Keep Trying! Will it Ever be Over?

"Earth Life Circle!" Neo Earth declared for what must have been the fiftieth time then paused to pant out, "I can't hold out any more!"

"Ha!" Saturn retorted and rushed forward to slash down two more shadow creatures.

"Take a break then," Neo Moon suggested then attacked. She was loosing her strength quickly as well. "Moon Beam Ricochet!"

"There isn't an end to them!" Earth shouted in despair and attempted another attack. "Earth Life Circle!"

They couldn't win at this rate…

The circle of nobaka closed in tighter around the four senshi and young priestess.

"We're trapped!" Neo Mars shrieked and attacked a trio that dared to venture close, "Mars Pillars of Fire!"

"And there's more coming for us!" Ure informed her sister, "They are all going for one of two targets: here or the Crystal Palace."

Jupiter's eyes widened in horror, "The palace! And here?" She gasped in pain as one of the nobaka blasted her in the back with its dark energy. Whirling frantically around she retaliated. "Jupiter Thunderbolt Strike!" The shadow and four near it disappeared with high shrieks.

"Pluto Eternal Mists!" Once again, mists shrouded the area and the nobaka slowly disappeared within the mists.

Venus just barely managed to dodge out of the way of another dark blast. "You'll pay for that!" she growled, "Venus Blast of Obsession!" Shrieks a short distance away in the fog told them that her attack had met its mark.

They took a short break, panting, as the fog cleared, none of the shadows daring to attack through the mists. There was a long pause when it did and the senshi and the nobaka shifted uneasily.

Ure broke the silence with a hushed voice, "All that are coming, are here."

Venus gasped, being the tallest, she could see farthest. The shadow beings stretched in all four directions for at least a block. She pivoted at her waist with her mouth hanging open in horror. "Well girls," she said, attempting a go-for-it attitude, "We're about to have some fun."

Jupiter swallowed hard.

"We've done one and a half laps and seen nothing," Uranus commented in her flat, unemotional voice.

"I say they aren't trying to get out of they city," Neptune suggested.

"Probably the Crystal Palace," Mercury said plainly, stopping mid-step.

The other two senshi stopped also.

"Let's go!" Uranus declared enthusiastically.

Once again, the trio was sprinting off: this time to the most beautiful place in the entire of Crystal Tokyo, the Crystal Palace.

"I'm really worried about this mother," Lady Serenity said, standing defiantly in front of her parents in the throne room, "They're loosing and they can't go on like this forever! Vesta has been watching where the nobaka are and they all seem to be centered on the palace gates and a random junction in the city. She said that we can safely assume that most of the other girls are there. There's only three here and four at the other place, as well as some other girl, who is not a senshi. They need help before they and others in the city are hurt or killed!"

"I—" Queen Serenity started, rather baffled.

"I entirely agree," an elegant senshi dressed entirely in light blue and silver, with fuku much resembling Cosmos', stepped out of the shadows and said firmly, "They need to learn to work as a team and that seems to be accomplished fairly well now. Chibiusa, go get your four soldiers. You will go to the center of activity in the city and aid the new senshi while I defend the palace."

"Yes Sailor Aqua," Lady Serenity nodded. Even as she appeared about 23 years old, she was only 16, and no one was sure exactly what to call her; Lady Serenity, Small Lady, Chibiusa, Serenity Usagi, Princess, Young Serenity, Usagi, Usa, or just plain Serenity were all used. She didn't really have a preference, but they all seemed to formal. Usagi was her true name, but she had known her mother when she was called Usagi and it didn't seem right to take on that name.

As she hurried out of the room, Helios shot her a worried look, but she just smiled sweetly back at him and continued out of the room.

Half way to her destination, Young Usagi met her four senshi guardians, "Ceres! Vesta! Juno! Pallas!" she exclaimed, "I was just coming to get you."

"We know," Pallas giggled, "We always make sure we know what's going on with you, Princess."

The other three giggled as well.

"So what are you waiting for Usa?" Sailor Juno demanded playfully.

"Nothing, I guess," Lady Serenity laughed then raised her right hand in the air and yelled, "Moon Eternal, Makeup!" A flurry of bright pink hearts swirled around her and she was soon Sailor Moon.

"Let's go!" Sailor Vesta declared and the five girls rushed off.

From where she stood in the center of a street intersection amongst the tall buildings of Crystal Tokyo, Furuhata Ure could tell that there were considerably less nobaka trapping she and her Sailor Senshi companions where they were. Despite this reassuring thought, there were still nearly eighty of the evil creatures. "Akuryo Taisan!" She yelled, flinging yet another scroll into the masses of writhing shadows. It met its mark and the creature emitted a piercing screech as it dissolved. The young priestess-in-training smiled to herself.

"Ure-chan!" She heard Sailor Mars scream, "Watch out!"

The petite dark-haired girl spun around just in time to be blasted by several nobaka directly in the chest. She screamed in agony, moaned, then collapsed to the ground completely unconscious.

"Ure!" her older sister screamed and rushed over to her side, then turned on the creatures that had hurt Ure with a vengeance, her red eyes flashing with hate. She pulled an unused scroll from her sister's robes and held it out before her. "Mars Phoenix Strike!" she yelled, as she summon her usually pillars, which combined with the ufda scroll into a huge firebird that descended on the nobaka with amazing ferocity. The attack swallowed twelve of the creatures before it died out.

Completely drained, Sailor Mars collapsed to the ground next to her younger sister.

A worried look crossed Jupiter's face, but she didn't have time to pause. "Jupiter Thunderbolt Strike!" she screamed and destroyed three more nobaka. They were now down to only three fighters instead of five.

"Venus Blast of Obsession!" Tonda could feel the situation getting much worse. The reality of it had hit her as soon as Ure collapsed. They all could easily die doing this. Sure, there was help someplace in the city, but it might not come in time.

Neo Sailor Pluto was beginning to feel very drained. Her attack was the most effective, but unfortunately the most difficult. She prepared to attack again, knowing she only had a few more times in her, when a chorus of shouts came from overhead:

"Amazon Jungle Arrow!"

There was a blinding flash, many shrieks from the nobaka, and almost a fourth of them disappeared.

All eyes turned upward to a balcony two stories up a building. There stood the princess and her four guardians, Sailor Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Juno.

"Looks like you need some help!" Sailor Vesta called brightly then jumped from the balcony and landed next the two Hino girls. Sailor Pallas giggled and jumped down as well, stumbling before she got sturdily on her feet again.

Sailor Chibimoon, followed immediately by Sailor Juno and Sailor Ceres. "Vesta, you cover those two and make sure those beasts don't get too close. Pallas, you cover Pluto. Juno, you can work with Jupiter, and Ceres can take care of Venus," she ordered in a regal tone, princess at heart, then produced a beautiful pink and gold wand featuring a hear and crescent moon at the top, "Moon Glorious Blessing!" Sparkling pink moons shot at the nobaka and a good number of the disappeared.

"Princess!" Sailor Jupiter finally said as she came out of shock.

"Don't just stand there," Sailor Juno said impatiently, "Let's attack! Juno Riotous Cry!"

"Right!" Teisei answered and jumped into action again, "Jupiter Thunderbolt Strike!"

Jupiter's attacks were getting so weak that even the Asteroid senshi was more powerful than she.

Some of the shadows attempted to approach Rei's daughters. Sailor Vest was quick to stop this, "Oh no you don't! Vesta Flames Blaster!"

"Ceres Beauty Bloom!"

"Venus Blast of Obsession!"

"Pluto Eternal Mists!

"Pallas Raining Splash!"

"Moon Glorious Blessing!"

The battle raged on, but this time the senshi had the upper hand. It wouldn't be long until they destroyed all of the creatures.

Amongst the swarming shadows at the front of the Crystal Palace in the distance, Neptune, Uranus, and Mercury could see flashes of silver, violet, pink, blue, blue and green.

"That's them," Neo Sailor Mercury commented as they ran.

"Fore sure!" Neptune giggled.

"I hope we're in time," Uranus said quietly to herself. What the two light-hearted girls didn't see was that there were far too many nobaka for just two-beginner senshi to handle. As they drew closer, it became clear that there were not two, but three senshi defending the door. None of the girls could identify her.

"We're almost there," Neptune panted as the trio scurried past the long pool in front of the palace, their shoes making loud clacking noises on the pavement.

The other two girls said nothing for a few moments. Then a high-pitched shriek rang out across the palace grounds.

Sailor Mercury stopped in her tracks, "Chibi-chan!"

Sailor Saturn and Earth were so wrapped up in their own fighting, they didn't notice when their small leader began to get slower and slower in her reactions. At least they didn't notice until one of the shadow-beings got near enough and blasted her in the back. A handful more descended on the small girl.

"Sailor Moon!" Saturn gasped and slashed her way through the nobaka with her silver Silence Sword and stood over the tiny girl, almost daring any more creatures to get near while Neo Sailor Earth just continued attacking as she had been before. "You coldhearted freak!" She shouted viciously at her companion, still slashing her sword in all directions, "Don't you care that this kid, our leader, was hit and is now unconscious?"

"We've got a job to do," she said coolly then attacked some nearby nobaka as if to make a point, "Earth Life Circle! If one falls, we don't have time to waste worrying about it."

Saturn shot the brunette girl a fierce glare then muttered, "B!" and continued attacking.

Mercury rushed forward. Chibi's in trouble! "Come on!" she called to Neptune and Uranus, "Let's go help them!"

They reached the writhing masses of nobaka in less than a minute and immediately began attacking.

"Mercury Ice Blizzard!"

"Uranus Blazing Light Beam!"

"Neptune Tidal Tsunami!"

Saturn looked suddenly, hearing three familiar voices on the other side of the back of nobaka. "Reinforcements!" she cheered, but in her distraction, two nobaka attacked her. With a loud scream, she was blasted against the door. She lost her grip on her wonderful silver blade and it arched through the air and landed among the nobaka. She groaned as she slid to the ground and more of the shadow creatures than she could count closed in around her and even more around the fallen Neo Moon. Saturn squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the worst. A feeling of absolute terror shot through her.

With blinding speed, the nobaka at the back of the pack spun around and surround the trio of newcomers. All of them were eager to get a piece of the fighting. They didn't wait to attack as they usually did, but jumped in blasting dark energy at the senshi.

"Uranus Blazing Light Beam!" Sailor Uranus yelled. She knew they couldn't last long at this rate…