Ronins Interrupted
By: Ghost of the Dawn
Chapter Ten: Warriors Divided
Robyn couldn't understand what was happening to her. She felt, in some odd way, separated from her body. She could feel it; she knew it was there. But it felt numb and constricted somehow. Her muscles would not react no matter how she tried to make them move. Where ever she was, she was physically confined to that spot.
It wasn't necessarily her body she was worried about, however. It was her head. Something was lurking inside it. She could feel it in there slithering in the darkness of her subconscious like a wriggling maggot. It sat there and ate away at her mental barrier. The wall she had placed there to lock away all the bad memories so that life could somehow be livable again.
Panic filled her heart as she felt that mental wall eroding away. Things were coming apart faster now. Robyn could feel a presence reaching in, freeing and pulling out past memories once forgotten. Robyn's soul was sent reeling as the pain, the torment, the hurt, the fear all came back to her in a flash flood. It washed over her in a relentless wave. Every bad memory; every kind of pain ever felt was replayed to her all at once.
No matter how she tried to block out the images and the awful sensations, that same presence kept shoving them forward, forcing her to experience it all over and over again. The same thing that was forcing images of the past on her was, at the same time, sucking the life energy out of her. It was an endless, nightmarish cycle to which she could not escape. She was trapped in some horrible place which drifted in and out of existence. There, she would surely die for no one would ever be able to find her.
Katara, the youngest of the two cat sisters stared curiously at their new victim. The young red haired girl that had been captured did not stare back. Instead, her eyes were closed tightly, almost painfully in a permanent grimace. Sweat ran down Robyn's face as she seemed to be unaware of those watching her and, instead, was preoccupied with some kind of inward struggle. Her body, by now, was mostly engulfed in the large, black crystal that protruded in the middle of Lady Ebony's throne room. Only her head and shoulders were free, but were slowly sinking into the inky blackness like the rest of her.
"It's so hard to believe," Katara voiced her thoughts out loud as she shook her pink, bushy hair. "That this one little human girl is going to do it all. Are you sure the energy gathered from just this one will be enough?"
"Yes," Lady Ebony assured her follower as she came up from the darkness. Two pairs of arms were folded while one of her free hands stroked the large, dark crystal. "I have waited many mortal lifetimes for one such as her to appear. Destiny has given this one a crooked fate. One that seems to almost bend the rules of mortals." She stretched out a clawed hand and ran her fingers through Robyn's thin, red hair.
"So?" Katana, the older sister, spoke up. "What makes her so special? Are you saying she is beyond mortals somehow? Is she an immortal like yourself?"
Lady Ebony continued to stare at her prize. "No. She is mortal. Perhaps one day she could have reached some level of immortality. But she will not live to see that day now. However, she is still different, for man is born to choose either good or evil in his heart. He cannot be both. Even if he performs actions that contradict the feelings in his heart, it will still be one or the other. But this one, though her heart is good, a dark river runs through her soul. Blackness is just a much a part of her as light. Like two sides of the same coin, she cannot be whole without one or the other.
"The power of a pure heart is great. But to have darkness run naturally through the same body without destroying that heart will cause a power almost immeasurable! And yet..." The Mistress of Darkness paused as an idea struck her. She squinted at her captive and raised a hand over her head as if trying to see something that had escaped her powers of vision. "For Fate to go to so much trouble to create such a being, I wonder if this one was ultimately meant for another purpose. Perhaps.....even something more sinister...."
The Amazon Duo looked at each other as their Lady seemed to have fallen into a trance. Just as they were about to wake her, Lady Ebony snapped back to the present. Her actions now far more urgent.
"Quickly, you two," she ordered. "Get out there and make sure none of those fighters reach this place. Kill as many of them as you can. When my powers are fully restored I can take care the rest. But they cannot interfere before that time."
"Yes my Lady," the cat sisters said in unison as they bowed. The duo then disappeared into the darkness to carry on their task.
With her minions now gone, Lady Ebony once again turned back to the small, encased body. The black crystal had swallowed Robyn up to her neck. It wouldn't be long now.
"Well, young one," she spoke to her captive. "They say fate is a double edged sword. It knows all our futures and what we will do; therefore, it decrees it is what we are meant to do. But when aware of it, can one become powerful enough to change one's fate? To do what one was not meant to do is to prove fate wrong and change all futures. But then again, will fate see that, too and know that the change was really our true destiny? Who has more power? The divine power that guides the life to its inevitable end, or the one who owns the life and steers it according to the destinations set by the hearts and minds of man?" She stroked the red head's pale, sweaty cheek. "We shall see."
Tuxedo Mask painfully pulled himself to his feet. His suit was tattered and he was cut and bruised all over. He remembered the whirl wind they had all been sucked into and how it had whipped and flung them all about. He had tried his best to hang onto his Moon Princess, but the unforgiving winds had torn her from his arms and threw her in a different direction. Where ever Sailor Moon was now, he hoped she was okay and was able to find some of the others. The Scouts always knew how to look after each other and Tuxedo Mask knew they would be safe if they were together. So all he had to do was find them. But, boy, did his body ache. He felt like he had collided with at least fifteen different buildings before he finally hit the cement. It took all his powers just to keep him from hitting the street without dieing.
The tall young man stumbled forward, almost blindly in his best attempts to march forward and find his friends. He didn't get far before he almost stumbled into a large crater in the street. Whatever made that had to have been big. Tuxedo Mask was having a hard time trying to concentrate with that horrible buzzing in his hears. Perhaps he hit his head more times than he thought. He wiped his sweaty brow with a white glove only to see it smeared with red. Boy, he really did hit his head.
Heavy grunting caught his attention as something climbed out of the crater he stood by. Something orange.
"Oh man, what a ride," Kento said as he crawled out and looked at the large hole where he had landed. He turned around when he heard sputtering behind him.
"You--you made that crater?" Tuxedo Mask asked incredulously.
"Yeah, and what of it?" Kento retorted as he looked the taller man up and down. He looked like some crazed fruit cake who got separated from his drama team or something.
"Well I--I mean, are you okay?"
Kento blinked at the question and then thought about it. He rolled his shoulders a few times and then popped his neck and checked his elbows to see if they bended properly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been hit a lot harder than that, you know."
That was about all the poor ragtag young man could take and he promptly fainted from both disbelief and head injuries.
Kento raised a bushy eyebrow at the prone figure on the ground. This was so not his day.
Rowen opened his eyes slowly, his vision proving to be a little blurry as he tried to focus. He had used Strata's power to protect him from the impact, but he still felt it pretty hard despite. Maybe he should go back to sleep for another hour or two and maybe he would feel better then.
"Hey, are you okay?" a deep, male voice asked.
Rowen opened his eyes again to see two large, blue eyes looking back at him. Below those was a little, black nose and they were surrounded by white fur and...whiskers?
"A.....cat....?" Rowen rasped weakly.
"Are you going to be alright?" the cat asked again.
Rowen's eyes suddenly bugged out as he sat up and scooted away, brushing Artemis off his chest like he was a giant spider.
"AHH! TALKING CAT!" He backed away until the side of a building prevented him from fleeing any further. There he sat, wide eyed and panting insanely as if he had just ran the city in less than a minute.
"Go away talking cat!" he cried in a panicked voice. He reached up to his helmet and then frantically felt his face. "This can't be! I must be hallucinating! I hit my head too hard! Or worse....OH NO! I'M DEAD! I'VE DIED AND GONE TO TALKING CAT HELL!!!"
Artemis growled; he had just about all he could stand of the Ronin's inane whining.
"SHUT UP!" he spat at Rowen.
The bearer of Strata was instantly silenced.
"What kind of hero are you?" the white cat demanded, his tail bristling. "Maybe Mars is right about you! I thought you would be some help, but you're just some ninny in fancy armor. You probably don't even know how to use it. I guess I'll just save Robyn myself!"
Rowen blinked momentarily at Artemis' retreating backside. Then he jumped to his feet.
"YOU'RE going to save Robyn?!" he demanded. "You're just a talking cat! What do you think you can--HEY! Get back here, I'm talking to you!" Rowen picked up his discarded, dusty bow and quickly ran after his new companion. "If anyone's going to save anyone it's going to be me, not you!"
"You're just a big baby," Artemis shot back, not even bothering to look up. "You couldn't rescue a paper bag from getting wet on a sunny day!" He started off running.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rowen barked as he chased after the cat. "We'll see how much a hero YOU are when I pop those whiskers off your stupid face!"
A small sparrow landed on nearby street sign and cocked its head at the odd, arguing couple as they ran off. The little bird was far more confused with its environment then the young man in armor and his talking, insulting cat. The sun had disappeared far before it should. Like it had suddenly decided to run away and never come back. The city it lived in was also unusually quiet. Dead, silent, empty. Where had all the people gone that left delicious things on the ground for him to peck at? Where were the other sparrows? The small bird was ready to flitter away when it, too, disappeared. The surroundings as well started to slowly melt away into blackness.
Luna was shook awake by an unusual rythem. As her eyes slowly opened she had the sensation that she was dangling. She swayed back and forth lightly once and then was swung a bit more abruptly the second time. Her limp, hanging body continued to swing in that pattern. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and then looked up to see who was carrying her by the back of her neck. The first thing she saw were sharp fangs connected to the large jaw of a massive white tiger.
Luna gave a cat like scream when she saw him and immediately started fighting and clawing the air. She twisted loose and took off the second her paws hit the ground. The small, dark cat took sanctuary beneath the nearest car and hid behind the front tire, her heart beating wildly. She watched with wide, scared eyes as the tiger just stood there.
For a moment, the two just stared at each other. Two animals from two completely different worlds. Luna couldn't help but stare into the deep brown eyes of the ancient beast. Even though he couldn't talk, she could feel a profound intelligence within those burning eyes.
White Blaze gave a small whine to the little cat. She didn't move. He took a step and then stopped to lick at the cut bleeding down the side of his leg.
The poor thing's hurt, Luna thought to herself. And still he carried me with him. I don't think he wants to hurt me. Do I dare go with him?
White Blaze looked up from licking his wounds. Luna still wasn't budging from her spot.
The large tiger couldn't wait any more. He had a friend to save and time was ticking against them all.
Luna poked her head out of her hiding place when the larger feline started to move on. Carefully, she followed after him. After a few paces, White Blaze stopped and glanced back. Luna froze and crouched on the ground, ready to run if the tiger suddenly turned on her. But the aged beast seemed to almost smile and gave an encouraging purr before trotting off to the place he had first been separated from his master. Luna, after taking a few more moments to decide a course of action, finally bounded after him in hopes that where ever his warriors were, her scouts would be also.
Poke. Poke. Poke, poke.
"Mina! For crying out loud! Quit poking him with that stick! He's not a bug!"
Sailor Venus looked up when Sailor Mars yelled at her. Then she looked back down at the prone figure she was crouched next to and poked him again in the cheek. The young man didn't move, didn't twitch a muscle. His wild, brown hair swayed easily in the breeze as his helmet seemed to have been lost when he hit his head. A trail of dried, sticky blood ran from his temple down to puddle under the collar of his armor.
"Do you think he's dead?" Venus wondered and poked him again. This time harder in his light blue chest plate.
"We would only be so lucky," Sailor Mars grouched as she leaned against the side of a building. "Come on, we should go find the others."
"And just leave him here?"
"Yes leave him here!" Mars shot back. "He would leave us!"
"You don't know that!" Sailor Venus argued. "All this time you've been telling us how bad these guys are, but I haven't seen them do anything evil."
"Oh yeah? What about at the apartment when they broke that window and they hurt Robyn? What about when they killed that poor creature? Is that not evil to you Venus?" Sailor Mars clutched her fists so hard they were shaking.
Venus' gaze faltered at her friend's stern expression.
"Yes, but that was different somehow. I don't--"
"I don't believe this!" Sailor Mars cried. "How can you be on their side? How can you--OH!"
Sailor Venus watched Mars storm off to cool down a bit. She returned her gaze back down to the unconscious young man. She wanted to help him. His face didn't seem like that of a murderer's. In fact, she still thought she was quite handsome. Ever since the first day she saw him at the ice cream shop. With those amazing green eyes of his. They were mesmerizing. Sailor Venus reached out and brushed away some hair out of his eyes. If only she could trust him....
"Sailor Mars!" Venus gasped as the young man's forehead started glowing. She squinted in the light to see a character beneath the swaying brown hair.
"Trust?"
"What is it now?" Mars demanded as she stomped back.
"Look Mars! Look at the--" She turned away for just a moment and then it was gone.
"What?"
Sailor Venus blinked in complete bafflement. "On his forehead. I saw something glowing."
"Right," Mars replied. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head, too? Come on, let's go find the others."
Sailor Venus remained where she was as Sailor Mars started once again for the center of the city. She looked at the water warrior again. She didn't imagine that, she had really seen the glowing kanji on his forehead....didn't she? Maybe she really was seeing things.
"SAILOR VENUS!"
She jumped to her feet when her name was called. Mars didn't sound mad, this time the tone was urgent. Venus looked over to see Mars pinned down by a group of the same shadow demons they were fighting earlier.
"Sailor Mars!" Venus cried, about to run to her friend's aid.
"Watch out!" Mars warned back.
Sailor Venus looked up in time to see her own group of shadow monsters raining on her from above. They screamed towards her, taking the shape of black arrows with the intent to pierce her heart. Her breath froze in her throat. There was no time to get away.
Something grabbed her and pulled her down. In an instant she was on her back with a large, solid bulk on top of her. Sailor Venus could only watch in awe with Cye's face merely inches from hers. He gritted his teeth as he used his back as a shield. They hit hard, but they could not pierce the mystical armor he wore.
"Alright, now it's my turn!" Cye announced as he got to his feet. He reached behind him to the staff anchored to his back and pulled it out. Upon seeing the weapon, the shadows ceased their attack and the sounds they made sounded almost like large, frightened mice. They knew now what this warrior could do to them.
"SUPEEER WAAAAAVE SMASHER!"
The two scouts ran for cover as Cye sprayed his sure kill left and right, catching every demon with his wave of power.
When it was over, Cye of the Torrent stood in a triumphant stance, all his foes being defeated. A mere second later he collapsed heavily onto his staff. The two scouts inched towards the wounded, wobbling warrior. He blinked at them weakly, blood running into his eye.
"Robyn...." he coughed weakly. "I have to--have to....save her...."
With that, he finally fell to the ground. Sailor Venus rushed to his side while Sailor Mars took her time. The two girls knelt on either side of him and looked at the fallen warrior. Then Venus looked up at her friend with hopeful eyes.
"Oh, alright," Mars agreed. "We'll bring him along."
Venus smiled her thanks. Victory.
Ryo grunted as he climbed a pile of ruble. He stood atop the mound of bricks and beams and surveyed the scene. The city looked so dark. He couldn't even see past the limits. There were no lights, no nothing. The entire city surrounding them was swallowed in a smothering blackness. Was it his imagination, or was the blackness slowly moving inward? And where were all the people? How did the city get so empty and quiet all of a sudden?
The fiery youth listened to the stillness of his surroundings. Where were his friends? Where they okay? The city felt completely deserted. Ryo put two fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly. More silence. Not even White Blaze seemed to be out there. He was all alone.
"How much further do we have to go? I'm getting tired and my feet hurt."
Well, almost alone.
Ryo looked down to see a girl in a sailor suit and long, blonde pigtails sitting on a pile of beams. How could he forget about her? She had been complaining since they first started out and it didn't look like she was about to stop now as she rubbed her feet and whimpered. Ryo was starting to be almost sorry he had saved her.
When the group of them had all been caught up in the whirl wind, Sailor Moon was the only one he had been able to get a hold of amidst all the chaos. The two had held onto each other as they were thrown far out into the city. Now they were making the lengthy journey back to where they had been. The trek, while slow on foot, was even slower with them having to stop every five minutes for Sailor Moon to adjust her bright red boots.
"Come on, it's not much further now," Ryo forced himself to be optimistic as he slid down the pile and approached her.
"We're never going to get there," Sailor Moon whined, almost in tears. "We failed! It's all over! WAH!"
"Don't say that," Ryo pleaded. "Come on, we're getting close. Maybe some of your friends are already there. Maybe even--"
"Darien!" Sailor Moon suddenly perked up. "Maybe Darien's already there waiting for me! I'm coming lover boy!"
Ryo was nearly ran over as the fickle young blonde jumped to her feet and took off.
"Come on you slow poke, time's a wasting!" she called from around the corner.
Ryo sighed as he followed. He hoped they would get there soon. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.
Sailor Uranus eyed Sailor Jupiter and the young man in the green armor suspiciously. Sailor Jupiter kept a skeptical eye on Sailor Uranus and an even more wary eye on the sword the green clad warrior was holding. Sage looked at both women, feeling very much outnumbered. It was just like being back at home. The three of them had been like that ever since they had found themselves together after the fight. Neither one of them was about to turn their backs on the others.
"Look, we're not getting anywhere by being suspicious of each other," Sailor Uranus finally announced. "We may be all on different sides, but we have one thing in common right now. We all want to get Lady Ebony out of our world before she destroys it. Can we all agree on that?"
"I agree," Jupiter relented while Sage nodded his head.
"Right," Uranus smiled, feeling the progress. "I say we all move back to where the fight began. The city is already starting to be transformed into her black world. That will probably be the last place to be converted and I'm sure we'll find her there. The others will most likely be moving back as well."
Sage nodded again and lifted his no-datchi. The two females watched him as he put away his weapon.
"Since we'll be together for a while, introductions are in order," he announced. "My name is Sage," he said with a bow.
"I'm Sailor Ju---"
She cut herself off when Sage raised a confused eyebrow at her.
"Lita, my name is Lita," the brunette corrected herself.
The two turned to the taller, blonde woman. She, in turn, gave a small frown.
"I am Sailor Uranus," she informed them. "That is my title and that is what you will call me. Now let's go."
The remaining pair looked at each other and then followed after her down the deserted city street. What occurred after that was an awkward stillness. Against his usual quiet persona, Sage decided to break the silence. After all, he needed information more than he needed to keep appearances.
"You seem to know a lot about this Lady Ebony," he said to Sailor Uranus. "How do you know these things and where does she come from?"
"Neptune and I were sent here specifically to fight her by a friend of ours--Sailor Pluto," Uranus started to explain. "Lady Ebony is from a whole different dimension called the Negaverse. It's a reality that exists outside of this one that holds a lot of different entities--mostly evil. Parasites that often slip into our world and attempt to conquer it."
Sailor Uranus paused to check on her male companion. He seemed to be listening, but his face was stone. Did he believe anything she had said?
"I know it's kind of hard to swallow, but it's the truth," she insisted.
"Trust me," Sage replied with almost a smile. "It's not as hard for me to believe as you think it might. Please continue."
"At one time, Lady Ebony was the most powerful being in the Negaverse," Sailor Neptune explained. She and Sailor Mercury had found each other and were also making their way back to the center of the city. "She was so powerful she created another plane of existence outside the Negaverse and our own universe. She called it the Out World. A place she commanded and ruled entirely. It has been kept in existence for thousands of years, powered by her own negative energy. As long as she and her powers exist then it, too will also exist."
"I heard she, at one time, looked quite human. Perhaps she even was one all those years ago. But her dark powers have transformed her into what she is now. It's sad, no matter how much negative energy she gathers, it will eventually destroy her one way or another."
"Kind of like how blood is what keeps us alive but also causes our bodies to age," Sailor Mercury noted.
"Yes, kind of like that," Neptune agreed.
"Evidently, she's getting low on energy," Sailor Uranus continued to explain. "In order to keep her world alive she has used the remaining of her power to come to this world to harvest more energy."
"Is that why she took Robyn?" Sage asked.
Sailor Jupiter, who was listening to all of this quietly, almost stopped in her tracks at the concern laced in his voice. She still remembered the green armor's attack at her aunt's appartment. Also, he had been so neutral until then. She glanced over at the handsome young man and he looked away; as if ashamed at what he had let slip past.
"I suppose," Sailor Uranus replied, gathering everyone's attention again. "But it puzzles me. Every time a creature from the Negaverse tries to get energy they take it from hundreds, sometimes thousands of people at a time if they can. The energy from just one person would never be enough. And yet, for as long as Neptune and I have followed Ebony around, we found her spending her remaining time and energy focusing on just one person. Even then, we never would have guessed Lady Ebony was after her. We thought it was one or all of you with the powers you five have."
"But you were wrong."
The two stopped as Sailor Jupiter stayed back and suddenly burst out her accusation.
"You could have told us what was going on, Amara," she said angrily. "We could have helped you to prevent all this. But you're too damn proud to ask for help! And now that poor girl is God knows where suffering for your pride! All because you thought you could handle this all by yourself."
That was just enough to set the taller blonde off.
"I CAN handle this myself!" Sailor Uranus spat back. "We were doing fine until you five meddlers showed up! You kept getting in the way of our mission and ruining all our plans! We would have done fine--even better than fine if none of you had to follow us here!"
"Why you arrogant bitch!"
"Um...." Sage tried to cut in, not wanting a fight to break out.
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" both females yelled at him before proceeding on their way to insult and scream at each other.
Sage blinked for a few moments. Then he sat himself down on the street corner and sighed. It was exactly like being back home.
"RYOOO! SAAGE! KENTOO! IS ANYONE OUT THERE?" Rowen paused and listened to the dead stillness of the dark city. Even from the roof tops he was having no luck in finding anyone in this instant ghost town. "I'll even settle for CYEEEEE!"
"Give it a rest already, no one can hear you," said the white, talking cat draped over his shoulder.
"I don't recall asking your opinion," Rowen retorted.
"What's the point of being able to talk if you can't give it?" Artemis smirked.
Rowen smirked back as he suddenly jumped off the building. Artemis gave a startled yowl as he dug his claws into the dark blue armor and hung on for dear life as the ground came screaming towards him.
"Fun, huh?" Rowen grinned when they landed. Artemis' tail was now puffed up twice its normal size and the cat was altogether quite a comedic sight to the blue haired young man.
"Would you quit doing that?!" Artemis demanded.
"What a sissy," Rowen stated as he started walking again; almost like he was going on a stroll through the park. "You're no good to me. A cat that didn't know how to talk would be just as helpful as you are."
"Hey! Just because I--" He paused and perked up his ears.
"What?" Rowen wanted to know.
"I hear something."
Rowen paused and listened to the stillness. Very faintly he heard someone calling his name.
"That's Kento!" Rowen exclaimed excitedly as he took of in a dead run. "I'm over here! I'm coming! Where are you!"
"Rowen! I hear you buddy! I'm over on Main Street by the manga shop!"
Rowen cut a sharp right down an alley which led him right on the main road through town. And just a few paces more, he saw his comrade in arms.
"Kento, buddy. Long time no see," he greeted. "Man, it's crazy what you can hear when there's no sound in the city."
"I'm amazed you can hear at all," Kento gave a crooked smile. "I could hear you yelling my name for the last ten minutes but you couldn't hear me. You may have good archer's vision but your hearing sucks."
Artemis snickered. "And you wouldn't have heard him at all if it wasn't for me. I'm not so useless any more, am I?"
Kento blinked. "Rowen, did that cat just talk?"
Rowen just huffed and brushed the talking cat off his shoulder. Artemis hit the ground and slunk away indignantly to go brood. Behind the two came a pained moan which caught the two warrior's attention.
"Who is that?" Rowen asked.
Kento walked over to the figure that was propped up against one of the buildings. "I don't know. I found him along the way and have been hauling him all around town. He's in a pretty bad way." He crouched down next to the recovering Tuxedo Mask. "I'm surprised he's already starting to get up."
Tuxedo Mask sat up and shook his head. Bad idea. It still hurt pretty bad. How long had he been out? Where was he now?
"Dude, you okay?" came a voice ringing in his ears.
The dark haired man squinted through his mask as his vision cleared. Two younger men were looking at him curiously. The warrior in orange offered him a hand. Tuxedo Mask took it and he was pulled to his feet easily despite his taller stature.
"Yeah, I--I think I'll be alright," he managed to say.
"Good! Because it's time to look alive!" Rowen exclaimed as a hoard of shadow demons flew in from the darkness.
The black creatures screeched when they saw their prey and charged the rag tag warriors. The three young men all scattered to dodge the attack and then began a small, but fierce battle of man against demon.
i Man, if only Cye was here, we could get rid of these guys. /a Kento thought as he swung as the shadows. A flash of red on the street corner caught his eye and Kento got an idea.
Tuxedo Mask swiped at one monster with his cane, but it just went right through it. The creature, in return, charged back, cutting through the material and flesh on his arm. The Earth Prince stumbled back and at a glance he saw a white cat with a demon screaming right for him.
"Artemis! Look out!"
The cat stiffened at the site of the threat and couldn't move. There was a flash of deep blue and Artemis was out of harm's way before the creature could puncture the ground with its sharp tail.
"Like I said, useless," Rowen grinned to the cat in his arms.
Artemis just gasped as another shadow was aiming right for them. At the same time, Kento managed to break free and ran for the red object. He swung his staff around with all his power and smashed the fire hydrant to pieces. Gallons upon gallons of water gushed up from the street and rained all over. The shadow creatures gave a shrill, painful cry as the water seemed to almost burn them away to oblivion.
Through the falling water, Rowen stood up and looked at his friend. Who would have ever thought Kento's quick thinking would have saved his life? The bearer of Hardrock, seeming to know what he was thinking, just smiled back. Rowen trudged out of the path of the gusher and frowned at the soaked object in his arms.
"I hate the smell of wet cat hair."
"You're no petunia yourself," Artemis retorted. The white cat shook the water from himself in Rowen's face and then hopped down.
"Hey!"
"Are you still okay, dude?" Kento asked as he turned to the panting Tuxedo Mask who was clutching his bleeding arm.
"I'll be fine. It's not too deep. The bleeding's already stopped." He removed his gloved hand to show them. He would last until this battle was over if he received no more further injuries.
"Do you think you're okay enough to travel?" Rowen asked doubtfully. "Because we still have a ways to go."
"I can manage it."
"Great. By the way, I'm Rowen and this is Kento."
"I," announced the caped young man. "Am called Tuxedo Mask."
The two warriors eyes went wide as they fought to choke back snorts of laughter. Tuxedo Mask continued to look annoyed as Kento and Rowen managed to gain control of themselves again.
"Now that you're done, should we get going?" Tuxedo Mask asked.
"He's right," Rowen admitted, though he was still smiling big. "We've still got important things to do."
As the group of now four started off, Kento couldn't help but comment.
"Hey Rowen, wouldn't it be weird to be named after what you wore?"
Rowen snickered back at the new joke they discovered at their companion's expense. "Yeah, we would have to call you Big Ugly Orange Armor."
"Oh yeah?" Kento demanded as the two non-ronins rolled their eyes. "Well then your name would be Stupid Looking Banana Helmet!"
"It does look like a banana," Artemis snickered.
"IT'S NOT A BANANA!" Rowen screetched. "Oh, you're dead meat now kitty!" With that, he withdrew a golden arrow and aimed it at the cat.
"Hey! Knock it off!" Tuxedo Mask demanded, stepping in front of Rowen's arrow. "Apparently your kidnapped friend doesn't mean much to you if you'd rather carry on with these petty squabbles."
That sobered up the two warriors very quickly.
"Tuxedo Cape is right," Kento admitted. "We have to pull together and save Robyn."
"Mask."
"What?"
"My name is Tuxedo MASK."
"Oh, sorry dude. Mask, cape, you're wearing them both. I got mixed up."
As they continued on, Kento once again addressed their costumed traveler. "Are you sure you're okay? You're bleeding again."
"It's fine," Tuxedo Mask insisted. This time her tore a piece of his cape off to make a bandage for the wound. "Just as long as we don't run into any more of those things."
"Yeah, I don't see another fire hydrant anywhere," Rowen added.
"I should have brought my Super Soaker," Kento lamented. And then "Hey Rowen, why do you think water is the only thing that hurts them anyway?"
The bearer of Strata rubbed his chin in thought as they walked. "Hmm....well, that Lady Ebony called them "Shadow Demons" so that means they're probably demonic or spiritual in essence."
"So you're saying they're ghosts?" Tuxedo Mask spoke up.
"Right."
"And ghosts can be hurt by water because.....?" Kento floundered, clueless.
"Ever heard the story of the Headless Horseman? When chasing people, he wouldn't go past the edge of the bridge. It was the water flowing under it that prevented him from going any further. The phenomenon of spirits remaining on an earthy plain, or hauntings as they're called, are often tied to one element; be it a house or a boat or even a mirror. The ghost of a woman drowned in a lake won't even be seen on land.
"So.....these shadow ghost things are tied to....the land?" Kento guessed.
"That's my theory," Rowen replied. "Water is used as a purifying agent to get rid of impurities. Hence why priests often use holy water during exorcisms. The water throws those shadow demons out of their element....."
"....and sends them back to the dark pit they came from!" Kento finished triumphantly.
Tuxedo Mask didn't say anything, but he was impressed. He had his doubts, but these young men seemed to know what they were doing and that helped his confidence.
"Man Rowen, how do you know this stuff?" Kento wondered.
"Believe me, I've had plenty of chances to study up on it lately," Rowen replied.
"Oh," Kento immediately sobered when he realized to what chances Rowen was referring.
"Hey Kento," Rowen suddenly asked. "What do you think Cye would do if he saw a talking cat?"
"A talking cat? He'd shit a brick!"
"I know!" Rowen laughed. "Hey! Talking cat, come here."
"I have a name you know! It's Artemis! Ar-te-mis!"
"Whatever, just come're. I want you to do something for me."
"No! Get away from me!" Artemis cried as he ran off.
"Wait! Come back," Rowen called as he ran after him. "If you ever see a guy in light blue armor just make sure you go up and talk to him. Maybe lick his face a little, too!"
"I said stay away you wacko!"
The two remaining young men looked at each other, shrugged, and then ran after their companions. Whatever would get them there quicker worked.
"So much for that plan," Katara said as she watched the group of four run off. She and her older sister were stationed atop a small two story store where they viewed the previous scene secretly. "And we're out of shadow demons. Now that those brats all know their weaknesses none of them will go out and fight. Not only that, we still don't know where half of our enemies are; they were scattered around so much. Those we could find are getting dangerously close to the entrance. It looks like we're going to have to fight whatever ones we can find."
"Don't worry about it," her older sister said calmly as she preened her silver hair. "Lady Ebony is being far too paranoid. Even if they make it back to the center of the city it won't do them much good. Our Lady is in the other realm. They won't know how to cross over onto the other plain. Lady Ebony will be safe until her full powers return. Just relax."
"You could be right," Katara relented to her older sister. "But we should still keep an eye on them just in case."
Katana nodded and the two disappeared to continue their silent vigil over the separated groups of fighters.
Robyn's entire mental world shattered into tiny, unrecoverable pieces. It was torture from the inside out; she couldn't handle it all. All the things she had forced herself to forget had come back. She had worked so hard to get past it all, now she was tumbling into the dark oblivion of her forgotten nightmares. Everything--every little negative element that had ever been present in her life was all playing itself at once over and over through her soul.
She remembered the time her hand got slammed in the door when she was eight. When she sprained her ankle at fifteen. That day in ninth grade when the teacher had horribly embarrassed her in front of class for being late. All the stubbed toes and skinned knees through her childhood. All the hateful words, the hurtful looks, and the frightening threats that came from living at home. She was under the water again with her mother's hands holding her down, wishing her to die. And at the same time, she could feel exactly the way it felt when her father beat her once with a wood baseball bat and every other time he had used his fists on her.
Robyn's whole body suddenly clenched tighter as she remember the form of her father standing at point blank with a gun in his hand. The stress of knowing something was still out there to get her multiplied with the stress of passing her finals. To succeed in life; to do something with herself. To somehow break out and move past the slums she was born in--even if she didn't have a clue to where she was going next.
Her hand hurt. It burned. She could feel the flesh melting away when it was forced to touch that scalding red armor. Inside, her heart hurt far worse. He was supposed to be her friend. How could he let that happen? How could he hurt her more when her world had been shattered when she thought Cye was dead?
Cye.
The dark force inside her found the most profound of pains rotting in her recollection and fed on it. It made the hurt grow bigger, deeper, until it twisted into something more that what it was. This dark lie grew and pounced on its originator and swallowed her into dark madness. Robyn couldn't take the torture any more. The last vision; the last pain was too much and her entire being cried out in complete agony.
"Here you go," Sailor Venus offered pleasantly.
A weak, wounded Cye took the bottled water from her gratefully and drank. The blonde senshi and taken it from a near by store. She would have paid for it, but there was no one to give the money to. Her male companion looked like he really needed it so she hoped it would be okay. Next to them, Sailor Mars was doing her best to patch up Cye's head wound. It wasn't that deep, but the stubborn thing had refused to stop bleeding and needed to be stopped up so they could continue.
"That should hold for a while," Mars announced as she looked over her work. Red was already starting to seep through the bandage, but it seemed to be slowing.
"That will do for now," Cye confirmed as he touched the stained material adorning his forehead. "Thank you."
"And thank you for saving me," Sailor Venus suddenly said as Cye got to his feet. "I forgot to say that earlier, but I really am grateful."
Cye smiled at her while Mars rolled her eyes in the background. Though Kento was the one who usually went for blondes, Cye had to admit she was really very pretty. Sweet as well.
"It was no problem, I---"
The bottle of water fell from his fingertips as a smothering wave of emotion suddenly washed over him. In other areas around the city the rest of the Ronins felt a tickle in their consciousness. But nothing so extreme as what the bearer of Torrent was experiencing.
Sailor Venus cried in surprise when Cye suddenly fell to his knees shaking. The young warrior was trembling as the overwhelming sensation seemed to swallow him. He fought back the urge to vomit. It was so much pain, he could feel his spirit start to rip and bleed from it. But it wasn't his. He was experiencing someone else's anguish. And like a cloud burst in the back of his head, a voice pierced through the haze of negativity.
CYYYYEEEEEE!!!!!!
"Are you okay?" Venus asked worriedly as she knelt beside the crouching, trembling warrior.
Cye didn't seem to hear her as he jumped back into the present.
"Robyn," he gasped under his breath and was off like a shot down the street.
The two scouts behind him shouted to wait up, but he didn't hear them. Faster and faster he raced in a frightened frenzy. He was becoming lightheaded from the head wound and his bandage was coming undone. But that, too, was ignored. He could feel all her pain. He sensed what they were doing to her. She needed him and he had to find her.
There it was. Straight ahead stood the building where they had all stood before being separated. He didn't notice the change in its appearance at first. All he saw was the ghostly apparition that appeared in front of it.
"Robyn!"
He raced for the figure who reached out her hand pleadingly as she was pulling through the building walls. Cye ran faster for her as more of her was being pulled in. He lunged for her hand, but his finger tips slipped right through her transparent ones as he hit into a solid cement wall. Helpless to stop it, he could only watch as Robyn disappeared through the solid building.
"No!" he cried as he hit his fists on the side of the building. How could he have not been able to save her? He had truly let her down. "NO! ROBYN!!!"
"Slow down! Wait uuuuup!" Sailor Moon cried as she scrambled after the red clad warrior racing several paces ahead of her.
Ryo cursed his handicap.
"I can't!" he called behind him. "I have to get there! You can do it. We're almost there."
The nagging feeling in his heart wouldn't allow him to slow down. He wasn't sure who or why, but his armor told him someone he cared about needed him now and nothing in the world was going to stop him from being there.
A larger building was in his view before he turned the corner and could see his destination. Sailor Mercury and Neptune where actually the first to arrive and were sitting around waiting when everyone started to show up. Venus and Mars had followed Cye when he came racing up. Sailor Jupiter, Uranus, and Sage were already there as well when Ryo came charging around the corner. Kento and Rowen, followed by Artemis and Tuxedo Mask, appeared the same time he did. And the second they arrived, everyone's eyes were riveted on the same site.
A frantic Cye had his yari out and was slashing insanely at the wall of the building. His head wound had broken open from the strain and was once again bleeding freely down his face. The enraged warrior was far beyond noticing anything so minute as he cried out with each slash of the three pronged staff.
Sage was the first one to react and had to dodge a few swings before he managed to get the weapon out of Cye's hands. Even without it, Cye was not going to slow down and started pounding vengefully on the wall with his fists on intent of breaking through with his bare hands.
"Cye!" Kento called as he grabbed his friend from behind and pinned his arms to his side. "Cye, calm down!"
Torrent, by now, was exhausted and easily fell to his knees with Kento's added weight upon him. He stared hard and heatedly at the ground while he panted heavily.
"Robyn's in there," he choked as he struggled for breath. "I can't save her, Kento. They're killing her in there and I can't save her!"
"Yes you will, buddy," Kento consoled as he refused to let his friend go. "We'll find her. We'll get in there."
Ryo watched on, wondering if he, too should go comfort his friend when something brushed by his hand. White Blaze padded past Wildfire and over to the cement wall. He sniffed and scratched at it before letting out a mournful roar. Things weren't looking good.
"That's not exactly a normal building any more," Rowen said quietly as he approached Ryo. "I really don't see how we can get in."
He was right. Gone were any doors or windows that may have been there earlier. The whole thing now looked like nothing but a solid, cement cube.
"What do you make of it Mercury?" Sailor Jupiter asked her friend.
Sailor Mercury summoned her visor and took a look at their new obstacle.
"It's solid," she exclaimed. "There's no way in because the whole thing is uniform throughout. Nothing can be in there."
"That can't be true," Sage accused. "Robyn has to be in there."
"She may be there," Sailor Uranus announced. "But not on this plane of existence. Lady Ebony has taken her to the Out World. There's no physical way to reach her."
With an ever concerned Kento by his side, Cye slowly stood up and leaned heavily against the wall.
"I couldn't do it," he whispered. His eyes were closed tightly, but they couldn't stop the stream of hot tears pushing their way through. "I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to her and I lied. Why did she trust me when I couldn't keep her safe?"
Ryo watched his friend's suffering while his anger built until his fists trembled.
"No Cye," he told him. "It wasn't your fault, it was mine."
"Oh, don't even start Ryo!" Sage was quick to cut in. "You can't blame yourself for this one! Not every little thing is your fault!"
"But this WAS my fault," Ryo insisted stubbornly. "She was standing right next to me Sage, and I let her get captured. Two feet. Two stupid feet from me!" He turned from Sage's piercing gaze and clenched his fists tighter. "She should have been safe with me and she wasn't."
The Sailor Scouts, for their part, had reunited and were helplessly watching the drama among the warriors.
"Guys, we can't let this happen," Sailor Moon announced. "There has to be something we can do."
"Everyone," Sailor Jupiter announced. "Look at the city."
All present gazed around them. In every direction there was nothing but blackness and it was slowly creeping closer.
"It's almost finished," gasped Sailor Neptune. "Lady Ebony's power is already growing and it's swallowing this world until it will be completely part of her realm."
A determined Sailor Moon turned to the two mysterious outer senshi. "There must be some way we can get to this Out World. We have to try and stop it!"
Neptune and Uranus looked at each other.
"We might be able to do it using out combined planet power," the former suggested. "But it will be hard. It will take all of us together to do it."
"We're coming with you," Ryo announced as he and the other Ronins approached.
"Impossible," Sailor Uranus scoffed. "There's no way we're taking you with us."
Undaunted, Ryo was quick to retort by pulling out his blade and pointing it at the taller, blonde senshi.
"We are going," he told her. He looked her in the face with his intense, deep eyes. "I will not allow her to die. At least, not alone."
That speech was enough to make the stubborn Sailor Uranus surprised and she smiled slightly at Wildfire's sword.
"Okay," she relented. "We'll give it a try."
Within seconds the Sailor Scouts were standing hand in hand in a circle with the Ronins in the middle. Tuxedo Mask, along with two talking cats and a white tiger stayed to the side. If this succeeded, they would not be able to follow.
"Ready?" Sailor Uranus asked the young men in the middle.
Ryo looked at the stern faces of his companions and then nodded.
"Okay girls," Sailor Moon coached. "Let's give it all we've got!"
The group of seven closed their eyes and concentrated on all their powers while the group of five looked around, wondering what would happen. Bright whites emanated from each scout as the circle began to build up power.
"MERCURY PLANET POWER!"
"VENUS PLANET POWER!"
"JUPITER PLANET POWER!"
"MARS PLANET POWER!"
"NEPTUNE PLANET POWER!"
"URANUS PLANET POWER!"
"MOON PLANET POWER!"
The wind began to pick up as energy swirled and crackled all around. The light got brighter and brighter and the members of the circle felt like they were almost about to lift off the ground. But then.....
"It's not working," Sailor Mars cried above the roar.
"The circle is loosing power," Sailor Venus confirmed.
Eventually, the energy died down again and all scouts and ronins were still where they had started.
"We--we couldn't do it," Mercury lamented. "We just can teleport that many people."
"Damnit!" Kento cursed under his breath.
"No!" Rowen suddenly snapped. "We are going to do this! Everyone stay in the circle!" He turned to face the quizzical expression of his comrades.
"We can do this," he told them. "Remember back when we fought Talpa. Remember what the Ancient told us. These powers were given to us so we can protect the people we love. Our armors won't let us down if we believe in them and we work together." He held out his hand in the midst of them. "Are you guys with me?"
"Of course, bro!" Kento agreed as he placed his hand on top of Strata's. "You know I'm too hard headed to give up now!"
"I'm not qutting when we're this close," Cye said as he put his hand into the circle.
"We will do this," Sage put in as well. "I know we have the power."
"I'm not giving up either," Ryo replied as he rested his hand over the others. "Not while there's still life left in me."
"Then let's combine our powers," Rowen said with almost a smile. "We've got a world to save."
The seven sailor girls tried again as the young men in the middle called upon their power as well. As the scouts once again called upon their guardian planets, the Ronins called upon their virtues to help them.
"Life." Hang in there Robyn, we're coming for you.
"Justice." Come on armors! This has to work or we're screwed!
"Wisdom." I won't let this world be plunged into darkness.
"Trust." I'll use whatever power I have left to find you. I won't let you down.
"Virtue." The five of us have sworn to protect this world and the people we love.
Their foreheads flared with their respective kanjis as the planet circle once again powerd up. The light was ten times brighter this time and far more powerful. The energy spun and sizzled and shot upward to the black sky like a bolt of lightning where it disappeared. It left in its place nothing to speak of. The group of fighters had traversed on to the other realm.