SailorStar9: Well, Chapter 34 is out, and if anyone is wondering what happened to me last week and yesterday, no, I'm not dead, just preparing for my exams and taking care of family stuff. So, please be a dear and read and review.

Disclaimers: Nothing here is mine, well, except the plot and the pairing.

Chapter 35: Ice Vs. Ice

Tsuyoshi was surprised at the speed Natsumi learnt to play "Are you sure you had never played this game before?" He asked her after she beat him for the fifth time in a row.

"Yeah..." Natsumi said. "But it's quite easy. Well, I gotta go... It's been fun to meet you all, guys!" She said as she walked out of the building.

Usagi chuckled "I gotta go too. I promised Chibi-Usa I'd take her to the park today."

Tsuyoshi watched Usagi go. I wonder if we'll ever find out why pinky's so important for the enemy...? He thought.

Ann and Ail walked out of the store, followed by a pack of sprouts. "This was quite easy." Ail noted.

Ann nodded "Yeah. Luckily those Senshi didn't show up..."

"Did you call for us?" Anbuis asked, walking out from behind the alley, followed by Sailor Mercury.

"Why are you attacking innocent people?" Mercury asked.

"We don't have time to play with you today." Ann snapped. "Sprouts, get them!" She ordered, then both she and Ail vanished.

"Play with us?" Anbuis muttered. "What a brat."

"Here they come!" Mercury noted as the enemies charged at them.

"And here I go." Anbuis added and produced his sword.

"Wow..." Mercury whistled, after watching the battle, that had only lasted for a few seconds.

Anbuis shrugged and the swords vanished. He reached down and grabbed a handful of seeds. Looking around, he frowned "You know, I don't understand why they bother sending those tree things to fight us... They're too weak."

"I don't understand why we bother sending those tree things to drain energy. They're too weak to fight off the Senshi." Ann noted.

Ail nodded "But remember, sister, that we didn't come here to fight."

Ann shrugged "It's only natural they try to stop us. I'd do the same if I were them."

Ail nodded again "Then next time, we'll make stronger creatures."

"Since Cooan has failed repeatedly, I've decided that Beruche will be in charge of the mission." Rubeus noted to a figure in the monitor "Sooner or later, we'll catch the Rabbit."

"It'd better be soon, we have no time to lose." The figure warned.

Rubeus nodded "Don't worry, the Ayakashi are our best soldiers."

"That was amazing..." Ami noted. She and Tsuyoshi were walking through the park, as he had offered to walk her home.

"It was nothing... I've trained to face several enemies at once, with or without my sword." Tsuyoshi explained.

"Oh..." Ami nodded.

"Leave her alone!"

"That's Usagi's voice!" Ami noted.

A few minutes earlier, Usagi was sitting on a bench in the park. She was looking up a tree, where Chibi-Usa was hanging, "Stop that or you'll hurt yourself."

"Hey, I know what I'm doing." Chibi-Usa noted and propelled herself up with her arms, making a semi-circle around the tree. When she finished her stunt, she was sitting over the branch, laughing.

Usagi sweatdropped "I wonder if she lives in the jungle ..." She noticed something and turned to see the woman that was walking towards them "Weird..." The woman was wearing a quite revealing sky blue suit and her hair was a bluish-white tone, as were her eyes.

Chibi-Usa almost fell down from the tree in surprise as she saw the woman "Beruche!"

"You know her?" Usagi asked.

"It's one of them." Chibi-Usa commented.

Usagi glared at the woman, "Stop it right there!"

Beruche smirked "A human trying to stop me? You're either very brave or very stupid."

Usagi said nothing, but tried to leap-kick Beruche, who just sidestepped her then started walking towards the tree again.

"Leave her alone!" Usagi snapped and charged at Beruche from behind. This time, Beruche sent an energy blast at Usagi, making her roll on the ground.

"Next time, I'll use a real attack." Beruche warned with a glare. She then turned and looked up the tree "Well, I came here looking for a rabbit, but instead I found a monkey."

"Who are you calling monkey, witch?" Chibi-Usa snapped.

"Little girls shouldn't talk to adults like that." Beruche noted with a frown.

"Freeze Brid!" The attack hissed just by Beruche's head. As she turned around, she saw Anbuis and Sailor Mercury standing in a battle-ready pose. Anbuis was giving her one of his patented 'target located' look.

"I see... The Senshi came to the rescue. How noble..." Beruche said with a smirk.

Mercury warned, "You better get out of here before you get hurt."

"Hahahaha! I know you, Sailor Mercury. You have no attack power at all."

Mercury glared at her, "Shabon Spray Freezing!"

Beruche literally slapped the attack away. "Let me show you how it's done... Dark Water!" A beam of cold, darkened water shot from Beruche's hands and blasted Mercury into a tree.

"Mercury!" Anbuis shouted then turned to Beruche "That was your last mistake."

"I don't think so... Dark Water! How boring…" Beruche was unimpressed.

Anbuis dodged the beam, then frowned.

"Freeze Brid!" Anbuis shot a half dozen ice balls at Beruche, who was instantly frozen, as well as the area around her.

Usagi watched the scene while she checked on Mercury. Chibi-Usa was at their side, with a worried expression on her face. "He can't win."

"Huh? But he just turned her into an ice cube!" Usagi commented.

The ice around Beruche cracked and she walked out as small ice shards crashed to the ground, "In case you didn't know, water is my element."

"Then I'll have to break the ice!" Anbuis shouted and charged at her, sword first.

"Dark Water!"

Mercury glared at Beruche as Anbuis was sent flying away. "I won't let you hurt my friends."

Beruche turned to her with a grin, "What, do you plan to hit me again with that thing you call an attack?"

Mercury kept glaring at Beruche as she called her next phase. "Mercury Star Power, Make Up!" Mercury shouted. A wall of water surrounded her body as her suit changed. When the water vanished, Mercury was wearing a full body suit like Moon's one, but this one was all blue, except for the elbow pads and boots. Mercury's sign was drawn on her chest, and she had a visor similar to the one she had always used. "Ice versus ice!" she said.

Beruche clapped mockingly "Bravo! You guys sure know how to transform. A pity you don't know how to fight. Dark Water!"

Mercury dodged the attack and countered with her own, "Shabon Spray Freezing!"

Beruche tried to slap the attack away like she'd done before, but this time it actually hit her face, making her stagger back. "Why you..."

Mercury frowned. I still don't have enough power... But I must stop Beruche... Suddenly, she felt a surge of power across her body. What? The suit... She thought. No time to think on how it had happened, but she could feel a new power in her. "Mercury..." She reached her hands up and started spinning, water started swirling around her. "Snow..." The water froze, turning into snow, and she stopped spinning. The snow, however, continued its circular movement around her. "Spray!" She ended summoning her attack by reaching both hands forward, palms opened, and the snow all shot towards Beruche, sending her splashing on a nearby pond.

Beruche stood up, soaked and covered by snow, and glared at Mercury "You'll regret that."

"You'll regret it more if you don't leave."

Beruche turned around and her jaw dropped as she saw the whole Senshi team (except for Sailor Moon) standing there ready to battle. She frowned then sighed "Okay, I'll let you go this time, Sailor Mercury. But we'll meet again."

SailorStar9: Now that's done. Read and review folks.