I know that you usually expect a lengthy disclaimer at the beginning of each fan fiction, but I have found them pointless and time-consuming.  This fanfic is mine, however, and if anybody misuses it, there will be hell to pay.

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Discarded Souls

By Darkslayer

Chapter 4

Mall Madness

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            The monster didn't seem all that interested in heeding her order, so it did the next most natural thing it could think of.

            It threw the largest object it could at her.

            "AHHHH!" Sailor Venus cried out, barely dodging the desk.  It flew past her and crashed through the railing on the 2nd floor, splintering into nothing.

            "That was too close," she thought aloud, slowly rising to her feet.  She turned back toward her foe to see it charging directly at her.  Before she could move, the creature swung forward with its lance, catching her in the stomach and flinging out of the store and against the steel railing.  Venus connected with the metal beam with a sick crunching sound and slumped to the ground, stunned for a moment.

            *Got to get up…* she groaned in her mind, *It's coming back…*

            A moment was all the creature needed.  It rushed forward and raised its bayonet, bringing it down with incredible force.  As the point of the gigantic skewer was mere inches from her head, Sailor Venus came out of her stupor and threw herself to the left.  The weapon connected with the railing, splintering apart, as the creature roared with pain and frustration.

            She rolled and came up into a crouching position, whirling around and aiming a finger at the monster.  Its arm was already mending itself, creating another lance to replace the first, as the thing was heading toward her slowly.  It raised the newly formed weapon and leveled it at her, just as her attack was coming from her lips.

            "VENUS…"

            It growled and thrust forward with its arm, charging forward.

            "CRESCENT…"

            It was only a short distance away and closing fast.

            "BEAM…"

            In a move that seemed to take place in slow motion, the javelin from its arm separated and flew towards her as the final word was uttered.

            "SMASH!!!"

            The golden beam of light erupted from the tip of her finger, moving just a split second faster than the javelin.  It narrowly missed the hurtling object, striking instead at the creature's feet and creating a giant hole in the floor.  The monster didn't even have time to howl before it fell through to the first floor, cratering as it hit the ceramic tile below.

            Her victory was short-lived, however, as the nearly forgotten projectile flew at her head.  Knowing that she would never be able to move in time, Sailor Venus gave her best effort, barely twisting out of the path of the object, but not far enough to prevent it from glancing off her skull.  The effect was perfectly clear as soon as the weapon passed completely by.  A deep crimson gash appeared as she fell to the floor, a glazed look coming over her eyes.  Luckily enough for her, she lost consciousness as she collapsed, sparing herself from the pain.

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            He sniffed the air again.  The thing, whatever it was, was very close indeed.  As he rounded a corner, he heard a loud explosion followed by what sounded like a heavy object falling from a great height.  Joseph sprinted toward the sound and stopped at the second floor railing, eying the scene below.

            His unnaturally keen eyes saw through the minor dust cloud that was slowly dissipating, and what he saw was unreal.  A large creature with hideous features lay sprawled on the floor, in the middle of an impact crater.  Looking about, he saw no signs of anyone else being in the area except for the half-dead bodies around him.  With the grace of a cat, he stepped onto the railing and launched himself toward one of the colorful banners dangling from the ceiling.  Joseph caught it and slid down quickly, hitting the ground floor with almost no audible sound.

            He cautiously made his way over to where the beast lay.

            *The motherfucker's still breathing, that's for damn sure,* he thought as he eyed the body warily.

            Suddenly, without warning, the thing scrambled to its feet; loosing a bellow so foul it rattled the remaining windows in the immediate area.  Joseph instinctively backpedaled, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet and bringing up his arms to fend off attack.  The creature hunched forward, sniffing the air, then turned toward him.

            Howling at the top of its lungs, it charged, hands outstretched.

            Joseph leapt up as the creature came within arm's reach and delivered a solid kick to the thing's jaw, knocking it off balance.  As he came back down, he fell into a crouch and swept the monster's legs out from underneath it.  It hit the floor as he rolled back and up into a relaxed fighting stance, awaiting the next move.

            He didn't have to wait long, as the creature quickly got to its feet again and charged once more, swinging with blind rage.  He bobbed and weaved, dodging every blow as if it were too slow to even think about blocking.  The monster overextended itself on the next thrust, leaving it wide open for a counterattack.  Joseph smiled and laid into it with a bone-crunching punch that sent the monster flying.

            As it forcibly retreated, it leveled its spear-arm at Joseph and let the javelin fly.  The teenager leapt forward, directly into the path of the projectile, a single hand outstretched, almost as if he intended to catch it.  Strangely enough, when the javelin did connect with the palm of his hand, something unusual occurred.

            The wooden missile shattered into tiny splinters.

            He landed in a crouch just a dozen feet away from the fallen beast.  Rising slowly, he looked directly into the eyes of his enemy as the change began.  Joseph's eyes blinked once, then widened as an ashen cloudiness swirled over the iris, rendering the entire eye completely white.  His mouth opened slightly, showcasing a pair of slowly elongating canines that barely overlapped his lower teeth.  The only other visible change was the skin on his hands.  It seemed to ripple for a moment, then slowly turned gray and began to harden.  His fingers lengthened slightly and became razor-sharp, forming a pair of deadly claws.

            As the monster was getting back up, he rushed it, leaping through the air and swiping with his right claw.  Joseph's aim was true, and the thing's head neatly detached from the rest of its neck and hit the floor, rolling until it hit the wall.  When his feet touched the floor again, the creature's body exploded into a fine powder, raining down on the bodies of the unconscious people.  He rose slowly, extending a hand to catch a few specks of the luminescent dust.

            "Strange…" he murmured, dusting his hand off, "Never seen a demon do that before."

            A loud groan nearby caught his attention.  He walked over to the sound, dismissing his claws as quickly as they had appeared.  The source was a middle-aged man, lying under a bit of rubble from the second floor.  A second moaning sound was soon joined by a third, and he marveled at the strange actions of the victims.

            *A demon cuts loose, explodes into God knows what when it dies, and its victims are mysteriously unharmed?  What is wrong with this picture?* he thought, moving away quickly.

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            "Unhh…" Venus moaned.  She held a hand to her head, feeling a wave of nausea wash over her.  When the world stopped spinning around, she slowly got to her feet, using the railing as a brace.  Looking around, she saw no signs of the monster, but instead, its victims waking up and becoming aware of their surroundings.

            "Looks like it's gone," she thought aloud, "And I'd better do the same, before they notice me."

            Sailor Venus sprinted past the waking victims, heading toward the same bathroom she changed in.  As she flew by, a dozen questions were racing through her head.  She entered the restroom and de-transformed, resuming her normal guise.  When she exited, the first thing she heard was a familiar voice calling out her name.

            "Mina!  Where are you?"

            Walking toward the source of the sound, she smiled sheepishly and gave a small wave, calling to him.  "Joseph!  I'm over here."

            He turned around and closed the distance between them more quickly than she would have anticipated.  Placing a hand on her shoulder, he looked into her eyes and asked her, "You alright?"

            "I'm fine," she replied, "I…just had to…you know…"

            "I see.  Well, I'm just glad to see you're okay.  I think we should get the hell out of here while this place is still standing."

            "Point taken," Mina agreed, "Let's go."

            For some strange reason, he thought she agreed a little too readily.

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            They didn't stop walking until they reached her front door.

            "Well today has been very interesting!" she blurted, digging for something to say.

            "It certainly has," Joseph replied, leaning against one side of the doorframe, "Especially the tour portion."

            "Yeah…" Mina trailed.

            "Alright then.  I'll just end this awkward silence by saying that I had as great a time as any, and maybe we can do it again sometime.  Hopefully without the explosions and mayhem."

            "Agreed," she sighed, extending her hand.

            He took it with his right, and, in one extremely smooth motion, bowed forward and lightly kissed the back of her hand.  Winking at her, he rose slowly and started down the sidewalk.  She stood there, blushing slightly and breathless for a few moments before calling to him.

            "Sometime soon!"

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            When he closed the door to his house, he brought his hand to his forehead and shook his head, laughing.

            "Joseph, you are one twisted fuck, you know that?" he asked himself.

            Silently, he made his way into the kitchen, where he rummaged around in a cupboard for a few minutes.  Joseph finally removed a thick glass tumbler, setting it down on the edge of the table before opening the freezer.  He dropped a few ice cubes into the tumbler, pouring a liberal amount of scotch from an unmarked bottle that had been hidden in the kitchen previously.  Lifting the glass, he was about to drink when he saw the note.

            Joseph-

            Hey, kiddo.  (He frowned at this.)  If you're reading this note, I've yet to return from work.  The division heads over here have their heads up their asses, and the company's relying on me to help clean their mess up.  It's probably gonna take a few weeks before I have this group whipped into shape, and that means a lot of late nights.  I'm sorry I can't be there for dinner tonight, but I did leave some money in the cash jar if you want something.  If you need anything, just call my cell phone.  The number's on the fridge.  I'll try to be home ASAP, okay?

                                                                                                -Your Loving Mother

            He felt the guilt creeping back again.  Pushing the thoughts from his mind, he walked into the living room, bottle and tumbler in tow, and flopped on the plush couch.  Picking up the remote, he turned the television on and scanned the channels for a news station.  Upon finding one, he set the remote down and took a tentative sip of the scotch.

            "…and in other news today, another sighting involving the mysterious Sailor Moon was reported from the Juban district, in a local mall.  Eyewitnesses claim that a girl, dressed in a sailor-like uniform appeared out of nowhere when a series of explosions occurred.  Other witnesses to the event claim that a 'monster' caused these explosions, and the girl attempted to fight it off.  While we are unable to substantiate any of these claims, we do have a partial clip from a security camera of what happened at the mall earlier today…"

            Joseph sat up.  He leaned forward with the remote, turning the volume up and taking another sip of the strong alcohol.

            The video that played was in black and white, as is the case with most security systems, and a little fuzzy.  These minor challenges provided no serious threat to the shocking content of the video, which in itself was hard to believe.  He saw himself staring down the creature from earlier, launching an attack at its lumbering form, and slicing its head off neatly before static from some source fried the tape. 

            "Police are conducting a search for the unidentified individuals in the film.  They believe that this was all a plot of a cult or doomsday group to grab attention for themselves.  We are currently awaiting the spokesperson for the department heading up the investigation, and …"

            He punched the television off.  Reaching forward to set the glass down on the coffee table, he saw the front section of a newspaper laying on the tabletop.  Picking it up, he scanned the headlines, picking through the usual day to day stories until he saw a medium-sized byline on the second page.

            'Mall Madness: Another Sailor Moon Sighting'

            "Jesus fucking Christ!" he sighed, chucking the paper onto the table.  "What is with this city?"

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            Mina walked through the foyer to her house, dropping her purse on a nearby chair, and made a beeline for the bathroom.  She turned on a light that was next to the sink and peeled her hair back from her skull, wincing as she felt small shocks of pain streak along her temple.  An angry dark red line ran from her temple to the top of her ear, a jagged line of dried blood caked around it.  Gritting her teeth, she took a towel, dampened it with hot water, and began to rub the wound.

            A dozen screams of pain and a throbbing head later, she tenderly patted the wound dry with a clean towel and threw it away.  The last thing she did was take several pain reliever tablets and down them as quickly as possible with a glass of water.  She walked all the way down the hall and to the stairs that led to the second floor of her house.  Climbing them was a task in itself, but she eventually made her way to her room, where she promptly collapsed on her bed, moaning into her pillow.

            "Problems?" asked a male voice.

            "I really don't feel like talking about it right now, Artemis," she replied, rolling onto her left side, "It's that stupid Negaverse again."

            "You fought a monster today?" the feline replied, walking to her side, "Why didn't you call for the others?"

            "Two reasons.  One, the stupid communicator doesn't exactly work right after you fall on it.  Two, refer to answer one."

            "There's no need for sarcasm, Mina.  We're a team, remember?  You could have gotten severely hurt or worse."

            "Does this look like a severe injury to you?!" she barked, lifting her hair up.

            "What happened?" he asked, "Give me the details."

            Artemis sat there in silent disbelief as she related the afternoon's events to him.  His facial expressions varied from attentively listening to mild concern to complete shock in a matter of minutes.

            "And it just disappeared?  No traces of it whatsoever?"

            "I didn't see it anywhere, and everybody was waking up, so I decided to get the heck out of there.  Is there a problem with a strategic retreat?"

            "Nothing you did was wrong, Mina, except for at least trying to call one of the others.  But that's not the problem.  What bothers me is that the monster they sent suddenly vanished."

            "Yeah.  That is kind of unusual, considering their usual plan of attacking us until Serena destroys them."

            "I'll have to confer with Luna tomorrow when we have our meeting," Artemis thought aloud, his tail swishing back and forth, "But for now, why don't you get some rest.  That's a nasty gash on your head, and you're gonna need to be at your fullest, just in case."

            "Oh, alright," she sighed, walking over to her closet, "I am feeling kinda sleepy, anyway."

            As he walked to the door, he called back to her, "Be sure to have Amy check on that tomorrow.  I doubt you want to go to your family doctor with an unexplained slash on your temple."

            She slipped into a pair of pajamas, silently agreeing with the cat's advice, and shut the closet door.  Mina walked across the padded carpet, a near silent scratching sound accompanying her every footstep, and hopped into her bed, pulling the covers up to her chest.  She lay back, staring at the ceiling for a while, before allowing her mind to wander.  Her thoughts eventually came to Joseph, and she felt a small smile creeping across her face as she pictured his cobalt eyes and silver hair.

            "He IS cute…" she thought, drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

End of Chapter 4