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Destiny, by Kristii
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Chapter Five... a long one, bear with me!! ^^;;
Apologies in advance if the attacks are from different seasons/dub
/manga/whatever... I tried to focus more on the general tone of battle
than on making sure every attack was called out perfectly... ^^;;;
comments -- aznvballgurl@yahoo.com
Sailor Mars and affiliated characters (c) Naoko Takeuchi
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The days blurred into weeks, the weeks into months; reports of
mysterious murders were beginning to seep through Tokyo's streets. The
Senshi stationed in Japan were investigating the attacks, but there
was nothing for Rei to do save carry on the façade of her life,
pretending that all was well when everything was falling to pieces...
Her work was becoming less and less meaningful with each
passing day; she no longer had the energy or interest to negotiate for
contracts, or attend the society gatherings where the biggest deals
were often made. Her colleagues was puzzled, but said nothing; for their
parts, they thought the girl was distracted by grief over Kyle's illness, not
guessing that the two had separated already...
As for Jadeite, he knew nothing of Rei and Kyle's history. He
saw his wife's sadness over a close friend and former colleague, no
more--he never knew that, even as she curled up in his arms, she was
trying to pretend he was another...
And so the façade went on, and Mercury uncovered the pattern
of the Tokyo Killer, and the Senshi drew closer to their quarry...
Then, on February 27th, the last battle erupted in downtown
Tokyo.
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"Mars! Heads up!"
The first sight that greeted Rei upon her teleport into Tokyo
was a rather large, glowing ball of energy, hurtling straight toward
her face as she blinked, trying to orient herself to her surroundings.
"Holy SHIT!" Instinctively, Rei dropped into a Matrix pose,
leaning backward with all her strength as the orb whizzed a few inches
over her chest. Unlike Neo, however, Rei had yet to find the ability
to manipulate the laws of gravity; off-balance, she fell heavily onto
her back, just as a building exploded somewhere behind her.
"What the FUCK was that?" Rubbing her bruised back as she
stood hurriedly, Rei called out to Mercury, just a few feet away.
"Ami! What's this thing's weakness?"
"I don't--Mercury Bubbles Blast!--know!" Mercury let loose a
stream of icy fog, trying to blind the huge creature towering before
her. What once had been a pretty, vibrant woman had sprouted two extra
heads, one of which was busy directing a stream of flames toward a
running Sailor Jupiter, and three greenish tentacles; she had also, in
the first ten minutes of the battle, suddenly quadrupled in height and
girth, and had come down with a rather brownish, scaly case of what
could have been acute acne. "We've only been here for--Venus,
duck!--twenty minutes!"
"I see--Mars Celestial Fire!" Rei sent a blast of flame toward
a tentacle that was about to latch on to Sailor Venus, then shot
another at the creature's original head. It hissed angrily, recoiling
at the attack, and Rei caught the smell of roasting flesh as it turned
toward her. "Get behind this thing while--Mars Fireballs Charge!--I
distract it!"
"Gotcha!" Mercury sprung to her right as a ball of dark energy
came hurtling toward her. "Girls! Jadeite! Darien! Get your butts--"
"Mars Fire Surround!" In the corner of her eye, Rei could see
the group of Senshi rushing to position themselves behind the
creature; too late, however, she realized that its three heads were
all facing different directions-and were impossible to sneak up on.
"Serena! MOVE!"
"EEEEEEP!" Sailor Moon squeaked and leapt to the side as a
blast of dark fire narrowly missed her, nearly knocking Venus down in
her quest for safety. "Moon Princess Halo!"
The creature roared in fury as blast hit it, severing a
tentacle and knocking it back into a nearby storefront; Rei heard the
display of fine china inside shatter, and couldn't help a wry grin at
the irony. "Mars Firebird!" The flaming blast met the creature's third
head as it rose from the mess, and it snarled in rage and agony.
"Jupiter Thunder Dragon!" Makoto had appeared beside Mars, and
the crackling bolt leapt from her fingers as she cried out the words.
To both Senshi's surprise, however, the creature didn't wince at the
blow--it seemed to smirk, almost, as it came eagerly toward the duo.
"Uh-oh. Mars...!"
"Venus Love Chain Encircle!"
"Jupiter!" Mercury cried out as she rushed toward the taller
girl, her eyes worried. "Just duck, don't attack! This thing feeds on
human life sources, but it can plug itself--Shine Aqua Illusion!--into
an outlet for a quick fix!"
"What?"
"Mars Fire Surround!"
"Stop! You're charging it every time you hit it!"
"Moon Tiara Frisbee!" A combined attack, courtesy of Sailors
Moon and Venus, along with Jadeite, hurtled toward the creature; it
ducked the spinning tiara, but lurched straight into the other two
blasts. "Mars! Hit it fast!"
Rei sent a firebird toward the creature; just at that moment,
however, the head that had so far remained harmless suddenly spat a
bolt of electricity at her. Caught off guard, Rei had just enough time
to see Jadeite rush toward her as her firebird smashed into the
creature's open mouth and forced itself down its throat; then, she was
screaming as the dark charge met its target, and everything went
black...
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"Rei-chan?"
"Ugh..." Rei groggily opened one eye, winced, and closed it
again. "Oh, God, I am SO hung-over..."
"Rei-chan!" A pair of arms wrapped themselves around Rei; she
opened her eyes again to two blonde pigtails--not exactly the first
sight she had expected to greet her. "Oh, my God, Rei, you're not dead
you're not dead you're not--"
"What?" Gently pushing the gushing blonde off her, Rei managed
to sit up, wincing as a bolt of pain shot up her side. It took her a
few seconds to realize she was lying on a large piece of sign that had
once pointed the way toward the Tokyo Expressway--and that everything
around her seemed to be smoldering. "Oh, shit...Serena--the battle?"
"It's over!" Serena pointed, and Rei's gaze followed her
outstretched finger toward a bubbling lump of goo half a block away.
The other scouts were standing a few feet away from the two, listening
to Ami as she spoke quietly; all had de-transformed. "We figured out
after it got you that we had to jam attacks down its throats. Once we
got that, it was quick..."
"How are you feeling, Lady Rei?" Jadeite came up behind her,
gently putting his arm around her shoulders. "That thing got you
pretty hard back there. You okay?"
"More or less." Rubbing her aching side, Rei stood gingerly,
trying to get a sense of her body's condition. Nothing hurt enough to
be broken, though there was a giant bruise down her entire right side
and her left wrist was swollen. "God... how long was I out?"
"Two hours? We just brought it down maybe fifteen minutes
ago..." Jadeite was looking down at Rei, his eyes concerned. "Your
wrist okay, Rei? It looks pretty bad... We should get you to a doctor,
just to check you out, make sure you're okay-"
Rei was about to reply, but even as her lips parted, she saw a
movement in the corner of her eye. Oh, shit, no... Instinctively,
she whirled around, her arms shooting out before her to prepare for
attack, but...
Down the street, the bubbling mass had grown another head, and
the biggest blast of dark energy she had ever seen was hurtling toward
her--FAST.
And even as Rei called out her counter-strike, she knew
instinctively that no blast of hers could push such a giant force
back. This is it, Hino Rei, you're going to die right about--
And then a flash of silver tore between her and the dark orb;
there was a huge explosion, and Rei was thrown back into darkness as
the raging firebird left her fingers...
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When Rei woke again, there was blood everywhere; her white fuku
was soaked with crimson, and she could feel the warm stickiness covering
her body. Ami, back in her own fuku, was bending over her, her face
pale as she tried to mop Rei's bloody cheeks with a bit of blue
cloth--she had torn the ribbons off her own uniform, Rei realized.
"Ami? What--"
"Oh, God, Rei... Rei..." Ami nearly dropped the bloody cloth
as she heard Rei's words. "Oh, my God... You're okay?"
"No worse than before..." Rei sat up, looking down with
horror at her bloody fuku. "Ami--what happened? This--this isn't my
blood. I'm not bleeding..."
Ami closed her eyes for a moment, and her lips quivered when
she spoke. "Rei... I--I'm so sorry. We should have checked to make
sure that thing was out for good before we de-transformed. We never
should have let it have another shot at you, not when we were all
standing right there..."
"I--you're not answering my question, Ami."
Ami took a deep breath, looking away. "Rei, Jadeite saved you.
He--he--oh, God..."
She could not go on, but Rei instinctively sensed the rest of
her sentence. "Oh, God... Where--where is he?"
"No!" Ami grabbed Rei's arm as the girl stood, her face pale
with worry. "Rei--don't look, please--don't look--"
But it was too late--Rei was staring at the prone figure a
few feet away, half-surrounded by pale-faced Senshi. For a few
moments, she stood rooted to the ground, unable to tear her gaze away;
then, she collapsed to her knees, and proceeded to be violently sick
all over the dusty sidewalk.
Oh, God... GOD! The image of her second husband, a gaping
hole through his chest where pulverized lungs and shattered bits of
ribs swam in a mess of bloody tissue, was seared in her mind. Oh,
Jadeite... My God...
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