Mistakes of the Great Beings
10. Senshi versus Saurian
Sailor Jupiter immediately unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts at the three Saurians still standing. Two of them were hit, the female with the glaive managed to dodge. As her enemies struggled to recover, Jupiter hurried to Venus' side and helped her up. After making sure she was alright, she continued to Mars.
"Are you alright? And what's wrong with Mercury?"
"I'm fine. And Mercury was hit by a beam from that glaive-wielding one, and has been like that ever since. It disrupted her mind, I think." She took out an ofuda paper. "Distract them, I'll try to cure her."
"Understood." With those words, Jupiter charged at the glaive-wielding female.
Meanwhile, Rei closed her eyes and chanted: "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, zai, zen... Funkyuu Taisan!" She threw the paper at Mercury. She used a slightly different spell than usual, meaning 'Confusion, begone!' instead of an 'evil spirit', and hoped it would work.
The paper struck Mercury, and the effects were immediate. The clouded look in the Senshi's eyes disappeared, and she looked around frantically, trying to figure out what was going on. The last thing she remembered was getting hit by that red blast of energy. When she noticed Jupiter had joined the fray, Mercury wondered just how long she had been out. Not sure how it had been done, she nonetheless decided to not let it happen again. Summoning her harp, she fired Mercury Aqua Rhapsody once more at the glaive-wielding Saurian.
Deeming that particular Saurian the most dangerous, Jupiter joined forces with Mercury, firing her own Jupiter Oak Evolution at the reptile. The combined attacks slammed into the unfortunate Saurian, who was knocked back hard against a tree. When she slumped to the ground, she didn't move anymore, having been rendered unconscious. The two triumphant Senshi shared a smile, but their happiness didn't last long.
The defeat of one of their own enraged the other Saurians, and they struck back with double force and ferocity. The Saurian of Plant Control unleashed his full power, waving his staff which caused all plantlife around them to go wild. All grew at rapid speed, thorns, vines, branches and roots all reaching out to the Senshi, attempting to grab them and squeeze the life out of them. Venus, wounded and tired from her battle with the Dodge Saurian, wasn't quick enough to avoid the mad vegetation and was ensnared. Snake-like vines encircled her neck and squeezed, cutting off her air.
The others moved in to help their friend, but found their path barred by Density and Dodge. Seeing as Venus didn't have much longer, there was no time for an ingenious plan. At least, not according to Mars. She summoned her flames and attacked. "Burning Mandala!"
As she expected, both Saurians dodged the attack, allowing her flames to hit their true intended target: the vines choking Venus. Her rings of fire made quick work of them, and the Soldier of Love fell to her knees, coughing as she rubbed her throat. She glared at the staff-wielding Saurian, who moved in to repeat his choking move. This time, though, she was faster than him. Her wounds didn't allow her to get to her feet, but she still had power. She threw her Venus Love Me Chain and ensnared his legs. Pulling hard, she toppled him over and he fell, hard, on his back. Dodge moved in to help her fellow fighter up while Density kept them busy, but she was unexpectedly interrupted.
"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"
An attack of light sped her way, but Dodge managed to react just in time, triggering her power and escaping harm. Yet as she did that, another attack was fired at her, and as she was still dodging the first, she couldn't dodge the second.
"Supreme Thunder Dragon!"
Jupiter had reacted the quickest of all Senshi, attacking the dodging reptile even as Sailor Moon's attack was still in effect. Dodge physically wasn't very strong, and Jupiter's Lightning hurt like hell. She dodged attacks, she didn't take them, and as of such even medium powered attacks could be devastating for her. Dodge fell to the ground, hindered and out of the fight for now. Her blades slipped from her grasp.
"How dare you break the walls of this dimension...!" Sailor Moon started, but was interrupted by Mars:
"Baka! We said that already!"
"Oh." She blinked. "Then... How dare you to threaten Life itself!"
The other Senshi just sweatdropped.
"What? Oh." A few seconds of silence. "How dare you to disturb the peace of this universe!" Seeing that now she didn't repeat the other Senshi, Sailor Moon continued in the usual manner. "I stand for love! I stand for justice! I am Sailor Moon! And in the name of Moon, I'll punish you!"
Density had heard enough. He was getting tired of fighting these female, ugly creatures with annoying speeches. They hindered their search, and had already taken out two of their number. Well, he'd end it. Quickly he leaped at the one nearest to him, which happened to be Mercury. She tried desperately to launch another attack at him, but it passed through his ghastly form. Density's claws gleamed as they were raised. Then they coloured red with blood as they ripped through Mercury's chest. The wound was deep, but not fatal.
Even as Mercury fell to her knees, clutching her chest in pain, her white gloves being stained with her own blood, the other Senshi attacked all at once. Four different powers soared at once to the unlucky Saurian, and though they passed through his ghastly body, they collided with each other and exploded. The explosion sent heavy ripples through his atoms, forcing him to become solid again or die by having his atoms blown so far away from each other that he became non-existent. As Density fought to make his body solid again through the explosion of power, the pain was, to say the least, excruciating. It came as no surprise then, that the reptile fell down, defeated, as soon as he had succeeded in saving himself.
The Senshi hesitatingly dared to relax. All enemies were seemingly defeated. Jupiter and Venus immediately hurried to Mercury's side, trying to help their friend with her terrible wounds. As they did so, however, the Saurian of Plant Control painfully crawled to his knees and reached for his staff. The Senshi were so worried about Mercury they didn't notice. Just as the reptile was about to close his hand around his staff, his body abruptly began to change. The Saurian screamed as he was pushed back down the road of evolution by the power of Life. Before the eyes of the startled Senshi, the Saurian devolved back, becoming smaller and smaller until all he was, was a harmless normal lizard. Behind the devolved creature, Ignika stood, Death Scythe still pointed at the lizard. Following him were Sailor Pluto and Saturn.
"I see we're just in time…" Setsuna noted, worry for Mercury evident on her face.
Hotaru immediately rushed towards Ami, kneeled down to her and put her hands on the wound. She concentrated hard, her hands glowing with healing purple light. The wound was slowly healing. Too slowly...
"This is bad..." she said. "Don't have enough power..."
The words had barely escaped her mouth when she felt energy flowing into her. She looked at Ignika, whose hand was reached out towards her. Hotaru smiled, and let the Life energy fill her, then redirected it to her hands, ordering it to heal her friend. The purple light changed into golden, and the wound closed in a matter of seconds. Leaving Mercury in the hands of Mars and Jupiter, Saturn went over to Minako to treat her wounds.
Minako coughed and opened her eyes. "Y... You were right, Ignika... A thousand times right..." She said weakly, coughing again.
"Well, at least you realize it now," the boy replied. Seeing how badly Ami – he didn't know what she was called in her transformed state yet – was wounded, however, he wasn't able to rub that in their faces. Besides, he wasn't like that. He was angry, though, that they had to have such a heavy battle first before they believed him, and that was evident in his tone. "I won't hide it. You were foolish to decline my offer to share my knowledge. Now look what happened. Had we been here a little bit later, Ami-chan might have died."
He left them to think over that for a moment, turning his attention on the three remaining Saurians. Just like before, he raised his Death Scythe and called upon the power of Life. Once more he reached out with his will and might, using the power he possessed to devolve the three other Saurians just like the other one. Before long, three more lizards had joined the first one. All Senshi, except Pluto and Saturn, stared in awe at the child who had just effortlessly changed the four creatures they had had such a hard time with.
"Wait..." Mercury said, sitting up a bit. "How did you know it was me?"
"What do you mean, how?" Ignika looked at her, confused. "Isn't that obvious?"
Jupiter said: "Actually, no... The transformation is always accompanied by an identity-concealing spell, and one wouldn't know who is who unless they saw the transformation..."
"None of the villains who knew us both in civilian and Senshi form were able to figure out. Haruka and Michiru spent more than six months right under their nose, and no one guessed."
"Well, maybe you can hide your identity and all, but you can't hide your scent. And that's pretty obvious," the Saurian boy replied. All Senshi, even Pluto and Saturn, looked at him as if he had slapped them in the face with a wet fish. He backed away a bit. "What did I do?"
Elsewhere, not far from Tokyo, there stood a mansion, not quite unlike that of the Outer Senshi. Only this one was long and low, and had a more western style to it, and it was made out of such pure stone it almost seemed like crystal. The front door opened, however nothing seemed to have opened it, nor did anything or anybody seem to enter or leave. A few moments later, the front door closed again, and a dark figure switched of his invisibility, becoming visible in the dimly lit hall.
He was repulsive and horrifying beyond belief, so horrid was his appearance that even the bravest would go mad should they look more than a second at him. Black and white like bones he was, scuttling around on his four bladed limbs. His hideous head, with flaming, blood-red and glowing eyes, looked around for a moment. Then he spoke, with a voice that sounded like bones cracking.
"Master, are you here?"
Another voice, this one beautiful, ethereal and almost unearthly, replied, coming from further down the hall, from behind the door that led to the living room. "Yes, I am here, Crast."
The monstrous entity known as Crast shrugged his repulsive shoulders, and scuttled over to the door that led to the living room. He didn't bother opening it this time, he just passed right through it. As soon as he was through, he noticed the room was darker than usual: the curtains were closed. That was quite unlike his master. Said master was sitting down on the couch, staring at his glass of wine before him on the salon table.
"Is something the matter? You look worried."
"I am," Crast's master replied, after which he let out a deep sigh. "The past few days, I've been sensing disturbances coming from the city. I do not like it."
"What kind of disturbances?" the hideous monster asked, slightly curious. "If it's more youma, or dangerous evil entities planning to suck the souls, pure hearts or whatever from the humans, then the Sailor Senshi will deal with it."
"It's not that," came the answer. "I felt the dimensional walls being broken. Three times already, in but a few days. This is not normal, and it worries me. Last time it happened, the being known as Pharaoh 90 came to this world."
"Another enemy for the Senshi, then," Crast shrugged, sounding bored. "They'll get rid of it. Why let it bother you?"
"Because of the way the dimensional walls are being broken, Crast. It's familiar. In fact, it is precisely the same way you and I used to come to this dimension. And that can only mean one thing."
Crast nodded slowly. "Invaders from our home world, then," the repulsive, vile creature spat. A disgusting ripple ran through his hideous form. "Our duty to deal with it, then, if I am not mistaken?"
"Perhaps," the master responded slowly, hesitantly. "But there's more. I've felt a power being used here, a power that no creature in this dimension could possibly have. If it had existed, I would have known. So this powerful force must have come from our dimension, and it worries me. I have had visions in the past, predicting that this could happen."
"Do you think it is him?" Crast inquired, still sounding bored.
"No, if it was him, I wouldn't be sitting here. No, there is still time. Crast, I…"
The monstrous creature interrupted his master. "I know what it is you ask of me. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on things. Should I interfere?"
"Only if there is no other way."
Haruka had just finished packing her things and closed the suitcase. Sighing, she sat on the bed. Tomorrow, they would finally be home. A tour through Europe with her dear Michiru was a dream come true, but she missed home, Setsuna, and most of all Hotaru – her little firefly...
She looked at her beloved, who was standing on the balcony of their hotel room, looking at the sunset over the sea. She looked so beautiful in that white sundress, flowing in the soft breeze... Haruka smiled and went over to her.
Michiru didn't notice her. She looked so lost in her thoughts...
"What are you thinking of?" Haruka asked.
Michiru was startled for a moment, but then smiled sadly at her lover. "I'm worried about home..."
"Why?" Haruka put her arm around Michiru's shoulders, holding her close.
"The sea tells me of great changes... Tides and storms are coming our way... Listen... What does the wind tell you?"
Haruka closed her eyes. She felt the wind... "The wind whispers, telling of new dangers... Yet carries the warmth of hope... And caring softness of friendship..." She opened her eyes.
Michiru nodded. "Who knows what we'll find once we come home..."
"Well, we will find it out tomorrow." The racer remarked cheerfully. "And for now, let's go inside. We have a lot to do tomorrow."
Michiru nodded, and followed her love inside the room.
Next chapter: Of computers and parents!
Review replies:
SoulLoss: Thanks for reviewing, again. I too wish that I got some more reviews (even two or three per chapter would be nice), but it can't be helped. As for Anger Power, it might show up just yet! And you are absolutely right that the Senshi would be floored should they fight an enemy like Teridax. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, BTW, I had to study last week and I forgot to update on my regular updating day (sunday). My apologies!