Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the "Sailor Moon" series. This goes along the lines of the original series, but an alternate dimension. Trust me, eventually, my knight will meet the scouts. Patience is a virtue, so awaiting that moment won't be so bad. REVIEW!!
Chapter 8
Showdown in Poison Parlor
~ Dark Universe ~
-Specter's Throne Room-
"XENO! RAVEN!! I command you to appear!! Right now!" Specter shouted, his purple eyes flaring up like poison wounds. A flurry of dark feathers and wind appeared beside a bright silver light filled with swirling metallic shards, revealing Raven and Xeno standing side by side before him.
"You took long enough! This is important business….I thought Raven would do anything to hear that her brother has just failed for the last time." Specter grated, his face calming a bit as he sat back down in his throne, his black armor glistening wildly in the sickly, pale light that filtered upon him from above.
Raven got a wild smile on her face as he said it, but Xeno just looked calm and pleased. Xeno never got to emotional in front of Specter, he knew it wasn't good manners to high royalty such as he. Having a poker face was good enough to please Specter, and he was glad deep down that at least one of his subjects was trained properly.
"When does he die? Can I help?" Raven said quickly, but Xeno eyed her a bit, clearing his throat. Raven's smile fell away and she straightened up, adding in a curt," My lord." Specter waved his hand at her, as if there were fly buzzing near him, shutting his eyes in disgust. "Spare me the pleasantries, Raven. And no, you don't get to kill him, I do, just I have the right to kill any one of you for failure to the Dark Goddess and myself. Viper has failed one too many times, once was too many in fact, but he's provided a wonderful amount of human life energy to the goddess, but his failures are still failures. However…."
"However what, my lord? You said he'd failed you for the last time, he should die for that." Raven said stiffly.
"DID I SAY YOU COULD SPEAK!? If I want your opinion I'll beat it out of you!" Specter screamed, his dark energy rising dangerous around his body," Now, as I was saying before some tick interrupted me is that even though he has failed, I am giving him one, and I mean only one, final chance at redemption. He is to kill the three knights once and for all, and if he succeeds, he can begin the energy draining missions once more. If not, I'll destroy him and send his energy to the goddess. And that means you, Raven, are in charge of the Earth missions. Killing the knights is imperative, but getting them here alive to drain would be even better for the goddess. Viper said they had great power, possibly there's enough in their three bodies to release the goddess to us earlier than planned. Still, we have to wait for Viper to pull off this plan of his first, whether he fails or not, well, I will know. He can't hide failure from me anymore than the rest of you can."
"That is true, lord, giving him a fair chance at his final chance is more than any of us could ask for….or even expect. Though, if the boy prince fails, you can count on Raven to do a better and more thorough job than he did. She is my best student, lord, Viper was too busy gloating to his sisters and showing off his powers. Though, you ordained his final chance. We will await your orders." Xeno said calmly, a small smile on his pale lips.
Specter nodded towards the metal wearing warrior, then looked wryly at Raven. "Don't humiliate our best warrior, Raven, and no plotting against your brother either. If I find out you or Xeno kill him or any of the other warriors to make him look bad, your funerals will be coming very quickly. Do we understand, children?," he said tightly, folding his hands together, getting nods from them both," Good, now get the hell out of my sight and await your orders, Raven. Xeno, you will remain here to observe young Viper's progress. You trained him like you have always done for the royal family. You'll know what to work on with him, if he survives to succeed."
"Yes lord" they said in unison, Raven vanishing in her whirlwind of black feathers and Xeno stepping up to stand beside his master. "Don't think I don't know about all the screwing you two have been doing all this time, Xeno. Getting to involved with your student can harm you greatly if you are not careful." Specter chided, but Xeno barely blinked.
"I take full responsibility for her actions, lord. I am her trainer and teacher, what she does is due to how I did that. The fact that I have trysts of sexual nature with her does not impair either of our judgement on the obvious fact that you will send us screaming into the abyss of our great goddess if we let that guide our actions. I am not a fool and nor is she, lord." Xeno said plainly, not even looking at his master as he spoke.
Specter just sniffed at the reply, holding out his hand to created a orb with dark-purple tendrils snaking all around it in front of them, floating in mid air. Tokyo was shown within the orb, the bright lights of the night-ridden town speckled across the glossy surface. "We shall see." Was all he said, staring hard into the small orb, his wicked purple eyes mirroring on the city.
~ Tokyo ~
-Night-
Stephen was sitting on his windowsill, Cyrus right beside him watching the young man quietly. Stephen was swinging his legs a bit, making soft thud with his bare feet on the side of the house, but he looked terribly deep in thought, as if his mind wasn't paying attention. It wasn't a new look for the young man, Cyrus had grown used to the human drifting off into his own daydreams and fantasies off and on, every other sense he had shutting off to go into his dream world.
'The boy is going to get worse than hurt if he keeps doing this….why does he space out so much?' Cyrus wondered, sighing a bit. "How long are you going to stare like that? You're face will stick that way if you're not careful." Cyrus warned, but Stephen barely flinched, still having his far-off gaze.
'Damn, why do I even….huh? STEPHEN!" Cyrus yowled as the sky went red. The guardian cat almost grinned as the boy's head lifted up sharply, staring feverishly at the blood-red sky, flames licking at the stars like rapid tentacles.
A tight figure appeared within it, or at least from the chest up, of a man with yellow hair and red eyes, his perfectly sculpted form pressed in by and emerald green snakeskin vest. "Viper!" Stephen yelped, staring up at the apparition numbly for a moment, then with hate.
"Galaxy Knights!" Viper said, looking across the city of Tokyo wickedly, as if he owned it. "Galaxy Knights," he repeated, extending his right hand over Tokyo city," I challenge you bothersome goody-two shoes to take me on in the forest near your pathetic park….you'll know where to go cause I'll be scaring you all the way to my parlor. Your ultimate destruction is at hand, Galaxy Knights, but make no mistake, if you dare to throw my generous invitation back in my face, and you can wake up to chaos in the morning. HAH!!"
With a flick of his wrist, flames shot from his fingers and set Tokyo on fire, countless building exploding before Stephen's eyes before he blinked. The city was fine, and the sky was normal once more, but Stephen could still hear Viper's insidious voice laughing at him. "Step into my parlor, Galaxy Knights, or watch all of your people die! Ah ha hahahahahahahahaaaaa!!"
Stephen stared for a few moments at the place Viper's form had appeared, then back at the city, looking just as bright and lively as before. "Go contact Angie. I'll call Ray and Gary, we have to discuss this after school….pronto."
Cyrus raised and eyebrow as Stephen slipped back into his room and opened his bedroom door, shouting," Why are you calling Gary and not Angela?"
"Cause she's a psycho, she'll think I'm asking her out or some junk. Bit would be better if you take her on, no way she'd try to think she's making me jealous by kissing you. As for Gary, tomorrow is Friday, numbskull, but I do have a session with him. I have to cancel it so he doesn't waste his time."
"God, you seem to care more about his feelings than those of your friends. You're really cruel to Angela." Cyrus scowled.
"She deserves it, and Gary happens to be one of my friends too, so shut your fuzzy fanged face, Cyrus and beat feet. We have till tomorrow night to plan this or we die, game over and do not pass and such. You know?" Stephen snapped, disappearing out his door.
"I'll fang face you, ungrateful brat. Just get your priorities straight, forgetting a few lessons you don't even need isn't going to spoil much. Rowr!" Cyrus muttered, leaping out the window, instantly sprinting away from the house when his paws touched the ground.
-Takozona Junior High -
Stephen was annoyed at how slowly the day was going. He had been so worked up by Viper's nightly threat he'd forgotten to fall asleep in class or even to respond to much of anything except the bells that let out classes.
He was sitting at the base a tree now, the one he had saved Cici's life at from Virule Vile weeks before. She had been an intolerable bubble-brain as long as he could remember and still was, but he thought at times when he'd pass her in the halls that she was hiding something….her face was always anxious when she went out to eat her lunch. 'As if she remembered the entire thing….Cyrus never said whether people would recall such things, I've never had to see the other victims of Viper's beasts as much as her and Angela's trio of charmed girls from the charm store. They all seem apprehensive whenever I see them. Maybe they do recall what happened to them,' he thought, then spouted aloud," Then why haven't the police looked into the people we couldn't save? They've vanished and no one is even looking for them. Why?"
"Cause the Dark Universe says so, Snowflake." Angie's shrill voice stabbed into his pert ears. He scowled at her, looking at her briefly as she sat down. Beside him, snuggling almost. He allowed it, he was too angry about Viper's audacity to even care. It was almost comforting, but he did remember who she was. He stomach wrenched a bit as she touched his chest.
He shrugged her off then, angry with himself for drifting too much. "Not now, not ever in fact. This is serious, in case you didn't see Viper torch the town." He snapped, but she latched onto him again. He didn't fight this time, figuring he could get further into the matter at hand if she wasn't fighting to grab him.
"I saw….I was doing my nightly exercises at the time in our backyard. He was pretty hard to miss….Cyrus was in my window a couple minutes later. Does Ray know?" she asked, again touching his chest.
Stephen sighed and swatted at her hand with a nod. "I called him up, he saw it too. He told me we'd all meet in the park, near the boat docks, to discuss our plans for Viper, the ones we should be discussing. Hey, get your hand out of there! Jeez!" Stephen yelped as Angie tried to slip her hand between his legs. She gave a light smirk and forfeited her efforts, but remained very close, nuzzling against his stiffening chest.
"I say we blow his ass to hell." She stated proudly. "Oh, that took a lot of brain power, of course we do that in the end….but we have to actually weaken him first, then kill him. I say we surround him once we know what we are dealing with and use cut and run type moves…..Damn, what am I saying? This is a stupid conversation." He said, angry again.
"Why is it stupid, love?" she asked, momentarily letting go of him to stare at him in bewilderment. "I mean this, talking about a battle with a guy who is unpredictable….we can't plan anything except on trying to stay alive. We're just teenagers, not soldiers. And don't call me love!" he snapped, leaning his head back against the tree and closed his eyes tightly.
He opened one when he heard grass being shuffled on, the sun starting to darken on his eyelids. He fell to the side and Angela's lips crashed on his neck, staying there, much to Stephen embarrassment. He could hear laughter erupt from all over the school recess area, the words "love birds" and "How cute" gnawing at his mind, with Angela kissing up his neck.
"Stop it!" he yelped, scooting away and rubbing his violated neck hard, as if doing so could stop the redness from creeping across his pale cheeks," I hate it when you embarrass me like that….keep your nutty lips off of me."
Angela didn't look too dissuaded as she stood up, and didn't look it as she tackled him into the ground. "You said it doesn't matter as long as we three watch each others' back and defeat him with mind and power. He's unpredictable and I agree, but so am I." She said sweetly, planting a firm kiss on his tight lips. He kicked her in the shin when he felt her tongue try and get inside his mouth, delighting in her pain-filled yelp and he shoved her off. He ran for the school and ducked inside, never stopping his sprint until he rammed into the boy's bathroom. "Nutcase. Now everyone saw, God, the maniac and the daydreamer, I can see the laughing faces and hear all their snickers. God, I wish Glamour went to this school….so I could love her, not Angie the Animal. Yuck, she's to weird to get turned on by." He stammered to himself, holing himself in one of the stalls.
Two kisses down the tubes was all he could fathom as he sat on the toilet lid, rubbing his mouth off with toilet paper to get the Angie-taste out of his mouth. He knew he should have never told Cyrus to tell Angie about any meetings unless Ray was around. Angie always waited to molest Stephen until Ray had gone. He had chosen the word molest as the best way to describe her unwanted gropes. 'The fate of Tokyo, maybe the world, rests in our hands, three teenagers and a loud-mouthed alley cat. It makes you doubt that life isn't ironic or cruel. Hell, life is just plain fruity now a day's. The maniac is in love with me, my cat talks, I'm in love with a mystery woman in black, an alternate universe is trying to destroy us all, and to top it all off, the world might end tonight if we don't fight Viper. Ugh, why can't things be as simple as worrying about puberty and if I'm going to miss a movie or a homework assignment. Why can't things be normal again?' he asked himself.
"Why can't you shut up? I'm trying to take a leak here." Shouted a male voice. Stephen could have died on the spot when he heard it, smacking himself upside the head for opening his mouth at all. 'Great, wait till he leaves or he'll spread it all over the school that not only does the maniac love you, you're a maniac too. God, what was a thinking. I've never been so angry in my life….it can only get worse if we don't battle Viper. We have to go, plan or no, we have to stop that bastard before he kills everything!' he thought, not even moving as he heard the urinal get flushed.
~ Sakura Gardens~
"Now that we've all made it….Stephen, we can begin discussing the plan." Cyrus said, staring at Stephen who had only just arrived, still trying to yank his arm out of Angela's grasp. He succeeded in doing so finally and went to stand by Ray, further deterring Angie from trying for another grab. She scowled at them both, more at Ray than Stephen.
"Discuss what? We've been fighting him this long and once he challenges us we change tactics? I say we go in there and take him down. You heard what he said he'd do to our city if we didn't show. We have to go now or we'll never reach the rendezvous point in time." Ray said, smacking his fist into his other hand hard, a look of determination on his face.
Cyrus shook his fuzzy head and then eyed the youth furiously. "That will get us killed, but I know we have to go now. The boats over there will get us there quickly….we can discuss our plan there. That was part of Stephen's plan. Get moving, knights. The world waits to be rescued and all."
Stephen stuck close to Ray as they walked to the boat rental hut, a grimy old man leaning on the counter, a few teeth missing from his grisly old head. Stephen paid him for a motor boat in cash, bringing an almost toothless grin to the man's face as he greedily caressed his face with it, showing the keys clumsily at him.
Stephen and his friends quickly got into the boat, Angie starting up the engine and Cyrus cuddled up slightly to Stephen, who sat at the front of the boat and ray was in the middle. "Cyrus, I have to agree with Ray. We had no plans for the other monsters, all we did was fight for our lives. Nothing much has changed except opponents. We're fighting flesh and blood now, so what? He can die just like the rest of us….but we won't die. If we do, Tokyo and then the world are going to follow. That's too much riding on our shoulders to make us screw up or blow this whole thing off. I say we just do what he says and then kick the ever loving crap out of him." Stephen said as they reached the center of the lake.
Cyrus didn't seem too surprised when he said it, only nodded. "I know that, but Viper might not be alone in this battle. Villains do cheat, you know."
Stephen looked down at the cat angrily. "Please, and his warriors didn't? I'm used to fighting them….and I didn't know what they were capable of either. He just looks more like us is all, and he's a dark prince, big deal. We do what we can….if we can beat his warriors, we can beat him. I'm not going to let some snake-skin prancing bastard cut my life short, no way in hell. I've got too much planned for my future to let it all die because some otherworldly power chose now to come back and try and wreak havoc."
"He has a point, C, we know as much about Viper as we knew about his warriors. We're going to fight Viper whether we like it or not, and we have the power to do it. I'm not saying we run into his domain half-assed and screaming. We play it safe, fight when we have to, and take him down. For all those people he made to suffer, for all the people who suffered in the past because of the Dark Universe." Ray added, his eyes grave and serious.
"Yeah, the guy deserves to die. He nearly murdered my Stephen-sama. And he will keep trying so long as he lives. He suspects him….and if he ever follows him again, it might be worse than what happened to Alan." Angie piped, the night sky finally taking the sun away as they reached the opposite shore. They all were silent in getting our of the boat, staring up at the dark forest before them.
"Well, I for one am not waiting for the festivities to begin. Bring it on, snake boy. Mar Fire, Transform!" Ray shouted aiming his ring to the sky, then groaned out in pain as his transformation took hold.
"Yeah! Moon Sword, Transform!" Stephen said as he clutched his pendant, the pain numb in him after so many times of using its powers.
"Right on, Snowflake! Mercury Ice, Transform! Oh!" she said, her ring to the dark sky as she become Lady Mercury.
The three knights ran into the woods swiftly, Cyrus at their heels as the forest took them in, an almost wicked scent hitting the air as they did. The dark woods were silent for a few minutes, not even a cricket could be heard chirping or an owl hooting. Moon Knight felt his foot crack down on something, a twig he guessed, but he never heard it utter a noise, rather felt it. "This forest is weird, its like all of the sound has been sucked out the place." Mars commented, who had a twig in his hand now, snapping it in two. No sound came out of it, not even when it hit the ground. "Viper's got to be close, and now he's screwing with Mother Nature now. That red-eyed freak is going down!" Mercury swore, raising up her sword at lightning speed as she charged forward.
Moon sighed and went after her. "She's going to be the death of me, I swear Mars, she's nuttier than a building full of fruitcakes." Moon hissed. Mars was just trailing behind Moon Knight, managing off a half-hearted shrug.
Moon Knight caught sight of Mercury again after several more minutes passed. Actually, it was more along the lines that heard her shouting numerous curses and heard the clinking of her blade. He saw her fighting off a hoard of what looked like living vines, with the heads of snakes. Each one was a dark green, their skin necrotic and blotched with disease, fangs about the size of their hands dripping out floods of black venom.
"Yep, looks like his game is finally starting to take shape. There's no turning back now. YAHHH!" Moon yelled, charging into the battle with mars rapidly. Moon Knight moved furthermost into the fray of wild, hissing snakes, hacking those that were practically strangling the trees and twirling around the point his stomach lurched avoiding those that were snapping at him from the dead ground.
All sounds were hitting the trio at once, hisses, screams, the gnashing of teeth, and the ever present whistling wind that raking across their faces like icy kisses. "Fight your way through them! Viper's has to be just beyond them!" Mars cried out, slashing several snakes' heads off with a quick spin of his blade. Moon looked back in time to see one of the snakes braving for mars' face, getting a swift punch upside its scaly head for the effort and a sword through its body as it fell back.
"No argument there. They're all over where we came in. I can't even see the trees back there anymore." Moon shouted, back, stomping another snake down hard with his boot. The things bled black, just like their venom, and it spray all over Moon Knight's boot as he delivered the crushing blow.
Mercury didn't look happy about leaving the area, her mouth in an apparent frown. "I say we make him come to us, show him who's in charge here." She shouted, slashing and kicking at the new wave of giant snakes that approached them. Moon let out an exasperated sigh and went at her quickly, swiping his sword at whatever got in his way in a spray of green, tattered flesh and black, oily blood. Mercury's form was starting to fade from his sights as more snakes went after her, her war cries only egging them on to flood towards her.
"For the love of humanity, Mercury, we have to run now, away from them. Viper said he'd be herding us right to him, so I say we herd ourselves now. The second we wipe the floor with him, these things will go with him. This is not the time to pick a fight with overgrown worms when the king worm is who we want, the guy who'll destroy all of Tokyo if we don't get our butts in gear!!" Moon yelled, but Mercury went on shouting curses at the snake, blood, scale and bones flying into the air as her pointless battle went on.
"That does it! Mars. Use your power with mine, if we have to drag her away we will, but we have to get to her!" he shouted back at his, who had just finished slaying the last of his slithering adversaries. When Moon saw him nod and raise his sword high, he jumped back to be right beside him, lifting his sword to the moonlit sky. "No more fooling around, fang-boy. Celestial Beam!!!!" Stephen shouted, slashing the moon energy from his sword.
"Yeah, Raging Hell Fire!!!!" Mars shouted, doing a spin before releasing four massive fireballs from his flaming sword of onyx. The two powers merged in mid-flight, becoming a quartette of flaming meteors. Moon and Mars watched them slam head on with the writhing wall of serpents, high pitched, unearthly shrieks filling the air as the energy blasted them apart. The two dove for the ground as the massacred creatures shot at them in charred and bloodied pieces.
Moon nearly got half of a snake's head in the face seconds before he hit the ground, feeling the hot trickle of the dead venom spatter across his bare neck as the head sailed past. He looked up every few seconds to see eyeballs, bodies, jaws, fangs, and flesh, all shredded and cooked, fly over them while putting his head down when some would rain down on their bodies. When all Moon could hear was the light thuds of the body pieces hitting the ground, only then did he get up. He saw Mercury staring at them, her mouth open wide and her hair a bit frazzled. She didn't look hurt, just a little sooty and shocked.
"When I say move, I mean it Mercury! Now, as I said before, let's move. More of those slithering bastards are forming." Moon griped, jerking his finger towards the writhing army that was replacing the dead one behind them. He heard something that sounded like "fine" and left it at that, running in the opposite direction of the snakes with his comrades close behind.
The trio wasn't without their scaly friends as they'd hoped, a few showing the knights that they were a lot quicker than their kin, snapping dangerously close at their heels. They pressed on, jumping when the hisses became deafening around them.
"We can't run forever, Moon, where is the main snake in the grass anyway?" Mars shouted, slashing his sword behind him when he heard jaws snap next to his head. He smiled when a startled yelp replaced it.
"He's probably laughing his snake-skinned ass off at us, but we can't very well turn back….Hey, I see something! A light!" Moon replied, aiming his sword ahead of them," It looks like….a mansion….."
The others looked to where the sword was aimed at and saw Moon was right, a dull light was shining out of a large stain-glass window of serpents strangling women, attached to a rather large mansion. It looked like something out of a horror movie to Moon Knight, but he could only laugh inside at that thought. 'This is a horror movie, complete with otherworldly demons and killer snakes. Why not a creepy mansion? And where there's a creep place, a creep is sure to be close by.' He thought.
"Run for the mansion, that's where the bastard is hiding! Celestial Beam!" Moon Knight shouted, sprinting ahead as the energy beam shot from his weapon and sent it crashing through the stain-glass window. He took a hard leap through the still shattering glass, the others following him in amazement. They stopped running once they realized the snakes weren't even coming in, the still of the large and vine covered room welcoming them.
Moon kept his sword up, taking the sudden break from battle to survey their new surroundings. It was like an indoor garden, a dying one to say the very least. The long pale green vines had patches of brown splotches of decay and wrinkled portions that looked to be saturated to death. The roots were, nonetheless, growing through the floorboards, the ceiling and the walls. The only door out of the room was blocked off completely by the terrible vines, but they were actually healthy looking and covered with black thorns. The more Moon Knight watched the door vines, the more he could swear they appeared to be moving, as if they were breathing.
"So where is old fang-boy? VIPER! Come on out and fight, you stinking coward! We're not afraid of you!" Mercury shouted, ramming her sword against the nearest wall to her, her teeth ground into a tight sneer.
"My, what a mouth you have, human. Not to worry, I'll rip it right off, then you'll be careful what you say." Viper's voice cackled, his malicious laugh echoing throughout the room.
"Come on out! You too afraid to show your slimy face to us?" Mercury taunted, unfazed by Viper's words. Moon Knight stared at her in disbelief, just as Viper materialized behind her.
Mercury! Look out!" he shouted, but it was too late. Viper sent a blast of green energy into Mercury as she tried to turn about. She went sprawling across the floor in pain, her hair sooty and slapping wildly against the floor when she stopped.
"Damn, one more second and I could have blasted that pretty mask of yours off. Hmm, I wonder what's under it, my little orchid. You'd all be welcome additions to the Dark Universe, if you'd just submit to us. You could live as I do, royally and pleasantly ruling over the drooling population of earth creatures. This is your last chance to make it easy on yourselves, you know, I am a fair bit of perfection, kids, just letting you know that you have a chance to walk away from this winners." Viper said, his charm enough to make Moon Knight's stomach turn.
'Arrogant bastard….God only knows how many people died because of him and here he is playing "Let's Make a Deal" with us like we're a pack of greedy imbeciles.' He thought, taking a brave step forward and holding his sword with both hands. "We'll never join you, it doesn't matter how much you sugar coat this, you still murder people to revive the dark goddess. I won't be part of that, so go to hell, Prince Vomit, and shove your head up a demon's rear end!" Moon said harshly, gritting his teeth.
"Yeah, you can take your deals and shove 'em. We don't bargain with raw garbage like the Dark Universe. So quit stalling and fight us….we're not going to lose to the likes of you after all this time." Mars added, thrusting his sword in front of him in a fencer's stance, one hand held a ways behind his helmet. Mercury was back her feet as well, her armor stained with char, but her strength didn't fail her as she raised her sword up, pointing it dead at where Viper's heart would have been, if he even had one.
"Yeah, and honey, any man, no matter how puny that sucker punches me is in for a world of hurt. Come and get my kiss of ice, baby, or are you still not man enough to face us fairly?" she glowered.
Viper's face twitched at each insult that was flung his way, and he lifted off the floor until he was floating halfway above it, staring at them with an evil look in his blood-red eyes. "Heh, well, since you're going to be so high and mighty about this, you pack of saccharine goody-goodies, all bets are off. And I'm not one of you, so I don't fight fair, so why don't you just do me a favor…..AND DIE!!!!" Viper shouted, his eyes wild with insanity as he raised his hands up and shot a beam of green light at the young men. Mars and Moon avoided it easily.
"You call that your best shot!? Hah, I've seen fourth graders who pack more punch than you….huh? What's so funny, fang-face?" Mars laughed.
"You are. Who said I was aiming for you, anyway? Strangle them, my lovelies, choke their very breath out of their bodies." Viper grinned, landing in front of Mercury," But you, my little orchid, you I want to play with all night….to death."
Moon and Mars didn't bother to watch Mercury fighting as they looked behind themselves, leaping back hard as the thorny vines rammed into where they had been standing. The vines were like a giant squid now, all wrapped together in the doorway with dozens of green, thorn-riddled tendrils squirming and reaching out at the end….reaching for the two knights with death programmed into their forms.
"Ok, so he's inventive. Big deal, they're just plants. Raging Hellfire!!" Mars shouted, slashing out his fireballs at the ghastly vines. The mass of green tendrils exploded on impact, every single one going aflame. Mars smiled at his achievement, twirling his sword in his hand proudly. As he looked at Moon Knight, he said," Piece 'a cake."
Moon Knight wasn't looking at Mars, his eyes still trained on where the mass of vines had been. "What?" Mars asked, then Moon Knight, gestured with his sword towards the same spot he was frowning at. Mars' face fell when he saw that the vines he had incinerated were reforming, fresh and coiling towards them again with their glistening black thorns. "Ooook, very inventive. Now what do we do?" Mars asked, slashing down hard on a vine that lurched for his face.
"Take down the source, which means Viper. Let's hope isn't like his pet….AHH!!" Moon Knight began, but was cut off as a vine wrapped around his leg, the razor sharp thorns latching onto his armor before the vine started to drag him towards the bulk of the vines. Moon Knight lost his grip on his sword as he tried to jam it into the floor to stop his movement, then forced himself to look back as he heard a loud roar erupt from behind.
His eyes widened as the tendrils pushed themselves apart at the center, revealing a gaming mouth littered with giant black teeth, all covered in green drool that slimed its way down every vine. It was snapping feverishly as the vine pulled Moon Knight closer, the speed of the pull increasing as he went along. He clawed at the wooden floor desperately to try and stop himself, watching in angst as Mars was too busy fighting off other vines to even get close enough to help him.
He shut his eyes tightly, his entire body feeling as if it was set on fire as he braced for the uncaring jaws of the monstrous plant to snap down on him once he was only a few feet away. Moon felt a jerk in his leg and high pitched wail erupt suddenly, his body coming to a halt, but his leg was flailing around. He finally felt a pair of arms grab him from behind and swiftly rip him off the ground. When the person landed, Moon Knight felt his hand against a cool blade. He opened his eyes at last to see it was his sword, then he looked at his leg that was still twitching.
"Lady Glamour! What are you doing here?" He exclaimed, watching her cutting the jittering piece of bleeding vine from his leg, the blood was black like the thorns, and every bit as foul smelling as it looked as it saturated his feet. "Saving you, Moon Knight, what I always do. You looked like you could all use the help. Viper is not to be underestimated, but avoiding a battle with him is suicide. Once he dies, so do his creations. You must reach to the power within your soul to defeat him forever, not in your blade. Those will be as ineffective by themselves as they were with Viper's creations." She told him, nudging her chin off towards the vine creatures, who kept reforming each vine Mars was chopping off.
"Will you help us, please, I don't know what to do. How do I reach the power inside me?" he asked rapidly as she helped him up. "Your body will remember, reach into your heart Moon Knight. It is the key to your survival. Your heart will trigger it, trust me. We must unite now." She said, her silvery voice seeping into his heart with every word.
"Yes, you're right. MARS, forget the giant geranium! Viper has to be stopped or that thing will never die! Come on! Mercury! Hold him there for us!" Moon Knight shouted at his companions, following Lady Glamour quickly towards where Mercury and Viper were still fighting.
Viper was a dirty fight, and quite obviously not taking many hits in the fight with Mercury either. She despised his arrogance, but what she truly hated was the fact he kept taunting her as she had been doing to him. All he did was raise his hand at the start of the battle, then created a sword of pure dark energy and the fight had begun. She'd taken a few cuts and bruises from him, and she wouldn't have minded it so much if she could have just gotten a hit on him, but he was too fast with his parries. The smug look on his face made her even angrier, but nothing could have pissed her off more than losing the chance to save her beloved Stephen from danger. She had taken a deep slash across her leg as she lost her train of thought when Stephen had been grabbed by the vine creature, and seeing Glamour steal all of her glory and Stephen's heart all at once didn't help.
'That tramp, dresses worse than a Vogue magazine. Harlot! He's my precious love, my Snowflake. I could have saved him if this red-eyed bastard would just play fair!' her mind screamed.
When Stephen shouted an order to her, she was more than happy to comply, even if he was running alongside that tramp Glamour. She put all of her energy into keeping Viper interested in fighting her, even getting so bold as to punch and ram her own body into his. These actions caught him by surprise, anger washing over his features as he hit the floor, but it was easily remedied as he shot away from her in a flash, flying into the air swiftly as she tried to bring her sword down into his face.
"Nice try, little orchid, but you'll have to do better than that. Much better." He hissed, landing back on the ground with his sword aimed straight at her.
He fired a bolt of energy at her from it, smiling all the way. The way his face fell in disbelief proved how overconfident he really was as several crystal shards made contact with it, the dark energy dying away in an instant. He turned his head angrily towards the interference, the woman on the sensual black dress that had helped the Moon Knight out so many times before.
"Lady Glamour, the wretched thorn in my side. How unpleasant of you to drop in. You think your pitiful powers can stop me? Thin again! Taste the power of the Dark Universe! Come my lovelies, come and defend your master!" he cackled, still holding his sword tightly.
The knights and Glamour leapt out in curious patterns away from the vines, Glamour back-flipping with ease and launching her Crystal Cutter attack at each surge of vines that came at her and Moon. Mars seemed to be sticking close to Mercury, his mouth moving rapidly amongst the shrill wailing of the vine creature as they fire their own swords and powers into its body.
'Hah, who cares what they are saying, soon they'll be dead. I'll be on top forever, dear sister Raven. Kiss up all you like, no one is as strong as me!' Viper thought wickedly, laughing like a madman as the vines surged forth again, pushing the knights even closer to his position. 'Soon there will be no room left for them to dodge, not with me helping out my lovely creation, no, I'll watch them writhe in agony all night long.' He mused.
"Celestial Beam!!"
"Raging Hellfire!!"
"Ice Slash!!"
"Crystal Cutter!!"
The words came to Viper in a blur. A moment ago he was imagining how he'd be rewarded for destroying the knights, the look of absolute rage and jealousy on his sisters' faces when he would go on as the Earth general. Now he felt unimaginable pain ripping through his young body, hot cold, sharp, and unearthly energy all at once attacking his flesh and senses. He fell to his knees, seeing his own green blood spattered beneath him, his clothes burned and torn, his skin bleeding freely for the first time in centuries. He didn't like this thing called pain, it was hindering. Viper hated weakness.
"Not so tough now, fang-boy." Mercury laughed at him, her sword still shimmering with the ice power it had thrust forward. Mars was silent, staring at Viper with pity, dear lord pity, something Viper had nothing of for anyone, a mere human brat was pitying a great dark Universe prince.
Glamour was stoic, not even moving or showing any expression whatsoever. When his bloodied eyes reach Moon Knight, he felt his body twitch. The young knight had his hands in front of him as if in prayer, his sword on the ground. It wasn't that which made him twitch, it was the white energy crackling around the youth's fingers, his eyes gone dead white as his small mouth opened.
"My heart, my heart, it goes out to those you made suffer, those that died needlessly for your sickness and evil. My heart, in the name of the moon, Lunar Eclipse!!!!!!!!" Moon Knight shouted viciously, his body seeming to lift off the ground slightly as he raised his hands up in the air, spreading them apart to create a ball of light.
"To the sides, Mars! Mercury! Out of the way!" Glamour was shouting, but Viper was too paralyzed with pain to move with them as Moon Knight's body did a full twist in mid-air with the ball of light, as if he was throwing a discus.
Viper's last words leapt from his mouth moments before the ball of light ripped away from Moon Knights hands, enlarging swiftly as it rocketing at his body.
"NO!!!!!!! I CAN'T LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, the great ball of energy crashing into Viper's body, vaporizing it on contact. It kept on going and ripped through Viper's vine creatures and through the wall, not a sound uttered until the energy vanished as it hit the outside, only the sound of stillness welcoming their ears.
Moon Knight felt drained and fell to his knees, looking up briefly to survey what he'd done. Viper was gone, dead and gone at last, and his friends were all safe. Glamour was to his left, near the window they'd entered through was and Mars and Mercury were a ways to his right, far from the eradicated vine creature. He found that they were watching the creature fizzle into the air, losing its form knowing its master was gone.
"We did it!!! YEAH!" Moon Knight cheered, a sudden burst of adrenaline rushing through his body, allowing him to leap up in his happiness. The others were already getting to their feet, dusting themselves off proudly and raising their hands to show their praise.
Moon Knight looks back to Glamour, a shy smile on his face forming when he saw she was still around. She was smiling back at him, but suddenly began to hold her head, groaning. He started to walk towards her when he heard something crackling above. Instinctively, he looked up and felt his jaw drop. The roof was collapsing over Glamour's position.
He wasted no time in rushing towards her, seeing she wasn't moving from her spot since she was till gripping her head. "Get out of the way!" he shouted, grabbing her roughly by the arm and throwing her away from the spot. The last thing he felt was the house coming down on him, hearing his friends' anguished cries as it did.
~ Tokyo Central Hospital ~
Angela Furosuto and Ray Hitodama** sat in the waiting room beside Stephen's parents, trying to avoid the accusing stares from his father. Stephen's little sister was very quiet since she'd stopped crying over an hour ago, but Mrs. Tsukikage was still weeping about "her little angel." Angela had been crying too, but alone in a bathroom stall. She hated it when people saw her cry, she felt so helpless and vulnerable like that.
She felt even more uncomfortable when Ray tried coaxing her, seeing right through her stoic mask the instant he saw her return. It wasn't terrible to have his arm around her, but she loved Stephen, not Ray. 'Stephen's in the emergency room, stupid. He might be dying…dying over that space-case harlot Glamour! I hate her, if he dies I'll never forgive her.' Her mind wept.
That's not what they told the ambulance when they arrived. Ray had gone back to the boat rental stand and called the hospital, but when they asked what had happened to him, the two had lied their asses off. The story was that someone teased Stephen in class about being a coward and a sissy and the guy had been so persistent about it, Stephen finally decided to prove the guy wrong. Naturally, his friends followed him to make sure he wasn't hurt, but Stephen didn't know they were there. They heard a crash moment later and found that the roof had fallen on him.
'Can't exactly tell them some flying lady wearing a feather cape and S&M black leather clothing zapped the ceiling to kill Lady Glamour and their son, the Moon Knight, tried to save her and got the roof and energy bolt zapped into his back. They'd put us all away if we said that.' She thought.
It didn't matter what they told the authorities or the hospital anyway, Mr. Tsukikage still blamed them for his son being injured. She understood now why Stephen always acted so dreamy and out of touch with the world. With a father like that, who would want to remain in reality?
She jumped a bit as the man in question leapt up to stand, and she saw he had done it because the doctor was entering the room. "How is my son? Dammit, answer me! Is he all right!?" Mr. Tsukikage yelled, his weeping wife trying to hold him back. Casey had started to cry again and Ray went over to comfort her. She silenced after a bit, not bothering to let the small child go as Angela stepped alongside the fuming father.
"Mr. Tsukikage, I have very good news. Your son is just fine, better than fine really. There wasn't even any need for surgery." The doctor smiled, rubbing his gloved hands together slightly. "What do you mean?" Angela asked.
"Well, the burns were on his back when we put him in the X-ray machine to see what was broken, but when we found nothing was broken and took him out, the burns were….smaller. It's a miracle, I tell you. That boy's heart was fading in and out all the way here from what the ambulance drivers tell me, but all he's got now are a few bumps and bruises. You're son is very fortunate, but…." The doctor said, pulling down his mouth-guard to reveal his stubble-laced chin.
"But what?" Stephen's mother asked, tears of joy spreading on her face.
"But, I would like to keep him overnight for observation, just in case. I just want to run a few more tests on him to make sure he's all right. Its nothing major….you can stay if you like, but he's not leaving here until we're sure he's well. It would be best if you all went home, got a good night's sleep and then you can come back tomorrow to pick him up. Please, for his sake, don't make a mountain out of a molehill, he's in good hands here." The doctor finished, giving them all a reassuring smile.
Stephen's parents seemed a bit edgy about the request, but finally agreed. Angela and Ray watched them all drive off, then parted their separate ways once the headlights of the Tsukikage car vanished from sight.
Ray had wanted to walk Angela home, but she had insisted she could take care of herself and quickly ran off. Ray went home slowly, his skin feeling an unpleasant prickle upon it as he recalled the leather clad woman who nearly took Stephen's life. "She said her name was Raven….Princess Raven. I guess that makes her Viper's sister." He said to himself. He never expected an answer, or a small dark shape to leap out from behind a car to land before him. "Cyrus! Where the hell have you been!?" Ray gasped, clutching his heart from the scare the guardian cat had given him.
"I'm a cat, not a human. I'd get killed trying to fight the Dark Universe warriors. You all did a better job at it than I could have, not that nearly losing Stephen didn't break my heart. You stopped Prince Viper only to have another Dark Universe royal come at you. Stephen's lucky he had you all around or he never would have survived that. The world is in pretty good hands." Cyrus chirped, to which Rya grabbed him by his dark, velvety neck and scrunched him up against his chest. "You old softy, I knew you cared, but next time try and warn us that we're about to be attacked again. Yelling out warnings never hurt, pussycat. You're lucky Stephen is ok or I'd drop kick you into a meat grinder." Ray warned, almost mockingly. Cyrus glowered up at the teen, then let out a deep sigh. "Yes, if he had died, I would never have forgiven myself. We need all the help we can get in this war. We must protect each other, no matter what. Since we have a new adversary, I say things are about to get a lot rougher. We can't let our guard down, not for a second." Cyrus piped, getting his chest squeezed to the point that his eyes were bulging out.
"Let Stephen recover, for cripes sake. Nag, nag, nag….let us have a little breather. You owe us that much for taking Viper down for good." Ray snickered, letting the squeeze subside as Cyrus nodded rapidly," Good, now we're going back to my place. You can stay with me till Stephen goes back home. We'll celebrate with some drinks."
"DRINKS!? You're too young!" Cyrus yowled, but ray just offered a wicked smile. "You're never too young for a soda pop….and I doubt you're too old for saucer of cream either, or are you lactose intolerant? We have lots of soy milk that never gets drunk." Ray teased.
"Yuck, cream will be fine. Just get a move on." Cyrus replied, yowling again as Ray sped up his pace, squeezing hard on his poor chest again.
End of Part 1….Snake Eyes Serenade!!
Now onto Part 2, Wings of Death Epic and Princess Raven!!