Disclamer: I am in no way responsible for the ownership of said Moon, or any of her friends. I am a starving college student, so even if you wanted to sue me, you wouldn't get jack!

Italics: Thoughts

Chapter 3 "A Shot Heard in Hell"

When they were sure that Jonathan had left and wasn't up on the roof, the three cats returned.

"Where did you run off to? You all bolted this time!"

Luna seemed hurt. "Well, you didn't want him to think that a cat was talking to you guys about vibes now, would you?" Artemis spoke up, "Yeah, and besides, I felt what Luna was talking about when he jumped down here. There is something big going on, and it IS scary." The small gray cat spoke next, "Mommy, Daddy, how long was he listening to us?" Diana, the little gray cat, said and the gang froze. "DID HE HEAR ANYTHING?" was the silent thought of everyone present. "I would think that he would have questions if he heard something about a presence, wouldn't you guys?" asked Mina. She was clearly trying to hide her feelings and failing.

"Mina's got a point." Darien said. "I mean, if I heard something about vibes and a cat talking, I would really have questions."

That seemed to satisfy the crowd, and they all got up to go to the movies. After all, it was a Saturday night.

Jonathan didn't go straight back to the apartment. Instead, he waited for the gang to emerge and take in some night life. He followed at a safe distance again, until he took a wrong turn. At the end of a long alley, he saw a busy street. Curiosity took over, and he ventured out onto the sidewalk. And right into Serena again. This time, she didn't loose her footing, on account of a 6' anchor.

When he picked himself up off the ground, he said, "We really need to stop meeting like this."

Before anyone could speak, the ground began to quake violently. The party turned and saw a gaping hole in the center of the street. It glowed a menacing blood red as it slowly expanded to the size of a city bus. When the street finished it's transformation, a horrific roar erupted from the deep. The girls all looked at each other and thought, "How can we transform with him here?"

They didn't have to worry. As soon as the roar ceased, a massive figure rose from the hole and charged at them. It was massive, bi-pedal, humanoid in appearance, and had a punch that could topple a small house. The group was all thrown in different directions. The girls caught the swing of the massive muscular fore arm and were thrown far out into the street. The general public went hysterical and ran for their lives. Jonathan was thrown into a nearby storefront window, shattering the glass and rendering him unconscious.

Darien managed to avoid the blow, and carried the three cats to safety. "You guys should stay out of sight. We'll handle this!" Luna tried to call after him, "Wait!" but it was too late. Darien had already gone and transformed into Tuxedo Mask. When he reached the street, the six girls were already transformed and addressing the Hell Knight with their usual, "We will punish you." catch phrase. They were cut short. The beast charged at them, not even hearing what they had to say. It lunged at Sailor Mars, and flung her twenty feet through the air and into a parked car. "You'll pay for that!" screamed Sailor Jupiter, who charged up her Thunderclap. It seemed to slow the monster, but it shrugged off the pain as if it were a mere annoyance.

The beast was easily 10' tall, had no visible eyes, and a huge, muscular frame. It had a large mouth with very large teeth. It's gray skin rippled with all of the muscular tension beneath it. It seemed to seethe hate. The girls had a tough fight ahead of them.

Meanwhile, Jonathan awoke to a very big headache. Aw man! Why do I feel like I just got hit by a bus? Then he remembered. "Crap!" he said as he got up and looked out the shattered window to the fight that was taking place 100 yards down the street. "I've got to do something."

Then it hit him. He turned around and felt his heart leap into his throat. As luck would have it, the Hell Knight did him a favor. He was inside a military surplus gun store. He collected his thoughts and moved quickly to the empty sales counter. He found a large military duffle and unzipped it. From the counter, he grabbed two Model 1911 .45ACP's, .45ACP ammo, and spare magazines. He loaded the magazines as quickly as possible, and rammed fresh ammo home in both the pistols. He stuffed them in the duffle, as well as all of the .45 ammo he could find. He then found an over-under, double barreled 12 gauge shotgun, which he also stuffed in the duffle. He picked up three boxes of 12 gauge ammo and placed them in the bag.

As he got up, he looked up on a shelf behind the counter. What he saw took his breath away. It was a large, single shot, military grade, anti-tank rifle. The long barrel of the rifle was almost an inch and a half thick, allowing for the large prey that it usually handled. It had a military sniper scope with an Infra Red setting for use in night operations. Slung underneath it was a bandoleer of ammo for it. He grabbed the bandoleer and put it on. He took one of the shells out and readied the rifle for firing.

It was a beauty; about half as tall as Jonathan. When the rifle was loaded, he picked up the duffle and walked out into the street. He could see the beast as it assailed his new friends. He couldn't let them know that he knew. Yet. He released the mounted tripod that was slung underneath the rifle and lowered it onto the hood of an abandoned car. He carefully took aim and shouted, "GET DOWN!"

The girls were having a harder time with this fight than they had with a monster in a long time. Also, the beast that they fought was more menacing than anything they had faced before. Not at all anything like the Nega-verse threw at them.

"We are going to need some help!" Sailor Moon said.

Almost as if on cue, a rose flew at the huge mass of muscle. "You have no right to… Hey! You're not listening!"

Tuxed Mask was visibly annoyed at the lack of attention the monster showed him. "Tell us something we don't know!" screamed Sailor Moon. The rose penetrated the beast's skin, but it did nothing to quell the anger it felt. It seemed to just make it more angry.

"Great! Now it's really mad!" Jupiter said as she tried to land a few kicks. She only succeeded in being flung into a car like Mars had been.

The girls were getting desperate. They all backed away to regroup and think of a strategy.

That was probably what saved them.

"GET DOWN!" came a familiar voice from behind them.

As if acting on instinct, the girls all dropped to the asphalt and covered their heads. Tuxedo Mask hadn't moved from his perch atop a street light and watched the whole thing with awe.

Jonathan lined up his shot. He felt a strange tingling sensation, almost like when he would listen to an exceptional piece of music. Except that this feeling didn't have the side effect of tickling. He felt the energy flow from his toes, all the way to the tip of his right index finger that was poised over the AT rifle's trigger. He took a deep breath, let half of it out, and squeezed the trigger.

When the shot discharged, he felt the energy that was collected in his finger leap from the tip, to the gun and out the barrel wrapped around the large projectile. The bullet's discharge from the barrel was violent. A two meter wide gout of flame issued from the mussel and the shockwave shattered the windows of the car he was braced against. The effect on the beast was much, much worse. When Jonathan fired, the Hell Knight was slightly stooped, aligning his head with the center of his torso. This gave Jonathan only one target. The round streaked over the girls and impacted right where the beast's nose would have been if it were human. The resulting energy split the creature in half horizontally, and let the upper half fly away and explode while the lower half only followed a short distance before loosing containment and it too exploded.

The girls looked in horror at the gruesome sight, then back toward their savior.

Jonathan was standing next to a car with no windows and a smoking rifle that was half as tall as he was. They all smiled and started cheering. Jonathan blushed as the girls ran toward him. When they got close enough, they looked at him for an explanation.

"What? You guys never tried shooting the damn things?"