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Chapter 18

Lita dived out of the way into a forward roll right as multiple tentacles shot towards her, missing her by inches. Her head shot up, her eyes widening as she watched Mina stagger to her feet and the creature turning, focusing on her.

"Mina, look out!" she screeched.

Mina straightened herself and gasped at the sight before her.

"Shit," she exclaimed, expertly dancing out of the way of the twisting, and thrashing tentacles coming at her. She shot her hand in the air, shouting, "Venus crystal power!"

"Jupiter crystal power!"

In delicate beams of light, Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter stood in Mina and Lita's places.

"Oh!" Venus cried, as a tentacle caught her wrist. Immediately, numerous other tentacles reached up her arm, taking a strong hold on her. "Jupiter!"

The tentacles started to reel Venus in closer to the Croatoan calmly stood there, its hand now reaching towards her. Venus turned to look into the face of the monster with its hold on her. It wasn't anything human that stared back at her. A long, dangerously sharp, beak-like nose was strangely not the first thing that startled her. When she set her eyes on where she expected to see a face, the skin – which she immediately realised was a loose term – was leathery, wrinkled and lacking the softness of human flesh. Where the eyes should be, were two black holes that made her feel like it was seeing into the depths of her soul. Its hand grasped her upper arm and she watched its lips peel back to reveal razor like teeth, making her promptly scream.

"Jupiter," the soldier of protection called, shooting her hand out, the symbol of Jupiter glowing in the palm of her hand. Crackles of green electricity reverberated up her arm, the gemstone on her tiara lighting up, as she started to twirl around, then reaching her hands up above her head, pirouetting in such a way to break a prima ballerina's heart, the leaves of oak swirling around her in a column of energy. "Oak evolution!" The lightning energy around her charged the leaves at the creature with its hold on Venus in a blast of electrical energy.

The leaves cut at the tentacles provoking an inhuman ear-splitting scream. Venus' arm was released, and she leaped out of reach. However, neither of them expected its head to turn and shoot an acid-like saliva at the soldier of love. It hit her in the back, and she screamed in pain as she fell to the floor, her body twitching with the pain.

"Venus!" Jupiter shouted. She shot her hand out, flower petals swirling around her. She spun around and cried, "Flower hurricane!" The flower petals, charged with her planet power, took on a sharp appearance, the light of the moon highlighting the deadly sting on their edges. They shot at the Croatoan, immobilising it in its place.

She ran across the space to Venus' side.

"Venus, are you okay?" she asked frantically.

"The pain," Venus croaked, her hands shaking as she tried to reach for her comrade.

"Do you have the energy to shoot an attack at it with me?" Jupiter asked, her eyes flashing at the still paralysed creature, narrowing her eyes at its fingers moving minutely.

"Quick," Venus nodded, weakly. She pointed her finger in the direction of the Croatoan and cried, "Venus crescent beam!"

Jupiter's antenna in her tiara raised upwards, collecting lightning from the clouds that covered the sky. She raised her arms above her head, spinning rapidly on the spot, creating a ball of blue lightning in her hands. As the ball enlarged, she shouted, "Jupiter coconut cyclone!" and she blasted it at her opponent.

The beam of golden light from Venus combined with the shock waves of high-voltage energy in a large spherical blast, incinerating the Croatoan, leaving only a pile of dust. Venus' hand fell to the ground and Jupiter turned, cringing at the sight of her back. The back of her sailor suit had melted away, revealing the burns on her skin down the length of her back. She knelt to her side, helping her to her feet, supporting the majority of her weight. She heard groans behind her, and she turned and cursed herself for forgetting about Neal and Killian.

Neal was holding Killian up against him, keeping him steady, both of them staring at the sailor soldiers in shock.

"Are you both okay?" Jupiter asked, feeling Venus fading.

"We're fine," Neal nodded, uncertain. "Lita and Mina… where are they?"

"They're okay," Jupiter assured him. "We got them to a safe place."

"Thank you," Killian murmured.

"Go home and rest," Jupiter suggested. "You'll be okay."

"Will she?" Killian nodded at Venus.

"She will be," Jupiter nodded, holding Venus close to her and leaping away.

"Oh my God," Serena whispered, staring at Venus lying on her front on Raye's bed, her hands over her mouth.

Amy was sat behind Venus on a chair, her Mercury computer in one hand as she tapped away at it, gathering data on the acid infecting her skin.

"It's still burning her skin tissue," Amy muttered. "We need to find a way to stop this."

"Serena," Raye murmured, "do you think you can help her?"

"Help her? How?"

Serena's eyes flickered between Raye and Venus, her gaze lingering on her unconscious friend.

"The silver crystal," Raye reminded her urgently. "You may be able to heal her."

Serena bit her lip.

"I don't know," she whispered. "The last time I used it… I died. And the person who used it before me died as well. What if it does more harm than good?"

"We will support you," Lita insisted.

"Without Venus?" Serena nodded at her fellow blonde. "And I don't have Darien."

"You don't need him," Raye urged. "Really, Serena." She nudged her. "Planet power, remember?"

Serena rubbed her forehead with her hand. She looked at Amy.

"Amy, do you think you can stop the burning?" she asked. "I don't think I can fight the magic that's in the saliva as well."

Amy turned with a slight smile at the corners of her mouth.

"Mercury crystal power!" she said loudly, in a beam of light, transforming into Sailor Mercury. She raised her hand over Venus' back and whispered, "shine snow illusion." The temperature immediately around Mercury lowered to below zero, snowflakes falling from Mercury's palm. The snow covered Venus' back and Mercury reached up to her ear lobe, bringing down her Mercury goggles. She nodded, looking at Serena, Raye, and Lita. "I've stopped it spreading."

"Serena," Raye prompted with a gentle nudge.

"Moon crystal power," Serena called, transforming into Sailor Moon.

Lita and Raye nodded, transforming into Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mars, joining hands. Mars reached for Mercury who stepped back and took hold of her hand. Moon approached Venus and took her Moon compact from her bow and waved her hand over the top of her locket to reveal the silver crystal.

"Moon crystal power!" she cried, waving her fingers over the silver crystal once more.

"Mercury crystal power!"

"Mars crystal power!"

"Jupiter crystal power!"

"Unite!" they shouted in unison.

Venus was bathed in a delicate pink beam of light. The soldiers watched as Venus' skin started to heal and gradually knit together. Moon watched in fascination as she felt Venus accepting her power, embracing it like a dear friend. Moon's hand shook as she felt her own energy draining as Venus' was revitalised. She felt the powers of Mercury, Mars and Jupiter holding her spirit steady, even as her own body started to fade. She fell to her knees and the light from the silver crystal faded, as Moon gave in and slumped over.

"Sailor Moon, are you alright?" Mars' voice murmured in her ear.

"Yeah, I'm just so," Serena sighed, "tired."

She leaned heavily against Mars, aware of the gentle green and blue lights temporarily illuminating the room as Jupiter and Mercury let go of their transformations. Amy rushed to Venus' side to examine her back. The skin had knitted together, the evidence of a long scar down the length of her spine remained. Venus started to stir, and Lita leapt forward to help her, as her eyes opened, trying to move off her front.

"Are you alright, Mina?" Lita asked, as Mina let go of her transformation. "How did you maintain your transformation?"

"My energy wasn't drained," Mina whispered. Her eyes flickered to Serena leaning against Raye, her unbound arm around her and her eyes widened as she straightened herself on Raye's bed with help from Lita. "Serena, are you okay?"

"If you are, then yes," Serena nodded.

Mina looked round the room at her friends.

"Thank you," she breathed, resting against Lita's side.

"So, how did you do?" Lita asked Serena the next day outside of the classroom they just vacated where they had taken their maths test.

"Well, I didn't spend 90% of the time doodling and the initial 10% fretting, so I guess better," Serena supposed with a shrug.

"That's encouraging," Amy smiled.

"Do you think the not-so-secret study dates with Darien helped?" Lita smirked.

"Hey, it wasn't a secret!" Serena replied defensively. Lita chuckled. Serena pursed her lips and continued. "Anyway, yeah, I think it really did. You know all that stuff we've been doing for weeks on algebra?"

"In which time you spent complaining that you couldn't care less what x is?" Lita asked.

"Yes, that," Serena nodded. "Well, I actually read the question, and knew exactly what I needed in order to solve the problem. Then I moved on and trigonometry didn't feel as threatening anymore."

"That's great," Amy grinned, squeezing Serena's upper arm.

"I'm pretty sure there was still some nonsense in there though," Serena sighed.

"Hey, it's okay," Lita assured her. "You made the effort and we're proud of you, Serena."

"Thanks, girls," she smiled.

"So, how are you feeling?" Amy asked.

"Still a little tired," Serena admitted. "I guess a little fatigued. I think that's when the nonsense started to make its way onto my answer sheet."

Amy and Lita glanced at each other, reaching for each of Serena's hands.

"How's Mina?" Serena murmured.

"She's okay," Amy replied. "She's resting at home. I hear that she's been offered the chance to take the test on Friday after school."

"I'm glad," Serena nodded. She looked at Amy. "Are we going to do the training as planned?"

"Yes, but much to Raye and Mina's chagrin, they will be joining us, but they won't be participating," Amy told her. "I'm thinking tomorrow. How's that with you both?"

"Yeah, sure," Lita agreed. "I've got nothing going on. Actually, I'm supposed to be meeting Neal later for tennis with Killian… and Mina."

Amy and Serena frowned at each other.

"How's that going to work?" Serena asked. "Mina is still recovering and they're going to have questions about where the two of you went after the attack."

"Well, we have to speak to them at some point," Lita shrugged. "Why not now?"

"I suppose," Serena said, biting her lip. "Will Mina be able to join you?"

"She says she's fine," Lita replied. "I don't know. We could do something else."

"How are you going to explain Mina's… situation?" Amy wondered.

"Physically, Mina looks okay," Lita reasoned. "I mean as far as the guys know, we were caught in the crossfire too."

"And you both got yourselves to safety," Serena said tartly.

"Yes, but they don't know that!" Lita retorted. She turned to Amy. "Are you hanging out with Zane this week?"

"Why do you have to say his name like that?" Amy accused, willing the rising blush in her cheeks to go away. "And yes, I'm joining him for a swim meet later this week."

"You never did tell us why you never took up swimming competitively," Serena said. "I mean, you would be the best swimmer on the team."

"It's not about being the best," Amy shrugged. "I just feel like I don't have the time."

"Why?" Serena replied in exasperation. "You're ahead of all your classes by at least one full term and you take advanced programme classes!"

"What do you want me to say?" Amy responded. "I love the water. It's part of me. I just never had a strong desire to turn it into something to be examined in some way."

"How about you do something that you love for you?" Lita suggested gently.

"But I –"

"We know you love to study but it's not the same," Lita interrupted. "Just think about it. Maybe Zane has a point: it's time to participate in something that gets you in the real world and with real people. Something that doesn't involve saving the world on a daily basis."

Raye ran the brush through her long raven locks, spraying it with her hair care products that smelled like violets and freesias. She picked up her hot brush and used it to lift her bangs, so her hair didn't rest flat against her forehead. She ran her comb through her fringe and picked up her bag, looping it over her shoulder. She adjusted her arm sling on her shoulder, moving the padding she'd placed under it so that she wouldn't feel so much discomfort against her skin and sighed. She couldn't wait for this to come off. She left her bedroom and followed the sound of the clattering of pans coming from the shrine's kitchen. She halted at the door to find Chad furiously scrubbing at the crockery and pans. She glanced at the open bin next to the door to see the remains of a dinner dumped in the bottom, the shards of a broken plate thrown on top of it.

"Hey, Chad," Raye greeted him. "Would you mind helping Grandpa with the roof at the back of the shrine? It's still leaking."

"Sure, why not?" he replied shortly.

Raye glanced at the thrown away food in the bin and considered his tense back and erratic movements as he worked to clear away the kitchen.

"What's your problem?" she asked.

"Nothing," he answered.

"Well, there's waste in the bin, one of my broken plates and if you work any harder on that pan, steam is going to come out of your ears," she responded.

"Raye, I'm busy," Chad said stiffly. "If we must have this conversation, let's do this another time."

"Chad, please," Raye sighed. "I'm on my way out. I don't have time to dance around this."

"By all means, go on your date," Chad insisted, whirling around to face her.

Raye frowned, putting her free hand on her hip.

"Is that what this is about?" she demanded. "Some guy asked me to join him for dinner and you have a problem."

"I asked you to dinner, Raye," Chad exclaimed. "I did. And you said yes to some guy with bruises and who hasn't been there for you."

"When did you ask me to dinner?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Before Mr Tall, Blonde and Jawline appeared," Chad replied. "And you only heard the words that came out of his mouth. Goodnight, Raye."

He turned back to the sink and continued with the dishes. Raye swallowed, staring at his back facing her. That hurt more than any of the words he'd said. She left the room and came to the front of the shrine where she found Jackson stood at the top of the shrine staircase. He turned and grinned at her.

"Good evening, Raye," he greeted, approaching her. "How are you?"

"I'm getting there," she smiled weakly. "Your bruising is healing."

"Oh, yeah," he shrugged. "Yellow looks great on me."

He caught her eye and she smiled, shaking her head.

"Do you want to go?" he asked.

"Sure," she nodded.

"I thought we'd grab a drink first before we go on to the restaurant," he told her, walking by her side as they continued down the stairs. "I reserved a table at seven."

"Sounds lovely," she replied.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and he turned to her. He saw the confusion in her violet eyes and he hesitantly brought his fingers up to hover above the angry red grazing on her swollen cheek.

"It still looks really sore," he observed.

"It is," she breathed. Her gaze met his grey eyes and she didn't see Jackson anymore. It was him. For a long time, she'd felt like a vision had been coming to her slowly. She just needed her eyes to catch up with what she felt inside. "What made you curious to come here?"

"You intrigued me," he confessed, bringing his hand back down and nodding for her to follow her down the street.

"Are you okay, Mina?" Killian asked, leaning against his tennis racket.

"Yeah," she replied, breathing in and out steadily. "I just knocked my back yesterday after that attack in the park."

He frowned, approaching her.

"Are you injured?" he wondered.

"I'm alright," she reassured him, "really."

"Yeah, we are sorry that we weren't there after the attack," Lita reiterated. "The sailor soldiers made sure we were safe and assured us that you would be okay."

"We are," Neal nodded, twisting his body side to side as he swung his racket. "We're glad you met us after school. It was a weird night."

"Yeah," the girls said in unison.

"Look, how about we finish this game, then go for ice cream," Neal suggested. "We're all feeling a little crappy and you know, we earned it."

"How?" Lita asked with a wry smile.

"We showed up," Neal grinned.

"Fair point," Lita laughed.

"You know, I expected Mina to be better at tennis," Neal mused.

Mina's mouth dropped open and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Hey, I compete in ball sports, not racket sports!" she exclaimed.

"Where's your competitive edge?" Neal challenged.

"Oh, do not go there," Lita warned.

"Why?" Neal asked, raising his eyebrow, a glint in his eye. "Is she not up for it?"

Lita casually strolled over to Killian's side and leaned towards him.

"Yep, we're screwed," she said to him.

She watched as Mina reached down for her tennis racket, gestured for Killian to follow her to their side of the court.

"Come on," she called. "Let's do this."

Two sets later, the two couples found themselves eating ice cream and wishing that they had come two sets earlier. Mina however found strength where she hadn't had it before. There was something about the guys' company that felt somehow familiar to the two of them.