smoon4409: thanks and yeah and the emotions are only going to get higher to. The conflict will grow as will the...everything. In fact I'm writing out a few scenes now that I've been waiting to write for a while now. The finale is coming up. And yes Jadeite does love her oh so much, and she'll seeing things soon enough.
Yin - Yang M:that revelation will be intense for sure. I'm writing it out, or at least gettign really close to writing it out now as I type. But I do get it, confrontations are always exciting and interesting to read, watch, play out.
sabina21: things are going to get more intense now. The culmination of everything that's happened will come to a head.
kera69love: Rei will be dealing with a bit this next couple of chapters BUT so are a lot of people. I imagine Rei right now is having a crisis of her heart...hint, hint. And it's messed up, but it will lead to more intensity soon enough.
AvatarUzumaki: thanks and that is going to be a header in this. I have it planned out in my head but there are SO many players that will be present I need to work it out so that what's planned to happen is concievable. And yes another general is back, one that will help out and do stuff that I can't express without giving away to many details. Glad your excited for the next chapter though. ;)
5 reviews, nice, glad you all are enjoying this story, there's only a few chapters left to go before the end, let me know what you think of this next chapter! Read, review and enjoy!
The devil within ch.16
Evil Endymion POV
Time is winding down. Like a ticking clock on our lives. Beryl is on a cliff-like edge with her temper. Despite the energy we've all come back with on multiple occasions, she's obsessed with the silver crystal and with wanting my love's head on a pike. I've barely been able to spy on her recently despite having freer rein here now. At least I'm not being followed around here incessantly like I used to be.
Yet I've seen the deranged look in her eyes get more and more enraged as time in here has been going by. As if the longer she's away from her goals the more upset and on edge she becomes. She's honestly acting like a spoiled child who is being denied Christmas despite having done wrong. The problem is she's a selfish-spoiled child reacting like this while having a damned army at her beck and call.
It is very problematic at best. She's even been leaving scratch marks along the walls of the Dark Kingdom, a sure-fire proving way to show just how unstable she's becoming. Like the madness is slowly driving her insane...even more so than she already is. If the youma aren't careful she might start to kill them out of sheer frustration alone. That's when Jadeite appears before us, in my room of course for privacy purposes.
"Report," I ordered him. Normally I'd be nicer about it, but things are getting tense around here.
"Highness, the Senshi are preparing and still training but I've been observing them from afar and their training is at a better progression level than predicted. In fact, Moon herself is surpassing the majority of them."
I nod glad that my training her has been paying off. "This is good, the girls need to be at their peak best," I accept.
That's when Malachite cuts in. "Keep on them cause right now Beryl I can feel will be wanting to strike a hard point very soon."
I nod agreeing with his assessment. I look over and see the glimmer of Jadeite's concern in his face despite his covering up things.
"How'd re-uniting go?" I ask as he takes a deep breath, "Surprising and unsurprising at the same time."
He appears both resigning and accepting at once.
"Right now, as much as I want to talk to her...I know what needs to come first and that's the mission, which oddly enough includes her but not on a personal level," He says.
I nod. "If you find yourself needing to protect her, don't hesitate...I know if it were my princess I wouldn't," I assure him. I see Malachite looking toward me considering what they all vowed to do.
"Highness…," He tries as I look at him.
"Same goes for you. We aren't just soldiers or royalty here. We still have family and loved ones that depend on us. Yes, our duty is important but it's not all of us. Our loved ones are important too." Both nod in understanding.
"At the end of the day though…," Malachite presses. "We will end Beryl's life, and Metallia's. They need to die for the rest of the world to live."
I agree with that as Jadeite vanishes.
That's when Malachite and I hear Beryl's call. Sighing heavily, we shimmer from my room to the throne room and see her looking dressed as usual but her bitch face is firmly in place. She's clearly upset and we haven't even spoken yet. "I've just recently handpicked myself several youma that will be accompanying you BOTH out so that you can engage and get that crystal for me." She levels a glare at both of us.
This is it. Time is up. "We'll meet with them at an isolated location so we can strategize a plan of attack," I tell her, yet there's no happiness from her. "I want that crystal. Not next week, not tomorrow, not by midnight tonight but NOW! HELL YESTERDAY!"
Her voice bellows so loudly that her hair flies up around her and it almost feels like a wave of evil came from her. Both Malachite and I stand our ground.
"I WANT IT NOW! So, no more delays!" I can see the veins popping in her forehead from here and that's NOT good.
"We'll use the old abandoned church that Nephrite used a few times, it'll be big enough to house everyone in and work together on," Malachite adds as I nod.
"Things will come to a cross very soon," I assure her. She narrows her eyes at me.
"My Queen," I bite out thickly as I make sure that my voice doesn't betray my true feelings of hate towards her. I still need her to believe in my loyalty.
We both vanish once she waves her hands dismissively at us and reappears in front of the youma in the room set up. They all look ready for war and honestly while the girls can handle them with ease, they need their strength to put Beryl away for good. I look over to Malachite outside the room where the youma are and we silently agree on what needs to be done to ensure the success of our plans.
Making ourselves known, youma stand at attention. We can't do what we want to do here, if another youma were to see or if Beryl were to feel it within her own walls of what we're about to do it would destroy our plans. No, we needed to do this elsewhere. The church would be perfect for what we had in mind to do.
"We will be converging in the old church where General Nephrite used to use for his travels."
The youma disappear from the room as we look at each other and shimmer out. Beryl sent out some of her personal favorites for this one, some of the most ruthless ones and while the girls could handle them with ease, we wanted them to be full of energy to take on the task at hand. In total there were seven youma ready to fight to the death for their Queen. I hovered over the church once we appeared there and put a protective dome over it so that nothing could be heard, seen, or get out.
Not even magically. We don't need Beryl figuring out what we're going to do here. "Let there be hope for the world," I mutter as Malachite and I both appear inside to all of the unsuspecting youma now trapped with us. Waiting for their orders are five power hungry, vindictive, and loyal to Beryl to the death youma and if it were not for knowing the pain that they've caused before, the fact that they will kill to get what they want you'd almost...ALMOST feel sorry for them, yet we didn't.
"Your orders?" One hisses in a snake-like manner towards me. The snake-like youma who had at least four eyes and a split tongue that could easily wrap around its own head seemed the most loyal. I manage a small smile as I turn and act as though things are going along well.
"Your orders are simple." I turn back slightly as it looks at me as do they all.
"Kill the moon princess and steal the silver crystal," The creature iterates as the rest agree. I cannot stop the smile from happening, from knowing that what we want is going to be happening so soon so I turn away.
"Yeah…there's going to be a slight change to that plan." I build up a nice energy blast that I've been training with to do. A kill shot for sure as I power it up. I want to make sure this fight with them will be short and swift so that there's less energy devoted to taking them out than needed.
I turn back in time to watch the creature go from confused to dead as I shoot a powerful blast at its head. Incinerating it nearly on the spot as the rest of its body literally disintegrates and falls at the same time. Leaving a husk of its former self in its place. The dark magic I feel leaving my hand is powerful and good almost as I watch the darkness of it crackle while the other youma look on not only confused but in mild panic.
"That could have started off better," Malachite mutters in a near 'could have been more subtle but I'll work with it' expression before he whips out his sword and swings it out with a red-like ray of power along its exterior end. It catches the youma closest to him off guard as its head is decapitated. The red glow sliced through it like smooth butter and leaving it a husk as the remains fall from the effect.
The two youma were dead before they knew what hit them. Now the rest of the youma, while still confused, are torn between self-defense for themselves against those that were sent here to order and direct them and running for the hills to tell Beryl the not-so-good news. Two go to fight us each while the third tries for the door but finds it not only locked but even trying to use their powers is unable to break through it.
They try to use their powers to teleport out but find themselves trapped here when they bounce off of the walls that hold them all captive. Both Malachite and I fight one each while the last one is clearly trying to find a way out of here. It's almost comical in a disturbing manner to see it try to beat on the walls to get out. Like a scared, confused, and dangerous animal that's beyond logic and is simply trying to escape.
"We're trapped!" The last youma that was currently pounding on any wall to get out figuring it out yells. The two that were fighting us pathetically as they were barely dodging our hits and still taking on damage back off at hearing their comrade then look at us.
"What the hell is going on?" they demand of us. I can sense the smirk growing on Malachite's face as he fully admits to them what's really going on.
"Oh nothing, just killing the best that Beryl has so that we can take the bitch down." Malachite's words completely shocked them as he's been the most loyal general to Beryl thus far. To have it be this clear that he's on MY side and now obviously against them has to be an utter mind-bending boggle for them.
"But you're Beryl's top general!" The one by the door tries, breathing in heavily.
This time Malachite loses his smile. There's a menace in his eyes that's full of his anger and hate at them all. One that I have a feeling is born of what's been taken from him and what's happened to him that even I'm not aware of. "Before that bitch Beryl brainwashed me, I was and still am a faithful and loyal guard and general to the crown prince of the Terrain kingdom, Prince Endymion..."
They looked at me, realization dawning on their faces along with a bit of fear as what's about to happen to them hits too.
"And one of the four heavenly kings of earth…," I can see the shock in them turn into utter fear now as Malachite continues on. "And loving husband to the princess of Venus."
The youma nearest to him begins to growl low in its throat now. Malachite's next words to them make the real fight begin. "And we will have our revenge and justice on the Dark Kingdom for not only destroying the Terrain Kingdom, killing those we cared for and love but ruining our lives back then and ripping us away from our homes."
They lashed out as did we. I pulled out my sword and slash it outward hitting the closest youma as it tried to recoup and swing out a vine towards me. My sword cut through it with practiced ease and slid into its side, making the youma cringe and lash out, out of instinct alone before I twisted the sword making its attempt to claw it at me. "Your struggle is futile." I tell it, feeling the blood drain from the wound before I pull it out and cut its head off.
There are still more youma left though. Malachite takes out his sword and does the same but decides to try to take on two youma at once. He's gifted with the skills needed to do so as he lands hits on both of them keeping them both down and out of the fight from hitting him till he swings it around full circle. Both barely shimmer away in time from being decapitated like their friend was.
Another youma, attacks me from behind, trying to electrocute me. I wrapped the wiry mess around my body as I fought off the electricity. It was pretty painful but not enough to subdue me as I bet it thought it was. I darted my eyes towards it and saw the menacing gleam of THINKING it was winning this fight. I frown as I see it look at me with disgust next.
"I knew you couldn't be trusted," It tells me as it had just won a medal for figuring things out when it was only after I revealed myself did things get 'figured out'. I made these painstaking measures to ensure that 'our plan' would be successful. Taking a note from using an enemy's weapon against them, I grabbed the wiry mess and spun it along with myself around, forcibly throwing the youma off its own balance and slamming it into a nearby wall.
It made a nice dent in it but didn't crack the barrier I had around it. The wiry mess fell from me but not before I swiped my sword out to cut it. Making sure it couldn't use it against me any time soon. It may not have taken me out, but I didn't want to chance it to become a distraction. Unlike Beryl's little minions I didn't want to get too cocky here. It then growled at me as I couldn't help myself.
"You should have followed your instincts," I berate it.
It recovers quickly. Rage fueling it now more than ever before. It throws another few rounds at me and much like I was training and teaching Usagi, I dodge and duck the power strikes. The raging-filled anger strikes laid out for me and make my way towards it. Once I get within range, I hear it tell me, "Next time."
Dodging the last one and spinning around it, making it swivel in a near full circle I now hold its neck in my palm. The creature scratches at my hand pathetically, trying in vain to get me to release it. Then out of nowhere, it angles a hidden blade I hadn't seen and tries to stab me with it. It's unusual for a youma to utilize a weapon that's not a part of itself but I digress. It tries to latch onto me and force the blade into my neck. Even going as far as to hit at my shoulder with repeat slams of its wiry fists with no progress on its part.
I pushed upwards, blocking the blade from going any closer to my person. I can feel it beginning to cut into my arm but I press forward, pressing down on the pulse point in its neck as it feebly fights back, losing its grip on the blade from the lack of blood flow that I'm cutting off. I'm almost feeling enjoyment from doing this. A sense of pleasure from killing the youma as I twist the sword around in my hand. The other is used to grip onto its neck. The blade drops as fear hit it harder than it expected.
"There won't be a next time." I angled my sword and slam it into its mouth right as I'm sure a stupid retort was ready for me. I watch life dwindle from its eyes as I twist the sword in its mouth, blood oozing from it and down the blade of it. I wait till it goes limp before I pull the sword out.
When my sword comes out bloody but effective in the kill, I look around to make sure that was all of them as Malachite is finishing off killing himself. That's when one hits me from the side and nearly knocks me off balance. The smallest one. Must have hidden till its brethren were dead as it tried to bite at me. I swing out and hit half of its neck but it's too stubborn to die just yet so I do what I do best.
Grabbing it by the neck I rip at the head till it screams in pain as I rip it completely off. Using some of my power to completely eviscerate it as I hold onto the bloody head and scan the room for more. Just corpses and husks were found as Malachite and I did a quick sweep of the place. We looked around to make sure we didn't miss any youma and didn't want anyone to escape to tell Beryl what happened.
I look over to Malachite. "Clear. No energy signatures. They're all dead. Beryl's best besides ourselves."
He sheathed his sword. "This should make infiltration for the Senshi that much more stealth and easier," Malachite comments as I agree.
"Not just that…," I sheath my sword as well, though much like Malachite, not before wiping the blood from it to avoid it sticking in the metal sheath I have.
Didn't need it to stick when it needed to next be used in combat. "When the Senshi infiltrate soon enough, Beryl will be with me." He arches a brow to which I ignore and keep going, "I'll be able to take her out and the Senshi can then take out Metallia. She will be the strongest opponent yet." He nods knowing the truth of that. "They will need all of their energy to fight against her and win without death being imminent."
He nods as I release the doom keeping us in here and we leave off to the Senshi so that they can make their move on Beryl…the time has come and we need to alert the Senshi so that when we return to the dark kingdom it's with the not to far behind so we can 'report' that the Senshi took the youma out and while I assist Beryl to her chambers, distracting her Malachite can help the Senshi get further in and take care of Metallia.
The leftover youma that haven't been called upon yet can be contained to another part of the Dark Kingdom, the Senshi can take care of those that are lingering around and with Malachite's powers keeping the others at bay even temporarily, it'll be long enough so I can deal with the woman who's caused us so much pain and heartache. We both shimmer out as I know that the next few hours will be the hardest ones yet for all of us. This was merely the beginning of the end of the dark kingdom.
Usagi POV
The girls and I were training. Another day of it as it was becoming routine. Although I was curious as to why Luna was spending so much extra time with Rei but usually dismissed it as Luna and I were still a bit at odds right now. I was just glad that we were all still training together. So when I was about to duck another swipe from Jupiter's thunder that's when Jadeite appeared before us.
It hits me seconds after his arrival that the other Senshi may not know yet. I had only had a chance to tell Venus beforehand and had assumed Mars would tell the others but judging by their faces she hadn't.
"What's he doing here?" Luna snarled like a feral cat.
"Chill! Endymion released him and he's himself again., I tell her, Luna looks at me like I betrayed her.
"You might have mentioned that little gem before!"
Her words hurt. "I would have if you'd bothered to talk to me about ANYTHING other than your severe paranoia over Endymion. You're like a broken record with it."
Jadeite just gives me a 'what did I walk in on?' moment look. "Don't worry about it." I look to the other Senshi who are on edge though. "Sorry I thought Mars told you all."
An obvious miscommunication.
"There was nothing to tell," Mars jumps in.
"It's probably another ploy," Luna is obviously in agreement.
"Listen 'Mars'...," Jadeite breaches in, capturing our attention. "I get that you have trust issues, you had them back then as well and I always admired that about you. However…," he begins. "I think you know deep down that I can be trusted. I may have Metallia's power in me but I am no longer controlled by her. With my memories restored I'm myself again."
Mercury and Jupiter both lower their hands down as Jupiter comes forward and puts her hand on Mars's shoulder.
"I get the need to protect your heart but with everything going on I believe him, just as I believe in Endymion." She shot a clear expression of defiance toward Luna on that who just looks tired at this point.
"Fine, say we were to believe this, what's your reason for being here?" she demands of him.
Jadeite spoke up, "Prince Endymion and General Malachite are gearing up to make their moves." This was finally happening.
"Which means that the Dark Kingdom is about to become vulnerable to a surgical strike." I pointed out as he nodded.
"Exactly, I'm to help you get to him. By that point, he should have taken care of Beryl and you all will have Metallia to take out. Malachite is making sure he has complete access and has no one stopping him from taking her out," he adds as I nod, "This is good."
"There's no guarantee that he's doing this. It could be a trick," Luna urges as she sees that we're gathering to leave out.
I look down at her, "Say your right. Say that this is all a trick. Are we not Senshi? Can we not take on a fight even if we know it's a trap? We're the Sailor Senshi." I shove back at her. "We can handle an ambush if it happens cause we've been training for this for months now."
The girls agree.
"She's right, we need to end this so even if it is a trick, I'd love to see what else they have up their sleeves. Give them a swift kick in the ass for trying to take us on." Jupiter is gung-ho for this as much as I am.
Mercury steps up, "I do believe that we can trust them, and while I don't believe it is a trick I will state this..." She walks forward more towards Jadeite. "You were in a prison world right?"
He nods, "An ice prison."
She smirks. "I'm the Senshi of water. Do you know what happens when waters reach certain temperatures? Say excessive freezing or heat?"
He seems to have a vague idea as he responds, "Ice cubes and vapor?"
She smiles, "If there is any chance that this is a trick, those extremes will be your least concern of how bad and painful your end will be at my hands." She forms a bit of mist in her palm.
He looks down at it as she acts like it's a bit of a toy before giving him an expression of 'dare to challenge me...I dare you'. There's a shiver that I can visibly see go through Jadeite. Looking away from the mist that's now visibly surrounding her and making him obviously a tad nervous, he nods. "You have my promise that I will ensure your aid and make sure you make it to the Dark Kingdom so we can take down those responsible for so much pain caused to all of us."
She smiles a near opposite to the threatening demeanor she had on before. "Good, then I don't see any issues."
He watches as she backs up just a bit and his eyes widen at the flip of a switch made within her. Somehow, sweet, timid little Mercury put the scare into Jadeite and it was visually hysterical to see him gulp a bit before regaining his composure.
"I do," Luna nearly shouts out only to have Mars stop her. She walks up to Jadeite and looks extremely tempted to slap him. Yet refrains.
There's so much going on between the two of them emotion wise but both hold onto it knowing that now isn't the time to bring everything up, yet at the same time it's what I think is triggering Mars' next words. "If this is a trick and by the kami's out there it better not be, just remember I'm the Senshi of fire, while Mercury keeps you frozen in an icy prison world, I'll be damned if I don't find a way to make you suffer the fires of hell."
She forms a bit of flame in her hands from how upset she is. "That prison that Beryl put you in will be a summer paradise compared to that of a pissed-off former wife who doesn't mind holding grudges and has the memory of you from both lifetimes."
My eyes widen as does Mercury's at hearing this as we are the two closest to her. If Jupiter does, she doesn't say anything nor does Venus.
"I will make you suffer beyond what that bitch can put you through and you want to know why?" Even though it was a question even Jadeite looked hesitant to ask it. "Cause there's nothing scarier than the wrath of a scorned woman, and while you may not have cheated in any form the fact that she got into your mind at all HURTS as it just tells me you let her see vulnerability in you that took you from me."
Damn. There was hurt and pain in Mars's face. No one dared move and even Jadeite looked like a kicked puppy for a moment. That's when he looked up and met her eyes with his own determined ones, and oddly enough a small smile. I was about to say 'NOT the time to smile' till he spoke, "My love...I'd expect nothing less."
Even she was shocked by his response. "I'll walk through the fires of hell barefoot, with paper cuts on my nipples if that's what it would take." I winced at the imagery that was brought on.
"I'm telling the truth, to all of you and we don't have much tell left to waste." As much as I could tell he was somehow happy about this he was also very serious about this too. "You need to go to the Dark Kingdom. I will help guide you there."
Mars while still looking on distrustfully knows that we need to move forward. Plus, I'm seeing that she's beginning to warm up to him. As we begin to gather around I have to ask him.
"Why did you look so happy? Mars essentially threatened you with a worse fate than what Beryl actually gave you," I was confused by his smile till he responded, "Cause, she remembers more of our lives together as a married couple. People were so focused on your wedding to the prince that was supposed to happen that a couple of us were able to marry our respective Senshi's. I was a lucky one, Malachite was..."
Before he could go on Jupiter came up to us and asked, "Was I...?" I could see the hope in her eyes.
She must have overheard what we were talking about. Not that we were being secretive but still, I could see the hope in her eyes. Last she saw him was in the past. She'd only heard about him in passing in this life and that was with Naru. Even though Naru was romantically interested in him and he did care for her, it's still unsure if there was anything romantic that he held towards her other than friendship.
"Yes...Nephrite, he loved you with more than words could express," He told her before looking at me. "Mercury and Zoisite were left to wed before yours was to commence. Your orders to the Senshi when your wedding was getting dragged on making the other wait to where and I quote 'we should still be able to celebrate and you should still be able to enjoy your lives," He began as I ended it with recollection now, "Enjoy your lives and get married, someone should."
We both laughed a little. Jadeite's eyes sparkled with that familiar mirth from all that time ago. It was that very mirth and playfulness that made Rei fall in love with him. She grounded him and he calmed her down.
I nodded. "It feels sometimes like it was yesterday," I murmur as he utters, "And sometimes it feels like it is, too long ago."
He looked over at Mars with wistfulness. "Give her time…the last batch of memories she has of you weren't grand…not that it was your fault but, time will help," I reassure him.
He looks at me with hope in his eyes. "I know, I guess I just miss my fireball is all. Rei made me see things from different perspectives and I wish I had her advice right now, not her wrath," He admitted.
"I have a feeling once we get through this fight we're about to take on you'll be MUCH closer to it." He nods, "Once we are able to, we're going to bring the rest of the generals back."
He turns to Jupiter. There was a determination set in Jadeite's eyes that gave Jupiter hope that made me smile for her. "Let's get going then, burning daylight," She says as we gather around Jadeite.
He makes sure to tell us where the entrance is to get there so we can be more prepared. Luna scoffs still but listens anyways. Artemis keeps an eye on her as we disperse knowing the plan now.
"The way the dark kingdom is set up is complicated," He begins. "Metallia is at the heart of the place, she's fueled by the power that's in energy so Beryl is always bringing her more and more power. Metallia is looking to gain enough to break completely free from her prison world and make the Earth, the universe her bitch. She's an ancient demon that wants death. She uses Beryl to get that power and Beryl in return gets power and Endymion."
I roll my eyes at that.
"How do you know this?" Mars asks, lightly this time but still curious.
"My prison world wasn't too far from Metallia's. Very few people aside from Beryl knew where she was located so that not a lot of people would find out that the real powerhouse was locked up in the basement. I found out during my own imprisonment. I listened in on everything. Easy to do when there's nothing else other than pain and misery to focus on."
I nod to that.
"Here is where she's at," He uses his powers to show us a brief map of it. "Malachite is going to clear a way to get there once you're inside the Dark Kingdom, Endymion will be keeping Beryl busy with her imminent death which gives you all the time and effort needed to kill Metallia."
I nod as do most of the rest of the girls before Luna comments, "And what about on the way to the Dark Kingdom?" She has a small point.
"I'll be there to assist you, fight, whatever it takes. It's why Endymion and Malachite took on the near dozen youma recently. Beryl selected them herself to accompany them to kill you."
I frown at that, Jadeite sees this. "He wants you, both of them want this to go smoothly. They weren't counting on Beryl sending so many and while you could have easily dispatched them they want your main focus to be on killing Metallia."
Mars scoffs a bit. "Beryl needs to be killed too," She stamps out. Luna for the first time says something I agree with, "As much as I hate to admit to it…there is a point to it." We look at her. "Metallia from what I remember sources Beryl's power, when Metallia goes down so does where Beryl gets her extra source of power from. She needs to be taken out of the equation and she's incredibly strong." Luna looks at us all.
"It'll take all of you to do this…" She then looks at Jadeite with a menacing glare. "If you make it there."
Seeing her distrust in him clear as day he remarks, "They will, you have my word."
She frowns still but knows we have to take this opportunity. Jadeite moves away from the center as we gather around. He makes sure to avoid getting in the center since he's a little weary of being surrounded by all of us.
I couldn't blame him, despite the fact that over half of us were on board, it didn't mean everyone was. We used Sailor teleport to arrive as it was pointed out from Jadeite that he knew a shortcut that reduced half the trip time to get to the Dark Kingdom. We ended up ditching pathways and tunnels and with his guiding us and our focus on following him we made it to the coldest location I've ever been in.
It was chilly as hell once we're there. The winds hit us once the protective dome we were in during travel are gone and are pretty icy and despite the training, we were doing earlier it's clearly still really cold as hell. I forgot to try to push my bangs back as my hair is whipping around me with enough force to slap me repeatedly.
"Where are we, Antarctica?!" I wrap my arms around myself, willing the cold away and wishing that I was snuggled up on my couch with a blanket on me right about now. Yet more than anything I want this to be over with. It's enough motivation for me to push past wanting to stand in one place and bail out simply due to some cold weather.
"Pretty much yes," Mercury confirms through her VR glasses. I wasn't expecting to be right. That's when Jadeite arrives there too, but keeps his face and general's uniform covered up with a simple cloth-like blanket that I'm guessing is doing little about the cold too.
He doesn't seem chilled but at the same point, his uniform is a little more heavy duty than ours is and he has long sleeves on. We don't. The Senshi looks at him suspiciously as he talks clearly through the cloth across his face, "We can't let Beryl know I'm alive and well just yet, this is just for my identity. I'm gonna be blasting away at whoever gets sent after us," He confirms as the others nod.
Even the girls know better than to let Beryl know we have one of her supposed imprisoned generals helping us. Not yet…not yet. We head out. I'm beyond glad that we scheduled the rest of the evening out for training so no one will be worried about us. Yet, all the same, no one will know where we are if things do go sideways. I send a silent prayer for my family back home to not worry over me.
To protect them in case something does happen that I can't account for. Though seeing the white icy tundra ahead of us makes me wish we could have told our families…even if that would have led to more problems than answers. I guess the bottom line is I'll miss them if things turn sideways. I force myself away from those thoughts…get a grip Usagi. You're the Moon Senshi, you can do this.
Giving myself a quick pep talk and hearing Mercury confirm that where Jadeite is telling us to go is accurate and true, we move along closer to our destination. I'm just glad it's only us here and NOT Luna nor Artemis. As good as they are, as much as it would be nice to have them come along, we couldn't risk our only advisors getting hurt out here. As I look further along and see the lands out here, seeing and FEELING the cold and knowing how bad it could really get, I'm more sure than ever that it would have been bad for them to be out here.
Luna and I may not see eye to eye on certain things but that doesn't mean that I want her to get badly injured. Especially if a fight were to break out, out here. There's nowhere for them to run to and I don't want to risk having to think about them getting injured on top of everything else we have to be concerned about. So we made sure to leave without them and none of the girls argued about this.
In fact, all of us agreed to make the felines stay behind for their own safety's sake. They tried to protest but in the end, even they knew it was for the best. As we began to make our way through the icy tundra, seeing nothing but snowy white mountains as far as the eye could see I felt a course of determination hit me. Jadeite looked off to the side but paid it no mind till he stopped and gestured for us to stop.
I felt something was up ahead. The winds suddenly died down and while I was utterly grateful for the lack of cold air making me brittle with cold, I was always very wary about WHY it was suddenly NOT windy. My own senses perked up and sensed we were no longer alone out here. I sensed the Senshi tense up beside and around me as Jadeite straightened up, "Looks like Beryl sent her other best team out here."
His words make me pause, "Other best team?" I ask as we now see five youma. Their resemblance to that of a monster's version of the toy Sky Dancers from when I was a kid makes me remember them totally differently now. They have a confident, cocky attitude written all over them.
"Are they supposed to be…the evil us…or something?" Jupiter asks as I look at her.
"There are five of them to the five of us so…maybe…," I reply.
"They're tricky so don't drop your guard, they're good and haven't been dispensed earlier for a damned good reason," Jadeite said as Mars remarked, "They may be good but they're not Senshi good."
He aimed his next words at her, "Maybe not but they were one of the only two groups of youma that were set to be promoted to generals if the four of us failed. So yeah…don't underestimate them or hesitate…they won't."
She nods as we walk forward with resolve and caution, ready for this fight to begin.