for support. He motioned for the others to follow him, and they did.

"Step aside or die! Sailor Scout!" Queen Beryl demanded angrily as she got to her feet.

"If you wanna get to them you'll have to go through me!" Sailor Venus took her stance. No longer would she hold herself back.

"It would be my pleasure!" Beryl hissed while lunging for the kill.

The sailor soldier of love barely had time to react, but she did so with her strongest attack at that point. "Venus!" A gold, heart-linked chain appeared around her. She grabbed it by one end. "Love-Me Chain!" Like a whip, Venus used the chain and smacked Beryl away. The queen landed on her feet, but was furious. The attack hadn't hurt her in any way, but Malachite was getting away with that grandfather. Without him, her plan would fall to ruin.

"Aaaaaaagh!" Beryl shot the lightining from her staff once more, but Venus countered with the chain. When she tried to attack Beryl directly, the chain wound up wrapped around her staff instead. The two warriors struggled against each other for the advantage of the situation, until, "Such a foolish mistake." The golden chain became electrified with dark energy from the staff, causing Sailor Venus great pain. Venus knew she couldn't last alone, so she released the section of chain and started running to follow Malachite's path leading into the nearby forest.

Queen Beryl was right on her tail, following step for step. It was a wonder that she could move at all in that dress of hers. "Enough games!" Beryl began to fly above her prey. "How's this!?" A large, dark purple crystal formed in her hands.

Sailor Venus saw it, and once Queen Beryl had launched it she dodged out of the way. The ground it hit was smashed into dust and nothing more. It was much too powerful an attack to counter with her chain. But she had to try.

While Venus ran for her dear life, Malachite was having trouble of his own. Sailor Mars was growing weaker by the minute from the sword wound Prince Endymion had inflicted. They stopped to rest, believing that they had outrun the fight. "Rei, I just can't believe that you're Sailor Mars...Why didn't you tell me?" Grandpa asked as Mars sat down with her back against a tree.

"I couldn't...If you knew someone could...capture you and torture you until you told them. I couldn't take the risk...of you going through that pain." Her sentence was broken up as she was finding it harder and harder to breath with the wound she had sustained. Worried, Malachite used his magic to conjure up a roll of bandages. With a little help, Malachite wrapped them around her waist where the gash was.

Chad and Grandpa sat by Mars. "That's really thoughtful of you." The elder thanked his granddaughter for her considerate choice of action.

Hearing footsteps, Malachite stood and began to leave. "That must be Sailor Venus, Queen Beryl rarely runs anywhere from what I can remember." He left the scene to go and help her.

"Yaah!" Venus whipped at the next incoming crystal with all her might as she continued to run. The chain smacked it off course, sending it crashing through a tree instead of into the sailor herself. But of all the things that brought her down, it was when she tripped over an exposed tree root. Beryl did not bother to stop and kill her, she had lost enough time with Sailor Venus already that could have been better spent catching the grandfather she needed for her plan.

Appearing before the group as they watched over Sailor Mars, she made her threat to them. "Enough games for today, Grandpa Hino. It's time that you come back with me. Come peacefully and I won't kill your friends here." Chad and Grandpa took a defensive stance in front of the injured Sailor Mars. A mistake.

"Grandpa no! That's what she wanted you to do! Get out of here now!" Mars insisted, beginning the struggle to get to her feet.

"She's right." The orb on her staff shot lightining down upon the two, rather obviously caging them inside a cage of black lightining. In a red flash they were gone, and Beryl pointed the staff at Sailor Mars. "At least today wasn't a complete waste of my time." She hissed as energy collected at the top of her staff.

But before the queen could do anything more, a pink boomerang-shaped energy blade flew by her head, sticking itself in the tree trunk ahead. Queen Beryl turned to see Malachite and Sailor Venus had returned. "Beryl!" Malachite's voice was filled with rage.

"I will deal with you soon enough. With my plan almost complete I can afford to let you live to enjoy this a little while longer. Which will make it all for the better when I take it all away from you, traitor!" Beryl vanished into thin air, leaving the three alone in the forest.

"Grandpa..." Mars was sobbing on her knees, not having had the strength to get up and fight back. Venus knelt by her, gently placing her hand on her shoulder.

"We'll get him back, don't worry." She smiled reassuringly. Making people feel better was one of her many life skills that always came in handy.

"Your friend's right. We'll get him back. For sure." Malachite followed Venus' example and placed his hand on her shoulder as well.

Evening came, and the shrine was cleaned up easily thanks to Malachite's dark powers. They were unaware that the end was approaching fast.

Back on her throne, Beryl was pleased to see that, while she was dealing with the grandfather, Endymion had captured two more of the Rainbow Crystal carriers. Only one was left. "Soon, the Sailor Scouts will be out of my way for good! You have impressed me, prince. With the last carrier, the beast shall be released!"

Later that night, everyone gathered at the Hikawa Shrine. The heroes stood in the flame-lit room where Rei sat in front of the fire, preparing to see into the future.

Malachite stood between Mina and Ami, arms crossed over his chest as usual. Everyone was on edge.

When Rei began to chant unknown words, the tension grew. When she looked directly into the fire, she saw many things. A UFO in the skies over Tokyo. A robed man with a crystal ball. But both of those did not seem as important as the next. A tall beast of shadows, crushing Tokyo with it's mere presence. But that wasn't what worried her most, she could see Grandpa's face along with all the other Rainbow Crystal carriers in it.

"What did you see?" Luna asked once Rei came back to her senses from the vision.

"A shadow monster crushing Tokyo. I saw Grandpa's face with it."

"Then the legend is true." Malachite solemnly spoke.

Rei was about to ask him what that mean, but a phone began to ring from down the hall. Ami left to go answer it. Once she was gone, Malachite began to explain.

"One of the ancient legends about the Shadow Warriors tells of an invincible beast capable of crushing anything in it's path, called the 'Invincible Shadow'. It is said to be created by combining the Seven Great Youma-the Shadow Warriors-together in the presence of their true queen."

"And just who is their true queen?" Serena dug into the subject.

"Queen Metallia. The very one Queen Beryl is attempting to free from her cyrtsal prison. She is of unmatched power, and Beryl does not need to free her to bring the warriors together. Metallia simply must be within the vicinity of them when she merges them."

"What about the Imperium Silver Crystal? Wouldn't that stop it?" Mina asked.

"I am uncertain of that. The beast is said to absorb any energy it comes into contact with. The same can be said for Metallia herself." Malachite un-crossed his arms, letting them fall to his sides. "Could you tell how many she has gathered by looking through the fire?" He asked, this would be key if they were to survive.

Rei looked back into the fire after chanting a second time, tension was at an all-time high by this point. "Six! She only has one left!" Rei went into a panic.

Ami returned at that point, happy about something. "Hey guys, guess what? Greg's in town for a few days!"

Malachite recognized the name. "Greg? Zoicite mentioned something to me regarding a brown-haired boy with that name. Was he a carrier?" He sounded anxious, but who wouldn't?

"Yes, but his heart stayed human once the crystal was removed. At least until Zoicite used the Star Crystal on him a second time."

"Then we have to find him, immediatly!" Malachite shouted before darting to the door.

"But why? You aren't planning on hurting him for what he did to Zoicite, are you?" Ami was prepared to fight for her dear friend, but that wasn't necessary.

"Queen Beryl must not be allowed to release the Invincible Shadow! We must hurry!" Everyone followed Malachite's example of leaving the shrine except for Rei, who was still recovering from her injury. "We'll split up!"

"Who made you leader?" Serena interjected. She was rather upset everyone was following his lead and not hers.

"We don't have time to argue! Let's move!" Lita spoke up before dashing off with Mina and Artemis to the left.

"Oh fine, Lita." Serena dashed off to the right with Luna following her close behind.

Malachite and Ami descended the stone stairs last among the group, heading straight in hopes they would find Greg before Beryl or Endymion. "Let's go!" She got out her micro-computer and began to run alongside the former general.

It was a race against time now, if the Invincible Shadow was released, they would be helpless against it. Their only possible hope was the Imperium Silver Crystal, which wasn't even close to being garunteed to work.

But could they make it in time?

Review, please?