It's eyes stared down icily, sending shivers running up and down his spine. He couldn't believe it, he had fought this thing every day for that last two weeks, and suddenly he found he couldn't move for fright. Something had changed, and the wolf looked too calm, too full of purpose, it's hunger seemed almost forgotten. It now simply wanted death, and it knew that it wouldn't be able to eat until the ones that stood before it had been brought down. It seemed to make a decision that went against its natural instinct.
So what did it all mean?
Trouble.
He never seen the arm come toward him, it was too quick, had it gotten faster? The impact came, he felt bone and cartilage rip apart, and he felt himself fly through the air, than the sudden crunch as he felt the wind completely get knocked out of him. He slid down a piece of what was left of the wall he realized he was just knocked through, no longer able to remain standing, blood started to leak into his eyes. He must have some kind of large gouge in his head from the broken and jagged bricks of the wall…
Sailor Moon was by his side in a second.
She was saying something, but it all came out in garbled speech, too fast for him to understand. His mind felt so sluggish… he looked up at her and saw the worry in her eyes. He imagined the sight he must look. Her eyes, so much emotion in them… they were beautiful… but he didn't want to see them like this, tearing up like this, tearing up with sad, reluctant anger. She should be happy, she should have happy eyes, eyes that held no worries. Eyes that were innocent as the girl that continually ran headlong into him almost everyday before school. Eyes that cared for all, no matter what they seen. Eyes that only had to worry about grades, not dying, and wounded friends. She had seen too much of that, her eyes should never have to have seen that. He wished death on whoever was responsible for doing this to those beautiful eyes…
He tried to speak, tried to comfort her. Trying to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks… but it came out just as garbled as her words seemed to him, even when he tried to speak slowly. There was a lot of pain, the creature must have shattered his jaw… He ignored it and sat up a little more on the piece of debris he was leaning on. She looked surprised at the movement, he couldn't understand what she was saying, but her eyes told him everything. He was too hurt to continue… She wanted him to stop, to rest… was she right? He probably couldn't even get a hit on it in this condition. He leaned back against the rock. She was smiling… it was the most beautiful thing he ever seen, her eyes smiled with her, he had no idea how or why, but her eyes managed to find a reason to smile despite all the stuff they seen. Good, there was always that. But for now he was just going to have to think… Think of something he could do… he closed his eyes, and tried to think, losing conscious thought of reality… his thoughts had become so simple, and it was hard to figure out anything with them. In this condition…he could not even hit the wolf…. it would only hit him…
"Darien! Darien hang in there Darien!" Sailor moon jumped from the fight to where he lay amidst the debris. "Oh my God, Darien!"
He was leaning against what was left standing of the wall he was abruptly knocked into. Blood was streaming down from some wound hidden by his hair, his cloak was shredded and his hat was lost somewhere. No one even saw the blow, there was no way he could avoid it…
She leaned over him, not able to stop the tears welling up in her eyes. Now that she was closer to him, she could see the deformed looking part to his jaw, and that a good amount of his face had already turned purple, the rest was pink. His eyes caught hers and never left her gaze.
"Darien, no, you're going to be alright okay? You'll be fine." She couldn't keep the sobs from her voice, "I don't want to see you hurt too. First Chad, and Dimmer, Rei's grand father, Greg, Pidge, Damn them. We'll make it through this, all of us. We'll be a perfect team by the end of all this, I swear it."
He tried to speak, surprising her. No words managed to make it out of what was left of his mouth. She tried to shush him, he was only going to hurt himself more like that. She was more than a little startled when he started moving again, it seemed like he was trying to get back up!
"NO! No Darien, just stay down, you stubborn, thick headed, MAN! What are you trying to do? You can't fight like that! Just rest okay?" She felt herself smile as he leaned back. Men… did even one of them ever have any common sense? She watched his eyes close peacefully, and fall into sleep. She looked back at the fight, everyone had their hands full, they were no longer on the offensive, they were now dodging to stay alive. She stood up just in time to see Jupiter get clipped and knocked straight into a wall, Jupiter shook her head a little and looked up in time to see Mars hurled straight toward her knocking them both through the wall and into the building. The wolf was less than a second behind, making its own way through the new hole in the wall, as it continued its onslaught. Sailor Moon, ran out into the open hoping to get there in enough time to distract it. She suddenly felt a strong presence of power and managed to duck in just enough time to dodge the singed werewolf's involuntary flight back into the street. Talenite strutted through the hole in the wall the two scouts were knocked through, he was forming a pink energy ball.
"Come creature, you are not as powerful as you believe yourself to be…" Power from the energy ball seemed to seep into his eyes ans swirl like controlled electricity around his long pink tinted hair.
The enraged wolf was on its feet immediately and charging toward the new enemy.
Talenite reached his hand back getting ready to hurl the energy ball, the beast moved so fast it was on him, or so it thought, Talenite had teleported above it and finished his throw. He blasted the beast with the largest amount of power the scouts had ever seen. They realized just what they were going up against back than, if Sundown hadn't shown up, none of them doubted what would have happened.
Still inside the building and pushing the rubble away Mars paused at the sight and looked over to Jupiter in more than a little shock.
Jupiter smiled, "Well guess we really underestimated him huh? I'm suddenly glad we never got hit by one of them…"
Once again the wolf jumped toward the pink haired man, only to miss again.
"Mercury Bubbles BLAST!!"
No! The short, blue haired one was waiting for him to do that! Now it was caught up in a world of bubbles and fog. It listened for any movement, no longer being able to smell its prey for its broken nose…. There! It jumped, and the large energy ball ripped through the cement where it just was.
"You operate totally and completely on instinct don't you?" Talenite's voice came through the fog, the wolf stalked off to where it had come from. He seen Talenite smile and walk straight toward him. The wolf delivered a blow to his head that would crush cars easily, but when he struck it was simply energy that swirled around where his prey had been. There! It was so fast! He never seen it move, He jumped at him again, but once again it turned into little more then swirled energy.
"You cannot smell can you? Your nose is broken, you can not tell reality from illusion."
Again the wolf pounced and again its prey disappeared.
"Dimmer was a genius. I could never beat him when he was combined with Sundown. He was a true monster, you are pathetic, no matter how much strength, or speed you have, it won't make up for his intelligence."
The wolf snarled. The prey was playing with him.
"No! you've done enough!" a voice whispered from no where…
The wolf looked quickly around, where did that whisper come from? It didn't sound like its prey… NO! That meant…!
The wolf held on to its head and fell to its knees.
"He's breaking out isn't he? Why not let him. This is no longer the world you knew. You no longer belong here."
The girls looked on hopeful, but the wolf stood up once more, looking for them. Its eyes had gone feral, and it was growling incessantly, sounding more and more like a mad dog more than a cold, calculating beast. Or was it ever calculating? No it only made one decision on its own, and it was the fight or flee instinct. It had chosen to fight. Just more instinct at work...
"Huh? Hey what's it doing?!" Jupiter suddenly shouted to Talenite
The wolf had scrunched into its hind legs, almost looking like it was imitating a frog.
"I am not certain…" Talenite looked on curiously.
It leapt.
The scouts and friends face faulted.
It leapt clear out of the fog onto the sides of one of the buildings.
Darien looked on from his resting place. He watched as the wolf surprised everyone by jumping out of Mercury's fog, then with unbelievable speed, propelled its self off the building towards them, they hadn't realized it yet. He made an attempt at a shout, but he only ended up spitting out blood. Dimmer? What would you do? Like this he couldn't do anything, not even shout… If he tried, It would only hit him…
Mars suddenly realized what it was about to do she tried to jump away, but it wasn't enough. The wolf plowed into her from an eight story jump, claws first. It's claws ripped through her torso with little trouble…
Or at least it would have if a large, black bolt of dark energy hadn't sent it flying into another wall.
"Well, well, Malachite what do we have here?" The tall man in the dark trenchcoat, sunglasses, and lengthy ponytail blew the smoke off the barrel of a familiar looking rifle.
"I would say that it is a small group of half dead little girls that got in too much over their heads." The tall man in behind him replied, in a superior tone.
"Chad!!" Mars smiled and was about to race to him, but something seemed wrong. "Chad? You're alright! But Malachite? Why are you here with him?"
"Yuuichirou, if you don't mind Rei. I always was a loser in your eyes. Well guess what? I finally did the smart thing and joined the winning team this time. I'm afraid you're going to be the loser in the end." He crossed his arms and chuckled evilly. "Huh? What is this?" He walked over to where Sailor Venus was struck down, and never moved, he smiled as if a there was a joke there only he knew.
"Oh my what a shame… are we losing even more friends than we first thought scouts? Well, aren't you all getting' stupider by the minute. You ain't even figured out when yer dead or not. Well, fear not. I will save you from this pesky beast. It's hard to collect energy from the already eaten after all. Care to have some fun Malachite?" Chad asked, lighting up a cigarette.
"I'm afraid not Yuuichirou. Beryl's order was to see you tested, The fun will be all yours today."
"Heh. Okay, can't say I didn't try to share." He spoke around the smoke, and shook out the match.
Malachite chose that time to notice Talenite.
"You… traitor… Maybe I will have some fun after all, Yuuichirou. But only with him, the rest are yours to do with as you will, but the traitor is mine…"
"Suit yourself. Okay scouts what say I deal with my old rival first? I'm presuming that's Dimmer in the fur coat? No, no need to tell me. Remember?" He holds up a hand that suddenly flared with black energy, "I'm linked with him."
The scouts looked from one to another. Once again it was Mars that spoke.
"Chad what happened to you?"
"Me? I got my own power toots. But enough chit chat. There's a wolf to hunt." He smiled as he reloaded. "Hey yas all should thank me shouldn't yas?"
Said wolf was getting up out of the wall. That human… why was it sensing itself from him? It had been shot with human guns before, they did nothing to him, that was no ordinary gun, it felt connected to himself. Like it used his energy.
"Back… give me it back…"
The voice in its head finally grew a little quieter, it was shouting from the moment the power bolt hit. It jumped at its new target, it was obviously the biggest threat there. It jumped with all the speed it could gather, it was a blur to all eyes what had happened. One minute the wolf was by the hole in the wall, next, it was under Chad's boot, while he stood, no gun out, just smoking as if he wasn't standing on a creature that wasn't meant to hunt his kind.
"Was that it? Slow poke…"
The wolf was up in a flash, striking, slashing, biting clawing, and any thing else that might catch Chad in its jaws or claws, but he whirled in and out of each strike, even easier than when they would spar. His speed had increased an unimaginable amount, and with those guns running off of Sundown's energy, he had power to his strikes he never had before. He took out a pistol and launched the wolf back a couple yards. The wolf didn't even slow. It was back in his face in milliseconds.
"GIVE IT BACK! I WANT IT BACK! IT'S NOT YOURS! IT'S MINE! GIVE IT TO ME!" The voice was back, driving it mad with rage and fear!
"GIVE ME BACK MY BODY!!!"
Never, it was its turn to live. It swatted at the blur in front of it as if it was swatting at the voice in its head. Each grew stronger, faster, but not one hit it's target, suddenly the dark dressed stranger pulled out an uzzi and pummeled the wolf into the ground. He took out the other one just for good measure, and continued to pound bullet after bullet into its chest, it screamed and howled in agony.
"Stop it! Stop it! You're killing him!!!" Mars managed to push Chad's arms away.
"That would be the point…"
"How?! How can you?! He's your best friend in the whole world!"
"Nope, that would be me." He gestured to himself with his thumb. "He's only around to give me a challenge. But now he's pathetic, with all strength and no brains, even you girls could take him on. How can I let him live and still claim him to be my rival. It should be an honor for him to die by my hands. We were friends once, so I thought I oughta be the one to put him to rest."
"You can't! You just can't do something like that! Chad what happened? This isn't like you at all!"
Chad looked at her seriously, a gaze that brought sudden warmth to her cheeks. He looked a little too good after he was dressed up like this. "I'd get outta the way if I were you."
Her eyes widened, as he threw her out of the way, and towards her friends, just before he was tackled by the wolf.
"What the…? AGGH!" Rei screamed as the wolf's speed came to an all time high.
That was ITS mate, this human would learn that!
Instinct once again overpowered the voice in its mind, and it finally managed to clip Chad, a small swap in the face. Three stripes of blood trickled down his cheek. He slowly touched his cheek and smirked as he saw the blood on his fingers.
"Not bad wolf man… not bad at all…"
The wolf stood, breathing so hard it looked like it had just run twenty marathons in a row. It's tongue hung from the side of it's mouth, It felt somehow satisfied, as it licked the blood of it's claw. It wasn't near enough to help him any, but the feeling of showing this human it was not invincible…
"Fine than wolf man. Let's finish this."
"No Chad! Dimmer!"
"No Sailor Mars, I do not believe that's Chad, the Negaverse must have him brainwashed… Sailor Moon, try healing him! Now while he's distracted!"
Sailor Moon nodded seriously.
She'd have to wait for the right moment… She crouched, ready for time to give her the chance she'd need. She was undoubtedly the fastest amongst the scouts… but would it be enough? She could barely see them…
They both jumped toward each other, The wolf brought its claw down in an arc as Chad brought his guns to bare, bullet holes ripped through tendons and muscles of the wolf's left shoulder and right thigh. They didn't even slow it down, its powerful arm came down blowing Chad across the street against another of the sky scrapers. His right arm hung limply at his side.
"Shit, I even managed to get my arm in the way of that strike! This thing really is a monster…"
"Now!" Sailor Moon yelled as she jumped and struck, the two must have forgotten about the scouts.
"Moon Healing Activation!"
Lights surrounded the area, lighting it up all around Serena and Chad. Several globes of light blasted their way through the shadows surrounding Chad's aura and lit the night up all around them, blinding the wolf for a few seconds.
Before the wand was yanked outta her hand.
"Huh… wha?, but you were just…" Serena stared up at Chad who was staring at her wand that he held with his good arm.
He smirked. "What? You think you had what it takes blondie? Sorry I ain't done yet, but you can try again if ya like," he tossed the wand back at her forehead. She fumbled with it before holding it tight to her chest.
"A piece of advice from your old teacher? Stay outta it. You scouts are way outta your league… oof!" Yuuichiro found himself impacting against a wall, feeling really stupid, and the world spinning around him…
"Sailor Moon! Now!" Sailor Mars shouted as the bottom part of the broom she just broke over his head swung back and forth.
Sailor Moon nodded quickly and once again sent the wand into action, this time focusing on speed enough to catch him before he was reoriented with his surroundings. A direct line of white light came shooting out swirling around him leaving dust trails of light in it's path, it enveloped him again
"What the hell?! AAAUUUGHH!!!" Chad tried to shield himself from the light with his good arm, the dark energy was being wiped away, ripping out of every pore in his body until it was nothing more than a dark trail of smoke floating above him. With all his energy drained, Chad fell over in a slumped heap, the black faded from his clothing as well as his eyes, swirling finally into nothingness.
He seemed to fall unconscious like the others they healed, but Chad proved how much stronger he'd become over the last few months by simply getting up and shaking it off. He felt really… tired…
"Huh? Dude… Where am I?" The real Chad rubbed his head slowly getting up.
"Chad!" Sailor Mars ran over to him quickly "Chad! You doof! Are you alright?"
"Yaaauugh!! What happened to my arm?!"
"Way to go Sailor Moon!" Jupiter called out from behind.
"Yes great job, but I'm afraid we cannot celebrate yet…" Mercury pointed out quickly
"One friend returned, and one to go…" Sailor Moon smiled triumphantly as she turned to face the beast. It had its eyes shut tight and ears down, as if hearing screaming only it could hear, it leaned heavily on it's good leg, and held its wounded shoulder in one claw. It must have noticed the mood shift back toward it, for it opened its eyes, and took a more prepared for anything stance, still favoring one leg.
"Looks like he still has some fight left in him."
The battle once struck on again, Sailor Moon came in with a flying kick as the wolf waited until the last second to jump away, only to have to dodge a series of lightning bolts fired at it by Jupiter, Mercury came crashing down on it from above, it threw its weight to the side, just barely dodging, it made a strike of it's own, grabbing at Mercury's leg…
"NO!"
The voice shouted, Mercury broke its grip, and flipped away before it had the chance to complete its throw.
The scouts heaved a sigh in relief, it seemed every time it managed to get a hit on one of them, they lost another friend.
"That's what you get for trying to take him on alone you goof!" Mars bopped Chad on the head. Knocking his gaze away from her.
"Ouch!"
he noticed a still figure in a crevice in the road. "Huh? Mina! Rei what happened to her?!"
"We're not sure," Mars paused as she followed her gaze to her fallen friend, "We haven't had time to check, in fact I still don't have time, Dimmer is still too much for us, I got to go back and help! We've needed all of us to take him on, and it hasn't been enough, Venus was hurt earlier on."
"What? You mean that wolf is Dimmer? Than what are you standing around for, help them! I'll see to Mi… uuuh… Venus."
"Right, hang in there guys! Help is on the way!" She stopped to look back at him, "Chad, thank you… the temple hasn't been the same without you…" She turned back toward the dangerous fight against the werewolf and once again joined her friends in combat.
"Great…" He rubbed his head, "Now she notices me after she gets with Dimmer… what lousy timing. Chad you really are a goof…" He got up holding his injured arm and made his way to where Venus lay.
The sky was darkening and the night had grown dark, there was no moon tonight, the clouds had come in, covering the sky, loud aftershocks from heavy blows echoed throughout a seemingly empty city where citizens huddled together in fear within quickly made shelters.
The Prime Minister was kept in his office under the highest security Japan could afford. Suddenly his door burst open.
"Prime Minister, Some mad man is downstairs flashing his badge, and trying to break through the doors!"
"What? Who on Earth…?"
A man flew up against the frame of the door, than a second one joined him, a familiar looking cop came in not long after, other officers of his secret police still hanging on his arms.
"Sir! I'm John, head of the Moonshadow project! Remember? The girls need your help! Get off of me you clowns!" he head butted one, "Sir you've got to listen to me!"
"Let him go! You have a lot of guts Mr. John. I like that, how can I help?"
"Luna! I just got permission for the lights out operation revised!"
"Good job Greg, I'll relay the plan to the scouts."
"Yes Mam! Telepath out."
"Scouts? How are you doing girls?"
"Hiya!! Luna is that you?"
"Yes, Sailor Moon. Telepath has come up with a plan, I'll put him on now."
"Mercury are you there?"
"Yes Telepath, what's the call?"
"We're going to divert all of Tokyo's energy into the street lamps. It doesn't like light, it avoids it, that's because it uses night vision."
"I get it!" Mercury interrupted, "With all of the power going through those lights, he'll be blind as a bat for as long as it has night vision, in other words, until it reverts back to Dimmer! You're a genius!"
"Right as usual Mercury. Just tell me when, I can pull the trigger anytime."
"Did you guys get all that?" Mercury shouted to the others.
"Yeah but how are we going to distract it long enough to do that?!" Jupiter responded, just before letting a punch fly over her shoulder, and using it to flip the beast away. "Whew…"
Malachite and Talenite faced each other on top of one of the near by buildings. So they wouldn't be affected by the ongoing battle beneath. Malachite stood in shadow in the middle of the roof, while Talenite stood on the edge.
"I've only got one shot at this…" Talenite thought to himself. I got to do this just right, or I lose… he hasn't noticed yet…"
"Aren't you going to run away?" Malachite taunted.
"I only run away from those I have no chance of winning against. Sundown, Beryl, and those girls fighting down there, they scare me more than you ever could or will." It's been a while since he had to throw his voice he learned this little trick with magic well over a century ago…
"Than you are even more a fool than I first believed."
"Am I? You're the one talking to an illusion."
"WHAT?!" It was true, there were 5 Talenite's surrounding him, each growing energy balls in their hands.
"So you mock me with such trivial mind games? Fine I will destroy you and all of your pathetic attempts at trickery along with you. He made a large slicing motion with both arms and a white bluish energy sliced through all five Talenites, they all disappeared in mists and swirls of energy, just like the ones the wolf was hopping on earlier.
"You've made a mistake, Malachite. Every enemy has a weakness, and yours is pride." Talenite said in an even tone. "Now pay for it."
Malachite only had enough time to look to where the voice had come from. Talenite was levitating above him, it was his shadow Malachite was standing in the whole time! The pink blast took out the majority of the top part of the building, collapsing the top three stories into the ground, and Malachite along with them.
"Watch out!" Jupiter called, and pulled Mercury out of a flying kick she was about to use on the wolf, the girls deftly dodged the debris, Sailor Moon grabbing Tuxedo Mask, and Chad dragging Venus to safety.
"What happened?!" Jupiter looked around at the destroyed street.
"I'm not sure! Wait! Where is Dimmer?!"
The scouts looked all around, the wolf was no where to be seen.
"You don't think he's been crushed do you?"
"No… Dimmer…" Tears threatened to well up in Mars eyes, no one could survive that.
Chad looked at the scene, than down at his hand.
"He's still alive, I can feel him, but he doesn't seem as close by… Wait a minute! That's it!"
"Girls!" He shouted, "The other side! He's running away!!"
"Running…?" Mercury looked toward Chad, but why would he…? "No! He's not running!"
She turned toward the others "He's hunting again! We can't allow him to recover now! We're so close!"
Sailor Moon looked down at Tuxedo Mask, still leaning on her, "Than what can we do?"
Tuxedo Mask looked up at her, and took his weight completely off of her. It hurt like hell just to stand, he gestured for Sailor Moon to give chase.
"He's right." Jupiter put a hand on Sailor Moon's shoulder. "We have to catch him before some one else gets hurt."
Sailor Moon never took her eyes away from his, he nodded in agreement with Lita. His eyes they seemed to be saying something…
She looked in closely, she could almost hear his voice, "Show me, show me you're strong!"
She wiped same tears from her cheeks. "Be strong Serena," she told herself, "be strong."
She suddenly looked toward the rest of the scouts and nodded, before jumping away, all the scouts jumped after her, filled with silent determination.
Tuxedo Mask, managed a smile, than started walking as quickly as his injuries would let him.
"Damn, I can't help them like this." Chad looked to his arm, "Mina, Mina snap out of it." Her face didn't look as hurt as the situation seemed, it must have been a miracle, there were lots of abrasions and scratches. The hole in the cement looked like it should have caved in her skull. Dimmer must have been trying to break free again when he hit her, that's the only explanation for it… "Mina, come on, You're just unconscious, you gotta come outta this."
"Wha, huh? Chad?! Am I dead?!"
"Not yet you aren't. Can see why you'd feel like that though."
"Chad! Chad is that you? Is it really you!"
"Uhh, yeah… at least I think so…" He blinked a couple times, and scratched his cheek with his index finger. "Aren't I?" He wasn't sure; last he remembered was being stuck in those cold Negaverse caves.
"You most certainly are…" Venus smiled, and reached up and took his hand away from his cheek, and kissed him.
Chad grew completely red in the face.
"Thanks for saving me."
"But I didn't save you…"
"Would you rather me take it back?" She laughed upliftingly.
"I ..uh… but Mina, I can't… Rei .. and …"
Venus backed off a little sad at being rejected, "But Chad, Rei loves Dimmer… You can't take that away from them now…"
"I know, I don't want anyone hurt by me…but …No, wait! I can't give up!" He shouted, "I won't quit, no matter what. Dimmer you are my rival in every way! I won't let you win so easily!"
"Chad…" Venus whispered, than she smiled. "If you won't give up, than neither should I, right? I don't want to see you hurt, but that's how love works sometimes doesn't it?"
"Yup," He smiled back cheerfully, "There's always hope, even if it's a small one, I gotta try."
Mina looked to his eyes. She could tell he really meant it despite the completely un-serious tone he used. It was funny how someone's eyes could show how much someone cared. He held so much love for Rei and Dimmer both. And he would never try anything to hurt them willingly. But he couldn't give up on Rei either. Mina smiled sadly. He was fighting a battle they both knew he would lose, but he continued to fight it cheerfully, and never looking back. She looked up and smiled, just as cheerfully as Chad.
"I'll be there for you then. Even until after you crash and burn."
"Thanks Mina, I…Hey! Wait a minute! I can't thank you for that! Can I? Dude…" Chad scratched his head really confused.
Venus just laughed. How could Rei not love this guy? He was always so cheerful, and determined. She had made her decision.
She would wait.
Chad was always kind and a friend to all of the scouts. She found herself quickly drawn to love his kind ways, jokes, and determination. She realized her situation wasn't so different than his. She too loved someone whose heart was someone else's. His. The situation seemed a hopeless cycle, but Chad just said there was always hope right? His situation looked even worse than hers did. If he could see hope in that, than she could see hope in hers too. Right now he just didn't love her like he did Rei, they haven't known each other long enough, she was sure that was it. Somehow, she just had to get him to notice her…
"Pathetic."
The dark voice startled them both.
"You aren't even a shadow of the power you just were. If you want something, you just need to take it."
"Malachite!"
"What? You didn't think a trifle thing like that would be the end of me did you?" Malachite floated out of the dark alley behind them, still in the bubble like forcefield that shielded him from the building, and the majority of Talenite's attack.
"I underestimated him, it will not happen the next time. Yuuichirou, you're coming with me. You've managed to prove your worth, even if we have to brainwash you again. We put a lot of hard work into you, and we aren't willing to let you get away that easily."
Sailor Venus was up shielding him with her arms in a flash.
"No! We just got him back! I won't let you take him! Venus Crescent beam SMASH!"
"Stupid brat, do you really think you could stop me?" The beam was absorbed into the forcefield surrounding him. "Well, you've had your fun, now it's my turn."
To her surprise her own crescent beam came flying back out at her! She clenched her eyes shut, looked away, and held her arms up in front of her in hopes of some kind of protection against it. The alley allowed no room for her to dodge. She waited but the impact never came, she heard an agonized scream in front of her, and felt some weight fall heavily down on her, she caught the weight before it hit the ground. When she opened her eyes she was face to face with Chad once more. He must have shielded her from the blast! She felt something wet and sticky on his back as she tried to set him upright, when she looked at her hand it was covered in blood.
"Chad! No! I'm transformed, I could have taken it! You're not!"
"Yeah, funny how you never think of those things…" He grunted out with a pained smile, he closed his eyes, and let his head fall. He had lost consciousness.
"Ah, so there you are, there's the strength I seen in you before. Well, Sailor Venus I believe it was? Are you going to let me take him now? Or would you rather him bleed to death? He'll come back if you let me take him, but if he dies here, you'll never see him again."
"Oh Chad…" She looked down at his face. It was like that of an angel sleeping peacefully, he would never hurt the scouts. She knew it. She looked up at Malachite. "You'll never be able to turn him fully against us, you know that."
"Tell yourself what you wish if it comforts you. People lie to themselves all the time to justify their actions, you're just a person no matter what powers you have."
"I don't believe you. Take him, heal him, and when you try to bring him back to fight, he'll come back to us again. We'll see who's lying to themselves then."
"As you wish." At that, both Malachite and Chad were teleported away, and Venus left on her knees crying and alone.
"So that's where it is." Artemis smiled as the pink energy portal opened up in front of him. He knew this was the place. It seemed to feel different from everywhere else. "Hey! I gotta hide!" he jumped behind some rocks as they Malachite appeared with Chad draped over his shoulder, they walked down he caves towards Beryl's main layer.
"Looks like the scouts beat him. I hope everyone's all right," he hopped through the portal right before it closed.
"Sailor Venus!"
"Huh?" Venus, startled by the unexpected, and familiar voice, looked around, but she didn't see anything.
"Hey down here."
"Artemis? Artemis!!" She scooped up the cat in her arms and layered his cheek with kisses. "Oh Artemis! I missed you, I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too Mina." Artemis smiled as she held him tight.
"Artemis, where were you? Luna's going to go nuts when she sees you."
"I didn't have a choice, I was there when they kidnapped Chad. I just got out now when I seen them taking him back, is anything wrong? Why were you crying?"
"Oh Artemis so much has happened! Chadwaskidnapped,thescoutshadn'tdoneanythingfortwoweeks,DarienwentmissingDimmerturnedintoawerewolf,Wegotthescoutsbacktogether,Luna'sbeenbesideherselfwithworry,DarienwasfoundlastnightandsaidDimmer'swerewolfformwouldbeattackingtoday,nowitattackedandIwasgoingtobehurtbutevilChadshotthegroundbeforemyheadgotcrushedbyit,thanIfellunconsciousandwokeuptoChadIkissedhimandMalachitejusttookhimawayagain!!!"
Now if it were any normal person he would have told her to slow down, or he might not have understood it, but Mina had been Artemis charge for years, and he was well aware of her outbursts and had long ago learned to understand them. But Dimmer being a werewolf had caught him off guard. Sailor V had been up against ghosts before, even a few monsters that weren't far from youmas, but never vampires or werewolves, they were just things of myths.
"Than where is everyone now?"
"I don't know…" Venus started to calm down, "I woke up and only Chad was around…" She looked around to make sure none of her friends were around.
"Than we've got to go find them. They might need our help!"
"Right! But where do we look? The communications band I had broke…"
"I'm not sure, but something tells me this way…" he jumped from her arms and pointed around one of the corners of the alley.
"How do you know?"
"I don't, but I'm just going to trust my instincts. That okay with you?"
"Fine by me, it's better than sitting here crying. Chad wouldn't want me to do that." She stood up.
"Good." Artemis smiled at her, "Than let's go!"
"Emily!"
"Mam, please stop, we'll have someone looking for her!" The policemen tried to calm the frantic woman down.
"Emily! I just took my eye off her for a second! Emily!! Please! Please find my Emily!" the frantic mother called out. The police were holding her back into the shelter stopping her from going anywhere near the doors.
"Any sign of her?" One officer asked into his radio quietly to not let the woman hear.
"Nope, nothing. Probably just like the rest, probably got separated inside the shelter. We'll keep an eye out on the perimeter anyway."
"Where did you last see her Mam?"
"By the park, she was by the park practicing for her school carnival. She's only in kindergarten! Please you have to find her…"
"We'll do our best Mam, inside and out. The security monitors haven't caught sight of her leaving, so it is more than likely she is in the shelter. Just keep looking in here, we'll continue watching outside."
"Yes… I'm sorry.. You will tell me if you find her?!"
"Immediately." The officer smiled disarmingly. It had to be the fiftieth case of this today, there was no reason to assume otherwise. Than his radio came up, it was Telepath.
"Sir! You MUST find THAT girl!!!!"
Scene changes to a shot of security cameras looking away as a man dressed in a white shirt and light vase khakis with lengthy streaming white hair leading a little girl outside.
"Are you sure you left it out here?"
"Uh huh! It's at the park right over there!" The girl pointed across the street.
"Well hurry and get it. I'll wait here."
The girl smiled brightly and ran towards the park. The man helped her through the all the people so she could go back and get the song sheets she forgot at the park. She was so excited that Dimmer had picked her to help sing the lead part to their song. Dimmer was her favoritest teacher, even than Miss Grant, and Amy. He always played, and always funny, or doing funny things. She was so upset when she had realized she lost her song sheets, she didn't want Dimmer to be disappointed. Than the nice man saw her and asked her what was wrong. He seemed to emanate kindness, so she told him. Even though her mother told her not to talk to strangers. He lead her out of the building and to the park. He was seemed nicer than anyone she had ever met before, he always spoke gently, and softly. There was something there, something different, something that told her this was the one person in the world she could trust. She was so happy, she could go get her song sheets. "Oh wait. I forgot to thank the nice man!" She turned around to see he was no one was there. "Wow… he must be an angel! Bye Mister Angel, and thank you!" she called out to the sky, before turning back around and running toward the park.
Fate looked down at the small child from a nearby roof top, a little ashamed at his plans. But it would be good for everyone in the end. Even the little girl, and she wouldn't know anyway. "What must be done…"
Still her innocent eyes as she yelled out to the sky shook him. "Bye Mister Angel! And thank you!"
"An angel? No, I have no wings. Maybe someday child, for now I can only do what I can do. Maybe if I can find him again, and somehow convince him…but it's impossible he does not listen to reason, but Valor may… He can understand…"
But for now as Fate set the girl's future in motion, he didn't feel much like an angel. More like the devil himself…
He looked up at the clouds, as he felt a single drop fall and hit against his head. Dark and desolate they seemed.
"How very… appropriate…" He vanished.
The clouds felt dark and hung heavily overhead, a slight drizzle had started. The air felt heavy, the feeling of solemn dismay seemed to wrap all who were under them. It seemed all of nature was starting to feel what might happen.
Thunder sounded making Sailor Moon jump.
"Oh no~oo! Where did this storm come from?! As if it wasn't scary enough trying to find a werewolf at night, it had to add thunder!!" She squealed.
"Scouts, we have a problem, I'm not sure why but fate has just been changed, there is a little girl outside one of the shelters in that area! You gotta find either Dimmer or that girl now!"
"What?! Oh no!" Sailor Moon stared wide eyed at the radio.
"Where is he? How could we lose him?" Jupiter stood at the edge of the building's roof searching desperately.
"Too easily I'm afraid. Dimmer doesn't want to be caught. We'll have to split up to search it's the only way we can find him in time."
"Well I'm all for it, keep in contact guys! If anybody loses communications we'll assume something's wrong. Got it?" Mars looked back at the others from where she was searching the other side of the building.
"Right!" They all replied then simultaneously jumped off all sides of the building.
"I'll check the building the girl came from. Maybe I can find her before she gets too far." Amy spoke into her radio as she sprinted along the empty streets.
"Good idea Amy."
She stopped by the predetermined shelter. It looked and felt just like every other abandoned building around, the police really did a great job with the place, but the security cameras that surrounded the building gave it away. She ran up to the door and spoke into a speaker system that had been quickly hooked up.
"Excuse me, this is Sailor Mercury, codename: Moon shadow."
"Roger Mercury, codename has been confirmed."
"I need you to send all your video surveillance records with that girl in them to your main database to this speaker system. I'll jack into it from here."
"Yes Mam. We've searched through them time and time again though, and came up with nothing."
"Then does the girl have someone she knows in there? If so ask where she might have gone."
"Uh.. yeah, that's right. Just one minute."
Radio silence.
"She says to try the park."
"The park?"
"Yes, she was practicing a song for the winter carnival there. Her mother says she's only in kindergarten… poor tyke is going to be scared out of her wits if she sees that wolf."
"Winter carnival? Officer? What's her name?"
"Emily Emerson… we're counting on you scouts. Get her back as quick as possible right Mercury? Mercury? Sailor Mercury are you there?"
*shot of the radio cord dangling by the door where it hung. No one to be found any where around. Rain coming down in sheets, and thunder booming not far in the distance*
Sailor Mars looked around. Randomly searching was getting her nowhere, and she knew this place pretty well it wasn't far from her temple. If Dimmer was headed in this direction… She suddenly stopped.
"Of course! The park! He's going to try to find where he had that demon buried!"
She fumbled for her radio.
"Scouts, the park! He's headed for the park." She only got mixed garble in return from Mercury. The rain was soaking her through to the bone and the sailor fukus did little to help. "Dammit, the rain must be interfering with the signal! Great. Just great, that was one of our main advantages."
She swore at this accursed weather, the last time it rained this hard Dimmer had fallen from Tokyo tower… maybe Serena wasn't just being whiney crying about these storms after all…
She stepped onto the muddy soil of the forested path winding its way through the small patch of trees in the middle of Tokyo. The dark shadows that hung between them had her paranoid.
"Great," she grumbled, "things just keep getting better and better…"
*shot of Sailor Mars walking cautiously down the dark, spooky, muddy path into the woods as rain pours down around her*
Talenite looked tired as he stood on the edge of the disaster he had caused among the streets of Tokyo. The rain was pouring down and a sudden flash of lightning lit up the scene below. He had his eyes closed letting the rain stream down his face, washing away the sweat. He could sense the power of Dimmer and the scouts. He couldn't help them though. Not anymore than he had. He spent all of his energy reserves in that one shot at Malachite, and it hadn't been anywhere near enough. It was enough for him to get away, and that was it. There was hardly any magic left in him. Enough for maybe a single teleport to where the scouts wound up. But would it be any use going to them like this?
In this weak state, he wouldn't be of any help to them.
Lightning flashed around him once again as he made up his mind.
*shot of the dark stormy night, lightning lighting the dark figure silhouetted out from the darkness of the night, before leaving the scene once more in darkness. When the lightning flashes again the figure is gone*
"Artemis? There's Rei's temple! You're a genius, of course Dimmer would be headed home. Maybe the others have already have already got him home."
"I don't think so Venus. I keep hearing growled voices in my head, and the feeling that things aren't right… Venus, I think he's close by, but not there…"
"Than where Artemis?" Venus looked around. The streets were so empty, everything felt strange.
"I'm not sure." He shook some of the water off as it drenched his fur.
Luna was sitting at the radio. She was waiting to be updated too, but the storm's interference had the radio receiving nothing but static.
The warm temple seemed to be so cozy compared to the rain smashing itself against the windows. She jumped up to get a better look. Thunder picked that moment to shake them. Luna jumped a little. "I hope Serena is alright…"
She knew how much she hated these storms, she was absolutely terrified the thunder and lightning. And the ferociousness of this storm in particular had even her own heckles up.
The lightning that followed after the thunder came as expected, but some thing happened that she didn't expect. There in the middle of the street far below the stairs Luna could make out two figures. Most people would never have been able to recognize someone so far away on a dark stormy night, but Luna wasn't a person. She was a cat, and her eyes had been made to be able to see in the dark. And as she peered into the darkness, she could make out two distinct forms of a long haired girl and her cat…
"No… It couldn't be!" She stood up, and ran out the door, the warmth of the temple forgotten completely, and hardly feeling the freezing rain pouring down around her.
She called out into the storm.
"Than we should keep searching right? Artemis?"
It was barely a whisper. Hardly enough to be heard, but Artemis could have swore he heard it. The dark city seemed too much like the caves he had spent the last few weeks in. The company felt good. He missed Mina so much as he walked through those caves alone, and hunted. His only hope was not to be seen, not to be heard. He had to keep busy to stop his mind from roaming to other things. He had learned much of the ins and outs of the caves, where the generals chambers were. Even where they kept the crystals though security was so high around there, he had no chance of trying to steal it. They didn't even trust their own people from trying to steal it. After all power is power and if they could access the power of that crystal…
"Artemis! Are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh yeah Venus, I just blanked out for a seco… It is…"
He'd missed one person more than he did his charge. And her voice had just floated on the wind. Only by chance could even his sensitive ears have heard it. He wasn't sure what it was the voice had said, but he knew immediately who it was. A voice that constantly called him through cat naps, and peaceful nights.
"Artemis!"
There it was again… but now he knew he must be hearing things. Only in his dreams had she ever called out for him. He turned to look beside him, something just told them that's where the end of this would take place, that's where Dimmer was… It was the woods beside the temple if wasn't mistaken…
As he started to walk forward, his head down, he walked right into Venus' knee. She smiled down at him as she knelt in front of him. Smiling she slowly turned his head to look behind him.
"Artemis!"
He blinked was it really her? Was he seeing things, she looked happy… smiling, smiling at him. How could he be the cause of anything that beautiful…?
"Artemis! It's you, it's really you!"
"Luna? Luna!" He bounded off to meet her as quickly as he could. They immediately rubbed up against each other, her wet fur seemed like heaven to him.
"Artemis…" Luna let out a small sob. "Artemis where were you? … I thought I'd lost you."
He looked at her a little stunned. She was crying, he couldn't tell the tears had mixed in with her fur, and the rain hid it from him, the sob was the only reason he could tell. She was worried, had been worried for him. First she was smiling, than he found out he had caused her to cry. He felt like heaven when he made her laugh or smile, but there was no one he could hate more than himself, when she was angry or sad because of him.
"Shhh… It's okay, I'm sorry… please don't cry…" He nuzzled into her neck.
"Oh Artemis, I'm the one who's sorry… You seen it the whole time, seen what I never could. I chased you away cause I couldn't see it. Tell him I'm sorry Artemis, please? Forgive me, please?" she cried into his fur.
"Huh? I don't understand… Luna, there's nothing to forgive."
"Yes there is, I see that now. My purpose… I should have seen it right along. It was Serena who helped me see it."
"Luna…" he smiled, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh you silly cat," She wiped her eyes with her paw, still smiling, and backed off to look in his eyes. "You don't remember do you?"
"Remember? You mean you remember something else? About the Moon Kingdom?"
Luna smiled up at him. He really had no idea about anything did he? How Father Time created them both, she had rejected their father and he had embraced him. None of it even entered his mind. She remembered that Father Time had told her that if she ever needed to contact him, just ask Artemis. Artemis had some way of contacting the most powerful person in the entire universe. But he didn't remember about him, or any of it. Queen's Serenity did her job too well.
"Don't worry about it, for now Artemis. The girls are in trouble, Venus? Are you okay? I got radioed saying you took a pretty hard hit."
"I'm fine. Chad saved me…" She looked away quickly. "Malachite appeared, I tried to fight him, but I couldn't do anything about it. He took him again, they're going to brainwash him again."
"Chad will be fine Venus, he's a fighter, and a damn good one." Artemis turned to her. "I'm sure of it."
"Yes. Of course, Chad won't give up. He never does…" She smiled remembering the earlier conversation.
"What are you guys doing here than anyway?" Luna asked as she continued to push herself against Artemis. She had felt so alone, and his wet fur let her know he someone was close by...
She blushed, as she told herself that's all it was.
"Dimmer is around here Luna, I can't explain it, I'm going mostly by instinct. But I'm certain he's close. In fact I think he's in there…"
*shot of Sailor Venus, and the two cats standing close to each other. The rain drenching them all as they looked into the shadows of the woods. Lightning flashes behind the woods giving the scene an ominous feeling*
Sailor Moon ran, head down, and holding her hands over her ears and letting out a small whimper every time the lightning flashed, and thunder rolled through the dark clouds of the night. She had run in no direction in particular, she had no idea where she was. The rage of the storm had her terrified. She was alone, and scared out of her wits.
"I want to be strong!" she yelled out at the storm tears mixing with the rain on her face.
In answer the storm seemed to yell back at her as a large roar of thunder rang through the heavens and several lightning flashes brightened the sky just enough to see the dark, gloomy clouds that hung above that seemed to have no end.
She fell on her face at full sprint with a yelp. She scraped up her knees and hands good, she hadn't looked yet, but she could feel the rain and mud stinging the new cuts. She didn't know where the mud came from, there was no mud on the paved streets of Tokyo. She didn't look up to see though. Instead she just laid there not moving and sobbed. There was no one there… her friends had to split from her, and without them she knew she was weak. She loved her friends so much…
Lightning flashed once more tearing an involuntary shriek from her as she quickly curled up into a fetal position.
But now her friends weren't here, it was only her, and she couldn't find the strength that they all seemed to see in her. Fear had her gripped so tightly and it wasn't letting go. She shrieked again as another blast of thunder rang out above. And then again as she felt a hand touch her. She quickly backed away from it, her eyes wide with terror, she backed off until she felt herself run back first into a tree. A dark figure stood over her, and seemed to limp toward her. It made no sound, it simply came toward her.
She squeezed her eyes shut as it reached down to her, and another flash of lightning lit up the skies.
"I'm going to die!" She whispered and thought incredulously. The thought seemed to conquer and take over every other thought in her body, her mind kept repeating it over and over.
"I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'm going to die!"
For some reason her mind started to come back to itself. As it did she felt the warmth of someone holding her, a gentle swaying motion. It was comforting.. She didn't seem to be sitting in the mud anymore. She slowly unclenched her eyes, daring to look. Was she in someone's lap?
The thunder sounded once more. She clenched her eyes again quickly and hid her face in the person's shoulder. Their arms comfortingly wrapped around her.
She smiled in spite of herself. She knew who it was. It was the same person it always was. No wonder he didn't make a sound, he could only speak in grunts, and garbled noise. That probably would have scared her further. It was her Darien, she peeked out from his shoulder to stare at him. He tried to smile down at her. She could see the pain etched on his face for even trying to smile with his shattered jaw.
She reached up and slid her hand down from his forehead to his cheek. Was it really him? Was he really there? How did he do it? How was he always there? The same person who was there for her time after time. She hugged him tightly, forgetting about his back injury, as more lightning flashed and outlined his features. He moved her so she would look back up at him.
She looked quickly away embarrassed. She could only imagine the sight she made now, half covered in wet and caked mud, the rain and mud ruining her hair she worked so hard to keep looking like it normally does… She almost felt like crying. She didn't know the reason why she wanted to impress him right now. Well she thought she knew, she could admit to herself easily she loved Tuxedo Mask, but Darien? She was just starting to realize, maybe she loved him too. And did she truly believe she loved him? Well in her heart of hearts she would often say no, how could she know what love was yet? She was only fourteen after all, but here it was staring her in the face. Somehow as she looked at him, putting himself through pain to just try to comfort her, all of her feelings came rushing to the surface.
But as time seemed to stop it started up again too soon, he started to get up, standing her up too. He was having a hard time walking so she put his arm over her shoulder and helped him along. He was right. He wanted to keep moving, there was still something they had to do. He was so strong, in heart, in mind, in body, so full of strength. The next bit of thunder rolled past without her noticing. All of her attention was on him and what was ahead of them both. For the first time she looked at her surroundings. She had somehow ran into the forest park not far from Dimmer's old bench he had slept on. She reached for her radio, to try to get in contact with the other scouts. There was nothing but static though.
*shot of them as they walked toward the outer edges of the park, both depending on each other to get there.*
"There!" Sailor Jupiter shouted as she saw the wolf sniffing the air. It had found the trail of something. Was it the girl? She wouldn't give it time to look. She put her radio on the emergency beacon, and attacked it with a flying knee kick.
It dodged the last second, grabbed her by her leg, whipped her around and flung her toward a building.
"Not that easy buddy!" She yelled as she turned herself around in midair and used her feet to push off the wall she was flung at, and once more threw herself at the beast.
The wolf simply backhanded her away, she managed to recover and land on her feet again, making a small trench in the pavement. "Man!" She shook her head to try to get rid of the dizziness, "Might as well just been thrown into the wall…"
The beast came barreling down upon her, it's wounds taking away the usual grace to it's movement. It was losing power fast.
But so was she. She knew she couldn't take the wolf on alone, they had a hard enough time when the whole team was there! She tried to jump over its head only to be grabbed once more by her leg and to be thrown to the ground in front of it, sending shattered street in all direction.
"Aggh!" Jupiter Let out a quick scream as her arm twisted at a wrong angle on impact. Was it broke? She couldn't tell, she new something must have tore as pain rained up and down her arm
It stood breathing heavily above her, its open wounds staining its wet, white fur with blood. Than it struck both of its arms pinning down either of hers, she screamed as it put more pressure onto her wounded arm, it jaws came for her throat.
Suddenly it looked away, something else had caught its attention, an engine was roaring down the empty streets of the city, there was a small imported car heading straight for them.
"LITA!!" Ken heard his own scream despite the fact there was no way she could possibly hear him from inside the car. That fucking monster hurt his Lita! He poured on the gas. It was going to die.
Things seemed to happen in slow motion for all three, Ken aimed the car for the small ramp Lita's impact had made in the street. The car hit the ramp and went flying toward the wolf. The wolf brought up both its arms to make an "X", than swung its claws in an arc into the car. The ripping of metal echoed through the streets, Ken screamed as the part of the car, engine and all, seemed to be slowly ripped into two. A spark of the tearing metal hit a bit of the gas in the torn apart engine. Jupiter was just able to make out the horrified look on Ken's face before the car started to explode. She was moving.
In the split second, as the car started to explode, and the wolf managed to rip apart into the cab of it, Jupiter snatched Ken from the driver's seat, (for once not wearing the seatbelt saved someone's life). Mercury had come from nowhere.
"Now Greg! Now!"
All the street lamps suddenly flashed making everything as bright as day. It was only for a few moments, but it was all that was needed. The wolf looked around scared, he couldn't see! He couldn't see!! He ran towards the park. He knew where it was, could smell the trees easily compared to the rock buildings all around him.
It saved them, Jupiter knew, the wolf wouldn't come after the now, but Jupiter also knew as the car exploded, she'd never get out of the blast on time, when time seemed to speed up however, Ken had done some twisting, and instead of her back exposed the explosion, it was his. The explosion went off.
The two were thrown into the streets, apart from each other, Jupiter was shielded from most of the blast, yet still felt herself smash into a parked car. She ignored the pain as her training with Dimmer taught her to do, it was a simple thing to do as she watched Ken's body bounce of the ground, twist at horrible angles, skid, than slowly roll to a stop.
"KEN! Oh my God KEN!" Jupiter rushed over to him. He was unconscious, welts, char marks, and gashes seemed to cover him from head to toe. She couldn't move him, she didn't know what was broken, and couldn't risk having him hurt further. She looked up to the park where the werewolf headed.
"Jupiter! Jupiter are you alright?! I got the emergency beacon on my computer, the radios are out!" Mercury ran past the wolf to her friend.
"He..." Jupiter sobbed as, she tried to keep herself from hugging Ken, "He saved me… He needs help… Shelter, the rain… he won't last long like this"
Mercury nodded. She pressed a button on the side of her headband and a computer appeared before her eyes, looking more like snow goggles, it was the transparent numbers that gave away what it was though. She dialed up Greg, and knew help was on the way.
"The shelter is the building right beside us Jupiter. I'll go get help, just wait here!" Mercury ran off toward the building.
Her words were far away from Lita's mind though. He saved her, sacrificed himself for her… and she wasn't even able to touch him. How unfair was that? She felt no tears, no sadness, hate and anger filled all of her thoughts as she looked up towards the park where the wolf had jumped off to.
* Shot of Sailor Jupiter staring off into the woods, her rage visible in all of her features, burning within her. She spoke a single word with a growl that sounded almost like one of the wolf's...
"Dimmer…"
Sailor Moon Says:
"Hey! You can't win them all, but that doesn't mean you should give up! No matter what the odds against you are, and it doesn't matter if you win, all that matters is that you try, and if you're gonna try give it your all! At first it didn't seem like we could win, but we kept trying, and now, well we just might pull this one off, so remember! Try with everything you have! Sailor Moon Says!
Next time on:
Sailor Moon
A Change in Fate: Dimmer Chronicles!
Talenite's Victory…
Sailor Scouts Never Quit!
The Power of Night's Valor.
Reality Check:
The plane ride didn't take long, it turned out they already had a jet waiting for them both specifically by name, and their stuff packed, and Katie's parents informed. They said they were still trying to get a hold of Mike's Father. Mike shook his head. He hoped his father could get around without him for a bit. Mitchell met them at the airport, arms crossed, and looking annoyed.
"Took yas long enough."
"Yeah, well you know, I hate how slow those jets go, I mean a whole hour? Form Cape Breton, Canada to Nasa? Sheesh, I don't know how you managed to wait." Katie smiled sarcastically, before the three broke into smiles.
Mitchell smirked, he loved how they could see right through any act he put out. "Come on, I'll show yas to where your staying, I'm glad you both could make it."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world man."
"I know."
"So where we staying?"
"My place on the base." He walked over to the limousine parked there, and opened the door for them." They all went in with plenty of room despite the fact that they had company. A rather large man both in height and girth, in a gray business suit.
"This here's Jamie guys. Manager of DiC, and my new boss."
"Nice to meet you sir."
"…" Mike smiled appreciatively and avoided the man's gaze. Why was he looking directly at him like that?
"And nice to finally meet you Katie. I've been meaning to get a hold you sooner, but I've been a little busy. I wanted to apologize for your appearance on the show without your expressed permission."
"Oh no, don't worry about that, it's not like ya could have done anything about it anyway. Or at least that's what I hear."
"Yes, I'm afraid stopping Dimmer from thinking about his own friends is beyond my influence, but I still feel awful about you being harassed by the media, for which I hired Mitchell, and guarantee .5% of the profit we make off all of this goes to both you and Mike for your troubles."
Katie's mind just went blank… She was rather speechless, .5% of all Sailor Moon profits and whatever investments DiC held in this? She was just told she was rich… She looked at Mitchell, he was smiling, it's obvious he had some part to play in this.
"Ah, and Mike. I've heard so much about you, not much voluntarily I might add," Jamie gave a short, irritated look to Mitchell who shrugged, "I'm going to ask you both the same thing I asked Mitchell when he first arrived. Do you believe in magic?"
Both of them sweat dropped. They half believed in magic before all this, the fact that one of their best friends just got sucked into a new dimension didn't seem like a scientific fact.
Jamie seemed to realize this, and decided to continue on with what he was going to say. "but it does take a bit of the fun from this." He thought to himself jokingly before continuing, "Well I suppose so, well Right then, Mitchell told you about our broom experiments I assume?"
They nodded in synch with each other.
"Good then, now we want to send over a person, someone to contact Dimmer."
"WHAT?!" All three yelled once again in synch, Mitchell's jaw hit the floor of the car, Jamie had kept this secret, even from him. He had no idea they managed to get this far.
"SCYNCHRO!! " The other two smiled and laughed.
"The person we want to send is Mike."
This caught everyone's attention, though Mitchell had guessed it by now.
"Has it been tested?" Mitchell was quick to ask.
"No."
"Is it safe?" Katie was next.
"We have no idea."
"Sounds great." Mike smiled.
Review response:
Hart: Heh, hi again Hart! yer getting to be a regular name up there on the reviews. I far from mind ^-^V Glad your enjoying the fic so much, and thanks for the advice on the rating, yer the first to really respond to that.
Mina down, four scouts to go GWAHAAHAHA!
As for the genius thing… notta chance. Must be too much time on my hands, which makes sense, cause now that I don't have time, I don't update near as much as I should… But be patient, cause I unless I die in some way, this fic will be finished. I give all the readers my word.
Setsuna_Darkheart: thanks for the review! Hopefully this one has kicked just as much as the chapters before this one for ya. The Scum of the earth one, was just as much fun to write I'll guarantee ya that. I got a couple more like it planned. Mostly sappy unfortunately, but –The Offspring- Come Out Swinging- will be on there for an upcoming battle scene… by up and coming I mean much further on and towards the end of the fic though.
himitsu-no-hi: Yay! Glad to hear from ya Himitsu As always!! Hey thanks for the spelling error, I'll get on that the moment I get the chance. Hehehe, yeah I know I'm evil like that, but that's haf the fun of it all, I'm glad ya managed to get the linkage between them! I wasn't sure if I understood it myself sometimes lol.
As for the reality bits? They're the one thing I keep up sleeve. It keeps the veteran readers coming back for more ~_^
Endnotes:
Hi all. Me again, ack! Has it been this long since I updated?! Holy crap! Moron I be! But at least I 'have' updated! *^-^*
I hope everyone enjoyed, I've been slaving away at the next chapters, and it's getting more and more difficult to write, and keep on track of things. I wanted to finish this by chapter forty, but it looks outta the question now, maybe early forties though. Anyway read and review please!! I can't tell you how much a review can spur me on to write faster. (nothing like encouragement from people who like yer stuff, it's like adrenaline)
I hope to update faster, this time, as always
peace out all!