Yes, I'm alive...just nearly brain-dead from all the studying I have to do from these placement exams... Anyways, you all know the disclaimer so I'm not going to say it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
-Chapter Eight
Flames of Existance-
Darien woke with a groan and slowly opened his eyes. With a start he sat up and realized he was on the floor of a darkened bus. Streaming through the windows all around was an eerie purple light. Gripping the back of a nearby seat Darien pulled himself up and looked around. Straight ahead though the windshield he could see that the ground's texture was odd, it was purple and it looked like it was moving and changing shades from light to dark. Shifting his gaze realization struck as his eyes fell upon the driver's seat.
"Huh?!" The chair was empty but the small window to the left of that was broken and there was green liquid on the broken shards still remaining in the pane. Shaking his head Darien turned around and looked to the unconscious passengers in the rear of the bus. Suddenly his eyes fell on Molly who had been sitting in the back seat when everyone had fallen asleep. Next to her in the seat was a man who had brown hair that fell across his face and glasses over his closed eyes, Molly's head was leaning on the man's shoulder and the man's chin rested on her head. Out of curiosity Darien took several steps forward and looked at the guy closer.
'Melvin?!' he mentally gasped in surprise. 'I didn't know Melvin was on this bus!' Darien tilted his head to the side while looking at the both of them together.
'They'd make a cute couple...' Chuckling softly he thought, 'Molly would kill me if she heard that.'
"You would never let any harm befall your companions, would you?" said a calm, childish voice from behind him. Startled he jumped a few feet in the air and spun around. At the front of the bus stood a small girl with her back to him and looking out at the purple moving ground. The girl seemed to be eight years old and she pure white hair that went down to her mid back, on her head were two buns that were on either side. She wore a long-sleeved shirt with blue shorts and delicately placed on her lower back was a red ribbon.
"Who-?" The girl raised her left hand without turning and silenced him.
"Forgive me, I did not intend to startle you, protector...I do not mean any harm either," She stated in an almost irritating calm voice as she lowered her hand back to her side.
"Who are you? How did you get here? Are you one of the people that fell asleep like me?" Darien questioned quickly during the small girl's pause. She giggled in amusement and turned her whole body to face him. The girl had dainty pink lips that were turned up in a small grin. Over her eyes was a large shadow that oddly did not overshadow the white bangs over her forehead.
"...My name for this moment is not of any concern, but you may call me Usagi..." She paused again to giggle, though this time the reason was not clear to Darien. The grin on her face suddenly fell and though he could not see her eyes he could feel her watching him closely. "...But there are more serious things than how I arrived to this forsaken realm and whom I may be. You wish to protect your companions correct?!"
"Yes," Darien nodded.
"Then you must wake up! You must awaken immediately!?" the small girl cried and took a step backwards.
"Wait! What do you mean 'wake up'?! I am awake! Hey wai- ouch!" Suddenly Darien felt sharp tinge a pain on his shoulder and his surroundings began to fade.
Darien sat up with a jolt, perspiration was beaded on his forehead and his breathing heavy. He sat in the 2nd seat to the front and Luna was perched on the back seat in front of him licking her paws.
"About time you woke up," Luna mumbled while she cleaned. Darien rubbed his left shoulder and narrowed his blue eyes.
"Was it you that clawed my shoulder?" he asked mildly annoyed.
"A bomb could have gone off five feet away from you and you'd still be sleeping like a baby," she mumbled as she started cleaning her other paw. "Frankly, I'm surprised that clawing you worked..."
"I guess that answers my question..." He grumbled as he stood up, walked into the aisle and began to stretch. Suddenly Darien remembered his dream with the little girl and spun around to the front of the bus, only to come to the sight of twenty other buses that all had darkened lights. 'Maybe it was just a dream then...'
"We have to deal with this monster Darien..." Luna said as she jumped on to his good shoulder. With a quick nod he grabbed his pocket watch and stated clearly,
"TERRA...INTEGRITY" Suddenly, he was engulfed by a bright, golden light which filled the room with brilliance and warmth. When he stepped out he had a black tuxedo on, with a matching top hat and a white domino mask on his face, in his breast pocket was a blood-red rose with a razor sharp tip and on his back there was a black cape that had velvet on the inside. As if reminding them of their mission the far-off sounds of screams reached their ears causing Tuxedo Mask's teeth to knock together in fear, but before he had the chance to hide under the seat Luna put a newly sharpened claw in his shoulder.
"YEOUCH! What was that for?!" He yelled momentarily forgetting his fear.
"That is to prevent you from running! You have to destroy that monster remember?" He gulped then several seconds later nodded and started towards the doors of the bus. As he reached them he suddenly got the chills as if someone's eyes were on him. Turning around he looked to see who was watching him but all that was there were unconscious passengers whose eyes remained shut, unable to see nor hear anything that was happening.
"Weird..." He muttered then placed his hands in between the double doors, pulled them open and ran out towards the sounds of screams. From the shadows in the rear of the bus the white haired girl walked out, her head lowered making it seem as if her eyes looked to the floor. Slowly she raised her face to reveal light blue eyes of a newborn baby that held uncommon wisdom for a girl of eight. Doing a complete circle she looked at all of the passengers of the bus she stood in and all the other twenty buses then she started walking towards the driver's seat. With every step she began to grow taller and her white hair lengthened. Halfway to the seat she looked to be the age of fourteen, her hair was down to her waist and had silver streaks in it. Her skin was beautifully pale and in her right hand she held a red and black mask that seemed too big for her face. Taking slow, graceful steps she continued walking to the seat and continued to change, by the time she had finally reached the seat she had placed the mask upon her face and instead of blue shorts she wore a royal blue skirt that was a little too short. With a snap of her fingers silver armor appeared on her. She then sat in the driver's seat and started the engine.
"Ohhh, shi-!" Tuxedo Mask yelped as he jumped out of the way of yet another blast by the large monster from the negaverse that was in the form of a woman. The 'woman' had snake like green hair with thin red slits for eyes and a red jewel adorned it's forehead. Long since the fight had begun Luna had jumped off of his shoulder and disappeared somewhere while Tuxedo Mask struggled to defeat the thing in front of him.
"Your time is up PRETTY BOY!" The monster screeched as it released another ball of dark energy. Suddenly the raven haired preistess ran in and stopped right beside Tuxedo Mask.
"RAYE?!" He yelled in surprise. Raye snapped her head towards him and gave him a questioning look.
"Do I know you? ...and what is this place??" Raye questioned obviously confused. Before Tuxedo Mask could answer the monster sent dark energy ball at Raye and Tuxedo Mask grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the way. As he got up a red light shone and a baffling symbol appeared on Raye's forehead.
"The symbol of Mars!" Luna gasped from a little ways off. Quickly she did a little back flip and a red transformation stick with the symbol of mars fell to the ground. Picking it up with her mouth she took off and headed straight towards Raye.
"Little kittie? What are you doing in a place like this..." Raye cooed when Luna approached her. Picking her up she began to scratch behind her ears causing Luna to drop the Red Stick on the ground and purr. " What a strange and beautiful stick..." Raye reached for the stick and picked it up to examine it.
"There is no time! That stick is your personal power stick, pick it up and say 'Mars Power'!" Luna said hurriedly as she watched Tuxedo Mask hit the ground again.
"How do you know how to talk?! Never mind, tell me later...Mars Power!" Then Raye was engulfed in a burning red light. Seconds later when she stepped out she wore a short red skirt, stilettos and a white top attached to the skirt. She looked down at her skirt and muttered, "You have to be kidding me!" before running towards Tuxedo Mask.
"Raye?!" Tuxedo Masked gasped.
"Boy I've been hearing that name alot..." she said to him before turning towards the woman. "Time to pay slime bag!" She yelled at the monster. "MARS FIRE IGNITE!" A large ball of flame shot streaked towards the monster and hit it causing a major explosion. The monster fell to the ground somewhat stunned.
"Destroy it Tuxedo Mask!" Luna yelled as he looked down at the fallen monster. The creature looked up at him with it's charred face and began to laugh hoarsly.
"You'll never escape...You'll-"
"GAIA BOMBER!" Tuxedo Mask yelled before it could finish. He grabbed the rose from his pocket and chucked it directly towards the hideous laughter. The monster screamed and then turned into a pile of dust.
"Raye is Sailor Mars?" he questioned Luna.
"It seems so, come on now! We have to get out of here!" Just as Luna said that a loud swishing sound filled the air and the great hole in the purple sky slowly began to close. "Oh no!!"
-Elsewhere-
At the bus stop Sailor Mercury stood, her hands clasped together in prayer with her eyes trained on the large black hole in the sky. Suddenly she notice it shrinking in size and she began to panic for Tuxedo Mask and Luna.
"Please help my friends get back safely! In the name of Mercury, please!" She called into the sky. A gust of wind began to blow and it suddenly grew stronger than it started out to be. Mercury held her hands flat, palms up and a aqua blue beam of light emitted upwards towards the hole and straight through it, preventing it from closing.
-The Void-
Running towards the buses Luna and Mars suddenly spotted a beam of blue light enter the black hole and it stopped closing.
"Mercury's using her powers to help us! We must hurry now!" Luna shouted. Mars and Tuxedo Mask nodded before they continued to run.
"Need a ride Sailor Scouts?" called a femenine voice. All three of them turned around to see about twenty floating buses. In the first bus stood the masked woman who had helped him before, one hand was on the steering wheel while the other was on the open door.
"You're just in time!" Tuxedo Mask yelled before jumping on to the door way of the bus. Raye rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up Luna.
"Does he like her or what?" Then she also jumped on the bus.
Twenty minutes later...
Stopping all the buses, Sailor Mars, Tuxedo Mask and Luna jumped off the bus and ran towards Mercury.
"You're ok!" Mercury said with a bright smile. Suddenly her eyes fell upon the somewhat annoyed Mars. "And you found the Sailor Mars? Today is looking up." Somewhat confused, Tuxedo Mask shook his head.
"No, today is the 5th of November remember?"
Sorry for taking so long with the updates. School is coming and I have to get ready for it. Anyways, tell me what you all though about this chapter, and be honest! Thanks for reading!
-Angel-of-Serene