Trials
"Gods above," Mars murmured before falling to her knees and retching.
Jupiter moaned beside her, her breaths coming in quick pants. To her right, Mercury bit back tears from the headache that pounded against her skull.
"Hellfire," Mars spat, wiping her mouth. "That shouldn't have hurt so much."
"What the hell happened," Jupiter mumbled, wiping sweat from her brow.
Mercury took a deep breath before pulling up her computer and typing several quick commands into it. "We hit a magical field, that's what happened," Mercury said after a few minutes.
"Hellfire," Mars repeated, rising shakily to her feet and glancing around. They were at the edge of a forest, it seemed; to their right, a plain stretched out as far as the eye could see, the grass dancing in a breeze. The air was crisp, here—much crisper than the manufactured air from the Moon. And the smell—it smelled like flowers, like grass, like trees. None of the Senshi had smelled anything so wild and sweet before.
There was not a soul to be found. Not a single human, not a single animal; only the wind.
"At least there's nobody here," Mars mumbled before returning her attention to Mercury. "A magical field? What do you mean?"
"It's similar to an electromagnetic field, except that it's created purely from magical energy," Mercury said. "There aren't too many places where the concentration of magical energy is strong enough to create a field; to the best of my knowledge, the only magical fields in existence are the ones on Pluto and Saturn, and the one that surrounds the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou."
"Then why is there one here, on Earth?" Mars asked.
"I… I don't know," Mercury said, typing away, "but the concentration of energy is somewhere to the East of here." She pointed across the plains. "That direction."
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Jupiter said, rubbing her hands together. "The wind is troubled."
Mars felt a foreboding shiver run up her spine, and her sixth sense screamed out at her. "There's something wrong about this place. Something… off."
Mercury shrugged. "Venus is in that direction, too."
"Then we head that way," Mars said, and she started off at a brisk jog, the others following suit.
"I don't like this. There's no cover; we're out in the open," Jupiter said, eyeing the plains suspiciously.
"It'd be the same for any enemies, too," Mars pointed out. "And besides, spotting Venus in this should be a breeze."
After several minutes of jogging, Mercury called for them to stop.
"Venus' signal is heading our way," Mercury said, "but there are other signatures, too. I've never seen these kinds of readings before…"
Mars nodded, and the group continued forward, albeit more cautiously. After just another minute, they saw her at the edge of the horizon.
Venus raced towards them, running as quickly as she could, with magic aiding her every movement. And then they saw why.
Chasing her were dozens of… creatures. Monsters. They were unlike anything Mars had ever seen before; some bore wings, others fangs, and claws, and the smell of rotting flesh assaulted her.
Mars wondered why Venus didn't just use the transporter to teleport her back to the Moon; but then she remembered that the device required the target to be stationary for at least five seconds. Venus didn't have that much time to spare—if she stopped for even a moment, the creatures would be upon her.
"Hellfire," Mars muttered. Venus spotted them, and her eyes met with Mars'; Mars saw desperation flash through them, and she knew that these creatures were not a force to be reckoned with. The best thing for them to do would be to grab Venus and get out as quickly as possible. But with so many monsters nipping at Venus' heels… they needed to get rid of some of them, or else they'd be overwhelmed.
"Cover her!" Mars yelled, and the others rushed forwards. Mars summoned her Flame Arrow into her hands and shot at the creatures that were closing in on Venus; her choice of targets was limited, though, with Venus in the way of the majority of the monsters. Mars cursed the terrain around them; it was poorly suited to battle. Beside her, Jupiter was experiencing the same trouble.
When Venus was within shouting distance, the monsters close behind her, Mars cried out, "We're going back! Grab our hands!" She glanced at Mercury. "Get ready to direct us back home!"
Mercury nodded, and the three senshi linked hands; Mars and Jupiter extended their hands for Venus to catch. When Venus grabbed hold, they pushed their magic through them, and they felt it surge through them. The monsters were upon them, but it didn't matter—for, in a flash of light, they were gone.
When they arrived back on the Moon, Mars immediately staggered to the wall and dry heaved. Venus sank to the floor, her face pale and drawn, and Mercury and Jupiter breathed heavily, sweating.
"Hellfire," Venus muttered once she had regained her composure. "That hurt like hell."
"Magic field," Mercury explained, and Venus nodded.
"Of course," she muttered before drawing in a deep breath and rising unsteadily to her feet.
Mars glared at her. "Venus, what the hell were you thinking?" she asked, a thinly veiled fury behind her words.
"I was gathering information," Venus said. She swallowed. "If you hadn't shown up… I was hoping to lose them in the forest… but the way things were going, they'd have overtaken me before I made it." She let out a deep breath. "Thanks for saving me."
"Fuck you," Mars spat, "fuck you, what the hell possessed you to go down there in the first place? You could have died!"
"But I didn't."
"You almost did!"
"Look, that's not important right now," Venus said. She glanced around the room. "Where's Serenity?"
Mars' eyes widened and horror set in. "No," she breathed as she glanced around the control room.
Serenity was gone.
A/N: Dun dun dun.
