kera69love: Yeah Mamoru can't always be around, not esspecially for a car.

smoon4409: yes they do, the protagonists in this story will be surprisingly NOT who people think they are.

sabina21: thanks and will do.

AvatarUzumaki: exactly, people who are stubborn tend tobe harder to convince of the truth and how wrongtheir perspective is.

Princesakarlita411: will do, glad you enjoyed.

5 reviews, nicely done, lets see whatyou think about what's coming up today, please let me know what you think, and enjoy the holidays!

The devil within ch.12

Usagi POV

It ended up being a long night that evening. Luckily it went into a weekend so I felt it at least gave me a chance to sleep on things that night. That is till I got home and remembered that my parents thought I had slept over at Minako's...I think. Either way, I walked in hoping they wouldn't be upset that I was later than projected but found them to be getting ready for dinner and smelling my mother's homemade soup always made my mouth water.

"Oh, that smells so good," I comment as I kick off my shoes.

"No, no young lady, not until your hands are washed up."

I nod and quickly wash them in the sink as she gets the table set up. I, having left my bags by the door, shove them beside the staircase to not pull any attention to them. We gather around the table as even Luna comes by, doing her meowing to act like she wants food. Or maybe she did, mom did make some good food up, it came at a tying point with Makoto's.

Mom usually won since I'd had her food since I was born, but Makoto was coming in close. It was during dinner that mom brought up a topic I had forgotten all about, "So your father and I are taking you both on a trip this weekend."

This got both my and Shingo's attention.

"You mean a real trip right not like last time when it was just through the park?" Shingo asked as I vaguely recall his disappointment that day. He eventually was okay with it but in the end, he did have initial disappointment.

"Shingo," Mother warned but added on in a sweeter voice. "We're going to the hot springs where your father and I have been to before a few times."

Mom darted her eyes to dads as they shared a look of love and spice Shingo pretended to, or maybe he really, gagged on while I simply smiled at them and only hoped one day very, very soon Mamoru and I would be like that again and be sharing in memories again.

"That's great. When do we leave?"

That's when Luna started to paw at my leg. I looked down to see the 'try to get out of this' expression on her face even though she was masking it as 'give me food'. I'd had enough of her attitude lately so I decided against trying to 'get out of it', especially as I had no good excuse anyway. I think a vacation free from the drama of the Negaverse would be needed.

I could for just a moment pretend like it didn't exist. Even if that was more of a feeble, still screwed attempt than anything else. We took the rest of the evening to plan and pack up, my overnight bag now emptied and repacked with fresh everything that I'd need as I slipped into my bed for the night. Unfortunately, sleep would be reluctant as Luna popped on, "Why didn't you try to get out of that?"

My eyes were bleary from lack of sleep and I needed it after these last few nights, hell the last few weeks. I turned over, "Luna what excuse could I give them? The entire household is going, I had no excuse nor do I care to try to come up with one when this could turn out to be what's needed."

She balks at me, "What's needed is for you to continue your training not taking a vacation, there's work to be done."

She jumps up on the bed. "You're the excuse Queen now march on downstairs where your parents are falling asleep and give them one, we need you for a training exercise this weekend."

My eyes at this point were literally too tired to even simply glare at her for her words so I pulled out my communicator and hit the 'all Senshi symbol' as I called it summoning the girls.

"What's wrong?" Rei asked as Ami thought maybe an attack was taking place.

"Cancel or reschedule the 'training exercise' for this weekend. My parents are taking my brother and me to a hot springs resort. I'll be out of range for training. So, unless it's an attack or the apocalypse I'm busy."

Just as I go to hit the end button and before Luna can protest I heard Ami respond, "That's good, I think we could all use a break right now."

Making Luna stop and frown as even Rei said, "Agreed, I feel like we've been working and training so much I'm getting to tired to even do fire readings."

Luna's shoulders slumped as Makoto further added, "Thanks for reminding me, I have an appearance to make for my proof of ability to stay living by myself. I wouldn't be able to make it before the evening anyways."

Minako ended it with, "Finally, I'm beyond tired and we all need a break."

Luna finally concedes, "Perhaps a break is needed." as she hops up on the bed and snuggles into the sheets.

I end the call with a 'night ladies' before falling fast asleep, not even thinking about setting an alarm. Not that I need to as the alarm from my parents' room the following morning wakes me up enough to pull me from my dream. We get up as sleepy as we are, myself and Shingo that is, and get into the car. Dad drives as Shingo and I pass out in the backseat. About two hours into the drive, we finally woke up fully.

We end up using the remaining few hours to chat and catch up with each other. Both parents are glad my grades are improving. So when Endymion tries to call me I quickly silence it before sending a message back saying 'with family going to hot springs resort'. I wanted to say see you when I get back but I hit send as Shingo caught wind of the small phone. "Oh, are you texting your boyfriend?"

His words are meant to tease but it earns a disapproving look from our dad. Out of irritation, I shove him, "Mind your own business." though I don't refute his words as he continues on. We squabble like typical siblings do till I feel something move in my jean jacket from all the squabbling. I feel the star locket dislodged from its place and fall out into view. Out of instinct, I grab for it abandoning the play fight with Shingo. He may have technically won that but I grabbed for what to me meant more than winning a silly play fight.

"Oh, that from your boyfriend too?" This time our dad caught a good glimpse of the treasured locket I was holding very close to me. "Usagi did you have a boy give you that?" He tried to be calm about it I could tell but out of instinct and not at all out of thinking through my words I responded instead with, "Technically dad as I'm a young adult too, he's a young adult."

That was so the WRONG thing to say.

Especially as dad nearly swerved us off the road. High pitched muttering as he nearly screeched out, "MY daughter better NOT be dating anyone!" before I could counter anything as even Shingo seemed to be regretting his earlier teasing and it was my mom who calmed him down with, "Calm down darling, I'm sure it's just a small gift from a boy at school." she sent me a 'agree with it' expression through the mirror on the passenger visor.

I gulped. "WHAT mom said! What mom SAID!" I shouted as he seemed to be calming down as the car slowed back down again.

"That's right, just a simple school thing, nothing more cause my daughters to young for that." Je legitimately seemed to be in his own little 'my daughter is still too young and she won't be till I'm ready' type of world. Even mother gave a sad smile of 'this is going to take a small while' to me as I thanked her for calming him down.

Even Shingo looked over at me with a roll of his eyes.

"What?" I whispered to him.

He whispered back, "How am I supposed to make fun of my older sister now when the slightest hint of you dating anyone leads to dad nearly getting us killed on the road."

I arched a brow and instead of smirking about it and trying to come up with a witty retort to piss him off and be smug about it, I thought better of it.

Instead, I replied, "I don't know...how about don't make fun of me...when it comes to family stuff we work better as a team rather than at odds with each other."

He rolled his eyes at my words, "Whatever." I'm not a hundred percent positive but I was pretty sure that was little brother speak for 'fine' as he crossed his arms and looked out the window towards the scenery as things calmed down more.

I did as well before getting an ominous message from Endymion that read: see you soon. I looked at my phone with an odd feeling building in my gut. He couldn't mean what I thought he meant, right? I would barely have any privacy from my family on this trip as the rooms were not that far apart at all. Shingo's was only separated from mine by one wall, there was no way I could get away with having him around.

Once we made it there we grabbed our bags and unpacked as we started to go into the main lobby area where we checked into our part of the resort. I had to admit it was very beautiful, calm, and soothing. It really did feel like we needed this and I for sure needed this. The clean fresh air was definitely a nice change to the hustle and bustle of the city air whenever the girls and I were either battling or out and about.

Being we left early in the am that Saturday by the time we got there it was easily around late lunchtime so we were pretty hungry for real food and not the snacks we got at the gas stations around the area. So the first thing we did, once we dropped off our luggage for the weekend, was to go get some grub. As we ate pretty good food in silence, I looked out the window and swore I saw Endymion.

It happened so fast that I literally thought I was seeing things, especially when my dad looked out the window and he was gone. I told him I was just admiring the scenery and left it at that before we finished off and went back to our small villa and small indeed it was. Yes, there were four of us and yes our parent's room was down the five-foot-long hallway but...the walls were paper thin and I just knew we'd be able to hear dad's snoring.

I tried my best to ignore the nagging sensation that I did actually see Endymion but when the next few hours went by and nothing I forced myself to chalk it up to missing him. So when my family decided to take a look around at everything to get an idea of what there was to do I couldn't stop the feeling that I was being watched. My Senshi senses were tingling but I saw no one, nothing out of place.

I was beginning to think this mini-vaca was beyond overdue if I was thinking I was being watched when I wasn't. Still, Endymion's text lingered even though I didn't see him. That night after dinner when we took some time to hang out in the hot springs with our bath suits on I forced myself to relax and for a little bit forgot about the nagging sensation and the world...for only a little bit though.

Cause that night despite my reservations my body slipped into a dreamless sleep that I didn't realize I had needed cause I passed out hard. Not even the smell of my mother ordering room service was enough to wake me up. When she came in to tell me the food was there, there was a moment of silence. I wondered what it was till she came up to me and caressed my face, "Oh Usagi, you shouldn't be so stressed out."

I wondered what she meant till I realized I had been able to sleep through the night and the dark circles that had been there for so long the ones I had gotten used to were gone for a change and she spotted the difference. "Let it melt away."

That's when dad popped in with a piece of toast, "She's a teenager in school, what kind of stress could she be under?" His question was met with glares from both mom and me.

He wisely swallowed the bite he ate and backed out of the room. "That man, sometimes he cannot read a room right," she giggled as I remarked. "I'll be out for breakfast soon."

This was truly the first time I'd been able to sleep for more than eight hours in weeks...months. Once we were filled up we went out on a hike which meant shorts, boots, and tank tops with packed away hoodies if we needed them.

We threw everything into one single backpack, one that dad bought years back that was bigger than any school backpack we had. He shoved the hoodies, snacks, water bottles, all of it in there as we went out for the hike. For five hours we all had fun. I had forgotten what it was like to do this, to be adventurous in this form. We took so many pictures together that I knew we could make an album out of it.

Towards the end of the last hour, I thought I saw him again. This time seeing that my parents were getting pictures of Shingo near the river we were by I took the opportunity to try to find where I saw him. It was off the beaten path as I kept walking towards where I saw him. I pushed past several bushes, and tree paths till I hit on a previously used path. One that wasn't part of the trail that we were on but one that looked like it 'used to be'.

I saw him, I knew it was him, back turned to me as he looked towards the resort. When he turned around sure enough it was him. "Was wondering when you'd seek me out," he chuckled.

"I'm with my family, it's hard to break away," I tell him as I hear them calling for me. I can see towards the bushes that my adventurous mother, is climbing up the path I took to get up here.

"I have to g - " he's all of a sudden in front of me. The magnetism is so strong that despite my family being so close by I don't resist him when he gives me a smoldering kiss that leaves me weak in the knees. I in fact wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him closer to me when I KNOW I should be pushing him away. If my parents caught this right now even my mother would flip out at seeing me act so wonton.

Especially when he pushes me up against a nearby tree. My body responds before my brain can as I grip onto him and try to loop my leg around his hip.

"Tonight your mine."

Before I can respond he attempts to pull my legs up to be around his waist but my brain censors start to work again and tell me how much of a BAD idea that is right now.

"I can't my family is really, REALLY close by!" I tell him in a whisper yell.

I can just barely make out my family through the brush so I know that if they were to get close enough...I couldn't risk that. Not here and definitely NOT in the small room that was right NEXT to Shingo's. At least at home I could get away with it to a degree...not to here you can't or we can't. "The walls are paper thin we can't risk anything!" did he not get how risky it was for him to be there, here, right now, with my family so close by?

I know we're already balancing precariously on that line of danger and manageable when dealing with Beryl, but I don't want to press our luck any more than we already have. Plus, for some odd reason, I was more afraid of how my dad would react to seeing him here, as evil Endymion rather than as Mamoru. I mean Endymion has this ultimate bad boy vibe to him that is protective, like my dad, whom fathers hide their daughters from, especially as Endymion anchors my frame closer to his own as he kisses me.

I can't stop, nor do I really want to stop how my body responds to feeling his so close as I do now. I'm torn between fighting the pull and giving in completely and having him make us both vanish so we can do some not so innocent things. Yet I know I can't do that. Not even as his hands drift down and grab's both cheeks of my rear. His fingers try to venture further for skin but my shorts aren't THAT short as I try to pull away.

Normally I'd be jumping him but right now...especially as I look for my family, now is not the jumping time. Plus, I definitely did NOT want my dad to walk in seeing this. It wouldn't be good for a dad to see his daughter in such a compromising position. Not that I didn't think Endymion wasn't the charming type to get us out of the situation, he was but...I didn't want to see that vein in my dad's forehead pop nor see my mother reacting to that.

"Don't worry love...they'll never know." he goes to kiss me again but I can hear my mother begin to reach the area we're in. Too scared she'll hear me I try to gesture for him to go but he merely smiles at my insistence. Just as she reaches it he vanishes leaving behind nothing more than bootprints in his wake.

"Dear what..." she sees my face which must look flushed from the sudden kiss.

Crap. In fact, I know my whole body feels lit on fire from the passionate encounter. I was both cursing Endymion and wanting him back so he could finish me off. Forcing my head back on right I tell her, "Saw an animal, went to go near it, it sprinted away." I avoid eye contact as that was definitely NOT what happened but I couldn't tell her what really happened. I had no way to explain it, my brain wasn't thinking on enough cylinders to do so.

Evil Endymion POV

I know I should have waited to have Usagi alone that night, that was my initial plan but seeing her with her shorts on, how she was thriving being free from her duties as a Senshi and even using her newfound agility to hike faster and better than the rest of her family as they were taking their sweet time was actually making her more appealing to me in a sense. I was feeling like I could actually get her away from them for a moment.

Just to feel her, touch her, enjoy her warmth against my own. Being in the Negaverse could get chill and even clammy at times. How the others saw it as home was a mystery to me when all I wanted to do was get out of there. Especially when Beryl wen roaming through the place. Youma would stop and drop to the ground or hide from her presence depending on the mood she was in so yeah I took every opportunity available to me.

I just had to avoid Malachite from figuring me out and reporting back to her that I was less than what she thought I was. Yet being around Usagi, she was just so damn tempting. Her athletic petiteness with her natural beauty. I just had to see her. However, now that I had gotten my taste of her to satisfy my urges for the moment, I had to do what I actually did come here to do. After all, I was technically on a mission.

I go back out to the lake again and use my powers to summon the water sprite. I read up on the legend and it could be perfect for me to use. The jealousy within the sprite when she fell in love with the young man resembled how things went down for Serenity, Beryl, and myself oh so long ago. Only Beryl is the sprite that couldn't let go and let her jealousy manifest and turn itself into something horrid and ugly.

One could almost feel for the sprite as one could ALMOST feel for Beryl, but in the end, Beryl is way worse than the sprite. Having destroyed two kingdoms over her lust for power and myself. I know that even now, HAD she gotten her way which wouldn't have happened since I was and still and always will be in love with Serenity now Usagi, with me, her jealousy would never know any bounds and regardless of my faithfulness.

So, this now, waking up the spirit was going to be useful to me. Especially as a distraction away from getting the crystal for Beryl since that's not happening. I wouldn't do that if I were you...Mamoru pokes his head up. I snip back...when I want your advice, I'll ask for it. After using a decent amount of dark power, waving my hands over the lake I awaken the large sprite and see the scathing monster. I command it, "Now that you are awake you will do as I command." the sprite actually laughed at me, shocking me.

"I answer to no one. Out of my way!" before I can react, she flies past me at a speed that makes me wonder which direction she flew off into.

"Didn't see that one coming."

Mamoru within me says...would it help that I definitely saw that one coming. She's not part of the negaverse, she's a woman scorned by her own anger and fueled by jealousy that she's not letting go of. She wasn't ever going to answer to you or anyone.

I snap off at him...and you didn't say something because?

His response...technically I did, you ignored the heeded warning.

I hated that he was right so I simply snapped...shut up.

I didn't have time to argue with him now as the sprite was headed towards the resort. The very one that Usagi's family was headed back to right now. I disappeared and reformed overheard to try to locate the spirit.

She moved quickly but now that I was more aware of what she was aiming for I was able to catch up to her. Yet not before she found some tourists in the area and started to terrorize them as they took off in a blind panic. I spot Usagi reacting as she went to stop it but was quickly stopped by her protective father who grabbed her arm and pulled, rather nearly yanked her back behind him in a protective mode.

Not that I could blame him, I know I'd be the same way with a child of ours if they were being attacked. Yet he didn't know that his act of protecting her was also taking away who was needed to protect them. Especially when the sprite selected its chosen target in Usagi herself. I looked briefly back at the statue and saw the slight resemblance. Usagi was in no way a direct descendant of the target, that much was clear and obvious, BUT it didn't mean that they didn't bear a small resemblance.

One that was enough to make the overly pissed-off and jealous monster think they were one and the same. They must have similar energies the sprite recognized. I spot Usagi curl up making herself look afraid but really in the smallest of corners you could tell she's calling for back up knowing that she can't transform. If she tries to leave her family now, they'll become suspicious of her disappearance and upset with her later.

I decide to engage with the monster but I have a fleeting feeling that Malachite might be around the area. So I make sure my motives look clear in the aspect of regaining control rather than helping out.

"Hey!" I demand, getting the monster's attention and giving more people a chance to escape and time for the Senshi to arrive. I see Usagi uses the moment I enter to distract even her family so she can slip out.

The monster snaps at me, angry that I've distracted her. "You listen and obey me," I command her.

She slithers with her tongue. "Did you not hear me the first time? I obey no one! I take orders from no one but myself!"

I arch a brow. "Even though it was I who released you," I stated with a cockiness in my voice.

She merely smiles, "Your mistake, not mine." just before she can leave off after her target I disappear and re-appear in front of her.

She stops, getting agitated. "Out of my way," she demands.

"Listen here I broke you free of your prison, I could just as easily put you back inside of it. You obey me now."

It was at this point, being so close that I could feel Usagi's presence as she transformed. The monster roared at the threat and went to attack me as I batted her away. So much for the plan going accordingly. I really hadn't counted on her going off on her own.

Something someone warned you about...or tried to...Mamoru mutters from within. I ignore it as the rest of the people are gone and Usagi or rather Moon shows up. I see that she managed to use the panicked crowd to slip away from her family and make sure everyone was safe. Way to think on your feet. I think to myself as she gives her traditional pose though for only a few seconds as the monster doesn't care much for the posing.

She attacks Moon outright. Yet thanks to the intensive training we've been going through it's clear that her reaction time is even better than before. She dodges the hit that would have normally knocked her down and into a tree and instead jumps backwards a few times narrowly missing being swiped at by it till she hits feet first into a tree. She uses the tree, and the momentum of her bent knees to vault herself to the side as the monster hits said tree, damaging it pretty badly in her efforts to attack Moon in her rage.

"Monster can't bank worth a damn that's for sure," I mutter to myself as she continues to rage on after Moon. I stand by and watch for a moment making sure that as I sense Malachite within the area that if he can see me, he's seeing that I'm watching Moons 'destruction'. After all, it does need to appear that way. I can't have him reporting back that I 'helped' her but reporting back that I watched her fight a monster that I release...that sounded better.

I keep hovering in the air, far back from her now, and making sure I'm out of sight of the other Senshi so when they arrive, they WON'T see me till I'm ready for them too. I didn't want to give them a worse impression of me than was already there. This is the problem with playing both sides. It was difficult to showcase the right loyalties to the right side when both sides were present at the main events.

I watch Moon as she fights the monster pretty well on her own. Reacting to all the attacks as she would if it were our training sessions. Only she's quicker, putting more strength and speed into her movements. The training is paying off as she's flawlessly executing attacks from her martial arts class. Getting just close enough to hit the monster but getting far enough away to avoid any majorly damaging hits.

Using her size and speed to rely on hand-to-hand combat as the sprite tries to wack at her several times, preferring to strike at her with a more personal touch rather than with a venomous attack, showing how much, she's taking this personally. Moon manages to get several hits on her, then leapfrogs back whenever the sprite rages at her and tries to use the large ass tail to knock her down or out.

Watching Moon vault back and forth is amazing to view. At one point as she runs out of space to jump back and nearly hits a tree she runs up it by a few feet using the momentum and speed to jump up and avoid the tail swinging again as it takes out part of the tree knocking it over. Moon lands on the other side. The sprite sees more people that are stupidly taking out their phones to record the incident.

I facepalm the stupidity of it before Moon throws a pretty large rock at it, smashing it hard enough for me to let out a grin. "Hey! Were not done here yet you fugy duck!"

I couldn't stop the grin that spread across my face at hearing that. She sure got its attention back that's for sure, especially as it snapped off at her in a high-pitched offended voice, "What did you just call me?!"

"You heard me!" Moon shouted back.

Its full attention regained the people stupidly started to get closer so I gave them a reason to stay back as I used my powers to siphon some energy from them. They got the hint and went back inside as they were now feeling too weak to risk it. Good. They needed to stop being so damned stupid. I turn my attention back to my Moon Senshi as I watch her dart around like a true rabbit and avoid the hits meant to kill her.

I keep watch to make sure nothing truly hurts her of course but I knew what she was capable of so I didn't bother to intercede. I did begin to notice a pattern though, the creature was strong, not just power strong but strong enough to not give in to my commands making me wonder idly if sitting and doing nothing was really for the wiser. That is till Moon took off her tiara and turning it into a spinning disk of 'death' started to keep it within her gripping range to use it to slice into the monster.

I heard it cry out in shock and anger as Moon ducked the swing arms, and jumped over the swiping tale as she used the spinning tiara to slice the sprite all over. Weakening it with repeated strokes. By this point I saw the Senshi finally arrive yet instead of helping Moon they were as I was, watching her fight with stunned fascination as she was handling the creature with a precise attack formation that I made sure she could train to use as a single fighter or as a group fighting together.

Mars especially looked jealousy impressed by what she was seeing. Especially when Moon vaulted herself into a spinning somersault over the strong ass tail that barely missed her and hit her pigtails hard enough to make them slap a nearby tree with enough force to make it sound like a leather whip. She was enraging the monster that was for sure. Yet I could also see that she was showing off her impressive skills without even trying to.

The sprite went to hit at her again, this time trying to use her hair as a weapon but Moon used her tiara to slice through to avoid getting wrapped up. As if that wasn't enough before the Senshi could react to any of that the water monster raged against Moon with a massive strike that made me debate about stepping in. Throwing everything out at her at once, letting her jealousy and rage take full control, she jumped and went to grab Moon with her arms, hair, and aimed to use her tale to knock Moon down.

Like a supremely edited movie with no bad cuts, Moon jumped up and in a move I didn't teach her, used the creature's arms to jump up even higher, kicking her in the face, then using the creature's hair to ground her as she flipped over her head then slices the tiara deep enough to nearly penetrate her scalp before rotating her body to kick the monster forward. When she lands she backflips a few more times to a safe distance away.

I'm in a proud, appreciating awe of her 'performance' as she even used the monster's own limbs to help her win the round. I almost feel like I'm a spectator at this point watching a gladiator take on her opponent with hardly a weapon, other than herself and her tiara. I had half a mind to produce a bucket of popcorn to enjoy. Yet I knew I had to be vigilant. Especially as the Senshi stunned themselves finally roused from their stupor and jumped into the fray.

I saw Luna looking in from the sidelines as she was STILL looking on in stunned silence at how well Moon was fighting on her OWN. Moving with such grace and speed as she was slicing it up each chance she got. Once she managed to get about a good twenty feet between the sprite and herself that's when she took a breath. The monster roared in its anger as it prepared another attack only to get hit by the Senshi's own attacks.

Powers were being used left and right though as I watched on I saw something very important occur during it. Their power, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury were having no luck in weakening it. To this, I narrowed my eyes and wondered why especially when they seemed stunned that their powers weren't as effective as usual. It has to do with being that the monster isn't from the negaverse...I contemplated.

Mamoru popped back up...It's probably due to her being more of an angry spirit than anything. I wondered this now. She needs to be freed of the hate and jealousy. Moon was doing fine with the hand to hand but I bet you if she tried an attack that was moon want related to attack it wouldn't have worked as well.

Mamoru had a point and what made things worse was she didn't have it on her anyways.

That's when we watch and see Mars hit her with fire and does some slight damage but still gets whacked into the nearby trees as the monster, defying the heat of the attack while still getting burned (as it did get injured severely on its continuous assaults on Moon), wacks Mars into a nearby tree with her tail that she couldn't avoid jumping on the third dodge. The Senshi tried to block her from getting hit again by using their powers.

The creature merely roared at the hits but they hardly did any damage. The monster comes back as Mars gets back to her feet and just as she goes to use her fire again the creature she sees is too close. I'm seconds away from intervening, not wanting the Mars Senshi seriously hurt as she is a close friend to my beloved, when Moon steps up. Swinging in from up high she jumps onto the creature's back, loops her legs around its neck, and begins to apply pressure.

A technic that usually is for people but she's used it on this monster. It allows Mars enough time to recover and focus her senses to figure out what's going on. At this point I decide to save them the trouble. Especially since I've lost Malachite sense around here. He must have left at seeing the fighting happening. At least I'm assuming so.

"Don't bother," I tell Mars. "She's the creature from the lake, don't ask me know I know but I don't believe your powers will work on her." She frowns in response.

"That makes sense," Mercury adds before Mars agrees. "She's right..." Ignoring my pitch in this, "If she's more of a spirit then she needs to be saved, not dusted."

I arch a brow at her as she sends a glare my way. Still holding onto resentment I could see. That's when I see the brief look of thanks and pride in her face as she looks over Moon. There's a smidgen of gratitude there for saving her life and I see that she notices how well Moon fought as she relied very little on her tiara till it was needed.

This is before she covers it with determination to NOT lose focus here. The Senshi then engage in battle against the creature, trying to weaken it as Mars surrounds it with fire a few times. Just as Mars goes to put a parchment scroll on it, this makes its defeat inevitable, but like the rest of us is momentarily thrown off when out of nowhere Malachite shows up in a mad attempt to go after the crystal on Moon.

Thankfully Moon dodges the attempt with such speed that Jupiter even looks proud since she is known for being the fastest of the group. The sprite seeing this happen uses the distraction to her advantage, aims to attack Moon herself. If it hadn't happened before me, I wouldn't have believed it even happened. As Malachite went for a second attempt to grab it, failing of course as Moon was already out of range of his grabby hands again, he gets a power strike ready so he can hit her and make a grab for it.

I myself prepare to stop him. I know it'll compromise my standing with Beryl, but I can see the intensive look in his eyes. The need to kill her for all that she's 'done' to them. Getting in the way of their plans. His murderous expression is very palpable on his face and urges me into action as I shimmer closer to them so I can stop him. I can't even think of a way to make this look like I'm still on their side.

I have a moment of regret for waking up the water monster as it's obvious my lack of control over her caused this. Fully prepared to deal with the consequences of this I leap into action ready to get between the two as Moon is already in a flight and defensive position in case she can't deflect the last attack. The Senshi are too far away to help her even as Jupiter tries to send a bolt of lightning Malachite deflects it with his own forcefield causing the blast to go back to them, forcing them all to jump away from it.

So even though they're moving in closer, I'm much closer already. That's when the shocking, and perhaps for some slightly funny part happens. The water sprite, in her anger and rage, barreled past him. For a few split seconds you can see the absolute shock and confoundment on his face as the now deranged and crazed looking water monster moves past him, at a near alarming speed that made Malachite take a second to process and slams him out of her way so that she can reach Moon first.

Malachite, in his effort, was so focused on building up an attack and using his shield that was aimed directly at the Senshi, that he didn't count on the vengeful sprite coming up out of nowhere, like some random underdog to the story, and gut slams him hard enough to knock him not only out of targeting range, but officially far enough from Moon that he himself hit a nearby tree and stumbled backward.

He recovered sure yes, but the expression on his face that went from 'what the hell?' to a pure internal debate on letting the water sprite do what it wanted or kill it to kill Moon himself while also trying to figure out HOW the monster was able to slide under his defenses as she did. Turns out the water monsters' own power and strength were enough to make him debate his next course of action, nothing like the youma we sent out.

While he was in his confused and debating state Moon was leapfrogging back still, avoiding the attempts at her life while I raced after them both. I guess he finally made a decision on how to feel as you could hear him rage out. "What the hell?!" yelling at the monster who was paying him no heed. Moon was within her sights and range as she continuously dodged the attacks that were more venomous than before.

So when I got within range of the both of them, hoping that I could have come up with an excuse, a logical one that would grant me immunity from a punishment from Beryl but coming up with nothing, I reacted. Out of sheer instinct alone since Moon had dealt with two very powerful opponents and had already been dealing with the strong one for the majority of the fight early on.

She had already dodged several more attempts on her person. Yet the next one coming I know will hit her. She's not to injured but I don't want that to get worse, not even for my cover to keep going. Uncaring on how it looks I use my powers to pull the creature back just enough to place myself in front of her to block the creature from attacking Moon. I go to use my powers to attack her but like the Senshi's powers mine falter too.

Especially when the tail, that stupid tail that the monster has been using as a whipping weapon stabs me in the shoulder. I can feel it go all the way through. I guess she gave up on trying to use it to swipe at Moon and simply decided to strike it at her like a knife. Didn't realize the tail was sharp enough to be able to do that. Either that or it was strong enough that sharp or not, it would have pierced and gotten in as deeply as it was now.

I have to admit this, HURT. I was in pain from this just as I was from the hit, I made Moon take on me a while back. This though was a differently kind of pain. This was full of anger and pain from the source, Moon's was...actually that was full of the same but for different reasons. I grunt from the pain of it but it's nearly muted to me when I see the expression of outright anger cross over Malachite's face at the display that's currently in front of him as he figures out WHAT exactly he just witnessed. Fuck.