CHAPTER 11 – SYMBOLIC
Rei playfully rolled her fingers, cuddling the delicious fireball in her left hand. Then, as discreetly as she could manage, she tossed it into the least-populated area of the ballroom.
"Everybody, please remain calm and head for the exits!" Tuxedo Kamen yelled. "Please, do not panic!"
Mayhem erupted on the dance floor; white and black ties and all different colors of dresses flew this way and that as the partygoers fled the scene. A mob of them rushed up the grand staircase where they stood. The Senshi slid and elbowed their way in the opposite direction of the crowd as they descended the stairway, everyone too panicked to wonder why this small group of people was headed toward the danger rather than away from it.
Yet not everyone was fleeing Rei's fire; several dozen people remained, and they didn't look happy to see them.
"You ladies picked a horrible night to interrupt us!" roared one of them. "Long live our master, Lucretius! RAAAAAHHH!" With a menacing yell and a flash of black fire, those who remained after the crowd had left removed their disguises to become the monster youma that the Senshi feared. They were all spindly, menacing figures, cloaked in gray-green armor, many holding blades and other weapons.
"Kill them! Kill 'em all!" the head youma snarled, pulling a terrifying axe in front of its scaly body.
Matt Sneider remained frozen at the top of the staircase, his hands trembling and pale. He could see the entire floor from up here; his eyes widened when he saw the youma transform from their human disguises. He gulped and struggled to find his confidence; there were just so damn many! How would they make this work?
"Fuck it," he thought to himself. "Just do it." He reached into his jacket and withdrew those two blessed Moon pistols.
"I don't think so!" Matt roared, opening fire.
His first several shots punctured the scaly tissue of the head youma with the axe, spilling rivers of black blood. It shrieked in surprise and anger as it sunk to its knees and sought cover.
The other youma hadn't even noticed him, the nondescript person standing at the top of the stairs, focusing only on the Senshi they knew well, right in front of them. Several monsters went down with wounds before they even realized what was happening.
While their friend did his job, the girls transformed, with Usagi muttering, "I was hoping to last a little longer in this dress…"
"GET HIM!" the axe youma roared in fury. Immediately, three lizard-like youma charged up the red velvet staircase to attack their new enemy.
One shot from Ebony—one monster down. One shot from Ivory—two down. The other one charged right down the middle…
Matt did the first thing that came to mind—brought up his loafer-clad foot in direct contact with the charging youma's head. More surprised than hurt, the youma lost its balance and tumbled over backwards down the steps.
"Ow," Matt muttered, pain shooting through his foot as he ran down the stairs to join his comrades.
Rei grabbed one of the youma by its throat and bodily tossed it into the hellish fire she had already started. "Take that," she whispered, before being tackled by another monster from behind.
"Gah! Usagi, get down!" Tuxedo Kamen yelled as he let the roses fly. The Moon Princess threw herself on the floor as her fiancé impaled two more youma who were getting ready to jump up behind her. He pulled out his long black cane and charged another one, furiously beating at it as if he was using a baseball bat. Sailor Moon swung herself to her feet and smashed her Moon Rod against an oncoming youma, flinging it back from her in a bright pop of lunar energy.
Fire, lightning, gunshots, and flashes of light filled the ballroom, a small pitched battle going on all at once.
Rei struggled to breath as the youma that had tackled her tried to clamp its claws around her throat. The beast pressed itself roughly against her back as it tried to impale her. The Senshi of Fire braced herself, gritting her teeth; she retched as she reached behind herself and brought the youma's body crashing down on the floor in front of her.
The youma grunted in pain but recovered quickly, swiping her square in the face with its fist, bringing Sailor Mars down to his level. As the monster tried to leap onto her, Rei quickly brandished an ofuda and tagged it, immobilizing the youma so she could put an end to its life with a brutal crush of a red heel to the skull.
"Mercury Bubbles…BLAST!" Ami yelled, spreading her icy fog through the room. Through her goggles, the Senshi of Water could see and hear the sounds of the Senshi wiping the floor with the enemy youma. It was encouraging to see the battle going so well. Of course, anything that seemed simple and easy made her suspicious.
"Mercury, duck!" Sailor Jupiter yelled, flinging a lightning bolt at an unseen enemy behind Ami. She dropped to the floor immediately, feeling her hair stand up in close proximity to the lightning. Hearing the rapid footsteps of another charging youma, Mercury rose with a mighty uppercut to the throat, stopping the demon right in its tracks. As it collapsed to the floor, Sailor Jupiter called down another thunderbolt; the youma's slit eyes widened in terror as the bolt struck it and reduced it to dust.
"Nice," said Makoto, breathing heavily as she high-fived Ami.
"Hey, there goes another one!" Sailor Mercury pointed to a youma who was sprinting along well out of range along the edge of the ballroom. She stared a little more closely at a yellow-orange gleam that was issuing from its hand. Shaking her head once to focus, she zoomed in with her goggles to see Sailor Venus' transformation pen. Why did this monster have it?
"He must be running to wherever they're keeping Minako," she thought as she took off after it at a dead sprint. Her sapphire-blue boots squeaked on the wooden floors as she gave chase.
With a yell of strength, Makoto clapped another youma on either side of its head with her fists. Her eyes widened in horror as the burst of intense electricity resulted in a now-headless youma collapsing to the ground. It soon dissolved into the familiar pile of moon dust.
"Woo! I didn't expect that," Makoto looked at her hands. She spun around to check on Ami, who was in hot pursuit of the other demon who was carrying Mina's pen. As Makoto started to look away, she saw a green, scaly demon with a menacing scythe start to chase Ami.
Lightning crackled in Sailor Jupiter's fingertips as she prepared to take the monster out, but she screamed in pain as a youma blade slashed her in the back and she tumbled to the ground. Makoto rolled to the right to avoid the youma's furious follow-up stab. She managed to leap to her feet in time to duck and dodge stab after stab.
But Ami was still unaware that she was being chased, as she was too focused on catching up Minako's apparent jailor. Makoto angrily caught the monster's wrist as it tried to slash at her again. While it struggled to break her tight hold, Jupiter called out to the nearest person available:
"MATT! Shoot that thing!"
The gunner clubbed a three-horned demon in the face with the butt of one pistol and finished it with a shot to the heart before whirling around to face her. "Wha?"
"SHOOT! HIM!" Sailor Jupiter roared, motioning wildly with her head, her ponytail flipping.
Sneider's eyes finally focused on the monster chasing Ami (after diverting his attention from her legs) and raised both pistols, one right next to the other like a double-barreled shotgun. He let out his breath and squeezed off the shot, nailing the beast right on the hip. The monster skidded and fell, and Ami tackled her target just before it reached one of the exits far in the corner of the ballroom.
As Makoto started to wrestle with her demon for control of its rusty blade, a lunar bullet penetrated its claw, causing it to drop its weapon and leaving Makoto time to kick it solidly in the chest. As the beast fell backwards onto the floor, Jupiter grabbed the youma blade and sank it into its Negaversian flesh.
"You're welcome!" Matt laughed to her. What the hell, was he actually enjoying himself?
Meanwhile, Ami grabbed Mina's pen off of the youma's body. "I'll be taking this, thank you," she said before dashing through the exit that had been the monster's objective before its untimely demise.
"Lucretius!" a harassed-looking youma stumbled into his commander's office on the boat to find him sitting patiently at his desk. "The Senshi are here!"
Lucretius, black-and-white nightmare mask ablaze, calmly looked up from his desk as if his lieutenant had just told him it was going to rain tonight. "Well, it seems I may have to show myself and ask them to dance," he said. Standing up, he pocketed the small black orb that he had been working on and followed the soldier out the door.
Ami found it was relatively easy to find where Lucretius' minions were keeping Minako; it was just a matter of finding where all the guards were (and if they weren't out fighting her friends in the main ballroom, what else would they be guarding?). The genius stole her way along the deck outside, the pleasant breeze in her nostrils, her eyes darting this way and that.
As the Senshi of Water floored two more demons by smashing their heads together, she found herself in front of a locked door far on the starboard side of the boat. Trying the doorknob, she found it locked. Ami pressed her ear against the door and listened; she thought she heard heavy breathing inside.
Grabbing a heavy, club-like weapon from the unconscious youma at her feet, Ami broke down the door and peered inside to see a slender figure with a large black bag over its head, lying on the floor. Mercury gently knelt by its side and removed the bag, smiling with joy to see Mina's exhausted, tear-stained face. The Senshi of Love in human form looked at Mercury as if she was an illusion.
"Hi, Mina," Ami whispered as she untied her bonds. "Sorry I'm late—" but as soon as Mina's bonds were loosed, she wrapped Sailor Mercury in a tight embrace, cutting her off. "I'm so happy to see you," she croaked. "You have no idea what they've been doing to me…"
"I believe this…belongs to you," Ami smiled at her as she handed her the Sailor Venus pen. Minako stared at it.
"Gimme that!" she commanded. "These guys are gonna have HELL to pay. VENUS POWER—MAKE-UP!"
Sailor Mercury looked with relief at the newly transformed, revitalized Sailor Venus. "Ready for revenge?" she asked.
Venus cracked her knuckles. "Let's go. Oh, and by the way…" she added as she prepared to follow Mercury back to the main ballroom, "don't ever let me drink that much again."
"Moon Tiara—MAGIC!" Sailor Moon dusted the very last youma from clear on the other side of the ballroom as Mercury's fog lifted.
Tuxedo Kamen hugged her close. "Beautiful job, Usagi."
Several yards away, Matt Sneider whooped, "WOO! YEAH! We kicked ALL your asses! What ya'll think of THAT?" Makoto walked over and gave him a firm handshake. "Good team effort," she observed.
"Indeed," came a deep-throated growl that they knew so well.
Lucretius, terrifying black and white mask sneering at them, clomped down the main ballroom stairway the Senshi had descended only a little while ago. His dark brown hat with the wide rims and his long brown coat made him look even more like a demonic friar of some forsaken order.
"Where is Sailor Venus, you creep?" Sailor Mars challenged. "We're finding her whether you tell us or not!"
Lucretius cackled and took a few more steps down. "Let me see…how about 'no'?"
"You're gonna pay for that!" Tuxedo Kamen called. With a deft flourish of his white-gloved fingers, he flung a handful of razor-tipped roses at the youma leader. Lucretius staggered backwards as they punctured his heavy brown robe. He looked down at his upper arm, protruding roses.
"That's all?" he laughed sonorously, brushing the roses off of himself. "Go ahead and try to attack me…if you can!" he taunted.
"Mars, Fire, IGNITE!"
"Jupiter Thunder…CRASH!"
Lucretius smirked as the Senshi attacks blazed towards him, menacing flame and crackling energy. A mere mortal would not have been able to survive such a blast.
But this was Lucretius. Smirking, he crouched into his robe, pulling it around himself to cover his head. Fire and thunder engulfed him; Makoto's eyes gleamed in triumph. Her expression soon changed…
Rising in the middle of the burst of fire that had surrounded him, Lucretius swept his robe away from his body, scattering the flames and sparks and revealing no damage to himself. Ashes and wear-and-tear were visible on his robe, but the youma himself remained, his nightmare mask unscathed.
"It's time to break out the big guns," Usagi thought. "Desperate times call for desperate measures." The Moon Princess slowly raised her Moon Spiral Heart Rod, with the Imperial Silver Crystal at its apex. It gleamed comfortably in her hand, making her feel strong and confident. A brilliant white light began to coalesce around her weapon.
The kabuki mask on Lucretius' face inched down a bit. "Oh please, go right ahead," he told himself, steeling his demonic form. "Go right ahead, Moon Princess," he tempted her. "Hit me with your best shot."
Later on, Usagi would realize that many future struggles could have been prevented for the Senshi if only she had stopped to think. Why was this youma so eager for her to attack him? Why didn't he seem eager to defend himself? Wasn't there something suspicious about that?
But in the heat of combat, Sailor Moon didn't think.
"MOON! CRYSTAL! POWER!" she yelled, flinging a beam of concentrated, pure light at Lucretius.
Quick as lightning, Lucretius deftly fished a black orb out of his pocket and held it out in front of him. He popped the device open and caught the moon beam head-on.
Lucretius grunted, and his body shook as he held back the energy of Sailor Moon's Imperial righteousness. Usagi watched him, her blue eyes widening. "Huh?" she wondered out loud. She lowered her Heart Rod, shutting off the beam and watching what was happening to Lucretius.
Lucretius had beads of black sweat billowing down his mask as he seemed to wrestle with the black orb that had just taken a hit from all the energetic might of the future Moon Kingdom. The orb became blurry and shimmered in his hands, turning violent shades of purple, then deep blue. It then oscillated wildly, as though trying to throw Lucretius off of it. The big youma forced it down to the floor and angrily smothered it with his body, clutching it in both of his demonic fists. It would have been a little funny to watch if the Senshi weren't watching, so perplexed.
Finally, the black orb gave one final quiver before falling motionless and slowly turning back to its original, deep black color. An evil chuckle escaped Lucretius' mouth as he rose to his feet with the orb.
"Why thank you, Sailor Moon."
"Wha…bu….you just…what did you just do?!" she cried.
"I have done nothing," Lucretius replied. "But you have just lent me your power for a most…intriguing purpose." Something about the way he said that struck a deep fear into the hearts of all present. It was full of such sinister malice that it would torment Usagi mercilessly afterwards. What had she done?
"Speak English, buddy," Sailor Jupiter piped up, her voice quivering. "What purpose?"
"…a Soul Cage," Lucretius whispered.
"VENUS! CRESCENT V—SMASH!" a feminine snarl emerged from across the room, a powerful energy beam blasting through the floor under Lucretius' feet, sending him plunging into the depths below the ship.
"Did I come at a bad time?" Sailor Venus tossed her blonde head, eager to be back.
"Mina, uh…" Rei started to speak before being interrupted by Lucretius smashing his way back up through the deck into the air.
"Your defeat shall be legendary, Sailor Senshi! And by the time you realize what shall happen to you, I will be eons away, laughing at your demise!" With a guttural roar, Lucretius vanished with a burst of black fire.
Silence.
Sailor Venus glanced around at everyone else. "Okay, so, uh…what'd I miss?"
Sailor Moon turned very pale and didn't seem to hear her. "Ami? What the hell is a Soul Cage?"
Sailor Mercury shook her head, staring at the place where Lucretius had just been standing, now marked by an angry, black ashmark on the floor. "I don't know," she said softly.
Black loafers padded the floor as Matt Sneider, suit and tie rumpled, torn, and dirty, pocketed his pistols and walked over to Sailor Venus with a hand outstretched for a shake.
"Matt Sneider, Goldman Sachs," he introduced himself. "I think we should bring you up to speed…"