The freakin' italics and bolds aren't working! Why not? Why won't they
work!!! Why!!! Some one please help me out if you know, till then I'll have
to improvise. All the stuff that would have been mind speech is now going
to have (::) around it. Like this:
:: I am in your mind! Haha! ::
And any stresses will be with the asterisks (*) Like this:
"That guy is *ugly*!"
I think you get it. Well, anyways, I don't own Sailor Moon, wish I did, you can't sue me. On with the story!
Song of the New Cosmos
By: Liquid_Goddess_Reformation
Chapter Three: The Venus Saga Part 2: A New Tempo
From what Minai had gathered, after she'd blacked out, two of the soldiers had kicked the beast off of her and carried her with them to this place. They were in one of the store room's of the school where the festival was being hosted. The five guards and the Lady all looked so tired, they must have been running a long time to get to that place; it was pretty far from where she had fainted.
One of the soldiers, who looked to be the one in charge, was listening to a radio. It seemed to be a military frequency with officers reporting the standings on the battle with the beasts, but all the words must have been scrambled into a code or something because she couldn't tell what they were saying. The store room was pretty small but they all managed to sit down with a reasonable amount of comfort against all the boxes and file cabinets. There was one window near the ceiling that was pretty small and no one dared look at it for fear there might be a shadow beast staring back. It was amazingly quiet even with the radio, though the volume was turned down low. No one dared move until the man with the radio spoke.
"The scouts got out!" he said quietly but still joyfully. Everyone sighed a bit of relief. Minai did as well, remembering that the sailor scouts were in actuality, her friends Selece and Terasu. "They are at head- quarters and they've put up an energy shield perimeter around the school and the fair grounds."
"What about us! Are they going to get us out? Or do we have any new orders?" a female soldier asked.
"They haven't said anything about it yet. I'd say that they would just leave us here to hide until they've exterminated all the shadow beasts except that we've got Lady over here," he pointed to the Lady Councilor, "and those new shadow creatures are humans. So they can't leave us here and they can't kill the shadow beasts. This does not bode well for us. What do you think Seraph?"
"I agree with you're observation. We can only stay here so long and all our swords are broken, so we can't fight out." the councilor said. Minai finally noticed that all the sword handles were barely staying inside the sheaths and some didn't even have the handle left. The councilor pulled what was left from her sword out. It was just a military issue spelled- blade with a shattered pommel. "This is a festival of the arts, yes? I suggest we try to find some more swords." She said.
"Yah, but we'll have to know where those swords might be down there or we'd probably get lost or hacked up by the creatures." Another soldier objected and everyone agreed. It seemed that they all wanted new swords but they didn't want to get sliced up for them.
"It won't be too hard getting there unnoticed," The head soldier said, "most of the beasts are gathered at the energy shield and Seraph and Daisuke magiked the humanoids while they were off their guard and the vanished, so they won't be back for a while. I'd still rather get a map or something, does anyone know their way around here or remember where everything was?" everyone shook their heads.
"Oh!" Minai exclaimed and pulled something out of her pocket and showed it to everyone. It was a crumpled up festival guide with a map and shop descriptions.
"Perfect!" the head soldier said. He took the pamphlet from her and laid it out so everyone could see it. "Does any one by chance have a-," the councilor handed him a pen before he could finish. "I can barely believe how lucky we are; a guide, a pen, too bad we don't have anything to drink- ," they all jumped as a box fell off a pile and the soldier who knocked it over laughed nervously.
"Sorry," he said. But under the box was a small refrigerator with a few six packs of soda.
"We are keeping you around, kid!" the head soldier said to Minai, "You are lucky!"
"Lucky! That's me!" Minai said with a pose. The head soldier laughed and turned back to business.
"Okay, let's get to this map." he said while everyone sipped on sodas.
"We should look at all the shops with weapon's sales, magical items sales, metal work or craftwork." The councilor said.
"Antique sales might have some, too." Another soldier added. The head soldier separated the sheets that made up the pamphlet and handed some out, keeping others, since there wasn't enough room to spread all of it on the floor. It ended up that the female soldier had half of the map with the head soldier having the other, while all the rest of them had a piece of the shops list and descriptions.
"Okay, it seems like a lot of those shops are in the same area." The head soldier ventured. "Any shops that seem like they might have spelled swords?"
"This one maybe, Vican's Shop: spelled objects for everyday use." Someone said.
"No," the councilor objected, "we went there, remember? They barely had anything. What about this one, Shop of the fine arts: sword tempering and custom engraving." Everyone was nodding, that sounded promising.
"No, not that one either," Minai said "My cousin used to work for that shop and they didn't do spell work except for custom commissions. They might have some of their custom spelled ones there but I don't think it's worth looking at unless it's on the way or something." Everyone looked at her.
"Do you know any shops that might have spelled swords?" one of the soldiers asked.
"Maybe," she said, "I mostly know which shops won't have spelled swords."
"Here," they gave her the pamphlets with shop lists and she began crossing them out.
---
After about an hour, maybe more, they had created a list of shops that they would look for weaponry in and a route that they would take to reach all the shops in the shortest amount of time. In some places they would have to double back because there was a dead end; when that happened they hoped that the shadow beasts may have created an alternate route or else they would loose time.
Before they went out though, they gathered between them all the weapons they had left. There were three guns (the rest having been lost in the fighting,) with a few spelled bullets left, a few boot knives, two spelled daggers, a pack of smoke bombs, and a flare gun. The smoke bombs they had found in the store room, and the flare gun had been in an emergency kit that all military squads carried.
While they had been figuring things out, Minai had been introduced to everyone. The councilors name was Seraph, and Minai had found out she wasn't just a minor Councilor, but the Chief Councilor to her Imperial Majesty. The head soldier was Captain Emmett Exovisage, and he was really nice for a military officer. The female guard's name was Vienna, and she seemed always to poke fun at everyone. The one who had knocked the box over was Daisuke and the other two were Yakumo and Gennady. It was kind of pathetic to think Daisuke, who almost seemed to trip over his own feet, was one of the more powerful mages in the military.
They were all lined up with Vienna at the door and a gun in her left hand. She swiftly but quietly opened the door with her gun ready to shoot. After she judged it alright, she motioned for them to come out. Yakumo ran out with one of the other spelled guns and took a position along with Vienna as everyone quietly filed out. They came out into a large guest hall. The garden that was on the school grounds could be seen through a number of windows and a pair of double doors that had been left wide open. Vienna and Yakumo took up their positions outside the door and Emmett, who had the other gun, took a position right inside the door in case a beast somehow came from inside. Gennady had the map and after getting confirmation from Vienna and Yakumo that the coast was clear, motioned for them to take the path that went into the fair grounds.
Gennady steered them through the fair grounds until they came to the first shop on their list. It was an antique shop that sold old weaponry and was in relatively good shape considering there were shadow beasts rampaging everywhere. "Okay, Vienna and Yakumo, keep your places in front of the shop, the rest of us will look around after I get in place in the back of the shop." Emmett said. He ran softly to the other end of the large, tarp covered square that was the Shop, in case there was a beast trying to get in from the shop alongside theirs. Emmett signed for them to go ahead.
Minai, Seraph, Gennedy and Daisuke began looking through all the shelves, boxes and Trunks of old weapons. Ironically there were very few swords, mostly axes and daggers and old style guns, none of which were useful. Anything that was spelled was either done badly, was too chipped to be used, or missing a handle. They moved on.
It went like that for a half hour. Run through the grounds, set posts, look, find nothing, then it started over again. Everyone was getting desperate. They had almost ran into a shadow beast but they had ducked into a shop just in time for the creature to miss them as it made a dizzyingly crooked rampage down the lane, knocking into shops and causing a lot of noise. While they were waiting for the monster to get farther away, as a safety precaution, Minai was looking through a box that had been under a table.
It had been labeled "decorative items." Hey daggers were decorative, right? And, what do you know; daggers. She looked at the sign at the entrance of the shop and it said Madam Tabitha's Shop of mystically spelled items. Minai couldn't tell if they were spelled or not so she tapped Seraph's shoulder. Seraph turned around, looking annoyed but her eyebrows shot off her head as looked at what was in the box. Seraph in turn tapped Gennady's shoulder, who tapped Daisuke's shoulder who tapped Vienna's shoulder who smacked Emmett's head, who silently yelled at her. Vienna pointed to the box of Daggers that Minai had found. Emmett took a last look at the lane to make sure the beast was gone and motioned for them all to get up and start looking for more. Emmett inspected the box and took out two long bladed daggers with matching sheaths. One he gave to Vienna, the other he gave to Minai as she had no other way to protect her self. Gennady called that he and Daisuke had found a spelled sword. Seraph called that she'd found two sword cases and she needed help getting them out from under some things. Gennady and Daisuke held the boxes on top of the cases while Seraph pulled them out. She laid them out on the floor and opened them.
"It's a Daisho, Captain!" Gennady called. Emmett motioned for Yamuko to take his place as look out and came to look.
"It's spelled too." Seraph added. Inside the case were a small sword and a long sword in black scabbards with white characters painted on them. "It's an Ôdachi and a Wakizashi." Seraph said. They were both curved and definitely eastern style. The blades were bright silver and had characters engraved on the sides. The handle was wound tightly with black silk and characters were also painted on the silk with white paint. Emmett took the Ôdachi and started to give the Wakizashi to Yamuko but he refused it so, removing the old sheath and broken handle, he buckled both scabbards to his armor.
In the other case was a pair of double Rapiers with intricate handles and handle guards of a black metal. The wires of the dark metal twisted together to form delicate looking winged shaped cages that protected the hand. On the blade itself was Archaic writing that glowed a faint, white light. Seraph raised her eye brows for a moment but put on the double Rapiers without a word.
They looked around some more but found no more Swords. As they were leaving, Daisuke came out wearing two obsidian rings rimmed in silver and connected by silver chains. "What's with the rings, Daisuke? 're you marrying this place?" Vienna joked. Daisuke waited for the snickers to abate.
"No, it's an amulet. And since I'd probably stab myself in the foot with a sword-,"
"Heh! I can see you doing that!" Gennady snickered. Daisuke's eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"As I was saying, since I'm worthless with a sword, I thought I could help better with magic instead." Daisuke said.
"Good Idea, Daisuke, lets go." Emmett said and they filed off to the next place on their list.
---
"But we have to get Minai out of there!" Terasu yelled to the soldier that was guarding her, or containing her, as the situation might be. She was angry, angry at the soldiers, angry at that force field (which you could tell was there by the way it made everything look a little darker), and at the beasts and angry at herself. She'd been yelling to anyone and everyone who passed by to let her out there to get Minai, taking turns to morn for those who had been turned into Shadow Hybrids and staring off into space. Selece was in much the same mind but with a little more staring and a little less yelling.
After the military had rescued them, their energy had finally run out and they de transformed while lying on the ground. They'd been taken to a place they could sleep and rest for awhile but after an hour respite they were ready to fight again and the military was trying to keep them under house arrest! Not that the "house" wasn't nice, though.
They were in a luxury motor home that looked like a celebrity's travel bus. It had a small kitchen in dark green tile and white grouting with a stove, pantries, a refrigerator and microwave with ample food and tableware (though the tableware was mostly plastic/disposable.) It had a nice bathroom with lots of towels and bathroom necessities, a living room area with a holographic-screen system, a phone, some comfy couches that were either built in or nailed to the floor; Earlier she'd tried to move an armchair to get a better angle at the holoscreen and it hadn't gone so well.
There were also two rooms with full sized beds. She'd woken up on one before and started to just go back to bed until she remembered about Minai and Seraph still out in the fair. She'd tried to leave and found out there were a few guards outside and they told her she couldn't; it was dangerous. How dare them! Now she was pacing in the Bus while Selece stared at the holoscreen which was showing the proceedings of the Shadowbeast battles at the festival.
Not that anything was really happening. The government couldn't get permission to send any weaponry into the school grounds, the district wouldn't let them. She sighed, everything seemed hopeless. She got a glass of water for herself and another for Selece, who actually started drinking it, and sat down on the couch near her to stare at the footage, trying to catch a glimpse of her missing friends.
"Hey! Se-le!"
Selece nearly spat her water back out, and even though she didn't she coughed for a few minutes trying to get rid of the water she'd just inhaled. They both turned to the electric opening panel thing that buses tended to have that served as a door to see who it was but Selece already knew.
"Daemian! What are you doing here?!" she demanded. Daemian just shrugged and walked up the rubber coated stares.
"Wow! This is nice! How do you guys come off with a place like this?!" he asked sardonically. "'course, boats are better then busses, more fun too- ,"
"-Daemian..." Selece sighed. He stopped looking at the bus and turned to them, noticing Seleces companion.
"Oh, hi Terasu." He said a little surprised. "So what are you guys doing out here instead of out there?"
"Why aren't you at the Venus Manor?!" Selece argued, or tried to argue, her personality was getting in the way though. Daemian had some how ended up as one of Mercury's representatives in the Grand Progress. When Selece and Terasu had asked him if he wanted to come with them he had said no. One of Seraph's guards had hinted something about Daemian meeting up with His Most Honored Highness Prince Venus's niece. Then they'd heard Seraph muttering a string of words that had contained "irresponsibe twit" and "halfwit", and those were the most toned down. It was clear that she thought he was an idiot.
Daemian shrugged again. "'got bored."
"You're mother will be so displeased with me!" Daemian rolled his eyes at that while Selece began pacing apprehensively.
"So why aren't you guys out there?" he nodded toward the energy shield.
"They won't let us go out there." Terasu supplied.
"Why don't you just sneak out?"
"How?" Terasu asked, tilting her head in confusion. Selece looked up from her pacing.
"All these busses have escape hatches at the top, just climb out."
"But won't they see us?"
"Not until they can't do anything about it." He said. Terasu smiled jubilantly. They would be able to help there friends! She ran around the bus at light speed trying to find the escape hatch. After searching every inch of the bus in under a minute, she came back to where Selece and Daemian had been silently watching her with strange expressions.
"I can't find it! I don't think this bus has one." Terasu said disappointedly dropping her head. She heard Daemian clear his throat and looked up.
"Hahaha ... ," Terasu laughed nervously while sweat dropping. The hatch had been right above where they were talking the whole time. "I am stupid." She mumbled.
"No you're not." Selece said firmly. "Come on; let's get this hatch open, alright?" Terasu nodded. "Okay, now get one of those chairs over there for me."
"They are nailed down."
"Oh. Well I guess we will have to jump. You first in that case; You are shorter." She said and hoisted Terasu up so she could unlatch the lock and climb onto the roof of the bus, then she helped Selece up.
Before closing the hatch, Selece turned around to spy Daemian. "Don't follow us." She said. Daemian just rolled his eyes as Selece decided that would have to do.
"Come on!" Terasu beckoned. Selece and Terasu crept away from the bus to the perimeter and swiftly snuck past a security guard patrolling a small square where the force field could not reach.
---
Minai, the Chief Councilor and the five Guards had continued on in there search for spelled swords. Between the five more shops they'd had left on there list, they'd finally found enough swords for everyone. They'd even gotten to try them out when a band of what looked to be the last of the original shadow beasts turned a corner to come up behind them. Within minutes they had all been slain with Seraph finishing the last one off with a scissor move using her double rapiers.
"I like these! Whoever that Madam Tabitha was she is not getting these back!" Seraph declared. Finally they could try to get out.
:: Or not. ::
Daisuke threw up the hand wearing the two amulet rings and blocked the devastating bolt of magic that the Female shadow-being had thrown at him. Everyone sheltered there eyes as sod and dirt flew everywhere. Out of the confusion the female shadow being tried to strike at Daisuke with an arm that now suddenly had become a sickle. Daisuke brought his hand up again just in time.
:: I shall kill you! You who have attacked me! :: she projected with a venomous insanity. Her face was disfigured in rage.
"You attacked us first!" they all chorused.
:: LIERS! ALL OF YOU! :: she screamed in a fit of madness and unleashed a pulverizing amount of energy upon the force shield. The amount of energy being giving off beckoned to the dark souls of the hybrid shadow beasts and they began to charge toward the area they were in. While Daisuke tried to stay off the attacks of the Shadow woman, Everyone else in the group were lashing out with there newly acquired swords just to keep from getting bowled over.
Unfortunately, Minai was a horrible swordsman and she could barely do anything more than block with it and that not very well. You'd think a dancer would be a natural at this kind of thing but it seemed not. An attack from a creature caught her off-guard and she stumbled backwards. A shadow beast lunged at her but she rolled away and back to her feat; no shadow thing would get *her* again!
---
Terasu and Selece ran all through the former fair grounds when a blast of energy swept past them in the form of a terrible wind almost hoisting them off their feet. They both Called out the words of power and transformed simultaneously. When the light faded they stood in the uniform of the scout along with their weapons and instruments. Unfortunately the Silent man also stood there a few yards away on the grass.
"Why do you persist attacking us?" Sailor Moon begged. But he did not reply. "Why do you want to destroy us?!" she yelled again.
:: Because you destroyed *us* :: he said. Sailor Moon was slightly taken aback, that was not what she had expected.
"When was that?" she asked back to him. "Is there anything we can-,"
:: There is nothing you can do to gain redemption but die. :: he said vengefully and all the more so because of it's lack of rage. At this moment he was suddenly right in front of her, slashing down with his sword; she barely got her scepter up to parry in time. Simultaneously, shadow hybrids rushed out of no where to engage in the fighting as well. Another burst of air and light flooded onto them all; the military had put the shield down and Sailor Moon vaguely noticed soldiers coming to help Mercury with all the shadow beasts that were assaulting her; she was putting all her effort into bashing and blasting the shadow being before he blasted them all.
A beam went right between Sailor Moon and the Shadow being. They both leapt away right before it could get either of them. Through the corner of her eye, Sailor Moon saw Minai, Seraph and the Guards. She felt like jumping up and shouting to them but they were in the middle of a battle between themselves and the Female Shadow Being and she could get slashed apart at any moment by the male being. This made her angry. He was blocking her from her friends!
"Why must we fight? This is probably how you're people got destroyed in the first place! Do not be like those who harmed you!" she screamed at the being as she shot a beam at him.
:: You do not understand. You could never understand! :: he said in return as he dodged her beam of light and slashed once again. Sailor Moon brought up her scepter to block and their weapons locked. Sailor Moon could barely hold his stroke back; he was much stronger than her.
"That is only because you will not let me understand, I just want to help you..." she paused. "I want to help you, why will you not let me?" she said softly with tears rolling down her eyes. He just gazed at her sadly as he slowly eased the pressure from his sword.
:: Why? Why do you wish to help me?::
"Because you need help."
:: Why would you do this? ::
"Because you need it. Isn't that enough?" she said then started as she heard thunder in the sky and it began to rain. She looked up at the swirls of Bright green and inky black of the Venetian storm. She looked back to the being- no, the man. The rain made tuneful chimes as they impacted his sword and silver ornaments. She could distantly hear the sounds of battle as soldiers, guards and scout kept back the onslaught of the Shadows and the Darkness woman rage.
"What is your name?" she asked randomly
:: We are not allowed names among my people. ::
"Why not?"
:: We are not important enough. ::
"Everyone deserves a name...."
---
They were going to lose! They couldn't keep this up for long. Minai desperately tried to stay alive as shadow creatures slashed and clawed. She felt a bump from behind her and whirled around to face the agitator.
"Drop!" Minai obeyed as a swirl of iced water shot above her and froze a shadow beast that would have killed Minai otherwise. She looked up to see a woman in a blue uniform.
It was Selece!
"Sel-!"
"It's Sailor Mercury at the moment! Come on-," Sailor Mercury gave Minai her hand to help her up. Behind her an exceptionally large shadow creature swung its arm, smacking Sailor Mercury on the side of the head with a rather loud crack as thunder rolled in the distance and it began to rain.
"Sailor Mercury!" Minai screamed. Sailor Mercury did not get up and rain continued to poor. Words of power sprang into Minai's brain, engulfing every fiber of her being. She couldn't even hear herself speak as she opened her eyes to a great brightness.
---
A girl in a sailor scout uniform appeared in front of her. Her skirt was bright orange with an overlaid layer of sheer gold. More of the gold, sheer material overlaid indigo front and back bows and hung in pleats from her back bow. The Symbol of Venus ornamented her bows, collar and where her skirt met her waist. In her hair was a red headband with raised gold swirling in beautiful but incomprehensible patterns. In one hand the girl held a Tambourine, the music making discs in gold and an orange rimmed in gold symbol of Venus on the white hide that covered the flat top. In the other hand was a Chain of Golden hearts.
She looks like me, Minai thought. "Are you Sailor Venus?" she asked.
:: Yes! I am the third hope, Sailor Venus! :: Sailor Venus said with smile while striking a pose. :: As are you! The Keeper has recognized you as the giver of Love and warmth everlasting! Venus herself has accredited you with the sacred power of love! ::
Minai's usual genki-ness was lost in the void, she just stared dumbly.
:: Hey! :: Sailor Venus said accusingly with her hands on her hips. :: What are you sitting around for? Go help your friends! ::
"What? Oh! What do I have to do?" Minai asked.
:: Just trust in yourself, and follow your heart. :: Sailor Venus said while smiling warmly. The light faded and Minai was back on the battle field in the garb of the sailor of Venus with the Love-Me Chain and Golden Tambourine. She remembered Sailor Mercury lying injured somewhere on the ground somewhere and sent her Love-Me Chain to whip the Shadow beasts away with golden energy. As soon as she had a perimeter around Sailor Mercury she helped her up. It must not have been as bad as she'd thought it was from the loud cracking sound she'd heard.
"Are you okay mercury?" she inquired.
"Yah, I think we heal faster in this form." Sailor mercury said with faint smile to her friend. As soon as Sailor Venus thought it was safe to let go of Mercury she did and turned to the Shadow beasts.
"Okay all you people!" she said, dropping her Love-me chain. It instantly disappeared and she was left only with the Tambourine. To Mercury, she whispered, "I can hold these guys off for a while, you go help Seraph and them with that Mean old lady." Mercury nodded and waved good luck with another smile as she ran to help the others. Venus turned back to the shadow beasts who were staring at her dumbly.
"I think we need some R-H-Y-T-H-M!" she said and began to rattle out a beat with her Tambourine. The Shadow beasts began to sway in sync with the beat. "All right, now you got it!" Venus shouted encouragingly, "Let's go!" and she began to walk away from the Battle with the wicked woman, leaving her friends to handle it without distractions. The shadow beasts followed in perfect lines, all swaying to the tempo of the Tambourine in unison. Soldiers collapsed on the floor in relief and stared at the strange procession as it passed them by.
---
Daisuke had long since lapsed into unconsciousness from the drain of keeping up a defense shield of such power to counteract the sheer energy the female shadow being was giving off in her fit of rage. And what was worse, it had begun to rain with a vengese. While he lay on the floor, Gennedy and Yakumo guarded him from shadow beasts and energy blasts from the female being. Vienna tried to keep the shadow beasts off of herself and Seraph, the only person there, besides Daisuke with enough magical power to make a bit of difference. Seraph tried to shoot her waning energy only to divert the woman for fear she would run out and collapse like Daisuke. Emmett used his swords to defend them all from energy blasts.
:: DIE! ALL OF YOU! :: the woman charged up a clawed hand with a large ball of sickly green energy to shoot at them all and was almost ready to toss it at them when a blast of frozen water engulfed the left side of the woman's body and was frozen in motion.
"Are you guys okay?" said Mercury from their left.
"Yah, we'll be all right." Emmett said, answering for all of them.
"Okay, let's go." Mercury said and began to lead them back to the HQ believing the battle to be over. "ahh!" mercury was Forced to the ground as a wind full of splinters of ice forced her head to smack the ground again. This time as she got up, her vision swung in and out of focus making her nauseous. She barely left the ground before she stumbled, tripped and fell back down.
"Sailor Mercury!" many voices yelled to their fallen comrade. Every one else had been forced on the ground but had missed most of the shattered ice. The Silence woman had broken free of the ice and now begun to pound on them all with added vigor and rage.
---
Man, my arms are starting to hurt, Sailor Venus thought. She had run out of room in walking straight and so had begun to make circles around the fair/school grounds. "Step lightly now everyone!" she yelled to her faithful followers. Suddenly the wind picked up and she was thrown to the ground, losing the rhythm and releasing the Shadow creatures. They started a moment to shake off the effects of the Repeat Rhythm then scattered. Venus hurriedly got up and ran as fast as she could toward where her friends were. Something was not right.
---
Sailor moon set off to where she sensed her friends' energies. Somehow she had ended up on the farthest side of the fair from where they were. She was also acutely aware of the man trudging behind her; he wasn't actually trudging but he gave the impression of trudging without the added noise or movement.
While she had been talking with the man they had both suddenly realized that there were no more shadow creatures around and gone to investigate striking an uneasy truce until they could talk with the other shadow woman. Upon seeing Minai, now Sailor Venus, herding the creatures like many anal- retentive cattle, Sailor Moon laughed with the man saying nothing behind her, but she sensed that he found it amusing as well. They set out to the other side of the fair, deciding to take a short cut through the forest of the now trampled and jumbled booths following the expansive energy of her friends and the shadow woman.
"Ah! We're almost there!" Sailor Moon said as they turned another corner.
:: Yes, I have sensed it as well. :: he said. Sailor moon felt her cheeks turn red, of course he would have felt it. As they turned the corner she was lifted off the ground and was about to be carried along by a sudden wind caused by a great spike of energy.
"AHHHhhhhhHHHHhhhhHHHH!!" she yelled as she was pushed back but the man caught her by the foot and the wind abruptly lessened and she fell to the ground. "Ouch ..." she grumbled while messaging her shoulder and getting up.
:: Sorry ... :: She was surprised to hear such a thing from him, even if it was in a quite and hesitant mind-voice. She jumped as Venus dashed up to her talking a mile a minute.
"I am so-so-so-so-so-so-Sorry! There was wind and it knocked me down and I lost the tempo and the shadows got away and I ran back here and now I don't know what to do so I ran up here to ask you what to do and I saw him and —WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!" she said this in under a second. Sailor Moon to a moment to sort through all the information she had been given in so short a time.
"He's a friend now-,"
"Oh, okay!"
"Yah, I think I know how to cure all the hybrids but I will need backing from you Venus, can you handle it?" she said teasingly despite the situation.
Sailor Venus struck a pose. "Yes, Ma'am!"
"Okay, and you," she turned to the man, "you are going to try to talk to you're Lady-Friend over there." She gestured to the crazy woman causing havoc among her friends desperately trying to keep back flood of hybrids and the wicked woman all at once. Surprisingly the man just nodded and they split up.
---
Seraph was hit to the ground by another shadow beast. They sudden wave of hybrids had caught them off guard even while the woman was cackling madly.
:: Stop! :: Seraph's eyes bulged out of her head and looked up to see Emmett who was about to help her up before he to heard the mind-shout, with his eyes just as far out of his skull as hers. What was he doing?!
:: We must stop this! Even if they did do evil things to us in the past they must have changed! They are so different then what we have seen and been told! :: The male shadow walked up to the evil woman.
:: They have not changed! They must DIE! :: she said and another energy spike sent the wind spewing away from her, almost lifting them all off the ground once again.
:: Listen to what the White-One has told me, she- ::
:: YOU HAVE BECOME ONE OF THEM! YOU TOO MUST DIE! :: and she knocked him out of the way as well. He flew twenty feet almost where Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus were standing.
---
Sailor Moon noticed the man land on the muddy ground a few feet away from her but she couldn't hesitate. She dropped her scepter and drew up her glass flute and began to play a Healing Tune. The Song drifted for miles inhabiting all the beings in warmth and hope. The woman could not stand the goodness and fled. The remaining shadow Hybrids fell to the ground and the rain washed away blackness that ran as black ink off the unconscious victims. When her song was done she collapsed to the ground as well and fell into sleep as military personnel put her on a stretcher and into a hospital bed in head quarters.
In her small amounts of conscious thought she thought she saw the once shadow being in the bed that was next to hers. But he was younger, with fine white hair, coppery skin and light crystal-blue eyes...
~~~
TEE HEE! I think it's so cool! I am so vain it's pathetic. Next chapter they go to earth! HEHEH!! I think I'm going crazy with all the yummy Illium goodness that will be in the chapter to come. Who is Illium you ask? To Bad you have to what! Also next chapter ( I keep wanting to say episode?) we will finally find out where the hell those danged weapons and musical instruments go when the scouts let go of them! As told by Sailor Mercury! Yes, I didn't leave out her brains!
:: I am in your mind! Haha! ::
And any stresses will be with the asterisks (*) Like this:
"That guy is *ugly*!"
I think you get it. Well, anyways, I don't own Sailor Moon, wish I did, you can't sue me. On with the story!
Song of the New Cosmos
By: Liquid_Goddess_Reformation
Chapter Three: The Venus Saga Part 2: A New Tempo
From what Minai had gathered, after she'd blacked out, two of the soldiers had kicked the beast off of her and carried her with them to this place. They were in one of the store room's of the school where the festival was being hosted. The five guards and the Lady all looked so tired, they must have been running a long time to get to that place; it was pretty far from where she had fainted.
One of the soldiers, who looked to be the one in charge, was listening to a radio. It seemed to be a military frequency with officers reporting the standings on the battle with the beasts, but all the words must have been scrambled into a code or something because she couldn't tell what they were saying. The store room was pretty small but they all managed to sit down with a reasonable amount of comfort against all the boxes and file cabinets. There was one window near the ceiling that was pretty small and no one dared look at it for fear there might be a shadow beast staring back. It was amazingly quiet even with the radio, though the volume was turned down low. No one dared move until the man with the radio spoke.
"The scouts got out!" he said quietly but still joyfully. Everyone sighed a bit of relief. Minai did as well, remembering that the sailor scouts were in actuality, her friends Selece and Terasu. "They are at head- quarters and they've put up an energy shield perimeter around the school and the fair grounds."
"What about us! Are they going to get us out? Or do we have any new orders?" a female soldier asked.
"They haven't said anything about it yet. I'd say that they would just leave us here to hide until they've exterminated all the shadow beasts except that we've got Lady over here," he pointed to the Lady Councilor, "and those new shadow creatures are humans. So they can't leave us here and they can't kill the shadow beasts. This does not bode well for us. What do you think Seraph?"
"I agree with you're observation. We can only stay here so long and all our swords are broken, so we can't fight out." the councilor said. Minai finally noticed that all the sword handles were barely staying inside the sheaths and some didn't even have the handle left. The councilor pulled what was left from her sword out. It was just a military issue spelled- blade with a shattered pommel. "This is a festival of the arts, yes? I suggest we try to find some more swords." She said.
"Yah, but we'll have to know where those swords might be down there or we'd probably get lost or hacked up by the creatures." Another soldier objected and everyone agreed. It seemed that they all wanted new swords but they didn't want to get sliced up for them.
"It won't be too hard getting there unnoticed," The head soldier said, "most of the beasts are gathered at the energy shield and Seraph and Daisuke magiked the humanoids while they were off their guard and the vanished, so they won't be back for a while. I'd still rather get a map or something, does anyone know their way around here or remember where everything was?" everyone shook their heads.
"Oh!" Minai exclaimed and pulled something out of her pocket and showed it to everyone. It was a crumpled up festival guide with a map and shop descriptions.
"Perfect!" the head soldier said. He took the pamphlet from her and laid it out so everyone could see it. "Does any one by chance have a-," the councilor handed him a pen before he could finish. "I can barely believe how lucky we are; a guide, a pen, too bad we don't have anything to drink- ," they all jumped as a box fell off a pile and the soldier who knocked it over laughed nervously.
"Sorry," he said. But under the box was a small refrigerator with a few six packs of soda.
"We are keeping you around, kid!" the head soldier said to Minai, "You are lucky!"
"Lucky! That's me!" Minai said with a pose. The head soldier laughed and turned back to business.
"Okay, let's get to this map." he said while everyone sipped on sodas.
"We should look at all the shops with weapon's sales, magical items sales, metal work or craftwork." The councilor said.
"Antique sales might have some, too." Another soldier added. The head soldier separated the sheets that made up the pamphlet and handed some out, keeping others, since there wasn't enough room to spread all of it on the floor. It ended up that the female soldier had half of the map with the head soldier having the other, while all the rest of them had a piece of the shops list and descriptions.
"Okay, it seems like a lot of those shops are in the same area." The head soldier ventured. "Any shops that seem like they might have spelled swords?"
"This one maybe, Vican's Shop: spelled objects for everyday use." Someone said.
"No," the councilor objected, "we went there, remember? They barely had anything. What about this one, Shop of the fine arts: sword tempering and custom engraving." Everyone was nodding, that sounded promising.
"No, not that one either," Minai said "My cousin used to work for that shop and they didn't do spell work except for custom commissions. They might have some of their custom spelled ones there but I don't think it's worth looking at unless it's on the way or something." Everyone looked at her.
"Do you know any shops that might have spelled swords?" one of the soldiers asked.
"Maybe," she said, "I mostly know which shops won't have spelled swords."
"Here," they gave her the pamphlets with shop lists and she began crossing them out.
---
After about an hour, maybe more, they had created a list of shops that they would look for weaponry in and a route that they would take to reach all the shops in the shortest amount of time. In some places they would have to double back because there was a dead end; when that happened they hoped that the shadow beasts may have created an alternate route or else they would loose time.
Before they went out though, they gathered between them all the weapons they had left. There were three guns (the rest having been lost in the fighting,) with a few spelled bullets left, a few boot knives, two spelled daggers, a pack of smoke bombs, and a flare gun. The smoke bombs they had found in the store room, and the flare gun had been in an emergency kit that all military squads carried.
While they had been figuring things out, Minai had been introduced to everyone. The councilors name was Seraph, and Minai had found out she wasn't just a minor Councilor, but the Chief Councilor to her Imperial Majesty. The head soldier was Captain Emmett Exovisage, and he was really nice for a military officer. The female guard's name was Vienna, and she seemed always to poke fun at everyone. The one who had knocked the box over was Daisuke and the other two were Yakumo and Gennady. It was kind of pathetic to think Daisuke, who almost seemed to trip over his own feet, was one of the more powerful mages in the military.
They were all lined up with Vienna at the door and a gun in her left hand. She swiftly but quietly opened the door with her gun ready to shoot. After she judged it alright, she motioned for them to come out. Yakumo ran out with one of the other spelled guns and took a position along with Vienna as everyone quietly filed out. They came out into a large guest hall. The garden that was on the school grounds could be seen through a number of windows and a pair of double doors that had been left wide open. Vienna and Yakumo took up their positions outside the door and Emmett, who had the other gun, took a position right inside the door in case a beast somehow came from inside. Gennady had the map and after getting confirmation from Vienna and Yakumo that the coast was clear, motioned for them to take the path that went into the fair grounds.
Gennady steered them through the fair grounds until they came to the first shop on their list. It was an antique shop that sold old weaponry and was in relatively good shape considering there were shadow beasts rampaging everywhere. "Okay, Vienna and Yakumo, keep your places in front of the shop, the rest of us will look around after I get in place in the back of the shop." Emmett said. He ran softly to the other end of the large, tarp covered square that was the Shop, in case there was a beast trying to get in from the shop alongside theirs. Emmett signed for them to go ahead.
Minai, Seraph, Gennedy and Daisuke began looking through all the shelves, boxes and Trunks of old weapons. Ironically there were very few swords, mostly axes and daggers and old style guns, none of which were useful. Anything that was spelled was either done badly, was too chipped to be used, or missing a handle. They moved on.
It went like that for a half hour. Run through the grounds, set posts, look, find nothing, then it started over again. Everyone was getting desperate. They had almost ran into a shadow beast but they had ducked into a shop just in time for the creature to miss them as it made a dizzyingly crooked rampage down the lane, knocking into shops and causing a lot of noise. While they were waiting for the monster to get farther away, as a safety precaution, Minai was looking through a box that had been under a table.
It had been labeled "decorative items." Hey daggers were decorative, right? And, what do you know; daggers. She looked at the sign at the entrance of the shop and it said Madam Tabitha's Shop of mystically spelled items. Minai couldn't tell if they were spelled or not so she tapped Seraph's shoulder. Seraph turned around, looking annoyed but her eyebrows shot off her head as looked at what was in the box. Seraph in turn tapped Gennady's shoulder, who tapped Daisuke's shoulder who tapped Vienna's shoulder who smacked Emmett's head, who silently yelled at her. Vienna pointed to the box of Daggers that Minai had found. Emmett took a last look at the lane to make sure the beast was gone and motioned for them all to get up and start looking for more. Emmett inspected the box and took out two long bladed daggers with matching sheaths. One he gave to Vienna, the other he gave to Minai as she had no other way to protect her self. Gennady called that he and Daisuke had found a spelled sword. Seraph called that she'd found two sword cases and she needed help getting them out from under some things. Gennady and Daisuke held the boxes on top of the cases while Seraph pulled them out. She laid them out on the floor and opened them.
"It's a Daisho, Captain!" Gennady called. Emmett motioned for Yamuko to take his place as look out and came to look.
"It's spelled too." Seraph added. Inside the case were a small sword and a long sword in black scabbards with white characters painted on them. "It's an Ôdachi and a Wakizashi." Seraph said. They were both curved and definitely eastern style. The blades were bright silver and had characters engraved on the sides. The handle was wound tightly with black silk and characters were also painted on the silk with white paint. Emmett took the Ôdachi and started to give the Wakizashi to Yamuko but he refused it so, removing the old sheath and broken handle, he buckled both scabbards to his armor.
In the other case was a pair of double Rapiers with intricate handles and handle guards of a black metal. The wires of the dark metal twisted together to form delicate looking winged shaped cages that protected the hand. On the blade itself was Archaic writing that glowed a faint, white light. Seraph raised her eye brows for a moment but put on the double Rapiers without a word.
They looked around some more but found no more Swords. As they were leaving, Daisuke came out wearing two obsidian rings rimmed in silver and connected by silver chains. "What's with the rings, Daisuke? 're you marrying this place?" Vienna joked. Daisuke waited for the snickers to abate.
"No, it's an amulet. And since I'd probably stab myself in the foot with a sword-,"
"Heh! I can see you doing that!" Gennady snickered. Daisuke's eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"As I was saying, since I'm worthless with a sword, I thought I could help better with magic instead." Daisuke said.
"Good Idea, Daisuke, lets go." Emmett said and they filed off to the next place on their list.
---
"But we have to get Minai out of there!" Terasu yelled to the soldier that was guarding her, or containing her, as the situation might be. She was angry, angry at the soldiers, angry at that force field (which you could tell was there by the way it made everything look a little darker), and at the beasts and angry at herself. She'd been yelling to anyone and everyone who passed by to let her out there to get Minai, taking turns to morn for those who had been turned into Shadow Hybrids and staring off into space. Selece was in much the same mind but with a little more staring and a little less yelling.
After the military had rescued them, their energy had finally run out and they de transformed while lying on the ground. They'd been taken to a place they could sleep and rest for awhile but after an hour respite they were ready to fight again and the military was trying to keep them under house arrest! Not that the "house" wasn't nice, though.
They were in a luxury motor home that looked like a celebrity's travel bus. It had a small kitchen in dark green tile and white grouting with a stove, pantries, a refrigerator and microwave with ample food and tableware (though the tableware was mostly plastic/disposable.) It had a nice bathroom with lots of towels and bathroom necessities, a living room area with a holographic-screen system, a phone, some comfy couches that were either built in or nailed to the floor; Earlier she'd tried to move an armchair to get a better angle at the holoscreen and it hadn't gone so well.
There were also two rooms with full sized beds. She'd woken up on one before and started to just go back to bed until she remembered about Minai and Seraph still out in the fair. She'd tried to leave and found out there were a few guards outside and they told her she couldn't; it was dangerous. How dare them! Now she was pacing in the Bus while Selece stared at the holoscreen which was showing the proceedings of the Shadowbeast battles at the festival.
Not that anything was really happening. The government couldn't get permission to send any weaponry into the school grounds, the district wouldn't let them. She sighed, everything seemed hopeless. She got a glass of water for herself and another for Selece, who actually started drinking it, and sat down on the couch near her to stare at the footage, trying to catch a glimpse of her missing friends.
"Hey! Se-le!"
Selece nearly spat her water back out, and even though she didn't she coughed for a few minutes trying to get rid of the water she'd just inhaled. They both turned to the electric opening panel thing that buses tended to have that served as a door to see who it was but Selece already knew.
"Daemian! What are you doing here?!" she demanded. Daemian just shrugged and walked up the rubber coated stares.
"Wow! This is nice! How do you guys come off with a place like this?!" he asked sardonically. "'course, boats are better then busses, more fun too- ,"
"-Daemian..." Selece sighed. He stopped looking at the bus and turned to them, noticing Seleces companion.
"Oh, hi Terasu." He said a little surprised. "So what are you guys doing out here instead of out there?"
"Why aren't you at the Venus Manor?!" Selece argued, or tried to argue, her personality was getting in the way though. Daemian had some how ended up as one of Mercury's representatives in the Grand Progress. When Selece and Terasu had asked him if he wanted to come with them he had said no. One of Seraph's guards had hinted something about Daemian meeting up with His Most Honored Highness Prince Venus's niece. Then they'd heard Seraph muttering a string of words that had contained "irresponsibe twit" and "halfwit", and those were the most toned down. It was clear that she thought he was an idiot.
Daemian shrugged again. "'got bored."
"You're mother will be so displeased with me!" Daemian rolled his eyes at that while Selece began pacing apprehensively.
"So why aren't you guys out there?" he nodded toward the energy shield.
"They won't let us go out there." Terasu supplied.
"Why don't you just sneak out?"
"How?" Terasu asked, tilting her head in confusion. Selece looked up from her pacing.
"All these busses have escape hatches at the top, just climb out."
"But won't they see us?"
"Not until they can't do anything about it." He said. Terasu smiled jubilantly. They would be able to help there friends! She ran around the bus at light speed trying to find the escape hatch. After searching every inch of the bus in under a minute, she came back to where Selece and Daemian had been silently watching her with strange expressions.
"I can't find it! I don't think this bus has one." Terasu said disappointedly dropping her head. She heard Daemian clear his throat and looked up.
"Hahaha ... ," Terasu laughed nervously while sweat dropping. The hatch had been right above where they were talking the whole time. "I am stupid." She mumbled.
"No you're not." Selece said firmly. "Come on; let's get this hatch open, alright?" Terasu nodded. "Okay, now get one of those chairs over there for me."
"They are nailed down."
"Oh. Well I guess we will have to jump. You first in that case; You are shorter." She said and hoisted Terasu up so she could unlatch the lock and climb onto the roof of the bus, then she helped Selece up.
Before closing the hatch, Selece turned around to spy Daemian. "Don't follow us." She said. Daemian just rolled his eyes as Selece decided that would have to do.
"Come on!" Terasu beckoned. Selece and Terasu crept away from the bus to the perimeter and swiftly snuck past a security guard patrolling a small square where the force field could not reach.
---
Minai, the Chief Councilor and the five Guards had continued on in there search for spelled swords. Between the five more shops they'd had left on there list, they'd finally found enough swords for everyone. They'd even gotten to try them out when a band of what looked to be the last of the original shadow beasts turned a corner to come up behind them. Within minutes they had all been slain with Seraph finishing the last one off with a scissor move using her double rapiers.
"I like these! Whoever that Madam Tabitha was she is not getting these back!" Seraph declared. Finally they could try to get out.
:: Or not. ::
Daisuke threw up the hand wearing the two amulet rings and blocked the devastating bolt of magic that the Female shadow-being had thrown at him. Everyone sheltered there eyes as sod and dirt flew everywhere. Out of the confusion the female shadow being tried to strike at Daisuke with an arm that now suddenly had become a sickle. Daisuke brought his hand up again just in time.
:: I shall kill you! You who have attacked me! :: she projected with a venomous insanity. Her face was disfigured in rage.
"You attacked us first!" they all chorused.
:: LIERS! ALL OF YOU! :: she screamed in a fit of madness and unleashed a pulverizing amount of energy upon the force shield. The amount of energy being giving off beckoned to the dark souls of the hybrid shadow beasts and they began to charge toward the area they were in. While Daisuke tried to stay off the attacks of the Shadow woman, Everyone else in the group were lashing out with there newly acquired swords just to keep from getting bowled over.
Unfortunately, Minai was a horrible swordsman and she could barely do anything more than block with it and that not very well. You'd think a dancer would be a natural at this kind of thing but it seemed not. An attack from a creature caught her off-guard and she stumbled backwards. A shadow beast lunged at her but she rolled away and back to her feat; no shadow thing would get *her* again!
---
Terasu and Selece ran all through the former fair grounds when a blast of energy swept past them in the form of a terrible wind almost hoisting them off their feet. They both Called out the words of power and transformed simultaneously. When the light faded they stood in the uniform of the scout along with their weapons and instruments. Unfortunately the Silent man also stood there a few yards away on the grass.
"Why do you persist attacking us?" Sailor Moon begged. But he did not reply. "Why do you want to destroy us?!" she yelled again.
:: Because you destroyed *us* :: he said. Sailor Moon was slightly taken aback, that was not what she had expected.
"When was that?" she asked back to him. "Is there anything we can-,"
:: There is nothing you can do to gain redemption but die. :: he said vengefully and all the more so because of it's lack of rage. At this moment he was suddenly right in front of her, slashing down with his sword; she barely got her scepter up to parry in time. Simultaneously, shadow hybrids rushed out of no where to engage in the fighting as well. Another burst of air and light flooded onto them all; the military had put the shield down and Sailor Moon vaguely noticed soldiers coming to help Mercury with all the shadow beasts that were assaulting her; she was putting all her effort into bashing and blasting the shadow being before he blasted them all.
A beam went right between Sailor Moon and the Shadow being. They both leapt away right before it could get either of them. Through the corner of her eye, Sailor Moon saw Minai, Seraph and the Guards. She felt like jumping up and shouting to them but they were in the middle of a battle between themselves and the Female Shadow Being and she could get slashed apart at any moment by the male being. This made her angry. He was blocking her from her friends!
"Why must we fight? This is probably how you're people got destroyed in the first place! Do not be like those who harmed you!" she screamed at the being as she shot a beam at him.
:: You do not understand. You could never understand! :: he said in return as he dodged her beam of light and slashed once again. Sailor Moon brought up her scepter to block and their weapons locked. Sailor Moon could barely hold his stroke back; he was much stronger than her.
"That is only because you will not let me understand, I just want to help you..." she paused. "I want to help you, why will you not let me?" she said softly with tears rolling down her eyes. He just gazed at her sadly as he slowly eased the pressure from his sword.
:: Why? Why do you wish to help me?::
"Because you need help."
:: Why would you do this? ::
"Because you need it. Isn't that enough?" she said then started as she heard thunder in the sky and it began to rain. She looked up at the swirls of Bright green and inky black of the Venetian storm. She looked back to the being- no, the man. The rain made tuneful chimes as they impacted his sword and silver ornaments. She could distantly hear the sounds of battle as soldiers, guards and scout kept back the onslaught of the Shadows and the Darkness woman rage.
"What is your name?" she asked randomly
:: We are not allowed names among my people. ::
"Why not?"
:: We are not important enough. ::
"Everyone deserves a name...."
---
They were going to lose! They couldn't keep this up for long. Minai desperately tried to stay alive as shadow creatures slashed and clawed. She felt a bump from behind her and whirled around to face the agitator.
"Drop!" Minai obeyed as a swirl of iced water shot above her and froze a shadow beast that would have killed Minai otherwise. She looked up to see a woman in a blue uniform.
It was Selece!
"Sel-!"
"It's Sailor Mercury at the moment! Come on-," Sailor Mercury gave Minai her hand to help her up. Behind her an exceptionally large shadow creature swung its arm, smacking Sailor Mercury on the side of the head with a rather loud crack as thunder rolled in the distance and it began to rain.
"Sailor Mercury!" Minai screamed. Sailor Mercury did not get up and rain continued to poor. Words of power sprang into Minai's brain, engulfing every fiber of her being. She couldn't even hear herself speak as she opened her eyes to a great brightness.
---
A girl in a sailor scout uniform appeared in front of her. Her skirt was bright orange with an overlaid layer of sheer gold. More of the gold, sheer material overlaid indigo front and back bows and hung in pleats from her back bow. The Symbol of Venus ornamented her bows, collar and where her skirt met her waist. In her hair was a red headband with raised gold swirling in beautiful but incomprehensible patterns. In one hand the girl held a Tambourine, the music making discs in gold and an orange rimmed in gold symbol of Venus on the white hide that covered the flat top. In the other hand was a Chain of Golden hearts.
She looks like me, Minai thought. "Are you Sailor Venus?" she asked.
:: Yes! I am the third hope, Sailor Venus! :: Sailor Venus said with smile while striking a pose. :: As are you! The Keeper has recognized you as the giver of Love and warmth everlasting! Venus herself has accredited you with the sacred power of love! ::
Minai's usual genki-ness was lost in the void, she just stared dumbly.
:: Hey! :: Sailor Venus said accusingly with her hands on her hips. :: What are you sitting around for? Go help your friends! ::
"What? Oh! What do I have to do?" Minai asked.
:: Just trust in yourself, and follow your heart. :: Sailor Venus said while smiling warmly. The light faded and Minai was back on the battle field in the garb of the sailor of Venus with the Love-Me Chain and Golden Tambourine. She remembered Sailor Mercury lying injured somewhere on the ground somewhere and sent her Love-Me Chain to whip the Shadow beasts away with golden energy. As soon as she had a perimeter around Sailor Mercury she helped her up. It must not have been as bad as she'd thought it was from the loud cracking sound she'd heard.
"Are you okay mercury?" she inquired.
"Yah, I think we heal faster in this form." Sailor mercury said with faint smile to her friend. As soon as Sailor Venus thought it was safe to let go of Mercury she did and turned to the Shadow beasts.
"Okay all you people!" she said, dropping her Love-me chain. It instantly disappeared and she was left only with the Tambourine. To Mercury, she whispered, "I can hold these guys off for a while, you go help Seraph and them with that Mean old lady." Mercury nodded and waved good luck with another smile as she ran to help the others. Venus turned back to the shadow beasts who were staring at her dumbly.
"I think we need some R-H-Y-T-H-M!" she said and began to rattle out a beat with her Tambourine. The Shadow beasts began to sway in sync with the beat. "All right, now you got it!" Venus shouted encouragingly, "Let's go!" and she began to walk away from the Battle with the wicked woman, leaving her friends to handle it without distractions. The shadow beasts followed in perfect lines, all swaying to the tempo of the Tambourine in unison. Soldiers collapsed on the floor in relief and stared at the strange procession as it passed them by.
---
Daisuke had long since lapsed into unconsciousness from the drain of keeping up a defense shield of such power to counteract the sheer energy the female shadow being was giving off in her fit of rage. And what was worse, it had begun to rain with a vengese. While he lay on the floor, Gennedy and Yakumo guarded him from shadow beasts and energy blasts from the female being. Vienna tried to keep the shadow beasts off of herself and Seraph, the only person there, besides Daisuke with enough magical power to make a bit of difference. Seraph tried to shoot her waning energy only to divert the woman for fear she would run out and collapse like Daisuke. Emmett used his swords to defend them all from energy blasts.
:: DIE! ALL OF YOU! :: the woman charged up a clawed hand with a large ball of sickly green energy to shoot at them all and was almost ready to toss it at them when a blast of frozen water engulfed the left side of the woman's body and was frozen in motion.
"Are you guys okay?" said Mercury from their left.
"Yah, we'll be all right." Emmett said, answering for all of them.
"Okay, let's go." Mercury said and began to lead them back to the HQ believing the battle to be over. "ahh!" mercury was Forced to the ground as a wind full of splinters of ice forced her head to smack the ground again. This time as she got up, her vision swung in and out of focus making her nauseous. She barely left the ground before she stumbled, tripped and fell back down.
"Sailor Mercury!" many voices yelled to their fallen comrade. Every one else had been forced on the ground but had missed most of the shattered ice. The Silence woman had broken free of the ice and now begun to pound on them all with added vigor and rage.
---
Man, my arms are starting to hurt, Sailor Venus thought. She had run out of room in walking straight and so had begun to make circles around the fair/school grounds. "Step lightly now everyone!" she yelled to her faithful followers. Suddenly the wind picked up and she was thrown to the ground, losing the rhythm and releasing the Shadow creatures. They started a moment to shake off the effects of the Repeat Rhythm then scattered. Venus hurriedly got up and ran as fast as she could toward where her friends were. Something was not right.
---
Sailor moon set off to where she sensed her friends' energies. Somehow she had ended up on the farthest side of the fair from where they were. She was also acutely aware of the man trudging behind her; he wasn't actually trudging but he gave the impression of trudging without the added noise or movement.
While she had been talking with the man they had both suddenly realized that there were no more shadow creatures around and gone to investigate striking an uneasy truce until they could talk with the other shadow woman. Upon seeing Minai, now Sailor Venus, herding the creatures like many anal- retentive cattle, Sailor Moon laughed with the man saying nothing behind her, but she sensed that he found it amusing as well. They set out to the other side of the fair, deciding to take a short cut through the forest of the now trampled and jumbled booths following the expansive energy of her friends and the shadow woman.
"Ah! We're almost there!" Sailor Moon said as they turned another corner.
:: Yes, I have sensed it as well. :: he said. Sailor moon felt her cheeks turn red, of course he would have felt it. As they turned the corner she was lifted off the ground and was about to be carried along by a sudden wind caused by a great spike of energy.
"AHHHhhhhhHHHHhhhhHHHH!!" she yelled as she was pushed back but the man caught her by the foot and the wind abruptly lessened and she fell to the ground. "Ouch ..." she grumbled while messaging her shoulder and getting up.
:: Sorry ... :: She was surprised to hear such a thing from him, even if it was in a quite and hesitant mind-voice. She jumped as Venus dashed up to her talking a mile a minute.
"I am so-so-so-so-so-so-Sorry! There was wind and it knocked me down and I lost the tempo and the shadows got away and I ran back here and now I don't know what to do so I ran up here to ask you what to do and I saw him and —WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!" she said this in under a second. Sailor Moon to a moment to sort through all the information she had been given in so short a time.
"He's a friend now-,"
"Oh, okay!"
"Yah, I think I know how to cure all the hybrids but I will need backing from you Venus, can you handle it?" she said teasingly despite the situation.
Sailor Venus struck a pose. "Yes, Ma'am!"
"Okay, and you," she turned to the man, "you are going to try to talk to you're Lady-Friend over there." She gestured to the crazy woman causing havoc among her friends desperately trying to keep back flood of hybrids and the wicked woman all at once. Surprisingly the man just nodded and they split up.
---
Seraph was hit to the ground by another shadow beast. They sudden wave of hybrids had caught them off guard even while the woman was cackling madly.
:: Stop! :: Seraph's eyes bulged out of her head and looked up to see Emmett who was about to help her up before he to heard the mind-shout, with his eyes just as far out of his skull as hers. What was he doing?!
:: We must stop this! Even if they did do evil things to us in the past they must have changed! They are so different then what we have seen and been told! :: The male shadow walked up to the evil woman.
:: They have not changed! They must DIE! :: she said and another energy spike sent the wind spewing away from her, almost lifting them all off the ground once again.
:: Listen to what the White-One has told me, she- ::
:: YOU HAVE BECOME ONE OF THEM! YOU TOO MUST DIE! :: and she knocked him out of the way as well. He flew twenty feet almost where Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus were standing.
---
Sailor Moon noticed the man land on the muddy ground a few feet away from her but she couldn't hesitate. She dropped her scepter and drew up her glass flute and began to play a Healing Tune. The Song drifted for miles inhabiting all the beings in warmth and hope. The woman could not stand the goodness and fled. The remaining shadow Hybrids fell to the ground and the rain washed away blackness that ran as black ink off the unconscious victims. When her song was done she collapsed to the ground as well and fell into sleep as military personnel put her on a stretcher and into a hospital bed in head quarters.
In her small amounts of conscious thought she thought she saw the once shadow being in the bed that was next to hers. But he was younger, with fine white hair, coppery skin and light crystal-blue eyes...
~~~
TEE HEE! I think it's so cool! I am so vain it's pathetic. Next chapter they go to earth! HEHEH!! I think I'm going crazy with all the yummy Illium goodness that will be in the chapter to come. Who is Illium you ask? To Bad you have to what! Also next chapter ( I keep wanting to say episode?) we will finally find out where the hell those danged weapons and musical instruments go when the scouts let go of them! As told by Sailor Mercury! Yes, I didn't leave out her brains!