Sincerity to the Cherry Blossom 13
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
****
For the tenth time tonight Jupiter was able to dodge each attack from the Doom & Gloom girls crossing her path. The leader was further away from the current fight scene, likely to be giving Sakura and Touya a hard time in their imprisoned bondage between the branches. Cerberus, Syaoran and Meilin weren't sure how many more hours they could cope against these merciless creatures. They had to keep reminding themselves this wasn't a Clow card they were capturing here. These were real monsters that belonged to darkness.
Flying branches came at each person and they all moved in various directions to dodge the attacks coming at them. Syaoran and Cerberus' fire magic fused well together against the four current Doom & Gloom girls but the effect wasn't enough to put them down.
"It feels like we've been fighting forever," Syaoran panted and wiped off the sweat on his forehead. His sword sliced down at one branch but missed its target and instead touched the ground.
"I can see how it took all the Inner Senshi's lives," Cerberus commented as he jumped up and down and breathed fire.
"They are still powerful since our last battle against them," Jupiter added. "Crap. This isn't getting anywhere! I've gotta try calling my friends. Maybe they can help defeat these girls again like in the past." She averted her eyes away from the four Doom Bloom girls flying on the other side as her hand reached into her back pocket. It was hard to jump and miss the strikes coming in while using one hand to do another thing. The leader did say it wasn't wise for Jupiter to call her friends. She was smart and knew what this Sailor Senshi had in mind. Jupiter managed to find the communicator and held it in her palm, quickly pressing the buttons.
"What did I say about calling your friends?" The Doom Gloom leader's voice echoed loudly in her eardrums. Jupiter saw her rise into the air with Sakura and Touya. "Attempt to contact them again and I will slowly kill the Clow card mistress and her brother." To demonstrate her threat she charged a mightier fire blast into the hostages' bodies. No! What do I do? Jupiter bit her tongue sharply to rid off the bitterness she was seeing. This was a horrible idea of fun for the Doom & Gloom girls.
"T-Touya," Sakura whispered to her half-awake brother. His eyelids opened briefly with force but then closed again. The younger sister knew she had to get him out of this. He wasn't involved in this fight or whatever it was. He may have been trying to help her but Touya wasn't the right person to fight tonight, especially when he didn't have his special abilities anymore. He was a normal being like everyone else was. Sakura raised her star wand and tried to think up an action plan to help she and Touya escape.
Maybe Wood could bind tightly around the leader and she'll drop her baits to the ground freely. It was worth a shot. Sakura pulled out the Wood card and raised her star wand slowly, preparing to summon it. But the Doom & Gloom leader saw her plan and gave her the torturous burning again. Sakura's body felt like it was above the crater of a volcano, her veins popped out onto her skin. She was worried that she would explode anytime. Her scream became louder across the street. Everyone else fighting could hear her cry past the four Doom & Gloom girls blocking their way to the leader.
"Sakura-chan!" Syaoran beckoned. As he reached to the other side his struggling sprint stopped suddenly. His huge brown eyes looked up at the stalk standing in front of his smaller size. A familiar figure was wrapped firmly in between the branches. How much eviller could these creatures get? Syaoran could see what Jupiter despised in these opponents. "M-mother! No!" He ran to the sleepy woman hanging above the ground.
Oh god not again. It has to be a trick like before! Jupiter's memories of the fight against the Doom Bloom girls repeated. They were using the illusions again. She was fooled by it and was their first victim to die. Was this déjà vu? Here she was, the only Sailor Senshi who knew these creatures from the past and was likely to be their first victim to die for the second time. Then they would turn to the other Inner Senshi once she was eliminated. At this point Jupiter thought déjà vu was not cool.
"Syaoran, it's an illusion. Don't fall for it!" She screamed to him. He turned his back, half-surprised by the Thunder Senshi's warning. How could she say that when this was his very own mother? No one could impersonate his mother. There was only one Mrs Li in his family. It was too late for him to reconsider this warning as the shell of his mother vanished and the second and third Doom & Gloom girl lengthened their branches to bind the Chinese boy through each body part. His sword dropped to the ground while he struggled against the holds on his arms and feet.
"What did they do?" Meilin couldn't understand, her fists shook through fear and enragement.
"They can create illusions of our loved ones," Jupiter explained. "It's a strategy to get our defences down. That was how I died." After the Inner Senshi regained their memories of the first battle and the aftermath, Ami told her friends how she had found a way of stopping the illusion spell. It was easy to remember, wasn't it? Jupiter whacked her temples to try to recall what Ami said. Think, girl, think. Syaoran yelled painfully from the combination of fire and lightning charging into his body.
"I have to help him!" Meilin ran to the second, third and fifth Doom & Gloom girl and started to hit away at their branches. Pulling the branches off was just as hard. Jupiter and Cerberus thought the girl was crazy to do this alone but decided to help Meilin anyhow. It was her determination to save her cousin that was making her fight strongly. "LEAVE SYAORAN ALONE, YOU MEANIES!"
Everyone scratched, punched and kicked at the branches restraining the boy. Impatience and anger was causing the holds to break off instantly and the two Doom Bloom girls were losing control of their hostage. The fourth Doom & Gloom girl came over to aid them but Cerberus flew into the air to completely cook her till she was dust. He had never been this ticked off at all before, which could explain the high strength in his fire magic.
After the branches freed from Syaoran, Meilin and Jupiter came face to face with the third and second Doom & Gloom girls. Jupiter threw a Sparkling Wide Pressure at them both, watching the electricity stun them both. Meilin went in for the strike and elbowed the second Doom & Gloom girl in the stomach then a swift kick following it. Jupiter swung both the third and fifth Doom & Gloom girls by the arms till they landed on top of her partner.
She was about to think up a way to finish them both when her mind clicked, "Wait!"
"What is it?" Cerberus asked.
"Ami said the weakness was in their heads. If I could get to the leader, I'd smash her item on her forehead and that will take away that trick for good," Jupiter uttered then looked back at where the leader was. Sakura and Touya looked weaker. "The leader is the toughest out of the five. Well - make that four now." Cerberus nodded in confirmation about defeating Doom & Gloom girl number four. "Have you tried contacting Yue again?" The beast shook his head. "Hold on. Maybe I could tell Sakura to destroy the weakness. She's right next to the leader…but she's not strong enough to be able fight back yet."
"I'll go tell her," Cerberus suggested. Jupiter's eyes widened, almost saying 'You won't stand a chance'. "It will be a distraction to the leader. And on the way I will go to Yukito's house to see what has happened to Yue. Besides…you have to deal with those two."
Meilin and Jupiter looked around and the three remaining Doom & Gloom girls flew up again. Syaoran appeared alive and well on his feet. He gestured to Cerberus to go, insisting he could help the girls in this fight. And so the guardian beast flew away to leave his three allies to combat the two female Youmas. He knew he was the only one who could do this duty. He was the only one who had wings. It was painful to see Sakura and Touya in exhaustion as he flew near the Doom & Gloom leader. Sakura sensed his presence closely, her brunette head looking up with a relieved face.
"Kero-chan," She whispered hoarsely. Cerberus could see she was definitely wiped out from the dangling of her arms and the cuts on her skin. The Doom & Gloom leader sharply diverted her head to the flying beast to her left. She certainly wasn't happy to see him.
"Destroy her headband. That is what causes the illusions. Hurry!" Cerberus babbled as he swiftly flew away to miss the fierce set of branches zooming up towards him. Sakura didn't understand. What headband. She couldn't see any on the female creature. The leader growled from two missed attacks at Cerberus and realised he had gotten away safely from her battlefield.
Now I see it Sakura's eyes woke up rapidly. The headband sat nicely on the forehead of the Doom & Gloom leader. So all she had to do was destroy it. What would it do? Would it kill these women? Sakura wasn't sure of the result. If only Jupiter could be here to tell her but she was busy fighting off the other two girls. Sakura swirled her end of the star wand and jabbed it hard into the Doom & Gloom leader's forehead, hearing the smash of the glass collide underneath the staff. The leader shook her head in shock.
Did it work? Hell of course it did. Sakura could see she was extremely annoyed by this succeeded attempt.
"Curse that Sailor Senshi. The ice one must have reminded her of the weakness," The leader mumbled. "Ouch that hurt." Not only did Sakura destroy the illusion ability, it must have given the leader a big headache now. Sakura spotted the looseness of the holds around her waist and found herself dropping at top speed. Touya was a few feet away from her as he fell as well. She called his name loudly to wake him up. He couldn't seem to hear her. The wind was really making noise during this fall.
Sakura used Fly and caught Touya by her arms. Some relief came into her though she forgot that her brother was twice her size; thus the weight doubled too and the fast falling resumed again. She wished Cerberus could help her out here. Then another thought struck her. She used Windy to give her a safer landing. It was strange to her that Windy was more powerful than it usually was. Sakura landed on the ground with Touya's head in her arms then saw the reason for the additional power. Syaoran had given Windy some aid using his magic. He ran to Sakura and hugged her closely to him.
"Are you okay?" He asked. She murmured a gentle yes then looked at her unconscious brother. Why did Touya have to be involved in her trouble? Whether it was his choice to be involved or because he was bait didn't make a difference. He seemed to be there sometimes when Sakura was in trouble. The Doom & Gloom leader screamed angrily at the loss of her hostages, giving plenty of attention to her friends who dismissed their battle against Meilin and Jupiter to join their leader's side.
"We were having fun as well," Meilin moaned briefly and spotted Sakura and Touya. "Sakura-chan, thank goodness you're all right." Jupiter raised her hand to the Chinese girl to be silent. She saw what was in Sakura's hands. The ever so familiar face she had grown used to seeing each day at Chez Nori. The thick hair and dark eyes. This was someone she considered as close. Jupiter understood what Sakura said about her brother and worrying he would get hurt.
She bent down by his head, feeling his neck, "Oh Touya. How could they do this to you? Hey! I'll try to contact my friends again. See if I can get them to come here quickly." She found her communicator and started her communication. However she didn't get any luckiness once more when her communicator was retrieved and flew into the hands of the Doom Bloom leader.
"You never listen, do you?" She simply burned the communicator using a single flame and watched the burning object disintegrate to the ground. Damn. So much for getting help from the rest of the Inner Senshi. Jupiter may not get it at all at this level. Looking back down, she stroked Touya's sleepy face. Anger began to bite into her. Enough was enough. If those girls wanted her to die first painfully then so shall it be.
Jupiter stood up on her feet, clenched her fists and marched past the three fighters next to her. Sakura grabbed her arm to pull the Thunder Senshi back a little. Dammit she didn't have time to chitchat. Reluctantly Jupiter looked at the cherry blossom for five minutes. Two pairs of green eyes locked into each other without exchanging words. It was like a telepathic communication taking place. The Thunder Senshi knew what Sakura wanted to tell her about not doing this or she'll die and that sort of crap.
It was already heard enough times. She didn't need another voice to tell her that.
"I've seen death more than once. Don't worry about me." Jupiter looked back at Meilin and Syaoran. "You are not involved in this fight. Keep out while you still can." She sprinted on her green boots to approach the four Doom & Gloom girls smirking in victory. They knew the outcome already. This girl was going to die with more pain than before. Yue, whatever is disturbing you please fight it! I hope Cerberus finds you Jupiter prayed. This déjà vu was becoming more realistic than the first incident. She had a clear picture on how this was going to turn out as all the Doom & Gloom girls grabbed her using their vines. Her neck, arms and feet bound together as if she was a mummy. Yeah…it was like their first fight in the past. Definitely!
TBC.
It should be the epilogue next.