DISCLAIMER: Neither DBZ or Sailor Moon are owned by me. Any characters in this story are the property of their original creators. (Example... Akira Toriyama owns Trunks, Naoko Takeuchi owns Ami, and I own Rosemary, Angelica, or Chamomile, though I'd be willing to trade. XD)
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a sequel to Love In A Ruined World, my Mirai Trunks/Ami romance fic from last year. (The Trunks in this fanfic is Mirai Trunks, and the Bulma in this fic is from Mirai Trunks' future timeline.) If you haven't read Love In A Ruined World, you can still read this, but you might be confused, so if you want to read the first fic in the series, it's in my profile. In the continuity of both series, this fic takes place after Mirai Trunks goes back to the future after the Cell Saga, and after the SuperS season in the Sailor Moon continuum.
Reviewer Thanks-
Zyppora: Thanks, and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! I'll try my best to make this one even better!
GracedAngel1854: The fight scenes aren't over yet... there's going to be much more fighting in this chapter, and even Cammy gets involved!
Erica: Yeah, it's kind of a reversal that Trunks is the one the bad guys are after... glad you enjoy the story!
---
Rose, Angela, and Cammy walked out of the dark room and out into the hallway. As soon as they had left the room, Cammy put her head in her hands and started to sob, her entire body trembling as she cried.
"Cammy, what's the matter?" Angela asked, hugging her sister as tightly as she could. "That bastard... he must have done such horrible things to you...""It's our fault, Cammy," Rose said, lifting Cammy's head up and looking into her eyes. "We should have gotten here much sooner than we did... you were here nine hours, and-"
Cammy sniffled and shook her head.
"No, don't think that... it's not your faults at all," Cammy said, wiping the tears from her face. "We've just got to find Patrick and destroy him... I won't let him do to anyone else what he did to me!"
Cammy pulled up the zipper on her jumpsuit, having forgotten to do so after she was freed. After she'd done that, she began to speak to her sisters again."Let's go find the Senshi first and tell them I'm alright," Cammy said. "Then we can go beat Patrick."
Now that their sister seemed mostly fine, the two girls had no problem following their sister down several corridors and into a large, circular room at the end of a long hallway.
"I don't think the Senshi are in here, guys," Cammy said nervously, looking around. "Maybe I should've let one of you lead..."
"Especially since we're the only ones who have actually been outside of that room," Rose replied.
"I just wanted to find the Senshi quickly," Cammy said. "You guys probably know where they are..."
Just then, a large door at the other end of the room opened, and Patrick stepped in, muttering something to himself.
"Get a hold of yourself, Patrick," he said. "Get back in there and do what needs to be done..."
As soon as Cammy saw Patrick, she gasped, and stumbled back over to her sisters. Rose and Angela clenched their fists and growled in anger.
"Hey, you!" Rose shouted as loud as she could, causing Patrick to look up. "Yeah, you!"
"You kidnapped our sister, you big jerk! And now you're going to pay!" Angela shouted. When she looked back at Cammy, she could once again see a stream of tears falling down one side of the green-haired girl's face. Her eyes were closed and her head hung down, too scared to even look at her tormentor again. "Cammy, it's alright... we're here, and we won't let that sicko hurt you anymore!"
"How did you find her?" Patrick shouted in an angry tone, his voice filled with shock. He took several steps toward Rose, Angela, and Cammy, his rage building by the second. "She's all mine! How DARE you take her from me!"
"Look, bub... I don't know what kind of sick stuff you were planning to do to Cammy, but it's all over now!" Rose shouted. She took one step toward Patrick, and suddenly, her magical energy aura seemed to expand to twice its size as she prepared to fight. "You'll never hurt another living thing again!"
"That's right!" Angela yelled, also stepping forward. "Your days are numbered, you pervert!"
"Wait," came Cammy's voice from behind the two girls. She stepped past Rose and Angela, walking directly toward Patrick and stopping only a few feet in front of him. Tears still streamed down her face, but she simply wiped them away and turned back to her sisters. "If anyone's going to beat Patrick, it's me.""What?! Wait! No!" Rose shouted, running over to Cammy and grabbing her by the arm. "There's no way... you're still hurt..."
"So are the both of you!" Cammy shouted, turning back toward Patrick. "I've gotta make this jerk pay for what he did to me!""That's so noble of you, my dear," Patrick said, a smirk on his face. "Maybe you're just back for more... maybe you enjoyed our little time together."
"Go find the Senshi," Cammy said, clenching her teeth and still looking at Patrick.
"Cammy, we're not leaving you alone with that sick pervert!" Angela shouted. "There's no way!""I said I'm fighting him," Cammy said. Her tears were gone and her sobs had stopped, replaced by an incredible determination that her sisters could sense as they felt the magical energy aura radiating from her body.
"She... she's really serious," Angela said, turning to Rose. "We should probably go look for the Senshi.... like Cammy said."
"You're going to let her fight Patrick alone?" Rose asked. "Angela...."
"It might be the only way she'll overcome the trauma of what she's been through," said Angela. "If Cammy faces her fears head-on and beats Patrick, then..."
"I won't just beat him," Cammy said, her teeth still clenched. "I'll kill him."
Rose and Angela took one last look at their sister, and then left the room through the way they had come in, leaving Cammy and Patrick alone in the center of the room.
"I see you've gotten a bit of your strength back," said Patrick, looking Cammy up and down. Most of her wounds had been healed, but she still retained deep red marks on her wrists, as well as a faint scar on her cheek from the tip of Patrick's ice blade. Her body hadn't regained all of its energy either, and her arms had yet to retain their full feeling, even after having been healed by her sisters. "But it won't be nearly enough."
"Let's see you try to beat me when I'm not tied down," Cammy said, a bright green aura pulsating around her body. "I'm not afraid of you... but when I'm done with you, you'll definitely be afraid of me!"
---
Trunks gasped for breath as Nikashi's deadly red energy whip dug further and further into his neck. He'd lost the energy to stand, and was still on his knees on the floor, desperately struggling to free himself from Nikashi's powerful weapon. His golden energy aura was beginning to weaken and disappear, and Sailor Mercury feared the worst, still trapped behind the large red barrier that was dividing the room in two.
"Trunks!" Sailor Mercury screamed, firing another futile energy blast at the barrier. "You have to get free!""It's no use!" Nikashi shouted back, looking down at Trunks while pulling the deadly strand even tighter around his neck. "Trunks is all mine..."
"Ami..." Trunks thought to her, his voice echoing through her mind, "Don't worry about me, just... try to get out of here... go help your friends... I'll be fine, Ami.."
"No!" Sailor Mercury thought back to him, tears starting to appear in her eyes. "Trunks, I'm not going to leave you here... I believe in you, Trunks... but... I have to find some way to help you!"
"The barrier's too strong, Ami, even for me to break!" Trunks thought, still trying to climb to his feet while frantically relaying telepathic messages across the barrier. "You've done all you can, Ami!"
With a tug of her whip, Nikashi began to pull Trunks across the room. Trunks' hands flew to his neck, and he tugged at the whip with all his might, but it was no use. As his hands touched the glowing energy strand, he received a severe shock that caused him to cry out in pain, dropping his hands to his sides. Sailor Mercury let out another loud, anguished cry.
"TRUNKS!" she screamed, helplessly watching from across the barrier. "Please... you can't die like this! You can't!"
"Who said I'm going to kill him?" Nikashi asked, tugging on the whip again. "I'll just render him unconscious... then I can have my way with him! If you'd like to watch, you're free to do so..."
Nikashi cackled as Trunks' head slumped down toward the floor and his energy aura began to fade."I'm not going to lose... I'm not going to... wait a minute... of course... Ascended Super Saiyan!"
With a burst of strength, Trunks fired up his golden energy aura once more and began to gather up all the energy he could. Nikashi gasped and tugged on the whip again, but Trunks continued to gather his energy as he prepared to make one more transformation.
"Of course..." Sailor Mercury said to herself. "Trunks hasn't gone to Super Saiyan 2 yet... from now on, you should ascend right before every battle, Trunks!"
"Going to Ascended Super Saiyan takes a lot of energy, Ami..." Trunks thought as he continued to gather his ki. "But I guess now I have no choice!"
A gigantic explosion of energy blasted forth from Trunks' body, disintegrating Nikashi's whip and blasting the evil witch all the way back into the wall, her body making a loud thud as it impacted. Trunks let out a loud scream and stood up as his muscles bulged and electricity began to spark all around him. Once the transformation ended, Trunks turned back to Nikashi, who was struggling to pick herself up, stunned from having been knocked so forcefully into the wall.
"Oh... oh crap, you weren't supposed to do that!" Nikashi shouted indignantly. "It's not fair! It's not fair at all! It-"
"Shut up," Trunks said, his fist striking Nikashi right in the mouth and knocking her back into the wall again. This time, when Nikashi hit the wall, she made a large crack that ran nearly twice the length of her body, halfway up to the ceiling of the room. Trunks pointed his hand at Nikashi and fired off a flurry of ki blasts, which hit her all at once and made a large, loud explosion."That's the way, Trunks!" Sailor Mercury thought, joyfully watching as Trunks gained the upper hand on Nikashi. "She's powerful, though... you should still be careful..."
"Don't worry, Ami, I will be," Trunks thought back to her. As the dust settled, Trunks could see that his blasts had left a large crater in the wall, but no Nikashi. "Did I disintegrate her? No... I can still feel her presence in the-"
"Trunks, behind you!" Sailor Mercury screamed, as loud as she could. Before Trunks could turn around, a large energy spike slammed into his spine. Trunks screamed as sharp pain began to surge through his body, and he collapsed to his knees once more.
"That's right, Trunks, you can't beat me that easily," Nikashi said, wiping a stream of blood away from her lip. As Trunks began to crawl to his feet, Nikashi leapt up and onto the spike still embedded in Trunks' back, driving it even further into his spine. As he let out another scream, Nikashi jumped again, landing in front of Trunks and blasting him in the face with a large ball of concentrated magical energy. Trunks flew backward, barely managing to pull the energy spike out of his body before hitting the floor hard on his back. Tiles were shattered as Trunks' body impacted, bouncing off of the ground several times before coming to a stop just short of the barrier. Nikashi wasted no time, flying at Trunks as he struggled to get up from the ground. She pulled back her hand and quickly formed another energy ball, but before she could throw it at Trunks, Trunks stood up and grabbed Nikashi's wrist, twisting it as hard as he could.
"Not gonna happen," Trunks said.
"Let me go!" Nikashi cried, gritting her teeth in pain as she felt some of the bones in her wrist begin to crack under the immense strain Trunks was putting on them. "Jerk!"
Suddenly, Trunks could see out of the corner of his eye a crowd of people walking into the section of the room still separated from Nikashi and himself by Nikashi's large energy barrier. Nearly one hundred neatly-dressed men and women, all of them wearing black and white jumpsuits with some sort of insignia painted onto the front. They walked toward Sailor Mercury, who pressed her back to the barrier and looked at them with apprehension.
"Hey, get away from her!" Trunks shouted. The distraction gave Nikashi enough time to slip away from Trunks' grasp and punch Trunks in the stomach as hard as she could, her fist brightly pulsating with red magical energy. As Trunks fell to his knees, the uniformed fighters on the other side of the room continued to advance toward Sailor Mercury.
"Don't pay any attention to them," Nikashi said. "They're just here to escort your bitch out of the room. After all, she didn't even pay to see the fight!"
"I thought... you said... you wanted her in here..." Trunks said, coughing up blood and clutching his stomach.
"I wanted her to see me whipping you," said Nikashi. "But if you're going to actually put up a fight, she's going to have to leave."
"I won't let any of you take me!" Sailor Mercury shouted, pointing her arms at the uniformed fighters as they continued to advance toward her. "Trunks, don't worry about me! Just keep fighting Nikashi!"
"Alright, Ami... but there are so many of them, are you sure-"
"Yes, I'll be fine."
Sailor Mercury pointed her arms at part of the group and fired a large blast of ice at them, freezing several of them solid in a large chunk of ice. The ice flew to the back of the room and shattered, dropping the fighters that had been trapped inside of it to the floor, unconscious. As soon as her attack was finished, the rest of the fighters pulled out large, raygun-like weapons and began firing on her, sending hundreds of small green energy beams in her direction. She managed to dodge most of them, but the beams that hit did their fair share of damage, each of them making a small burn in Sailor Mercury's clothes and skin, as well as causing her a brief, intense sting of pain. She clenched her teeth and fired another icy blast into the crowd of fighters, freezing another group of them just as a large wave of people came at her with blazingly fast speed, sending punches and kicks at various parts of her body.
"I'm a distraction to Trunks if I stay," Sailor Mercury thought, concealing these particular thoughts so that Trunks wouldn't be able to hear them. She was able to block most of the punches and kicks with her forearm, as her strength and reaction time had clearly been increased by all the training she'd done with Trunks. The blows that did come in didn't hurt her very much at all, and her confidence slowly but surely began to build. "I'm going to lead them out of here."
Sailor Mercury kicked two of the fighters in the face, knocking them out and giving her an opening to escape. She dashed through the crowd of fighters, ignoring the raygun blasts, punches, and kicks that came her way. One of the fighters tried to tackle her as she dashed through the exit of the room, but an ice blast stopped him in his tracks, freezing him solid as Sailor Mercury successfully escaped the room, followed by scores of fighters as she left.
"Guess she doesn't want to be here anymore," Nikashi said, smiling and slowly walking over to Trunks, who was still on one knee after Ami had escaped the room.
"On the contrary," Trunks replied. "I told her to go help her friends... and I know that she'll beat the crap out of every one of your flunkies. Just look."
Nikashi looked toward the other side of the room, where about two dozen of the fighters who had attacked Sailor Mercury now laid unconscious as a result of her attacks. When she looked back at Trunks, she received a swift kick to the face, which knocked her back into the wall yet again.
"By the way, Nikashi... your punch didn't hurt me all that much," Trunks said, standing and facing Nikashi as she angrily stumbled away from the wall. "I was just watching Ami to make sure she'd get out safely, and she did. Your little plan is about to fall by the wayside."
"You're... still trapped in here," Nikashi said, her newly reformed energy whip clenched tightly in her right hand. "And I'm not going to let you out until I've beaten you into submission!"
"Suit yourself," Trunks said, a large field of electricity and ki energy glowing about his body. "I'm ready for everything you can dish out."---
After dashing through several corridors, Sailor Mercury soon found herself completely surrounded, with crowds of uniformed fighters surrounding her on both sides. She soon knew that she would have to fight her way out if she wanted any chance to find her friends.
"You're trapped now!" shouted one of the fighters at the front of the crowd to Mercury's left. "There's no escape!"
"I know," Sailor Mercury said, pointing one arm to her left and her other arm to her right. She stretched out her palms and began to concentrate her energy. "Please, I don't want to do this..."
"Get her!" shouted the same fighter, pointing his ray gun at Sailor Mercury. The other fighters did the same, and began to open fire. Despite being buffeted by hundreds of energy beams, Sailor Mercury remained focused on her attack, quickly charging as much energy as she could.
"Just a... little bit... more..." Sailor Mercury said, her teeth clenched. She could feel a huge amount of energy now channeled at the tips of her palms. Ignoring the pain from the energy beams slamming into her body, she fired two huge blasts, each one directed at one of the two groups of fighters. The blasts detonated as soon as they hit the front of the crowds, instantly freezing dozens of fighters in an instant. Two large blocks of ice filled the corridors on each side of Sailor Mercury, seemingly trapping her. She fired another blast at each large block of ice, shattering the ice to pieces and freeing the fighters trapped inside, who fell to the floor, all of them unconscious. "That was easy... but now I should probably find the other Senshi..."
She exited the hallway, being careful not to step on anyone she'd knocked unconscious as she continued to look for her friends. She kept going, down hallway after hallway, until she finally came to a large, door with the words "Training Area" marked on a large, golden plate above it. She stepped inside, unaware of the fight going on within. As soon as she stepped inside, she could see the other four Senshi, and all four of them looked exhausted, as if they had been fighting for hours. Looking across the room, she could see the reason why. Flarinsa was standing just a few feet away from the Senshi, her fists burning with bright red flames pulsating all around them. She ran over to the Senshi, who seemed overjoyed to see her, yet clearly concerned about Sailor Mercury's condition, as her fight with Nikashi's hundreds of fighters had rendered her almost as injured as the other Senshi.
"Sailor Mercury, what happened?" Sailor Moon asked. "Where's Trunks?"
"Nikashi sent a bunch of her cronies after me," Sailor Mercury said. "Trunks is fighting her right now... I managed to fight my way here... are you guys alright?"
"Flarinsa's a lot more powerful than we thought," Sailor Mars said, sweat pouring down her face. "You're here just in time..."
"Just in time to die!" Flarinsa shouted, pointing her arms at Sailor Mercury. "Take this!"
A huge fireball rushed toward Sailor Mercury, heating up the air around it to over 200 degrees. Sailor Mercury squinted her eyes to see the bright fireball as it barreled toward her, knowing that if she didn't stop it, she could be severely burned.
"Sailor Mercury, look out!" Sailor Venus shouted, leaping in front of the fireball. "Venus Lovechain..."
Several chains flew out from Sailor Venus' hands and wrapped around the fireball, trapping it in an energy net. As Sailor Venus struggled to hold back the fireball, Flarinsa smiled and threw two more, headed straight at the overworked Senshi. They slammed into her in a bright explosion that knocked Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter to the ground, and engulfed Sailor Venus in a brilliant, incendiary pillar. Her screams of pain filled the entire room.
"NOOOO!" shouted Sailor Mercury as the flames disappeared and Sailor Venus' badly burned body collapsed to the ground. "She just... wanted to protect me... Flarinsa, you'll pay!"---
After a while of navigating through even more long, endless corridors, Rose and Angela found themselves in front of an elevator.
"Should we go in?" Angela asked, walking up to the elevator and stroking her finger across the red button next to the door. "It's only got one button..."
"That's because it probably only goes in one direction," Rose replied. "I'm just wondering if we should wait for Cammy...""I hope she's doing okay," Angela said, a hint of guilt in her voice. "Cammy, we shouldn't have let her fight Patrick alone like that..."
"She wouldn't fight Patrick by herself if she wasn't confident she could beat him," said Rose.
"I know... but sometimes she can be a little eager to jump into things," Angela said. "I'm worried about her, Rosie-chan..."
"So am I," Rose said, "but right now, we've got to try to focus on our other mission, which is defeating all of the other bad guys. Let's just go inside the elevator... it'll probably take us right to where the leader of this place is! I bet Trunks and the Senshi are already fighting him right now."
The two girls pressed the button and stepped into the elevator, a small golden cylinder with enough space for about four or five people. Sure enough, the elevator only went in one direction, which was straight down. It took the elevator about a minute to reach the bottom, and when the two girls stepped out, they found themselves inside the middle of a strange research lab, with many tables spread throughout the room. Various tools and instruments were just lying on the tables, and specimen capsules lined the walls. None of the capsules were filled at the time, but that didn't stop the girls from shivering as they walked through the cold, dark lab.
"What is this place?" Rose whispered quietly. "Didn't Trunks say that this ship is owned by the... Galactic Research Armada, whatever that is?"
"Yeah... so this must be where they do their weird research and stuff!" Angela said, looking around at the different tools and instruments. "But what... kind of research?"
"Creatures, lifeforms... freaky stuff like that," Rose said. "They treat people like animals! That's probably why they're after Trunks..."
"Freaky," said Angela, hurrying over to the other side of the room. "I just hope we don't end up here... let's get the heck outta here!"
"Good idea," said Rose, walking over to the exit. "I just hope we can find the Senshi soon..."
When the girls opened the door, they slowly walked into the next room, a large, wide open expanse dimly lit by spotlights hanging from the walls. When they looked straight up, they realized that the huge room had no ceiling, or at least not one that they could see. It was just a void of darkness, menacingly hanging above the girls like a pall.
"What in the world...?" Rose said, looking up at the ceiling that wasn't there. "This place must go up forever..."
"There's gotta be a ceiling somewhere, Rosie-chan," Angela replied. "Unless... you don't think this is right below that room with the big drop, do you?"
"You mean this is where the drop goes?" Rose asked, looking up, and then back down at the floor. "Ugh... then there are probably two dead bodies lying just a short distance away. You know, the two guys we tricked into falling down here?"
"It doesn't smell like dead bodies," Angela said. "It smells clean, like the rest of the ship."
"But they haven't started to decay yet, Angela," Rose said, stepping even deeper into the seemingly endless room. "So they wouldn't smell bad for a few hours..."
"I still don't like dead bodies," Angela said, starting to shiver again. "Let's get out of-"
"Who said anything about dead bodies?" came a voice from the darkness. The girls screamed, immediately recognizing the voice as Grenate's, someone who they'd seemingly killed.
"We're not dead," said Elbarzad, leaping in front of the two girls. They stared at him in disbelief, realizing that if his body had sustained damage from the fall, they didn't see any of it, only noticing a large gash on his chest caused by one of the thorns from Rose's magical vines. "Being able to control wind can be quite useful...""Wind is a very effective padding if you're about to hit the ground," said Grenate, stepping up to the two girls from the other direction. "Both of us survived thanks to Elbarzad's quick thinking.""Geez, I thought we got rid of you jerks!" Rose shouted angrily. "It's not fair..."
"We'll just have to destroy you two for good!" Angela shouted.
"It won't be that easy," Grenate said. Suddenly, the room began to shake violently, and a large chunk of one of the walkways above suddenly fell on top of the two girls, smashing them beneath its immense weight. "Hah!"
"It won't be... that easy..." said Rose. A bright flash of pink energy suddenly emerged from beneath the chunk of metal and stone before it exploded, showering both Elbarzad and Grenate with debris. Rose and Angela stood up, both of them brightly pulsating with red and blue light.
"I see you girls still have some strength left," Elbarzad said. "It won't be nearly enough!"
Elbarzad ran at the two girls, shooting a large burst of wind from his palm. Rose smacked away the blast of wind and ran forward, decking Elbarzad's face with her fist and sending him stumbling back. Grenate leapt at Angela and began hurling rocks at her, created by his own magical energy. Angela punched through one rock and kicked the other away before being hit in the chest by a particularly large stone, causing her to double over, grimacing in pain. Grenate dove down and swept his legs under Angela's, knocking her to the ground.
"Rosie-chan!" Angela shouted as her head impacted the hard, metallic floor. Rose stopped her assault on Elbarzad and ran toward Grenate just as he lifted a huge rock above Angela's head, preparing to smash her to bits. Rose dove on top of Grenate, knocking the huge rock from his hand and tackling him to the ground. Her fist slammed into his face repeatedly, each punch creating a small bruise on Grenate's face. Before he could get up, Rose leapt off of him and blasted him with a bright burst of pink magic, sending him flying across the room.
"Are you alright?" Rose asked, rushing to Angela and helping her off of the ground.
"Mm-hmm," Angela said, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand. "Thanks for saving me...""Torrential Windstorm!" Elbarzad shouted, blasting the girls with a huge gust that knocked both of them off of their feet. As they hit the ground, the chunk of the floor that they had landed on suddenly rose up from the ground and lifted high up into the air, rapidly toward the top of the incredibly tall room. Rose and Angela stood up on the quickly moving rock and looked down, only to see a sea of darkness below.
"We're going to be smashed!" Angela shouted, looking up to see the bottom of the walkway above just a few hundred feet away. "We've gotta do something!"
Rose nodded, quickly wrapping her vines around the end of the walkway, and then grabbing Angela around the waist. She then leapt off of the rock, looking up as it was smashed against the bottom of the walkway, sending chunks of both falling back toward the floor of the room. The two girls remained hanging from the walkway for several seconds before Rose slowly extended her vine, lowering the two girls back down to the floor."They're going to be really surprised to see us," said Rose, "and this is our chance to finish them off for good!"
As the two girls lowered themselves down, they could see Elbarzad and Grenate, smiling and laughing below them.
"That was great!" Grenate shouted, slapping Elbarzad a high-five. "Why didn't we think of that when we were fighting them before?"
"Just tired, I guess," Elbarzad said. "Or maybe we had a burst of inspiration just now. I wonder what Patrick did with their pathetic sister, anyway?"
"Pathetic this!" Angela shouted, pointing her arm at Elbarzad and Grenate and firing off a huge wave of razor-sharp petals at both of them. As they turned toward her, the petals soon overwhelmed them, slashing them hundreds of times before disappearing into the darkness. The two ravaged warriors fell to the ground on their knees, covered in tiny gashes caused by the deadly petals. Rose and Angela slowly walked toward them, both of them glowing brightly with magical energy.
"We thought... you were... you were.... smashed..." Elbarzad said weakly, looking up at the two girls, his face a mix of shock and pain."You forgot about my vines already, didn't you?" Rose said tauntingly, kicking Elbarzad in the face and knocking him flat on the floor. "That was your fatal mistake."
Rose and Angela pointed their hands at Elbarzad and Grenate, charging up a huge amount of magical energy. Before the two could scream, Rose and Angela blasted them. The last thing that Elbarzad and Grenate ever saw was a gigantic flash of pink and blue. Then, only darkness. All that was left of the two was a smoldering crater on the ground. Rose and Angela stopped for a few seconds to admire their work, and then collapsed to the floor themselves, both of them clearly exhausted by the fight."That was... a bit faster... than I thought it would be..." Rose breathed, looking over at Angela and smiling. "But a little bit harder too..."
"We were weak from our last fight, not to mention healing Cammy," Angela replied. "I just hope we were able to give her enough energy to beat Patrick..."---
Cammy leapt back and fired hundreds of tiny green energy blasts at Patrick, at the exact same time he was launching hundreds of tiny icicles at her. The attacks connected simultaneously, Patrick's body scorched and bruised by the blasts, while Cammy's body was slashed repeatedly by the icicles. The two were both knocked backward, both of them hitting the ground at the same time, and both of them getting up together as well.
"If that attack is any indication, we're evenly matched," Patrick said, smiling as he walked over to Cammy. "But there's no way you'll ever be stronger than me... you're scared of me, I can tell."
"I'm not afraid of you!" Cammy shouted, even while she slowly backed down from Patrick as he continued to walk toward her. She clenched her fists, charging up for yet another attack. "I'll never surrender to you! I'll die before I ever do that!"Cammy ran at Patrick and punched at his head as hard as she could. Patrick caught her fist, squeezing it in his hand while elbowing Cammy hard in the gut. The blow knocked the wind out of Cammy, allowing Patrick to leap up and kick Cammy hard in the face, knocking her back to the ground. He pointed his palm at Cammy and blasted her body with an icy mist that quickly froze her arms to the ground. As she struggled to get up, Patrick smiled, delighting in Cammy's predicament."You're too weak to break free, aren't you?" Patrick asked. "Just like you were when I had you in my clutches... and soon, you'll be mine again.""I already told you... I'll never surrender!" Cammy shouted. Her palms glowed brightly with magical energy, and as Patrick drew nearer, she fired off two large blasts, which hit Patrick and exploded in a bright flash of light. As energy pulsated through Cammy, she shattered the ice holding her to the ground and rushed forward, blasting Patrick again and knocking him all the way back into the wall.
"Damn you!" Patrick shouted as his back slammed into the wall, sending a wave of pain through his entire body. "How dare you... think you can defeat me..."
"I don't think I can defeat you," Cammy said, slowly walking toward Patrick as her fists once more began to glow bright green, lit up by an incredible surge of magical energy fueled by pure anger and adrenaline. "I know I can."
Cammy placed her hands on Patrick's chest and blasted him yet again, her energy destroying the wall and sending Patrick flying all the way out into the hallway, his body hitting a metallic door and crumpling it nearly in two. As his barely conscious body slumped to the ground, he groaned in pain and looked up as Cammy slowly walked toward him.
"I deserve this..." Patrick thought as he saw the anger in Cammy's face. "The things I did to her... everything..."
Cammy stood over Patrick, her eyes narrow, her face lined with hatred, her fists still glowing with energy.
"Cammy..." Patrick gasped weakly. "No... no, she will not elude me this easily! I am strong! I'm stronger than she'll ever be!"
Slowly, Patrick reached up toward her, his arm raising as high as it could as Patrick continued to lie on the ground. Cammy stopped a few feet away, her hand pointed toward Patrick's head.
"Can I really do this?" Cammy thought. "Of course I can... this jerk tried to rape me! He hurt me! I've got to put him away right now!"
She lowered her hand for a moment, as another thought began to creep into her head. He had stopped hurting her before... was it really because her sisters or nearby, or was it something else? Had he genuinely regretted everything he'd done?
"But... what if... no, if that's true, he would have apologized as soon as he saw me again, and he'd be apologizing to me right now! He's still trying to kill me! He-"
Suddenly, a beam of ice energy shot out from Patrick's hand, hitting Cammy and knocking her up to the ceiling before dropping her back down to the ground, landing face-down a few feet away from where Patrick was lying. He put down his hand and slowly climbed to his feet, brushing the debris away from his blue jumpsuit as Cammy stumbled back into the room where they had been fighting just a few minutes ago.
"I thought I finished you," Cammy whispered angrily. "I shouldn't have hesitated..."
"Why did you hesitate, Cammy?" Patrick asked. "Ah, I know. It's because you can... understand what I've been through, is that it? That I'm a... good person, right?"
"I can't believe I even thought those things about you, you big jerk!" Cammy shouted. As memories of her captivity came flooding back, she once again began to feel the familiar sting of tears, filling both of her eyes. "No... now you're crying again, Cammy! Oh geez... what has this bastard done to you?"
"What's the matter, Cammy?" Patrick asked. "You're not going to cry again, are you?"
"Shut up!" Cammy shouted, angrily wiping tears from her face. "You can't even begin to understand... you're a horrible person!"
Cammy ran at Patrick again, more furious than ever.---
The Senshi crowded around Sailor Venus, all of them fearing the worst as smoke continued to rise off of the afflicted girl's body. Sailor Mercury placed her fingers to Sailor Venus' neck, sighing as she felt a strong pulse rapidly beating beneath her skin.
"She's just unconscious," said Sailor Mercury.
"Of course... I am..." Sailor Venus ground, her body weakly beginning to stir. "Just... a bit crispy is all...."
"Sailor Venus, don't try to move, okay?" Sailor Mercury said, looking back and forth between Sailor Venus and Flarinsa. "You're pretty badly hurt..."
"We'll take care of her!" Sailor Mars shouted. She and Sailor Jupiter ran at Flarinsa. Both of them blasted her at the same time, hitting Flarinsa with a mix of potent fire and lightning magic. The attack stunned Flarinsa for a brief second, but she quickly recovered, firing two more large fireballs at the Senshi."Those are just like the ones she roasted Sailor Venus with... if those hit us, we're toast! Literally!" Sailor Moon shouted. Sailor Mercury stood up and stepped away from Sailor Venus, pointing her arms at the fireballs.
"Mercury... Infusion... Maelstrom!" Sailor Mercury shouted, twirling around and sending a huge wave of water rushing out in all directions. As the fireballs hit the waves of water, they were quickly doused, and the water continued to rush outward, slamming into Flarinsa and knocking her flat on her back.
"You didn't concentrate your energy, Ami..." Sailor Moon said, looking over at Sailor Mercury in disbelief. "That's one of your regular attacks, isn't it?"
"While there's much to be said for Trunks' methods, I still find my old attacks to be quite effective," Sailor Mercury said. "Plus, after all that training we did, even our old attacks should be really powerful!"
"What about using a Sailor Planet Power attack?" Sailor Jupiter asked. She glanced over at Sailor Venus, who was still lying on the ground, flat on her back. "Do you think..."
"I can... get up..." Sailor Venus said, trying to pick herself off of the ground. As she slowly tried to stand, Flarinsa jumped up and launched another fiery attack at the Senshi, a plume of five fire arrows that were targeted straight at the Senshi's hearts.
"I don't think so!" Sailor Moon said, pointing her henshin stick at one of the arrows and blasting it with a large beam of golden energy. "Those kind of attacks are-"
Suddenly, Sailor Moon's entire body began to burst with flames, causing the Moon Senshi to collapse to the ground on her knees, shrieking loudly. The arrow, despite being engulfed right in the center of Sailor Moon's powerful blasts, had still found its target, as did all four of the other arrows, embedding themselves within the Senshi's hearts and causing their entire bodies to combust, burning like a brilliant ember.
"Too much...." Sailor Mars gasped as the searing flames licked at every square inch of her skin. "Sailor Moon, do something!"
"TRUNKS!" Sailor Mercury shouted, the only person she could think of that could possibly erase the incredible pain that was coursing through her entire being. "Where are you...?"
"That's it, Sailor Senshi!" Flarinsa shouted, cackling loudly. "Feel the flames! Feel the heat of the scorching flames as you're burned alive!!!"
"No..." Sailor Mercury thought, not letting a single tear escape her eyes. "What did Trunks teach me? I have to... I have to have strength... I have to be able to stand up, even in the bleakest of circumstances... this pain is nothing, nothing but all my weakness floating away... I will NOT let Flarinsa destroy me, or my friends! I've got to rise up... I have to get back to Trunks... I HAVE TO WIN!"
Without even realizing she was now back on her feet, Sailor Mercury clenched her fists and began to gather her energies once more. As her magical energy aura began to glow stronger and brighter, the flaming arrow embedded in her chest disappeared, and the flames surrounding her body faded away. The other Senshi, still on the ground with the arrows in their chests, looked up at Sailor Mercury in amazement. She looked back at all of them, her determined eyes relaying the same message to each and every one of her friends.
"Focus your energy... fight this... you can beat it!"
As if on cue, the Senshi all began to concentrate their energy. Even Sailor Venus, who had been badly injured by Flarinsa's last attack, was now overcome with determination, her pain replaced with the incredible strength and energy she was gathering, just like Sailor Mercury had done before. Within seconds, all of the Senshi were on their feet, all glowing brilliantly with magical energy, their painful fire arrows completely eradicated. Flarinsa stared at them in disbelief, before tossing dozens of large fireballs their way. As the fireballs drew closer to the Senshi, they suddenly disintegrated, as if an invisible forcefield was surrounding the Senshi, not letting any of the fireballs get closer. The Senshi stood in a circle and clasped hands, focusing their energies to a single point, just above their heads.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Flarinsa screamed, her entire body engulfed in flames. "How DARE you stand up after that attack! How dare you rise against me! How dare you-"
"SAILOR PLANET POWER!" shouted all five Senshi, sending a gigantic beam of solid white energy barreling toward Flarinsa. The beam slammed into her and immediately disintegrated her before exploding in a brilliant flash of white light and a shockwave that knocked all of the Senshi to the ground, flat on their backs. When the light disappeared, all the Senshi could do was glance up at the ceiling, exhausted from the incredible battle. Flarinsa was gone, forever destroyed by the Senshi's incredible magic.
"We got her..." Sailor Moon whispered as she slowly began to regain the strength to stand. "What an attack..."
"Thank you, Trunks... wherever you are, you will always be with me... and I will always be with you... you were with me in this fight, and now I wish to be with you in yours... please draw on my strength... we need each other, Trunks..."
Sailor Mercury smiled, not only for her friends, not only for herself, but for Trunks... if she could win her fight with Flarinsa, he could win his fight as well.
---
And Trunks was winning, but not by very much. His blows were quite effective against Nikashi, but something was wrong. He didn't seem to be inflicting very much damage, and though he was hurting her more than she was hurting him, he had hit her probably three times as much.
"Your stamina is incredible," Trunks said as he clenched his fists, preparing to deal Nikashi another series of attacks. "But I've fought tough enemies before, and you're just another one of those people who have tried to beat me, but have failed. I'm not just fighting for myself, I'm fighting for the people I love!"
"Yawn," said Nikashi, putting her hand up to her mouth to simulate yawning. "I'm getting really tired of your Super Saiyan ego, you know that?"
"I've got my father to thank for that," Trunks thought, slightly annoyed at himself. "I've got to focus on this battle... what's wrong with me? I just hope Ami's alright..."
The sharp sting of Nikashi's whip across his chest quickly brought Trunks back down to earth, as his hand flew to the site of the wound. He could feel the familiar wetness of blood, seeping through his fingers as his hand covered the large, long gash. Ignoring the pain, he pointed his arms at Nikashi, firing yet another ki blast at her. She simply smiled and cracked her whip, its deadly lash cutting the blast in two, sending the two halves flying harmlessly behind her and into the wall. Trunks flew at Nikashi and leapt behind her, pulling back his hands and focusing as much energy as he could into one huge blast.
"Let's see how she likes this..." Trunks thought."Ka...me...ha...me...HA!!!!"
Nikashi gasped as a huge beam of blue ki rushed forth from Trunks' hand, too quickly for her to dodge or block.
"What in the...... aaaaaaaaah!" Nikashi screamed, just a split-second before the huge wave of ki engulfed her body.
---
And it ends there! Well, this chapter, anyway. It looks like Trunks is finally ready to finish Nikashi off! But is she finished? And will Cammy beat Patrick? All those questions will be answered next chapter, so keep reading, I'll have it out in a few days!