Part 5
Battle In The Park
"APOLLO!" Uni screamed, getting up and rushing toward the smoky area, dust flying everywhere. Sammy ran up to her, and the two searched for Apollo. The creature above the lake laughed evilly.
"Hahaha! One down, two to go!" He raised his arm again, forming another ball in his hand. He tossed it at Uni and Sammy. They both gasped, covering their faces with their arms. The creature laughed maniacally as the ball headed straight for the two defenseless beings that he was about to destroy.
"EARTH WATER REFLECTION!" screamed a female voice. The ball of light bounced off a barrier of water surrounding Uni and Sammy, and headed straight back at the enemy. The enemy quickly moved aside as the ball zoomed past his head, straight up into the sky, and exploded. The enemy looked at the cloud of smoke in the sky, and growled.
"And there's plenty more where that came from, pal!" He turned in the direction of the voice.
"What wasss that? Who are you?" he asked in a hoarse voice. The attacker stood there, leaning against a tree, arms folded across her chest. Her dark hair and short blue skirt were waving in the light breeze. She had a blue collar, green bows, blue knee high boots, and a golden tiara on her head. In the middle of the bow on her chest was a blue heart. Her eyes were closed. Sammy gasped, then smiled.
"It's Sailor Earth!" Uni turned to her. "Sailor Earth?" She turned back, mouth wide open. Sailor Earth opened her eyes and looked at the enemy angrily.
"That's right! I am Sailor Earth, strongest of the sailor scouts!" The enemy smiled evilly once again.
"Sssailor Earth, huh? Isss that right? Well, allow me to introduccce myssself. My name is Mantisss. My missssion is to dessstroy all sssailor ssscouts!" Sailor Earth unfolded her arms and pointed at the enemy with a gloved hand.
"I don't care who you are, those who try to hurt my friends must be punished." The enemy scowled.
"Punish me?! I'll show you!" he said angrily. He then raised his hand in the air again, creating another ball, and threw it at Sailor Earth. She leapt high into the air, easily dodging the attack. It blew up next to the tree, taking part of the tree with it. Sailor Earth landed on her feet next to a bush. She raised her arms high into the air.
"HURRICANE HORROR!" she screamed as a big tidal came crashing down on Mantis. Sailor Earth smiled, but her smile soon faded when all the water cleared. Mantis was still there, surrounded by a blue barrier he had used to block the watery attack. The barrier disappeared, and Mantis smiled. Sailor Earth growled, as another ball of light headed toward her. She leapt away, heading straight for the enemy. Mantis, taken by surprise, didn't see her coming. She kicked out with her foot, landing the kick right in his stomach. She pulled her hand back, ready to punch him in the face. She brought it toward him faster than lightning, but his green hand came up, blocking her attack. Her fist landed right in the palm of his hand, and he wrapped his long green fingers around her fist, squeezing hard. Sailor Earth winced in pain. Mantis smiled, squeezing harder, until his pointy fingers dug into her hand.
Sailor Earth looked at her hand, blood oozing out of the cuts his fingertips had made. He squeezed harder, until there came a crunching of bone from her hand. Then, with his other hand, he grabbed the back of her head and slammed her face into his knee. Sailor Earth groaned. Mantis grabbed her by the hair and tossed her into the lake with a big splash. Sammy and Uni gasped.
"Sailor Earth! NO!" Sammy screamed.
"Sammy!" came a male voice from beside her. She looked down, and there was Apollo.
"Apollo!" she said, kneeling down. "We though that you were destroyed by the blast! Are you ok?!"
"There's no time for that! Sailor Earth needs help!" Sammy nodded. She raised her hand in the air.
"Sun Crystal Power!" she cried. A bright light surrounded her. Uni stared in amazement.
"What's happening to Sammy!?" she cried. When the light faded, Sammy had on a sailor uniform with a red skirt, a red collar, orange bows, red knee high boots, white gloves and a tiara on her head. Uni gasped.
"No way! Sammy…you're…you're…" Sammy looked down at her and smiled.
"That's right! I'm Sailor Sun!" she said proudly, placing her hands on her hips.
"But…but how?" Sammy stared at Mantis. Mantis stared back.
"No time for that, Uni." She spun around in a circle and put her hands in the air. A miniature sun appeared in it. Holding it beside her, she bent down, ready to jump. "Time for me to go kick some Negaverse butt!" She leapt into the air, straight at Mantis. The enemy stood there, waiting. Sammy brought her arm back, and threw the sun straight at Mantis. He chuckled, then leapt toward the sun, straight into it. The sun bounced off him and straight back at Sammy. Sammy gasped.
"Sammy! Dodge it! Go to the left!" Doing as Apollo commanded, she shifted to the left, dodging the sun, but she was too late, the sun landed on her shoulder. She yelped in pain. She fell back to the ground with a thud. Uni ran up to her with Apollo close beside her. Sammy looked at her shoulder, blood gushing from the gash the sun had made. She looked back at Mantis and growled, looking at him with evil eyes. He floated there in the air, waiting. She pushed herself off the ground and stood up.
"Uni! Go with Apollo and hide, now!"
"What?" Uni narrowed her eyes. "No way! I'm staying here and fighting with you! I won't run like a coward." Apollo jumped in front of her, pushing her back with his head.
"No, Uni. You're hurt! I won't allow it! Now let's go!" he said. Uni turned and ran with Apollo, toward the exit of the park. Sailor Sun leapt toward Mantis, ready to fight fist to fist, although that was more Sailor Earth's specialty.
"Come on! Let's go get the others!" he said. The enemy turned to them, a mad look on his face. Before Sammy reached him, he raised his hand into the air, creating once again another ball of light. He shot it toward the two fleeing cats. Uni looked back at Mantis right when he shot the blast at them. The blast was actually heading straight for Apollo, who was a little ahead of her (she couldn't quite keep up, due to her wounds). She gasped, then a rush of adrenaline gave her a boost of speed. She ran straight for Apollo.
"Apollo! Look out!" He turned and gasped as he saw the bright light coming in his direction. Right when the blast was about to hit him head on, Uni rammed into him, pushing him out of the way just like he did to her before. The blast hit the ground with a loud boom, followed by a burst of blinding fiery light. Apollo and Uni were blown far away, right in front of a tree, both landing on their sides. Uni groaned, and Apollo looked at her.
"Uni, are you all right?" She looked up at him, one eye closed with a bleeding scratch on her forehead that was created when she hit the ground. They both began to get up, but Uni stumbled. Uni groaned again, tears spurting out of her opened bloodshot eye.
"Oh, it hurts…" she said weakly.
"Uni!" Apollo looked at her with sad eyes. Both of her backlegs were badly bruised from the blast, and her right backleg was broken, the bone was poking through the skin, blood oozing from the wound.
"Uni, you're hurt bad, but you can't stop now! You have to get up! We gotta get outta here and get the others!" Uni struggled to get up, but couldn't, and kept on falling back down. Then she finally gave up, and lay her head down.
"Uni! Please! If we stay here, we'll be killed!"
"Apollo…" Uni groaned, "I can't…I just…have to rest…" Mantis, now fighting with Sailor Sun, had punched Sammy in the stomach, sending her back to the earth with a loud thud once again. He turned back to the two cats and smiled at them both evilly, like he always does, as he created another ball of deadly light. He laughed loudly, raising his hand above his head.
"Sssay goodbye, kittiesss!" he said before tossing the ball of light at the two wounded cats. There was a splash of water from under him, and then something rammed into his stomach. Mantis was stunned. The thing then brought its hand into a fist and then shot it up, connecting with Mantis' green jaw. There was a loud crunch as he flew back and headed straight for the lake's icy water, landing headfirst into it with a loud splash. Apollo ran over to Sammy, who was lying on the ground, breathing heavily, her eyes closed. Her uniform was now covered with dirt and blood, and she had a cut on her face, right under her eye. Apollo licked one of her dust-covered blood-caked cheeks.
"Sammy, wake up, it's over. Sailor Earth took care of that creep!" Sammy opened her eyes and turned her head toward the cat. She smiled.
"Good for her…I knew she could do it…I knew she wasn't finished…" She sat up, and put a hand to her head. "Oh man, my head's killing me…" Apollo put a paw on her leg.
"We'll take care of that, right now, Uni's hurt…bad…"
Sailor Earth landed back on the shore, her uniform soaking wet, her nose bleeding, her hand also bleeding and limp, and her right eye was swollen shut. She stood tall, looking at Uni, who was lying on the ground, breathing slowly, blood flowing from her cuts. There was a splash and a roar of anger from the lake as Mantis emerged from it, a huge ball of light, bigger than him in his hands. His jaw was bleeding blue blood, and his red eyes were now dark red.
"Sssailor Earth!" he screamed, "Sssay GOODBYE!" He brought his arms far behind his head, and with all his might, threw the ball toward the scout and the kitten. Sammy and Apollo screamed.
"Alex! Uni! Get outta there!" Sailor Sun screamed. Sailor Earth turned to Uni, scooped her up in her arms, and leapt out of the way of the disastrous light just as it slammed into the earth behind them. When they hit the ground, Alex covered Uni with her body as rocks and dust flew past them. Uni looked up at Sailor Earth with her good eye, mouth slightly open.
"Sailor Earth…Alex…" she said weakly, before passing out. When the dust cleared, Alex quickly got up, leaving Uni where she was on the ground. She leapt toward Mantis, ready to fight him head on. Mantis got into a fighting pose, ready for the same thing. Sailor Earth brought her hand up above her head.
"WEATHER WHIP!" she hollered, as a chain of lightning formed in her hand. She brought it straight at the enemy, wrapping it around his green body. Mantis was completely taken by surprise again. Now trapped by Sailor Earth, he did not know what to do. The whip of lightning zapped him for a long time, till his body began to smoke. Sailor Earth let go of the whip, making it disappear. Mantis stumbled backwards a little, his energy almost at its lowest. He groaned and growled at Sailor Earth. Sailor Earth smiled at him.
"That's what you get for pickin' on creatures smaller and weaker than yourself, ya bully!" Mantis continued to growl with fury in his eyes. After a while of staring at the ruthless sailor soldier, a black portal suddenly appeared behind him. He slowly stepped back toward the portal, and disappeared into the darkness, leaving the four wounded scouts and cats behind.
~~~
Mantis appeared before Negadeth, bowing as low as he could. Negadeth had his back turned to him. To Mantis' right stood Arachnia and Black Widow.
"My liege, I'm sorry, but I failed you…" Mantis said. There was a long moment of silence. Negadeth and the others stood as they were. Mantis had little beads of sweat drip down his forehead and run down his beaten and bruised face.
"You have disappointed me, Mantis. I shall have to punish you." Mantis looked up at him with frightened eyes.
"Master, I'm extremely sorry for angering you, please, give me one more chance," Mantis begged. Negadeth took a deep breath. He turned on Mantis, wrapping one gloved hand around Mantis' neck and raising him up a foot off the ground. Mantis gasped for air, kicking his feet and grabbing his master's hands, trying to loosen his grip. Mantis slowly began to lose his energy as Negadeth began to drain it out of his body.
"I don't give second chances to failures, Mantis! And I need energy, Mantis, and you failed to get it for me! I think you are trying to destroy your master! Well, no problem, I'll just take yours," Negadeth said, gradually tightening his grip, sucking out his energy.
"Please, master…mercccyyyyyyyyy…" he groaned hoarsely, before his body was completely drained of energy. Negadeth frowned evilly.
"Mercy to a failure? Never." He then tightened his grip as tight as he could, and a few seconds later, Mantis' head flew off his shoulders, blood gushing out of his neck, now a blue bloody stump. His body fell to the ground, limp like a rag doll. Negadeth lowered his arm, Mantis' blood dripping off his hand. Black Widow looked in bewilderment, while Arachnia stayed calm.
"Arachnia, it's up to you now."
"What?" asked Black Widow. "Master, why don't you let me go? I can finish these pesky sailor scouts off for you easily." Negadeth lowered his head.
"You question my orders, Black Widow?" Black Widow gasped softly. She bowed down before him in apology, although he had his back turned so he couldn't see.
"I'm sorry, sir. I won't question you again."
"That's a good girl," he said with a smile. Arachnia bowed to him now. "Remember, don't finish them off, be sure to get their energy for me before you do. Don't make the same mistake that Mantis did. I need it to live, and I trust you with my life, Arachnia."
"I am honored, sir. I await your orders to attack," Arachnia said.
"Prepare another warrior for the next attack. I give you one day. I'll be waiting…"
"Yes, sir. I will not fail you…"
~~~
Black Widow was in her chamber, seated on her bed, combing her long black hair with her brush.
"How come Arachnia gets to be the commander," she got up and walked over to her mirror.
"Yes, sir! I will not fail you…" she said in a babyish voice, mocking Arachnia. She slammed the brush down on the table in front of her.
"Ha! She thinks she's better than me, well, we'll just see about that…" I'll make sure that she does not succeed! I'll show her who's the boss!
She smiled to herself in the mirror. She started to comb her hair again.
"Oh yes, I'll show her…"
~~~
"Is it gone?" Sailor Sun asked. Sailor Earth walked up to her, standing beside her.
"I guess it is…" she replied.
"Sailor Earth! Sailor Sun!" said a voice entering the park. The two scouts turned their heads towards the entrance, and saw Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Chibi Moon and the three cats running toward them.
"Hey! Guys! Over here!" Sailor Sun said, waving to them. Sailor Moon reached them first.
"Are you all right, Sammy?" Sammy nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I didn't get my butt kicked as much as Alex did," she said, smiling at Alex. Alex looked at her with angry eyes. Then she closed them, and turned around.
"I don't get my butt kicked, I let the enemy get a couple hits on me…it helps me get stronger…tougher…" Sammy rolled her eyes.
"Oh, suuuuuuuuuuure!" she said in a sarcastic voice. Uni limped over to Sammy. Sammy gasped, falling on her knees in front of her. She scooped her up in her arms.
"Uni, are you ok?" Uni looked up at her with her good eye, smiling.
"Yes, I'm fine." All the scouts' mouths dropped wide open, their eyes bugging out.
"How can you say you're ok when you look like you're half dead?!" they all said at the same time. Uni looked at them all. She leapt out of Sammy's arms and onto her feet, which was a bad idea, since her backleg was broken. She stumbled to the ground, falling flat on her face. Apollo, Luna, Artemis, and Diana ran up to her.
"Uni, dear, you shouldn't jump like that, not with a leg like that!" Luna said with a caring voice. Uni looked up to her with watery eyes.
"Yes ma'am, I know…" Luna smiled. "Now, we better clean your wounds, or they'll get infected," Luna said, walking up to her and started to lick the wound on Uni's forehead. Uni giggled, closing her eyes.
"Thank you, mom…" Her eyes shot open with horror, her mouth dropped down. Luna backed away.
"Mother?" Uni repeated, falling to the ground, eyes half open. Apollo ran up to her, putting a paw on her shoulder.
"Uni, do you remember something? Something about your mother?" he asked.
"Mother…mother…mother…" she faded away, closing her eyes…
~~~End Part 5
AUTHOR'S NOTE: No comment, except that this is so far probably the best part I've typed…hope ya liked it, please review it…