Ice had begun coating the hallway in thick sheets despite the warmer temperatures outside. Jupitercouri crossed her arms, wishing she had more to her outfit. "I-it's rather cold, I'd say." Her princess form had left her with little more clothes than she had started with, and her hair wasn't entirely covering much of her body.
Mars, on the other hand, was much better clothed, though goosebumps began dotting her legs as the cold air started getting to her. "Must be Plutonium," Mars reasoned, attempting to pry open the door. Unfortunately it seemed to be frozen shut.
"Surrender now, and you won't have to suffer anymore," announced an unknown voice, accompanied by a rather shrill, obnoxious laugh. Neither Mars nor Jupitercouri recognized the voice, but they both silently reasoned it had to be a new general. Just how many more were there?
"Stand back, I'd say," Jupitercouri stepped back a few feet, judging how far she'd have to be to kick the door down. Defacing a shrine door was hardly on her list of things to do, given her desire to become a miko herself, but that wasn't the first thing on her mind. It was their new ally, Plutonium, who seemed to have a knack of getting attacked. "I'll pay for it with my allowance." She pulled her foot up to side kick the door.
Mars stepped back and pulled her foot up too. "We'll do it together."
Simultaneously the two kicked down the door, shattering the ice barring their entrance. They had hoped to find Plutonium fairing well against an enemy but the situation was quite the opposite. Plutonium was fighting for her life.
The room was coated in ice, probably from multiple attacks. Within the ice seemed to be frozen white cats, all strangely cross-eyed with very sharp claws. In the center of the room stood a new general they had never seen before. She was tall, probably matching Merkkur's height, with blue and aqua-green striped hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Her uniform was piped with a matching aqua-green. Gems decorated her sleeves, indicating a possible high rank.
Plutonium stood before her, somewhat hunched over, clinging to an oversized sword. "I summon thee," she stammered. "Krazy Killer Katz..." She barely spat out the command before the general had smacked her with some sort of black magic, sending her flying backwards as more cross-eyed white cats sprang up, suddenly manifesting from the ground, and shooting past her to attack the general.
The general paid them no mind, simply forming a dark shadow-like barrier around her. The cats bounced off and became lodged in the ice.
"How dare you," Mars hissed, pulling her arm back, summoning her fiery bow and arrow to her hands. "Desecrating holy grounds. Harming my friend. In the name of Mars, I'll defend my friends and this shrine."
"Ahahaha, you senshi really are like moths to a flame," the general laughed shrilly. It was just as Doxite had reported. When there was one senshi, the other followed rather quickly, amassing for a joint attack to defend their friend. "And you'd burn your beloved shrine down with your own fire?"
Mars scoffed. "There's enough ice in here to prevent that." It would leave the room wet, of course, but that was a much better option than leaving a fellow senshi dead.
"Don't forget about me, I'd say," Jupitercouri chimed in, withdrawing her butterfly blades from her boots. "The Thunderous Eclipse, Sailor Jupitercouri. I will strike you down where you stand."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with here," the general's voice fell from her initial high, melodic tone to a rather haunting one. "I am Pifite, right hand to the Queen. There's no way two puny senshi could ever defeat me. You will not interrupt my project."
She spread her arms out to the side. Black butterflies that seemed to carry with them the darkness of a galaxy began to emanate from her, spreading across the room at an alarming pace. The room seemed to get sucked into nothingness as the butterflies flitted about, landing on the walls and floor.
"No," Plutonium stammered. "The evil queen, the one who poisoned the princess. She can't... I won't let her poison the apples again." She pushed herself to her feet. "Jupitercouri!"
"Right!" Jupitercouri nodded in response, taking a few steps forward, tucking her blades back into her boots, and crossing her arms in front of her. "Shadows can fight shadows too." She had only recently discovered her power as Noro, her ability to create shadows. But something else was on her mind at the moment, and Plutonium silently picked up the suggestion.
Plutonium let her weapon fade away, and the two seemed to mirror one another's moves instinctively, drawing their hands together then out to the side. Tarot cards appeared before Jupitercouri, face down. Ice shards appeared before Plutonium in a similar manner.
"Shards of fate!" they commanded in sync. The center tarot card flipped over revealing a blank card. Jupitercouri almost lost her concentration for a moment, surprised that it had turned up once again. Perhaps this is what it meant, that it was a sign of a new power, a new future they would write themselves.
"Frozen tarot strike! We'll determine our own fate!"
