PREY OF THE QUEEN SPIDER
Chapter 7: "Bloody Forest"
A Sailor Moon fanfic
By Bill K.
Lagging behind, Sailor Moon struggled to keep up. The glow of Pluto's staff acted as a beacon for her to follow, for which she was grateful. However, Uranus and Neptune were setting a pace she was having trouble keeping up with. Running had never been her strong suit anyway, unless something was chasing her. But she didn't cry out, didn't beg them to slow down for her. She didn't want to delay them from reaching Makoto. She didn't want to bring the derisive glare from Neptune down upon her again.
And she didn't want to stop, for fear something in the darkness behind her might just jump out and grab her.
"Hang on, Mako-chan!" she thought as she struggled to keep up. "We're coming!"
And through the eerie stillness of the forest, Sailor Moon heard a cry of alarm up ahead of her.
"That was Neptune!" she gasped.
Spurred on by concern for a friend, Sailor Moon raced through the darkness in the direction the cry came from. No longer did she fear whatever skulked in the dense shadows of the woods. Her only concern was Sailor Neptune and whatever misfortune had caused her to cry out, for unlike her Sailor Neptune did not cry out for no reason. The senshi stumbled over a tree root and nearly fell, but managed to keep her balance and get back on stride. The ruby glow of Pluto's staff was just up ahead. She saw Sailor Uranus turn to her, ready to defend herself against the thundering footsteps she'd undoubtedly heard. Then she saw it.
Sailor Neptune dangled inches off the ground, her body caught in a spider's web strung between several trees. Sailor Moon looked up at the web in horror and astonishment, for the web had to have been strung fifteen feet or more in the air. Neptune strained at the thin, yet surprisingly strong filaments sticking to her, but couldn't pull free.
"Neptune!" Sailor Moon cried. "We have to get her down! One of those awful Spider Goblins will get her!"
"Just what I was about to do, Sailor Moon," Uranus said.
As she approached the web and the writhing Sailor Neptune, Uranus stuck her hand up into the air over her head. In that hand her talisman, the Space Sword, materialized. Planting her feet, Uranus brought the sword down on the silk like an executioner's blade.
"Damn, this stuff is tough!" Uranus exclaimed. Her blade only managed to sever the first two threads holding Neptune before the third one halted its momentum. "What's this web made out of, steel?"
Changing tactics, Uranus began hacking at the web lines, using her sword like a machete. It was slow, arduous work.
"Don't tell me you're going soft," Neptune quipped to hide her nervousness. Cautiously she looked around. Pluto, too, kept an eye out for giant spiders, while Sailor Moon stared fearfully at her trapped teammate.
"Between the strength of the thread and all that sticky gunk on them, it's almost impossible to cut through them," Uranus grumbled as she kept hacking.
"Uranus?" Sailor Moon asked in a trembling voice.
"I said 'almost'," frowned Sailor Uranus as she kept hacking. "I haven't given up yet. Don't you do it."
"I do not wish to complicate matters," Pluto interjected in her toneless manner, "but I have a sense of being observed."
"I don't doubt it," Neptune concurred. "Something strung these webs up and it wouldn't make sense to weave them and then just leave them unattended. It's only logical that at least one of those things is close by, watching us." They heard Sailor Moon squeak in fright.
"T-Then why haven't they attacked?" she asked, trying to conceal the trembling in her voice and failing miserably.
"My estimation would be our numbers," Sailor Pluto theorized. "I must assume that there is only one spider and it does not feel confident attacking a group. Were Neptune alone and in her current situation, she would more than likely already have been set upon."
"Like Mako-chan was," Sailor Moon squeaked.
"Don't go to pieces on us, Sailor Moon," Neptune warned her. Uranus had already started hacking away the web on her other side.
"I won't," the future queen replied, her tone a mixture of fear and irritation. "Please hurry, Uranus."
"Almost got it," Uranus informed her. The last of the web parted after several more strokes. Finally free of the web, Neptune stepped away from it. She glanced back, trying to catch sight of the predator who almost got her. Then she began picking at the residue web on her arms and torso.
"Oh, this stuff won't come off!" Neptune scowled. "It's sticking to my skin - - my hair! I feel so - - so disgusting!"
"Maybe I can help," Sailor Moon ventured almost timidly. She summoned the Moon Tier and held it over her head. "Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss."
The Tier began to glow and silver energy flowed over Sailor Neptune. As the web began to dissolve away from her, Neptune reflexively crossed her arms over her chest and grew a deep, satisfied smile on her face as she closed her eyes. When the energy ceased and her eyes opened again, the web residue was gone and she felt cleansed and happy.
"Um," Neptune began, but was momentarily at a loss for words. Embarrassed, she swallowed. "Thank you, Sailor Moon."
Sailor Moon beamed at her.
"You could have done that from the start?" Uranus queried. Sailor Moon blankly shrugged. "Why didn't you?"
"You said you were going to handle it," Sailor Moon replied timidly.
Uranus just stared, while Neptune and Pluto enjoyed a moment of humor at their companion's expense.
Then Neptune stooped over and picked up the Deep Aqua Mirror, which had fallen to the ground near the web. Holding it at arm's length, the senshi passed her hand over the mirror and gazed intently into it. Immediately she executed a ninety degree turn to her right, then looked up into one of the trees holding the web.
"There it is," Neptune said, pointing into a thicket of leaves about twenty feet over Sailor Pluto's head.
Almost immediately a huge black spider launched itself out of the trees at the group. Pluto pivoted. Sailor Moon screeched and ducked away. But Sailor Uranus stepped forward, a fiercely grim smile on her face and her teeth bared.
"World Shaking!" the lanky senshi roared.
Geo-force collected in her right hand, then was pitched forward. It exploded into a ringed ball of energy traveling at the on-coming spider at one hundred fifty miles per hour. The bubble impacted the spider and both entities exploded. The force shook the trees and echoed through the thick glen as spider parts sprayed backwards into the upper limbs. Uranus stood and watched, eerily pleased with herself.
"Don't mess with my woman," the towering senshi mumbled.
"A perfectly climactic moment and you have to spoil it with macho drivel," Neptune whispered to her, an eyebrow cocked judgmentally. Uranus merely glanced at her and grinned with annoying self-satisfaction. Neptune tried to screw her mouth up into a pout, but it blossomed with a smile in spite of herself.
"Come," Sailor Pluto said to them as she approached, Sailor Moon hovering just behind her. "Time may be of the essence. It is possible that this Kumo-onna was aware of our presence when we entered this forest, perhaps when we entered this prefect, and that this was a trap for one or all of us."
"That's assuming a lot," Neptune countered.
"And academic at the moment, for she is surely aware of our presence now. And I do not know how that will affect her treatment of Makoto."
"Then let's go," Neptune nodded. She pointed west northwest. "I was headed in that direction before I ran into that web. The mirror couldn't tell me anything about Makoto, but this Kumo-onna is that way."
And the quartet resumed their pursuit. This time, though, Sailor Pluto kept as close to Sailor Moon as she could.
Though Makoto couldn't see it, still wrapped in a cocoon of sticky silk and dangling blindly from a web, she could suddenly sense the tension in the area. Then she heard the spiders growing restless. Her throat tightened at the thought of this being it.
"The prophesied bearer of the power - - the human," Makoto heard the strange woman tell the monstrous spiders, "she is more formidable than I thought She has brought guardians with her and these guardians themselves have power."
Again the unearthly screech rose up from all around her, sending Makoto's heart to hammering in her chest.
"All is NOT lost," the Spider Queen said, quelling the noise of her spiders with just the sound of her voice. "Victory can still be ours. But we will need to change tactics. A direct battle will not yield the power we seek."
The spiders response gave Makoto more chills. She wished she could understand them,
and yet she was glad on one level that she couldn't.
"How have we always succeeded?" the Spider Queen told them. "Patience and speed are our weapons and they have served us well. We must stalk these humans and wait for the precise time to strike. And then, when the bearer of the power is alone - - then we may strike and then we may win."
Within her prison of silk, Makoto began writhing again, desperate to get free.
"What do you mean you can't get a fix on them?" Luna demanded.
She and Artemis were in Minako's dingy, slovenly apartment in a lower income section of Tokyo. It was a section frequented by a community of struggling artists, actors, musicians and other would-be performers. The apartment was empty save for the cats, as it had been for three days now. Artemis tapped commands into a laptop computer connected with circuitry from the central communicator the cats used to contact the senshi.
"Well, none of them are in town!" snapped the white cat. He gritted his teeth and looked over the results of his latest commands with less than ecstatic feelings. "These things don't have much more range than the city limits! And there's only so much I can do to boost the beacon reception with this laptop short of hooking into Tokyo Tower!"
"Don't you take that tone with me!" Luna replied indignantly. "Emergency or no, there's no call to be short."
"Yeah, well you try living in a dump like this for three days - - BY YOURSELF!" Artemis fumed. "It's a good thing I know how to operate a can opener or I would have starved to death!"
"Minako left you with no warning?" Luna inquired.
"None. The only way I found out what happened was when she called me from Hokkido. And then she couldn't understand why I wasn't thrilled for her. Just because out of the blue she ups and marries some pretty boy with nothing going for him except what's in his pants? Honestly, she's acting like a-a cat in heat! Pardon the expression."
"Careful, Artemis," Luna said, eyebrow cocked. "You're perilously close to sounding like a jilted lover."
"OH, DON'T START THAT AGAIN!" the cat roared. "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't find human females the least bit attractive!"
"Methinks he dost protest too much."
"AND DON'T QUOTE SHAKESPEARE AT ME! Shakespeare was overrated!" The cat tapped in a new set of commands, but the results were little better. "Come on!" he growled, rapping the side of the laptop angrily.
"Now you're just being childish," sniffed Luna.
"Stop looking down your nose at me! And stop projecting your fetishes onto me, too!"
"What is THAT supposed to mean?"
"It means going by our track records, I'M not the cat in this room who's attracted to humans!" growled Artemis.
Luna glared at him for a moment. Then she turned her back on him, nose and tail stuck straight into the air, and headed for the door.
"I do not have to stand here and be insulted," the black cat said tersely. "Do keep me informed if you somehow manage to find Makoto - - in between your fits of childish pique."
After the black cat was gone, Artemis glared at the blinking laptop. Then he gave it a very angry, frustrated kick.
Glancing back to see how Sailor Moon was, Sailor Pluto grew concerned. She reached out and lightly grasped at Sailor Neptune's arm. Neptune in turn signaled Sailor Uranus.
Huffing and puffing to keep up, Sailor Moon ran with her head down and promptly ran into the back of Sailor Pluto. She stumbled back a couple of paces and looked up, perplexed.
"Why's everybody stopping?" Sailor Moon asked, gasping for air.
"We can take a breather, if you want," Uranus offered.
"I'm all right," Sailor Moon replied, shaking her head with guilt. Everyone could clearly see her flushed complexion and her heaving chest, even in the low light.
"A few minutes isn't going to matter," Neptune began.
"A few minutes may be all Mako-chan has!" Sailor Moon cried.
With that, Uranus and Neptune shrugged and turned to resume their sprint.
"Hold!" Pluto said - - crossly. The other three looked at her, surprised by the outburst of emotion from the usually controlled and emotionless senshi.
"She wants to push on, we push on," Uranus challenged. "Sometimes you can't baby yourself when lives are at stake."
"And there are times when emotion supercedes better judgment," Pluto countered, unwilling to back down. She turned to Sailor Moon. "My Princess, I know you desire to rescue Makoto. I do as well. But if you push yourself beyond your endurance and injure yourself, how will you be helping Makoto then?"
"I just," Sailor Moon began, hands on knees and gasping for air, "we have to get to her before it's too late."
"Assuming it isn't already," Neptune added.
Sailor Moon looked up at her with a stricken, accusatory expression, one Neptune was all too familiar with.
"You may not want to accept it, but the only way Makoto hasn't already been consumed by these things is if she's bait to trap the rest of us," Neptune replied. "That being said, either way it isn't going to matter if you take a few moments to catch your breath. We're either running into a trap or we're on a mission of vengeance and eradication."
"That's so cold!" Sailor Moon cried.
Neptune's mouth hardened. "You still haven't gotten past that 'Pollyanna' outlook, have you? Well the truth is cold, sometimes. But at least you can deal with it openly and move on. Creating these scenarios where everything works out for the best and everyone will be happy is just setting yourself up for a fall when it doesn't come true."
Sailor Moon looked at the ground. She wouldn't look at Neptune. For Neptune's part, she hated disillusioning the woman - - if she did, which she doubted - - but it was one of those hard, inevitable truths that she knew happened. Deal with it and move on.
"I'm all right, Pluto," Sailor Moon said, still unwilling to face anyone. "We can go on now. I promise I won't slow us up."
A movement caught the eye of all three outers. Instantly Pluto's staff raised up, moving horizontal with the ground.
"Dead Scream," Pluto said, invoking the Ruby Orb atop her staff. A sonic charge gathered in the orb, then exploded across the ground, between Uranus and Neptune, toward the spider that suddenly appeared in their path.
"Uranus! Dive forward!" Neptune barked out. Uranus instantly obeyed and Neptune raised her hands above her head. "Deep Submerge!" Sailor Moon looked up and found another spider leaping out of a tree onto the very spot Uranus had just been.
"Look out, Sailor Moon!" Uranus bellowed even as she rolled up to her feet. As the first spider leaped away from Pluto's sonic blast, Uranus jammed her hand up into the air. Geoforce gathered in her palm and formed a force bubble. "World Shaking!" roared Uranus and pitched the force bubble at the spider charging Sailor Moon from behind.
The spider, though, leaped over the force bubble and dodged away, even as Neptune's wave engulfed its target. She turned to the one Pluto had missed while Pluto tracked the one Uranus had missed.
"Dead Scream," Pluto said, firing another blast. Her quarry barely dodged.
"Deep Submerge!" Neptune demanded and another wave bore down on the spider.
Confused by the battle and the darting adversaries, Sailor Moon summoned the Moon Tier but held it in check. She didn't know whether to act or not and what to act against first. Pluto's sonic blast tore up a chunk of ground at the feet of one spider, but it danced away just in time. Neptune's target took to the trees, just narrowly avoiding her wave. Uranus had her hand up again, ready to throw another force bubble at any target that held its ground for a moment.
Then, in an instant, Sailor Moon spotted a woman lean down from a branch just over Uranus. She was a young looking woman with long straight black hair and milky porcelain skin. Her cheeks were sallow and her eyes seemed to have an unearthly gold color, something the senshi thought was due to the odd lighting of the woods. Immediately Sailor Moon realized the woman had no clothes and wondered if she was another victim of the Spider Goblins and held prisoner in the tree.
Uranus sensed the presence and looked up just in time to get a face full of green mist emitted from the strange woman's mouth. The lanky senshi choked and spat, stumbling back from the green cloud, her hands before her in a vain attempt to ward off the dust. Pluto reacted instantly. Another sonic blast from her staff tore the limb off and sent the woman to the ground.
She landed on all eight of her legs.
Sailor Moon gasped in shock and horror. From the waist up, she was a human woman, though an unearthly looking one. From the waist down, she had the thorax and abdomen of a giant black spider.
"The Kumo-onna!" shouted Pluto.
She raised her staff to fire, as Neptune raised her hands to bring down another wave. However, the remaining spiders lunged at the two senshi, causing them to flinch back defensively. When they recovered, the two spiders and the Kumo-onna were scurrying into the night - - with Sailor Moon staring after them in shock.
"You could have done something to stop her!" Neptune snapped angrily at her.
Sailor Moon, though, ignored her. She pushed past Neptune urgently.
"Haruka?" Sailor Moon gasped anxiously. Neptune's gaze followed Sailor Moon's path and she found Uranus laying on the ground motionless.
"Haruka!" Neptune whispered, lest the gods hear her and bring her worst nightmare to pass. Sailor Moon was already kneeling beside the fallen senshi. Neptune and Pluto hurried over. When they saw Uranus, Neptune gasped audibly.
Uranus was gasping for breath. Her eyes were sunken into her head. Her skin was shriveled onto a skeletal frame. The dessicated wretch that moments ago had been Sailor Uranus seemed five hundred years old now - - and seconds away from death.
Continued in Chapter 8