~*~*~*~
A giant spider-like creature stood over Chi-Chi, its sharp fangs dripping with poison. Its legs were covered in spikes, and body was covered in a thick layer of metal. It had been designed to withstand stronger hits and last longer in battle; long enough to deliver its package to its owner.
Chi-Chi stared into the eyes of her attacker in utter fear. Her entire body shook as a fright like no other took over her body. The ruby red eyes seemed to stare straight through her as if she were nothing more than a meal to be eaten mercilessly. "My god." She whispered, not wanting to alarm the monster.
Usagi's eyes were beginning to tear up at the thought of what the monster and its caretaker were after. They had come to her mother for one jewel, the very item that would kill her if removed. "Run mom, run!!" Though she thought she had yelled her words, nothing more than a quiet whisper came out. The heavy breathing of her mother's attacker was all she heard.
Chi-Chi had almost completely forgotten why she had left the house as she stared at her attacker. Instinct had taken over now and all she could think about was running far away. Without saying another word, she took a small step backward. She nearly screamed when the spider lifted one of its legs out and set it down next to her. She gulped as her body shook even harder.
Kaori muffled her laughter so as not to disturb the spider from its prey. She knew this was going to hurt Usagi, and could have kissed herself for her dirty deed.
Usagi was too shocked to move, even though she knew she had to somehow help her mother. Her brain told her she needed to attack, but somehow the signal got lost before reaching the rest of her body. She was just as fear stricken as her mother.
Chi-Chi took another tiny step back, which was followed by the giant spider stepping forward. She let out a yelp, fearing what it would do to her. "St.. Stay back." She stammered, stepping back even further. It was useless to try to ward this thing off with words, as it wasn't human, but she still tried.
The spider straightened its legs so that it stood much taller than its victim. Its fangs were twitching beneath its eyes, which bore continually into Chi-Chi's. The left front leg was lifted just slightly, causing Chi- Chi to jump back.
From behind, Kaori was coaxing it on with whispers of a promised kill. She commanded that it take the heart crystal from its victim. And, after she had what she wanted, she would set her creature on Chi-Chi for a small feast. She didn't seem to care that Usagi was present for she knew that the girl was powerless against her monster.
The spider seemed to react to Kaori's wishes with haste. It put its leg down behind Chi-Chi and leaned in, pulling its fangs apart and readying itself for the kill. Chi-Chi could feel the spikes running down her back, causing her to cringe with rising fear. "No." She moaned as she looked over her shoulder only to see slim building up behind her.
Usagi blinked twice, fearing what might happen if she didn't act soon. Slapping herself to wake up from her own disbelief, she darted for the giant spider. "Nooo!!" She screamed as she brought both hands to her right. Inside a golden light began to glow.
Kaori scowled at the nuisance. "You will not interfere, brat." She stuck her foot out from behind her tree just as Usagi was passing, causing the girl to fall face first. "Your mother's Heart Crystal is mine."
Chi-Chi's trance was broken by her daughter's voice. "Usagi?" Her fear taking a backseat to anger and worry, she reached down and threw a flurry of dirt and pebbles up into the spider's mouth, causing it to pull back a few steps. "Usagi where are you?"
Usagi didn't answer, she didn't have time to before Kaori had shoved a stick into the back of her neck. "You're going to stay and watch your mother be devoured by the greatest creation ever to come out of the lab."
Usagi gritted her teeth as she dug her fingers into the earth. "I should have known it was you!" She shouted as she built up enough strength to over power Kaori. "You're going down, Kaori!" She pushed against the weight that Kaori was putting on her and jumped to her feet.
Kaori frowned as she glanced back at her creature and Chi-Chi. The woman had been able to stall long enough to watch the dialogue between Kaori and Usagi and was absolutely furious. "Maybe this will turn out to be a two for one." She got an evil smirk as she looked back down at Usagi, who was glaring back up. "Who should I make watch? Mother watch daughter? Or daughter watch mother? Either way I'll be killing two birds with one stone. or should I say people?" She roared with laughter.
Usagi took her attention off of Kaori, who was the lesser threat. She was more worried about her mother and the attacker. "Mom watch out!" She wailed as her mother barely ducked down in time to save herself from being completely devoured.
Chi-Chi rolled on the ground away from the spider, who was stomping all its legs on the ground in hopes to skewer her. "Usagi get out of here!" Now that her daughter was involved, she didn't care about her own life. She wanted her daughter protected. She knew that whoever these people were, they were after her, and not Usagi. They had attacked her first, Usagi only entered in after she saw the danger her mother was in.
Usagi shook her head back and fourth. "No, mom. Run away, I can fight this thing!" She knew in her heart that she had no power against whatever this thing was, but she couldn't let her mother know that. As much as Chi-Chi wanted to protect her daughter, Usagi wanted to protect her mother, and protect is what both of them intended to do.
"I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. Now do as your." She was unable to continue before a piercing sensation filled her left leg. She had been too busy pleading with her daughter to realize that the spider was going in for another attack. It had missed its target, which had been through the middle of Chi-Chi's chest where her heart crystal was located, but this would work to slow her down.
Usagi's eyes impossibly widened even larger than before as she felt a sudden burst of anger. "No!" The surrounding area was suddenly filled with a beautiful silver light that was worthy to be compared to the light emitted by the moon. Usagi's power level had soared to that of a Super Saiyan. The color of her hair and tail had been turned into Silver as her aura danced around her like flames. "You will not harm her." She said in a moderate voice. Her anger fed her power, which was reaching its peaks.
Kaori had backed off, knowing that she had picked the wrong fight. Although her creature couldn't be hurt by Usagi's power, she in fact could. No, maybe it was best to let her monster do all the work while she sat by and watched.
With no further words, Usagi's fists were engulfed by two silver flames of Ki. The spider paid no real attention to Usagi, it was more interested in its prey, who was trying to crawl away from the scene, regardless of the pain in her leg. "Your turn!" Usagi screamed as she lunged herself at her mother's attacker.
Chi-Chi took her opportunity to roll over and hoist herself up on a fallen tree. "Usagi, no!" Ignoring her growing pain, she raced forward to the spider, who still had its full attention on her. She wasn't going to stand by and watch her daughter do all the work. She too was a fighter.
Usagi saw her mother out of the corner of her eye and frowned. What was she doing? Why wasn't she running away? Either way she didn't have time to shout at her again. Her fists met with the spider's body. It was knocked away from Chi-Chi, but no real harm had come to it. A loud clank had been sounded off, but nothing more.
Usagi stared in disbelief, though she couldn't say she had expected more to have come out of that. "Damn!" She cried out. Without the power of Sailor Moon she would be useless. Whatever this was, it was shielded against her normal power.
Chi-Chi looked on in amazement as she watched the spider double back for more. She glanced at Usagi, who seemed to be struggling with her thoughts. "Watch out!" She dashed forward and made an effort to kick the attacker away from her daughter as it zoomed past for Usagi. Her efforts, however, were useless. It had done just as much good as Usagi's had.
Kaori chuckled from the background. "You'll never be able to defeat it. But I wouldn't worry if I were you. You'll both be dead in just a few moments, after you wear tired."
Usagi and Chi-Chi both scowled at Kaori as they powered up for another attack.
~*~*~
Mamoru bolted into the air the second he felt Usagi's sudden burst of power. "Damn it! I Knew I shouldn't have left her alone like that! What was I thinking?!" He raised his power level to his max in order to fly faster. He could have killed himself for letting Usagi go off alone like that. He was supposed to help protect her, not let her run off into danger.
He flew off for Usagi, but he knew she wasn't the only one in danger. Chi- Chi must have been the one to have been attacked. Maybe that was one good thing about Usagi running off like that. She was able to be there when her mother was attacked, maybe the only one by the looks of it. He hadn't felt Goku's presence there yet, or any of Usagi's friends for that matter.
~*~*~
Mamoru hadn't been the only one to feel the disturbance. Haruka and Michiru had just been leaving campus when they too felt it. They ran from the stairs that led down to the street and found the nearest alley so they could transform.
"It's Chi-Chi this time." Haruka said calmly to her partner as they entered the alleyway. "Usagi must be trying to protect her."
Michiru nodded, feeling sympathy take over her emotions as she thought what it must be like for Usagi to be out there right now. "Mamoru is on his way."
Haruka rolled her eyes as she reached into her pocket to pull out her transformation pen. "Figures."
"Let's go." Michiru followed Haruka's action and pulled her own transformation pen out. "Before Usagi loses her mother."
~*~*~
Back at the battle, Usagi and Chi-Chi were losing miserably. They were throwing everything they had at it, but the most their attacks had done was knock their attacker aside just long enough to give them time to recoup. Kaori seemed to be enjoying the show immensely. She was in a ball of laughter on the sidelines as she watched failed attempt after failed attempt. "I don't know why you're still trying. If you give up now, it'll be less painless.for my creature that is." And with that, evil laughter echoed off the surrounding trees.
Usagi, who was breathing hard by now, looked over to her mother, whose fear was returning. Both of them nodded, is if giving each other a thumbs up to try again. They were going to try a double attack this time. Chi-Chi started first, flying high into the air. She threw down several Ki blasts to the ground, which kept the monster's attention away from Usagi, who was moving in rapidly. "Come and get me, you stupid oaf."
Meanwhile, Usagi had a plan of her own. As she made her way forward, she built up a giant ball of energy in her hands, hoping to throw them directly at the spider's face. It seemed to be the only thing that wasn't covered in any sort of protective armor. It was their only chance to defeat it.
"Eat this!" She shouted as she shot the ball of pure silver energy directly at those ruby red eyes that were fixed upon Chi-Chi. Usagi ducked out of the way of the explosion that followed. She could hear a loud squeal of pain , but she wasn't watching. Her eyes were covered with her arms, but that didn't stop her from crashing into the ground.
Kaori hadn't expected such a huge blast. It had thrown her off her feet and back a ways from the fight. Her back slammed hard against a tree, which was the only thing that had stopped her from flying even further.
Chi-Chi was thrown back by the blast into something solid, yet not hard like a tree. "What.?" She took her eyes off the forest floor and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she gasped at what she saw. "Goku!"
He and the girls had still been searching for Usagi when they had all felt her sudden burst of power. That was a clear heads up that she was in trouble, but not too much trouble to where she couldn't help her self long enough for the girls to clue Goku in on what they were up against. They had left out the part about Usagi being unable to transform into Sailor Moon. They had come as soon as they were finished, and it was a good thing too.
Chi-Chi was trembling with the knowledge that this was a useless battle. She relaxed it a bit knowing that her husband had arrived, but if he couldn't destroy whatever this was, then what would they do?
Goku held his wife close to him as he slowly lowered to the ground. Usagi's attack seemed to have bought enough time with the spider, which was still trying to throw the effects of the blast. He searched the forest floor for his daughter, but didn't see her anywhere. "Usagi?" He called, releasing Chi-Chi.
Climbing back to her feet, Kaori grimaced. "You think you'll do any better than that brat?"
Startled, Goku turned around to the voice from behind. There stood a redheaded woman who wore a snide smirk. She looked somehow familiar, but he couldn't place her. He decided not to dignify her words with a response and to locate his daughter instead.
The Senshi had arrived right along with Goku, but weren't paying any attention to what he was doing. Venus and Jupiter had gone off to look for Usagi, while Mars and Mercury were busy trying to find out what their new enemy's weak spot was.
Mercury scanned every part of the monster. "Oh wow." She exclaimed, her voice wavered a bit.
"What is it?" Mars asked, her ears perking at Mercury's obvious worry.
Mercury punched a few more buttons to bring up a new screen on the computer. This one showed what the monster was made of, causing her to nearly shriek with surprise. "Well, whoever made this thing knew that we would probably try to attack it. That's why its body is made of pure metal. Its legs seem to be coated with some sort of poisonous spikes, the same poison that coat its fangs. If they extend, anyone who gets jabbed by one of those things won't be able to move."
Mars let out a yelped. "Yikes. That's dangerous stuff."
Mercury nodded, punching a few more buttons. "No kidding."
"See any weak spots?" Mars asked, looking over Mercury's shoulder.
Mercury didn't say anything right away as she concentrated on her work. "The face. Usagi had the right idea when she went for it, but the attack only seems to have stunned it momentarily."
Goku had only been half listening to the Shenshis' comments; he was more intent on finding his daughter. "Usagi?" he called again, not getting an answer. He searched the ground with his eyes and listened to the stirs of the monster behind him. If it awoke, he would have to abandon his search for Usagi and continue the fight.
Venus and Jupiter had yet to find any sign of Usagi either. Neither of them knew where she could have possibly gone considering she had dove out of the way soon enough to where she wouldn't have been knocked away by the impact of the blast.
Goku stopped in his place when he heard the soft rustle of leaves just in front of him. His eyes looked hopeful as he knelt down. "Usagi?" He called once more as he motioned to the Senshi that he had found her.
The leaves and twigs moved again as Usagi's voice let out a small moan. Goku smiled as he reached down to uncover his daughter. "Hey there." He said, cheerfully. "You've given us quite a worry today kiddo." He noticed that her power level had dropped substantially; her tail and hair were back to their normal golden color.
Usagi opened her eyes and looked up to her father. A faint smile had crossed her face as she slowly sat up, her head feeling slightly woozy. She had put all her energy into that last attack, and had barely escaped being blown completely away. All her energy had escaped her, and now she would be useless in the fight. "Dad." She mumbled as she tried to stand to her feet.
Goku knew better than everyone how much energy that his daughter had put into that attack, and knew full well why she was having trouble even sitting up, let alone stand up. "Here." He said, pulling out half a Senzu bean from his pocket and handing it to Usagi. "It'll replenish enough energy for you to turn into Sailor Moon and get rid of this thing."
Stunned, Usagi eyed her father oddly. "What?"
Venus and Jupiter ran up from behind Goku with wide smiles. "Usagi!" They both shouted at once. "You're all right!"
Goku ignored the girls and continued his focus on Usagi. "The girls told me about these enemies; how they can only be defeated by a strong Senshi's power. I'll hold that thing off, you worry about transforming."
Usagi's eyes widened with a sudden fear. "Wait!" She cried out, but she was too late. Her father had jumped into the air and flown off to attack the giant spider, which was regaining its stature. "Oh no." Her words came out solemnly as she stared into the eyes of her fellow Senshi. "I can't transform."
The two Senshi exchanged worried glances, for they knew all too well of Usagi's problem. This wasn't at all comforting to Usagi, who was now rising to her feet. "What can I do?" She asked, though not directing it at either of them.
"Maybe you should just try it." Venus said, hoping that a day's time would make a difference.
Jupiter nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't hurt."
Usagi gritted her teeth, not liking their advice. "If it didn't work two days ago, it won't work now. If it didn't work yesterday, it won't work now." She clasped her right hand over the broach that sat in the center of her school uniform. Seeing her friends' glare, she decided to suck it up and try. "I suppose I could give it a go." She looked to her left, where her mother stood watching. That only made her anxiety grow even higher now that she had an audience.
Gulping, Usagi pulled the broach from her shirt and held it high above her head. She closed her eyes before she said her words so she wouldn't have to witness the failure. "Moon Crystal Power.Make up!"
Kaori, still hidden behind the safety of her tree, watched the spectacle intently. "She's not a. no, she can't be. can she?" Curious, she poked her head out a little more. Nothing happened. There was no change in the girl, which seemed to have caused her great distress. Kaori smiled maliciously. "She's lost her power to become Sailor Moon. Professor Tomoe will love to hear this juicy news. Usagi is Sailor Moon, which must mean all her friends are the rest of the Sailor Senshi."
While Kaori had figured out the Senshis' identities, Usagi was still hoping that she had transformed. She had heard her friends gasp, but what did that mean? She opened her eyes and looked down at her clothes, her mouth turning downward at what she saw. "Nothing." She whispered. She was still in her school uniform. She hadn't been able to transform.
Mars had watched the failed attempt to transform and couldn't help but feel sorry for her friend. "Right then." She shouted so that all the Senshi could hear here words. "We have to fight down one Senshi."
Venus turned her back to Usagi. "We can do it!" She said, trying to give the group a pep talk. She was, after all, the true leader of the Sailor Senshi.
Goku had just slammed his feet into the ruby red eyes of the spider, hoping to blind it. "Why isn't Usagi going to fight?" He asked as he turned his head enough to see that Usagi hadn't transformed into Sailor Moon even though she had just called out to do so. "What the.?"
With his guard slightly dropped now, the spider took its chance to jump forward on top of Goku, causing him to topple off of his feet and onto his back.
"Goku!" Chi-Chi screamed as she darted forward to rescue her husband. But before she could get too close, three balls of energy smashed into the monster from above. Goku was once again free as the monster was thrown onto its back. Relieved, Chi-Chi looked up into the air, as did all the others.
Gohan, Piccolo, and Pan were flying above with rather smug smirks of their own. "Reinforcements have arrived." Pan exclaimed.
Piccolo scanned the ground and laid eyes upon Goku, who had just gotten back to his feet. "We came as soon as we felt Usagi."
Gohan looked toward his little sister, who looked to be pouting about something. "What's going on here?" He let his eyes drift to one particular woman who didn't seem to fit with the crowd. His eyes narrowed as he stared down at her.
Kaori was feeling the heat as she looked up and saw the rest of the fighters. There was nothing keeping them from attacking her, and she knew it was only a matter of time before one of them got smart enough to do so. "Enough playing around!" She snarled. "Get what we came for and return to me when ever one of these fighters are dead!" With that, she turned to run off.
Gohan frowned. "You're not getting away that easy!" He dove after her at top speed.
The spider was struggling to get right side up. It was rocking back and fourth, but seemed almost hopeless until it extended the spikes on its legs and dug them deep into the ground. Putting all of its weight into its legs, it managed to flip itself right side up.
Pan, not knowing anything about what she was up against, began firing in all directions, not even caring if her attacks hit the target or not. She wanted to scare it, if that was possible. The spider was hardly afraid of a few misfires, but it appeared to all that it was. It turned its back to the fighters and hoisted its rear into the air. Mercury knew exactly what was happening. "It's set up to act like a real spider!" With her computer still at the ready, she analyzed the spider's backside. A box appeared around a small opening that was forming at the very tip of the back end. "Pan, watch out!" She cried out, but her words were lost in the commotion of attacks.
Gohan's attention had been pulled away from Kaori by the sound of his daughter's reckless attacks. One look at that spider's position told him exactly what was happening. "Shit!" He yelled as he doubled back for his daughter.
Pan, not paying any attention, wailed with laughter. "Look, he's just a scared piece of metal!" She continued her attacks, unknowing of what would happen next.
A large, silky rope emerged from the spider and was launched toward the Saiyan. Pan just laughed as she redirected her attack at the rope, but they ricocheted off and bounced toward the fighters on the ground, all who jumped out of the way to dodge.
Gohan had reached his daughter just in time to save her from being completely wrapped by the spider silk, taking her place instead. Pan was knocked out of the air and came crashing down to the ground. Goku, who continued to stare up at his son in horror, caught her.
There was no way to tell that the person spun in the spider silk was Gohan. All that was left was a tight woven outline of his body, which had begun falling to the ground.
Chi-Chi stared up in horror as she watched what happened to her son. "GOHAN!"
"Dad!" Pan cried out as she jumped out of her grandfather's grip. She ran out beneath him, ready to catch him, but she wasn't needed.
Piccolo had snatched Gohan's body and lowered it to the ground. He sneered at Pan as he set Gohan gently on the ground. His hand emitted a strange, bluish-white energy, which was transferred to Gohan's lifeless body. A soft crackling noise was heard by only those with Saiyan hearing, which was the sound of the energy eating the spider silk away. Underneath was an unconscious Gohan. "One fighter down already, Pan. You had better not pull anything stupid again." Pan lowered her head as she backed away from him. Piccolo looked over his shoulder; there was no sign of Kaori. "We'll have to find that woman later."
Usagi ducked away from the group, not wanting everyone's attention brought back to the fact that she couldn't transform. Pan too tried to duck away, but Piccolo had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. "We need to come up with a plan." He looked around, only seeing four out of the five girls. "Where's Usagi?"
Goku too searched the area, not seeing his daughter, and shrugged. Piccolo grunted as he released his grip on Pan. "We'll have to deal without her then. There's no time to try and find her."
Goku nodded, though continued to scan the area. "The only power able to defeat that thing is Senshi power."
Taking her cue, the Senshi entered the small circle of fighters. Mercury took the lead in this case. "Right. If you three can create a diversion long enough for us to perform a combined attack on the spider then we just might be able to pull this off. We'll need easy access to the face. Once we've attacked, we'll need to vacate the area quickly or else we may be caught in the explosion."
Piccolo frowned; something didn't add up. "Why isn't Usagi Sailor Moon?"
The girls shared a nervous look, not knowing what to say. "Because I can't transform." Came a voice from outside the circle. It was Usagi, she had decided to come back and face her shame. "I can help with the diversion though."
Goku beamed a smile at his daughter, but decided not to bring any unwanted attention to her by saying anything about how proud he was that she was facing her embarrassment. "If two of us focus on taking out the legs, and two of us focus on the face, I think we can stun it just long enough to give the Senshi their chance to attack."
All nodded in agreement of the plan, though Mercury had one more thing to add. "Try to stay clear of those legs. They're poisonous now. One touch from those and you'll be as stiff as a board, and will only have 30 minutes to live."
"Let's get crackin'." Pan was the first to leave the circle and take to the air, assuming her role as one who would attack the spider's face. She wouldn't let her father down this time. It was her fault that he had been caught in the silky rope, and now she would correct her wrong. She was soon joined by Piccolo, who took to his fighting stance.
Usagi and Goku took on the role of attacking the legs to keep the spider down. "Take the left side, Usagi. I've got the right." Goku commanded as he went to the right side. Usagi nodded and did as she was told, not saying a word so as to keep her concentration. Both Saiyans immediately powered up to their own levels of Super Saiyan to give themselves the extra power needed to knock the spider down.
The four Senshi grouped together and prepared themselves for battle. It was up to them to watch both teams so they would attack at just the right time.
Chi-Chi ran to Gohan and dragged him out of the way, her eyes full of tears.
On the count of three the attack had commenced. Goku and Usagi were the first to attack. They slammed countless energy balls into the front set of legs first, causing first the poisonous spikes to retract, and then the legs to just turn in on themselves.
Piccolo and Pan's attacks didn't come much later after the first set of legs were down. Piccolo focused a Mosenko attack down at the spider, who was too busy kicking its remaining legs at Usagi and Goku. The blue energy hit its target right on, and was followed by a series of attacks by Pan.
The spider was confused. It was getting hit from two different directions - front and side. As soon as it was hit in the face, it spit poisonous fluid up at the aerial fighters. Pan and Piccolo had plenty of time to dodge and throw more attacks at it.
Just as Usagi and Goku were making their way to the third set of legs, the first were beginning to uncurl. Goku noticed it first, and motioned for Usagi to stay put while he went up front to keep the spider off its feet. He fired a giant Kamehameha blast at it, which caused both front legs to curl under again. "We can do this!" He shouted, trying to keep the team in good spirits regardless of the fact that they weren't doing any real damage.
Usagi had gotten her third leg down and had moved back to the fourth and final when her father had moved back to meet her. Neither of them said a word as they continued to concentrate on their job.
Piccolo and Pan were doing a good job of keeping the spider's attention on them, rather than Usagi and Goku where the real danger was. If they were hit with any of those kicking legs, they would be dead within a half-hour. Usagi they could bring back, however, Goku they could not.
"You're not so tough!" Taunted pan as she threw her own Mosenko down at the spider's face. This only worked to earn her more poison spit at her, but as before, it was easily dodged. "This thing wasn't built very well for offense, was it?"
At last, Goku and Usagi had gotten the last set of legs down. With all legs stunned, the spider was lying on its body. Both Saiyans moved away as Piccolo and Pan stopped their attacks. The Senshi moved in quickly, each hoping that their combined efforts would be enough to do away with this thing.
Chi-Chi watched in anticipation as Goku and Usagi joined her. Piccolo and Pan landed to the right and watched from the safety of a tree, where they could duck behind once the attack was thrown.
Venus glanced to the faces of her four friends with a sudden grin. "Let's get this thing rolling girls. We've done this before, we can do it again." Her pep talked seemed to work as smiles appeared on all their faces.
The four Senshi huddled together and pushed their hands out so they would be able to create one, massive Celestial attack. They concentrated their power, and dug deep down inside to pull up everything they had. They would have to compensate for the power that had been lost since Sailor Moon wasn't present, but they had all the confidence in the world that they would be able to pull it off.
~*~*~
Neptune and Uranus were nearly at the fight when they felt something horrid brewing. "What the hell do they think they're doing?" Uranus demanded, though not expecting an answer.
"That won't be enough power. They're going to make it mad." Neptune looked over to Uranus. "We better hurry up before they do anything stupid."
~*~*~
As the Senshi were building up for their attack, Pan noticed that the spider was beginning to wobble around. "Uh oh."
Chi-Chi didn't like the sound of that 'uh oh'. "What 'uh oh'?" She inquired, though not sure she wanted to know the answer.
Usagi looked on in fear. "It's moving."
Chi-Chi gulped. She didn't need to ask questions to know what that meant. "They better hurry up."
The first string hadn't been the only ones to noticed that the spider was stirring once again. The Senshi saw it and knew then that they needed to hurry up, but they weren't ready yet. They needed more power if they were going to defeat this thing. But there was no time to collect more power. The spider's front legs had already been released and its second set looked like they were unfolding as well. If they were going to have a clean chance at this, they needed to do it now.
Mercury, still with her visor on, cried the command: "Release NOW!"
And with that, a giant orb with Orange, Blue, Green, and Red all intertwined within one another spiraled toward the waking spider. It was their only chance to defeat this thing and it was seconds away from hitting its target. The Senshi ducked out of the way to avoid the blast when it came.
The area grew silent with anticipation. All eyes lay on the massive attack. As it crashed into its target, a large explosion was created. Pan and Piccolo slid behind the tree as debris began slamming into them. Goku grabbed his wife and daughter and pressed them hard against the ground to shield them from the twigs and rocks that had been thrown their way.
~*~*~
Uranus stopped short in her path to the battle. "It's not over yet. They weren't strong enough to defeat it."
Neptune looked worriedly upon her partner. "They've only made things worse for themselves."
Frowning, Uranus gave herself a quick burst of speed. "We've got to hurry."
~*~*~
The loud rumble from the explosion had subsided, though smoke remained in the area that had been closest to the blast. The Senshi were the first to move, curious as to whether or not their efforts had worked. Jupiter stood up, but couldn't see anything past the smoke.
Goku sat up next, releasing his wife and daughter from his protective hold. "That had to have done something." He exclaimed as he helped Chi-Chi to her feet.
Pan and Piccolo emerged from behind their tree, completely unharmed. Neither of them could see through the smoke, just as the Senshi couldn't. Piccolo made his way to Goku and his family. "Good job back there, you two." He said, looking especially at Usagi, who was just climbing to her feet.
Mercury was a bit skeptical about the whole situation. That had all seemed a little too easy, especially since they had been almost useless in yesterday's battle. She turned her visor back on and pulled out her computer once again to scan the smoke and see what really lay within it. "Oh no." She gasped, closing her computer.
With his acute hearing, Piccolo had heard the sound of Mercury's voice quite clearly. "What is it?" But she didn't have to explain. Almost as soon has he had asked his question, a giant spider emerged from behind the smoke, its face completely caved in. "Oh crap."
Usagi could feel her legs going limber with fear as she gulped. "It wasn't enough." She whispered.
Before anyone had a chance to react, the spider made a mad dash for the Son family. What was left of its mouth had begun opening wide and a long, white beam shot out of it for Chi-Chi. Usagi knew exactly what was happening. She had seen this happen just the day before. If she thought she was weak in the legs before, now was even worse. She had lost almost all feeling and had collapsed to the ground.
In a split second the beam of light had ripped through one side of Chi- Chi's chest and out the other, causing a small, bright crystal to fly out with it. Chi-Chi's face went an immediate pale gray as she fell face forward.
Usagi was utterly horrified; her worst nightmare come true. "Mommy!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Goku's eyes went wide with fear for his wife's life. "Chi-Chi!"
A giant spider-like creature stood over Chi-Chi, its sharp fangs dripping with poison. Its legs were covered in spikes, and body was covered in a thick layer of metal. It had been designed to withstand stronger hits and last longer in battle; long enough to deliver its package to its owner.
Chi-Chi stared into the eyes of her attacker in utter fear. Her entire body shook as a fright like no other took over her body. The ruby red eyes seemed to stare straight through her as if she were nothing more than a meal to be eaten mercilessly. "My god." She whispered, not wanting to alarm the monster.
Usagi's eyes were beginning to tear up at the thought of what the monster and its caretaker were after. They had come to her mother for one jewel, the very item that would kill her if removed. "Run mom, run!!" Though she thought she had yelled her words, nothing more than a quiet whisper came out. The heavy breathing of her mother's attacker was all she heard.
Chi-Chi had almost completely forgotten why she had left the house as she stared at her attacker. Instinct had taken over now and all she could think about was running far away. Without saying another word, she took a small step backward. She nearly screamed when the spider lifted one of its legs out and set it down next to her. She gulped as her body shook even harder.
Kaori muffled her laughter so as not to disturb the spider from its prey. She knew this was going to hurt Usagi, and could have kissed herself for her dirty deed.
Usagi was too shocked to move, even though she knew she had to somehow help her mother. Her brain told her she needed to attack, but somehow the signal got lost before reaching the rest of her body. She was just as fear stricken as her mother.
Chi-Chi took another tiny step back, which was followed by the giant spider stepping forward. She let out a yelp, fearing what it would do to her. "St.. Stay back." She stammered, stepping back even further. It was useless to try to ward this thing off with words, as it wasn't human, but she still tried.
The spider straightened its legs so that it stood much taller than its victim. Its fangs were twitching beneath its eyes, which bore continually into Chi-Chi's. The left front leg was lifted just slightly, causing Chi- Chi to jump back.
From behind, Kaori was coaxing it on with whispers of a promised kill. She commanded that it take the heart crystal from its victim. And, after she had what she wanted, she would set her creature on Chi-Chi for a small feast. She didn't seem to care that Usagi was present for she knew that the girl was powerless against her monster.
The spider seemed to react to Kaori's wishes with haste. It put its leg down behind Chi-Chi and leaned in, pulling its fangs apart and readying itself for the kill. Chi-Chi could feel the spikes running down her back, causing her to cringe with rising fear. "No." She moaned as she looked over her shoulder only to see slim building up behind her.
Usagi blinked twice, fearing what might happen if she didn't act soon. Slapping herself to wake up from her own disbelief, she darted for the giant spider. "Nooo!!" She screamed as she brought both hands to her right. Inside a golden light began to glow.
Kaori scowled at the nuisance. "You will not interfere, brat." She stuck her foot out from behind her tree just as Usagi was passing, causing the girl to fall face first. "Your mother's Heart Crystal is mine."
Chi-Chi's trance was broken by her daughter's voice. "Usagi?" Her fear taking a backseat to anger and worry, she reached down and threw a flurry of dirt and pebbles up into the spider's mouth, causing it to pull back a few steps. "Usagi where are you?"
Usagi didn't answer, she didn't have time to before Kaori had shoved a stick into the back of her neck. "You're going to stay and watch your mother be devoured by the greatest creation ever to come out of the lab."
Usagi gritted her teeth as she dug her fingers into the earth. "I should have known it was you!" She shouted as she built up enough strength to over power Kaori. "You're going down, Kaori!" She pushed against the weight that Kaori was putting on her and jumped to her feet.
Kaori frowned as she glanced back at her creature and Chi-Chi. The woman had been able to stall long enough to watch the dialogue between Kaori and Usagi and was absolutely furious. "Maybe this will turn out to be a two for one." She got an evil smirk as she looked back down at Usagi, who was glaring back up. "Who should I make watch? Mother watch daughter? Or daughter watch mother? Either way I'll be killing two birds with one stone. or should I say people?" She roared with laughter.
Usagi took her attention off of Kaori, who was the lesser threat. She was more worried about her mother and the attacker. "Mom watch out!" She wailed as her mother barely ducked down in time to save herself from being completely devoured.
Chi-Chi rolled on the ground away from the spider, who was stomping all its legs on the ground in hopes to skewer her. "Usagi get out of here!" Now that her daughter was involved, she didn't care about her own life. She wanted her daughter protected. She knew that whoever these people were, they were after her, and not Usagi. They had attacked her first, Usagi only entered in after she saw the danger her mother was in.
Usagi shook her head back and fourth. "No, mom. Run away, I can fight this thing!" She knew in her heart that she had no power against whatever this thing was, but she couldn't let her mother know that. As much as Chi-Chi wanted to protect her daughter, Usagi wanted to protect her mother, and protect is what both of them intended to do.
"I'm not going to sit here and argue with you. Now do as your." She was unable to continue before a piercing sensation filled her left leg. She had been too busy pleading with her daughter to realize that the spider was going in for another attack. It had missed its target, which had been through the middle of Chi-Chi's chest where her heart crystal was located, but this would work to slow her down.
Usagi's eyes impossibly widened even larger than before as she felt a sudden burst of anger. "No!" The surrounding area was suddenly filled with a beautiful silver light that was worthy to be compared to the light emitted by the moon. Usagi's power level had soared to that of a Super Saiyan. The color of her hair and tail had been turned into Silver as her aura danced around her like flames. "You will not harm her." She said in a moderate voice. Her anger fed her power, which was reaching its peaks.
Kaori had backed off, knowing that she had picked the wrong fight. Although her creature couldn't be hurt by Usagi's power, she in fact could. No, maybe it was best to let her monster do all the work while she sat by and watched.
With no further words, Usagi's fists were engulfed by two silver flames of Ki. The spider paid no real attention to Usagi, it was more interested in its prey, who was trying to crawl away from the scene, regardless of the pain in her leg. "Your turn!" Usagi screamed as she lunged herself at her mother's attacker.
Chi-Chi took her opportunity to roll over and hoist herself up on a fallen tree. "Usagi, no!" Ignoring her growing pain, she raced forward to the spider, who still had its full attention on her. She wasn't going to stand by and watch her daughter do all the work. She too was a fighter.
Usagi saw her mother out of the corner of her eye and frowned. What was she doing? Why wasn't she running away? Either way she didn't have time to shout at her again. Her fists met with the spider's body. It was knocked away from Chi-Chi, but no real harm had come to it. A loud clank had been sounded off, but nothing more.
Usagi stared in disbelief, though she couldn't say she had expected more to have come out of that. "Damn!" She cried out. Without the power of Sailor Moon she would be useless. Whatever this was, it was shielded against her normal power.
Chi-Chi looked on in amazement as she watched the spider double back for more. She glanced at Usagi, who seemed to be struggling with her thoughts. "Watch out!" She dashed forward and made an effort to kick the attacker away from her daughter as it zoomed past for Usagi. Her efforts, however, were useless. It had done just as much good as Usagi's had.
Kaori chuckled from the background. "You'll never be able to defeat it. But I wouldn't worry if I were you. You'll both be dead in just a few moments, after you wear tired."
Usagi and Chi-Chi both scowled at Kaori as they powered up for another attack.
~*~*~
Mamoru bolted into the air the second he felt Usagi's sudden burst of power. "Damn it! I Knew I shouldn't have left her alone like that! What was I thinking?!" He raised his power level to his max in order to fly faster. He could have killed himself for letting Usagi go off alone like that. He was supposed to help protect her, not let her run off into danger.
He flew off for Usagi, but he knew she wasn't the only one in danger. Chi- Chi must have been the one to have been attacked. Maybe that was one good thing about Usagi running off like that. She was able to be there when her mother was attacked, maybe the only one by the looks of it. He hadn't felt Goku's presence there yet, or any of Usagi's friends for that matter.
~*~*~
Mamoru hadn't been the only one to feel the disturbance. Haruka and Michiru had just been leaving campus when they too felt it. They ran from the stairs that led down to the street and found the nearest alley so they could transform.
"It's Chi-Chi this time." Haruka said calmly to her partner as they entered the alleyway. "Usagi must be trying to protect her."
Michiru nodded, feeling sympathy take over her emotions as she thought what it must be like for Usagi to be out there right now. "Mamoru is on his way."
Haruka rolled her eyes as she reached into her pocket to pull out her transformation pen. "Figures."
"Let's go." Michiru followed Haruka's action and pulled her own transformation pen out. "Before Usagi loses her mother."
~*~*~
Back at the battle, Usagi and Chi-Chi were losing miserably. They were throwing everything they had at it, but the most their attacks had done was knock their attacker aside just long enough to give them time to recoup. Kaori seemed to be enjoying the show immensely. She was in a ball of laughter on the sidelines as she watched failed attempt after failed attempt. "I don't know why you're still trying. If you give up now, it'll be less painless.for my creature that is." And with that, evil laughter echoed off the surrounding trees.
Usagi, who was breathing hard by now, looked over to her mother, whose fear was returning. Both of them nodded, is if giving each other a thumbs up to try again. They were going to try a double attack this time. Chi-Chi started first, flying high into the air. She threw down several Ki blasts to the ground, which kept the monster's attention away from Usagi, who was moving in rapidly. "Come and get me, you stupid oaf."
Meanwhile, Usagi had a plan of her own. As she made her way forward, she built up a giant ball of energy in her hands, hoping to throw them directly at the spider's face. It seemed to be the only thing that wasn't covered in any sort of protective armor. It was their only chance to defeat it.
"Eat this!" She shouted as she shot the ball of pure silver energy directly at those ruby red eyes that were fixed upon Chi-Chi. Usagi ducked out of the way of the explosion that followed. She could hear a loud squeal of pain , but she wasn't watching. Her eyes were covered with her arms, but that didn't stop her from crashing into the ground.
Kaori hadn't expected such a huge blast. It had thrown her off her feet and back a ways from the fight. Her back slammed hard against a tree, which was the only thing that had stopped her from flying even further.
Chi-Chi was thrown back by the blast into something solid, yet not hard like a tree. "What.?" She took her eyes off the forest floor and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she gasped at what she saw. "Goku!"
He and the girls had still been searching for Usagi when they had all felt her sudden burst of power. That was a clear heads up that she was in trouble, but not too much trouble to where she couldn't help her self long enough for the girls to clue Goku in on what they were up against. They had left out the part about Usagi being unable to transform into Sailor Moon. They had come as soon as they were finished, and it was a good thing too.
Chi-Chi was trembling with the knowledge that this was a useless battle. She relaxed it a bit knowing that her husband had arrived, but if he couldn't destroy whatever this was, then what would they do?
Goku held his wife close to him as he slowly lowered to the ground. Usagi's attack seemed to have bought enough time with the spider, which was still trying to throw the effects of the blast. He searched the forest floor for his daughter, but didn't see her anywhere. "Usagi?" He called, releasing Chi-Chi.
Climbing back to her feet, Kaori grimaced. "You think you'll do any better than that brat?"
Startled, Goku turned around to the voice from behind. There stood a redheaded woman who wore a snide smirk. She looked somehow familiar, but he couldn't place her. He decided not to dignify her words with a response and to locate his daughter instead.
The Senshi had arrived right along with Goku, but weren't paying any attention to what he was doing. Venus and Jupiter had gone off to look for Usagi, while Mars and Mercury were busy trying to find out what their new enemy's weak spot was.
Mercury scanned every part of the monster. "Oh wow." She exclaimed, her voice wavered a bit.
"What is it?" Mars asked, her ears perking at Mercury's obvious worry.
Mercury punched a few more buttons to bring up a new screen on the computer. This one showed what the monster was made of, causing her to nearly shriek with surprise. "Well, whoever made this thing knew that we would probably try to attack it. That's why its body is made of pure metal. Its legs seem to be coated with some sort of poisonous spikes, the same poison that coat its fangs. If they extend, anyone who gets jabbed by one of those things won't be able to move."
Mars let out a yelped. "Yikes. That's dangerous stuff."
Mercury nodded, punching a few more buttons. "No kidding."
"See any weak spots?" Mars asked, looking over Mercury's shoulder.
Mercury didn't say anything right away as she concentrated on her work. "The face. Usagi had the right idea when she went for it, but the attack only seems to have stunned it momentarily."
Goku had only been half listening to the Shenshis' comments; he was more intent on finding his daughter. "Usagi?" he called again, not getting an answer. He searched the ground with his eyes and listened to the stirs of the monster behind him. If it awoke, he would have to abandon his search for Usagi and continue the fight.
Venus and Jupiter had yet to find any sign of Usagi either. Neither of them knew where she could have possibly gone considering she had dove out of the way soon enough to where she wouldn't have been knocked away by the impact of the blast.
Goku stopped in his place when he heard the soft rustle of leaves just in front of him. His eyes looked hopeful as he knelt down. "Usagi?" He called once more as he motioned to the Senshi that he had found her.
The leaves and twigs moved again as Usagi's voice let out a small moan. Goku smiled as he reached down to uncover his daughter. "Hey there." He said, cheerfully. "You've given us quite a worry today kiddo." He noticed that her power level had dropped substantially; her tail and hair were back to their normal golden color.
Usagi opened her eyes and looked up to her father. A faint smile had crossed her face as she slowly sat up, her head feeling slightly woozy. She had put all her energy into that last attack, and had barely escaped being blown completely away. All her energy had escaped her, and now she would be useless in the fight. "Dad." She mumbled as she tried to stand to her feet.
Goku knew better than everyone how much energy that his daughter had put into that attack, and knew full well why she was having trouble even sitting up, let alone stand up. "Here." He said, pulling out half a Senzu bean from his pocket and handing it to Usagi. "It'll replenish enough energy for you to turn into Sailor Moon and get rid of this thing."
Stunned, Usagi eyed her father oddly. "What?"
Venus and Jupiter ran up from behind Goku with wide smiles. "Usagi!" They both shouted at once. "You're all right!"
Goku ignored the girls and continued his focus on Usagi. "The girls told me about these enemies; how they can only be defeated by a strong Senshi's power. I'll hold that thing off, you worry about transforming."
Usagi's eyes widened with a sudden fear. "Wait!" She cried out, but she was too late. Her father had jumped into the air and flown off to attack the giant spider, which was regaining its stature. "Oh no." Her words came out solemnly as she stared into the eyes of her fellow Senshi. "I can't transform."
The two Senshi exchanged worried glances, for they knew all too well of Usagi's problem. This wasn't at all comforting to Usagi, who was now rising to her feet. "What can I do?" She asked, though not directing it at either of them.
"Maybe you should just try it." Venus said, hoping that a day's time would make a difference.
Jupiter nodded in agreement. "I wouldn't hurt."
Usagi gritted her teeth, not liking their advice. "If it didn't work two days ago, it won't work now. If it didn't work yesterday, it won't work now." She clasped her right hand over the broach that sat in the center of her school uniform. Seeing her friends' glare, she decided to suck it up and try. "I suppose I could give it a go." She looked to her left, where her mother stood watching. That only made her anxiety grow even higher now that she had an audience.
Gulping, Usagi pulled the broach from her shirt and held it high above her head. She closed her eyes before she said her words so she wouldn't have to witness the failure. "Moon Crystal Power.Make up!"
Kaori, still hidden behind the safety of her tree, watched the spectacle intently. "She's not a. no, she can't be. can she?" Curious, she poked her head out a little more. Nothing happened. There was no change in the girl, which seemed to have caused her great distress. Kaori smiled maliciously. "She's lost her power to become Sailor Moon. Professor Tomoe will love to hear this juicy news. Usagi is Sailor Moon, which must mean all her friends are the rest of the Sailor Senshi."
While Kaori had figured out the Senshis' identities, Usagi was still hoping that she had transformed. She had heard her friends gasp, but what did that mean? She opened her eyes and looked down at her clothes, her mouth turning downward at what she saw. "Nothing." She whispered. She was still in her school uniform. She hadn't been able to transform.
Mars had watched the failed attempt to transform and couldn't help but feel sorry for her friend. "Right then." She shouted so that all the Senshi could hear here words. "We have to fight down one Senshi."
Venus turned her back to Usagi. "We can do it!" She said, trying to give the group a pep talk. She was, after all, the true leader of the Sailor Senshi.
Goku had just slammed his feet into the ruby red eyes of the spider, hoping to blind it. "Why isn't Usagi going to fight?" He asked as he turned his head enough to see that Usagi hadn't transformed into Sailor Moon even though she had just called out to do so. "What the.?"
With his guard slightly dropped now, the spider took its chance to jump forward on top of Goku, causing him to topple off of his feet and onto his back.
"Goku!" Chi-Chi screamed as she darted forward to rescue her husband. But before she could get too close, three balls of energy smashed into the monster from above. Goku was once again free as the monster was thrown onto its back. Relieved, Chi-Chi looked up into the air, as did all the others.
Gohan, Piccolo, and Pan were flying above with rather smug smirks of their own. "Reinforcements have arrived." Pan exclaimed.
Piccolo scanned the ground and laid eyes upon Goku, who had just gotten back to his feet. "We came as soon as we felt Usagi."
Gohan looked toward his little sister, who looked to be pouting about something. "What's going on here?" He let his eyes drift to one particular woman who didn't seem to fit with the crowd. His eyes narrowed as he stared down at her.
Kaori was feeling the heat as she looked up and saw the rest of the fighters. There was nothing keeping them from attacking her, and she knew it was only a matter of time before one of them got smart enough to do so. "Enough playing around!" She snarled. "Get what we came for and return to me when ever one of these fighters are dead!" With that, she turned to run off.
Gohan frowned. "You're not getting away that easy!" He dove after her at top speed.
The spider was struggling to get right side up. It was rocking back and fourth, but seemed almost hopeless until it extended the spikes on its legs and dug them deep into the ground. Putting all of its weight into its legs, it managed to flip itself right side up.
Pan, not knowing anything about what she was up against, began firing in all directions, not even caring if her attacks hit the target or not. She wanted to scare it, if that was possible. The spider was hardly afraid of a few misfires, but it appeared to all that it was. It turned its back to the fighters and hoisted its rear into the air. Mercury knew exactly what was happening. "It's set up to act like a real spider!" With her computer still at the ready, she analyzed the spider's backside. A box appeared around a small opening that was forming at the very tip of the back end. "Pan, watch out!" She cried out, but her words were lost in the commotion of attacks.
Gohan's attention had been pulled away from Kaori by the sound of his daughter's reckless attacks. One look at that spider's position told him exactly what was happening. "Shit!" He yelled as he doubled back for his daughter.
Pan, not paying any attention, wailed with laughter. "Look, he's just a scared piece of metal!" She continued her attacks, unknowing of what would happen next.
A large, silky rope emerged from the spider and was launched toward the Saiyan. Pan just laughed as she redirected her attack at the rope, but they ricocheted off and bounced toward the fighters on the ground, all who jumped out of the way to dodge.
Gohan had reached his daughter just in time to save her from being completely wrapped by the spider silk, taking her place instead. Pan was knocked out of the air and came crashing down to the ground. Goku, who continued to stare up at his son in horror, caught her.
There was no way to tell that the person spun in the spider silk was Gohan. All that was left was a tight woven outline of his body, which had begun falling to the ground.
Chi-Chi stared up in horror as she watched what happened to her son. "GOHAN!"
"Dad!" Pan cried out as she jumped out of her grandfather's grip. She ran out beneath him, ready to catch him, but she wasn't needed.
Piccolo had snatched Gohan's body and lowered it to the ground. He sneered at Pan as he set Gohan gently on the ground. His hand emitted a strange, bluish-white energy, which was transferred to Gohan's lifeless body. A soft crackling noise was heard by only those with Saiyan hearing, which was the sound of the energy eating the spider silk away. Underneath was an unconscious Gohan. "One fighter down already, Pan. You had better not pull anything stupid again." Pan lowered her head as she backed away from him. Piccolo looked over his shoulder; there was no sign of Kaori. "We'll have to find that woman later."
Usagi ducked away from the group, not wanting everyone's attention brought back to the fact that she couldn't transform. Pan too tried to duck away, but Piccolo had grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. "We need to come up with a plan." He looked around, only seeing four out of the five girls. "Where's Usagi?"
Goku too searched the area, not seeing his daughter, and shrugged. Piccolo grunted as he released his grip on Pan. "We'll have to deal without her then. There's no time to try and find her."
Goku nodded, though continued to scan the area. "The only power able to defeat that thing is Senshi power."
Taking her cue, the Senshi entered the small circle of fighters. Mercury took the lead in this case. "Right. If you three can create a diversion long enough for us to perform a combined attack on the spider then we just might be able to pull this off. We'll need easy access to the face. Once we've attacked, we'll need to vacate the area quickly or else we may be caught in the explosion."
Piccolo frowned; something didn't add up. "Why isn't Usagi Sailor Moon?"
The girls shared a nervous look, not knowing what to say. "Because I can't transform." Came a voice from outside the circle. It was Usagi, she had decided to come back and face her shame. "I can help with the diversion though."
Goku beamed a smile at his daughter, but decided not to bring any unwanted attention to her by saying anything about how proud he was that she was facing her embarrassment. "If two of us focus on taking out the legs, and two of us focus on the face, I think we can stun it just long enough to give the Senshi their chance to attack."
All nodded in agreement of the plan, though Mercury had one more thing to add. "Try to stay clear of those legs. They're poisonous now. One touch from those and you'll be as stiff as a board, and will only have 30 minutes to live."
"Let's get crackin'." Pan was the first to leave the circle and take to the air, assuming her role as one who would attack the spider's face. She wouldn't let her father down this time. It was her fault that he had been caught in the silky rope, and now she would correct her wrong. She was soon joined by Piccolo, who took to his fighting stance.
Usagi and Goku took on the role of attacking the legs to keep the spider down. "Take the left side, Usagi. I've got the right." Goku commanded as he went to the right side. Usagi nodded and did as she was told, not saying a word so as to keep her concentration. Both Saiyans immediately powered up to their own levels of Super Saiyan to give themselves the extra power needed to knock the spider down.
The four Senshi grouped together and prepared themselves for battle. It was up to them to watch both teams so they would attack at just the right time.
Chi-Chi ran to Gohan and dragged him out of the way, her eyes full of tears.
On the count of three the attack had commenced. Goku and Usagi were the first to attack. They slammed countless energy balls into the front set of legs first, causing first the poisonous spikes to retract, and then the legs to just turn in on themselves.
Piccolo and Pan's attacks didn't come much later after the first set of legs were down. Piccolo focused a Mosenko attack down at the spider, who was too busy kicking its remaining legs at Usagi and Goku. The blue energy hit its target right on, and was followed by a series of attacks by Pan.
The spider was confused. It was getting hit from two different directions - front and side. As soon as it was hit in the face, it spit poisonous fluid up at the aerial fighters. Pan and Piccolo had plenty of time to dodge and throw more attacks at it.
Just as Usagi and Goku were making their way to the third set of legs, the first were beginning to uncurl. Goku noticed it first, and motioned for Usagi to stay put while he went up front to keep the spider off its feet. He fired a giant Kamehameha blast at it, which caused both front legs to curl under again. "We can do this!" He shouted, trying to keep the team in good spirits regardless of the fact that they weren't doing any real damage.
Usagi had gotten her third leg down and had moved back to the fourth and final when her father had moved back to meet her. Neither of them said a word as they continued to concentrate on their job.
Piccolo and Pan were doing a good job of keeping the spider's attention on them, rather than Usagi and Goku where the real danger was. If they were hit with any of those kicking legs, they would be dead within a half-hour. Usagi they could bring back, however, Goku they could not.
"You're not so tough!" Taunted pan as she threw her own Mosenko down at the spider's face. This only worked to earn her more poison spit at her, but as before, it was easily dodged. "This thing wasn't built very well for offense, was it?"
At last, Goku and Usagi had gotten the last set of legs down. With all legs stunned, the spider was lying on its body. Both Saiyans moved away as Piccolo and Pan stopped their attacks. The Senshi moved in quickly, each hoping that their combined efforts would be enough to do away with this thing.
Chi-Chi watched in anticipation as Goku and Usagi joined her. Piccolo and Pan landed to the right and watched from the safety of a tree, where they could duck behind once the attack was thrown.
Venus glanced to the faces of her four friends with a sudden grin. "Let's get this thing rolling girls. We've done this before, we can do it again." Her pep talked seemed to work as smiles appeared on all their faces.
The four Senshi huddled together and pushed their hands out so they would be able to create one, massive Celestial attack. They concentrated their power, and dug deep down inside to pull up everything they had. They would have to compensate for the power that had been lost since Sailor Moon wasn't present, but they had all the confidence in the world that they would be able to pull it off.
~*~*~
Neptune and Uranus were nearly at the fight when they felt something horrid brewing. "What the hell do they think they're doing?" Uranus demanded, though not expecting an answer.
"That won't be enough power. They're going to make it mad." Neptune looked over to Uranus. "We better hurry up before they do anything stupid."
~*~*~
As the Senshi were building up for their attack, Pan noticed that the spider was beginning to wobble around. "Uh oh."
Chi-Chi didn't like the sound of that 'uh oh'. "What 'uh oh'?" She inquired, though not sure she wanted to know the answer.
Usagi looked on in fear. "It's moving."
Chi-Chi gulped. She didn't need to ask questions to know what that meant. "They better hurry up."
The first string hadn't been the only ones to noticed that the spider was stirring once again. The Senshi saw it and knew then that they needed to hurry up, but they weren't ready yet. They needed more power if they were going to defeat this thing. But there was no time to collect more power. The spider's front legs had already been released and its second set looked like they were unfolding as well. If they were going to have a clean chance at this, they needed to do it now.
Mercury, still with her visor on, cried the command: "Release NOW!"
And with that, a giant orb with Orange, Blue, Green, and Red all intertwined within one another spiraled toward the waking spider. It was their only chance to defeat this thing and it was seconds away from hitting its target. The Senshi ducked out of the way to avoid the blast when it came.
The area grew silent with anticipation. All eyes lay on the massive attack. As it crashed into its target, a large explosion was created. Pan and Piccolo slid behind the tree as debris began slamming into them. Goku grabbed his wife and daughter and pressed them hard against the ground to shield them from the twigs and rocks that had been thrown their way.
~*~*~
Uranus stopped short in her path to the battle. "It's not over yet. They weren't strong enough to defeat it."
Neptune looked worriedly upon her partner. "They've only made things worse for themselves."
Frowning, Uranus gave herself a quick burst of speed. "We've got to hurry."
~*~*~
The loud rumble from the explosion had subsided, though smoke remained in the area that had been closest to the blast. The Senshi were the first to move, curious as to whether or not their efforts had worked. Jupiter stood up, but couldn't see anything past the smoke.
Goku sat up next, releasing his wife and daughter from his protective hold. "That had to have done something." He exclaimed as he helped Chi-Chi to her feet.
Pan and Piccolo emerged from behind their tree, completely unharmed. Neither of them could see through the smoke, just as the Senshi couldn't. Piccolo made his way to Goku and his family. "Good job back there, you two." He said, looking especially at Usagi, who was just climbing to her feet.
Mercury was a bit skeptical about the whole situation. That had all seemed a little too easy, especially since they had been almost useless in yesterday's battle. She turned her visor back on and pulled out her computer once again to scan the smoke and see what really lay within it. "Oh no." She gasped, closing her computer.
With his acute hearing, Piccolo had heard the sound of Mercury's voice quite clearly. "What is it?" But she didn't have to explain. Almost as soon has he had asked his question, a giant spider emerged from behind the smoke, its face completely caved in. "Oh crap."
Usagi could feel her legs going limber with fear as she gulped. "It wasn't enough." She whispered.
Before anyone had a chance to react, the spider made a mad dash for the Son family. What was left of its mouth had begun opening wide and a long, white beam shot out of it for Chi-Chi. Usagi knew exactly what was happening. She had seen this happen just the day before. If she thought she was weak in the legs before, now was even worse. She had lost almost all feeling and had collapsed to the ground.
In a split second the beam of light had ripped through one side of Chi- Chi's chest and out the other, causing a small, bright crystal to fly out with it. Chi-Chi's face went an immediate pale gray as she fell face forward.
Usagi was utterly horrified; her worst nightmare come true. "Mommy!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
Goku's eyes went wide with fear for his wife's life. "Chi-Chi!"