"CHRIS! CHRIS, WHERE ARE YOU!" The six girls ran up and down the streets searching for him, but to no avail. He was nowhere to be found and the searchers were becoming anxious and irritable.
"Let's check the theatre district again."
"We already looked there three times!"
"Well I don't see you with any better ideas!"
"Fine then! You go look again! We're gonna go check the park!"
"Fine! Contact us if you find anything."
With that, the group split in two: Antares with Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus—Sailor Mars with Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury.
After a few minutes, Sailor Mars stopped short, and her friends nearly ran into her. "What is it, Mars?" asked Sailor Moon, stepping up beside her.
"I sense something. . ." she said slowly. . . "This way. . ." She took off at a run, with the other two trailing behind her, until they found themselves face-to-face with their old friends, Sailors Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
"S. . .Sailor Pluto," stammered Mars, "What are you doing here?"
"We sensed something was about to take place. . .Something terrible, and we came to help. What's going on?" asked Sailor Pluto with concern.
Just then, Sailor Venus appeared on their communicators. "Girl's, we found them! Here's the coordinates! Hurry!"
"Come on," Mercury said to the others, "Follow us. We'll explain on the way."
And so they did. They arrived at the park, winded, to find Jupiter and Venus holding Antares back, despite her stubborn protests, waiting in hiding for them. Fred and Paula. . .or rather, Prince Feldspar and Lady Pyroxene, as they were currently attired. . .held between them the weakened body of Chrysolite, and stood before a portal. He was struggling feebly, but it was no use. There was a dark mystique of energy emanating from the portal that sent shivers down all of their spines, but for some reason, they weren't stepping through it. They stood beside each other, facing away from the portal.
"Why are they just standing there?" whispered Mercury.
"It looks like they're guarding it or something. . ." suggested Sailor Moon.
"With a prisoner?" Mars pointed out.
"They're waiting for me. . ." Antares said, her quiet voice like a dam holding back a lake full of rage.
"A trap. . ."
"I'm going out there."
"Oh no you don't!" said Mars, grabbing her by the back of her collar as she tried to confront them. "What are you, stupid? That's what they want you to do!"
"But they can't be counting on all of us being there with her," Sailor Saturn pointed out. "Especially not the four of us."
"I can't just sit here!" Antares insisted. Wrenching herself free from the scouts' grip, she burst out of hiding, brandishing the Rod of Antares. "Release him!" she ordered, an almost regal command in her voice.
Feldspar smirked. "Finally," he said, "I thought you'd never show!"
Chrysolite lifted his head shakily and stared out at Antares through blank eyes. "A. . .Antares. . .Don't. . .Get out of here. . ."
"You heard me!" she demanded. "Do as I say, and I won't hurt you quite as much!"
"My, my, aren't we touchy! Well if you're going to make threats instead of asking nicely. . .sister, if you would be so kind? Don't worry: I've got this under control."
Pyroxene nodded and stepped through the portal with Chrysolite just as Feldspar drew a dimly glowing sword and held it ready for battle.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" came a shrill voice from behind Antares. She didn't need to turn around to know who it was. "I am Sailor Moon, the champion of Justice! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and that means you! In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Feldspar looked at her and rolled his eyes. "Don't you ever get tired of using that same speech all the time? It's about time you came up with something new!" He grinned as the other scouts came out of hiding. "Well well. . .this is a surprise! All of the scouts together. . .Excellent. The more the merrier!"
"Umm. . .He doesn't look worried," Sailor Moon whispered to Jupiter. "Why doesn't he look worried?"
"Because he's an idiot, that's why. . .JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!" Jupiter released her attack, aimed square at Feldpar's chest. He raised his sword to block it, and she grinned, knowing that would never help. . .But then the attack was sucked into the sword, which now glowed with an eerie green light. "What the. . .!"
"Care to try again, anyone?" he said with a smug grin that served only to infuriate the scouts and Antares.
"As a matter of fact, I would! MARS CELESTIAL FIRE SURROUND!" Feldspar's wicked laugh filled the park, echoing menacingly in ten pairs of ears.
"Is that the best you can do?" he said, raising his head in challenge, looking particularly toward Antares.
"God, could you get any more cliché?" came a voice from behind them. "Come up with something original, why don't you!"
"Apollo! What are you doing here?"
"I'm your guardian, remember? So show this asshole just what a Star Guardian can do!"
"Oh help me. . .it's a talking cat with a mouth on it." Felspar sneered.
"You're gonna regret you said that, buddy!" Apollo threatened as Antares raised her rod over her head.
"I call upon the power of Antares. . .Lend me strength. . .This is for Kirk and Justin! ANTARES MAGMA PROMINENCE!" She swung her rod almost like a golf club, and in arc of glowing hot molten rock flew forth toward Prince Feldspar.
The attack cast an orange, flickering light over the faces of the astonished onlookers. For only a few moments, the whole park was alight with the eerie hue, but then the light was extinguished when Feldspar's sword absorbed the Magma Prominence as well.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Feldspar's sword pulsed with sickly green and fiery-red luminosity, casting eerie shadows across the smug grin that was his face. Never had he seemed more like a monster than in that moment than ever before.
He turned his demon-like face toward Sailor Venus. "Care to try your luck?"
In a moment of brainsick panic, she did. Raising her hands over her head, she cried out, "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" The chain raced toward the fiend to entangle him but suddenly, in a display of blinding light, waves of lightning, fire, and molten rock burst forth simultaneously from Feldspar's sword.
Antares gasped as she was struck square in the chest by Jupiter's Oak Evolution attack, and a bare moment later, while she was still stunned, her own Magma Prominence washed over her, sapping her strength and forcing her to her knees. As hard as she tried to bite it back, she could not prevent the blood-curdling scream that exploded from her lips.
"Antares!" cried Apollo, but when he and the scouts tried to run to her, Mars's Celestial fire blocked their path, surrounding the severely-injured Star Guardian. "You cowardly son of a bitch! Why don't you fight for yourself instead of using everyone else's power!"
"What goes around comes around, you know. I onlydo what gets the job done," he stated simply, "like so." He took his sword and redirected Venus's Love Chain at Antares.
"Hah!" said Apollo. "That'll never hold her! She's too powerful!"
"Look again," said Feldspar, holding one end of the chain. "She may possess great power, but she's far too wounded now to use it. So why don't you just go cough yourself up a hairball?"
"Don't need to," Apollo shot back. "You look enough like one I hacked up last week that no one will know the difference."
"Touche," Feldspar complimented, "I'd love to stay and continue our verbal ping-pong match, but I'm afraid I must be going. . .Thank you all for your assistance. I couldn't have done this without you."
With a wave of his hand, Antares floated up off the ground, her body limp and her mind barely conscious, and Prince Feldspar stepped through the portal before anyone could stop him. . .pulling Antares along behind him. . .
"A-Ap-poll-o. . ." And then she disappeared through the portal. . .into the Negaverse.